There may still be a few leaves on some of the trees but Holiday Season is soon upon us! Santa is having parade this weekend marking, in my mind at least, the true beginning of festive season.

This time of year is all about getting together, enjoying each others company and yes, even a bit of gift giving. Little Footprints is hoping to make your gift giving easier and greener this year by co-hosting The Eco Family Holiday Sale with our friends Toronto e-tailers KaiKids.

We are coming together to celebrate the season with a one-day sale at 1390 Danforth Avenue, Saturday November 21st ,so save the date and come on by!

Little Footprints, as you already know, is Canada's online eco toy store dedicated to fun and games for kids of all ages; Kai Kids specializes in ethically-made and earth-friendly clothing and accessories for babies to preschoolers and pregnant and nursing moms. Together we will be offering an opportunity to browse and shop a unique selection of sustainable, non-toxic and planet-friendly products for everyone in the family. We’ll have lots of special sales, toys for the kids to try out, and Amanda Pedro of Music Pups will be on hand from 10:30 to 2:30 every hour on the half hour to keep the kids entertained while you shop!

Event Details Snapshot:
The Eco Family Holiday Sale
Saturday - November 21st
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
1390 Danforth Avenue (East of Greenwood)

For more information visit: www.planetfriendlykids.com

If you need any more information, we’d be happy to provide it.
Thank you again, please feel free to pass the info on to your friends as we really appreciate the support.

Little Footprints is out for a 2 day shopping event!

Halloween is over and our bellies are full of chocolate delights, it's time for us to turn our attention back to the shop and prepare for this weeks Childrens Trunk Show this Friday and Saturday. I'll be bringing a selection of our Planet Friendly Fun for Kids of All Ages along with a bunch of other wonderful mama entrepreneurs offering their wares at this seasons Children's Trunk Show @ the Distillery District November 6th and 7th.

Come check out a preview of Little Footprints Top 10 Favorite Toys for the Holiday Season including recent award winners! As always everything is Fun, Funky, Educational and Eco-Friendly!

There will be free haircuts for the kids, Kids & Co. is offering child minding while you shop and proceeds from the door go to Sick Kids.
The space is accessed by the rear parking path to the south west, yup I said parking - they like to make it easy on ya.

http://www.childrenstrunkshow.com/trunkshows/default.asp?l=toronto

You never know, you might even get a jump on your seasonal shopping!

Hope we see you there!

Feels Good

I've been sick for what seems like ages! Our whole little family of 4 has something we are fighting off. I shall not ick you out with any details but we all hope to feel good real soon.

While the body may be weak the soul is feeling good. Fantastic in fact, thanks to a few wonderful mentions of my toyshop Little Footprints Toys and its products over the past few months.

First to find my new online shop and show us some linky love were the uber kewl SweetMama. I've been a faithful subscriber since it's inception just one year ago and was tickled beyond pink to be highlighted in their Road Trip Essentials Guide with our Imagiplay Zoom to the Moon playset in time for summer traveling fun.


And just when I thought that was pretty neat they gave a shout out to our great Primo Calculino Maths Game in their Baby Academy article in this Augusts Play section and then afforded us the highest compliment of them all:

SweetMama.ca named www.littlefootprintstoys.com one of their 5 most favorite online eco-kiddie stores in Canada!! Yippee!


But that's not all! Next to find our eco friendly toys and gear is Chirp Magazine! Chirp is one of those wonderful timeless children's must haves. I'll always remember reading their magazines in waiting rooms and now my kids enjoy the magazines just as much as I did.

In this Octobers issue under Chirp's Picks for Going Green you will find Artemis All Natural Body Paints found online with us at Little Footprints! These paints are made from 100% natural plant extracts, not only are the colours wonderful for face painting but by using them you know your putting nothing but natural pigments on your little ones face this Halloween. Chirp knows a great thing when he finds it!

So despite my coughing, achy chest and stuff nose I'm feeling good. I'm honored that these publications like what I offer and choose to highlight it.

