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Dairy Free Peanut Butter Cups

T is a huge fan of peanut butter cups.  The boys see Daddy eating them and really want to try them but cannot because  we are dairy free.  We do not want to risk an allergic reaction because something looks yummy.  To prevent jealousy with the boys, Daddy tends to buy them in secret and then eat them after bedtime.  No longer will Daddy have to sneak brand name peanut butter cups, because we have discovered a delicious recipe to make our own!  They are very yummy.  There are a few things I would change the next time I make them, but as a first attempt the are very tasty.

I do not like to cook or bake with a recipe.  I just get way to distracted, by a kid screaming or needing to go to the bathroom, so I prefer to use methods instead of recipes.  Give me a general idea of how to do it, and what the ingredients are and we are golden.  That is how I like to make things!

Ingredients:

-dairy free chocolate chips**

-natural peanut butter

-icing sugar

That is is.  Those 3 ingredients are all you need!  I put the fancy stars after dairy free chocolate chips because if you are not dairy free, than feel free to use milk chocolate or whatever chocolate you prefer.  Next time I make these I am going to make them with carob chips.

Next, get out your muffin tins.  I made 24 peanut butter cups, but the great thing about using a method verse a recipe is you could make 2 if you wanted too instead of 24.  Though I am unsure of why you would only want two!  Give your kids a handful of paper liners and have them fill the tray.  This is my boys' favorite job.  Sure, there are many spots that have more than one liner but that is perfectly ok with me.  My boys also like to get creative and never use just one color.  Sometimes they make patterns using the different colors, or argue over which colors goes where.  In the end, when it comes to finally eating them, they never care what color they pick.  I am considering investing in some reusable muffin tin liners, and I think they would work really well for these.  Until then, the paper ones will have to do.

While the boys were lining the muffin tins I set up a glass (Pyrex) bowl over a pot with about an inch of water and tossed a few handfuls of chocolate chips into the bowl.  You just want to melt enough chocolate for the first layer of the peanut butter cup.  Once the chocolate was melted I used a teaspoon to scoop the chocolate into each cup.  I pushed the melted chocolate around a bit with the measuring spoon and tapped the muffin tin on the counter a few times to help even out the bottom layer.  It does not have to be perfect but you want a nice thin layer that covers the bottom of the cup.  Next time I would probably use a 1/2 teaspoon measure at the chocolate was a little thick for our liking.

Once you have coated the bottom with a thin layer of chocolate it is time to get the peanut butter ready.  Mix equal parts of natural peanut butter and icing sugar together.  I warmed up my peanut butter slightly as it was a little thick from being cold in the fridge.  For 24 cups I used 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of icing sugar.  I used a tablespoon measure to separate out the amount for the individual cups, but next time I will cut that back to 1 teaspoon per cup.  The ratio of chocolate to peanut butter was very good, but i would have prefer for this amount to make 48 cups instead of 24 because they were a little large - especially for the boys.

Combine the peanut butter and icing sugar well.  You do not want little clumps of icing sugar in the peanut butter.  If you like your peanut butter very sweet than you may want to put a little more icing sugar, but the half and half mixture was pretty close to the brand that T loves.  Once everything was combined, I used a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the filling.  Lucas rolled it into balls, and then Jack gave it a little squish.  It was then my job to put the squished blob of sugary peanut butter onto the chocolate layer.  Place carefully as the bottom layer has not set up yet.  Jack tried to force one in and disturbed the bottom layer.  It was not very noticeable until we removed the paper and saw the peanut butter sneaking out of the bottom.  I made the peanut butter blob slightly smaller than the chocolate so that when we put the top layer of chocolate on it would seal the sides with chocolate.


Melt a few more hand fulls of chocolate, and while you are doing that clean up from the peanut butter mess.  It left us with very sticky hands.  It also left us with sugary peanut buttery utensils which had to be licked clean before going to the sink to be washed. 

Once the chocolate is melted, and the peanut butter has been licked clean from the utensils, scoop the chocolate and cover up the peanut butter center.










