Rocky Road

Another of my favourite Christmas treats is Rocky Road. I take it everywhere at Christmas and always seem to have a batch on the go! I love that it is different everytime I make it, all depends on what is in the supermarket and whatever craving I am having at the time!

My core ingredients are:

1 x pack of Nestle Chocolate Melts

1 x pack of Allens Marshmallows and 

1 x pack of Ripe Raspberries (chewy jellies) Allens are great but Black and Gold are just as good.

To that I sometimes add a couple of handfuls of unsalted peanuts, some coconut, some honey comb (Violet Crumble or Crunchie smashed up), maybe some kind of caramel chocolate bar chopped (Mars) or some Crunchie clusters.

Chop up the choc bars to small pieces, and halve the raspberries then melt the chocolate melts and add it to all the other ingredients! Stir to combine then spread onto a tray that is covered in greaseproof paper and refrigerate! Simple and soooooo yumm

So much fun to make!

 

And I can pretty much always guarantee at least one little helper will help me clean-up!

Christmas Reindeer Tiny Teddy Cookies

Don't you just love these! We made them today at school with the reception kids!

Arnott's Milk Arrowroot biscuits, basic white or butter cream icing, choc bits, jaffas and Tiny Teddies for the antlers! How easy are they?

I love the whole assembly thing for reception kids as cooking can get a bit tough as they want to eat everything straight away and get so frustrated having to wait for it to cook!

Any hoo, I am off to make more for Chrismas gifts now ....toodles!

Festive Food

So I have a new favourite party favourite that I absolutely have to share with you....... Bambino cones from Gelatissimo!

Check out these little delights! Great for an after dinner sneaky treat, fab size for the kiddies and the perfect gift for the hostess with the mostess who insists that you shouldn't bring a thing!

They are yummo bite-sized mini cones filled with chocolate, vanilla, hazelnut, mint, raspberry and mango gelato then dipped in coloured chocolate.  They sell them in store and you get to take them home in an insulated foam packs so they don't melt!

 

We serve them at the end of the dinner with coffee and put them in a short glass so they look like a festive bunch of flowers..... Excuse me for a little while, I just have to pop out and pick something up....I have a hankering for something sweet!

Love naughty little indulgences!

 

Gingerbread Houses ... kind of!!

One of my favourite things about Christmas is the food! It is always for decorative and beautiful that you almost don't want to eat it! I must spend about 6 months of the year planning what I will be cooking for Christmas lunch!

Let me share some images of some of my favourite things in particular.....Gingerbread house made from Graham Crackers or Nice biscuits!

I can't claim these designs but I want to show you what some of those very talented people out there have been up to!  I am so inspired! I'll post images of my house next week (hopefully....unless I eat it first!)

Which one is your favourite?

Isn't this gorgeous!

The basic structure to start from!

 

ooooohhh fairy houses!

And this gorgeous one from Martha Stewart......divine!!!

Enjoy the food of the season!

Tiny Teddy Racing Cars

Having just posted a recipe for very delightful Tic Toc Teacups, I wanted to put up an option for those of us who have boys! There are a few ideas out there but this one has to be my favourite!

As I have said previously, sweet foods don't really feature much in our house outside of parties and even then sparingly! This one is a good option for a lolly bag though as they are not too big and are a bit more fun than a lot of the normal sickly sweets on offer! Not to mention that they are really cute and easy to make!

Check out these little dudes.....

How cute are they!! And ridiculously easy to make!

What you need:

1 pack Arnotts Tiny Teddies
2 packs Mini Mars Bars or Mini Milky Ways
1  x 250gm pack of Smarties, M&Ms or Skittles
60gm bar of plain milk chocolate (as the glue)

1) First things first,  you need to gently push the Teddies in to the chocolate bars. If you have any difficulties, you can make a small hole using a spoon or knife to help you out.

2) Lastly, use a teaspoon to carefully dab a small spot of chocolate on the side of a Smartie then gently press the Smarties in the position of the wheels! Complete them all and you are done! How good is that!

