Christmas Day!

Spent Christmas morning just the three of us...opening presents, having a big ol' breakfast and relaxing in our jammies.

Nona and Bapa arrived just before lunch and we had another present opening session. After a couple of drinks Mimi and Opa arrived and we had our THIRD Christmas, phew. Exhausting for all of us.

It was very enjoyable to have everyone all together. Dinner in the late afternoon: I made the potatoes, Mimi brought brussel sprouts an dessert and Nona brought the gravy and turkey. It was a real team effort.

We skyped with my sister and her family in Alberta so they could watch Daphne open the gifts they sent. This was one of the gifts, Violet, and Daphne LOOOOVES her. 

Hope you all had an excellent holiday! 

Christmas Eve

Pizza, movies and wine.

Daddy only worked a half day so we spent most of the day playing with D together. Took a drive to look at some Christmas lights, opened up only 1 gift and sent her off to bed.

One Pot Chicken Curry (so easy)

I love making curry, I'm sure you've noticed, so it's nice to have some one pot recipes in your arsenal.

So I start by browning chicken thighs in a cast iron pan. 

Then I take the chicken out and sautee onion/garlic and once they are soft I add 3 heaping tablespoons of curry powder, 1 tablespoon on fenugreek seeds and a sprinkling of turmeric. Cook until fragrant.

Once your done that you add 1.5 cups of chicken stock and half a small can of tomato paste. I cook it just long enough for the tomato paste to thicken the sauce.

Add the chicken back to the pan and cook in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.

Once it comes out I remove the chicken and add a little yogurt to make it a little creamy. It does give it a curdled look to the sauce but its still tasty so it's worth the sacrifice of aesthetics.

I serve the chicken on rice and spoon the sauce over top so everyone get the amount they like. Will likes a lot more sauce than I do so this is a great way to please everyone.

I also like to add a little dollop of yogurt on top to serve. So good. One pot. It's about 15 minutes prep and 20 minutes in the oven. Serves a crowd or a couple with equal work. 

The price of my love of curry. A badly (or well) aimed splatter. There goes another shirt.

--Siobhan xoxo

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Fail Excuses

So I probably shouldn't have so openly announced my baking plans...it feels like I jinxed myself by doing that.

Of course....OF COURSE...I came down with a really shitter of a cold. 12 days before Christmas. And man, oh man, does this thing not want to let go. It's always those damn coughs that hold on the longest.

So of course my grand baking plans have gone out the window. I'm not even going to try to get it all done because I would be rushing and not enjoying myself.

I did, however, get my cheater truffles done the day before this cold hit me really hard.

I'm pretty happy with them.

Now wish me luck shaking this cough off before the big day. Thankfully the hubz is always at the ready with tea and meds for me. And my mother-in-law came in today to play with Daphne for a couple hours so I'm using this time to get this post up and have a wee rest.

DIY Sugar Lip Scrub

I have dry lips. Real dry.

Last time I was in Sephora I saw this scrub that is supposed to help remove dead skin and moisturize your lips. I really love the idea cause I love to wear a darker lip this time of year but a dark lip and crusty skin do not mix well.

Unfortunately the price tag for this bad boy was $26.00. I suppose that's not super ridiculous but it a 0.6oz container and I decided there were a million things I would rather spend $26.00 on.

The other night I randomly remembered this product so I thought I would try to find a similar product for cheaper.

Turns out you can make a sugar scrub with stuff you probably have in your cupboard.

You take 1 tablespoon of sugar (brown, white or a mixture of both) and add just enough honey, coconut oil or olive oil until it quite sticky. 

The instructions I found said you can add vanilla for the scent but it's not necessary. I chose to try it with just brown sugar and honey.

You can store it in a jar and use it once or twice a week. Thankfully I have 2-3 million baby food jars in my basement just waiting for a use. 

The instructions said to rub vigorously...either our views of vigorous vary wildly or my lips were really dry...cause they did bleed a very small amount the first time I did it. BUT it did remove all the dead skin and after a generous coat of Burts Bees my lips felt terrific.

I highly recommend trying this out if you suffer from dry lips.

Recipe RAGE!

So I don't normally use cookbooks when I'm cooking, but I did get a really nice Indian cookbook for Christmas a couple of years ago. I flip through it occasionally because the pictures always looks so nice.

This last time I was snooping around the book I came across a recipe for balti chicken in a spicy lentil sauce. Because I love trying Indian food and lentils are SO friggin' cheap I already had everything I needed on hand for this recipe. 

Thats being said... nothing makes me ANGRIER than when a recipe CLEARLY has not been road tested.

Everything was going as planned. Dhal was perfect, chicken was browned and yummy looking. Then came this strange step where I was supposed to add 1.5 cups of water. I thought it was weird, but I wanted to follow the recipe since I had never tried it before...