Tap down the muffin tin to smooth out the top, and then put into the fridge to set up.  We also ground a but of sea salt onto the top for an extra special touch - I love salt and chocolate.  It is quite a tasty combination.

Once the chocolate has set, you can remove the muffin tin liners and enjoy.  We removed ours after about an hour, but they were still a little gooey and made us have some nice chocolately fingers.  After 3 hours, which was just in time for dessert, they were perfect.

Enjoy!

No Itinerary

I was having an interesting discussion at the park the other day with a wonderful mom.  We were talking about how many "alternative" parenting choices have timelines, and are always asked about when the end will be.  It was a crazy thought, to think about what you will be doing in 2 years, or 5 years, or 18 years.  Sure, it is nice to have goals... but why are these end dates so important - especially to others whom you may not even know if 2, 5, or 18 years?  When I first became a parent I was not aware that I should have planned an itinerary for the trip, known as parenthood.

I have been breastfeeding for almost 5.5 years straight.  One of the most frequent questions I have received, no matter which child I was nursing at the time, is "when are you going to stop?" or "how long are you planning on breastfeeding for?". I have never had an answer for this, because I never put a timeline on it.  My baby would tell me when they were done.

When I was pregnant with my first, Lucas, my goal was to just try to breastfeed.  I had never done it before. I did not know what to expect, and I did not want to set outrageous goals that I might not meet.  During pregnancy, I was trying to trust my body just to get through the pregnancy.  Then I had to get through the birth.  I was not sure if my breasts would function as nature had designed them too, and I did not know if my baby would be able to latch properly.  At that stage in my life I set the goal of just wanting to try.  I accepted formula samples from different companies - I wanted to be prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.  At the hospital I felt very forced when trying to latch.  Lucas did not want to latch and I was stressed.  He finally latched, and I had reached my first goal - I tried.  After that I set my goal at 2 weeks.  At 9 days old, I paged my midwife with a panic call at 2am - I could not get my baby to latch.  I was engorged, he was starving and I was getting stressed.  My wonderful midwife, Anne, talked me down from the metaphorical cliff edge and I was able to get my baby to latch.  Even over the phone, she was able to explain to me what I needed to do and all of a sudden it clicked.  After that I set my breastfeeding goal to 2 months, then 6 months, then finally I set my goal to a year. 

When we hit the year mark, I was super excited.  I had reached my goal.  At this point, the questions of "when are you going to stop" came in an even larger quantity than before.  For some reason, when you nurse a baby who is over a year, everyone wants to know when you are going to stop.  I did not know, I simply answered "whenever he is ready".  I continued to breastfeed through my second pregnancy, and tandem fed my two boys for almost a whole year before Lucas weaned.  Lucas and Jack are so close, and I contribute a lot of their relationship to the fact they could bond while nursing.  If I had forced Lucas to wean, would they be as close?  But again, with an older toddler and an almost 1 year old still nursing, the question of when I was going to stop now came with weird looks.

They share a true bond.

Lucas weaned just before he turned 3.  He was ready, I was ready, and the timing was right.  I could have never predicted it, especially not when I was pregnant with him 3 years prior.  During that midwife call at 9 days old, I never would have dreamed we would make it to 3 years.

Jack continued to nurse, even without his brother.  He nursed through my pregnancy with Ian and was able to share that special bond with Ian as well.  Jack nursed until be was almost 3, just like Lucas, and just like Lucas he weaned on his own.  He was ready, and the time was right.

Ian is now a 30lb, 10 month old breastfeeding fan.  He loves his milkies, and his chubby cheeks are proof of this.  Because of his size people often assume he is older than he is.  But honestly, it does not bother me.  After all this time, I have heard it all, and I am not putting a timeline on when he will stop.  I can assure you he will wean before he moves out and goes to university, but other than that I cannot tell you when he will wean, because it is not up to me.  It is up to us, and he will let me know when he is ready.

