Maple cinnamon popcorn with cranberries and pecans

Popcorn is one of Noah and Will's favourite weekend snacks.  No matter what the boys are doing or where they are in the house, the sound of hot kernels exploding in a pot on the stove and the smell of melted coconut oil wafting through the air invariably mean that within seconds, both of them will show up eager and smiling in the kitchen.  I'm happy to give the boys this snack when they request it; if it is prepared in certain ways, popcorn is nutritious as well as fun to eat!

This weekend I decided to get creative with our popcorn snack by adding dried cranberries and toasted pecans to it, and drizzling it with a coconut oil and maple syrup topping that was lightly spiced with cinnamon and allspice.  Oh my.  My popcorn connoisseurs all agreed that the result was absolutely yummy!

Maple Cinnamon Popcorn with Cranberries and Pecans
(inspired by this recipe from Chatelaine magazine)

For the popcorn:

2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup popcorn kernels

For the topping:

2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice

Plus:  1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
          1/2 cup dried cranberries (I use ones that are sweetened with apple juice)

Lightly toast the pecans in a small, dry skillet over medium heat.  (This should only take a few minutes.) Set the pecans aside.

In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat two tablespoons of coconut oil over a high temperature until it is very hot.  Add the popcorn kernels and cover the pot snugly with the lid.  Gently shake the pot continuously while the kernels pop.  Remove the pot from the heat as soon as the popping stops. (I like to make popcorn the old-fashioned way on the stove.  Despite the fact that people have come up with many newer ways to pop kernels over the years, I think the stove-top method using coconut oil is one of the healthier ones and results in the tastiest popcorn!)

In a small saucepan, melt another two tablespoons of coconut oil over low heat.  Stir in the maple syrup, cinnamon, and allspice and mix until ingredients are well-combined.  Drizzle the warm mixture over the popped popcorn.

Add the toasted pecans and dried cranberries to the popcorn mixture and toss to combine.  Serve and enjoy!

The addition of maple syrup, spices, fruit and nuts to plain popcorn makes for a perfect fall treat on a weekend afternoon.  I hope your family's popcorn lovers will agree.

Shine

Someone defaced the walls and doors of the boys' school with offensive graffiti over the weekend.  As I walked around the building just before the afternoon dismissal bell yesterday and read one insulting message after another, I was sickened, and angered, and saddened.  An adult had tried to temporarily conceal the hurtful words with paper and tape until they could be erased permanently, to  shield young children's eyes from phrases they shouldn't read, but the temptation to know what was hidden was too much for some curious young minds and they had torn the paper down while they were outside playing at recess.  The school bell rang and dozens of children poured out of the graffitied door where I was standing; they gathered in clusters to read, and point, and giggle nervously, and cover their shocked expressions with their hands.  Some of the children, like Will, ran to their waiting moms to tell them about the bad words and to wonder why someone would do such a mean thing.  I wanted to somehow make those words disappear, to protect all of those children from knowing too soon about the ugliness that lurks in our world sometimes, and yet I felt completely helpless to do anything at all.

Life seems more fragile in these gray, cold days of November.  The skies are so often full of gloomy clouds that won't lift, and the empty tree branches look lonely against the sky's smoky silhouette.  Darkness comes early, and people huddle inwards to brace their bodies against the chill that's always in the air.  Children's lighthearted play is shadowed by unkind words, relationships that once seemed solid crumble and leave broken hearts in their rubble, influential cities topple under the weight and force of a monstrous fall storm.  It is so easy to feel sad and powerless as we watch all of this unfold around us, and easy to retreat further into ourselves to try and avoid the unhappiness of it all.

There is potential, though, in the turning inward that an unfriendly November urges us to do.  If we take time to be still, to allow ourselves to listen to and see and feel the unique essence that lies deep within each of our hearts, we will find there a light that shines brightly and has the ability to bring great warmth and hope and happiness.  We can encourage that light within by not being afraid to be ourselves, by recognizing and understanding and accepting the intricate beings that we are, by believing that we are meant to always keep growing in positive ways. Our light shines with more beauty and force when we are not swayed by people or events whose negativity tries to smother our flame, when we continue to be guided by our hearts, which somehow know the way to the goodness we want to see in our world.

When we find our own inner light and allow it to shine forth brightly, we can help to illuminate the world for others.  Our warmth will help us teach our children to spread messages of love rather than hatred; it will let us reach out to those who are hurting and need support to mend their broken hearts; it will help us to rebuild a destroyed city so that it once again stands strong against the backdrop of a menacing November sky.  With our light, each and all of us are powerful.

Photo credit:  the guardian u.k.



