Bacon & Tomato Barley Risotto

I use the term risotto loosely here because although the end result is very creamy like a risotto, it does not require the time and effort needed for a traditional version of the dish.  Barley is a great alternative to arborio rice, the type of rice normally used for risottos.  It is packed with protein, fiber and complex carbs unlike white rice.  But hold up! It is not 100% healthy, there a half a pack of bacon thrown in there....WAIT....I made up for it with all the spinach!  Everything is in balance again.
I swear my Dad was just telling me yesterday that bacon is actually considered healthy now....suuuuure. He always goes on rants about what one doctor says is healthy today is not healthy tomorrow.  All in moderation I respond or else we would all be a dark chocolate, bacon eating, obese winos (red wine of course - white is not as good for you).

Bacon & Tomato Barley Risotto

Adapted from Oh She Glows - a vegan version

Ingredients:

1/2 pack bacon

1 cup dry pot barley

1 small onion

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp basil

1 large clove or garlic

14 oz can of diced tomatoes

2 cups of milk

1/3 cup spinach (we buy bags of small frozen cubes)

3/4 cup water

S&P to taste

1/4 cup parmesan or more/less to taste

Cook 1/2 pack of bacon which has been diced.  Remove bacon to a plate and most of the grease, leaving a tbsp or so.  

Rinse pot barley in strainer and place in pot that has a lid.  Coat the barley, onion and herbs in the bacon grease and lightly toast in pot on medium heat.  Reduce heat and add garlic, cook for one minute.  

Add tomatoes, milk and water.  Stir well and bring to gentle boil. Reduce head and cover pot with lid on the angle allowing air to escape.  Simmer for approximately 40 minutes stirring every 5-10 minutes or so making sure not to burn the barley to the pot.  Add S&P and parmesan to taste.

The barley tends to be a bit chewy so cook longer and add more liquid if desired.

Makes about 2 cups.  

Spring: Messy Babies and Geocaching

Spring is just around the corner! Yahoo!! We seriously got hit with one of the coldest winters this year, maybe not record lows but a record had to have been broken for the longest stretch below -20°C. It seemed like months I was stuck inside with little Pens, Mr.Loonie and I were taking turns walking pups as it was just too cold for sensitive baby skin.

It was Mr.Loonie's first day off shift today and with the sun shining and temperatures above 5°C , it was perfect to get outside. We even let Penny crawl around on the driveway, she was having a blast playing with rocks and water pouring out the downspout from melting snow. She was a mess but who cares! That's what being a kid is all about. And yes, by the way, Penny is a kid now not a baby! 

A kid most of the time until it is time for a nap or bedtime and then she is still a little baby with sleep issues.  Who knew it would be so hard to get a damn baby to bed.  Last time I spoke of our sleep "problems" it was during her four month sleep regression and now at nine months, it looks like we are back in it. It is honestly not that bad though because I have given up looking for answers and have decided to just be there for my girl. We are still in the family bed and don't really see our "situation" as a problem because we believe in "waiting it out". We see progress most days and and I feel good knowing that she will never be trained or put into any type of stressful situation. So in an attempt to get an afternoon nap in (we don't normally do this but desperate times call for desperate measures - there are also two top teeth busting through) we went for a geocache 10km out of town off of the main highway.  We have been meaning to get this one for awhile now so it was the perfect opportunity.  Surprisingly we got the FTF (first to find) which was a Chinese ear cleaning pick.....weird.

Bathroom Reno Reveal!

Once again I was in a love-hate relationship with this damn blog.  I must have been a deep hate because I am so proud of the bathroom renovation....you would think I would want to share it with you all.  I was even avoiding clicking on the "Two Loonies and a Penny" bookmark in my tool bar until a fellow blogging friend who I play volleyball with asked if we had even finished the bathroom since there were no pictures up.  So Lace, here ya go...thanks for the kick in the ass. It has been at least a month now we have been done.  It really was the longest bathroom reno of all time....about 9 months! But with babies and shift work, things get put off pretty easily.  So first let's have a look at the nasty before...

Blue counter tops, peach tile, green walls and white, blue and pink linoleum....YIKES.

And this was my inspiration picture.....

And now for the reveal.....

We finished tiling in November with the help of my Dad. I love the white hexagon tile with the lightest grey grout.  I realized that I LOVE WHITE! If we ever move (foreshadowing) I am seriously considering whiting out the whole house, by that I mean every. single. wall, WHITE! There are three rooms in our house which are painted a shade of white; the kitchen, Penny's room and this bathroom (which is mostly white) and they are all my favorite rooms in the house.  Nothing beats the cleanness of it. The dark greyish blue color we chose to compliment all the white is "grilled sardine" by Benjamin Moore.