It is interesting, when people know how long Lucas and Jack nursed, that they will ask me if Ian will be nursing when he is almost 3.  I am unsure of what he will be eating at that age.  That is two years from now, do you know what you will be eating in two years?  No matter how you feed your baby, you never know what they will be eating in a year from now, let alone 2 or 3 years from now.  All I know is that he will be eating, and he will be eating something that both him and I agree on.

The same weird question of time is applied to schooling.  People assume that when your child is 6, or 10, or 17 that they will be in school.  When they find out that you plan on homeschooling, all of a sudden the question of a timeline comes back.  Will you still be homeschooling when they are 6, or 10, or 17?  Perhaps I will be, but honestly I do not know.

unschooling at our home

At this point in time, unschooling works for us.  In 5 years, we may take a more structured approach to schooling or we may continue with what we are doing.  When the boys reach high school age they may decide that they want to go to school and that is fine too.  We will discuss it as a family, and decide what is best for everyone involved at that point in time.

We live our lives so our children can thrive, not just survive.  But in order to thrive, we cannot put timelines on their development.  We listen to our bodies and their bodies, to our emotions and their emotions.  We listen to our needs and respond to their needs.  If we lived life with a strict timelines, I would probably pull my hair out from stress because it would not feel right.  It would be against my instinct as a mom. 

I would rather make sacrifices so that we can live this life without timelines.  Sure, I have missed many nights sleep because I did not night wean at whatever the "suggested" age was, and I won't get to grocery shop by myself in the middle of the week while my children are at school, but that is OK because I like their company.

Sometimes we just have to slow down and live in today.  It's nice to have goals for the future - we have a few.  But none of them are dictating what our children will be doing, unless it is enjoying life. 

We are enjoying the ride without an itinerary.

After a hard day...

After a hard day of playing at the park [twice!], having a nap and some block time...

It is always nice to relax on the balcony and read the newspaper.

Outdoor Freedom

Our boys are truly nature kids.  They would spend all day outside if we let them, rain, snow, sun... it does not matter.  They love it.

 

Having a balcony is great.  Lucas and Jack know how to open the door themselves, and now that the weather is nicer, but before the bugs come out, I can leave the door wide open and Ian can go in and out as he pleases.

He now knows how to navigate the little step down onto the balcony and can get in and out without any help.  He loves to stand at the railing and just look.  The birds are starting to return and there are finches in the tree and seagulls in the pond.  All very interesting to watch.







We have trees on each side of the balcony.  It will be nice to watch them as they start to bud, and then grow their leaves.  Lucas and Jack have already started planning bird feeders and bird houses to attract more birds to our trees.


 The pond is slowly starting to thaw, and we are excite to explore closer.  We are anxiously waiting to find out if we can hear frogs as they start to emerge from their slumber.

Cooking Class: Our Spud Box Inspired Goodies

I discovered that there is a delivery service for organic and local groceries!  They have organic fruits and vegetables, as well as other grocery items from local producers.  The best part is that delivery is free!  I have no motivation to pack up the 3 kids and go to the grocery store, so organic produce and delivery sold me on trying this service!  Spud delivers your groceries right to your door, so all I have to do is bring them up stairs and put them away.  It is almost like Christmas, opening boxes to discover all the yummy goodies inside.

This is our first delivery.  All sorts of fresh produce, dairy free treats and some sauces that are not full of GMOs.  We got an assortment of fruit - different varieties of apples and pears, a colorful assortment of carrots, some purple potatoes and other fruits and veggies that I would have picked up normally at the grocery store.  We decided to try something new with every order - this order was out purple potatoes.

We made some sloppy joes with a side of mashed potatoes.  But these were not ordinary potatoes - they were purple!  When you cut into them they were very purple, but after boiling and mashing them (with some organic garlic, yum!) they turned quite grey.  The color was a bit of a turn off but they tasted like regular potatoes.  In our sloppy joes, which we used pork instead of ground beef, we added organic zucchini, peppers and celery.  Nothing like hiding veggies amongst a bunch of meat - hidden more for T than the boys!

