Savoury Mediterranean Pie

I am the first to admit that pastry is my baking nemesis.  Don't get me wrong, I love pie and even make some pretty delicious fillings.  But, I just can't seem to get pastry right; it falls apart, or it's too sticky, or it's crumbly, or it's tough.  I'm pretty sure that after each failed attempt I over compensate the next time, which results in the next pastry fail.  And so I'm completely reliant on my husband (or anyone else that happens to be around) to make pastry for me.

Yesterday morning my husband made me pastry for two, two crusted pies.  Hooray!  I'd been putting off making pies for a couple of weeks, and finally we found an opportunity for pastry making.  Funnily enough, I might as well have made the pastry myself in the end.  It was a very rare baking failure for him and was too fragile to roll.  Let's blame it on the humidity.  I forged ahead anyhow, hand pressing it together for the bottom crust, and doing my best to piece together the top crust.  My pies looked... rustic.  Sure... let's go with that!

By the time I was done I had two delicious pies cooling on the counter, and looking both odd and delicious at the same time.  The first was a tart and sweet pie with rhubarb fresh from the garden, and a tried and true Betty Crocker recipe.  The second was a savoury and quiche-like recipe that my mom has been making since I was a little kid.  Since I daresay it'll be a while before I attempt pastry again, this seems like the perfect time to share my favourite Sunday lunch - Mediterranean Pie.

Mediterranean Pie

Pastry for a two crust pie (uncooked)
8 oz Black Forest ham, thinly sliced
4-6 slices Swiss Cheese
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 bag fresh spinach
1 red or yellow pepper
4 eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 375F.
2.  Lay bottom pastry in pie plate, and place ham over it in an even layer.  Top with cheese.
2.  In a frying pan, melt butter.  Sauté garlic and onion until onion is translucent.
4.  Add spinach to frying pan, and toss until wilted.  Transfer spinach to pie plate, in an even layer over the ham and cheese.
5.  Thinly slice red pepper and place in an even layer over the spinach.
6.  Lightly beat eggs, and pour over peppers.  Top with pie crust, cutting slits for steam to escape.

6.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until pastry is lightly browned. 

Serve warm; salad makes a great side.

Cross-section - lots of yumminess between two crusts!

Today, happily there was leftover Mediterranean Pie for lunch, and rhubarb pie for dessert after supper!  A delicious treat on both counts!

Zucchini Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins

What a fantastic long weekend we had!  Having spent it working and playing outside, as well as getting a few things done inside, I came out of the weekend on an absolute high.  We had so much good quality family time, were active all weekend, and got so much done!

One of my less fun indoor tasks for the weekend was cleaning out the cabinet I use to store serving dishes, wine glasses and recipe books.  As I was going through my clutter of assorted recipe books and cooking magazines, I realized how nice it is that my focus in cooking hasn't changed much over the years.  I'm as much about tasty, simple and healthy food today as I was ten years ago.  This makes it really interesting to go through all of my recipes, as I tend to find forgotten, delicious gems.

The recipe I'm sharing today literally fell into my lap.  As in I was sitting on the floor, pulling down recipe books, and a recipe that I'd printed out years ago but never tried fell from the stack and landed in my lap.  When I read it and realized that it incorporated zucchini and a very ripe banana (of which I had one of each that needed to be used up) as well as quinoa (which I love), I knew it was meant to be.

Thanks to the footer on my print out, I was able to trace where it came from.  The Healthy Foodie created this recipe, and when I browse around their website they seem to have created many more tasty creations in the years since! 

Naturally, I put my own tweaks to it, and the result is perfect for little ones.  I find these muffins hearty and moist, and both lightly sweetened and spiced.  Best of all, they have no added sugar, lots of veg, and all the goodness of quinoa.  Quinoa is a grain that I'd really like my kids to eat more of, but I haven't had much luck at incorporating it into finger foods until now.  No matter how well formed and sturdy my efforts seemed to be, they end up disintegrating into a mess of individual grains as soon as little fingers grasp them.  Happily this recipe bucked that trend so I know it's possible.  If you have an awesome recipe for quinoa based finger foods, comment below please!  I'm interested!

