sundays are for baking & drawing

Another weekend down. Where does the time go? People have told me that time moves even faster as you age. I can't even imagine!

If you know me, or have been reading my blog for a while, you know that Sundays are my rest day. I like to do a few things, but I love not having any set plans and spending my day doing what I want when I want. I know this luxury won't last forever, so I plan to take advantage of it!

Yesterday, I woke up slowly and chatted with mom on the phone for a bit. Once she told me they were having smoothies, a craving hit. After finishing our phone call, I busted out my trusty magic bullet and threw in some frozen peaches, fresh strawberries and low-acid orange juice. Instant smoothie! Even on a frigid day, like yesterday, a smoothie still hit the spot.

I've already told you before that Sunday makes me want to bake. I've also confessed that baking feeling went away the day we moved into this apartment, with it's seemingly surface-less space. D had been wanting to make for a couple of months now, so yesterday we bit the bullet and made them. It didn't take very long, since worked together. He did the wet bowl and I did the dry bowl. Then mix. They turned out alright from what I could tell. I only had a little bite because I was too busy binging on chocolate I had bought on Friday.

One must-do Sunday activity, unless it's raining, is to take Abby to the off-leash dog park. She doesn't get much (if any) dog interaction during the week, so we try to bring her a couple times every weekend to release some energy by chasing and wrestling the other dogs. When we finally took her inside because our feet were frozen, she looked like this. Man, she knows how to turn on the puppy eyes.

Later on in the evening, after watching a couple episodes of Ink Masters on Spike TV, D & I decided to draw. Inspired by the tattoo designs on the show, we decided to challenge each other. We set up our table so we couldn't see each others' drawings and then described a tattoo we would want to get. We had one hour to create a cool design. The photo on the left is just a sketch I started to make a collage over, the photo on the right is what I came up with after he gave me the following instructions:

I want a bomb dropping into water. You can use blue, red and orange.

A man of few words.

Not bad, for my first "tattoo design" ever. I'm pretty sure that no one would ever get this permanently drawn on their body though. Haha. I asked for a spiral/floral design with lots of detail in blue, green and purple, but he won't let me show you his. It was actually really fun to surprise each other with the design at the end. We'll probably try this again.

The design on the left above is just a sketch I made of an old travel photo my parents took. I'm planning on doing a paper collage over it sometimes this week or next. I'll be sure to show you the finished product.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

xx Janelle

Tasty Tuesdays: Peach Oatmeal Muffins

Guess who got up to some baking on Sunday?

Now, guess how many muffins are left?

One!

Yep. The two of us destroyed eleven muffins in 3 days. Mind you, I ate 3 for breakfast on Sunday. They were pretty delicious. Chewy and soft. Not dense at all. The canned peaches left these little holes so they literally crumble in your mouth.

I also tried these new "environmentally friendly" If You Care cupcake liners from Pete's and I'm in love. The package said that they would work better than normal ones and I thought pfft, yeah right but they actually did. I will definitely buy them again. They're the same price as regular ones, but the muffins peeled off perfectly. Barely a crumb was left on them. Usually with regular liners you get a film left on the liner. Think about all the cupcake you could be eating instead of throwing away! Haha. 

I used this recipe from Dairy Goodness. Ironically, I am lactose-intolerant (what a pretentious-sounding condition) so I subbed unsweetened almond milk for the milk and low-calorie margarine for the butter. And miraculously, everything worked out perfectly. I also used canned peaches, drained as suggested and added a bit less sugar than it called for. The recipe is easy to follow, but be prepared to dirty a few bowls:

Let me know if you try them out!

Also, I've been asked recently by a few people what the difference is between a muffin and a cupcake. What do you think? I go by the general rule that if it's sweeter, it's probably a cupcake. And if there's oatmeal in it, then it's definitely a muffin. But I've had some pretty sweet muffins too... Hmm.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by the blog. I love hearing from you so don't be shy to comment!

Today's Breakfast

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a good start so far. 

If you're tired of the usual toast or cereal for breakfast you could give an "everything egg scramble" a try. Remember my veggie/ham scramble from a while back? To make an 'everything' version, just throw in any veggies/meat you want, add some eggs and scramble it up. This morning I threw in some bacon bits, tomatoes, corn, leftover black beans and avocado and served it with (fake) sour cream and corn tortillas. Yum.

My usual breakfast food rotates between eggos with PB + applesauce (so amazing.), plain oatmeal with added in fruit, nuts & almond milk or just a big bowl of cereal. What's in your regular breakfast rotation? 