The next step of the reno after tiling was the wainscoting and trim which Mr.Loonie completed effortlessly.  I really am so proud of him, it looks awesome.  Especially after I went behind him twice with the wood filler, silicone and white paint.  ;)

Then it was the accessories, the best part!! It could use a little more styling but I think that just comes with time.  I need to stroll through a vintage store or my Grandma's house to find a little tin or wall hanging for the wall opposite the towel ring, something to just give the bathroom that extra charm.  What we do have is an IKEA accordion mirror, storage boxes and white frames.  To add the needed punch of color I edited two corally colored flower photos that I took on our Oregon vacation.  The grey striped mat is from Crate and Barrel and the white waffle shower curtain and bathroom accessories (cup, toothbrush holder, soap dish, towel, garbage can) are from Superstore.  Hmmm....what else...toilet brush holder and shower rings from Home Sense; mirror from JYSK, cabinet hardware from Lee Valley and the rest I already owned (towel ring, and glass apothecary jars).
You also might be wondering what that silver thing is hanging off the toilet.  It's the cloth diaper sprayer where we spray out little Pen Pen's poop into the toilet.  At least with the toilet surrounded in white, if the poop splatters it is easy to spot and clean, keeps us extra diligent.

So that's it....all for under $4000. I don't have the exact bills in front of me but from what I can estimate we spent around $3500 so add a few hundred bucks for random items.
Approximate Expenditures: $1400 for tub, toilet  faucet and sink. $1000 for cabinet and countertop, $300 in tile and grout, $350 in paint, trim and wainscoting, $160 for lighting and $400 in accessories and finishing details.
What do you all think!?
To view all the bathroom posts while the reno was in progress click here.

Sugar Addict

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem right? Well my addiction is SUGAR. Now that I have cleaned the house out of all the Christmas treats it is time to that I get this under control.  It is really disgusting how much chocolate I have eaten. Part of the process is to be completely honest so I'm gonna lay it all out there for you. Since the holidays have been over the following is the junk I can remember consuming: two boxes of chocolate covered cherries, 2 big bags of M&Ms, a couple bars of salted dark chocolate, frozen Christmas cookies, one case of cranberry ginger ale and a tub of ice cream covered in Nestle Quik powder.  Also throw in there random treats at people's houses and cookies Mr.Loonie brings home from work.

There is also my morning coffee with vanilla creamer, cereal with vanilla soy milk, orange juice, toast with jam, pancakes with syrup, spoonfuls of Nutella, handfuls of sweetened cranberries and all those other hidden sugars.

I always liked my chocolate but I was able to control it.  Pregnancy was the addiction really started because all I wanted to do was sit on the couch with a bucket full of chocolate banana ice cream. I thought it was okay then but little did I know I was on a downward spiral into a full out problem.

So starting Monday that's it! Well not completely, just in reasonable amounts.  Little substitutions like milk instead of soy milk, water instead of sugary drinks and desserts will be a special treat not another meal in my day.  I was seriously replacing lunch with chocolate most days.  Thanks god for breastfeeding which helps me burn up to an extra 800 calories outside of regular activity.  Even though I am back down to pre-preggers weight I should be taking advantage of these extra calories burned and get on the treadmill to really get fit.  Limiting sugar and getting back to healthy eating is the first step.....baby steps.

Candy Shop = A Crazy Lady

From what I have read I'll probably experience headaches and feel lethargic and grumpy for a few days. The only way to combat these feelings and to avoid intense cravings is to keep my blood sugars consistent by eating protein and foods on the low end of the glycemic index like beans, lean meat, veggies and brown rice and pasta. 

Wish me luck! 

December Via Filter

Between Instagram and My365, I filter a lot of pictures.  December is all about the holiday season which means too much junk food, rotten teeth (yes, I eat too much sugar), the fireplace channel, presents and visiting with friends and family.  We headed south this year as it was Mr.Loonie's year.  We alternate every year between our families; they were the lucky ones this year since it was Penny's first Christmas.  She was nothing short of adorable either.  She loved ripping the paper off her gifts to eat.  That's the way it went.  Rip off a big piece, put it in the mouth, mommy take it away and repeat. Pretty much everything was in the mouth this month because of the arrival of two little chicklets on the bottom. The days and nights were rough because of it but I think she is finally over the initial pain as they are half up now and so cute! I love her little toothy smile, so grown up!
Surpisingly Pen Pen didn't cry for Santa! She even smiled a little bit.  Christmas visiting was a little different.  The frequent change of location was hard on her especially since she is in the height of separation anxiety.  It took almost a whole day for her to get used to the new faces which left only a short happy visit before moving on to the next place.  I don't know who was more upset though, Aunties and Grandmas or Penny! All they wanted to do was hug her to pieces but she wasn't having it! (for very long anyway).