Keep it coming folks, I could get used to feeling this good :)

Yummy Chocolate Beet Cake

Hello sweet chocolate beet cake, where have you been all our lives? It has taken my daughters extreme pickiness about fruits and veg for me to learn to cook and bake with nutritional foods mixed in 'for good measure' - and I'm beginning to think I might actually have to thank her for it one day.


After all, why not cook with good healthy ingredients baked right in to foods we find yummy?

And by gawsh this is one yummy cake!

And so I came to beetroot cake and my version of the recipe. There are no less than 5 beets in the mix which is enough for 2 cakes or a double decker and honestly probably more beets than our enire family has eaten in their whole lives (until now that is).

And now if you dare, and you should - the recipe:

Sweet Valentine Chocolate Surprise Cake

the ingredients:
for the cake:
oven preheated to 375


wet ingredients:
1 cup softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs -room temp
1 1/2 oz. dark chocolate (bittersweet or unsweetened you choice)
5 medium beets prepared into 2 cups pureed beets
1 tsp vanilla extract

dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
cocoa and butter to grease and dust the pans

the frosting:
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tbs cocoa
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 - 4 tbs heavy cream
few tbs hot water as needed

the making:
beet root puree:
In a large pot simmer in water 5 beets, tops and roots removed and quartered. I use local candy stripe beets from the ever awesome farmers market hosted by My Market & the DECA but any beets should do. Don't worry about the skins, you will peel them off with ease after.

Simmer for about 50 minutes till just fork tender.

Drain the beets and let cool to handle. The skins will peel off very easy now.

Cut into smaller pieces and puree with your blender, or handy magic bullet. you can make this well in advance, even freezes well. pink pancakes with leftovers anyone?

the cake:
cream together the sugar with 3/4 cups of the butter, add the eggs and mix well and set aside.

microwave on med-high the chocolate with the remaining butter until melted. let cool slightly.

while the chocolate butter is cooling mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

butter and dust with coca 2x 8" pans and tap the remaining cocoa into the dry ingredients

add the cooled choco-butter to the beet puree along with the vanilla, mix & add into the butter/sugar mixture.

mix it well. it will look grainy but have faith.

add the flour mixture, ending with a throughout mixing on medium high to bring in some extra air. it will be the most fabulous pink colour now.

split mix into the 2 pans and bake for 35 minutes or just until a toothpick comes out dry.

surprise! it's now a purply chocolate colour. let cool and turn out onto a cooling rack.

*do not try the cake now if you don't want to taste the beets* warm you can taste them a bit, I don't mind it myself but my daughter would probably protest it seemed odd at this point if tasted. My son eats the mix raw - clearly he's fine with it... you are your own judge.

the frosting: easy. add all the ingredients except the water in mixer and beat till mixed well adding drops of water as needed to get a smooth creamy consistency.

As an after dinner cake we make 2 iced single layer cakes in our house. One for us and one to share, but there is more than enough frosting for a nicely frosted double decker for sure.


Now let your family have at it!

...I'm already thinking about my midnight snack/second helping!
hey wait my hubby beat me to it!

BHappy!

Let Me Introduce You to Our Little Friend

Here she is, a new member of our little family. Her name is Rachel and she is a Pitcher Plant. Isn't she the prettiest thing?

We found her on the Danforth and fell in love instantly. My kids have been begging for a pet for a while now and I thought this would be an interesting start. Dubbing her 'Pet Level 1' we took her home.

My daughter named her Rachel, after one of the girls in the Rainbow Series of stories and we hung her out in a nice spot in on our deck.

Ever since Rachel has been a great contributor to the happiness of our family. she attracts and gobbles up wasps, flies, mozzies, earwigs and more into her pitchers - awesome - and the kids love checking out whats going on in Rachel's digestive cycle, learning as they go.

This fall Rachel will come inside and take care of winter house bugs.

This is a pet I can get used to. And no picking up poop necessary.