Breakfast for Supper: Birds' Nests

 We are officially halfway through the week! As you know, Canada day is Friday and I'm very much looking forward to the (hopefully sunny) long weekend. I'm planning on celebrating with some friends including none other than my dearest friend, Disaronno. What are your plans?

Before I get to today's post, you may have noticed the change in background. I'm going to be playing around with some new templates and adding a super pretty header in the next couple of weeks. Also, I'd love to get some feedback on my blog whether it's content, design, suggestions for posts or anything else. Feel free to shoot me an email at sugar_plum_cutie@hotmail.com with your comments and suggestions. Go ahead and laugh at the email, it was grade 7 and my family nickname was sugarplum...

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So today's recipe is my first Breakfast for Supper feature (see my other breakfast posts here & here). Here's what you need to make super-delicious & filling Birds' Nests:

Serves 2 hungry people

 

2 cups of hasbrown potatoes (frozen or cut up potatoes)

4 eggs

1 very small onion, diced

Real crumbled bacon bits
1/2 tsp of basil 

1 tbsp olive oil

pepper to taste
grated mozzarella

maple syrup

To make:

Heat your oil in a large pan & throw in the hashbrowns. Add basil & pepper. Cook until soft, add onion & fry until browned. Add bacon bits and fry just to intensify flavor (1 or 2 mins).

Meanwhile fry up the eggs one at a time in a small pan.

 

Serve by arranging hashbrown/bacon bit mixture in a circle on large plates. Add 2 eggs to each plate and top with grated mozzarella. Drizzle with maple syrup and serve hot. You can also forgo the syrup for ketchup if that's more your style!

 

In my books, anything with bacon is always amazing, but add a little bit of sweetness and it takes it to a whole other level. Val, you know what I'm talking about!

 

The cheese grater was dirty & I was hungry, so cut up mozza it is!

 

 

Apparently, I cook with sunglasses on my head.

Come visit me and I'll make you one. Any takers?

xo Janelle

Sugar-Free Challenge: Breakfast Update!

Good morning!

As you may have read, I'm doing a 10-day sugar-free challenge. By far the biggest challenge has been sauces, but with breakfast being a close second. I wanted to share a super-easy idea for dressing up your oatmeal. This is what I've had the past 2 mornings for brekkie: quick oats (prepared in the microwave) topped with cinnamon, a sliced banana, a handful of raisins, cashews and unsweetened almond milk. It's creamy, rich, sweet, crunchy and comforting. I also want to try some PB swirled in there. Maybe tomorrow.

xo Janelle

Sugar-free Challenge: Veggie & Ham Scramble with Pita

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are; it sure is here.

One of the hardest parts about the sugar-free challenge for me so far has been breakfasts. Anyone who has spent a morning with me knows that I LOVE cereal. I love the ones with medium amount of sugar, like Honey Bunches of Oats (6g) or Cinnamon Toast Crunch (11g?). Not only do I love it for the taste but it's great for when I'm in a rush. Pour, add milk, eat. I like simple things...

Cereal has always been a breakfast staple in my house growing up. At any given time in our apartment now there are about 4 types of cereal, any less than that and we're "running out." So it was essential for me to find a substitute for cereal. Even though I loved puffed wheat and unsweetened almond milk, I needed another breakfast alternative. Enter, eggs!

My dad used to make us the 2nd best omelets (mine are still better!). But omelets can be a bit plain so I wanted to punch it up a bit with today's breakfast: Veggie & Ham Scramble with Pita.  

Here's how to make it happen...

Fry up some veggies in a pan. I like to start with a tsp of olive oil heated on medium, followed by some onion, peppers, tomatoes and spinach/greens. This morning I also threw in some chopped up deli ham for a protein kick. Fry the veggies until just soft.

Crack your eggs (I used 3) right into the pan. Be sure to keep scrambling with a spatula or flipper. Gradually reduce stirring and continue to cook until eggs are cooked well.

To crisp up some "pitas" to eat alongside the scramble cut a tortilla of your choice into 6 pieces. Lay the pieces on a baking sheet and broil them in the oven until brown. (This only takes a few minutes, be careful not to burn them!) You can also try adding a drizzle of olive oil and some spices, like chili powder or basil, to them before broiling. Serve with your choice of soft cheese (feta, goat etc.).

Here's what mine looked like:

With some leftover homemade hummus peeking out in the back.

What is your favorite breakfast food? What's your favorite cereal? Let me know!

xo Janelle