In terms of sweetness, I kept my batch plain and found the flavours to be subtle but pleasant.  If you like your muffins a little sweeter or your flavor profiles more complex, consider adding a bit of maple syrup, raisins or both to your batter. 

Zucchini Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins

Zucchini Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins - fresh out of the oven

2c whole wheat flour
1 tsp gluten flour (optional)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg 
1c zucchini, grated (about 1 medium zucchini)
1c pumpkin purée
1c cooked quinoa
1 large, very ripe banana
2 eggs
2/3c 2% milk

Optional:
1/3c raisins and/or 2tbsp maple syrup

1.  Preheat oven to 425F and line muffin tins.
2.  Blend first seven ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.
3.  Grate zucchini, and squeeze away excess water.*
4.  Combine zucchini, pumpkin and quinoa well.  Then, add well mashed banana, eggs and milk.  Include maple syrup in wet ingredients if desired.
5.  Pour zucchini mixture into bowl with dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Add raisins if desired.
6.  Divide among muffin tins, and bake for five minutes at 425F.  Then, decrease temperature to 375F and bake another 17-20 minutes until lightly browned and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7.  Enjoy warm or cooled, they're lovely both ways!

Makes 16-18 muffins

* I've only recently come to appreciate the difference in final texture that squeezing moisture out of zucchini lends to my baked goods.  I simply transferred my grated zucchini to a clean tea towel, and squeezed it out over the sink.  It's amazing how much liquid a zucchini contains!

Little Smiling Man had one with dinner and his narrative was along the lines of "Harum, mum mum mum mum!", which I think means "Mmmm, mmm, mmmm"! 

Ring Around the Tub Banished... Naturally!

Happy Victoria Day!  This long weekend the weather has been so summer like.  And with summer comes lots and lots of outdoor playtime, sunscreen, gardening and REALLY dirty kids!

We've been spending our weekend almost exclusively outdoors.  We've prepped and planted our flower and vegetable gardens, played in sand and water, run around for some backyard soccer rocker, and brought out all of the summer outdoor toys.  It's been fantastic, and we've all benefited from some sunshine and fresh air.  Last night both kids were fast asleep by 7:20, so my husband and I even got some time to reconnect and enjoy each other's company before it was time to turn in.

Now, to the topic of this post.  On Saturday, after gymnastics and a few errands in the morning, we spent the afternoon outside.  There was lots of sunscreen, digging in the garden, play in the sand table, and general running around in the grass and dandelions.  Both kids were dirty by dinner time.  Really dirty.  I took them straight upstairs and dumped them into the tub before dinner.  Sunday morning as I got myself ready for the day, I noticed that my previously clean tub had a pretty serious ring around it.  A brown, greasy, gungy ring of sunscreen and dirt.  I rubbed at it, and it wasn't going anywhere.  I showered and poked at it while I was in there, and it didn't budge.  Once I'd finished I took a picture of my gubby tub... as you do...

Ring around the tub

Next, I grabbed my favourite cleaning agent - plain white vinegar.  I decided to give it a go, and see how a product without the usual chemical cocktail found in most cleaning products would stand up to this mess.  I dampened a rag, then dipped it in vinegar.  I gently rubbed it along the ring the whole way around the tub.  By the time I got around the tub, I figured it probably had had enough time to do its magic so I just ran the cloth around the tub one more time.  I used medium pressure, but certainly wasn't scrubbing or working too hard.  The ring appeared to have gone, just like that!  I ran my finger along it and it was no longer grimy or greasy, and there wasn't a trace of dirt.  So, I gave it a quick rinse and was done, without touching anything but a cloth and my trusty bottle of vinegar.

After!  Sunscreen and dirt ring banished!

With summer just beginning, I'm happy to have found this solution now.  I suspect there will be many more sunscreen and dirt bathtub rings in my future!

Random Laundry Tip

Last weekend when we were out and about doing errands, when the backseat suddenly got quiet.  Both Mini Muffin and Little Smiling Man had fallen asleep in their carseats!  We continued about our errands, with either my husband or I darting into the store while the other waited in the car with our sleeping angels.  During my wait in the car, I pulled out an issue of Canadian Living I've been keeping in the center console for just such an occasion.  It was nice to just relax and read in the car for five minutes... which probably speaks to how hectic life has been lately.