Penny's First Christmas

December also saw the completion of Penny's first swimming lessons.  The first picture in her little snow suit and swimming bag was right after a lesson and she was exhausted. All she wanted was a little boob and bed!   Travelling for the holidays means that we have to drive the dreaded highway 63.  Luckily the roads were dry and clear, even Penny drove for a bit (kidding!).  What else....

• I got a mom hair cut - from past the shoulders to well...short
• We finished the bathroom reno! I will dedicate a whole post to it soon.  I 'm so proud of Mr.Loonie, he did an awesome job on the wainscoting.
• We started baby-led solids which means we are skipping purees and Penny feeds herself chunks or wedges of food.
• My MIL was up visiting and I actually got to have a couple of drinks....cranberry mojitos!
• We are still in sleep hell.
• Penny is on the go....trying desperatley to crawl and pulling herself up on everything.

Also, the cold snap finally broke in December after months of consistent below -20°C weather.  We set anything colder than -20°C as too cold for Penny and her sensitive baby skin so on days Mr.Loonie was working, Stryker was stuck moping around the house.  When the milder weather finally came, we broke out our second hand 80's coloured chariot and hit the Hangingstone river.  I was amazed at how well the big tires rolled on the path marked by snowmobiles on the river.  I even bushwhacked with it through some treed side paths, surprisingly it can plow through shin deep snow pretty damn good. Good thing there is a seat belt and a plastic windshield which snaps down and protects Penny from the wind and any branches...oh and Stryker licks too.  She usually falls asleep in the little cocoon pretty quick probably because she is so warm with 2 layers of clothes underneath her snow suit and 2 blankets.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season! From the Loonie family with love. :)

No-Brainer: G.O.G

I saw this idea on Steven and Chris (Canadian talk show - my daily vice) a few days back and I had one of those "DUH, Why didn't I think of that??" moments.  It's just TOO simple that's why and I love to over complicate things! It's no secret that I'm kinda a cheapskate so the idea of buying minced garlic or ginger in the jar is out of question.  They are seriously way too expensive and most of the time lacking flavor and strength these aromatics possess.  When you make your own mixture, prepare to have your socks blown off or maybe burnt off by your dragon breath (Whoa oh..your socks are on fire!).  Holy Shitballs, it is strong. When Mr.Loonie came home last night from work and saw the concoction he had to have a try...he was a little surprised at G.O.G's power.  What's even funnier is Penny stuck her tongue in her daddy's mouth soon after and broke out into tears, maybe a little too strong for her tastes! The french kiss is her new thing...you try and give her a little smooch and she tries to slip ya the tongue.  Freaky lil' girl she is...takes after her mama I guess. ;)

So the recipe is simple, the chef on the show recommended 40/20/40:Ginger/Onion/Garlic but you could do it anyway you like.  With or without any of the three.  With all three it is the perfect combo and starting point for any Asian and Indian recipe.  As for the method, there is nothing to it.  All you need is a food processor or blender to puree your combo to whatever consistency you desire.  I didn't have to add any liquid but you may need to add a tablespoon or so just to get it all going.  You could use water, lemon/lime juice or maybe a vinegar   Another good thing to note is this mixture can be stored in the fridge in a non-reactive container such as glass for weeks without any worry of bacteria growth for a long time.  If you add oil, be careful as the storage time decreases significantly.

So stop wasting your money and make your own jar!!

Chalkboard Paint Everything!!

As any smart girl would do, I did whatever Ryan Gosling told me to (Isn't he the sexiest guy ever?  What is it about this guy?! He just oozes smooth).  No one has to tell me twice to chalk board paint something.  It has been quite a craze for awhile and I don't question why.  It is seriously the perfect solution for organizing and even without anything drawn on, it is the perfect shade of matte black 

My new chalk pens which were in my stocking this year also inspired me to get crafty.  They are awesome! They look like a paint pen and wipe off chalkboard super easy.  No more chalk dust, smudges and dry fingers.  And, finally we won't have to worry about rubbing the chalkboard wall at our back door, our jackets are always covered in pink and purple chalk....Mr.Loonie loves it. :/

So on a Monday night when Pen Pen was in bed, it was Mommy time to do some evening crafting.  I first covered a ceramic "biscotti" jar I received for Christmas.  Not exactly sure what I will use it for but it needed a makeover.  Maybe flour?

Next was a old digital frame gifted to all the employees at a company Christmas party, it had the company's logo stamped on the bottom...yuck.  Now I can write something cheesy like, "Memories".  We'll see....

**Ended up in the garbage! Haha Turned out it wasn't working**

Finally I covered a few mason jar lids just for labeling purposes.  We store our ground up beans and other essentials in a mason jars and keep them out in the open so I thought it would be cute.

What do you Chalkboard paint?