I'm moving this blog....

Sorry for the short notice... but we are moving this blog. I have two blogs right now and it is time to combine them into one! So I am starting a new blog called Love Big, Bake Often! So you can reach me here at http://lovebigbakeoften.blogspot.com. I will send out msgs to everyone to adjust their blogrolls to find me here!Thanks for your patience as I get the new blog rolling. Tania Love Big, Bake Often

perspective

I often find that we get all worked up over things that are really not important, and then all it takes is one moment to put it all in perspective. While dropping Jakob off at school this morning I was told that one of his teachers lost her husband to his fight against cancer. I had recently found out that he was sick, but had no clue how serious it was or where he was in his battle. So today came as such a shock. And my heart goes out to H and her family, especially her two children. It made me realize how silly I am about some small things that are really nothing to be upset about. Life is short, love big, worry about the big things, work through the little ones, and always tell those you love-you love them. Tania Love Big, Bake Often Sorry for the short post.

I'm Back

Whew... finally back online. Feels like forever - and to some it has been. Can't wait to get back into the swing of things again. Keep a look out for new things, new events, lots of fun, lots of pictures as we get going on many new adventures. The moving date is quickly approaching and time is running out. Hope to blog more tonight. Tania Love Big, Bake Often

Lack of Blogging

I realize that it has been “forever” since I have blogged. I get so distracted by different things going on in my life and the blogging goes away… And when things are going on in my life I really want to blog about them all. I fear that I have forgotten some very important things that have happened in the past few weeks that I would have blogged about. Sad. But here I go and will write as much as I can remember. My brother Tim was here visiting from Korea. Yippie!! It was so great to see him. I think it has been about a year and a half since I had seen him. He came in on Sunday last week. And since Jakob had a birthday party to attend, he went with Daddy, and Aiden and I went to Newark to pick him up. Getting to Newark was pretty easy, our good friend Steve lent us his GPS and it got me there safe and sound. The trip home however, was TORTURE! After picking up Tim from the airport we stopped to get a bite to eat and get Aiden some chow – he was screaming in the backseat like he was being tortured. We ended up in little Portugal in Newark. Interesting neighbourhood – little scary. But we had a really good burger and Aiden ate quickly, then back in the car and off we went. So the hour and a half it took Aiden and I to get to Newark, turned into a three hour and a bit trip to get home. We sat in stop and go traffic getting over the g*#da** George Washington bridge. It was a very painful trip home. Not exactly how I wanted to welcome Tim. But what can you do. So we finally got home, had a great dinner (bbq’d by my hubby) and hung out. Jakob was very excited to see his Uncle Tim, and had to show him everything. Tim and Jake were inseperable. He wanted to do everything with Uncle Tim. We had a good few days. We went to the Aquarium, where Jake had to see and show us all everything. We hit the Skateboarding Park. Jake stood on the sidelines and shouted for Uncle Tim to be careful. And then he stood on the skateboard while Tim pushed him around. We did some shopping, some time at the beach, had some great meals, went for ice cream, and just hung out together. It was a good visit. It was too bad that Jason had to work such long hours and didn’t get a whole lot of time with us. But what can you do? That’s the way the cookie crumbles. Then came the dreaded day when we had to take Uncle Tim back to the airport to head back to Korea. I was not going to go the same way that we did picking him up. On a Friday morning we were destined to get stuck in all kinds of traffic getting there and coming home. Luckily I was able to change Jakob’s daycare day and he was in school on Friday. So Aiden and I would be taking Tim back to Newark. We plotted out our route the night before and agreed that we needed to get going early, real early. So Aiden, Tim and I headed back to Newark to take Tim back to the dreaded airport at 6:00 am. Now that may not sound to early, but I didn’t sleep well that night, and Aiden decided (after several nights of sleeping all the way through) that he needed to get up at 4:30 and stay up til 5:15ish. So there really wasn’t any going back to sleep for me. I needed to get up and get going so that we got out of there on time. And we did. The route we took was so easy and so smooth – not a single bit of traffic. Sailed all the way there! The goodbyes were tearful. And I was surprised to see him standing on the sidewalk waiting for Aiden and I to leave. It was so sweet. We waved and didn’t say goodbye – we said see you at the wedding. But that is a whole other blog. More to come… stay tuned for “don’t chew on the dog!”. Love big, Bake often

Tania

Tim and Aiden at the bowling alley...

