Author Archives: B

Classic Oatmeal Cookies for the Photographer

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BFoodPix-OatmealCookie-39

I’ve been acting kind of like a spaz lately, and my photographer has been really good about it. (If you dig what he did here, here, here, here, here and here then I highly recommend him for your own project! He’s available for hire here.) He’s also really appreciative of my baking and inevitably ends up eating some of what he shoots for me. So when it was time to make something for another post and he asked me what I was baking I had been feeling kind of listless, and I shot back out, “Oh, whatever you want!”

Readers, he took me literally.

And it actually ended up being a fun experiment. His request was oatmeal cookies like the kind that his mom used to make-crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and so addictive you have to eat them by the handful.

It was a tall order because I realized I had never actually made oatmeal cookies; like straight-up, honest-to-goodness oatmeal cookies. I was a little nervous (especially after the first batch came out a little too crisp) but once I perfected the baking time these were the perfect consistency. They’re not too sweet but they’ve got the slightest salty bite that makes them mouth-watering.

My photographer gave them two thumbs up. Then he took the lovely picture you see above. I’m not sure which he enjoyed more- shooting the cookies or eating them.

Classic Oatmeal Cookies (makes 48)
(adapted from here)

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. white sugar

1 c. packed brown sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 c. quick cooking oats

In a medium-sized bowl, cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs and stir. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and add to wet ingredients, a little bit at a time, until fully combined. Mix in oats. Cover and let chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Roll dough into balls roughly the size of walnuts, and place 2 inches apart on pre-greased cookie sheets. Use a fork to gently flatten each cookie. Bake for 8-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

B’s Tip: If you prefer a chewier oatmeal cookie, bake for only 8 minutes and transfer to wire rack while still hot. Use a clean spatula and be careful- they may still be puffy and a little fragile!

The best part about adding yet another basic recipe to my repertoire is a chance to make it my own, and I’m already thinking about my next batch now that I’ve perfected my technique. Dried fruits, nuts, chocolate chips; or maybe all of the above. These cookies would taste good no matter what.

Happy baking!

B

KBwB-BFlower-50

Baking with B appears every other Monday on the Keeping Busy with B Blog. Find out why I like baking so much here. For more of my baking, click here. And for even more recipe inspiration, check out my Pinterest full of food eye candy that will have you licking your computer. Promise.

What’s on My Cookbook Shelf

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I didn’t come by my fabulous talent for baking naturally. (Okay, so maybe I’m just an average baker who’s just the teensiest bit obsessed with her own work.) True, I started baking when I was very young but I honestly think it was my love of reading absolutely anything and everything I could get my hands on that made me a better baker. My mother, an actually fabulous baker (no exaggeration), had a secret mission to collect every recipe that was ever written so our kitchen boasted an expansive cookbook collection, and its shelves sagged with even more recipes clipped from magazines and newspapers, waiting to be filed.

Now that I’m an adult (so they tell me) I’ve got my own sizeable recipe collection, although admittedly it’s a little bit more organized. I’ve tried to cut down on a lot of the paper in my life by storing many of my recipes electronically but I still have quite a few cookbooks hidden here and there on my shelves.

In some ways, owning cookbooks is way more fun than having just a collection of typed recipes. Recipes suddenly come into their own being in real technicolor. Photographs, illustrations, text and graphics interplay to create a mouthwatering reading experience. Cookbooks are designed to be pored over and loved, to inspire and entice.

Here’s some that I can’t get enough of:

1) I was so in love with the photography and design of the beautiful Martha Stewart Living Magazine that I was a subscriber for many, many years. During this time I acquired Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook and still remains an old favorite. Some may knock this homemaking guru for the unrealistic expectations that her elaborate work may set for housewives everywhere, but personally think she’s kind of great. Let her make her crazy cakes. They look gorgeous.