 Funny side story - the table was not cleared that night after dinner, and when I went to clear the table the next morning the left over potatoes were a bright, dark purple!  It looked like the color of the skin, but the whole thing had turned that color.  Interesting science experiment!



Ian got to try sloppy joes for the first time.  He was a little hesitant at first, and was not sure of what to make of the sloppy mess on his plate.  He pushed it around with his spoon a little bit, and then tossed the spoon and started to get in there with his hands.  After examining the texture for a while he dove right in.  He quickly had sloppy joe all over himself, his high chair, and the floor.

As you can see, sloppy joes were a hit!

Our next meal from our spud box was pizza.  Lucas wanted to make everyone's pizza and picked out the toppings.  He picked out pepperoni, mushrooms and a yellow pepper.  The pepperoni is made from bison meat from a local farm.  Lucas and T were not big fans of the pepperoni, but Jack and I liked it.  It reminded me of the pepperoni we used growing up, which has a lot less spice than the pepperoni that T normally picks.  I think Lucas' main complaint with the pepperoni was that they were too big.  He prefers a pepperoni that is bite size, not one that takes 4 bites to eat or just falls off your pizza during the first bite.

Another great thing about spud is that they have a large assortment of dairy free items - like the boys cheese.  It makes finding dairy free items easier because we can order our dairy free items from spud and then go to whichever store for other items we need  and not have to make an extra stop to find dairy free items.  The price is also the same on these items as it is at any other store we have bought from in the past.

One of the reasons we want organic produce is for use in our juicer.  The boys love combining all sorts of flavors and experimenting with different colors to create their juice.  In order to get all the health benefits out of the juice, we like organic.  Once the summer hits, we will love the local produce as well.

For this juice, Jack picked out carrots, oranges, gala apples and spinach.  He predicted that the juice would be green from the spinach.

I helped him by cutting the apples into quarters, and taking the peel off the oranges.  After that it was all Jack.  He has become so comfortable using the juicer, and is extremely careful.  He drops the fruit in the mouth and uses the plunger to get all the ingredients into the juicer.

  

He loves his fresh juice, but does not like the foam so juice always has to have a straw.

Even Ian is getting into the juice.  Unlike Jack, he loves to drink it right from the glass.  It is funny to watch because he does not quite know how to use the glass yet so he kind of slurps it up with his tongue.  

He gets the cutest green mustache and beard from his juice... if only he would stand still so I could get a clear picture - but juice is way too fun to stand still for!

Organizing Toys

"Toy Tornado" is a term that is used quite often in our home.  I don't know how it is possible to go from clean to toys everywhere is 3.5 seconds, but leave it to my 3 boys and they will accomplish the task.

In order to combat the toy tornado we have instituted the "10 Minute Tidy Up".  10 minutes works well because I can easily keep Ian, 10 months old, occupied for 10 minutes while we clean up.  If he is not occupied there is no need to clean because his favorite game is emptying bins.  I set a timer and Lucas, Jack and I clean up whatever we see - it goes even faster if T is home and we have another set of hands. 

Don't know what to clean up?  Look down, see that toy?  Put it away.  The hard part with a 3 year old and a 5 year old is making sure toys go away where they should.  So I developed a system that works for us, and also is educational at the same time.  At the play center we used to go to they had labels on different things to tell you what they were and where to put things back.  The only thing was that the kids could not read "cars" and so did not know without parental help what was to go back in that spot.  I combined the idea of labels and flash cards into an organizational system.

Voila!  Picture labels! 





Jack and Lucas, and eventually Ian, can look at the picture and then the word can be associated with the picture.  Jack can recognize the word "cars" without the picture now, and Lucas is really starting to become comfortable with spelling words that we see if everyday life.

Jack, who is always willing to help, could not avoid the opportunity to use tape and scissors.  He helped me cut out the labels and then we covered them in packing tape to make them resistant to spills.  If I had access to a laminator I would have done that, but until we win the lottery this will have to do.  We then when around and stuck our labels to the appropriate bins and shelves.