Tim and Jakob at the Aquarium...

Tim teaching Jakob how to Skate. . .

Veggie Brownies

I am going to post this on both my blogs – this one is good for baking and for mommies! Brownies made with veggies! I will admit that as I am typing this I have not tried them. But wow, do they ever smell yummy. I can’t wait to try them, and usually I would be digging into them as they were still warm, but the recipe says that they need to be completely cooled before the spinach taste dissipates. So the taste testing part will have to wait. But in the meantime here is the recipe for those interested. I got it from “Deceptively Delicious” cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld. I have been reading it again and am on a mission to make more good for you dishes for my family. I had purchased a “log” of chocolate chip cookie dough to make with Jakob last week. I realized that it was still in the fridge yesterday and thought to myself “oh no, I had better make these soon”, and much to my disgust I read that the expiration date wasn’t til the middle of SEPT!!! So it got me thinking about all the preservatives in food. I have promised myself and my boys (all three of them) that I will do my best to make as many things fresh and from scratch that I can. I am going to see how much more organic products we can afford to switch to when grocery shopping. I already do a little bit of organic purchases, but there is a lot more that I could do for us. And I really do have more time to make more homemade meals – I just have to get myself more organized and plan ahead. But that is a whole other blog. So let’s get back to the recipe: Brownies 3 ounces semi sweet chocolate ½ cup carrot puree ½ cup spinach puree ½ cup brown sugar ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tbsp trans fat-free soft tub margarine spread 2 tsp vanilla 2 large egg whites ¾ cup all purpose flour ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 1. Preheat the oven to 350. Coat an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray. 2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame. 3. In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine, and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. 4. Whisk in egg whites. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon. 5. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 bars. Remember – leave them to cool completely before eating. The cool info about these is that each brownie only has 133 calories and each has a whopping 3 grams of fiber! And each is packed with antioxidants! Cool, eh? So that is my tasty, healthy treat for my family.

Tornado Pooper

Ok, so the potty training is going, just going. It has been challenging, but we have had many more successes than accidents. Today was hilarious. It had been about half an hour since Jason had left to take Jake to play next door. Our neighbours were having a bbq and invited us to come over. Aiden was crashing, and I really wasn’t feeling up to socializing. So Jason took Jakob over for a quick visit before he headed out for his boys night out. Here I was sitting on the couch with a very sleeping boy in my arms, and suddenly the door flew open, Jake came running past us, and took off for the bathroom. Jason came in a moment or two later. Apparently Jason had been talking with Mike while Jakob played and all of a sudden Jakob took off, opened the gate to their yard and came running to the house, through both front doors and off to the bathroom. I thought something was wrong, but he was fine. He just needed to go to the bathroom! He ran full speed, got to the bathroom, took off his shorts and underwear and POOPED on the potty! So he took off because his body told him he needed to poop! I have never been so proud! So tonight I will call him the tornado pooper as he came through the living room like a tornado and pooped. It was fantastic.

From the mouth of Babes

It wasn’t a great afternoon. I had a very clingy six month old attached to me and didn’t want to be left alone. So as I was listening to Aiden cry, I was getting Jakob’s dinner ready (read heating up leftover Chinese in the microwave) and I was calling to Aiden that I would be there in a minute. I put Jake’s dinner down in front of him and commented on how I was going crazy or was going to lose it, or something like that. I didn’t realize that Jakob was paying attention to what I was saying, but he sure was. He came out with the most profound statement. He said “Mommy, you can never give up”. I can never give up. Hmmmmm. How true. What exactly did he mean by that. Can I never give up on him and Aiden? Can I never give up on being a Mom? Of course not. But how does he know that? It has to make you think about how their minds work. What was he thinking that I would give up on? But back to their minds. Jakob has come out with some very thoughtful comments before. I, unfortunately, have forgotten most of them. But this one, oh this one will stick with me for a long time. We all have moments when we wish we could quit, that we could just give up when it gets too hard. But we can’t. I can’t. I have to take a breath, step back, pick up Aiden, sit with Jakob and have dinner, kiss my husband goodnight as he leaves me with the clingy boy and the “profit”, and smile as I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. So, don’t worry Jakob, I’m never going to give up.