MORE, MORE, AND EVEN MORE FOOD!

WE EAT A LOT OF FOOD!

Pine Tree Post | Food Page

The following scene repeats itself weekly - the kitchen floor is strewn with those reusable grocery bags, all filled with cans, fruit, bread, and sometimes pastries. The kitchen counter beside the fridge is overcrowded with dairy products, sometimes toppling over onto the stovetop. Oskie is toddling around playing with the three food long receipt from the No-Frills, while Lolli steps around him, diligently bringing in the 'Costco run' from the Van. Jen is sitting in front of the fridge sorting and organizing the contents, solving the never ending puzzle of how-do-you-fit-so-many-groceries-in-there.
Yet, in little more than a week this overstocked refrigerator will be bare except for condiments and a few tupperware containers half filled with leftovers (most of which head to the greenbin soon after). Where does all this food go? I can account for some of it in the pictures below. The rest, mysteriously disappears bit by bit each time the kids say, "I'm hungry".

Food is prepared, eaten, prepared, eaten...an endless cycle.

The weeks heading up to Christmas were an especially busy time in the PUTP. With many events, shopping, and even carolling, the time available for cooking was very limited. You may notice a few questionable food choices...but, doesn't everyone have those days right before Christmas?

Breakfast - The most important meal of the day.
No content. Not the best start to the day, or this blog post.

Lunch - A mix of school lunches and home lunches.

Pizza quesadilla - Thanks for the idea Natasha

Typical Matt lunch

A fried egg sandwich on an english muffin (with ketchup). This 'sandwich' was found in the kid's lunch on a few occasions too. More in Lolli's lunchbox than E's.
The above picture shows Matt having a very sophisticated looking lunch at his desk at work. Notice the french press coffee (a blend called Folger's) and the chocolate (an Xmas present from his boss).

Soybeans...mmm

What kid wouldn't love soybeans in their snack? Paired with some colourful berries and a homemade muffin. Tradesies anyone?

Deli meat sandwich and dark blue fruits

This lunch seemed to have a blue theme, with the berries and plum. Combine that with avocado (small container on right) and a deli meat sandwich (Salami on right, Turkey on left) and voila! you have a hit with the foodie kids of kindergarten.

Two identical lunches

The sight of two identical lunches is becoming a rare sight. However, pasta, apple sauce, muffins, grapes are loved by one and all.

The addition of couscous

Mmm couscous

Couscous 'salad', mixed with lentils, olives, and peppers is something different you can add to the lunch menu chart. This dish is not loved by all, but, is a welcome change from day after day of sandwiches or wraps.

The "Friday" lunch

Ahh, the Friday lunch. The lunch you are not particularly proud of. When groceries are low, and you scramble to fill the small container with cheese and cracker and only find saltines. When you make a 10:55 pm trip to the grocery store Thursday night and buy prepackaged deli meat and the last of the day old buns. You may even pair similar looking fruit together such as pears and apples. Luckily, most of this will be eaten.

Friday can be cheap eat day!

Sometimes even Matt has a Friday lunch - a nice mug full of 'Mr. Noodles'...how embarrassing. On the plus side this dish only costs approx 33 cents!

Leftover lunch

Luckily, Matt usually has the leftover lunch to deal with. In some cases it is Boston Pizza, homemade bran muffins (his fav), and some fruit...sometimes it is not.

Tuna melts, fruit, and cookies

Yummers, look at that Tuna melt.

Home lunches were more on the hot side this month as the weather cooled down. Warm sandwiches and soups were seen regularly on the table.

Habitant soup, apples, and tea...that'll warm you on a frigid day

Salad pic, with a salami sandwich creepin' in the background

There was, of course, a salad or two. Blue cheese dressing was given out in generous portions.

Dinner - The 'big' Meal!

*drool* White pasta...White bread *drool*

Pasta is a quick thing to prepare on those busy days. And, even though the citizens of the PUTP know that whole wheat pasta is so much healthier than white, sometimes they pick taste over health. Good for them!

VH sauce is the secret

Pork roast with Medium garlic VH sauce is a regular meal in the PUTP. Paired with easy to heat vegetables like frozen corn it is a tasty meal.

Looks much healthier with that salad eh?

Caught on camera was not one, but, TWO, Delissio pizzas being pulled from the oven. This is a sight not seen in over two years! When will we see it again?

Meatballs, pineapple, tomato sauce = Swedish meatballs

Not only available at IKEA, swedish meatballs are a crock pot speciality of the PUTP. Sweet, hot, and filling they are a great end to a cold day of christmas shopping.