Why don't I just follow my instincts?

It turned out so watery! It looked like chicken drowning in vomit. Clearly no one has cooked this recipe. At least not the way it was written.

It really did piss me off. It probably tasted fine but I was so put off by the texture I didn't even want to try it. 

We salvaged the chicken (chicken ain't cheap!) so I'm hoping to try the sauce again and just put the chicken in to reheat.

My god does that anger me! How dare you publish a cook book without ever trying the recipe! I followed that goddamn recipe exactly as written and instead of a thick yummy curry I was left with barf soup. 

I quit! ORDER ME A PIZZA AND GET ME A BEER!

Christmas Baking

So Christmas is closing in quickly...like really quickly and I haven't got any baking done yet. I'm hoping over the next week to get the majority done.

Here is what I hope to be able to make:

• Truffles
• Shortbread cookies topped with caramel and chocolate
• Kahlua fudge
• Peanut Butter fudge

Doesn't seem like a lot but I will need a whole day to get it done and some help from the hubz. I was also hoping to do some chocolate chip cookies...but they aren't really as seasonal so I'll do them if I have the time. Other than the shortbread everything is no bake which makes life a little easier.

We always had peppermint squares and nanaimo bars when I was growing up. I wish I had the time to make those as well...fingers crossed Nona whipped up some peppermint squares that we can mooch off of her.

Guess I will be throwing on some Bubble Guppies so I can make the list and sending Will out after work to pickup the goods.

How are there only two weekends left until Christmas!?

Rachael Ray is an idiot (and a real lemon sorbet recipe)

I have never been a fan of Rachael Ray. Her food is less appealing than her personality, her hygiene leaves something to be desired and half the time she can't even manage to fully cook pasta on an edited televised program. So the other day I was searching the web for a lemon sorbet recipe I absent mindedly clicked on a Rachael Ray recipe...please read the "recipe" HERE.

THAT is not a recipe.

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

4 tablespoons lemon zest

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 3 minutes.

Strain

Then add:

1 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 clementine zested

Cool and add to your ice cream maker. 

Churn according to manufacturers instructions.

THAT is a recipe.

Food Network should be ashamed to put that on there website and call it a recipe. It's nothing more than a suggestion as to what goes well with store bought sorbet. The comments, on the other hand, had me in tears. Glad to see the majority of people agreed with me.

Oh, and yes, I did make the sorbet...with my recipe.

It is tart and sweet and really yummy!

So simple....maybe even as simple as Rachael.

Plus Size Problems

I am a plus sized lady and I have no problem with that. I have a few stores I know fit me well, and are the kind of style I'm in to.

Heather, Kathy and myself at the Parliament Buildings

I actually like Forever21 but I do have a few complaints. Yes, the clothes are poorly made and last about a year...but you pay $4 for a tank top and what do you expect?

No, my complain is more style oriented. There was a time...years ago...when I fit into the normal regular  not plus sized section of Forever21. A lot of there clothes were way too young and scandalous even for Siobhan at 23, but the selection is huge and if you pick through you can find some real jems.

Now the plus sized section is a different story. They add about 1-4 new items per day...I'd estimate the not plus sized section gets 1-2 pages of new clothes. And some of the options...oh lord....

Oh ya! Horizontal stripes! Every curvy girls dream! There are way too many striped clothing options.

Plus sized and insecure? Try letting your tits out...that should help. Ugh.

Aaaaand I'm 8? 

Could this be flattering on anyone? It's hideous!

F21 is for a younger audience... do you see plus sized girls under 21 excited to get this crap?

I know Old Navy gets a bad rap but they do have one major benefit to curvy girls! The "regular" styles are also sold in the plus sized section! Who knew you could just add some fabric and sell the same shirt to a bigger girl! There bathing suits also fit really well and the baby clothes are really awesome. 

Reitmans is also an excellent store to find clothes, coats and accessories. I haven't tried them out yet but I have also been told ASOS is very good. They ship from the UK but they have an excellent plus sized section.

Now onto the most important question of my life...can a tall thick girl wear a poncho? Please say yes...

Getting the house all Christmas-y!

Finally have the house all ready for Christmas!

The tree is up!

Daphne was very excited. LOL, Will likes this pictures cause he's pretty sure she gets this face from me...I don't see it.

Will has been buying me pieces for my village the last few years and I think it's finally starting to look like a real little town.

I love having our stockings up but I can never find anywhere to display them. The back door seemed like a suitable alternative to a mantle.

We will be hosting all the grandparents for Christmas dinner so I wanted to "class up" my kitchen tree. 

I'm sure I will be adding a few things before the big day. Dollarama is my Graceland this time of year. If you are willing to go a few times and spend a little while digging through the tackiness you can do a lot of decorating for really cheap!