First Milestone

Today was a busy day. Our little cupcake was baptised with her family and friends all in attendance to support her. It was so great. She was such a great little lady during the celebration.

Afterwards we had a reception at our house and all our friends came for a visit. It was wonderful, while my husband and I aren't overly religious, it was very important to me to have our cupcake baptized. I think my Granny would be proud. About 10 minutes before the ceremony I got all teary-eyed standing with my daughter, husband, and best friend and her husband, cupcakes god parents, because I was thinking about how much I wished my Granny was there. Our daughter was baptised with my Granny's rosary, I was also married with that rosary.

Well when it was all said and done, our little girl got her first pieces of jewellery, a gold cross necklace and gold bracelet, and most importantly, she got her own rosary.

Just wanted to share this with you as it was our first family milestone.

So what do we have on the calendar for this weeks meals:
Sunday: Fish and Chips
Monday: Chicken and Chorizo Pasta with spinach strawberry salad
Tuesday: Turkey meatloaf with potatoes and broccoli
Wednesday: Moussaka
Thursday: Eat, Shrink and Be Merry Timbucktuna Casserole
Friday: Eat, Shrink and Be Merry pork chops with rice and roasted cauliflower
Saturday: Eat, Shrink and Be Merry Crab cakes with red pepper alioli and green italian salad.

There you have it, maybe I'll post pictures of meals this week?

Yummy low-fat good for you dressing

I found this recipe about a two years ago, when I was getting fit and eating sensibly in preparation for my wedding. I started eating clean and it was awesome, the food was so yummy, I still eat clean, not 100 per cent of the time but at least 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the time. This recipe is my one stand-by. I make it and it stays in my fridge, yet NO ONE knows that I do it. Hahaha.

I guess they will today.

Time and time again, I serve this salad dressing and no one is the wiser...I may also mask it by putting in it a store bought Renee's glass ceaser dressing bottle. Haha.

So here is the recipe for my Vegan Clean Eating Ceaser Dressing.
Makes 1 cup
3/4 cup of silken tofu
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of water
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup parmesan
Place all ingredients in to food processer and mix till all incorporated.

It tastes so yummy, you won't be able to taste the difference.

Upcoming busy week

Since having our baby girl we've noticed some changes to our schedule, we are a lot busier, but a different busy. It seems like the hours just fly by, we don't even notice and it is bath time.

But I am happy to say that we finally feel like we can manage things. How do we do it, well we do a LOT of planning. Planning around cleaning, shopping, and meals. I thought I'd share our weekly meal plan, which includes some help from Simply Suppers.

Sunday: Fajita Lasagna with italian salad
Monday: Taco Stew with leftover italian salad
Tuesday: (Christmas Family Photos) Pepperoni Pizza with veggies and dip
Wednesday: Maui meatballs with rice and strawberry and spinach salad
Thursday: Chicken and Chorizo pasta with spinach salad
Friday: Crab stuffed salmon with asparagus and rice
Saturday: Turkey chili with whole wheat buns and veggies
Sunday: The Cupcake's baptism

So there you have it. Each Sunday I will share our weekly meal plan. We are trying to commit to eating healthy and at home more. With a meal plan like this, it is pretty easy. I am also preparing my snacks and lunches on Sunday. Making spinach dip, tzatzki dip and cutting up my veggies so that I can just grab and snack while me and cupcake play. I find that way I get to eat healthy and just plainly eat. Ha.

Also a tip for new moms: have a pitcher and a bottle, keep pitcher full of water in the fridge and keep your bottle filled. You'll drink a lot of water once you have that baby.

Fist shake for FoodTV

I really should learn not to watch FoodTV. I love FoodTV, but then I want to eat everything they cook. haha

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is so bad for me. I so want a burger now. I usually don't even like burgers. But I want a big juicy burger, and not a thin fast food joint burger. I want a thick juicy burger. Where in Edmonton can I find a big thick juicy burger?

