Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Loaf

You should make this.

You should make this today.

It's so good!

Really... it will make your entire day to eat this!

Cranberry, Chocolate Chunk Loaf

2 cups flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries, chopped

2 squares (2 oz) semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre.

Combine eggs, butter, buttermilk and vanilla and mix. Add to flour mixture and stir until almost combined. Add in cranberries and chocolate hunks, finish stirring until mixture is just combined.

Topping

1/8 cup rolled oats

1 tbsp brown sugar

a sprinkle of cinnamon

Combine all topping ingredients and then sprinkle over the loaf.

Bake at 350 for 40-55 minutes until a tester comes out clean.

YUM!

*recipe has been adapted from a Company's Coming original recipe*

Those Cheeks!

I could just kiss this face off!

He has a bit of a black eye in this picture, but it doesn't change those cheeks!

OH those cheeks!! just begging to be smothered in kisses!!

Musical Monday: Ray LaMontagne - Trouble

Another one of my 1... or 2-am songs.

Ah, Ray... he's becoming a staple in my life!

Bubble Tea

A few months ago I had a huge hankering for bubble tea.

It's something that I hadn't had for years and could not get where I currently live.

I couldn't remember how it tasted, I couldn't buy it to remind myself and I couldn't get it out of my head!

Last week while my brother in law and his fiance were visiting, she surprised me with the awesome gift of bubble tea supplies!!

It was so much fun! I really do love the stuff.

What is bubble tea you ask? Well it's a super fun milky tea drink with tapioca pearls in the bottom of your glass! You drink it cooled and with a straw so you get a fun tapioca ball surprise randomly as you drink!!

Could sound gross... could sound interesting... however it sounds to you, it's totally fantastic and you should try it!

and to make the whole experience that much better, she brought coloured tapioca balls!!

...tapioca balls really are nasty looking... but ooooh sooooo good!

Coconut Macaroons

Zac loves to bake!

I think he asks to make something 3-4 times a week.

In prep for our visitors last week we decided it would be fun to make cookies.

I've been searching for recipes with a really small number of ingredients so that Zac could do almost all of the work.

Coconut macaroons are now "Zac's Speciality" and they're super yummy on top of that!

This recipe doesn't make a huge amount but it is easily doubled. I made a second batch and put butterscotch chips in them and they were to.die.for!

Seriously, doooo iiiitt!!

Coconut Macaroons

2 cups shredded coconut (if doubled, 2 bags of shredded coconut)

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (if doubled, you can just use the whole can of condensed milk)

Preheat oven to 325.

Mix coconut and flour together in a large bowl. Add vanilla and condensed milk and mix well.

Place spoonfuls onto a greased (or parchment lined) cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown!

I love that hubby was able to get a few shots of us making these together as baking together is becoming such a big part of our lives!

Forgotten Laughs

I often scroll through all my pictures on the computer.

It's something I love doing because, as I take a huge amount of pictures, there's always at least one I had forgotten taking.

I stumbled across these last night and have not stopped chuckling all day about them.

You do need to know that I had nothing to do these.

I went to the washroom, walked back into my living room to find Eli had some how dressed himself in this fun little get up.

He stood there, watching his movie completely unfazed and unaware of how he looked or anything going on around him.

Cheese!!

Happy Wednesday!

A Cake

The last week or so of February flew by in a blur.

Looking back I can't even recall what events happened and on which days.

We got a bucket of snow, had house guests, got more snow, spent 2 days in St John's (3.5 hours away), drove and drove and drove in the van. And somewhere in there I made a cake for a special little girl celebrating her 1st birthday.

Whew! I'm hoping March moves a bit slower and I'm able to get all kinds of stuff done in my sewing room.

I have a looooong list to get started on!