Friday, December 20, 2013
Cheering on Team Canada with Yoplait {Giveaway}
Bennett was only 17 months old, and Cole was about 3 1/2. They didn’t really understand much about what was going on, but I think they appreciated that it was something pretty special.
You could feel the excitement vibrating through the crowd, and everywhere you looked there were people proudly wearing the colours of our flag. There was a long stream of red and white all the way down the road.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people gathered together in our town before. It was pretty amazing.
Well, at least I thought it was amazing. The boys were ready for a nap.
That was the end of the boys’ experience with the Olympics that year, but Tony and I got to go to the bronze men’s hockey game. We left the boys with a sitter and headed downtown for the big game. I thought there were a lot of people in our town the day the torch came by, but that was nothing compared to what awaited us in downtown Vancouver. The streets were packed full of excited, wild, happy people. And the excitement was so infectious. Even though I wasn’t much of an Olympic fan before, I couldn’t help but feel pumped about going to an actual Olympic event. Tony was really thrilled, because he loves hockey. I mean, he really loves hockey. He buys an old car almost every year so he can pimp it up in Canucks colours for the play-offs. Needless to say, seeing an Olympic hockey game was a pretty big deal to him. I’ll admit it was a lot of fun, even for me, who is usually rolling her eyes at her crazy hockey fan husband.
Now that the boys are a little older, I think they’ll find the Olympics more interesting. Cole has already ordered his free Team Canada toque from the box of Cheerios and can’t wait to wear it. If you’re eager to get your own Team Canada gear, you’ve come to the right place. Yoplait (including Yoplait Source® and Yoplait Minigo®), is a proud supporter of Team Canada, so they’re giving away this great Olympic prize pack. It includes gloves, a toque, a bag, and a scarf, all pictured below.
Giveaway Details
Until January 15, 2014, one lucky reader will have the
chance to win an Olympic prize pack valued at over $100 in a randomized draw on this blog. Other blogs will also be hosting this contest and
readers can enter across multiple blogs but can only win once. Look for the hashtag #ProudToBeCDN to check out the other blogs involved in this campaign.
To enter, just use this Rafflecopter form below. Good Luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I am part of the Yoplait Canadian Pride Campaign with Mom Central
Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.
The opinions on this blog are my own.
Friday, December 6, 2013
5 Homemade Holiday Gift Ideas
It seems like homemade gifts are all the rage right now. I admit, I'm jumping on board with this fun DIY trend this holiday season. I'm not very crafty, but I like making food, so my homemade gifts are all food-related. So far I've made muffin mix, soup mix, dip mix, spice blends, and sweets. I picked up jars and containers from the dollar store and the thrift store. I even made my own labels using picmonkey and Avery Sticker Project Paper. Now I'm ready to share what I've done with all of you.
Spice Blends
I made two different spice blends: Taco seasoning and Jamaican Jerk Seasoning. I bought the spices in bulk, mixed them together using the recipes below, and found cute magnetic spice containers from the dollar store.
Recipe Links:
Taco Seasoning
Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
Label:
Download Printable Labels for Taco Seasoning and Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
Wondering what recipes to try with these seasoning mixes?
Try Caribbean Chicken and Pineapple Salsa using Jerk seasoning.
Try Grilled Taco-BBQ Chicken using Taco seasoning.
Curried Lentil Soup Mix
I tested out this recipe first, and my family approved. When cooked, it looks like green sludge, but it tastes really good. I was really surprised that my boys liked it so much, because I thought they'd be turned off by the way it looked, but once they took a bite of it they were hooked.
Recipe Link:
Curried Lentil Soup Mix
Just a note: the recipe calls for 1 quart jars, but I found that was much too large of a jar. I used one that holds about 3 cups and even that was a little big.
I'd also like to try this recipe:
Layered Lentil Soup in a Jar Recipe
It has smoked sun-dried tomato and bacon bits. Yummy!
Labels:
This includes a label with the title and another with the directions for making the soup: Download Printable Labels for Curried Lentil Soup Mix
Caramel Chocolate Pretzel Bark
Be careful if you make this bark that you don't devour all of it yourself. It's so addictive!
Recipe adapted from Mama Say What?!
