New Year's Eve celebration

As the mother of 3 young children, New Year's Eve is a little different than when I was young...I was in bed by 10pm (though I was woken just after midnight by Kayla having growing pains!). But it was a great night with my family and a fabulous way to end the year.

Velata chocolate fondue, cheese and crackers

a very cheesy husband :)

sausage and potatoes on the raclette

then we did cold slab ice cream...

I chilled the granite top from the raclette in the freezer for several hours, then add ice cream (we did vanilla, but you can get creative and do different flavours)

add in some treats, I had a mini cupcake, smarties and velata milk chocolate. the kids liked crushed oreos, kitkats and smarties.

mix it all together 

Enjoy! It was AWESOME!

here's the stuff we had to add in, mini cupcakes, apple pie filling, chopped kitkats, smarties, and oreos, caramel sauce and velata milk chocolate.

I think next time it would be fun to do a banana split theme, bananas, strawberries, Velata chocolate, caramel sauce, cherries, marshmallow cream, anything you want on a banana split!

New Year!

As I sit here and do a little organizing and planning for the new year, I am taking time to set some goals for the next year. I've posted my goals on my whiteboard. some of them include, run a 1/2 marathon, pay off credit card debt, go to Cancun (Scentsy leadership retreat) in 2015, run 1,000km this year and complete an olympic length triathlon! Not only did I set the goals, but I am also in the process of making a plan on how to achieve these goals, like my goal of running 1,000km this year requires that I run 3 times/week. I'm looking now for a 1/2 marathon to book so that I have a deadline. I'm excited about what 2014 has in store for me and my family!
Do you make goals? write them down, show someone, it makes you accountable and helps you achieve them! Set BHAG's (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), even if you don't achieve them, you'll be further ahead at the end of the year than you are today! I'm going to make it a double yay year!
Here's to 2014!!

Raclette. Serving up Memories

(check out even more great raclette ideas at www.createthosememories.ca)

I love traditions. I love doing things that bring my family together. As Christmas comes I start to think about traditions that I have...
I loved fondue. I don't really remember when we would do it as a family, but I remember my mom pulling out the fondue set and we'd sit around and enjoy the food and fun and family. It could have been just once or twice that we did it, but I remember it and remember loving it. As a young adult my favourite group date was fondue! When we got married I loved it so much that we made it a yearly tradition for new year's eve. Some of the best times were when we shared the tradition with friends! The prep was fun, the clean up wasn't, but it was all worth it!
I do remember New Year's Eve as a kid, it would be one of the few occasions when the fine china came out and we got to have a "fancy" meal. The one thing I do remember eating was cream corn. I always thought it was such a special food that we only got it once a year. I later learned that my mom hates cream corn and my dad loves it, so she would let him have it once a year! :)
I remember visiting my Grossmutti and Grossvati (Grandma and Grandpa, Dad's parents). They came from Switzerland and my favourite meal was when the raclette came out (I didn't know that's what it was called at the time). We'd start with a vinegar/lettuce salad (I don't know the exact recipe, but I found something close below) then fry our potatoes on top and melt swiss cheese underneath. I loved being able to melt my own cheese and fry my own potatoes! As I started my own family, I searched for something that would recreate this experience. A few years ago I finally found one, it was cheap and didn't work perfectly. Then, Velata introduced their own Raclette this past October. I am in love!! I love being able to cook at the table and share this tradition with my children. As well as introduce many more traditions (we made french toast, turkey bacon and fried eggs last night for dinner on the Raclette)
This is why I am in love with VELATA! I love that it brings family together (even when I don't really want to share, as soon as my Velata warmer is going (with either cheese or chocolate) I am guaranteed to have someone wanting to share :)

www.nataliezuidhof.velata.ca

Lettuce Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce (I like it shredded)

1 cup vinegar

sugar (enough to make a thick syrup consistency)

wash and cut lettuce, set aside.

put the vinegar in a bowl, add sugar to desired consistency and mix well so sugar is dissolved.

spoon the syrup onto the lettuce and mix lightly.

