What's For Breakfast? Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

What's For Dinner Honey?:Tonight, we're having marinated pork medallions from Costco (they're individually wrapped, super convenient and yummy!), corn and potato packets on the bbq.

The other morning, both kids woke up asking for muffins for breakfast. I love to bake and having been away for 2 weeks at my Mom's house (a.k.a controlling Mom where I have NO desire to take over the kitchen unless she asks for help), I was more than happy to make the family muffins for breakfast!

We also LOVE muffins for snacks around here. They don't last long, let me tell you.

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
adapted from Muffin Mania

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup oats (regular)
1/2 brown sugar (I will try less than this next time)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 melted butter
3/4 cup frozen blueberries (I used PC organics wild blueberries)

Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Beat egg, milk and melted butter together in a small bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Fold in blueberries.

Fill muffin cups and bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until tops are slightly browned (or toothpick comes out clean).

This recipe made 12 muffins.

What's For Dinner Tonight? Homemade Meatballs!

MTM's Homemade Meatballs
recipe adapted from ENJOY!--More Recipes from the Best of Bridge

2 lbs ground beef (I use lean ground beef)
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I use plain, but can be seasoned)
1/4 cup milk (sometimes you need more or less depending on exactly how much meat you use)
1/4 cup onion (I often use dried onion because I don't have a fresh onion on hand)
2 eggs
1 tsp salt

You can add garlic, onion powder etc. to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Roll into small balls. I like to use a small cookie dough scoop to form balls (I don't like handling the raw meat that much). Place on lined cookie sheet (with rim) and bake for 20 minutes at 375 or until cooked throughout.

These meatballs freeze beautifully, however in our family they rarely make it to that stage ;)

We're back from the cottage! I hope to post more soon, but I'm taking it easy this summer (as if you couldn't tell that).

Oh and I don't want to jinx myself, but the Topamax is helping...I haven't had one single migraine this summer, it's a miracle drug for me! I'm up to my max dose now and my body has pretty much adjusted with the odd side effect here and there (more on that another time).

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

Me and Topamax

So, I'm just beginning my third week on Topamax, my preventative migraine medication for those of you who are new here. I am up to 75 mg a night.

So far, I am two weeks migraine and headache free. I've had a few beginnings of headeaches, but they haven't turned into anything halleluliah!

I've met a MAX buddy. Her name is
Aunt Becky and we have been exchanging emails back and forth about our experiences. I'm so happy to have met her and to have had the opportunity to converse with her about this. It makes the whole thing much easier and dare I say kinda "fun"?!?

My side effects have been:

-some nausea (like first trimester nausea)
-some dizziness
-some clumsiness
-some cognitive impairment (although this could be due to lack of sleep)--my head has felt foggy if that makes any sense
-some difficulty sleeping (which sucks considering I'm sleep deprived to begin with--when I have the opportunity to sleep I want to SLEEP darn it!) Like NOW, my family is asleep, it's 6:00am and I could be sleeping, but I can't!
-increased numbness in my hands (I had this prior to starting the medication, but I believe this has gotten worse)
-slightly decreased appetite

So, all in all, the side effects so far have been nothing to complain about. Totally worth it for the lack of headaches for sure!

Considering the weather we've been having, typically I would have been suffering from huge migraines this time of year.

Just wanted to give a little update for anyone who is curious.

How has your summer been so far?

We've been on holiday so you haven't seen me around anywhere! It's been a nice break for me, I have to say. Although, I still can't seem to stay off of email....haha.

Summer Self Esteem Activity

For my daughter's birthday, we gave her a box of cards called "Manifest Your Magnificence".

We first heard of these cards from our blogging friend, Haley. Thanks,Haley for the recommendation!

These cards are not your typical cards.

They are a box of 64 affirmation cards designed specifically to nurture a child's self esteem.

So, we gave Bunny the cards and then I tidied up from her birthday and put them away in my "Mommy Fun Bin", the place where I keep little games and activities that don't really have a home and a place for activities that we don't do every day. AND, we didn't touch them again. Until today!

We pulled out the cards. Looked at a few and although I loved the messages on them, we weren't too sure what to do with them, until I got a brilliant idea!