2) and 3) might be familiar to any Canadians in the crowd. Jean Paré got a similar start to Martha Stewart, catering brunches and party foods to small crowds out of her home kitchen until things got busy and Paré turned into a business. Her Company’s Coming line of cookbooks were published to meet her customers’ demands for recipes and the series boasts virtually hundreds of titles. You used to be able to find them in grocery stores everywhere and I still happen to have three of them: Most Loved Brunches (because it’s the best meal of the day), 150 Delicious Squares and Gifts from the Kitchen (not pictured here).

4) My mom is from Sweden so when I think of Sweden I think of baking, and I think of one of my most treasured cookbooks appropriately and succinctly titled Swedish Cakes and Cookies. It’s my absolute go-to guide for all of my Swedish baking traditions. (For example: did you know Swedes make seven different types of cookies at Christmas time? Check out mine from last year here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)

5) So many people would grab 500 Chocolate Delights off of my shelf to read that I eventually just stuck it out in the open so that my guests could peruse it any time they wished. It’s so small and pretty and filled with so many delicious chocolate things that from time to time I find myself gazing at it as well.

6) Jamie Oliver’s cookbook, Jamie at Home, may seem a little out of place in the midst of so many sweet, pretty baking manuals, but I just love this English chef’s conversational tone and this cookbook’s emphasis on good, fresh food (and how to grow it yourself!) It’s been a great resource for growing and cooking with a few herbs and vegetables of my own, so I had to include it here for those who may get their kicks from cooking more than baking.

I’m not one to work my way through a cookbook religiously- I’ll probably never make all of the recipes found in these pages, and the ones I do try will probably not be half as good. Hey, they may not even turn out to be my taste! But just because cookbooks weren’t necessarily meant to be read from cover-to-cover doesn’t make them any less valuable to my book collection, or any less enjoyable.

And the result of reading cookbooks? Delicious food- and that’s often the best part.

KBwB-BFlower-50If you liked books and baking, you’ve come to the right place. (Also, can I be your best friend?) For those of you who are new, here’s where you can find all the books I’ve been reading lately and here’s where you can see what’s been keeping me busy in the kitchen.

Recognize any of the titles on my shelf? What are some of your favorites? I’d love to hear your suggestions at keepingbusyb@gmail.com or spread the love (and the good cooking) by commenting below.

 

 

Come Fika With Me

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KBB_fikaEver since I was a little girl, I have enjoyed the Swedish practice of “fika” (explained so wonderfully and succinctly in the meme above). Similar to English “high tea”, “fika” is a perfect excuse to a take a restorative break from our busy day and enjoy a cup of coffee and maybe even a little treat.

My Swedish mother got me started on the practice early. (I’m pretty sure the first appliance I learned how to use in our kitchen was the coffeemaker. Now there’s strategic parenting for you!) Both of my parents worked from home and it wasn’t unusual to put on a pot of coffee in the afternoon and have the members of my family slowly drift into the kitchen once the small wafted through the house. My mother baked often and there would always be something sweet stashed somewhere in the kitchen. She taught my sister and I the basics of baking at an early age and I still have her chocolate brownie recipe memorized (it also happens to be the first baked good I ever shared on this blog here).

I definitely think that my love of fika has fostered my love of baking and I love sharing my baking with you online almost as much as I do sharing it in real life. Come and join my fika party by trying one (or more!) of my favorite recipes here, or share your favorite recipes or fika ideas by commenting below or emailing at me at keepingbusyb@gmail.com

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Baking with B: Best-Ever Bran Muffins

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KBB_baking_bran_muffins Days like these when the sun is bright and the weather is warm it’s too tempting to go outside instead of staying indoors and doing something boring like eating breakfasts. In the mornings when I’m feeling like I want to go, go, go it’s great to have these around to take to the library, to work or even for a snack on a particularly long dog walk. Don’t limit yourself to this basic recipe either- make it your own with dried or fresh fruits, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, peanut butter, cream cheese, etc. The list goes on and on, like these endless early summer nights.