A bit more boy friendly and definitely loved by all!

I have seen these done at a few parties but I love this version where they are used as cake toppers....

Maybe it is the colours, maybe it is the fact that you can make them ahead of time then quietly put them on the cake last minute...not sure, just LOVE it! Thanks for the cake idea Joey's mom!

Have a great weekend everyone....

Tic Toc Tea Cups

I love girly things! Having 2 boys, I really don't get to see them around our place much but I really admire mums of little girls who can put together things like these.....

The recipe calls for:

1 packet Arnotts Tic Toc biscuits

1 packet marshmallows (Allens are best)

1 packet of Freckles

2 packs of musk life saver lollies (cut in half with a sharp knife)

60gm block of white choc (melted)

Start by putting all the ingredients into bowls so they are easy to access ie. a freckle bowl, marshmallow bowl etc. Then gently melt the white chocolate (this will be your glue) either in the microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

1) First for the Teacups! Get some of the white chocolate on one of the flat sides of a marshmallow and then stick it in the centre of a Tic Toc. You can do this step a couple of different ways, either dunk the marshmallow (which is fun for kids) or use a spoon to spoon a bit on the marshmallow. Complete all the Teacups before moving on to the next step.

2) Next the freckle froth! Use a spoon to gently dab a bit of white chocolate on a freckle then place it on top of the teacup marshmallow. Complete all the freckle frothys!

3) Finally the handles..... Using he spoon again, dab a small amount of the chocolate on both ends of the cut lifesavers and press on to the side of the marshmallow to make the handles.

Voila, there you have it! Gorgeous little treats and I must say that even the boys love them too!

Enjoy

Sugar Highs in Children - Parties

Just a thought.....

As I just put up a post on Kids Party Food I thought this was probably worth mentioning.

My husband and I were recently lucky enough to spend some time at a health retreat to get our diet and exercise back on track. While there, they placed a great deal of weight on removing sugar from our diets.

After a lecture on the effects of sugar, I spoke to one of the nutritionists about the content. Where it is easy to ask me to remove sugar from my diet, I find it really tough to do for my kids, particularly at kids parties. We have one son (aged 4) who does suffer from extreme reactions to sugar. This is particularly evident at kids parties. You can really notice a significant change in behaviour if he has lollies or too much sweet food at parties. He becomes aggressive, teary and really difficult to manage. I find it upsetting as I know that it is not his usual nature to behave that way. He is exposed to limited sweet food at home but it is more the natural sweetened versions ie. fruit juice, fruit bars and occasional sweet biscuits.

The nutritionist was really understanding in the way that you deal with kids and sugar. In referring to my son, she said that it would be worth me trying to balance out the sugar highs by increasing his protein levels. According to her, that would reduce the extremity of the reaction.

She was not saying that I needed to sit my son down and feed him a t-bone steak before each party, although it definitely would have done the job!

No, pretty simple really, every time we go to a kids party now, I just pack some the kids each a squeezy yogurt (Vaalia is a favourite!), a cheese stick or give them a ham & cheese sandwich in the car on the way. I cannot tell you the difference that this has made to their reactions to sugar at parties! I'm still not a fan of loads of sugar at parties, but at least now I am a bit better at limiting the reactions.

Now, I'm not saying that this will work for everyone, but it did work for us and it definitely made sense!

I have got to say that this was probably one of the best bits of information that I have received since having kids!

Hope it helps.

Easy Kids Party Food - Part 1

I love a good kids party and I am a big fan of traditional kids party food - yum! It always seems to bring back some happy and cheerful memories.

The thing with kids parties is that having the little kiddies around while you are trying to get the party organised, makes them somewhat tricky!

I hope you don't mind but I'm breaking this post up into a few different postings otherwise it will just get overwhelming!

Lets start with some real favourites.....

1) Sprinkles! No party is complete without them! I am a big believer that you can put sprinkles on anything and it will instantly scream "PARTY" back at you! There are several brands available now that use natural colours so there is even more reason to party!

