1 c. All purpose flour
1/2 c. Whole wheat flour
1/2 c. Rolled oats
3/4 c. Granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c. Dried fruit (I used pitted dates, could use apricots, raisins, craisins, or similar)
1 small apple, peeled and diced
1 c. Orange juice
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
preheat to 350 f
Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together. Combine until just combined, will be lumpy. Bake for 20-25 min in greased pan.
I was looking back to last year’s list of house projects. The list is so long!
I’m happy to report that since Jan 2019 we have accomplished the following:
Completed the upstairs bathroom renovation (this took 4 months).
Painted the basement, installed baseboards in the basement, installed the chair rail in the games room (3 weekends). Very inexpensive as we have all the painting supplies and paint from previous projects. Just had to buy the baseboards and chair rail (cost $184)
Installed a tool organizer in the garage (a gift to my husband from my in-laws for Christmas). Our garage is getting so organized!
Gott a new fence installed (hired professionals for this), it affected both our neighbors and I think it would have taken us all summer to complete. The pros did it in 4 days! It was a massive upgrade from the 38 year old fence.
Started the pathway project to the garage (1/3 completed as of today), with labour help from my in-laws and with bricks from my parents. So far cost has only been purchase of sand (around $200 so far)
Got our furnace replaced unexpectedly, went for the multispeed option. We have kept the fan running all summer to bring cool air from the basement upstairs. This has reduced the number of air-conditioning days.
Completely painted one of our condos (only took three weekends!). We had help from my mother and sister.
Needed lunches for this week and had some questionable vegetables in the fridge. Decided on trying out a slow cooker coconut curry
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup cauliflower, cut up in small florets
6 brussel sprouts, quartered
3 large tomatoes, diced
1 green pepper (from my garden!)
1 orange sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch squares
1/2 yellow sweet potato, cut into squares
2 cups vegetable stock (I made and froze this from scraps a while ago, cost $0)
1 cup red lentils
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp curry powder
I chopped the veggies up and sauted them for 15 mins
Added in the liquids, lentils, and spices
Set the slow cooker to 8 hours.
I will mix in some frozen kale when it’s done (also from my garden!)
Serve with brown rice or naan
Environment – I am trying to be as conscious of my carbon footprint as possible. This is a way I can reduce my emissions. It is also proven that spending time in nature boosts your mood and productivity.
Endorphins – physical activity is great for your mental health and helps keep you in a positive frame of mind
Entertainment – my parents or my husband sometimes come to meet me for the ride home. I love that!
Economical – it saves me about $120 per month ($70 in gas, $20 on insurance, and I figure around $30 for maintenance and value by keeping kilometres off the car)
Exercise – I get some fitness time I don’t get otherwise
Efficiency – I can exercise and commute at the same time while saving money and building relationships.
My wonderful mother-in-law gifted me some rhubarb from her garden. Yahoo!
1 cup oats, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (with squirt of lemon juice), 2/3 cup applesauce (from crabapples from my garden!), 1 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 cup chopped rhubarb
Preheat oven to 350F, grease muffin tin
Sprinkle with brown sugar before baking (or drizzle Maple syrup on top, or both!)
Bake for approx 20 minutes, allow to cool
Decided I wanted to try and make bean burgers instead of buying them. They are expensive! Goal was to come up with a bean patty that could be frozen and then grilled like a traditional beef burger.
Soaked dried bean mix overnight, then slow cooked for 8h. Beans turned out perfectly. First time I’ve made dried beans. Easy peasy!
Iteration one – Put the beans into my processor. 6 cups of beans or so. Added 1/2 cup of corn (because the burgers I buy have corn and I love them). Added 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs. Added a spice mix we had on hand (Sun dried tomato and garlic)
Formed into patties. Tried to cook in the oven at 300°f for 45min. These are mushy but cooling down. I’m hopeful they will work. Also tried to cook patties in a skillet with oil. The skillet ones did not work at all, outside got too brown and inside quite mushy (on medium heat).
Iteration two – 6 cups beans, 1 cup bread crumbs (made from old croutons from the cupboard), 1/2 cup corn, 1 egg, and mixed in the failed skillet bean burgers because I felt bad throwing them out.
Iteration three – processed beans, corn, bread crumbs, spices, and egg.
They are all in the freezer now waiting for BBQ time! All three iterations worked to make a structurally sound patty when baked in the oven at 300°f for 45 min, then cooled on the counter, then frozen.
I did sneak a taste of the skillet patties when they fell apart and it tasted good. The plan is to put BBQ sauce and cheese on them too, just like a regular burger.
Update June 15 – the burgers are good but a bit mushy. Next time I will try to add some more dry ingredients – a quick internet search says uncooked oats, chia seeds, and quinoa are good options
I took a bit of a hiatus from the internet earliest this year to try and be more productive and less connected. It didn’t work. I deactivated my Facebook for 3 months and found I missed out on invites to events and news from my friends and family.
I am back online again and figured I would start up my blog again. I love that it has so many memories captured (my memory is so bad).
It has been a heck of a year, so many great things happened.
-my brother got married to his awesome wife
– trips to Victoria to visit my sister in-law and her boyfriend
– a visit from Grandma-in-law in October
– biking to work in the summer (35 days!)
– main floor bathroom renovated and upstairs bathroom renovation underway
– an okay garden season
– meal prep Mondays with my sister started ❤️
– my brother moved to the USA, so new places to visit and explore
– great tenants in place at both properties
– my best friend had a baby
– status quo at work in a job I enjoy
– my husband is the bomb.com and love of my life, still supporting my hair brained ideas
– some cancer diagnosis in my extended family that had been really hard. I’m thankful my parents and siblings and in-laws are all healthy.
November is almost over which is crazy!
I’ll likely expand on some of the points above in subsequent posts.
Make a can of tomato soup in a sauce pan
Add 1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp cumin
1c black beans
1c corn
1 diced tomato
1 tsp lime juice
Pepper to taste
Garnish with cilantro
So I’m trying to get multiple streams of income going in order to retire as soon as possible.
So far we have savings in tax deferred accounts, and two rental properties.
I am going to start taking out share purchase loans in the company I work for. I’m a bit nervous because it means taking on more debt, however the interest rate is locked in for 15 years, and the stock pays a great dividend. If we have both our rentals paid off in 15 years, plus enough dividend paying stock, and our retirement accounts, I think we can stop working in 18 years. That still sounds like a long time.
We had a work potluck and I made vegetarian chili with what we had in the house already. I used 1 yogurt container of tomato sauce from the garden, 1 can of crushed tomatoes, 1 cup frozen corn, 2 diced carrots, 4 garlic cloves, 1 can chick peas, 1 can red kidney beans, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 4 tablespoons chili powder, 1 tablespoon paprika. I was thrilled it turned out nicely and I didn’t have to go to the store to get anything! As a bonus, there was enough left over for 3 lunches (it was a big pot of chili).
Our dishwasher top rack broke! Super annoying. Great news though, Amazon had the part to fix it (instead of replacing the whole rack), which I ordered for $39, and replaced myself. Yay for cheap fixes!
We were in Victoria last weekend (thanks in-laws!) with my husband’s family. We did a lot of walking around and a lot of shopping. I’m proud to say I didn’t spend a lot on myself, but participated by knocking out some of my Christmas shopping. It’s money we budget for anyways, and it made me so happy to find some unique gifts for family and friends while participating I the shopping experience! It will also make my Christmas season less stressful as I have stuff for some of the trickier people to buy for.
Life is so good right now, I’m so happy every day. Thankful for an amazing family, a great job, and my daily adventures.
My Little Life 