Giveaway winner

The lucky winner of the Bigfoot and Judy Moody books giveaway is Aileen! Congratulations! If you send me an email at pocketfuls.l@gmail.com with your address, I'll send those two books off to you. I hope you and your family enjoy them!

Thanks to all of you who entered for your great kids' book recommendations. Happy summer reading, and I wish you all a wonderful long weekend!

Frosty fruit pops

The first long weekend of the summer season is just around the corner, and soon people all over our beautiful country will be decked out in red and white, happily celebrating our nation's birthday with playtime, parties, picnics, and... popsicles! These frosty treats are a perfect way to stay cool and hydrated during long summer days spent outdoors, and the homemade ones pictured here are made from real fruits and juices, without any added sugar or artificial flavours and colours. Now that's something to celebrate!

Last summer I posted a recipe for refreshing and delicious strawberry-orange popsicles, which you can find here. I've been having lots of fun experimenting with new flavours in my kitchen lately, and thought I would share my latest creations. These popsicles, just right for national holiday celebrations on both sides of the border, will also be my contribution to an Independence Day holiday recipe round-up hosted by Kelly over at The Spunky Coconut. Check out her site on July 1st for what is sure to be a delightful collection of summer food ideas (all gluten-free, too)!


Raspberry-Lemonade Popsicles

2 cups fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
1 cup lemonade (I use Kiju organic lemonade, which is a yummy combination of grape and lemon juices with no added sugar)

Blend raspberries and lemonade in a blender until smooth. Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain mixture to remove all raspberry seeds. Pour strained mixture into popsicle molds, insert sticks, and freeze for several hours.


Mango-Coconut Creamsicles

2 cups fresh or thawed frozen mango, cut into cubes
1 cup coconut milk
the juice of one lime, freshly squeezed

Blend mango, coconut milk, and lime juice in a blender until smooth. Pour mixture into popsicle molds, insert sticks, and freeze for several hours.


Blueberry-Mango Popsicles

2 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
1 cup mango juice

Blend blueberries and mango juice in a blender until smooth. Pour mixture into popsicle molds, insert sticks, and freeze for several hours.

Delicious and healthy popsicles like these can be made from any combination of fruits and juices you enjoy -- your imagination is your only limit! If you come up with a great popsicle flavour of your own, please share it in the comments section below so we can all have a chance to enjoy it.

I have to take a minute here to rave about the new popsicle molds I purchased this summer.


They're made from durable stainless steel (so they won't leach any harmful chemicals into your cool creations), and each mold can be removed from the stand individually. This makes it easy to take popsicles out as you need them, then wash each mold and refill it as required so you can always have a ready supply of popsicles in the freezer. The molds I have are made by Onyx and can be purchased here.

Whether you'll be watching fireworks in red and white, or red, white, and blue this coming weekend, these colourful popsicles are sure to be a big hit with everyone. Happy Canada Day, and Happy Independence Day, to our North American friends!

The good luck charm

Whenever I see Will silently staring off into space (in those rare moments when he is actually quiet!), I love to wonder what it is he might be thinking about. It's fascinating to see how an imaginative young mind can turn the most ordinary thing into something unique and even magical.

Last evening, I popped into Will's room to give him a last tuck-in as he was turning out his light. He has an interesting habit of leaving some little item on his night table most of the time -- sometimes it's a baseball or hockey card, sometimes it's a Lego man -- and there is always a colourful explanation for why that item can't be put away. Last night I noticed a worn-looking fabric key ring sitting beside Will's bedside clock, one that he had collected at his grandparents' house from a box of old things they weren't using anymore. After a quiet moment, Will said to me, "Do you know why I'm leaving this keychain on my night table?"

Realizing that I could probably never guess the reason in a million years, I asked Will to enlighten me. "It's not actually a keychain," he said. "It's a Chinese good luck charm. But I have to be asleep before midnight for it to work." I told him that was amazing, and asked him what exactly it would do for him. He said that it would give him whatever he wished for (as long, of course, as he was asleep before midnight). When I asked Will if it had brought him any good luck already, he said, "Oh yes. Last night I wished for today to be awesome... and today was awesome."

This old key ring was an item I likely would have just thrown away myself, but Will's new spin on it suddenly made the dull fabric seem shiny and new. I told him I thought I should somehow get myself a Chinese good luck charm, too.

I am always glad to hear Will tell me about happy ideas his busy mind has dreamed up. Sometimes I worry that he understands too much for a boy his age, that he spends too much time thinking about things that he shouldn't know about yet. We have long conversations about unfair child labour practices and the impact of natural disasters when Will expresses deep concern after seeing a headline in the newspaper. Just yesterday, he announced out of the blue at the breakfast table, "I'm pretty certain that the Tooth Fairy is just your mom and dad. Maybe Santa, too." He's only just recently turned seven. Already, though, he has gone through a serious thought process that won't allow him to believe in some of the joys of childhood; for him, things like the Tooth Fairy and Santa simply don't add up logically or practically. It's sad to see your little boy grow up so soon in some ways, while at the same time, he still has the emotional fragility and coping mechanisms of a young child, which don't allow him to handle all of this adult information very well.