Fairy bread is an absolute must!!!

The thing is, we all seem to leave it until last to make as we want the bread to be the lightest and freshest. However, did you know that you can make it in advance? You make it, using the freshest bread then freeze it and pull it out about 2 hours before the party, plate it up and voila, easy, quick and stress-free! Seems so simple, doesn't it? It took me a couple of parties to figure it out but now I have it down!

I tend to do it about a week before the party and use very fresh bread (normally wholemeal as I like to cram in some goodness where I can). I store it in Tupperware in my freezer and prep

are a layer at a time. I freeze the bread first, just because it is easier to cut that way, especially when the bread is really fresh. Then take enough to put a single layer in the bottom of my container (I use a container that is about 30cm long x 20 cm wide x 5 cm high) so about 6 slices. I butter it (tastes better with butter not margarine) and cut up into 4 triangles leaving the crusts on, then put in the container before sprinkling on the sprinkles (just as it makes the clean-up easier).

2)  Another thing that is really great for kids parties, especially if you are going with a healthier option is sliced banana with sprinkles on. This is really good if you have kids with allergies as it means that they don't miss out on the fun. You just slice the banana into little round circle and sprinkle away. As the banana is moist, you will need to prepare this one at the last minute to avoid the colours running. I have often showed up at a party with a banana, knife and sprinkle shaker in my bag! Just one of those things you need to do when you have a kiddo with allergies, I guess!

3)  So that's the sprinkly bits, next is Honey Crackles! Yum, Yum, YUM! Honey Crackles or Honey Joys, same thing!

Another easy one that you can do in advance! Love that! I normally do them about 7-10 days prior to the party and really try not to eat them prior to the day!

I go with the Kellogs recipe from the side of a Corn Flakes packet.

If you don't have a packet handy here goes:

90g butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp honey
4 cups Corn Flakes

Preheat oven to 150C.
Melt margarine, sugar and honey together in a saucepan until frothy.
Add Corn Flakes and mix well.
Spoon into paper patty cases. (I go with the foil ones so the grease doesn't show through)
Bake in a slow oven (150C) for less than 10 mins.
Allow to cool.
Makes approx 20 (or more if you make the mini size!)

4) So the last thing that I'm going to suggest food-wise for an easy party is mini franks, little boys or cocktail frankfurts.

We have the best butcher up the road (Windsor Meats) which does a skinless variety! Brilliant! Quality-wise, they are also great.

It is always so annoying to have to peel them as my kids are going through that fussy stage an won't eat them with the peel on! So skin-less is fabulous! For our family, this is something that they only get at a party, not an everyday food and I tend to only get them from somewhere that I trust. Yeah, I know, probably a bit OCD!

I like the skinless variety not only for the pain of peeling, but also as there is less colouring without the bright red skin!

I spoke to the butcher and he made a point of telling me not to cook them too long as they would split. Apparently they are already cooked and only need warming. I kind of know that but it was still good to hear!

I have so many kids party suggestions, check back soon for more ideas! Cakes, healthy options, special treats and loot bags - still to come!

Ciao for now!

Easy kids sandwich ideas!

So here's how I try to reduce the stress of lunch box packing in the hectic morning bun fight!

1) I try and pack as much of their lunch the night before as possible.
2) I try to cook extra food for dinners and meals during the week. This way I can use for lunch the next day or freeze and use later in the week as required. Things like sausages, chicken, spaghetti bolognese (great sandwich filling believe it or not!) pizzas, quiches, muffins and small pots of pasta.
3) Here is my number one tip - I try to make sandwiches with freezable fillings! I will do a big sandwich make on Sunday night, make, cut and individually wrap or store so they are ready at a moments notice. I can't tell you how much stress this takes out of things, particularly for me mentally!  In my family, the sandwich has always been the 'hero' of the lunch box! The main item around which everything else sits. To have this king pin sorted early makes everything else seem so much easier!