Fast forward, and I'm at home desperately trying to catch up on laundry.  My laundry philosophy is quite basic - keep on top of it, and keep it simple.  My wash routine is pretty standard (e.g. laundry soap and a wash cycle appropriate for the level of dirt), and for drying I either line dry or just put the clothes straight in the dryer.  I've never been big on fabric softener, but used to use dryer sheets with every load.  I decided to stop using them in the lead up to Mini Muffin's birth; I wanted to avoid using any products that could irritate her skin, and I also wanted to reduce the chemicals she'd be exposed to.  I loved the smell dryer sheets gave my laundry, but have no idea what goes into making that nice scent... and I probably don't want to know!  As an added bonus, eliminating dryer sheets has also gotten rid of the gradual plugging of my dryer's lint trap with whatever that waxy substance on them is.        

Once I'd stopped using dryer sheets the only real differences I noticed were that our laundry now smelled like beautifully clean nothing, and at times was full of static.  I've been living with static for a few years now, but it's been getting worse lately.  I suspect my husband's new work socks are the culprit, but who knows?  So, on Sunday night as I pulled apart two pieces of clothing crackling with static, I decided to try a tip I'd read in Canadian Living.  I searched my closet and found the one wire clothes hanger I'd missed discarding last time I'd cleaned it out.  Then, I held up each piece of clothing and ran the clothes hanger up and down it.  Voila, no more static!  It's that simple.  

The clothes hanger trick is also a great tip for travelling.  I know I've often found my dress and nylons to have more attraction to each other than I'd like while staying at hotels.  I've tried to deal with it with everything from rubbing a dryer sheet on my nylons, to spritzing my legs with hairspray.  This seems like a much easier solution, contact with a strip of metal to diffuse the charge, and you're good to go... static free!

Needless to say, that wire clothes hanger is now carefully stored at the front of my closet for future static eliminating duties.  

Easy Mommy Win - Apple, Broccoli, Green Bean Purée

As I've previously mentioned, my husband is spending weekdays out of town.  We survived our first week with the help of my mom, but I freely admit that I wasn't feeling like my usual organised and (somewhat) on top of things self!  With being away part of the weekend, I didn't have a chance to do my usual meal planning/grocery shopping/food prep routine.  Then, with my husband being out of town I really didn't have a chance to catch up.  While we ate very well thanks to my mom, I really noticed the difference in the extras - my work lunches, and breakfast and snacks for the kids.  For one, my stash of healthy muffins in the freezer ran out, and on Friday I realised that the kids didn't get as many veggies in as they normally would.  Cue the mommy guilt.

This weekend, I've been trying very hard to get back on top of things.  The washer and dryer have been going... and going... as have my steamer and oven.  My goal is to have a week of well planned, minimal prep dinners, and lots of good, nutritious foods for the kids and I to enjoy for breakfasts, lunches and snacks.  While I was looking for recipes I came across a Baby FoodE recipe I'd bookmarked but never tried.  Their recipe for Apple + Green Beans + Broccoli Purée is great - no tweaks required! 

Now, I have never had much luck with purées.  No matter how carefully I'd select delicious, fresh, local produce, steam to perfection, and purée them just so, my kids just never seemed to enjoy my purées.  Store bought baby food pouches, they'll suck back in the blink of an eye on the other hand.  I was taking it pretty personally... until I really looked at the ingredient list.  While I was buying products with things like broccoli, spinach and kale in the name, the veggies were actually not at the top of the ingredient list, so my kids were getting mostly fruits (and some veggies) when they'd polish one off.  So, I decided to get more creative with my purées, and take a cue from baby food manufacturers and incorporate more fruit.  In my searches to try and find the right balance between fruit and veg, this recipe came up, and I'm so glad I bookmarked it for future use! 

Apple, Broccoli and Green Bean Purée

2 sweet apples, peeled and chopped
1/2c broccoli flowerets
1/2c chopped green beans

1.  Place chopped apples, broccoli and green beans in a steamer and steam until tender.
2.  Purée to desired consistency, adding water from the steamer as required.  (I added 3/4 c water, and used my regular blender.)