 

 

 

 



Just an ordinary Saturday morning

Today it was just an ordinary Saturday morning around our house.  We had no swim meets to be up early for, no pressing errands to run, no real plans made in advance, and so the four of us were free to do whatever it was we wanted.  Most of us were glad for the bit of quiet we had to ourselves and just did ordinary stuff.

Matt's Saturday morning involved sleeping later than usual, savouring a cup of hot coffee over a leisurely reading of the newspaper, preparing and enjoying a pancake breakfast with the family, and heading outside to clean out the shed and rake the leaves that were all over our backyard.

My Saturday morning found me sleeping later than usual, checking email and catching up on Facebook and Twitter, preparing and enjoying a pancake breakfast with the family, baking muffins for the week, and then heading outside to help with the leaf raking (although I actually spent more time laughing and taking photos of the boys as they jumped in the leaf piles).

Noah's Saturday morning involved sleeping later than usual, reading a book in bed until someone called him to come and enjoy a pancake breakfast with the family, and going back to bed to read some more until someone asked him to come outside and help rake leaves (which he did reluctantly, and then actually spent more time laughing and flinging himself in the leaf piles).

Will's Saturday morning found him doing anything but what most people would consider ordinary stuff.  He was awake well before the sun and by the time I was up, he had drawn up a plan (including a legend) for an intriguing pattern of blocks of various building materials he was going to use to construct the walls of his next Minecraft house.

He spent the time we were getting breakfast ready tweaking details on the massive Lego fortress that has been dominating our family room for three weeks...

...and then later decided to demolish the whole thing and build an amusement park inspired by the Top 10 Rollercoasters in the World video he's been watching on YouTube.

He enjoyed a pancake breakfast with the family, during which he talked constantly and got out of his chair at least half a dozen times.  He then spent ten minutes laughing hysterically at me because he decided suddenly that my bedhead looked like Elvis. He went upstairs to get dressed so that he could help with the leaf raking, but got sidetracked by the much more fascinating process of developing a bedroom baseball game that involved a stuffed elephant named Vladimir, a bunch of leaping around that made it sound like he was going to come crashing through the ceiling above me, and a complicated scorekeeping system that he lost me on within the first three seconds of trying to explain it to me. When he moved on from the ball game, he pulled one of the silver balls back on the Newton's cradle in his room to start it moving, and then raced to complete the personal challenge of getting dressed, brushing his teeth, and making his bed all before the balls came to a stop again.

He argued with me fourteen times about how he couldn't possibly have any fun in the leaves if he had to wear boots and a hat and gloves, but then put them on anyway when he was suddenly motivated by the brilliant idea he had to not jump, but POLE VAULT into the leaves using a hockey stick, or maybe the broom.  Finally, he went outside to help rake (although he actually spent more time laughing and attempting to kill himself by trying the aforementioned pole vaulting and also launching himself off the swingset into the leaves in various crazy poses.)

All of this, he accomplished before 10am.

After witnessing Will's high-energy, action-packed first few hours of the day, I realized that he will probably never enjoy just an "ordinary Saturday morning".  For Will, having no plans is a prime opportunity for big plans.

My mom, the Hallowe'en costume genius

A few evenings ago I went to take care of the last little details for the boys' store-bought Hallowe'en costumes. Noah's Annoying Orange suit needed some better velcro sewn onto it, and Will's football jersey was waiting for me to iron on numbers of his choosing.  After I almost burned the jersey with the iron, realized that I had put the number 8 on upside-down, and decided that Noah's costume would work just fine with a safety pin rather than new velcro, I suddenly realized how much I appreciated all of my mom's work to dress my brothers and me in creative costumes every Hallowe'en when we were kids.  (Why is it that children never really appreciate their mothers until they are much, much older?)

The process of getting together Hallowe'en costumes rarely involved a trip to a department store when I was young.  My mom was a Hallowe'en costume genius, and when October rolled around, she would think, and sew, and look for objects we already had around the house, and come up with costumes that were unique (and sometimes crazy-fun!)  We were ghosts with neckties and tiny hats, clowns in brightly patterned suits my mom sewed herself, and favourite action figures and doll characters modelled after toys we played with.

 

Some years things got a little wild, like the year my brothers dressed as a gangster and some weird kind of alien, and my mom smeared corn syrup on their faces to stick on coffee grounds for a beard, and Cheerios and glitter for... well, I don't know what for, but it was interesting (and also very gross)!!

 

My mom often came up with a great costume for herself as well, and joined in the Hallowe'en fun.