Here are some suggestions of freezable sandwich fillings:

• Ham, cheese and chutney
• Cream cheese and sultanas
• Vegemite
• Peanut Butter (if your school permits)
• Tuna, cream cheese, grated carrot and lemon juice
• Egg and bacon or egg and mayo
• Smoked salmon and cream cheese
• Beef and corn relish
• Baked beans mashed
• Avocado, cream cheese and ham
• Chicken schnitzel and avocado
• Turkey, cream cheese and cranberry sauce

In terms of making the bread soggy, the trick with the condiments is to try and put them between two dry fillings where possible. Cream cheese is OK in terms of not making bread soggy.

So enjoy a stress-free morning from now on!!

Happy sandwich slapping!

Huggies Swimmer nappies...re-usable? Yes!

So here's how I save some money!

I send my 2 boys to swimming classes and it amazes me just how much money you can waste by using disposable swimmer nappies!



However, did you know that they are RE-USABLE?

You can wash them in your washing machine, just like normal undies, line dry and use again! They don't pill or flake tissue on the other laundry but wash really well. I'm not sure if they can go in the tumble dryer as I just throw them on the line.

It goes without saying, I only re-use if they are wet, not soiled! In that case, straight to the rubbish bin!

I wash, re-use and get about 10 uses out of each pair meaning that I use one packet every 2 years!

How good is that!

Enjoy and happy swimming!

Let's kick this off!

Greetings blogging world! As a newbie to this, all I ask is be kind!

I am a wife, mother of two gorgeous boys and participant in a very hectic life! Don't you just look back sometimes and wonder where the day, week or year has gone? It sometimes really shocks me when I realise how much time has passed and I'm not too sure how I wasted it!

I started to have a look at the things that I was doing and see where I could simplify. What could I change to make things work better for me? So many people are out there doing the same stuff, just differently, sometimes better, sometimes not and sometimes not even thinking about it.

So I just thought I would write a few of this things that I do down. They may work for you, they may not. I don't at all profess to be the oracle of these matters. I do know that they have helped me save time, save stress, save wrinkles or just save my sanity!

I really hope that they help you too!

To kick this away I'm going to give you a couple of time saving recipes!

Microwave Risotto! So here's how I do it!

Microwave Risotto (yes microwave, and not much stirring)

             30g butter
             1 small onion - finely chopped
             1 cup Arborio rice
             3 cups vegie stock (or a 2 cup packet and one cup water)
             1/2 cup grated parmesan

1. Melt butter in large microwave bowl for 30 seconds. Stir in onion and cook on high for 2 minutes.
2. Stir in rice and cook on high for 1 minute.
3. Add stock and cook on high for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from microwave and stir well.
5. Return to microwave and cook on high for a further 8 minutes.
6. Stir in parmesan and season as desired!

This I use as a base then you can add any combination of steamed vegies and/or meats for a really quick and easy meal for the whole family! The vegies and the meat ca be cooked while the risotto base is cooking. Try the following combinations:
              Chicken (mince or chopped thigh) roast pumpkin and baby spinach
              Roast Pumkin
              Beef and Basil
              Mushroom

Love, love, love this recipe! Mum handed it over so not sure the source, but it is a goodie! Fancy a great risotto that you don't need to keep stirring!

The next recipe is not really for eating...strange huh!

Here is one for the easiest and most basic Uncooked Playdough in the World!

Play Dough

2 cups plain flour
4tb 'cream of tartar'
2tb cooking oil
1 cup salt
2 cups boiling water
food colouring, couple of drops

Just pop it all in a bowl, mix it together and you are done!

Then store it in a bag in the fridge between uses for instant attention diversion!!! Add glitter, food essence (cinnamon, vanilla, etc) for some great sensory experiences!

Finally, here is a great tip for those of you in this technical world with a  wet iPhone. If by chance, you happen to try to teach your mobile phone to swin or drop your iPhone in a puddle, 48 hours in a bowl full of dry rice grains should have it back to normal! Rice is thoroughly under rated bu massively absorbant! Now you know why they put it in the salt shakers at restaurants in highly humid areas!

Hope that helps

Enjoy