Bran Muffins (makes 12)

1 1/2 c. wheat bran

1 c. buttermilk

1/3 c. vegetable oil

1 egg

2/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. raisins

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners. Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk and let stand for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla. Add to the buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together dry ingredients, then stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Happy baking!

B

KBwB-BFlower-50Baking with B appears every other Monday on the Keeping Busy with B Blog. Find out why I like baking so much here. For more of my baking, click here. And for even more recipe inspiration, check out my Pinterest full of food eye candy that will have you licking your computer. Promise.

How to Hold a Business Meeting and Actually Get Things Done

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KBB_agenda_bird_notebookYes, you can!

No, I wouldn’t lie to you- and I hate meetings as much as the next person. It’s not just because I express myself in writing (hello, I’m a blogger). But I find the most meetings drag and eat up precious time for very little payoff.

Tell me you have been there before.

It honestly doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re holding a meeting that has an actual purpose you’re already on the right track to becoming more productive. Having a meeting for the sake of meeting that (heaven forbid) doesn’t have an agenda is like taking a huge chunk of your day and flushing it down the toilet, if you were able to do such a thing. If there’s no clear outcome or advantage to having a meeting, it’s probably safe to say that you don’t need to have one.

Sometimes meetings are a necessary evil in order to better communicate with staff or collaborate with colleagues on a joint project. In that case, try to minimize the number of attendees by limiting it only to the other people that need to be involved (in some cases, scheduling a check-in phone call or email with any other secondary employees, staff, or other collaborators can suffice). Designate a speaker and/or meeting leader to cut down on interruptions, and make sure there is a designated note-taker responsible for crystallizing any important ideas discussed who can follow-up with the appropriate people afterwards to make sure everyone is on the right track.

Surprisingly enough, the key to an efficient business meeting is to make sure that it’s just that- efficient. That means no false starts, no interruptions and a schedule that stays on track. It may be a good idea to schedule extra time at the beginning to allow for stragglers and getting everyone organized and seated. Once your meeting is ready to start, make sure everyone’s attention is focused on the common goal. No cell phones, headsets, tables, walk-ins, or drop-bys. For larger groups, or meetings that require a brainstorming or creative component, it may be helpful to employ a timer to make sure in-depth discussions don’t completely take over from getting work done.

What happens after a meeting is almost just as important as what happens during a meeting- if there’s no clear agenda or outcome, there’s no immediate way forward to getting things done. Make sure this doesn’t happen by taking the extra time at the conclusion of your meeting to delegate responsibilities, assign tasks and set clear expectations as what the next actions are for every single person in attendance. Ill-defined work is kind of like doing no work at all- most of everyone’s time will be spent trying to figure out what needs to be done, and who should take on each of these tasks. This can result in lower productivity, missed details, late deadlines, poor morale- and could lead to more serious consequences for you and your team, such as bad performance reviews or even financial losses.

Everyone’s on the same team here- most of us don’t like meetings. Each of us had our own working style and our own set of responsibilities that we have to prioritize throughout the day and meetings often upset this balance, or become unnecessary obstacles to getting actual work done. But when meetings are unavoidable there’s no reason not to make them as quick and painless as possible.

Yes, you can!

KBwB-BFlower-50Does anyone else out there start shuddering when a meeting is announced? Me too. Teach me the ways you survive them by emailing me keepingbusyb@gmail.com or commenting below.

For other unconventional business solutions, you may to check out these posts here. Looking to give your whole work life an efficiency makeover? Here is a good place to start.

How to Salvage Your Morning When You’re Running Late

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KBB_coffee_beans

$@#! happens. Even the most organized and prepared people (moi included) will on occasion find themselves having a hard time getting out the door in the morning. You know the kind of morning I’m talking about- your alarm doesn’t go off, there’s something wrong with your shower head, you find a stain on your favorite shirt.

Been there. Done that.

Let’s talk defense first. If you’re not a morning person, you may want to check out this post on how I survive my mornings (because, let’s face it, I’m not one either). Ditto if you’ve got kids, or you’re just generally a very busy person. An organized morning routine is one of the best ways to prevent the nightmare I’ve outlined above.