This summer, we are going to pick a card out of the box at breakfast. We will read the card and discuss it over breakfast. We will talk about what it means and think of examples of how to put this into action.

Our first card is:
I am Magnificent
I offer my gifts to the world

I think that this is a terrific activity for us to do together this summer. It gives us something to look forward to each morning, something to discus at breakfast every day and it will fill Bunny with positive thoughts for each day!



The website suggests a few more activities for these cards like:
* writing, talking, drawing
* singing, acting, dancing
* carrying a card with them as a reminder of who
they truly are

Benefits Outweigh the Risks

I've been to see a Pain Specialist for my migraines a few times now.

When I first saw him, I was still nursing Little Man, so there wasn't a whole lot he could do for me.

I have tried out a few different types of medication for my migraines and nothing seems to work consistently. I have also tried out acupuncture and couldn't stand it, nor did it work.

About a month ago, I saw this doctor again and he suggested I go on a daily medication to try to rebalance things and to hopefully decrease if not get rid of my migraines all together. He told me that this wasn't a permanent thing and we would revisit things in 3 months time. I was quite hesitant, but I walked away with the prescription and I thought and googled and thought some more.

My headaches had started to rule my life. I was taking way more medication that I was comfortable with (or that was good for my body for that matter) and the doctor was actually worried that I was causing my body to have rebound headaches. I was getting headaches on a weekly rather than a monthly basis so I decided it was time to do something else.

I hate taking medication. I hate pills, I hate needles. But, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

I'm now on Topamax. It's a strange feeling. I am taking one pill at night and in a week, I go up to 2 pills, each week increasing the dosage to a max of 3 pills at night and one pill in the morning.

What scares me the most isn't that this isn't going to work, it's the side effects. There are a few specific ones that worry me:

One nickname of the drug is "Stupomax" because it can significantly reduce your cognitive function. My memory and cognitive function isn't good on the best of days (especially since I'm more sleep deprived right now).

It can make you more moody--GREAT! That's what I need to be more moody with my family--remember MTM, benefits...

Pins and needles in hands and feet--super cuz I already have poor circulation and wake up not feeling my hands and I can't sit cross legged on the floor as my legs go to sleep in 5 seconds flat.

I can't even remember the other negative effects that I am worried about--see, my cognitive functions are already going....help me!

The one plus is I might (hopefully) lose some weight. Not the healthiest way to do it, but apparently lack of appetite is another side effect. Let's hope this goes along with reduced cravings too...haha!

Wish me luck, people!

Have any of you been on or known anyone on Topamax? Share with me your experiences, please! Make me feel better.

How Did You Celebrate Father's Day?

Happy Father's Day, SciFi Dad! Sorry it wasn't the greatest of days for you :(

In our house, we were up at the crack of dawn.

We got a 7am phone call announcing that my Dad had spent the night in ER because he had an anaphylactic shock reaction to something unknown...he's ok now.

We opened gifts, had breakfast, got ready for the day and headed outside to tire the kids out.

After that, the majority of the day was spent surrounding Bunny's Ballet Recital, which was the cutest thing ever! I didn't cry this year, but I do have to say that they were pretty darn cute.

We headed back home to have a casual meal with my family and now after cleaning up, I'm having some computer time and then I'm going to CRASH!

Food Safety: Consumer Responsiblity

Some tips that I learned while attending the Maple Leaf Foods Roundtable Event:

1) The order in which we shop at the grocery store is important to keeping our food as fresh, cold and safe as possible.
2) Wash your reusable bags regularly. (Admittedly, I actually use plastic bags for my meat products).
3) How we store our food in the fridge and during transportation from the grocery store is important to keep the food fresh, cold and safe.
4) When you prepare food (e.g a sandwich), place the food back in the fridge before you eat.
5) Prepackaged meat is probably safer than meat sliced at the deli. Many in store delis don't clean their equipment anywhere near as vigorously as larger companies who sell prepackaged meat.
6) Balance and food choices is up to the consumer, not the companies that make the products.


I was invited by MatchStick Inc in conjunction with Maple Leaf Foods to attend the RoundTable event. Although I was provided with dinner at the event and I was given a gift bag at the end of the evening (more on that another time), this in no way influenced what I have written here in my post.