Gingerbread House

Well here it is, the finished gingerbread house, i must say i was glad i put it together on the kids day at preschool as it was very fiddly and collapsed on me 3 times!!! I eventually glued the roof back together with icing after snapping in half and got the walls to stick together with support from cans and mugs! Very pleased with the end result though! Its my 2nd gingerbread house ive made and will definantly keep up the tradition to see the kids excited faces. They cant wait to eat it! The biccies below i made with the leftover icing tinged with green food colouring and m&m's- they look very Christmasy!

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Kids day

Today was pretty quiet and we had the usual kids day, i try and take them somewhere- today was the library to get some new books and dvd's.
Allie was very inquisitive as to why there was no carpet on the floor at the library anymore so i had to explain our recent floods which was quite hard for a 5year old to fathom!
I also cut out some fabric to make Allies sundress when i get my new Christmas present (very excited)
Tomorrow i'll finish off the gingerbread house!

Handmade thoughts

Showing those we care about is so important in todays fast paced life. Sometimes life passes us by and we forget to tell those we love how important they are to us. Make today the day you take 5 minutes out of your day to tell someone you care or ring an old friend you havent spoken to for awhile.
Theres something special about receiving a gift thats been handmade it means the person has put in extra effort and time on your part. Today i made a special Ferrero rocher bocquet for my beautiful mum, these are her favourite chocolate so im sure it will be greatly appreciated! Heres the finished product

Finally finished!!

Well the advent calender is finally finished......nearly! Just have to get a pic of the 3 kids on Christmas day to scrapbook for the centre insert. The kids are going to love this for years to come and i'm pretty proud of the finished product too! Here it is

This week i will have a busy week organising things around the house ready for Christmas at our place this year. Cant believe 2010 is nearly over, what a hectic year! I wonder what 2011 will bring for us all- if you have any hopes or dreams for the new year please share them with us in the comment section.

Fairy dust....

Allie has been invited to her little friend's birthday party tomorrow and i wanted to make some special party food for her. Her present is based around fairies so thought i'd stick to the theme.

I got the base idea to make these from another blog i follow- Whimsical Creations and just adapted it to my needs.
They are really easy to make: cut a skewer in half and poke into a marshmellow, dip in melted chocolate then roll in fairy dust. You could use sprinkles, crushed nuts or crushed biscuits. Let set on baking paper.
I was wondering how i would present them as thought it just didnt do them justice putting on a plate.
Well i looked around the kitchen saw an empty margerine container and a foam oasis and thought perfect!
So i decorated the marg container with fairy wrapping to match the present then tied a big pink bow on, popped the oasis in then pushed the skewers in.
In Ethan's words "oh wow thats pretty mummy"

Whats the cost of our health?

Im a big fan of muesli for brekkie but am sick of paying high prices for sugar laden products not to mention other strange ingredients (have you ever read the ingredients on your cereal or muesli?) Really we dont need to eat all these foods with numbers in them, what do they really do to our health? So today i decided i'd make a batch of my own, which my mum often does. Then i know exactly what is going in there and it only costs a fraction of the price. You can make whatever variety you like but today i made a pretty basic one with some things i had in the pantry:

I used 3 cups rolled oats
1 cup allbran
1/2 cup each of cranberries, sultanas and sunflower kernals

Looking forward to breakfast tomorrow! this can be used as a normal muesli with milk and yoghurt or you can use it for an extra special birchir muesli.

Ive been working on the advent calender (its proving to be very time consuming and have done alot of it one handed while im nursing Eva!) have been thoroughly enjoying making it though and its looking very pretty according to Allie. Will post some pics tomorrow when i do a bit more work on it. Also have some baking to do as we have another 2 parties to attend this Saturday!

Food glorious food

If you love going to the ever popular Sushi bars but hate paying the high costs why not make your own. If you've never made your own its super easy and super yummy! You can make whatever variety you like, today i made smoked trout with cucumber, and tuna in sweetcorm mayo with cucumber.
The great thing about sushi is you need to make it ahead of time so its great if your a time poor mum like me as you can organise it while bubs asleep. Its also a great option for those on a gluten free diet.