But sometimes, life gets in the way and even good organization can’t help us. Starting the morning off badly can set the tone for the rest of the day, so it’s important to have a good strategy to divert any crises and save your morning from complete ruin. Here are some of the practices that I use during my own crazy mornings.

Call ahead and admit you’re running late. Whether you’re running behind to get to a shift at work, or an appointment, equipping other people with the knowledge you’re running late gives them a opportunity to take action- either to cover for you until you arrive, or to rearrange their own schedules accordingly.

It can be hard to admit that we’ve made a mistake, and yes, your co-workers might be irritated with you, but they’re going to be a whole lot more irritated when you waltz in the door twenty minutes after their shift was supposed to end with no noticed or explanation from you. Believe me when I say it’s worth the hassle (plus you may be surprised at how much more accommodating people can be when you’re just honest with them).

Calling ahead also gives you the opportunity to give colleagues or staff the information they need to continue their work without you. It allows them to get on with their own lives, lets you off the hook until you’re able to make it in, and lessens the impact that your late arrival will have on the rest of everyone else’s day.

Once you’ve made the necessary arrangements, take a quick look at your schedule to see what other meetings and appointments might be affected by your late start. Giving people as much notice when rescheduling or cancelling appointments is not only professional, but also kind, and makes up somewhat for the inconvenience.

Lastly (and I know this is a hard one)- try not to panic. When you’re feeling rushed and frantic you are prone to make mistakes or forget things, which slows you down. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when nothing is going your way, but personally once I let people know I’m going to be late and rearrange the day’s schedule accordingly, I try to stop looking at the clock. Once you’re late, you’re late and no amount of clock-watching or teeth-grinding is going to make a difference.

Time has this funny way of continuing to march through our days without us. It’s important to pause, and find your moment to jump back in on the upbeat. If your timing is right, then I’m confident you’ll get your groove back and restore some of natural rhythm back to your day.

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I want to hear about your worst morning ever. No, seriously. Was there ever a time when you were horribly, inexcusably late for work? I once was stuck on a subway for two hours with no cell phone reception on the way to an appointment across town. I still have visions of the look on the secretary’s face. Comment below or drop me a line at keepingbusywithb@gmail.com if you’re just too embarrassed to share.

How to Get Out the Door in the Morning and Feel Good About Your Day!

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Mornings are not my friend. From the moment my eyelids flutter open, I’m calculating the number of steps it will take until the first sip of coffee passes my lips. (Yes, I realize that this qualifies as a caffeine addiction.) But the bed is so warm, and my dog is so cuddly, and yes, I realize I’m full of excuses about why mornings suck but I’m here to tell you that it really is possible to get out the door and feel good about your day. If I can do it, you can too!

First of all, the real key to making over your morning routine is to be realistic about the amount of time you need in order to get ready. I don’t care if that means timing yourself from the moment you get out of bed to the moment you walk into work. If you don’t plan ahead and allow yourself enough time you’ll never get out the door feeling relaxed and good about your day.

If you’re super organized like I pretend to be then your awesome organizational skills will also save you time during that morning rush. Making sure that the bathroom is fully stocked with toiletries and having an ample supply of fresh socks, underwear and pantyhose at hand can make getting ready more of a pleasure and less of a chore. If you depend on public transit to get to work, it’s always a good idea to stash your bus pass/tokens/tickets or an arsenal of change for fare in a place that’s convenient and ideally on your way out the door. For those who drive, a car that’s stocked and ready with emergency supplies can be a lifesaver for those days when you’re rushing, and a full tank of gas and pre-programmed GPS can contribute to a smoother commute.

For those who aren’t morning people, consider ways in which you might save time in the morning by switching tasks to your evening routine. I usually check the weather the night before to plan my outfit in advance, and prep my coffee and breakfast dishes so I don’t have to stumble around blindly to find them in the morning. People who find themselves rushing and skipping breakfast may want to keep an arsenal of nutritious snacks or meals on hand that are easy to grab to take with you. Those who find themselves really struggling in the mornings may wish to reconsider their morning routine altogether by showering at night before bed instead of first thing the next day.

