Mommy Time

I have just come from a mommy lunch group. Every month or so a group of us, all with children under the age of five, get together at someones house. We all bring food and our children. We eat, talk, and let the kids play. In the spring and summer we get together at the park where the little ones can tear around the playground and the water park. It is heavenly!

It is so important to connect with other moms when you are at home. It provides me with a bit of desperately needed adult time (talking about the weather with the cashier in the grocery store just doesn't cut it some days!) Other moms understand if you show up in your yoga pants and a baseball cap.

The kids play very well together with minimal intervention. It allows us time to talk about anything and everything, share recipes, gossip, and news. By the time we get home, the kids are fed, played out and ready for a nap. Makes for a wonderfully relaxing day and usually a quiet evening!

Digging out again

It snowed last night, again. Only about 10 cm, but it is enough. Already. OK? I have nowhere left to pile it! Our small yard is hedged with huge snow piles. The edge of the driveway is like someone parted a great white sea. We seldom see a snow plow down our side street.

Sigh. I am Canadian. But I am not a fan of snow. Yes, I am complaining but what I wouldn't give to get out the jogging stroller, go for a nice long walk, and let the little people of the posse roar off some energy at the playground! Did I mention that we don't normally get this much snow? I'm sure I mentioned it. Maybe many times. Already. OK, I'm done.

Mega Bloks...Scourge of the Livingroom Floor

I am having an issue with one of my children's Christmas gifts. We have had Mega Bloks in the house for quite some time now. My children love to build towers with them. For those who are not familiar with Mega Bloks they are like Lego but, well, mega. Think Lego on performance enhancing steroids. They are large enough to kick out of the way as you traverse the sea of toys on the livingroom floor instead of finding their way painfully underfoot.

My children received a bin of Mega Bloks as a Christmas gift this year. But these are different. Apparently Mega Bloks come in different sizes: mega and not-so-mega. They received the latter. These Mega Bloks are about half way between Lego and the Mega Bloks we know and tolerate. These blocks are small enough to find their way underfoot but unfortunately not small enough to be eaten by the vacuum. For the past week I have been avoiding these little pieces of plastic shrapnel like mines in a mine field. I'm sure the novelty of them will wear off, or at least the posse will learn to clean them up by the time they leave for university.

CrockPot Chicken Canneloni

I am running out ideas for hubby to take for lunch. I like to try different things to keep the interest level up. I also want things that the posse will eat. The criteria I work with are: must have meat in it (meatless meals not met with great enthusiasm from the posse), must be easy to chew (for the little people of the posse), and must be tasty. I bought a box of oven-ready canneloni on sale a few weeks ago. Canneloni are basically pasta tubes that can be stuffed and cooked. Sounded appealling, kind of like a lasagna with less noodle.

From the recipe on the box and the internet I pieced together a recipe that would work in the crock. It was very tasty and cooked surprisingly quickly. The only issue that I had was that the pasta doesn't really maintain its shape. I expected nice little round tubes of stuffed pasta but it was certainly more of a layered lasagna consistency. Perhaps it would be better done in the counter top oven but everyone ate it. It was even more tasty the next day.

You will need:

• 1 box oven ready canneloni pasta
• 1 chicken breast sliced thinly
• 500 ml 1% cottage cheese, drained (this is supposed to be ricotta cheese but apparently they don't sell it in my small town)
• 1/2 bunch spinach chopped or 1 package frozen spinach drained and chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• olive oil
• 1 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used marble cheddar)

Saute chicken breast in a small amount of olive oil until cooked. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl mix together cottage cheese, parmesan, salt, pepper, basil, chopped spinach, eggs and half the grated cheese. Dice cooled chicken and add to cheese mixture. Mix well. Spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of CrockPot (I used a 3 quart crock). Stuff cottage cheese/chicken mixture into each canneloni tube and place into crock. Cover layer of canneloni with a thin layer of spaghetti sauce and continue layering canneloni until you have used all of the cottage cheese mixture. Cover top layer of canneloni with thin layer of spaghetti sauce. Cook on High for 1.5 hours or Low for 3 hours. Half an hour before the end of the cooking time, sprinkle the top with remaining grated cheese.