After everything was labeled we found the correct homes for the toys - a multi day task.  Bins were emptied into a big pile of toys, and then organized into the bin they belonged in.  Now that the homes for items have been established it is so easy to clean up.  I just have to ask the boys to park their trucks, and they go to the shelf they belong on.  Why did I not do this years ago?

Living Space Tour

The children and I have been in our new house for just over a month and we are still organizing and finding homes for our belongings.  Organizing is a constant job because there is always something needing a home, or a better place for something.  We have reorganized the kitchen cupboards three times, and rearranged the furniture twice.  Perhaps we will find something that truly works before our lease here is over and we have to do it all over again in a new home.

When you walk in our front door there is simply a hallway, a few doors and the stairs.  The doors go to the garage, storage/utility room and to T's office/dog room.  T's office has patio doors that go out onto our backyard space.  The second floor of the townhouse is really the living space, which is annoying when you have a lot of groceries to bring in or when the doorbell rings unexpectedly - so many stairs!  But it is great because you do not open the front door and expose your living space - so an unexpected person at the door does not see the toy tornado that went through earlier in the day.

Once up the stairs from the hallway, there is a closet and a two piece bathroom.  There is ample counter space so we actually have a change area set up for Ian - third child and finally we are using a change table and not the floor!  It also works really well for introducing Ian to the potty - take diaper off, sit on toilet, flush.  It is so much easier than using a potty.

The rest of the 2nd floor is living space.  Our living room, play room, kitchen and dining room are all in one large space.  It is a great space because I can be doing whatever I need to do in the kitchen and the boys are there playing.

The kitchen has a nice large island, which has an eating space.  This is where Lucas and Jack love to eat breakfast.  It is also a great place to play lego so that Ian cannot get to the tiny pieces.  It is large enough that they can be playing on one side and I can still work on the other.  Though there is so much counter space compared to our old home that I don't need to use the island if it is cluttered with toys or what not.  I love that I can have my mixer, breadmaker, blender and other large items actually in my kitchen.  No longer do I have to go downstairs to the basement to get my breadmaker.  These items also fit great into the awkward corner cupboard! 

There end of my island has become the perfect home for the boys' kitchen.  They love their kitchen and the imaginative play that goes on there is so fantastic.  I love being able to cook in my kitchen and watch them create elaborate dishes in their own kitchen.

Just past their kitchen is the play area.  Our large bookshelf which seemed so gigantic in our old house and is just dwarfed by the size of our new living space.  Since we no longer have a living room and rec room, all the toys are now in this one space, I gave up my book space for toy space.  We spent hours organizing the toys and yet there is still so much more to do.  We made labels to try and keep the boys organized.  It seems to be working so far!  They also have space for their train table and a computer area.



Just past the play area is the living room.  We have a nice cozy fire place, and an awkward corner space which is where we put the tv.  We bought a new dresser to hide all of the movies and games and fits nicely into the awkward space.  Our coffee table is never in the same spot, as Ian loves to use it as a walker and pushes it all over the place.  We thought about getting a large area rug to prevent this and to tie the area together but we decided against it as we love how easy the floors are to clean!

Off the living room is the balcony.  They boys love being able to go outside, and even Ian has mastered the step down onto the balcony.  I love being able to go out and drink my tea while looking at the pond and listening to the birds.  The boys are so excited for when we finally buy new sand for their sandbox.  We also plan on having a small container garden for tomatoes.






Back to the kitchen.  To the left of the kitchen is our dining room.  It is nice to have a space that is somewhat separate from the rest of the living space but still connected.  Because it is not within the traffic flow pattern it does not get over run with toys and other general clutter that we typically cover our table with.  It is great to be able to have a table to eat at each night as a family.  There is also a nice big window, which Jack likes to pretend is a movie theater.  After dinner (or sometimes during), we get to enjoy the play by play narration from Jack about the movie that is being played.










The only downside to such an open floor plan is that I cannot keep the boys out of the kitchen - especially when cooking.  I am constantly seeing little hands pop up to steal the veggies.

Vent

Sometimes you just have to let a kid do what they want to do.