Even if you are a morning person, I’ve always believed in packing your bag the night before. If you have multiple jobs or divide your time among multiple clients, you may want to keep a checklist nearby of the materials required for each job to make packing easier.

And if you’re super, super smart you’ll have somewhat of an emergency kit stashed away in your desk at work, in the trunk of your car, or on a shelf of your mudroom so you can grab it as you go out the door. Think of it as your terrible morning toolbox. I’ve got one that I keep in a toiletry bag at work that has feminine products, an extra pair of the disposable contacts that I wear, bobby pins and hair elastics, breath mints, lip balm, hand lotion and a granola bar in case I hit an energy slump.

They’re no substitute for an espresso but hopefully by implementing at least one of these ideas into your morning routine, it’ll give you the injection of energy needed to get out your door and feel good about your day, no caffeine needed.

KBwB-BFlower-50Have you adapted one of these ideas into your morning routine? Is there anything that I’ve missed that you think I should try? Tell me your secrets at keepingbusywithb@gmail.com or share with the rest of us by commenting below.

Looking for other ways to jazz up your routine? I’ve got advice on how to start here, how to break down big projects here, and how to change up how you do your errands here.

Spring Cleaning Made Simple

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KBB_cleaning _suppliesGuess who procrastinated on her spring cleaning this year? This lady.

Maybe it’s just because spring got a false start where I live in Toronto, or maybe it’s because I actually don’t really like cleaning (although it helps to rock out with my headphones while I do it) but if I’m really honest with myself I think spring cleaning had become such a monumental task in my mind that I put it off until I was itching to put on my rubber gloves and scrub every last inch of my apartment with a toothbrush.

Seeing as that wasn’t a realistic (or desirable) task, I decided to try and make my spring cleaning routine as simple as possible to avoid wasted time and effort and the added stress of having my household turned upside down for a prolonged period of time. Here are some of the things that I discovered:

  • Having a basic cleaning routine in place is key to a simpler, faster spring clean. It’s hard enough to make the time let alone have the energy for longer, more involved projects like scrubbing the grout between the bathroom tiles if you’ve spent most of your time cleaning out the bathtub like you should have done four weeks ago. (Obviously, I’m talking about a friend here and not myself.)
  • Only do the tasks that are important to you. I drove myself crazy scouring blogs and social media for the best, most thorough spring cleaning task lists only to realize that it made more sense to make my own based on the spaces I had to clean. Even after I had developed my to-do lists, I found myself discovering new tasks to add once I had actually started cleaning.
  • Consider breaking those tasks down so it doesn’t start to feel too overwhelming. (I’ve got some advice on how to do that here).
  • Keep the de-cluttering separate. I found that once I started sorting and organizing a drawer or a cupboard, I could kiss my cleaning chores good-bye because the de-cluttering had all of my attention. If something needs organizing in order to be cleaned, the organizing needs to happen first. (It’s like organizing law.)
  • Stick to the rules of cleaning. Work from top to bottom, inside to out, wet to dry and you can’t go wrong- no matter what tasks you have laid out before you.

After being inside all winter it felt good to throw open the windows to let the breeze and the sunshine stream in. And once I had a pared down plan-of-attack, I started to feel a little better about the whole spring-cleaning thing. Who doesn’t get excited about the opportunity for a fresh start?

Certainly not this lady.

KBwB-BFlower-50Were you also a spring-cleaning drama queen this year? Let’s compare notes. Comment below or drop me a line at keepingbusywithb@gmail.com. Want some other tips on how to keep your household in tip-top shape? I’ve got a whole bucket of them here.

