January 2011 – a hippie with a minivan

Beginnings of a Quilt…

When I was pregnant with Xavier I made him a very simple quilt… it was one of my first sewing projects… it was simple, it made from old clothes and second hand scraps, it was small, and it sparked a love for sewing.

Surprisingly, I haven’t quilted since…

I have a lot of material in my sewing room including many 5″ squares that I had cut when I was making some kid dresses a few years ago. I was wondering what I could do with them when I just decided to have fun and experiment… so… I cut the squares into strips and randomly sewed the strips together to make new squares. I put them side to side and thought that they would make a great quilt just as they were….

then I came across this video on how to make an easy pinwheel…

and from that, my colourful striped squares became these…

I put a border around each piece, put batting and a back and made a block that is 9 1/2″ square… and am in the process of making more…

I am just doing it little by little, quilting each block as I go without much of a plan. It is a lot of work and I am not sure just what exactly I will end up with, but I am having so much doing it and the results are already inspiring…

Black Bean Chocolate cake (Gluten Free)

It was Wilhelmina’s 1st birthday a few days ago and we needed a cake!

Because she reacted to Gluten we are keeping her diet Gluten free for now, which means that I needed to keep our usual cake recipes in the binder and find an alternative.

I never would have thought that Black Beans would work so well in a cake! It was chocolatey, it was moist… it was delicious and I would never had guessed there was no flour in it!

so you need…

1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed) (540ml/19 fl oz)
5 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter or extra virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup Demerara (or brown) sugar
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9″ cake pan and dust with cocoa.

Place the beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt into blender or food processor. Process or blend on high until beans are completely liquified.

In a small bowl, Mix together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a larger bowl, beat butter/coconut oil until light and fluffy. Add the remaining two eggs, beating well after each one. Pour bean batter into egg mixture and mix. Finally, stir in cocoa powder mixture and water and beat the batter on high for one minute until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done when the top is rounded and firm to the touch.

Instead of making frosting, I waited until the cake was cool and then sprinkled some powdered sugar on top and then made a side of chocolate whipped cream.

Wilhelmina is 1!!!

I can’t believe that a year has already passed. A year ago, I gave birth to my fourth child. My second unassisted birth, my first daughter.

Wilhelmina is so amazing. She loves to cuddle, she loves her brothers and her Daddy (and me) and she loves to smile.

After three boys I am enjoying having a little girl and though she can be tough and hold her own, she is very girly. She plays with her dolls and stuffed animals, walks around with them and cuddles them. She seems to have a different one each time as though she is making sure each one gets attention.

She loves to get dressed up and tries to put all different kinds of clothes on. The other day while I was in the sewing room she pulled out some fabric that was put together for a dress that I hadn’t completed from a while back and kept on trying to put it on. I made it into a quick skirt and tried it on her. About 15 min later I took it off her and she insisted that I put it back on and kept it on all day periodically looking down and seemingly admiring it…

She has been walking for more than 1 1/2 months now and walks as though she has been walking her whole life. She loves music and loves to dance and constantly bops her head to the beat whenever there is music…

She loves cats, real cats, stuffed animal cats, drawings of cats, books about cats… and guess what her first word was? yes… cat…

She also loves books and will bring us books to read to her and will sit down and look at books by herself. Especially if there are cats in the book… or beside the book… or both!

A few weeks ago she decided that eating was fun and insists on sitting down in her chair and eating with us at each meal. She reacted to Gluten so we are are keeping a close eye on what she eats. I am thankful that we have been getting closer with some friends that happen to also be Gluten free and have a bit of a starting point and advice for what to avoid and what substitutes are available and work. I don’t mind the allergies that we already had. Keeping clear of artificial colours and flavours and a few dairy products are a good thing and even if the allergy was no longer there, I would still do it. Gluten is another story though…

Ec is doing good… we went through a bit of a potty pause that coincided with teeth coming in and walking and holidays etc… It was not really a strike, but just a few more misses. We just went with the flow, let her do her thing and it is going back to normal now…

(she even practices EC with her cat… because cats need to potty too)

As I said before, she loves her brothers… and they love her.

The most amazing relationship I find is between Xavier and her. She looks up to him, she follows him around and he just adores her. He loves to wear her around the house and has been doing it quite often gving me an opportunity to get some things done without having to worry about her…

All in all she is just a joy to be around. She makes us laugh and smile and is so cute that it brings a tear to my eye… being our last, I am so grateful to have her and I am enjoying every minute though time seems to be flying by…

Elenco Electronic Snap Circuits

This came into our home at Xmas time and didn’t come out right away (I kept forgetting to get batteries) But once it came out it has been out almost out every day since…

Snap Circuits is all about circuits. You build a circuit by snapping the pieces together (hence the name). You can make a light light up, music come out of a speaker, make a fan go (and fly off) etc. You put resistors in, or add things in different sequences and see what happens… what happens when you add a cup of water to a circuit? I can’t wait to find out! The instructions and explanations are clear and though we just have the basic kit for now, there are so many things that can be done and I am sure we will add other kits in the future.

At the moment, it is Xavier that has the most interested since he can read he can read the instructions, though the diagrams are quite easy to read also so slightly younger kids or not yet reading kids with an interest probably will be able to do some of them also…

I remember taking electricity classes in High school, I remember not understanding the diagrams. I remember a friend doing the work for me because we were in pairs and he got it and I didn’t and leaving the class most likely as ignorant about electricity and elecronics as before the class, and maybe slightly more confused. If we would have had something like this, I would have understood completely. Even in a tactile sense snapping the pieces together is satisfying and I am looking forward to having a turn too…

Meat and Sweet Potato pie

When I was in BC last year, Annie brought me to an amazing little restaurant in Prince-Rupert. On the menu was a “Cajun Pie” that was absolutely delicious. I asked what was in it and when I got home I took some of the flavours that I loved that were in it and made it my own… I have made it quite a few times now and finally wrote down the proportions to share…

Because the boys are mixed on “spicy” I found a way to have all the flavour without the spice. Of course, if you like it spicy, add some cayenne to the spice mix or right to your plate.

For 2 pies (one feeds our family and the other is lunch or frozen for an easy supper)

3 lbs of ground pork
1 large sweet Potato (peeled and cut into small cubes)
1 red pepper (chopped)
1 large onion (chopped)

For the spice mix:

3 Tbsp minced Garlic
Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp Chili powder
3 tsp oregano
1 tsp white pepper (not black pepper, the flavour of the white pepper is important)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp mixed spice (nutmeg/cinnamon/allspice/ginger/clove)

Crust for 2 pies

Mix all of the ingredients of the spice mix together to form a paste.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large pot, brown the meat and set aside. In the same pot as the meat was browned, add a bit of oil then add onion, sweet potatoes and red peppers and cook until soft. Add a bit of water to deglaze the bottom and then add the spice mix and add the meat back. Mix well so that all of the spices are incorporated and then make sure the seasoning is right by tasting.

Fill two pie dishes with the meat mixture, cover with pie crust and use a fork to pierce the pie all over. You can also put an egg wash over the crusts.

Bake for 45 min until Golden brown.