Woman in Real Life

Now that the bitter cold weather has arrived in our area, it’s time to spend our free hours cozying up indoors, enjoying a fire and drinking a cup of hot chocolate. Unless you’re going skiing, of course, but I’m not much of a sports enthusiast. Whether you’re playing a board game, watching a family movie, or reading a great book, I can’t help but think that a little treat would add to your enjoyment.

These easy peanut butter cupcakes, adapted from a recipe from La Dolce Vegan!: Vegan Livin' Made Easy, can be whipped together in a jiffy and enjoyed along with a warm cup of cocoa, coffee or tea.

Next time I make them, I’m going to put a little jam in the middle of each one for a delicious surprise in the centre.

 

 

 


 My sister gave my son this cool retro-looking Spiderman hat. Cost her 99 cents.


 She also gave my daughter a hat and some cute gloves.


I made this carrot cake from How it All Vegan. I like to bake it in a Bundt pan to fancy it up a bit, then dust some icing sugar on top for sweetness.


 I made a yummy “Farmhouse Vegetable Soup” from Vegan Planet—the kind where you throw in basically any vegetable you have.
Today was “fashion disaster” day at my kids' school. My daughter put together this outfit. She still looks pretty darn cute.
 

We had another busy week, with the four of us still home for Christmas vacation. Here are some of our cell phone photos from the past seven days.

This makes it look like we were very productive, but there were several days spent in pyjamas too.

Although, like most parents, I get a lot done even when I'm in pyjamas. Let me see, there's laundry, cooking, dishes, baking, tidying, cleaning...I could go on, but you know what I mean.

I headed to a local yarn shop for their post-Christmas sale. I took an introductory knitting class there last February and have yet to finish the scarf I started then. Some ladies in the waiting room at my daughter’s ballet class have suggested we work on a lovely scarf project each week while we wait. I picked up the supplies for that and some needles for the kids. Every time I want to knit, they do too, so I figured they should have the right equipment for the job.

For the first time ever, we celebrated New Year’s Eve just the four of us. We ate some Chinese food (yum), played some games, threw some blankets and pillows on the floor and just vegged together. Believe it or not, the kids said this was the best New Year’s Eve ever. Just goes to show you once again, all they want is your undivided attention once in a while.

On New Year’s Day, the four of us went to the Art Gallery of Ontario for Family Sunday.



We saw the Chagall exhibit, and the kids were given companion activity guides, which kept them busy looking for images in the paintings. Very helpful, as they would normally be “bored.”



We also participated in art activities related to The Adventures of Tintin. My son had just seen the movie, so it was good timing.



The kids made boats and attempted to float them in a pool of water. They also created treasure maps and the (foil) “bottles” to put them in. A Cape Breton fiddler was on hand to provide entertainment, along with some step dancers. Back at home, we made an arugula salad with sautéed mushrooms on top, inspired by one we had at Bar Italia the week before. Delicious with a light olive oil vinaigrette.






I noticed my ice cream maker sitting lonely in the cold cellar, and decided ice cream in the winter wouldn’t hurt anyone. I made a cookies-and-cream recipe from Lick it! Creamy, Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love. We sandwiched it between the few remaining chocolate chunk cookies I had made before.

 

We made this “15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta” from Oh She Glows. I was hoping it would be terrific, but not really expecting it to be, since it’s so easy to make. I doubled the recipe so the whole family could have some. Turns out, it’s delicious. Next time, I have to put a little bit less of my brother-in-law’s home-grown garlic, though. I loved it, but the kids found it a bit much for their tastes. Bloglovin Have you tried subscribing to your favourite blogs through Bloglovin yet? I like the way they send daily email updates to show when bloggers have shared new posts. Plus, if you go to their website, you see a little summary with enticing photos so you can quickly choose which entries you want to read. If you want to follow MY blog ;) you can go HERE. I so appreciate people taking the time to follow me with Bloglovin, email or GFC. It truly makes my day!



We all know that January brings with it a desire for better health and wellness. Those of you who have been to a fitness centre in the month of January have witnessed the phenomenon firsthand.

I now find myself torn between a desire to exercise and eat more healthfully and an inability to resist clearance-priced Christmas goodies, particularly chocolate. My compromise is to go to the gym three times a week, eat healthy meals and treat myself to a little snackie once in a while (okay every evening).

Keeping in mind my quest for good health, I was intrigued by a green smoothie recipe that came to me via an email from VegNews magazine. I have long enjoyed making smoothies, but I tend to load them with fruit and even sometimes maple syrup, because I like them sweet. Today, however, I find myself a convert to the “green smoothie.”

I imagined this recipe would appeal more to the adults in this household (because of the kale), but I decided to have my nine-year-old son sample it first. He immediately pronounced it a “fail,” because the kale was still in very small chunks like “pulp.” I processed it more (it takes some time in my blender) and that did the trick. He found that he actually liked it. Bonus.

While I was trying to take a photo of it, I knocked my husband’s portion of the smoothie over. (I had already consumed mine.) Not fun to clean up, and no smoothie for him today. Good thing he's not home right now.

What You Need:
3 cups kale
1 banana
1 orange
1 pear, sliced
1 cup grapes
1 cup non-dairy milk
5 cubes ice (I added a couple more.)

What You Do:
In a blender, process ingredients until smooth.