There is a heating vent in front of the patio door.  It's visible - the white vent does not blend in well with the wood floor, and being in front of the window is one of Ian's favorite places to be, so it is often noticed.  Ian is absolutely fascinated with it.  We try covering it with the end of the curtain's, we moved the rocking chair over it.  Nothing was curving his interest.

The vent is easily lifted out, and Ian discovered he could do that very quickly.  I am constantly putting it back in so that toys do not fall down the vent.

We tried the distraction technique.  When he took the vent cover off we would move him across the room and give him something else to do, but he would make his way back to the vent and keep playing with it.

We tried the "no" technique, but I prefer to keep "no" to a minimum and only use it when it's absolutely needed - like in a danger situation.  Plus, a 9 month old does not understand why he cannot explore there, and I do not want to hinder his desire to explore.

So what did I do?

I let him play with the vent.

He sat there with his foot in the vent for quite a while.  He then got bored and moved on to something else... He has not visited the vent since!

Ginger Cookies

Jack's imagination has never failed to amaze

me.

Today he is being a fire fighter who is baking.  He mixed up his dough and put the cookies in his oven.  He went on playing and then went back to his cookies.  It is interesting to watch as his sense of time develops.  His oven used to cook food instantly, but now it actually takes a bit of time depending on what is being made.

When his cookies were done he took them out to cool.  Once cool he brought them over on a tray for us to try.

I took my imaginary cookie, pretended to take a bite and after saying how tasty they were I asked what kind of cookie it was....

Jack proudly proclaimed they are ginger cookies.  I asked if he had used Auntie Risa's recipe and he responded "I used flour, and sugar, and eggs... And molasses... Oh!  And ginger!"

My jaw dropped!  He is such an amazing little boy.  The fact that he could actually name the ingredients that went into his ginger cookies was so amazing.

Cooking Class: Jambalaya

LJack loves to cook, and is getting so comfortable around the stove.  No longer am I worried about him touching the pan or the stove.  He is very cautious and enjoys it so much.

Jack and Lucas are both starting to use knives (plastic) to cut their own food on their plate when they can.  Jack is also enjoying watching me chop food for dinner.  Tonight we chopped the celery, mushrooms, peppers and onion together.

Jack was also responsible for the spice blend.  I told him which ones to put in and how much.  His shake on the cayenne pepper was a little heavy handed, so dinner was a little spicy - but still tasty.  I guess the fire fighter helmet, which he chose to wear instead of his chef hat, was appropriate for the spice factor!

Jack helped me put everything into the pan and it was his job to occasionally stir until it started to bubble.  He had to let me know when it had started to bubble, and he did a great job!

Once again, he did a great job cooking.

Family game night

Lucas and Jack have been asking to play games for the past few days, and tonight we had a family fame night.

We started out playing Zoofari.  We could not find the stands for the typical pieces so we got little figures out of the animal toy bin.  Jack picked an elephant, Lucas picked a zebra, Daddy picked a baby chimp and I picked a leopard.  The boys had so much fun, and Daddy was the lucky winner.

Since Daddy won, he picked the next game.  Hr has been wanting to play Jenga for a few days, so he finally got to pick it.

The boys had so much fun playing jenga, and did amazing well!  We did two games and it was getting very difficult at the end.  The first game was a collaboratively loose, and then Jack knocked it down on the second game.

Ian was so good and just sat in his high chair the whole time - watching and playing along.

Ian vs the stairs

I had an idea for a blog entry about Ian learning to climb the stairs.  He was so cute attempting the bottom 3 stairs, and that is as far as he could make it.

Well...

Ian just made it up to the bedrooms from the living room.  From 3 stairs to more than 20.

He has conquered going up the stairs... Not looking forward to learning how to go down.

He is getting too big too fast... I cannot even keep up with the posts.

It is not a box...

We emptied yet one more box.

But it is not a box...

It is an airplane.

It is a suitcase.

It is a fire truck.

It is a bed.

It is a cage for a kitty.

It is a dragon's egg.

I love their imaginations.