I love being able to delight my family with holiday treats that include a twist. Traditionally, my family would serve sinfully delicious ice cream in special dishes reserved for entertaining. The kids would sit at a special table, fully decorated for the festivities. I get giddy just thinking about melding tradition with new recipes and décor that are more on trend and appropriate for my family at this time. We all grow, change and develop, and this year I will be cooking and entertaining without using dairy. The beauty of this type of change is that you don’t have to alter much in order to change a lot. Using the right products, traditional dishes can be morphed and elevated to something exquisitely better than the original. That’s what growth is about.
I never met my husband’s mom, and it makes me sad every day. I wish I could thank her, cherish her and appreciate her in person, but the family lost her to cancer before we met. I have seen photos and heard stories, but that’s not always enough. There is, thankfully, one holiday tradition she began that I can continue. Every Christmas morning, we make her special German Omelette recipe. Through the flavours of this delicious strata, I connect with her on special occasions every year, and am able to share in some small part of the blessings she bestowed on her family.
My sons do sports and run around every chance they get, and most of the time, are so passionate about play that they are too distracted to eat. Our family has tried so many things in order to give them continuous energy on school days, but the very best solution has been to make sure they eat eggs in the morning. (We’re still working on finishing school lunches but at least they have some sustained energy from breakfast!) The only problem with this lofty egg goal is that Mommy doesn’t always hear her alarm…. The truth is that eggs aren’t just for weekends. Sure – you can reheat ‘weekend eggs’ during the week, but it’s amazing to make them fresh – and fast – every day. I’ve come up with easy ways to ensure they get this amazing protein each day – even when we all have a wee sleep in.
Aaah, Sunday dinners. Grandparents everywhere look sceptically at the manners of their grandkids while parents pray they will eat and not completely offend everyone at the table. “Put your napkin on your lap! Chew with your mouth closed!” But it doesn’t have to be like that! Family dinners tend to have enough stress for some people without the addition of insecurity. UrbanMommies sat down with Sunita Padda, Founder of TableSmarts, and got some amazing tips about family dinner etiquette – and garnered a few refreshers of our own. Etiquette can be intimidating, but remember it’s purpose is about making people feel good.
I am a super-collector of thematic decor. Seriously. I actually have an entire room dedicated to Hallowe’en garden gnomes, spring-themed cookie cutters and Christmas nutcrackers. The latter were acquired a few years ago from Canadian Superstore, and the store has since upped the ante with full-on Canadian hockey nutcrackers. (Don’t worry – I put a word in with the designer requesting goalkeeper versions). I will be lining up this year to snag a few of these.
There’s no way to sugar coat it: pumping sucks. Literally. It’s time consuming, finicky, and can be extremely frustrating. There’s no way to make pumping enjoyable but there are ways to make it suck less. Hacking your pumping routine can save you time, energy, and even breast milk.
We’re finally getting some warm weather and the farmers market is stocked with beautiful local produce. It’s salad season is what I’m saying.
I like to make this salad the night before I plan on eating it (when the house is cool) so I don’t overheat the kitchen and so the flavours can really meld. It’s a big, hearty salad that can definitely pass as a meal.
As a little girl growing up in East Coast Halifax, I used to glorify the United States. Why couldn’t Canada have outlet malls and Dr. Pepper? It never seemed fair, and Americans openly expressed the notion that we lived in igloos. Many didn’t realize that we shared the longest unprotected border in the world. I couldn’t find many Canadians who ‘made it’ on Broadway or in Hollywood. Was there a future for the little girl who wanted to be a musical theatre actor more than anything? I was as embarrassed as I was insecure.
Literacy is as much a parenting priority as ensuring our prodigy are well fed. Some lessons, like teaching them not to bully or washing behind their ears are simpler parenting goals than others. While instilling compassion can be done on a tight budget, not every child has access to the plethora books that are required in order to develop a passion for reading.
We may have mommy-brain about almost everything else, but the one thing we all know is how we like our coffee.
My personal go-to has been a K-cup of an insanely dark roast cut with half and half. There is something to be said for fast, easy, eye-opening caffeine consumption that even my kid can make. (Yes, I’ve taught my oldest how to set the coffee maker and how many splashes of cream to add for it to get to just the color mommy likes.) That convenience comes at a high cost however, with a large amount of waste I’ve never felt great about.