Makes about two cups


This purée reminds me a bit of my Orange (Carrot) Applesauce, and both kids are really enjoying it.  For Mini Muffin, who as a toddler/preschooler is well out of purées, we've framed it as Green Applesauce, much like the Orange Applesauce she loves.  She was hesitant, but we got there in the end.  I'll call this one an easy mommy win, and seeing Mini Muffin actually consume broccoli and green beans makes it all the better!!!

Celebratory Sweet Potato Waffles

Today is Mini Muffin's third birthday!  Everyone says it, but while the days can be long, the years truly are short.  Suddenly my little first born baby has grown into a little girl who is more preschooler than toddler, and is absolutely beautiful both inside and out.  She makes me laugh every day and makes me want to be the best mom I can be.  She's full of love, energy, joy and wonder, and I hope those characteristics only grow stronger with age.

This morning she woke up with a big smile on her face; she's been asking if it's almost her "Happy Day" since July, so it's been a long time coming.  After I finished singing Happy Birthday, her first question was "Where's my cake?".  Luckily I'd thought ahead, and had a great alternative available for her... waffles for breakfast!

My husband makes waffles almost every weekend, usually with Mini Muffin as his helper.  His version involves stiff peaked egg whites to make them light and fluffy and oh so delicious.  While I love them, I don't love the effort and extra dishes their preparation entails.  So last night I set about making my own waffle recipe and included sweet potato.  I will admit that with my husband out of town and my mom (who was staying with us to help) having gone home yesterday, I felt like a superstar when I got the kids to bed, did all my cleaning/straightening while the sweet potato was steaming, prepped the wet and dry ingredients (so all I'd have to do was combine them and cook in the morning), and still got to bed in good time.  This morning, I got up 15 minutes early to make sure I had time to get both myself and the waffles organised before my early rising Little Smiling Man got up for the day.  It all came together perfectly, Little Smiling Man "slept in" and I managed to take the last waffle out of the iron just as Mini Muffin woke up.  Hooray!

My sweet potato waffles are quite dense and slightly sweet, and as such I found them very satisfying.  I even took a left over waffle with me to have as a snack at work - it was tasty even unheated and without toppings!  As an added bonus, the texture of these waffles stands up really well to little hands so they make a great finger food.

Sweet Potato Waffles

Staying warm in the oven until the Birthday Girl awakes!

1c mashed sweet potato
1c 2% milk
1 egg
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp melted butter (optional)
1 1/2c all purpose flour*
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch salt

1.  Peel, chop and steam sweet potato until soft.  Mash well, minimising lumps.
2.  Combine sweet potato, milk, egg, maple syrup and butter**.
3.   Blend remaining dry ingredients.
4.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine to form a thick batter.
5.  Grease waffle iron and cook.  I found a lower heat setting to give fully cooked and lightly browned waffles - setting 2 of 6 on my iron.
6.  Enjoy with butter and syrup, fruit and whipped cream, fruit sauce, or on their own!

Makes 6 waffles

* Whole wheat flour and a small amount of gluten flour could be substituted for white flour; I chose white flour because the sweet potato makes these waffles pretty dense as is.
** In my bleary eyed state this morning I completely forgot to add the butter I'd planned to include - the waffles turned out well without!

Mini Muffin was thrilled at surprise week day waffles!  After I topped them with butter and little bit of maple syrup, she tucked in and I held my breath hoping she wouldn't notice that they weren't "normal" waffles.  Her first response was "Mmmm... mmmm...."; music to my ears! And about four bites in she added:

Mini Muffin: "Did you put cinnamon?"
Mommy: "Yes, I did."
Mini Muffin: "Does Mommy's waffle have cinnamon?"
Mommy: "Yes, it does."
Mini Muffin: "We like cinnamon!" (smiles)

Birthday Breakfast in Progress!

Sweet success to start my Friday morning.  I am one happy momma, and aptly so since as Mini Muffin says, a birthday is a "Happy Day".

Spasagne... and life just got a bit more complicated

We just had a total whirl wind weekend - a trip to my mom's place five hours away, my sister's bridal shower, a drive home immediately afterwards so that I could get up early to run on a marathon relay team with my coworkers, and then my husband heading back down south to start a new job.  Phew!  I think we'll all be using this week to recover.