I also want a crab cake. Damn Janet and Greta and Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. Those crab cakes look so yummy. They sure don't hold a candle to my frozen leftovers and Ritz crackers. Bahhh. And they sure don't make me want to eat my dinner which is in the fridge waiting to be cooked....Bahhh. The Dilemma.

Oh well I guess I will just continue to eat my crackers and dream of a juicy crab cake and burger. Haha.

Two years ago, what a change!

Two years ago today, I walked down a chilly mountain top aisle in Canmore, Alberta to my husband-to-be. I was so eager to walk down the aisle that I completely forgot that I was waiting for a specific song and messed up the harpist. haha oops.

But that wasn't even the funniest part, the funniest part came when we were saying our 'I do's' and the pastor as hubs if he took Dana...not Tasha. Hahaha. We even have a priceless picture to prove it, it was awesome. So funny. People looked mortified at the slip up and all the three of us did was laugh. Hahaa. The best part, the same thing happened to my Maid-of-Honour and we kept joking up until the day of my wedding..."as long as the pastor says the right name." Well no chance. Haha.

Since our mountain top wedding, we've had some changes to our liitle family. We bought a new house and welcomed our precious baby girl into the world. Life is good.

Slacker for sure.

So much for blogging everyday. I knew it would be a bit difficult, but man am I lazy. Haha. I've had time to blog everyday, but like many people I found other things to do rather than blog, such as online shopping. Haha. Mamabargins and babysteals will be the debt of me.

But one of the great things about online shopping - recieving the packages. It is like Christmas. Haha. I love getting mail.

So the agenda for the week, V's four month check-up, V's four month immunizations, get her passport submitted, Weddingbells GTG, and a at-home Epicure party.

Have you heard of Epicure. It is awesome. I really like knowing what I am eating and especially now that I am breastfeeding. It is very important to know what we are putting into our bodies and Epicure has NO PRESERVATIVES. I love this notion as preservatives cause migraines in me.

So right now I am reading two books, The Secret Daughter, phenomenal, thanks to Steph for buying it for me. And Super Baby Food, thanks to Tanya for my gift. So far it is really enlightening. I am 100 per cent convinced that I will be making my own baby food. It is so easy, cost-saving and nutritional.

I am so excited. I am also excited to start planning the house reno's, while they will be small - paint here, paint there - I have SO many ideas. Can't wait to share pictures.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog - the place where I will document my life. Is my life exciting...probably not, but the last two years have been very exciting to me, so I thought I'd share it. The last two years, I got engaged, moved to Edmonton, got a dog, started a career with the government, got married, bought a new house and had a beautiful baby girl.

So now that I am 363 days from 30, I wanted to document my daily life as a stay-at-home mom and accomplishing 30 things before I am 30. I have really been trying to think of what the 30 things I would like to do. It has taken me three days to think about them all. And while the list is just preliminary, I may change or alter a bit, the list is based on making my home life, personal and relationships more fruitful, joyful and happy. The list is also a challenge to post something everyday, similar to the notion of project 365 that I have seen people do before.

So my 30 things:
1) Finish wedding and honeymoon scrapbook
2) Start and finish 30 day shred in 30 days
3) Take a photo a day.
4) Send a card a week to a friend
5) Start and finish renovations
6) Plan first family vacation
7) Create and stay on budget
8) Learn a new recipe
9) Eat dinner at home six nights per week
10) Make meals to freeze and cook during the week
11) Bake muffins once a week
12) Live and clean greener
13) Purchase more local goods
14) Learn to sew
15) Gift handmade gifts
16) Become more crafty
17) Decorate by crafts
18) Reflect daily for thanks, happiness, love
19) Shop smarter
20) Read one book a month
21) Eat 8 servings of vegetables
22) Drink 2 brita pitchers before drinking other beverages
23) Eat cleaner
24) Look for the positives in every day and every situation
25) Run 5 k race
26) Learn to make jewelery
27) Learn to make moccasins
28) Learn one new scrapbook technique per month
29) Take time for myself, just to relax. No errands, no running around, no shopping, just relaxing.
30) Treat self to something once a month.