welcome spring

The weather certainly is unspring like in southern Ontario and the snow flying in the air yesterday afternoon didn't convince us either, but I do not want to complain. We had amazing weather the rest of March Break and things are looking up. After a busy few days for Abigail and Nathaniel in St. Catharines early in the week, we have stayed pretty mellow around here for the last 2 days. We've had friends come in to play both mornings and Abigail is out with the neighbour girls enjoying a cooking class at our local grocery store. It is good for Abigail and Nathaniel to have some space from each other. They can get along wonderfully if they both agree on what they are playing. But lately I find that not happening as often as it did say a year ago. So, the cooking class came at a great time.

I can't remember where I read this...but somewhere in blogland I read about people having themes to their pictures each year. One year might be lots of pics in a photo booth. Another year may be jumping pictures...so, today I got my kids jumping. Jesse never did get the timing with the other kids, but they had fun jumping for the camera.

And for those of us who were not lucky to travel south for March Break, I have a Caribbean inspired recipe for you. Mango Lime Bread.
This is what you'll need...
Some mangoes...
a lime...
and the recipe below. It is a different combination and I really enjoyed the mango, ginger and lime flavours together. All 3 kids enjoyed it as did Andrew. However, Andrew did say he preferred my banana bread. So, for those of you interested in baking something a bit different...I hope you like it. I found the recipe here but adapted it to my liking. Here is my version.

Fresh Mango Lime Bread

3 large eggs
1/2 cup flavorless oil such as canola or safflower oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 to 1 1/4 cup diced mangos from 1 - 2 large peeled and pitted mango
1 cup grated apple from 1 peeled Royal Gala apple
grated zest of 1/2 lime

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess.
Whisk the eggs, oil and applesauce together.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
Rub the brown sugar between your palms into the bowl, breaking up any lumps, then stir it in. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, switch to a sturdy rubber spatula or wooden spoon and mix until blended- the batter will be very thick (really more like a dough than a batter) and not easily mixed, but persevere, it will soon come together. Stir in the mango, apples and zest. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake the bread for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, or until it is golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. If the bread looks as if it’s getting too brown as it bakes, cover loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the pan and unmolding. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.

And for our carbon fast today...
Friday, March 20th: Fill your kettle only with as much water as you need in order to save water and energy.

And finally....Happy Birthday Dan! Wish we were closer to celebrate with you. Enjoy your birthday amongst your beautiful mountains.