 

 

Have I mentioned before what a good-natured man my dad is?  Yes, that is him in the back, after my mom dressed him in a red nightshirt and striped cap and put a Kermit the Frog face on him. 

My favourite costume idea from my mom, though, was the one she came up with when I was a teenager and decided kind of last minute one year that I needed a costume for a party or something.  My mom went to take a look through my old dance costumes and emerged with a funfur trimmed, leopard print unitard and the brilliant suggestion that I could go as a cavewoman.  I was not keen on any idea that involved me wearing a skin-tight unitard out in public, but my protests did not stop my mom.  She walked through the house looking for a solution, and lo and behold, when she walked into the basement laundry room, there was an old, shaggy, goldy-brown mat on the floor in front of the sink.  My mother triumphantly picked up that mat, wrapped it around my unitard-clad body, worked some magic with frayed rope over my shoulder and around my waist, and there in that instant, a more modest cavewoman was born.  To complete the look, my mom saved some bones from dinner later that week and tied them into my hair.  I challenge you to show me a better cavewoman get-up from any Hallowe'en costume store!

 

If you're ever unimpressed by the store-bought Hallowe'en costume options out there for your family, channel my mom's creativity and come up with something great on your own!  You may need to look no further than your kitchen cupboards or your laundry room floor.

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!  (And thanks, Mom, for making our Hallowe'ens so much fun!)

Hallowe'en snack attack (two fun and healthy recipes for kids)

Every October, from the time the boys were very small, our family has always chosen a beautiful fall weekend day to make a trip to a local pumpkin patch. It's so much fun to be outdoors, surrounded by gorgeous colours, breathing in the crisp autumn air under a blue sky while taking our time choosing the perfect pumpkins to carve into jack-o-lanterns for Hallowe'en. This year, though, we were busy most October weekends, and we left the picking of pumpkins for this past weekend when we finally had some free afternoons. Apparently, the weather had other plans. When it came to Sunday afternoon, and the rain hadn't let up at all, and Hallowe'en was only a few days away, we all looked at each other, came to a unanimous decision to bail on the pumpkin patch (which was sure to be a swampy mess), and instead took a two minute family drive to the neighbourhood grocery store. The four of us ran through the cold drizzle to the parking lot pumpkin display, quickly threw any two pumpkins that looked passable into a cart, paid for them, and ran back to the car, where we then laughed hysterically about our most pathetic pumpkin acquisition ever. Sometimes the most unphoto-worthy moments make fun family memories, too!

The rainy weather was good for something, though:  we did have some fun in the kitchen making up a few healthy Hallowe'en themed snacks to enjoy this week.  If you're looking for a creative way to fuel up your ghouls and boys with nutritious foods before Hallowe'en, these recipes might just do the trick!

Green Monster Smoothies (dairy and gluten-free)

I am a huge fan of Angela Liddon's (Oh She Glows) Green Monster Smoothies.  I blend one up in the morning several times a week for myself and love it as a quick, healthy breakfast or snack.  Yesterday I thought I'd try to entice the boys to drink one, too, by having them each draw a monster face on a clear glass mug with a black dry-erase marker, and then serving them a smoothie in it.  Noah and Will still wouldn't drink the green smoothie (sigh), but they did have fun drawing faces on mugs, and the dry erase marker wiped off easily afterwards.  If your children are not revolted by the sight of green things that have been pulverized in a blender, then you may want to try making them either Angela's original version, or my own favourite variation of the Green Monster Smoothie below -- they really are delicious!

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp cashew butter
2 handfuls of organic baby spinach
half a mango, peeled and diced
1 small frozen ripe banana

Place all ingredients in the order given in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour smoothie into a glass (with a monster face drawn on it!) and enjoy.

 

Determined to come up with a healthy Hallowe'en snack that my boys would eat, I decided to experiment with raw cashews and pumpkin puree to make a tasty dip for apple slices and carrot sticks.  I was really pleased with what I ended up with -- the dip was flavourful, nutritious, and a hit with the whole family.

Pumpkin Cashew Dip (dairy and gluten-free)

1/2 cup raw cashews (plus enough water to just cover them)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Place the cashews in a Magic Bullet or blender with enough water to just cover them.  Blend the cashews and water until smooth and creamy.  Scoop the cashew cream into a mixing bowl.
Add the pumpkin puree, almond milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon to the bowl.  Mix all ingredients until they are well combined.  Spoon the dip into a mini pumpkin that has been hollowed out, and serve it with apple slices and/or carrot and celery sticks.  Yum! 

I hope for all of the kids' sake that the rain will hold off long enough Wednesday for trick-or-treating.  Somehow I don't think a quick dash to the grocery store would quite cut it in that case.  Have a safe and happy Hallowe'en!

