Baking in the rain

Yesterday was a cold, miserable, rainy day. Perfect for baking!! So Miss H & I figured while Miss B was sleeping we would use up the frozen bananas in the freezer and make banana bread. Yum!

Of course, I had to call my mom for her banana bread recipe, which I do every time I make banana bread, lol. And then of course I was 1 egg short and didn't have enough butter. Not such a great start.  This is one of those times I'm very greatful to have my parents live by. Mom sent Dad over with my missing ingredients so we could get started (hubby was working).


Banana Bread Recipe
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of bananas (we used 4 small bananas)
1 3/4 cup flour (we used whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (we didn't add any salt)



Must have a taste!

 First we creamed together the butter and sugar, then added the eggs and bananas and mixed until combined. Then we added all of the dry ingredients to our mixture. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Pour your mixture into a greased loaf pan & bake for approximately 1 hour (or until a tooth pick inserted into your bread comes out dry). We ended up putting ours in for an extra 3 minutes and it came out perfect! Infact it was so good that it's almost gone already!!


Before the oven




All finished!



Routines for moms?

Alright, so I'm a HUGE believer in routines for babies and children. I believe they thrive being on a sleep schedule and they are much happier. Now what about adults?

I am really not a morning person & I never have been. In fact, when I was a teenager my mom wouldn't even talk to me in the mornings, lol. She knew better!! Oh god what I have to look forward to when both my girls are teenagers. Pay back maybe??

So the last little while, I've been trying to get myself onto a sleep schedule. Going to bed by 10/1030 and waking up around 630. I have to set my alarm because I won't wake up on my own. That's 8 hours of sleep so that should be enough right? I do find when I wake up earlier, my days go alot smoother. I have that quiet time in the morning to get myself together. I wake up, make coffee, eat breakfast, and just enjoy the quiet before the storm. I keep trying to convince myself to do yoga in the mornings, but as much as I LOVE yoga I have a hard time motivating myself unless I'm in a class. Maybe once it's always sunny in the morning, I'll convince myself to get out on the deck and do some sun salutations (my favs!). But I've been slacking with getting up. It's way to comfortable sleeping until the girls wake me up!

It's already almost 10:30 and I'm still sitting at the computer, working. Maybe I'll get myself back on a schedule after the weekend?

A mother's work is never done

Gosh, some days I feel like I go, go, go all day long & at the end of the day I'm still looking at a mess! It can be a bit discouraging. Today I've been focused on getting laundry washed, folded, and put away. I'm terrible for having clean, folded laundry sitting in baskets for weeks.

Thank god for The Laundry Tarts!! If you've never heard of them you must check them out! They are an eco-friendly company based out of Ontario, Canada.  All of their products are completely biodegradable (including the packaging), hypoallergenic, 100% vegan and free of phosphates, EDTA, phthalates, parabens, SLS, SLES, nitrates, sulphites and chlorine. They are  also one of the only companies to list ALL of their ingredients without misleading the consumer! & That's only the beginning of how wonderful they are!

Their detergent scents smell good enough to eat! Key Lime Pie & Pina Colada are my favourites, they smell so fresh!. I have main floor laundry and it makes my entire main floor smell delicious! It is great for sensitive skin, cloth diaper safe, and HE machine friendly (all of which we have in our house). Because they use only phthalate free oils, there is no residue left on your clothing. My diapers no longer have an ammonia smell and look cleaner than they ever have! I love using it on my family's clothing and knowing that there are no harmful chemicals against their precious skin! I love their products so much & I'm so confident that my customers will too, that I added it to Spoiled Bottom. A 4lb bag is $23.00 (gst included!) and mine has lasted me for over 4 months. Definitely worth the money!

What is your favourite eco-friendly detergent??

What's for dinner?

Trying to figure out what to make for dinner everyday is one of my most disliked jobs of being a mom & housewife. Half the time I forget to take meat out of the freezer in time so I'm defrosting it in the microwave (which is happening right now!) and the other half of the time I don't have all the ingredients on hand. When I was meal planning a month at a time, it made things so much easier! But I've obviously gotten lazy since then. So thanks to Pinterest, I've found a few blogs that have make ahead freezer meals on them. This seems like such a great idea!! One day of prepping and cooking (or no cooking for slow cooker meals!) & I should have lots of easy (non processed) meals in the freezer. Here's links to a couple blogs that had some great ideas on them - Mama and Baby Love & Ring Around the Rosies.

Tonight, Epicure's square silicone steamer is saving dinner! This steamer works even better than I had expected it would when I bought it. I'm so paranoid when cooking chicken but it cooked perfectly in here! It was still moist and juicy, but cooked completely through, unlike when I cook chicken and it's always so dried out. What's one of your favourite kitchen gadgets to make life easier?

Normally, Wednesday evening is yoga night for me. For those of you haven't tried yoga yet, do it!!! As much as I would love to be someone who loves working out - I'm not. But honestly I'm in love with yoga. It's a great workout but it does so much for me mentally and emotionally as well. It is definitely my happy spot after a stressful day. Just try it! But unfortunately hubby is going to be late tonight, so I'll have to try for another night.

OH and how could I forget?! My diapers have been reviewed by Lindsey at So Easy Being Green & there's a giveaway too!!! Head on over there to show her some love and enter to win a Spoiled Bottom of your choice!!!