Can't believe it's not Skor Cookies..

Last week a friend posted a picture of these cookies and we were hooked. It was love at first sight.
If you are craving a crunchy cookie that really does taste like a Skor chocolate bar, then these are for you.
We adapted the recipe slightly and they were fabulous.
Definitely worth making!

Before you start making these really yummy cookies, you have to take five minutes and make the Cornflake Crunch. You can find it here. We substituted soya milk powder instead of the milk powder and it worked perfectly.

we called them:



























Marshmallow Crunchies 
adapted from The Cooking Actress
Ingredients
1 cup of vegan margarine
1 cup of white sugar
2/3 cup of packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp of vanilla
2 cups of Spelt flour
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
3 cups of Cornflake Crunch
1 cup of mini chocolate chips
1 1/4 cup of mini marshmallows

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda together and  place aside.
Mix butter and sugars together in a stand up mixer, until creamy. 2-3 min on medium/high
Add egg and vanilla and beat for 7 minutes on medium/high
Add the Dry-flour, b. powder, b.soda and stir until just combined.
While the mixer is still going, add the marshmallows, chocolate chips and Cornflake Crunch
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the dough in ice cream scoop mounds. Wrap the pan tight with plastic wrap. Chill the entire cookie sheet in the fridge for an hour.

--after cookies are chilled--

Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 15-18 minutes. The cookies should be slightly brown around the edges and center. Cookies will puff up, crackle and get larger.

EAT and enjoy!

Ekk it's not really warm yet, and we're so sick of Winter...

What do we wear??

Yesterday it was cold. Really cold. We looked outside and saw freezing rain, blowing trees and grey skies.  The question came up: How do we dress for in between seasons? It isn't quite Spring yet and we are so sick of Winter clothes, but don't want to bring on pneumonia by not being warm..so again..what do we wear?
After throwing clothes on the beds, pulling out jackets, scarfs, flats and boots, we came up with the following tips.

Three Tips for Classy Ladies Wanting to Beat those Winter Wardrobe Blahs:

1. Stay with neutrals and pastels and then add little pops of colours: like shoes, sunglasses, a jacket, Leah's rose pants.

2. Vintage pieces are always in style, no matter what season. Charlotte has on a lacy, ivory piece that was found in a thrift shop here in Ottawa. It is timeless and as we like to say "an investment" : ) Renee's jacket has built in should pads and a tiny swan print.

3. Stick with the darker tights for a little while girls, we like to wait until the sun is out and it's in the pluses. Pattern tights are also perfect for now as are bright coloured pants.

A Friday Ritual

one photo without explanation. A moment captured- a time to be still, to breathe and remember.

Happy Friday!

Healthy and Super Delicious Bagels

Back in the day when we used to eat white flour, our favourite breakfast was bagels and cream cheese. Big, thick, doughy bagels, slathered with inches of cream cheese. One of our best memories, was when as a family we were travelling to Alberta. Our parents had stopped at a Tim Horton's for breakfast in Regina and  had ordered us all bagels and cream cheese. Well to our delight the Timmie`s staff were extremely generous and layered those bagels with the most cream cheese you ever saw. Either the bagel man had a lapse of judgement and forgot the proper amount per bagel (it was super early), or the cream cheese was going to expire and so had to be consumed,  or that`s just the way people in Regina eat their bagels! ; )  All of us were happy campers and ready to travel another day. Now however white bagels and cream cheese are a breakfast of our past, but Praise God! our clever mom has come up with a healthy alternative:

Delicious Spelt Bagels with  yummy dairy free-carrageenan -free cream cheese spread

Carole`s Bagels
adapted from More of Canada`s Best Bread Machine Baking Recipes 

11/4 cup of water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
4 1/2 - 5 cups of light spelt flour or 3 3/4-4 cup of whole spelt flour
13/4 tsp bread machine yeast

1 tbsp granulated sugar

Add all ingredients in order except sugar into bread machine pan.

Select Dough cycle. Stop bread machine after 40 minutes. Do not allow dough to rise. Remove dough from pan and place on a lightly covered surface, cover with large bowl and let rest for 10 minutes.

































Cut dough into 12 pieces and shape into bagels. Place onto prepared baking sheet and let rise for 20 minutes on a  warm place ( we put ours on the oven). Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 and add baking stone.























































































































Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil, add the 1 tbsp of sugar to water. Immerse bagels into boiling water one at a time for 20 seconds or so until dough becomes a little puffy. Place on a prepared stone, sprinkle with sesame seeds or chia seeds and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.


























































































































Enjoy! 

Waterfall Braids

Leah is our braiding queen among us sisters..she can learn, do and perfect many complicated styles that leave Charlotte and I wondering where do we even start??

However she did show and teach us how to do the Waterfall Braids, and they really are very easy.
Here are her steps on how to create those very pretty, cascading, waterfall looking braids...


Step 1:
Pick up three strands of hair on your right side.




























Step 2:
Start a normal braid.

Step 3:
Pick up a strand of hair from the top and add it to the braid (like a French braid)

Step 4:
Bring the top piece over the middle piece and drop it down -creating the first cascade.

Step 5:
Pick up a new strand from underneath to replace the dropped piece.
(look at photos-this is hard to explain : )

Step 6:
Bring the new piece (the one you just picked up) and braid it over the middle. Repeat steps 3-5 until the braid is the length you like. Tie a tiny elastic and start on the other side, repeating the steps





























Step 7:
When both braids are finished, bobby pin in place!









































There you go! Good luck!

Gratitude

Often in our busy lives we get so caught up in the tasks and stress of the day. Work, school, chores, commitments, relationships, and much more take up our focus and we forget to be grateful for what we have. Our mom however is the best at bringing it back into focus and when we were little she always taught us that even in the worst stressful moment, there is something to be grateful for and to stop and think about it.

Oprah Winfrey talked alot about gratitude on her show, and how at the end of the day it is important to stop and be grateful. It changes your persepective, attitude and mood.

So today we give you:

Our Gratitude List

We are so grateful today...

For our Catholic faith, and to our parents for their yes to the Lord

Our new Holy Father Pope Francis and the example he set on Holy Thursday. We love you Papa!

Five dollar finds at the GAP

These delicious Apple Turnovers and this Spelt Phyllo! it is the best

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway's performance in Les Miserables.."When you love someone, you see the face of God.."

This song: Glorious by Paul Baloche it makes our hearts sing

Fresh Spring flowers in the house..Leah made the most beautiful arrangements from ten dollar bouquets. They are so beautiful and add so much life to our home

Family. Being able to eat and talk with all of our loved ones this past weekend.

SPRING! The days are longer, the dead grass is visible under the snow, the sunshine is warm.

Hugs from our Cousins

This very fun game: Cranium Bible Edition

Laughter and being able to play April Fool's Pranks..We got you Mom! haha

The return of the songbirds..waking up and hearing robins, cardinals, finches..Such joy.

What are you grateful for?

Easter Joy

Wishing you all a very happy and joy filled Easter!

We are a little full of home made apple turnovers, port and dark chocolate to move...

We will see you back here tomorrow.

Happy Easter!