Best Toddler Winter Boots

Last winter my daughter was about a year and a half, she hated getting dressed in her snowsuit and boots to play outside.  Maybe its a difference in personality, gender or maybe its the boots but my son loves being outside.

They are more insulated & waterproof slippers than typical boots but my son who just started walking can also walk all dressed up in his snow gear. 

As we are now thinking about spring they are also on sale - a great thing to put away for next year.

Anyone else have favourite winter gear for kids?

- Lauren

Cooking with Steeped Tea

Recently I have started a gig as an Independent Steeped Tea Consultant. I have been spending even more time than usual drinking tea and learning more about the benefits of tea.

After smelling Steeped Tea's Herbal 'Hot Yoga' tea - I wanted to eat it, not drink it, so I adapted a recipe from the cookbook 'Cooking with Foods that fight Cancer' for Rice Pilaf. But instead of using the spices in the recipe - I just used a tablespoon of 'Hot Yoga' tea.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan
cook 1/2 cup chopped onion and add 1 tbsp of Hot Yoga tea
add 1 cup basmati rice (rinsed and drained)
stir to coat rice
add 2 cups of water (or stock)
reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until rice is cooked
remove from heat, add 1/4 cup raisins, 1/3 cup frozen peas and 2 tbsp sliced & toasted almonds

the full recipe is pretty easy, but I made it with only the tea (and no onion, raisins, peas or almonds) and it was delicious

for the full recipe, use the following spices instead of the tea
15 cardamon seeds, 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, 3 whole cloves, 3/4 tsp ground cumin, 2 cinnamon sticks and 3/4 tsp ground turmeric

unfortunately, I didn't take a pic, we were too busy eating it.

Enjoy

- Lauren