The Easter Cake

As a coconut fanatic, I get especially excited about Easter desserts.

This year, I found the perfect cake by mixing and matching a few recipes.  It will now be heralded the Easter cake in our house- a tradition has been born.  In order to re-create this masterpiece for years to come, I'm sharing my notes below.  

Recipe: 

Cake:
1 (20 oz) can of crushed pineapple
1 box of vanilla cake mix

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 2 (9-inch) cake pans with cooking spray and then flour
2) Drain pineapple; reserve juice. Divide crushed pineapple in half; set aside.
3) Prepare cake mix according to package directions replacing amount of water called for with reserved juice; beat 2 minutes. Fold in half crushed pineapple into cake batter.
4) Pour cake mix into prepared cake pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Icing:

2 sticks of butter, softened 
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1 pound of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla1/4 cup of milk 
1 bag of sweetened coconut flakes 

Directions:Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.  Stir together until creamy - do not whip.  Cover the outside of the cake with as much coconut as you like. 

Easter 2015

This is what a Canadian Easter looks like:

If you didn't know any better, you would have thought it was Christmas.  But despite the snow, we did our best to ignore the weather and celebrate.

We visited a farm to see the baby animals and James Robert loved being hands-on.

The Easter bunny was especially kind this year.

After a jelly bean filled morning we went to church and brunched at home.

A Canadian Right of Passage

It's a peculiar yet (seemingly) universally beloved Canadian dish.  Poutine.

I'd never heard of this concoction of french fries, gravy and cheese curds before crossing the boarder. But never one to back down from culinary exploration, we ventured out this weekend for some taste testing.

It may not be my next craving, but it was certainly fun to see what all the fuss is about.  

March 2015

In like a lion.... out like a lion so March 2015 will go down in the books.  Weather-wise, we're in still in the throws of winter.  But we did our best to brighten our March days with celebrating big and small occasions. A joyous second birthday, our new house looking more and more like a home, wonderful Grandparents coming to visit and a St Patty's day feast.  xx 

February 2015 + our favorite play dough recipe

Pardon me while I play catchup here.  I know it's already mid March, but I wanted to share our February in review.

Basically, snow, snow and snow!  Also, our first visitors and a few fun crafts to celebrate Valentine's day.  We tried to get out and play, but many cold days had us seeking news ways to stay busy indoors.  We discovered a great play dough recipe that kept us occupied for hours.  Not to mention, it doubles as a treatment for parched winter hands and eczema.

Play dough Recipe:
Stir together 2/3 cups of quick oats, 3 Tablespoons of coconut oil, 1 Tablespoon of honey and 3/4 cups of hot water.  Once that's well stirred, add in 2 cups of cornstarch.  You can add more hot water as needed.  We also added a few drops of our favorite essential oil.

This makes your hands super soft.  Also, you can use this recipe (minus the cornstarch) for a pre-bath treatment.  James Robert is prone to eczema; it was a fun messy activity for him to rub the oat mixture on his legs and arms before bath time!  

Letter to JR: Happy 2nd Birthday!

Dear James Robert,

We love you more than words.  Two years ago, I could hardly wait to meet you.  Now, my everyday’s are filled with your sweet face.  Frequently, you ask me to read you a story at bedtime in which a mother tells her child how much he is loved.  “I can’t imagine life before you came along, you are the music to my dance and my song” are the words you know and love best.  They are also some of the truest.

You light up our world with your infectious energy and charisma.  In the last year you’ve grown in so many ways.  You’ve increased your vocabulary by leaps and bounds.  We have endless conversations these days.  Planes, puppies and bees are things we discuss often.

 

You still adore anything musical.  You’re the first to dance at story time.  You find delight in routine and can easily tell us what comes next.  Playing is your favorite thing to do, especially with your train tracks or with your stuffed animals. 

You love to swim, play with Major, build forts with your Dad and dance.  You smile a wild and unabashedly joyous smile when we come get you in the morning and it melts my heart daily.

While you love to rough house and get dirty, you’re also affectionate and tender.  You give hugs and kisses genuinely.  You make friends wherever you go.  And if I could bottle your belly laugh, I would.  

It is so sweet to see your personality develop.  You have have plentiful opinions and specific tastes these days.  You keep me on my toes and teach me lessons constantly.  

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy.  Here's to the terrific twos and a year full of incredible memories ahead. 

Love,

Your Mama

Granparent's Visit!

We welcomed both sets of James Robert's Grandparents to Canada last weekend.   Despite the frigid temps, they all came up to help celebrate the big t-w-o!

It was a wonderful weekend.  We were reunited with Major (he had been on "vacation" at Nanna and Baca's for over a month). And we did lots of celebrating.

More pictures to come.  I took some with my real camera and can't find the cord to upload them...

We had a little early Birthday party and James Robert couldn't have been more tickled to have gifts to open.  And the cake was something the we'd been talking about for months.  James Robert specifically wanted a vanilla cake with cherry frosting... so that's what he got!