My husband's new job is a pretty exciting prospect.  It'll put him working closer to home and with shorter working hours so he'll have more family time.  And it's in a field he loves - it couldn't be better!  The tough part (which is making life a bit more complicated) is that there's a long training period which will take him away from home Monday to Friday for months.  This week my mom is visiting to help out, which is amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  But, she won't always be here, so I'm all about finding ways to simplify everyday tasks and keep myself sane.

And so, I thought I'd share the dinner I prepared tonight.  I inadvertently invented and named it a couple of years ago, and it's been making regular appearances on our menu ever since.  Yesterday I found myself officially out of meal planning ideas, and decided to throw Spasagne in the mix as an easy option for a Monday.  I prepped it while the kids were munching on cheese, crackers and fruit yesterday afternoon, and today it just needed to be popped into the oven.  It was a delicious dinner, with almost no effort! 

So, I give you...

Spasagne (hint: it's a cross between spaghetti and lasagne)

Pasta and Homemade Meat Sauce - just add cheese

1 family portion of spaghetti (cooked)
1 family portion of meat sauce
1/2 - 1 c grated mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1.  Cook spaghetti to al dente consistency.  Note that whole wheat pasta is not appropriate for this recipe, as it tends to lose texture.  We use 'Smart' brand pasta and it works well.
2.  Combine meat sauce and cooked pasta.
3.  Transfer into casserole dish and top with cheeses.
4.  Cover and bake at 350F until heated through and bubbly.  Let rest five minutes, cut into square slices and serve.

Note - To make ahead, follow steps 1-3, then refrigerate overnight. 

Hot from the oven and ready to enjoy!

And, in the spirit of keeping things simple, here's a short list of what I love about Spasagne:
1.  It's quick and easy.
2.  It incorporates the cheesy goodness of lasagne, without the fuss of layering pasta and sauce.
3.  I can make it with the homemade meat sauce that I have in my freezer, so it's a weeknight, home cooked meal ready in no time.
4.  I can sneak extra veggies into it via the sauce; kids will probably be too distracted by the cheesy goodness to even notice.
5.  My family loves it.  My mom even went back for seconds tonight, and that never happens!   

Fantastic Family Fun

Mini Muffin is a big fan of soccer.  One day last year she suddenly proclaimed "I'm a Soccer Rocker!!!" and ever since she hasn't turned down a chance to kick around a ball.  I have no idea where Soccer Rocker came from, but it's now the official name of soccer in our home.  Not surprisingly Mini Muffin started ploughing through her dinner last night, giving us "Almost there!" updates after every bite when asked if she wanted to play Soccer Rocker after supper.  We'd decided to diverge from our normal weeknight routine of dinner, a few minutes of play and then bedtime; instead having a quick dinner so we could all go play in the backyard!  Mini Muffin ended up having a pretty big dinner, and before long we were all outside playing with a regular soccer ball, a mini soccer ball and a small net.

This was one of the first times we've been able to include Little Smiling Man in outdoor play.  Previously he'd be in the carrier or stroller watching from the sidelines, but now that he's walking he wants to be in the thick of it!  He spent most of the time toddling around on the uneven ground, trying to kick the mini ball, as well as picking up, carrying and throwing it.  When he got tired, he hung out by the shed watching, occasionally coming back into the foray to try and score a goal (or steal the ball)!  Not only was the fresh air good for him, but the activities were great for his gross motor skills.  Walking on grass is a lot more difficult than a smooth indoor floor, and his balance was noticeably improving by the time we headed inside.  And of course kicking and throwing skills are also great to practice.  I also liked that he got one on one active play time with each of his parents, as well as his sister and got to watch all of us interact as we played.

Mini Muffin was all over the place and loved every minute of it.  She chased down balls, dribbled and kicked both balls and was pretty shameless with using her hands to get the ball away from Mommy or Daddy.  She loved racing to get the ball from every corner of the yard as well; there was a lot of huffing and puffing!  Towards the end, my little Soccer Rocker was pretty tired so she turned her attention to throwing and catching the mini soccer ball.  Her catching skills are getting better, and she completely cracked us up when she missed catching the ball and would laugh saying "Silly Mommy!" or "Silly Daddy!".  As if it was our throwing skills that were the only issue!