When I was in Will's room a little while ago, I noticed that the key chain is no longer on his night table, nor is it anywhere to be found in his room. I'm almost certain there's a seven year old boy at school today with a Chinese good luck charm in his shorts' pocket. I hope it makes his day awesome.

A bookworm's breakfast - 10 (plus a giveaway!)

Today is officially the first day of summer! Very soon the boys will be out of school and we'll have lots of time for family vacation adventures, picnics and pools, and lazy afternoons spent relaxing in the shade of a tree in the backyard, enjoying good books. We all can't wait!

If you're interested in encouraging your children to read this summer, you need look no further than your public library. The TD Summer Reading Club will soon be up and running in libraries all across Canada, offering children a chance to keep a reading log and win prizes for the books they enjoy while they're out of school. (See your local library for registration information.) For those of you who are looking to stock up on books for your home shelves, Chapters has a "buy three books, get the fourth one free" sale going on now in stores.

To kick off the summer reading season, I am giving away two wonderful children's books to one lucky winner:


Judy Moody was in a mood is the first in series of highly entertaining chapter books written by Megan McDonald. Young readers who like a good laugh will be captivated by the adventures of the "way-not-boring" Judy and her endearing younger brother Stink.

So You Want to Catch Bigfoot? is the book seen often in Stink's possession in the Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer movie that is playing now in theatres. It's loaded with fascinating details and illustrations about the elusive furry creature and will appeal to curious kids who have a sense of adventure. (I'm quite certain Will and this book will be inseparable this summer based on his Bigfoot-finding plans!)

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below or on my Facebook page, letting me know the title and author of one of your family's favourite summer reads. The contest will close at midnight on Wednesday, June 29th, and a winner will be selected by random draw. Check back here at the end of June to see if you've won. (We'll all get a great opportunity to discover new books by reading others' comments, too!)

I thought I'd end this tenth edition of A bookworm's breakfast with a list of some perfect-for-summer books that the boys and I have enjoyed over the years, along with a few that I've just recently discovered. Perhaps you'll want to share some of them with your own children in the coming months.

3-5 year olds:

How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers
Stanley's Wild Ride by Linda Bailey
Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer
Stella, Star of the Sea by Marie-Louise Gay
Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes
Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator by Mo Willems

6-8 year olds:

The Secret World of Og by Pierre Berton
Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo
Where's Waldo: The Ultimate Travel Collection by Martin Handford
Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine by Francesca Simon
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Bad Kitty Gets a Bath by Nick Bruel
You're a Bad Man, Mr. Gum by Andy Stanton

9-12 year olds:

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
I Want To Go Home by Gordon Korman
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett
and then it Happened by M & L Wade
Utterly Me, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child
Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce

Need more inspiration? Take a peek at some of my earlier editions of A bookworm's breakfast, too! I hope reading will be an enjoyable part of everyone's summer holidays.

8:17 a.m.

8:17 a.m.: School begins in exactly 13 minutes, and I am trying (quite unsuccessfully) to slather sunscreen on two squirming boys in our front hall. Meanwhile...

At the top of his lungs, Will is singing a rollicking tune that he learned at school about going to heaven. (Imagine the song "The Other Day I Met a Bear" and substitute lyrics like "Oh you can't get to heaven in a limousine, 'cause God don't sell any gasoline". No, I'm not kidding. This is one of the little-known benefits of sending your children to Catholic school.) In between verses Will is pausing to ask me questions like "Hey, do cats have to get married to have babies?" and "When somebody says, 'Oh, for Pete's sake!', who exactly is 'Pete'? and what does 'sake' mean?". I am trying to figure out how to reasonably answer any one of those questions in the 30 seconds I have to devote to a response.

I look over at Noah and realize he still has a gob of peanut butter from breakfast on his cheek that he needs to go wash off. His glasses are streaked to the point that his vision must be comparable to driving in a dense fog. He is explaining to me (over Will's singing) exactly how he is going to style his hair for the airbands show, and informing me that he needs green and orange hairspray. Also, in exactly two minutes, Noah will walk out the front door and forget to bring with him the project that we worked about 4,000 hours on (with much drama in the final stages) and that is due today.

All around me the house is in a state of utter disorder, with the furniture all moved around and things piled up on top of it to allow our carpets to dry after being steam cleaned. Maggie the cat is a complete emotional wreck because of the unusual physical mess: she is howling inconsolably and constantly weaving herself in and around my legs because surely, the state of things signifies the world is ending or something of that sort. (Oh, and note to self: sunscreen plus a puffy cat does not equal anything pleasant.)

I wish I could say I made some of this stuff up for effect. Can someone please remind me again how many days left until summer vacation?

