Hoot Hoot

Look what I got! A Harry's Desk Owl Hair Clip in our favorite colour PURPLE! Thanks Ally we love it.

Holidays!

I wont be posting for the next two weeks, we are having a home holiday, turning off the screen for a bit, reading a few books, baking, spend some quality family time and doing lots of resting. I have a few projects up my sleeve which I hope to share soon.

If you want a cheap activity I bought this giant bubble pack from Aldi this week for $5. It provided us with loads of entertainment and we can refill the bottle for more bubble fun. If you have some other cheap holiday ideas for young kids comment away, I am always looking for new suggestions.

Happy Holidays!

Recipe find

I found this blog today Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen with Kid friendlyVegan recipes that look good.

School Holiday Ideas

If you are looking for a cheap, fun activity for your school aged kids, which will burn off some of that energy. Check this out!!! Click on the image to go to the home page.

We went along to this last year and my kids had a blast. My good friend is organising the craft and it sound fantastic. Parents are welcome to stay or leave their kids and they cater for allergies. Go along you will be very welcome.

Recipe of the Week

These are two of my favorite cookbooks

Sue Dengates "The Failsafe Cookbook"

and the RPAH allergy clinic's "Friendly Food"

Both of these books include handy recipes for those who are affected by food allergy and intolerance. For the Train Cake and any other birthday cake for kids I use the Basic Plain Cake recipe which you can find on page 133 of the Sue Dengate Book. For the Cookies I use the Vanilla Cookie Recipe from the RPAH book on page 162, I would highly recommend these two books for any family. If your own children don't have any allergies or food intolerance I can guarantee that you will come across someone who does. It is a great resource with loads of helpful info.

Basic Plain Cake

250g self-raising flour or gluten free flour (I use Orgran or the new Aldi Has No.. brand)
1/4 tsp salt
125g failsafe butter or nuttelex
125g caster sugar
2 eggs, well beaten or egg replacer
1/2 cup of milk or rice or soy milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

Grease the cake tin. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Sift flour and salt. Add beaten eggs or egg replacer follow instructions on packet. Add flour and salt alternately with milk and vanilla. Put in tin and bake for 40-45 mins. Ice with white icing.

For cup cakes. Bake for 12-15 mins

Vanilla Cookies

125g nuttelex
80g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup soy-free gluten free plain flour
1/2 cup soy-free gluten free self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Line the baking tray with paper.

Beat the nuttelex, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer for 1-2 mins. Sift the flour into the mix and form a smooth dough.

Shape the mix into balls and press down with a fork. Bake for 12-15 mins. Cool on a wire rack.

Bubble Wrap painting

I came across this tutorial at projects for kids, it has an excellent way to use up all of those stray pieces of bubble wrap from parcels that you get.


The other week we had a few home days so we gave it a go with 4 and 2 yr old. The pictures tell you everything... look at the raincoat that 2 yr old is wearing.

A confession.

I love making Birthday Cakes.

Yes they are exhausting and take forever, but I love the adrenalin of getting to the finished product. My kids love the weeks leading up to their birthday flipping through my cake books (and now the Internet) picking out what they think would be the best cake for them. I haven't quite put my finger on what it is that gets them so excited. They can't actually eat many lollies or food colourings so usually the cake includes a part that has vanilla icing that they have.

I think that for them being included in the planning and preparation of the cake that then everyone can see that was made for them, makes them feel special. Some of their favorite photos and memories are of their birthdays.

This weekend was 2 yr olds birthday party, after several consultations with my Womens Weekly Birthday Cake Book he chose the Train Cake. I was secretly very excited. Neither of our other kids have chosen this before and I was waiting in anticipation that one of them would choose it. So here we go, my version of the Womens Weekly Train Cake. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't need to rush off and buy a store bought cake like Josh Earl.


What you can't see in these photo's is the 3rd carriage that I made, which was full of gluten, dairy, egg, nut and soy free biscuits. They were so popular that they were eaten before we cut the cake. For my future reference I am going to post a recipe that I used to make the cake later this week.

Just so you know I have nothing against store bought cake either. Just like anyone else I love to buy something that has been made by someone other than myself. I don't think that my children would be disadvataged in anyway if I decided one year to go this way, I just like doing it myself.....and bought gluten free birthday cakes cost a fortune!!!!!

Am I really game to make the revered Womens Weekly Train Cake?

Recipe of the Week - Mandy's raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake

Mandy's raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake

base: 1 packet arnotts rice cookies, 50g butter, 2 tbs apple juice, 1 tsp cinnamon. Put it all in food processor and mix. Press out into spring form lined tin and place in refrigerator while preparing the rest.

Preheat oven to 175... See More

Filling: 1 250g tub light ricotta cheese; 1 250g carton light sour cream; 1 250g block light Philly cream cheese; 1/4 cup caster sugar; 200g block white chocolate; 1 tbs vanilla essence; 1 box frozen raspberries.