Classic Turkey Dinner

Even before Christmas a turkey was cooked up. This meal, and all the leftovers, feed the PUTP for days. A very cost conscious meal as well when the turkey is bought on super sale.

Baked pasta and garlic bread

A great looking meal was not loved by all the citizens of the PUTP. The baguette covered in butter and garlic powder was eaten without complaint. However, the ravioli in alfredo sauce caused one little guy to leave the table and storm upstairs in a fit of rage. It's strange how food can sometimes bring out such emotion in people.

Lolli goes Vegetarian.

During the month of December, Lolli decided she did not want to eat meat anymore. The head cook decided to embrace this idea and made many dishes with no meat, or with meat substitutes. Good vegetarian meals are always in high demand, so what better time to find some?

Doesn't that look like meat?!

A nice hearty, even meaty looking, chili was cooked up to rave reviews.

One meat substitute

TVP or Textured Vegetable Protein was the meat substitute added to the chili to give it that meaty look and feel. 

Yum, pad thai stir fry

Tofu is a meat substitute with a bad rep.

Stir fry with tofu is a well known vegetarian dish. Switch out the chicken for the tofu. 

Or, you can just add the chicken back into another dish...for the non vegetarians.

Smokin' Stampede Chicken Wings!

President's Choice Smokin' Stampede chicken wings are the wing of choice in the PUTP. Blue cheese dressing and veggies on the side make a great late night snack for the adults.

As a side update: Lolli has returned to the dark side and is eating meat again.

Baking - The part you have all been waiting for.

Brownies with TEA...a surprisingly good combo.

Cookie or muffin?

So hearty it eats like a meal.

Dog kibble - made of chocolate and chex cereal

Haystack that lacked the stack

These blueberry muffins are not dead, it was just the lighting

Plain Bran - not Raisin Bran

Carrot cake in muffin form - is that even possible?

Hope you all had a merry Christmas

THE FIRST 'REAL' HOCKEY GAME

E SCORES THE GAME WINNER!

Pine Tree Post | Sport Page

On a cold Saturday morning the Dark Blue Team took on the Dark Green Team in an actual game - with referees, line changes, and everything.

The following video shows some of the highlights of the game

With freshly sharpened skates, new tape, and a bottle of coffee, this little hockey player was ready to play! Right from the drop of the puck the action was intense. Lots of ooh and aahs from the crowd. Lots of falling players. Lots of hard skating. At around the three minute mark of the first, E skated hard down the ice and managed to put one past the goalie. The first goal of the game brought a thundering cheer from the packed stands. Humbly he high fived his teammates and headed back to face off circle.
The rest of the game was a barn burner, with the puck making its way from one end of the rink to the other with surprising speed. There were countless breakaways and two on nones as both teams were apparently going with the full offence strategy - the defence was a second thought.
Luckily, for the Dark Blue team they had an outstanding goalie with years of experience (in the form of two older brothers) to fall back on. He managed to shut the door on every shot.
In the end the score was 6 - 0 for the Dark Blue Team, but, the chances and the effort put in by both teams was awe inspiring.
I cannot wait to report on the next game.

Kingston | 12:00

STICK JAR - CRAFT

THE NATURAL GIFT THAT USES ONLY STICKS AND AN OLD GLASS JAR

Pine Tree Post | Craft Page

Need a great gift for someone special, but, want to keep it simple and environmentally friendly?
Then the Stick Jar is the thing for you!

Cute!

This multifunctional jar is not only attractive but can be used to hold sharpened pencils, dull pencils, pencil crayons, pens, and even most markers. Other things, non pencil related, that it can hold nicely include fresh flowers, striped drinking straws, or even really long pickles!

Now that we know how much this jar can do, how valuable it can be, how useful it would be in anyone's life..you are probably thinking it will be out of your price range? Well you are wrong! This jar is almost free! Yes, FREE (almost)!
Do I have your attention? Are you still skeptical? Thinking the materials may be almost free, but, what's the catch? Is there a lot of work involved? Skill? A special tool that you need to buy? No, that is where you are wrong again (especially if you have children and make them do the leg work).
Let me show you how easy and affordable this stick jar really is to make. Again, make sure you include the children to do most of the running around.

Step 1: You need to collect a bucketful of sticks. Send the kids out into the yard, tell them to act like beavers and collect up food (aka sticks) for the winter. Make sure you go through the 'food' and remove any rotten sticks. Twigs or big limbs are also tricky to work with, so you may have to chuck them as well. Make sure you tell your little beavers they did a wonderful job - that will motivate them to do your bidding later.
Also, tell the oldest one to go hunting through the recycling box for a glass jar. Jam jars or mason jars are the ideal size and shape.

