Snowy blizzard fun!

Although this week has been abundantly  "white", I tried making the most of it by trying new crafts with Li'l Gal,  by making a snow slide with her, trying new recipes, playing Ramoly (with our own house rules of course) helping the neighbour shovel their looooong driveway and by playing way too much Hay Day on my tablet.

My niece Everie encouraged me to start making crafts with Li'l Gal. We made these dragons out of 

Toilette paper rolls and tissue paper... Below is a picture of two crafts Everie made. They are So cute and So funny at the small time. "Don't loose is, reuse it!"

Li'l Gal and Nanny made snow men with potato head pieces.  I thought that was genius :).

 Once the storm had subsided for a while, I thought it would be clever to make steps with our fire wood so Li'l Gal could easily climb the sliding hill. Worked like a charm! We played for almost an hour. Sometimes I tend to rush time spent playing with my kids because I'm lazy. This time I thought I would put my whole heart into it and have fun with her for more then 5 minutes haha. (I prefer the summer....)

The peek of two mountains! 

Yup lotsa snow!

Olivia and I made a doll together. She wanted her to be brown which it super cute. Her name is Jolene.

Li'l Gal loves the backpacks grandma gave her and Li'l Guy ,  and Brutus is so kind to let her play with him...

Jonny boy and I made CAULIFLOWER CRUST PIZZA! I loved it! Although the children gagged and cried from the texture. It reminded me of when I had to eat cottage cheese. I gave in and gave them rice. Even though it has almost the same texture. haha! Weirdos! 

Here is how I made it:

Cauliflower crust pizza

1 Cauliflower shredded

1 cup or so of cheese shredded

2 eggs

Big pinch of parsley

Big pinch of Basel

 (What ever spices you want)

-mix and make the shape of a pizza. Top picture was twice as thick as the second crust because the Cauliflower was bigger. It just took a it longer to cook. 

I top it off with tomato sauce, any veggies I had and more cheese... chunks of garlic makes is so good...

375 degrees for 30 minutes or until everything  seems well melted...  

DESSERT!

We actually made these raspberry cheesecake brownies for valentine's day tea at the Sante's house, but a nasty snow storm did not allow us to leave our driveway...

We enjoyed it anyway ;P.

Jonny boy helped me make it while nanny was watching the kiddos. Here's how it's made...

Ingredients

For the brownie layer:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the raspberry cheesecake layer:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 large eggs

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup raspberries, lightly mashed (I used thawed, frozen berries - it was 3/4 cup mashed)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan (I use glass) with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or with an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and whip again until well combined. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and mix until well combined. Spread the brownie batter in the prepared pan, smoothing it out into an even layer.
3. Make the cheesecake layer. With an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, Greek yogurt and eggs until smooth. Add the sugar, flour and vanilla and mix again until smooth and well combined. Fold in the crushed raspberries. Spread the cheesecake mixture on top of the brownie batter.
4. Bake for 50-60 minutes until set, and the edges are starting to brown. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool for about an hour and then chill for 2-3 hours before lifting the bars out and slicing into squares.

I hope you take the time and make these two recipes because they are really good. That's all...

Enjoy!

Dissapointments

I finally got my tablet back! It was a combination of my fault and Li'l Gal's fault that it fell and shattered. She obviously needed her mother's attention and I was on Pinterest looking for future kitchen renovation ideas... That's important isn't it?! Gladly "Terry's Tunes" on Inglis street in Truro only charged us 40$ to fix it!

Since my last post, I am (still) learning how to trust God through my disappointments. I will tell you a bit about my story and why I am disappointed.

For a little over 2 years, Jonny and I have had our eyes on this "log house" that had been empty for a very long time. It was on he market for 3 years. The house was a fixer upper. It needed a septic field and tank installed, a fixed foundation, insulation, new heating, new windows.... Most people wouldn't want a challenge like that because of all the risks there are. But Jonny boy and I were up to the challenge. We saw the potential in that house and the 2 brand new barns and 23 acres of land. And the fact that it was minutes away from family made it seem so perfect for us.

Naturally we planned/daydreamed in our heads how we wanted everything to look. And planned roughly how much everything would cost. We often prayed about it. That God would help us to be patient. And to understand and not be too disappointed if it was not his will but hoped that it was his will.

To make a long story short, everything seemed to line up for us. Jonny's new job doing roofing, we were trying to sell our home... but to our surprise some lucky person bought the house outright without any conditions. We were disappointed as could be expected. I will now have to move everything from my "log house ideas" from Pinterest to a different board. Haha.

Things do not always go our way. And it can be so frustrating. Our "perfect" plans are not always so perfect in God's eyes. When I gave my life to him when I was a little girl, it meant all my dreams, my future and my  stuff too..

Jonny and I watched a Bible series on right now media by Andy Stanly. He said (in my own words), what is it that we want to be remembered for when we die? Or even when we are old, what do we want our life memories to be about? About how we were unable to get our dream house and those yellow leather sandals that I should have bought at the 50 mile garage sale and think about every second day. Or that we spent our time and energy on the most importuned things like blessing other people, cherishing the time we have with our family and making things right with the people we have wronged. Or spending time with our children instead of always being on our telecommunication devices. Or what ever it may be. It is important to come back down to earth and focus on the big picture. Easier said then done...

To end on a delicious note, I need to share with you this yummy and easy recipe that I got from my mother. It is called curry cauliflower.

Curry Cauliflower

-1 Tbls milk 

-1 can   cream of chicken soup

-1/4 cup mayonnaise

-1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

-1 tsp curry powder 

-1 big head of cauliflower

topping

-2 Tbls melted butter

-1 cup cracker crumbs

Directions

-boil cauliflower for 5 minutes

-mix the first 5 ingredients and add to cauliflower. Put in casserole bowl or smaller dish.

-mix butter into crushed crumbs and spread over cauliflower mixture. 

-bake at 350 for 30 minutes uncovered.

Enjoy it, I sure do!

Have a blessed day!