The nice thing about living in South Western Ontario is you truly get to experience all four seasons. This year we are getting a fifth, Indian Summer.
The mornings are nice and chill. The afternoons are beautiful and warm. The cornstalks are turning golden, ready to be mown. The forest canopy makes the horizon look like a patchwork quilt with it's pops of red, orange and yellow.
This Indian Summer is giving us our last chance picnics, bike rides, playground fun and warm sunshine on our faces before Winter comes with its bundling and biting air.
Though I do love it when true fall comes, and you smell the earthy fragrance of fallen leaves and the air feels refreshingly crisp, I shall be ever thankful for this Indian Summer and bask in its warmth and beauty.
I hope you are enjoying your seasons, whatever season you may be in.
Thursday 26 September 2013
Thursday 19 September 2013
The Totally Amazing Versatile White Sauce
I love to cook for my family. I like coming up with cool dishes and seeing what they think. In my head my family raves about the amazing meal I slaved over. In reality my husband falls more in love with me because of my impressive culinary skills, while my kids say ewwww!!!! yuck!!!! (I have since taught them to say, "Thanks Mom. What an interesting flavour." For if one says they don't like it then they all don't like it.)
One rule I have when I cook weekday dinners is that it needs to be relatively simple and has to be done within half an hour. With going out to get the kids back from school and then if I have book club or my husband needs to go out to do something or if it is girl guide night, I don't have time to be cooking a meal that will take me an hour to make. (Unless it is the crock pot or something cooked in the oven. Turn on, walk away? Yes please!) That is what I love about this white sauce. It is versatile, it doesn't take long to make and it is yummers.
This is the white sauce:
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small pan.
Add 2 tablespoons of flour stir together until smooth and somewhat bubbly
then pour in 1 cup of milk stir constantly until it boils for one minute. It will thicken up.
Some people may wish to add salt and pepper to taste.
With this base you can make any kind of a creamy sauce you would like. Want to have a cheese fondue, add a cup or so of shredded cheese. Want a creamy curry sauce, use a tablespoon of curry powder for one of the tablespoons of flour. Add dill and pour over salmon and then bake, so yummy. Add parmesan cheese and you have alfredo sauce. So far, these are what I have come up with. The only limit is your imagination!
One rule I have when I cook weekday dinners is that it needs to be relatively simple and has to be done within half an hour. With going out to get the kids back from school and then if I have book club or my husband needs to go out to do something or if it is girl guide night, I don't have time to be cooking a meal that will take me an hour to make. (Unless it is the crock pot or something cooked in the oven. Turn on, walk away? Yes please!) That is what I love about this white sauce. It is versatile, it doesn't take long to make and it is yummers.
This is the white sauce:
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small pan.
Add 2 tablespoons of flour stir together until smooth and somewhat bubbly
then pour in 1 cup of milk stir constantly until it boils for one minute. It will thicken up.
Some people may wish to add salt and pepper to taste.
With this base you can make any kind of a creamy sauce you would like. Want to have a cheese fondue, add a cup or so of shredded cheese. Want a creamy curry sauce, use a tablespoon of curry powder for one of the tablespoons of flour. Add dill and pour over salmon and then bake, so yummy. Add parmesan cheese and you have alfredo sauce. So far, these are what I have come up with. The only limit is your imagination!
Thursday 12 September 2013
The Cost of Children
As part of the simple life, cultivating relationships is important. The relationship you have with family, especially children, is key to have happiness.
I was listening to the noon radio call-in show that is on CBC in Ontario. They were discussing the cost of raising children in today's society. Another new study came out with its estimate of what it costs.
The whole premise of the cost of raising children kid of irks me a little. To me, I don't think of my children as coming with a price tag. As soon as you think that, they start to become a commodity with an expectation of a return. Yes, it costs money to feed and cloth them, but even if you didn't have kids food and clothing would still be bought.
One of the callers said she would like a third child but did not want her other two to miss out on the activities that they were already doing. That made me feel sad. Children add so much to the home. That means there is some sacrificing and prioritizing. This woman's priority seems to be of material fleetingness instead of the blessing of having another spirit in her home.
While I was thinking about this whole issue I came up with the concept of the self-absorbed parent. This means putting what they think being a good parent is ahead of what the child actually wants. Parents think that they should put their children in every possible activity because a good parent does not deny any experience to their children. With both parents usually working outside the home, the children at school or daycare, I ask, when is the family time? When is the time for building relationships? We need to have time at home. We need time to eat together, work together, and share values together. If we, as parents, don't take the time to raising our children others will. That means the values we honour may not be passed to or shared with our children.
If we want our children to be kind we need to teach them and show them how to be kind. If want our children to serve others we need to serve as a family.
Now I love my children and want them to have many experiences, but I ask what they would like to do and they have to choose one activity. They can always change the activity each season but they have the choice. It is children led not parent imposed.
I guess that is why living the simple life is so important. It is a mindset of deciding what is truly important in life and making time for that. It is about being creative to attain what you want.
We live off one modest income. I do not feel deprived. We can eat, be warm, have a home. What more could we want. Children want to feel loved and secure. It does not take money to do that. Let's get away from self-indulgent thinking. Have kids, love them. Enrich their lives by spending time together. Don't think of your children as costs, think of them as fun times, learning and growing experiences. Enjoy!