Ten things you've probably never said to your children

Have you ever listened to yourself speaking to your children and realized suddenly that what you're saying is completely absurd?

Today I'm participating in a Writer's Workshop hosted by Mama Kat over at Mama's Losin' It.  She has invited other bloggers to write and share a post based on one of the interesting prompts she provided.  When I saw "Write a list of ten things you have said to your kids that other moms might not say" as a subject option, I knew I had to join in!  Have you met Noah and Will?  Bizarre phrases come out of my mouth on a daily basis around our house.

Here are ten things I've said to the boys that you'll likely not hear other moms saying:


1.  I would really like to know how you got pine needles in your underwear.

2.  Sorry, but I don't think the guinea pig wants to go for a ride in the ferris wheel you built her out of K'Nex.

3.  Are you sure you want to wear this Speedo for gym class today? 

4.  No, you may not have the parts from the broken water cooler/ old microwave / lawn tractor to make yourself a jet pack.

5.  Why is your housecoat hanging from your blinds?

6.  I hope that trap you built on the swing set wasn't intended for me.

7.  I'm trusting that if I leave you home alone for a little while, I will not find a zip line running from our roof to the top of the giant willow tree when I come back.

8.  Go get the bag of cat treats so you can show me again how you've taught the cat to do math!

9.  Hmmm, that's odd -- suddenly I'm noticing random green berries on my red berry table centrepiece.  Wait.... are those shriveled up PEAS from last night's dinner?!

10.  Who's been making brains in the bathroom again?



Looking for some more entertaining stories to read?  Head on over to Mama's Losin' It to see what other writers were inspired to share. (And please tell us the ridiculous things you've said to your children in the comments section below!)  Happy Thursday.

Letting go

 When you were little, I was always so sweetly moved by your attachment to your "guys", the collection of special stuffed critters that shared your world.  You fed them Cheerios in measuring cups at your little toy kitchen counter, gently dressed them in doll clothes that were mine when I was a young girl, had marvelous birthday parties for them, and told them the most wonderful, creative stories. You loved those guys with your whole heart, and when I saw you with them tucked carefully under your little arm (or tied around your waist with a piece of string so you could keep them close to you while your hands were busy), you made me feel so deeply that you were my guy, a boy whom I loved with my whole heart and would never, ever let go.

Somewhere along the way, you stopped carrying your guys around under your arm all the time, as other interests and activities piqued your growing curiosity and led you down different fascinating paths.  Those guys always had their special place in your room, though, in a basket right beside your bed, with each of them having turns to be the centre of attention when you had some time to give them.  Slowly over the years, that time grew smaller and smaller as your days filled with older boy pursuits. Then last week, on a day one of your friends was coming over after school, I was putting laundry away in your room and I suddenly found your basket of guys shoved way back in the corner of your closet, and covered up with a backpack. While I understood why they were there, and had known for some time that this day was coming, the sight of your beloved guys hidden away in the dark made me feel sad, as if a little hole had just been punched in my heart.

Little boys cannot go on forever carrying stuffed animals under their arms, it's true; time moves on and little boys become big boys and then young men who need to find their own place in the world. Moms know this, and yet, it is sometimes still so hard for them to let go of their children bit by bit, in the same way their children let go of their squishy, well-loved childhood companions. Moms know that the big, real world is not as safe a place as the imaginary ones their children created in the shelter of a loving home and family, and that people are not always as kind or as accepting as the stuffed guys whose soft, open arms were always ready for hugs and who loved unconditionally. Moms are conflicted between wanting to protect their growing children from situations and people who will make them doubt themselves and the things they most believe in, and knowing that it is through these very kinds of experiences that their children will build confidence and stronger convictions as they grow into adulthood.

Your years of caring for, entertaining, and loving your collection of guys has shown me so much about who you are.  You are smart, and creative, and sensitive, and kind; you're sure of yourself and proud of who you've become so far.  I have to trust that these wonderful qualities about you will lead you down a happy path as you walk a little more on your own with each passing year.  I hope you will remember to listen to your own heart, to surround yourself with people who will let you be the beautiful person you are, and to communicate to others that you accept and appreciate them for who they are, too.

 

On the day that you hid your guys away in the closet, you reconsidered later that evening, and the basket once again now sits beside your bed.  I'm not so naive as to think it will always stay there; one day, I know, you will outgrow those little guys for good.  I hope you know that even though you may think you've "outgrown" your mom in many ways, too (and I'm trying really hard to give you some space), I will always still be here whenever you change your mind.  My arms are forever open, ready always to give you hugs and unconditional love.