Summer projects

The boys and I were quite busy this past weekend, working on a few last projects for the year that are due soon at school for both of them. I helped Will write about one of his favourite books and fill a decorated bag with objects that would represent the story's events and characters, and I worked with Noah to create an elaborate invitation and menus for a medieval feast and melee hosted by a king. I usually love when the boys ask for my assistance with their creative school work, but this weekend I admit I was feeling a little project-weary. It's been an incredibly busy month so far, we're all anxious for the end of school to arrive, and I found myself looking forward to a long break from any sort of major production.

By Sunday evening, I had come to the conclusion that the end of school will certainly not signify the end of "project" season for the boys (nor for me!). I should have known better than to expect otherwise.

Matt and I took Noah and Will to see the Judy Moody movie this past Saturday. The boys love Megan McDonald's books about Stink (Judy's little brother) and were captivated by Stink's Bigfoot-tracking escapades throughout the very entertaining show. Will, however, was uncharacteristically quiet in the car on the ride home from the theatre. When I finally turned around and asked him what he was thinking about, he looked at me solemnly with his deep brown eyes and said, very confidently, "I am going to find Bigfoot this summer." If you knew Will like I know Will, you would have realized at this point that he was dead serious. I could almost see the wheels spinning madly in his mind as he started to plan out his approach. "I think you should fill the car up with gas on the last day of school, Mom," he said to me in earnest, "because you're going to be driving me all around to look for him." Alrighty, then. I guess I've got my work cut out for me.


Last night at dinner, the boys started devising ways to earn a little extra cash for themselves over the summer. Now, most entrepreneurial-spirited children will plan to set themselves up a nice little lemonade stand, collect a bit of loose change from passersby, and call it a day. Not Noah and Will. They were getting wildly excited about their brilliant idea for a book about wacky sandwiches that they will write, publish, and sell themselves (and thus be the "first kids to ever write a real cookbook", according to Will). Throughout dinner, the boys brainstormed combinations of ingredients like tomato and lettuce with mini-marshmallows, or ham and cheese with jellybeans. (Oh, the horror! I suppose I should be glad that there was at least some mention of whole-grain bread?) They also came up with a plan to set up a website so that people will be able to submit their own sandwich ideas for the book. You might assume that when kids come up with a concept like this that it's just a passing fancy, that it will get talked about one night at dinner and then never mentioned again, but that's not how my kids work. This morning, they were throwing wild sandwich ideas around again as soon as the sun rose, and Will asked Noah if he had the website up and running yet. I have an uneasy feeling I'll be asked to make a lot of sandwiches this summer.... but at least they've offered to pay me whatever money they earn that doesn't divide evenly between them!!

I see a lot of peanut butter in my very near future, a) because apparently that's a good lure for a Bigfoot, and b) because peanut butter seems to figure prominently as an ingredient in many of these wacky sandwiches I've been hearing about. I've come to understand that in my life with Noah and Will there will forever be some "major production" going on; those boys keep me busy, laughing, and inspired, and I'll always be thankful for that. Another happy truth has become clear to me in the midst of all of their planning and projects, too: no matter what wonderful things Noah and Will decide to do with their lives, they will pursue their goals with creativity and determination. It's obvious nothing will discourage them from realizing their dreams.

Pancakes, perfected

Will is a real little creature of habit. When he finds something he loves (a book, a game, a food, or anything else), he likes to enjoy it repeatedly, and it is always very difficult to convince him to break a routine. One of the things that Will really loves is having pancakes for breakfast every Saturday morning. Tomorrow I am certain to wake up early to the sight of a cute boy with a big toothless grin beside my bed and the sound of him asking, "Are we having pancakes today?".

Back in January, I posted a couple of pancake recipes, an old family one that used wheat flour, and a gluten-free version made with almond flour, courtesy of Elana Amsterdam. Because we eat pancakes every weekend, I've had lots of opportunity to experiment with the gluten-free version and to come up with a delicious pancake that does not contain eggs (since Will reacts to them) or any sweeteners other than fruit (since my body is much happier when I avoid them). I think I've come up with the perfect recipe. These high protein pancakes cook beautifully and Will always gobbles them up in no time!

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Sweetener-free Pancakes (that still taste scrumptious!)

7 tbsp water
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
2 tbsp arrowroot flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
grapeseed oil (for cooking)

In a food processor, combine water, applesauce, and vanilla. Process until completely mixed. Add almond flour, arrowroot flour, cinnamon, sea salt, and baking soda and process again until mixture is well combined.
Heat the grapeseed oil on a griddle set to medium heat (325 F). Spoon two heaping tablespoons of batter onto the griddle for each pancake, and use the back of the spoon to smooth the batter out into a circle that is approximately half an inch thick.
Cook pancakes until small bubbles begin to form on the top of them, then flip each pancake. (The cooked side should be a lovely golden brown.) Continue cooking pancakes until the tops are slightly firm to the touch and both sides are nicely browned. Transfer pancakes to a plate and serve drizzled with real maple syrup or a homemade fruit topping. Mmmmm!

This recipe makes about 6 very filling pancakes. (The fact that they're made with almond flour gives them a lot of staying power.) Whether you have food sensitivities in your family or not, these pancakes make a wonderfully tasty and healthy breakfast and are the perfect way to start off any weekend morning!