Break off 2 rows of white choc. Melt Remainder of white choc in the microwave in 1 min blasts, stirring until melted. Place rest of ingredients (except raspberries) in food processor and mix until smooth. Pour into a bowl with 1/3 of raspberries and melted choc and gently mix.

Assembly: take the base from the fridge and spread 1/3 of raspberries over base. Pour cheesecake mix over the top and place in the middle if the oven for approx 55 mins.

Allow to cool in the oven for 1 hr, then refrigerate. To serve, place last third of raspberries in a heap in the middle of the cheesecake and grate the white choc over the rest of the cheesecake. Serve and enjoy.

Best made the day ahead :)

Revoluzzza Monster

A few weeks back I came across this softie pattern.

6 yr old and I set off to the fabric shop and set to work, this is the finished product


I have not made many softies in my time but I found the instructions very easy to follow and the whole project took less than an hour.

Hair Clip Swap Update

No I have not forgotten, although this post keeps being delayed for different reasons.

Here are some of the pictures of peoples Hair Clip Swaps. I have really enjoyed seeing what everyone has created. There is nothing like getting a surprise in the mail, and these have been wonderful. If you have not managed to send me a photo yet, it is not too late.

I wanted to feature these three first because they all use recycled items.

Here Steph from Moobear has used reclaimed zippers
Here Sophie from Barefootbabies has used pieces from her fabric stash
Here Ally from Harrysdesk has used reclaimed mens ties

Two Pinafore Tutorials

By Jessica from fort & field

By Elexsis from the stuffilivefor

Pinafores for Orphanage - Can You Help?

Check out this Blog by Gypsy - Dance for Cheese

She writes:

Karen, along with about 20 women who Karen works with in the dress department at Spotlight Bayswater, have started making reversible pinafores to send to Dago Dela Hera, and they have asked customers to join them as well.
Want to be involved? All you need to do is make a girl's reversible pinafore and take it or send it to the store! Simple! They are collecting pinafores in many sizes to suit young girls of different ages, so you can make whatever size you like.

Because I have been working on a reversible pinafore for a while now I am going to send one off, hopefully in time. I think this is a great thing to spend some time doing if you can. Let me know if you have time to make one, I would love to see a picture too.

If you don't know where Spotlight Bayswater is here is the address: 224-234 Canterbury Road, Bayswater, VIC

A Button night

A few weeks back some of the girls from the Con Christian Group came around and Jen taught us how to make button bracelets. I wanted to share some pics from the night, just because I had a great time and the results were amazing! Now I just need to talk with Jen about writing a tutorial.. after her exams.

Our Little Man turns 2!

I am seriously in denial. Our littlest turned 2 this weekend. And I still call him BABY!

We love you to bits little man. We love your little facial expressions that only you (and maybe your daddy) can make. We love how you cuddle and kiss any child that is smaller than you, your energy and how you want to jumpy jump all the time, oh and how your favorite word when we are at home is OUTSIDE! How you are sooooo organised about everything, and how you worry if things don't happen in the right order for the day. And one day you might understand that mummy and daddy are so tired from how busy you keep us. But we still love you all the same.

Happy Birthday Little Man!


These are some pics taken over the weekend.

Naptime Webdesign

I want to encourage you to go over and have a look at this website

http://naptimewebdesign.com/

Debbie Teakle is the very talented lady who has designed and continues to take care of my website. I can highly reccomend her service. On her website you can see some of her work and updates on new things she is up to with designing web stuff!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Basil Pesto - Recipe of the week

This recipe has been adapted from the Super Food Ideas magazine June2010.

For the Gnocchi

750g Unpeeled Sweet Potato
500g Desiree Potatoes
1 egg yolk
2 cups gluten free plain flour (I use Orgran)


For the Pesto
(you can also use store bought pesto)

2 Cups of fresh Basil leaves
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/3 cup pine nuts, I have also used cashews
1/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup of oil, I use 100% canola, olive oil is a favorite too

Method
For the Gnocchi

1. Steam the sweet potato and potato for 45 mins until tender. Set aside to coll enough to handle. Remove and discard the skin. Mash until smooth. Cool completely
2. Add egg yolk and flour. Stir to form a dough - I use my mix master for this because it gets a better result than by hand. Add more flour if it is too soft - I probably added another 3/4 cup. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Line 2 trays with baking paper.
3. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each into a 35cm long log. Using a lightly floured knife cut into 2 cm pieces. Roll each into a ball and then run over a floured fork to form grooves. Place onto the lined trays until ready to cook.

For the Pesto

1. Process the basil, garlic, parmesan, nuts and lemon juice until finely chopped. With the motor running slowly add the oil.

Putting it together

1. To cook the gnocchi, boil water in a large pot. When the water is boiling hard, cook in batches. When the gnocchi rise to the surface they will be cooked. This takes about 3 minutes.
2. Transfer to a bowl and stir through some pesto. Serve with shaved parmesan and rocket.