No rotten or curvy sticks in this bucket of beaver food.

Step 2: You need to measure for length. Ideally, you want the stick to be just a little longer than the jar. When you glue the sticks onto the jar it is nice if they hide the opening a bit. To measure, I cut a stick, held it against the jar, marked the other end and cut again. Then I put some tape on my saw to show me how long to cut each stick. Then, raar raar, I went to work sawing sticks like it was nobody's business.
However, the children started getting bored. To avoid a power saw accident I distracted them with saws of their own - see Step 3.

Just a little longer than the jar

Measure. Tape it off.

More power!

Step 3: Teach the children a lesson in sawing. This craft is a good opportunity to introduce the basic sawing tool - the mitre box. Again, measure out the length of stick you want and place a piece of tape on your mitre box. Show the children how to place their saw (I use a dull saw with the children) in the cut outs and let them go to town. You really should watch them, and you may even have to hold the box to stop it from moving around. Obviously, I encourage safety glasses too (whoops).

Saw, saw, saw...

Let the teeth do the work...hey, where are you safety glasses?!

Done.

Step 4: Use a hot glue gun and attach the sticks to the jar. This part gets a bit tricky with the children. What we found worked well was the children shot the glue onto the stick and the parent picked up the hot, glue covered stick and pushed it onto the jar. A child's hand seem to be more sensitive to hot melted glue than an adult's hand? They cry and the process is slowed down. Adults only curse under their breath and work faster.
We also glued a ribbon around the jar and tied it in a bow. This is another activity the children can do. Send them to the craft storage and allow them to pick out an appropriate ribbon (you may need to remind them that skulls are for Halloween only). They can cut it to length and possibly even tie a bow.

Add some ribbon for flare

 Step 5: Now fill up that jar - add pencils, pens, flowers, or turkey pepperettes. We found some wonderful pencils that look just like sticks! A perfect match for this craft.

Stick pencils

Fill 'er up

 This stick jar makes a wonderful Christmas gift, Birthday gift, Mother's Day present, or Father's day present. Go on, save the world, make your stick jar today!

MATT MAKES BREAD - TAKE ONE

DO YOU LIKE DENSE BREAD?

Pine Tree Post | Food Page

Bread. The simple food. Made from only a few ingredients, it has sustained humanity for eons. This sounds like a food that should be simple to make and second nature to any human...right?

Not so, as Matt found out. His first attempt at making bread resulted in a loaf that tasted fine, but, left plenty of room for improvement - especially in the texture department.

The recipe he used was from Cold Antler Farm, a homesteading memoir book he recently read.
With only four ingredients and simple instructions this sounded like it should have been a cake walk.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

3 cups flour, half whole half white

1 teaspoon salt

To best describe the process we will print the correct instructions in black and we will print Matt's actions in RED.

Step 1: Add dry active yeast to warm water and wait 5 minutes until foamy/bubbling.
Step 1: Add boiling water to yeast and add other ingredients right away.

Step 1 - combine warm water and yeast, wait 5 minutes for yeast to activate

Step 2: Add flour to foamy liquid one cup at a time. Mix thoroughly.
Step 2: Dump all ingredients into bowl. Allow 2 year old to play with dough.

Warning : the dough may fly around the kitchen - it sticks to walls, appliances, pets...

Spoon may become stuck. Adult help may be required.

Dough is attracted to hands. Wash after mixing. You may want to wash before mixing as well.

Step 3: Cover bowl with a damp cloth and allow dough to rise for 8 - 12 hours. Dough should double in size.
Step 3: Cover bowl with damp cloth. Come back 12 hours later to find dough the same size. Do not worry and continue on with process.

Dough should double in size. If it does not, you should not continue the process.

Step 4: Fold dough over many times and allow to raise another 1 - 2 hours until it has doubled again.
Step 4: Fold dough over a few times, sprinkle counter top with flour, take picture for blog.

Step 5: Once dough has risen, place in oven at 450 for 30-35 mins.
Step 5: Ignore second raising process, 15 minutes should be long enough. Bake at 450 for 35 mins.
 

Picture perfect crust!

Step 6: Allow bread to cool before cutting into it.
Step 6: Allow bread to cool. Cut into it and be shocked by the colour and dense consistency. Do not swear in front of the children.

Dark interior is not a good sign.

Brave testers of this bread commented that the taste was delicious, however, the slightly doughy-hard-to-bite-through denseness of the bread was the major downfall.
Next time Matt will not kill the yeast with boiling water and will allow sufficient time for the bread to rise.

Kingston | 1:11