Bunchland

The Bunch Guide to Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day! It’s a day to celebrate the women who raised you, and if you’re currently in the process of raising kids, it’s a day to accept some homemade cards and extra kisses. If you don’t have brunch reservation, you’d  better hope that breakfast in bed is pretty tasty and not at all full of bits of eggshell.

1. Cards

Did your kids make you and/or your partner a card at school? How about one for Grandma? If your kid has multiple mother figures to make cards for, here’s hoping that your card is the nicest card and you don’t have to go cry in the bathroom like Precious Chong did. Need a DIY card idea? The bottom of a bunch of celery makes a great rose shape that you turn into a stamp. Want something a little edgier? Here’s a tattoo card.  Read more...

Your Sunday morning plan

A spring morning calls for a fruity and fresh breakfast, followed with an outdoor craft. Pureed berries and homemade biscuits get molded into a teacup (or a mug/chalice/goblet/up to you) for a personalized treat. After you’re good and sated, celebrate the spring weather by giving your front porch some flair. These hanging jellyfish are enchanting!

EAT

Serves 4 – 6

• 2 pints of mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 3 Tbsp vegetable shortening
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 cup milk

In a food processor, combine berries (reserve ¼ cup for garnish) with sugar and pulse to a puree. Set aside.  Read more...

Your Sunday Morning Plan

Vegetable omelets are always a tasty and nutritious brunch choice, but when spring veggies like asparagus are in season, they’re just that much better. And ’round these parts, we’re expected to experience a whole bunch of rain this weekend, might as well take advantage of it.

EAT

Is there anything healthier and tastier than enjoying in-season produce? And how do eggs go so well with so many things! The beauty of omelets is that you can put just about anything in them, but we’re opting for asparagus, mushrooms and spring onions.

You’ll need:  Read more...

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• approx two eggs per person (maybe one egg per small kid)
• two asparagus spears per person
• sliced mushrooms to taste (maybe 1/4 cup each?)
• chopped spring onions to taste (1 Tbsp each?)

Make way for some seriously creative Easter ideas

Easter wouldn’t be Easter without a sugar rush, a solid egg hunt and a killer brunch. Here at Bunch, we like to keep things interesting by throwing some unexpected tricks and treats into the Easter mix. We have some great ideas for DIY Easter bonnets and chow-mein birds nests, simple crafts like dino-egg bath bombs and no shortage of creepy chocolate bunnies and wacky peep dioramas for you and your kids to chuckle at. Join us as we review our best Easter ideas from our lovely bloggers, crafters and readers.

TREATS

Krista Rao’s Easter to-do list is pretty tasty. While creme egg cupcakes are in the oven, she plans on making silk tie dyed eggs and finger print chick cards. Oh yeah, this is all going down before the glow-in-the-dark egg hunt. We hope this crafty lady’s super powered Easter list inspires yours.  Read more...

Spring produce is screaming for homemade tarts

Tarts are most versatile dish out there. They can be adapted into desserts, dinner, breakfast or lunch. We’ve rounded up five recipes that eliminate the delicate and time consuming affair of the cutting of butter into flour, waiting while the dough chills in the fridge, and gingerly pressing it into tart pans. Not kid-friendly. These ones let you cut to the chase — filling that shell. We reckon tarts can taste just as good when you buy frozen because after all, what really matters is the seasonal fillings. Spring food is happy food!

ASPARAGUS TART WITH CAULIFLOWER CRUST

Get even more veggies in by making a pastry crust out of cauliflower! No magic assembly required, just a food processor or a cheese grater and a hankering for some killer vitamins. This creative recipe comes from ABC’s and garden peas.  Read more...

Your Sunday Morning plan… which works rather well for Saturday too

St. Patrick’s Day is when we celebrate even a little bit of Irish heritage, put on the John McDermott album and find our greenest t-shirt. And while it ends up being an all-day pub party for some, there’s plenty of non-beer and whisky fun to be had. We think the St. Patrick’s Day weekend is a perfect excuse to make a good old-fashioned fry-up for breakfast and then go out chasing leprechauns and look for their gold and try to find a few four-leaf clovers for good luck.

EAT:

A traditional Irish breakfast. OK, maybe make it less than traditional and don’t include all the meat. Have a little orange juice, brew a pot of Irish Breakfast tea (or herbal tea for the kids), and then get to frying up:  Read more...

• eggs, either sunny-side up or over-easy

Your Sunday Morning Plan

It’s still warm enough to play outside without freezing your face off, and just cool enough to crave something comforting and toasty. The perfect November Sunday morning consists of pressing fall leaves after enjoying an oatmeal sundae bar, we say!

Eat:

Kids can make their own masterpiece with this fun and interactive breakfast. Oatmeal is high in fibre, magnesium, and iron, and eating it actually lowers cholesterol and stabilizes blood-glucose levels. Most importantly, this whole grain breaky is a blank canvas for fun, and loading it up with fresh toppings provides an opportunity to maximize the health and taste factor.

For 4 servings of oatmeal:

• 1 ½ cup large flake rolled oats
• 3 ½ cup milk or milk substitute
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Combine all ingredients into a large pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.  Read more...