Heres what you need to do for beginners out there:
1. cook your sushi rice, the sprinkle with sushi vinegar, allow to cool
2. put a sushi sheet shiny side down on a rolling mat

3. place an even layer or rice over your sushi sheet and leave a gap of 2cm at top to join the roll

4. place the filling of your choice along the base of the roll

5. using the mat roll your sushi sheet up, use a little water on 2cm at top end to secure your roll

6. cover rolls with gladwrap for few hours in fridge before serving

7. cut into slices of desired size and enjoy!

Advent calender

Well my advent calender project is taking alot longer than anticipated! Once i finally found some instructions on how to make the thing on the internet i got to work pulling all the bits apart. The thing thats taking the longest is the slots to put the drawers in, as their wooden tabs need to be cut back and sandpapered so they fit in. There are of course 20 of these and they are all double sided aghh!! I have done the first coat of paint in a burgundy as ive decided not to use the traditional Christmas colours. The decorative papers im planning on using are mostly free papers that ive got out of better homes and gardens magazine the last few years at Christmas time.

Christmas concert

After the excitement of our street party last night where santa turned up on a harley motorbike with his helper the kids had a quite morning playing with their friends before their school concert this afternoon. Poor little Ethan was so overcome with all the people there was no way he was going to perform but Allie being the "drama queen" that she is put on a great show of singing and dancing. We were very proud of her :) After their concert Santa arrived with a big sack of presents and Allie got some lovely jewellery while Ethan got a water gun (hmm i can see some trouble coming with that one!)

heres Allie in the big black top hat!

Allie in the big black top hat and snowman suit! The hat was so big it kept falling down her face!

Heres Santa giving out all the gifts

Allie & Ethan.

Its party time!

Well today is party day in our house! This morning Ethan had his first invite to a little girls party that he goes to daycare with. So off to the park we all went for a few hours of fun and party food for the kids! Both kids got lolly bags which kept them occupied while i made their lunch!
Ethan is having a big sleep before we go off to our next party- our street Christmas party, every year our street get together and have a big party which goes into the wee hours of the morning!
Tomorrow Grant will put up all our outside Christmas lights which the kids are very excited about!
Im planning on making a start on my wooden advent calender which i have a kit for one of the ones with the little drawers to put the treat in. Once ive built it the fun part will be decorating it ready for next Christmas.

Fantastic fudge

Have finished my last batch of fudge, the kids teachers and the employees at Grants work will enjoy this sweet treat. 3 types- Jaffa, white chocolate & kahlua, chocolate and mint bailey's.
Heres the finished product:

Foodie Blog

The first time i decided i wanted to start a blog was after reading Julie and Julia, the story of Julie writing a blog about cooking every recipe from Julia Childs cookbook in 365 days. Was a very inspiring read and a great movie too! This was around this time last year so one of my 2010 new years goals was to work my way through one of the AWW cookbooks. Unfortunately i didnt get to far in this goal as i had a very sick pregnancy and heaven forbid i would have to cook- yuck the thought of food made me ill! Imade up for it in the last month of pregnancy and got back into my love of cooking.
Perhaps i will set myself a new cooking goal for 2011?
My Christmas baking is coming along well, my plum pudding turned out great, now to resist eating it! Heres a pic, i got the recipe from http://www.simplesavings.com.au/ one of my fave sites. It cooked in the slowcooker for around 5.5hours on high.

Will go well with the brandy sauce and icecream on Christmas day! Please let me know if u'd like the recipe.

Jolly lolly Christmas

Im suprising myself how super organised i am this year considering i have a newborn baby to care for plus two toddlers. Im enjoying getting ready for the festive season and have wrapped all my prezzies, made lolly christmas trees for table decorations and bonbons full of treats for Christmas day. On the food front i've made my first Christmas fruit cake and it looks a beauty, jaffa fudge, white chocolate and kahlua fudge and have a plum pudding in the slowcooker- a first try as well!
Still to make mint baileys fudge and a gingerbread house with the kids.

Heres a pic of the lolly trees and bon bons.

A day in the life of a yummy mummy begins!

Well i have finally started a blog, something ive been wanting to do for ages but just have not got around to it! Life is busy with three children under five!
Through my posts i will share the ups and downs of being a stay at home and the daily happenings in our home, and the funny things the kids get up to (not always so funny at the time)
My passion for cooking, gardening and crafting/sewing will be reflected in more detail through this blog.
As a stay at home im always looking at ways to save money and live simply but happily, so i will share some tips along the way.
Hope you join my adventure and enjoy the blog :)