Baking with B: White Chocolate Fudge Bars

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You guys know me and how I’m just a wee bit obsessed with brownies. My love affair started with chocolate, and continued with these butterscotch ones my mom used to make, and evolved so that I adapted the chocolate brownie recipe to suit the dietary needs of my vegan friends. Of course, this hasn’t stopped me from experimenting with even more flavor combinations (maybe I’ll share some more in an upcoming post?) but for now I couldn’t resist trying this chocolate, fudgey variety that taste just as good as they sound.

White Chocolate Fudge Bars (makes 16)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

8oz white chocolate chips (or your favorite white chocolate bar)

3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Melt the butter with the white chocolate using a double boiler, by heating it in a glass bowl in the microwave, or by making your own makeshift double boiler.

B’s Tip: To make your own double-boiler, fill a small saucepan a third of the way full with water. Set a bowl on top (not plastic) and make sure it’s big enough to rest on the rim of the pot without fully being immersed in the water at the bottom. Place the butter and white chocolate in the bowl. Bring the saucepan to a boil on the stove. Stir gently and watch the mixture melt like magic!

Add sugar to the butter/chocolate mixture and mix well. Mix in the salt, vanilla, and eggs until incorporated. Stir in flour until well combined. Spread batter into a greased 8″ pan. Bake for 28 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
Happy baking!

B

KBwB-BFlower-50

Baking with B appears every other Monday on the Keeping Busy with B Blog. Find out why I like baking so much here. For more of my baking, click here. And for even more recipe inspiration, check out my Pinterest full of food eye candy that will have you licking your computer. Promise.

My New Wardrobe Rule

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KBB_clutchesI used to play this sad little game with myself whenever I was having a bad day- I would go into my closet and I would pick out my most hated outfit and wear with an angry kind of pride, as if I wanted to project to all of the world that I was having a bad day. I was determined to make myself look as ugly on the outside as I felt on the inside.

The worst was whenever I received a compliment at the office or out on the street about the outfit that I had chosen. I couldn’t understand how clothing that I felt made me look frumpy and bloated could be admired by a stranger. Maybe they were just being nice in order to mock me, or worse, pity me. Then I’d get angry and think, “How dare you try to ruin my bad mood with your kind words!”

I am so twisted.

One day I was explaining this weird little habit to a friend of mine when he held up his hand to stop me. “Wait, hold on. Why do you keep clothes that you don’t like?”

So maybe he was a guy and he didn’t really understand. Or maybe I was the one not getting it. After all, I had half a closet’s worth of clothes that I didn’t wear half of the time because I had grown sick of them, or because they were old and had fallen out of fashion.

I think I said something crazy like I needed variety and we both thought it was weird so he dropped the subject, but ultimately in this scenario I really was the crazy person because I could not let go of things that made me feel badly about myself.

It took a lot of soul-searching but I eventually decided that I did not want to be that person that held on to things for the sake of having “things”. I wanted, I deserved, to fill my home with only the things that I loved. Why shouldn’t that ultimatum apply to clothing and accessories as well?

So I purged my closet of all of the things that no longer fit, were bad choices, or- let’s face it- were just plain unflattering. My wardrobe was decidedly slimmer, but I was satisfied- it was actually really easy to give up an abundance of choices in favor of a smaller wardrobe full of favorites that made me look and feel good.

It may seem silly to think of re-organizing or purging your closet as something that can improve your life emotionally, but paring down my wardrobe using my new rule has given me a boost in my self-esteem. I still have the occasional bad hair day (like, pretty much every other day) but I’m buoyed by the knowledge that even though I might feel like I’m dying on the inside, outwardly I can project an image of competence and self-confidence and show people the best of myself even when I’m feeling at my worst.

Plus, it makes getting out of the door in the morning way easier for this night owl. Trust me on this one.

KBwB-BFlower-50Have you undertaken a closet re-organization lately? I want to hear all of the grisly details. Indulge me below or drop me a line at keepingbusyb@gmail.com. And if you’re looking for even more inspiration on how to get your wardrobe just the way you want it, I’ve got some best practices for organizing your clothing and more here.