Friday, August 17, 2012

Things I'm loving

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.

A few of the things I'm loving this week...

1. Funny little first steps.

2. Getting ready for a big birthday party.



 3. This ad.




4. Loving that it's the weekend!

What's making you smile this week? 

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Recipes Galore

I feel bad for not posting for so long. Things have just been so busy around here and kinda took priority away from this blog. But I still love you. And I've been good. Still ticking along with my challenges.  Today, in fact, is to show how well I'm coming along with challenge #18 having made 2 more recipes from it over the past couple weeks and another tonight! What a good girl.

 The first I would like to share though is just an old favourite - Peach or apple cobbler.  I have a new trick which threw up a yummy result.

I basically make my cobbler with a normal crumble base and add something to it like cream or milk so I can mould the balls for the top. A couple of weeks back I only had thickened cream in the house (I'm very much a 'throw in what you got kinda cook) so in it went. Well, it made the lightest, most beautiful topping you could imagine.  Try it if you like cobbler :)


Secondly, I have two chicken dishes for you. An oldie but a goodie - Chicken Cordon Bleu with a variation you might like to try (: and Easy Peasy Chicken Pasta.

I have a confession. The chicken cordon bleu I'm about to share was supposed to involve a vegetable and be known as Chicken Supreme. But I don't dig asparagus so I subbed it with ham. I will give both recipes here (:

Chicken Cordon Bleu (Or Chicken Supreme)
1 chicken fillet per person
Tasty cheese - sliced
1 4x4 sandwich ham for every breast (cordon bleu) Bunch of fresh asparagus (supreme) 
Flour, Egg & milk to coat
Breadcrumbs (I like to add paprika, garlic salt and parmesan to my crumbs)
A little olive oil

1. Slice each breast in half to form a pocket (I hate doing this and as you'll see form the photos never do a good job but I hear Rachel Ray has a good video - check it out here).

2. Fill with cheese and asparagus/ham. Close each breast with toothpicks.

3. Coat chicken with flour, then egg mixture and roll in breadcrumbs.


4. In an electric frying pan lined with baking paper add the olive oil and cook until golden brown, Turn and repeat. Approx 4-5 minutes on each side is enough.
I have a husband who is terrified of chicken not being cooked so as you will see I didn't fry mine we did it in the over - still yummy :)

The last recipe I'll share with you today got the following comment from my husband;
"Can we put this on the have all the time menu"?
Meaning, not just a once off because you're trying it from your cook everything cook book.
Yep, it was that good, and because it was so easy I was able to say yes we will make it a reoccurring meal! We both concurred though that in future it would need bacon... what doesn't need bacon right?

Easy Peasy Chicken (and bacon!) Pasta
1T Butter
500g chicken breast fillets thinly sliced
1 clove crushed garlic
Generous sprinkle chopped chives
Salt to taste
2T fresh parsley, finely chopped
300ml Cream (I used light cream and hubby didn't even know!)
Pepper
250g dried pasta
(and I recommend) 4-6 strips of bacon sliced

1. Heat the butter on a medium heat in an electric frying pan lined with baking paper. Add the chicken, garlic, chives and salt.

2. Cover and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the parsley, cream, (bacon), pepper and finally the hot cooked pasta. Stir through to combine.

3. Serve - YUM! Told ya it was easy peasy!
I have mine with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Dream house....or just a new one please

I've been holding off blogging about this one for a while because I've been meaning to create a vision board and was going to print pictures off and pop them on.
Now, this is still the long term goal, but unfortunately we've outgrown the house that we currently live in and things are just way too crammed as it is.  I'm trying my darndest to stop purchasing and filling the place with more stuff.

We have managed to put a time line on moving into a bigger house though.  Our plan is to get the house ready to see - few odd jobs here and there to make it more presentable - and have it on the market in January when the weather is a bit nicer.

BUT, I've decided to strike this challenge off my list as I've been adding to two boards on pinterest for months and months now - one called household and another called dream house.  There used to be some rhyme of reason as to what I put on which but, just between you and me I think the lines have blurred a bit. Hehe.

So DONE!  I love dreaming. Hopefully when we buy a bigger house that we will most likely stay in for a big chunk of time we'll be able to put some of the dreams into place. Until then, dreaming it is <3










Thanking those who serve

Done a couple of weeks back when Mr. Man and I went out for tea.  I felt good but also really awkward doing it which is horrible... I'm not sure why, but after writing it I just wanted to pay and get outta there. Maybe I just have to do it a few more times to make it the norm?

Anyhow - DONE!

Excuse the shoddy iPad photo.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Things I'm Loving

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.
 I think I've told you all before but my class is AWESOME! Last week we made voice overs to help with our persuasive writing.  They came out quite well if you ask me.  See!
I have an 11 month old. Wow. One more month and it's big big party time.



I started a very positive initiative called '3 good things'.  You can find out more about it here. I love the positivity in it and that it fits in with one of my life mantras "Every day might not be good but there is good in every day".  Here are a couple of my 'Three good things' from this week.


 Love breaded Shakey....

Loving this 'oh dad you so funny' face.

 And, this is my 200th post - cool huh?

What are you loving this week?