I was listening to the noon radio call-in show that is on CBC in Ontario. They were discussing the cost of raising children in today's society. Another new study came out with its estimate of what it costs.
The whole premise of the cost of raising children kid of irks me a little. To me, I don't think of my children as coming with a price tag. As soon as you think that, they start to become a commodity with an expectation of a return. Yes, it costs money to feed and cloth them, but even if you didn't have kids food and clothing would still be bought.
One of the callers said she would like a third child but did not want her other two to miss out on the activities that they were already doing. That made me feel sad. Children add so much to the home. That means there is some sacrificing and prioritizing. This woman's priority seems to be of material fleetingness instead of the blessing of having another spirit in her home.
While I was thinking about this whole issue I came up with the concept of the self-absorbed parent. This means putting what they think being a good parent is ahead of what the child actually wants. Parents think that they should put their children in every possible activity because a good parent does not deny any experience to their children. With both parents usually working outside the home, the children at school or daycare, I ask, when is the family time? When is the time for building relationships? We need to have time at home. We need time to eat together, work together, and share values together. If we, as parents, don't take the time to raising our children others will. That means the values we honour may not be passed to or shared with our children.
If we want our children to be kind we need to teach them and show them how to be kind. If want our children to serve others we need to serve as a family.
Now I love my children and want them to have many experiences, but I ask what they would like to do and they have to choose one activity. They can always change the activity each season but they have the choice. It is children led not parent imposed.
I guess that is why living the simple life is so important. It is a mindset of deciding what is truly important in life and making time for that. It is about being creative to attain what you want.
We live off one modest income. I do not feel deprived. We can eat, be warm, have a home. What more could we want. Children want to feel loved and secure. It does not take money to do that. Let's get away from self-indulgent thinking. Have kids, love them. Enrich their lives by spending time together. Don't think of your children as costs, think of them as fun times, learning and growing experiences. Enjoy!
Thursday 5 September 2013
Back to School
Well, the kids are in school. This is the first time in a long time that I have been by myself in years. My middle child has started junior kindergarten. My youngest is napping while writing this. I have time of my own and I have no idea what to do with it. Knowing me I will be so overwhelmed with ideas that I will simply sit on my bottom and do nothing! Man I need some gumption!
I love having my kids go to school. They learn so much, they get to meet so many interesting and diverse people and their teachers are patient with them...ooh so patient. My hat goes off to those parent who home school, I do not have that talent or the patience I am sure it takes. I am often reminded how I am not meant to teach my children academically. It never turns out well. I know that there are many things I need to teach them, but that is another blog post all together.
One thing that I don't love about school is making lunches. The figuring out of what food to feed, what to put the food in, how to keep it warm, or cold. It is a logic problem of the highest calibre.
Because I want to decrease the garbage that we produce I try hard not to buy prepackaged food. Not only are pudding cups or yogurt cups full of things that we probably shouldn't be ingesting, they are also way to big for my kids to finish. It is a waste. So I buy/make in bulk and have my own containers. Even buying containers now a days is difficult. There is so much about plastics that is not good. Now we have to check that things are BPA free, phthalate free, other chemicals I probably haven't heard of free. We almost need a post-doctorate degree in buying safe containers. Perhaps I am going over board and need to relax about it, but, if I can avoid having toxins leaking from containers then I will.
Luckily I found a great company that sells things for litter-less lunches. I was able to get containers that work so well and are completely safe. I am so glad that there are more and more people and companies are realizing the importance of safe lunch packaging. It is nice to support these businesses as their product is of good quality and if we want a change then we need to put our money where are mouth is at times.
What do you do about lunches and containers?
I love having my kids go to school. They learn so much, they get to meet so many interesting and diverse people and their teachers are patient with them...ooh so patient. My hat goes off to those parent who home school, I do not have that talent or the patience I am sure it takes. I am often reminded how I am not meant to teach my children academically. It never turns out well. I know that there are many things I need to teach them, but that is another blog post all together.
One thing that I don't love about school is making lunches. The figuring out of what food to feed, what to put the food in, how to keep it warm, or cold. It is a logic problem of the highest calibre.
Because I want to decrease the garbage that we produce I try hard not to buy prepackaged food. Not only are pudding cups or yogurt cups full of things that we probably shouldn't be ingesting, they are also way to big for my kids to finish. It is a waste. So I buy/make in bulk and have my own containers. Even buying containers now a days is difficult. There is so much about plastics that is not good. Now we have to check that things are BPA free, phthalate free, other chemicals I probably haven't heard of free. We almost need a post-doctorate degree in buying safe containers. Perhaps I am going over board and need to relax about it, but, if I can avoid having toxins leaking from containers then I will.
Luckily I found a great company that sells things for litter-less lunches. I was able to get containers that work so well and are completely safe. I am so glad that there are more and more people and companies are realizing the importance of safe lunch packaging. It is nice to support these businesses as their product is of good quality and if we want a change then we need to put our money where are mouth is at times.
What do you do about lunches and containers?
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