My husband and I got to take turns playing with each of the kids, and we had some of our own soccer rocker battles full of laughter.  My husband is much better at controlling the ball than I am, so really all I could hope to do was deflect the ball, or kick it away from him.  In any case, we both managed to score a goal or two on each other, which was fun!  And, it was nice for me to clear out the cobwebs after a pretty dull and sedentary day at work. 

When bedtime was approaching we headed inside to give the kids a quick bath and tucked them happily into bed.  I really do hope that this kind of family time will form some the kid's earliest memories.  All of us having fun together, laughing and being active!

Sleep Update

Last night, I slept through the night!!!

This is not a milestone I expected to celebrate with one and (almost) three year olds, but a significant event it turned out to be. 

Here's why -

After getting his allergies under control in January, Little Smiling Man quickly got into a great sleep groove.  To recap, before we started actively managing his allergies, he was one itchy little guy.  He'd go to sleep pretty easily between seven and eight, probably due to sheer exhaustion.  Four hours later he'd be up, and he'd be up pretty much every hour until morning.  Sometimes it would take a good hour to resettle him, only for him to sleep an hour and be up again.  After nine months I was one sleepy mama!  Within a week of starting antihistamines, he went to bed even more easily, and was up maybe once a night.  Two weeks later he was able to sleep 11h straight most nights.  The change was amazing!

Then, two weeks ago my little guy got sick.  He had a nasty gastro bug that gave him tummy pains, and after three days that transitioned into less tummy distress with a high fever.  All in all, it was nearly a week of illness, and a week of him needing parental intervention from about 1am until morning.  He wanted comfort, to be held, to be rocked, etc.  It made for a very tiring experience for all of us, but he's been better for about four days now, hooray!

Breaking the nighttime comfort habit took a lot of willpower on my part.  We were all so tired from being up half the night for a week that the easiest thing to do would have been to give him what he wanted and spend the night dozing with him in a recliner so we all could get some rest.  But, instead we mustered up our strength and settled, and resettled and re-resettled him in his crib until he realised that the nighttimes of being held for hours are over.  The first night it took two exhausting hours, the second night it took one hour, then fifteen minutes.  Last night was golden - back to sleeping through the night!  Ahhh!

On the Mini Muffin front, bedtime continues to be a challenge.   I've previously written about our naptime power struggles, and her general need for comfort and having a parent with her to fall asleep.  We tried extending the strategy to bedtime, going through our routine and then letting her do what she wanted (so long as it was quiet and in her room) until she was ready to sleep.  It was an epic failure.  Mini Muffin really enjoys playing independently, so we ended up pulling the plug on the whole philosophy when after a week she was consistently still playing at 11pm when we'd go in and insist it was bedtime.  So, the bedtime process continues to be long (minimum of an hour, and often two) and full of frustration. 

My husband usually handles her bedtime, and they're pretty good at winding each other up, which also exacerbates the situation.  Last week, I interjected one night when it was becoming clear that my husband needed a break.  I tried something new and gave her a flashlight.  I told her that she could play with it until she was ready to sleep, but that she had to do it quietly and stay in her bed.  The consequence of not following that direction was that she'd lose the flashlight.  It's been almost a week now, and it's working wonderfully!  We do her bedtime routine of vitamin, pjs, teeth and face, good night to myself and her brother, stories with daddy ending with "Night Night Little Pookie", and then lights out.  We ask if she's ready to go to sleep (one night the answer was actually yes!), and if the answer is no, she's offered the flashlight.  My husband then leaves the room.  When she's ready to sleep she calls for one of us, and we put away the flashlight, tuck her in, start some white noise, and hold her hand for a few minutes until she drifts off.  Without an audience, and being fairly still and in the dark, flashlight time seems to help her settle down more quickly.  Without the frustration of sitting with Mini Muffin while she mucks around the tries to keep herself awake, we all have less frustration.  And since no one is getting frustrated, the calmer atmosphere seems to really help bedtime progress more quickly.  It's still a bit more of a production that I'd like, so there's still work to do, but overall we're all happier and Mini Muffin is sleeping on average half an hour earlier than she was!

I still find it amazing that my kids are so different in their sleep habits.  I did a few things slightly differently between them, but I think most of it is due to nature as opposed to nurture.  I continue to learn a lot along the way, and while our sleep situation (with Mini Muffin in particular) continues to have its moments of frustration, we really have come a long way!