Bucket list

I have decided i need a bucket list...here goes

1. complete an Ironman triathlon
2. complete Escape from Alcatraz triathlon
3. become a Scentsy Family SuperStar Director
4. go to Jerusalem
5. go to Switzerland
6. go to Australia and New Zealand
7. Run a Marathon
8. go up in a hot air balloon
9. go to Mt. Everest base camp
10. return to the Philippines

Is that a good enough start? I can always add to it, can't I.

quick weekend getaway

Last week Monday Chris suggested we go camping on the weekend! We quickly checked out Waterton Springs Campground (a great campground just outside Waterton Park). They had 1 spot available and we snatched it up! We packed everything up on Thursday, then Chris and I worked Friday and headed out after work. We didn't have time to do anything Friday night, but Saturday was filled with all kinds of Waterton traditions...

We all made it up Bear's Hump! (those stairs they added are HUGE, poor little Blakelee could barely make it up some of them!)

Then we headed over to the Prince of Wales Hotel. The last time we were in Waterton the kids wanted to know what that big house was, so we told them, Kayla asked where the wales were :) then this weekend Blake said, it's the dolphin house! 

We stopped by the cabin to see Grandpa Ted (my grandpa) and he invited us to go fishing. We spent the afternoon on the boat enjoying the sunshine and beautiful scenery. We didn't catch any fish, but it was still lots of fun.

We stopped by the big scoop for the traditional icecream cone and Kayla had chocolate, can you tell?

S'mores by the campfire made even better with Velata caramel milk chocolate!! YUM

Sunday morning before church we stopped by Cameron Falls and climbed up to the lookout. Kayla wanted to stay all day long!

Goodbye Waterton, but only for a few weeks, we'll be back!!

waiting sucks!

This seems to be a week of waiting...
waiting for test results from Jeff's surgery,
waiting for my scentsy order to come,
waiting for the tax return to come,
I'm not a very patient person, so I had to distract myself by trying some new recipes...
both are for the slow cooker.
both are from fix-it and forget-it kids' cookbook.
both are deserts.
both turned out delish!

Tapioca Treat

8 cups of milk
1 cup small pearl tapioca
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained (I used a whole can)
1 cup grapes, cut in half (I added 1 can mandarin oranges, drained instead of grapes)
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed (I just realized that it's just 1 cup, I added the whole tub-it worked out great)

mix the milk, tapioca, and sugar in your slow cooker with a wisk.
cover your slow cooker. cook on high for 3 hours.
crack the eggs into a mixing bowl. beat them. add the vanilla to the eggs.
use a ladle to scoop out a little of the hot milk and carefully add to the egg mixture. stir the hot milk into the eggs well.
add the egg mixture to the slow cooker.
cover. cook on high for 20 min.
chill the tapioca completely. this may take 3 hours.
after tapioca has chilled completely, stir in fruit and whipped topping.
serve cold.

the whole family loved it!


Pumpkin Pie Pudding (I made modifications based on what I had)

2 eggs
1 can solid pack pumpkin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup vanilla sugar (I got this at costco, and it's the best ever)
1/2 cup Biscuick baking mix
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

beat eggs, add pumpkin and milk (both) mix well.
melt butter, add to pumpkin mix.
add sugar, baking mix, and pumkin pie spice. mix well.
pour into slow cooker.
cover, cook on low for 6-7 hours, or until it sets (you will know it is set if you move the slow cooker gently and the food doesn't move.
let the pudding cool before serving. eat warm or at room temperature.

The rest of the family didn't try this one yet, but I'm loving it!

Let me know if you ever try any of my recipes, and how you like them...

coming soon, my scentsy order should be here soon, I'll let you know how wonderful it smells!! (if you want a sample, send me your address)