How to make Nanaimo Bars

Bettina Zabel
how to make nanaimo bars

Have You Heard of this Canadian Treat? During our Canadian studies for school, we decided to try to make this treat. Of course we didn’t know how to make Nanaimo Bars, or much about them, and set out to learn a little bit. Nanaimo Bars are a no bake treat named after Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. They have 3 layers that consist of a coconut crumb base, a butter icing middle layer, and a chocolate ganache top layer. They apparently can be made without coconut (but why, lol)…

My Plexus Journey

Bettina Zabel

I Didn’t See This Journey Coming! Having my 3 children back to back to back really did a number on me… on my body and on my emotions! It didn’t seem to matter what I did or what I changed about my lifestyle, I just couldn’t find the energy. At the time I was already eating organically and working out, but I couldn’t lose the weight, I couldn’t get out of a mental fog… it was a really dark time for me. I suffered from auto immune issues, couldn’t sleep, and…

The Best Stand Mixer

Bettina Zabel
the best stand mixer

Not All Mixers Are Created Equally Who loves cooking and baking? Do you own a stand mixer? If you don’t, have you ever wondered which is the best stand mixer? Even if you are mixing up something as simple as a boxed cake, having a mixer comes in handy! Mixers, however, can be pricey and many people aren’t sure if the convenience is worth the price. I have a KitchenAid Ultra Power Plus, which I received as a wedding shower gift from my employer and his wife. When I received…

Groundhog Day Treats

Bettina Zabel

Groundhog Grub We love Groundhog Day at our house, I think it is because the first thoughts of spring come with Groundhog Day. We love the holiday seasons between October and New Year’s Eve, but January is such a cold bleak month, that anything that can get our minds thinking spring is worth celebrating. Every year we make these Groundhog Day treats to celebrate and it seems to go over well, I took it to our co-op this year and it was thoroughly enjoyed. Of course these could be used…

What is Plexus?

Bettina Zabel
what is plexus

What is the all the HYPE about PLEXUS? When a friend suggested to me that I try Plexus… I thought… “What is Plexus?” I had never heard of it and after hearing how it might help me with energy and blah, blah, blah… I still gave it a hard “NO”! It didn’t matter to me that I was an exhausted mom of 3 kids, drinking a pot of coffee a day to resemble normal. I didn’t think twice by my lack of sleep, I mean all moms are tired and…

Niagara Falls and Toronto with Kids

Bettina Zabel

O’ Canada Christmas of 2016 we promised the kids a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for the following year. Our intention was spring 2017, however, when spring came I decided since we were studying Canada, we should take a trip to Canada instead… I know, mean mom right?!? Don’t worry, the kids did get their trip to Great Wolf Lodge later in the year but they had so much fun in Canada, that at almost a year later, they are still asking when we are going back! I would say…

The Night Gardener Book Review

Bettina Zabel

A Book Review By Landen The Night Gardener Book Review This is Landen’s book review of The Night Gardener, by Terry Fan (48 pages, 2016) *Parent’s Note – This book is Amazing!!! It really inspired some imagination with my kids and especially Landen. The illustrations are beautiful and each page is detailed beautifully. This story shows how we can all be inspired by even the smallest things and even by those that we don’t know. The Night Gardener would make an amazing bedtime story. My kids, especially Landen, go to it…

Making a Paper Mache Volcano

Bettina Zabel

A Fun Science Experiement While learning about Earth we obviously covered volcanos and we agreed that making a paper mache volcano would be fun. Volcanoes are a fun topic for kids, they love watching them errupt! Now when I started making this I didn’t really take pictures on how to build the volcano (oops!) but I searched “paper mache volcanoes” and found a picture built very closely to the way I built mine, so I will include the picture for reference (I tried to find where the picture originated but…

Arctic Snow Dough

Bettina Zabel

Fun Way for Arctic Play! While exploring the arctic with the kids, for our Canada unit, we decided to make some arctic snow dough. Snow dough is all over Pinterest, as are other types of doughs and slimes, so we found a basic recipe and decided to add glitter to ours. Glitter is not necessary but does add a little something to it! You’ll need some cornstarch or corn flour (UK), baby oil, and silver or white glitter. The baby oil will help this smell amazing, however, if you think…

How Does Blubber Work?

Bettina Zabel

Why don’t Arctic animals get cold? While studying during our Canada unit we spent alot of time on the arctic. Most children love animals as it is but the arctic as many different types of animals with unique features, including those like polar bears, that have blubber. My kids just didn’t understand how animals could be in icy waters without being cold, so we set off to see how does blubber work? What you will need are some latex gloves, shortening, Saran Wrap, and a bowl of ice water, as…