Ingredients:
1/2 bag of mini pretzel twists
1 cup salted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line a large baking sheet with tin foil, then arrange pretzels in a single layer
- In a saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Whisk continuously until temperature reaches 290 degrees. The mixture should be a nice smooth caramel.
- Pour the caramel mixture evenly over the pretzels (it's okay if it doesn't cover every pretzel.
- Place in preheated oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly on top. Once they've melted, spread the chocolate around with a spatula.
- Let it cool on the counter, then place in the fridge or freezer for several hours.
- Once hardened, you can peel the foil off and break it up into pieces. Place pieces in a jar. You can keep it a room temperature, but if you prefer it to be harder you can store it in your fridge or freezer.
Label:
Download Printable Label for Caramel Chocolate Pretzel Bark
Ranch Mix
This includes a label with the title and another with the directions for making both the dip and the dressing: Download Printable Labels for Ranch Seasoning Mix
And just to show you, this is what happens when you leave a jar lying around within baby's reach:
Holiday Muffin Mix
We tested these muffins before gifting and they were delicious! The kids especially loved the white chocolate chunks in them.
Directions
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dry milk
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup white chocolate chunks
1 cup dried cranberries
Combine flour, sugar, dry milk, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Place half of the mixture into a 1 quart jar. Layer with white chocolate, then cranberries, then remaining half of baking mixture.
Attach this to jar:
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 jar Holiday Muffin Mix
Preheat oven to 400F. In a mixing bowl, combine ingredients until just moistened. Do not overmix. Fill lined or greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on rack. Makes approx. 15 muffins.
I added a package of muffin liners to attach to the jar as well.
Labels
This includes a label with the title and another with the directions for making muffins: Download Printable Labels for Holiday Muffin Mix
For more giftable foods for the Holidays, visit the Life Made Delicious website. Here are some that I want to try:
Chocolate Caramel Trail Mix
Gingerbread Loaves
Holiday Toffee Bars
Luscious Chocolate Truffles
Pickled Peppers
Check out this Pinterest Board for even more ideas.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Cakes Under the Influence
Monday was my birthday. Bennett gets really excited about birthdays, and had been counting down the days until my big day. When it finally came, he wished me happy birthday as soon as he got up. Then he sang me "Bonne Fete" just like he learned in his french immersion class. When he got to school that morning, he made sure that all the parents, teachers, and kids on the playground knew not just that it was my birthday, but exactly how old I was turning (I'm 33, in case Bennett hasn't mentioned it to you yet).
Both Bennett and Cole expect cake when there's a birthday. Luckily, I had recently received baking kit from a company called Cakes Under the Influence. They offer products for baking cupcakes and cakes for and served in cocktail glasses. How cute is that? The particular baking kit that I received (Two Under the Influence) was intended as a romantic treat for an adult couple, but we turned it into a family affair. I couldn't very well make cake on my birthday (or any other time) without sharing it with my kids. They'd never let me get away with that. So I made chocolate Irish Cream cake for the adults, and vanilla chocolate chip cake (non-alcoholic) for the tiny humans.
The kit contains two martini glass-shaped baking pans with silicone stands that fit into regular muffin tins. This allows you to bake cakes that will fit into a martini glass afterwards. If you don't have martini glasses, that's okay, this kit also comes with plastic serving glasses that work very well for displaying your lovely cakes. They even provide paper liners so your cake won't stick to the pan while baking.
The idea is to add your favourite liquor to the cake mix provided in the kit. I added 2 tablespoons of Bailey's and 3 tablespoons of coffee to the chocolate cake mix. For the non-alcoholic, kid-friendly cake, I just added water to the vanilla mix and folded in about 1/3 cup of mini chocolate chips.
Not surprisingly, the kids went wild for the chocolate chip cake! The look a little loopy in this picture below. I could not get a decent shot of them because they were so excited and wouldn't stay still. You'd think it was their birthday instead of mine.
Tony and I thoroughly enjoyed our grown-up chocolate cake. I even topped it with a drizzle of Bailey's for extra boozy goodness.
This isn't the first time I've used cocktail glasses for presenting food in a creative way (case in point: Coconut Kiwi Smoothies in Shooter glasses, and Berry Pudding Cake in Martini glasses), so I liked the concept of this product right from the start. It's such a fun idea, especially for the holiday season.
Disclosure: I received a free baking kit for the purpose of this review.