Not Your Mama's Baking

Hatley Castle in Victoria BC

Just a short 30 min drive from the Victoria Ferry, nestled beside the water, sits Hatley Castle. This “castle” was commissioned by James Dunsmuir back in 1909. As well as being his home, Hatley also served as a home for Cadets and is currently acting as the administrative office for Royal Roads University. It also has been used several productions, including Descendants, X-Men, and Arrow.

Being a Disney Princess fanatic, when we went to Victoria I just HAD to ask to go to Hatley Castle! Charleigh and I put on our princess dresses and got to live our best royal life for a few hours. We spent about 2 hours at the castle, exploring the Gardens and taking a lot of photos.

The Gardens are open to the public from 10-4 and is definitely the highlight. They have several gardens to explore, with some hidden gems throughout to sit at and rest. They have a classic Italian Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Bog, Fern Garden, and Wood Garden just to name a few. A highlight for Charleigh was the Croquet Garden, which she had a blast crawling around. I personally enjoyed taking a restful moment next to a small wooden water mill, which is hidden just outside the Japanese Garden! It’s the perfect little hidey hole!

Three little words. Say them and I’m yours.

Blueberry. Corn. Muffins.

Cornbread is a legit favourite in our household! It’s yummy. It goes well with barbecue. And it’s a comfort food! What isn’t there to love?

So let’s keep this intro short and sweet and get right to the recipe. It’s super easy and my daughter and husband both LOVED it!

As a note- children under 1 shouldn’t eat raw honey. With this in mind- you can omit the honey topping if feeding to child under 1

1 cup corn meal

1 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup oil

1 cup milk

1 egg

Blueberries (about 1/2 cup)

Honey

1) preheat over to 400 and prepare muffin tins.

2) combine all dry ingredients

3) make a well. Add milk, egg and oil. Then fold to combine.

4) add blueberries until you reach peak blueberry ratio.

5) put in tins and top each muffin with honey

Kensington Prairie Farm in Langley

Have you ever been to an Alpaca Farm? You need to go! We are starting off Sunday Family Funday posts with a bang with Kensington Alpaca Farm in Langley, BC.

Charleigh and I not only got to see Alpacas, but we got to pet them, feed them, and even walk them!! Charleigh is a huge animal lover, so she was just in awe the whole time. The Alpacas are all ultra gentle and we’re so sweet with her! She was able to crawl right up to them with no fear!

They only have “nice” alpacas as all the mean ones become meat. The farm is sustainable as they only breed enough Alpacas to replenish the herd!

They are open Friday- Sunday to the public, including their shop which I highly recommend visiting! There is a $5 entry fee, which can be put towards any purchase of $10 or more in the store. You can take part in free educational lessons as well and learn all about Alpacas!

You can also book your own Private Tour, which lets you get up close and personal like we did! You can also upgrade to be able to lead them, which is a whole other experience!

What is the quintessential summer in BC activity? Picking Blueberries!

From my first summer here, picking blueberries has turned into my favourite summer tradition. This year, I decided to hit up a new family run farm, Greywolf Estates in Langley.

This small farm boasts the biggest sweetest blueberries I’ve seen. Meet that with the price tag of a toonie per pound (a steal of a deal),  and how can you not go?! Today, they also posted a recipe in their instagram stories for a Blueberry Lemon Cake. So in typical Amanda fashion, I took the recipe and twisted it to meet my own needs!

So without further avail, here is my updates recipe.

When I was 21 I started a blog, Not Your Mama’s Cupcakes. This blog was an experiment inspired by a date. In this experiment, I spent an entire year combing random flavours to create unique cupcake recipes (like the infamous Chicken Wing Cupcake). Check my original Post here!

While this blog had been inspired by one boy, by the end of the year I had fallen for another. And created cupcakes for him and inspired by him. And then I married him. And together we created my daughter, Charleigh.

Baking 2 dozen cupcakes for a year made me SICK of cupcakes. But, now I’m 30 and a mama and I’m ready to bake again! But not just Cupcakes.

So welcome, and follow along for some yummy treats! You can also follow my day to day adventures on Instagram, @ana.leigh!

Happy Reading!