Europe on a Plate ;)

Sorry for bad mobile picture ;)

What a Meal!!!! Whenever my Dad is down to visit we always try some new recipes. Tonight we had Stuffed chicken breast with peccorino cheese, pancetta and asparagus, with a side of chorizo and white wine drizzled asparagus and roasted veggies. Yumm!!!! Dessert was Figs baked in a honey and Marsarla sabanyon....DELISH!!!!

MAIN MEAL:
Chicken
For the amazing result this was very quick and easy!
1. Bash out chicken breasts so that you have one flat piece per person.
2. Lay out a slice of peccorino cheese and pancetta (we used HOT) on the breast fillet and lay asparagus spear on top.
3. If we had bakers twine, we would have tied it up so it was more secure. So we had to skewer it instead. Sear first before finishing in oven.

Asparagus Spears
1. Fry off some chorizzo and garlic in some olive oil in a hot frying pan.
2. Add some fresh asparagus spears (enough for a few spears per person) it won't take long.
3. Then before it is served, cook off some dry white wine to de-glaze pan and then serve on plate (ready for chicken breasts on top).

Roasted Veggies
We had three trays of roasted veggies going in the oven. Red and yellow capsicum, zuchinni and baby eggplant sliced length ways, garlic, carrots, onions, baby tomatoes and sweet potato. Drizzle with olive oil and a little salt/ pepper (we used chilli and garlic oil for extra heat). We had a little extra chorizzo that we put onto the tray too.



I will post the dessert seperatley but SOOO delicious just want to make that again. Hopefully successful panna cotta and croquembouche recipies soon :)

Too cute for words ;)

I am a sucker for vests for boys....and I love the hat too!

The bows on the gloves - do they make this in grown up size??? cuuuute ;)

The scarf and the jacket - what a gorgeous outfit!

What girl doesn't just love the details....like pom-pom's - awwwww!

Found Seed on facebook first and just love their classic and sophisticated clothing looks for little ones! Hope you enjoy them and I cant wait to get my hot little hands on their gear soon :)

Are you making yourself sick?

Are you making yourself sick and don't even know it? The gross thing about makeup brushes is the 47.5% of women don’t wash them often enough, and a staggering 23.4% of women don’t wash them at all. Ever!
I always make sure I clean my brushes at least every week, but really never knew why. I did this after watching an episode on Oprah years ago where they put some of the audiences brushes under a microscope to see what was 'living' there. It grosed me out and made my skin crawl.
So, I did some research into this I found that the bacteria cannot live on brushes by themselves, its only when we use them, some of our skin cells goes on the brush and the bacteria can grow on skin cells because it is organic material. So basically when we are washing our brushes, we are removing skin cells from the brush.

If that isn't enough to motivate you to clean your brushes, think about the fact that your skin is potentially breaking out because of this. Your skin will be healthier and clearer if you take that first step and make sure you clean them regularly.

How do i wash them you ask? Well I always do it at night so they can air dry overnight. I use a baby shampoo or sensitive shampoo and place some in the palm of my hand. Then I gently work it into a lather with the brush and you will see the shampoo turn the colour of the eye shadow, blush or powder you use. You may need to reapeat this step a few times if really dirty. I then rinse under VERY hot water and then gently squeeze out. Tap it against your hand to shake out the bristles.

Then I lay a handtowel out and make sure one side is elevated and place the brushes facing down on an angle. This step is critical as it allows any extra water to run out onto the towel and prevents it from re-settling into the brush. Also, if the water settles into the brush it can actually wreck it by loosening the glue taht attatches the handle to it.

So, I hope you are grossed out by this enough to want to clean your brushes and keep your skin looking healthy and fresh! Why? In the words of Loreal - because your worth it! hehehehe :)

Twinkle Twinkle Playdough

Not so long ago i was doing a craft with some glitter and had a little bit left over. I couldn't imagine being able to fit it back into that tiny container, so it just sit on the counter overnight. The next morning Josh (3 1/2) and I were making playdough and it occurred to me to throw the glitter in. Why not right? If we had girls in the house, the special playdough no doubt would be called something like princess playdough or fairy sparkle playdough. Howver, Josh nicknamed it twinkle twinkle playdough. We love crafting and playing together and this was a little different which was a conversation piece in our house for some time! You could also add different essential oils or things to make the smell different for a change to the base recipe too.

In case you don't have a playdough recipe:

2 Cups Plain flour
4 tablespoons Cream of Tartar
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup salt
2 cups water
Food colouring

Put salt and water in saucepan and heat till salt is disolved. Add the rest of the dry mix and stir until it 'doughs' together.
I got it out and let it cool for a min or two after that, then kneaded it well.

Chicken Burgers - Mmmmmm!

Tonight for dinner planned to make chicken burgers for dinner and it was such a winner! It fed three adults and a preschooler all from 1 double chicken breast fillet! I made it up as I went, so I will do the best to recall the 'recipe'.

In a food processer I blitzed up 1 double chicken breast, a tablespoon(ish) of each ground cumin, ground corriander and garam masala. Also add 1-2 cloves garlic, a handful of fresh corriander, and 2 slices of bread. Combine in processer and make into rissole patties and fry off and keep in warm oven.

Then melt some butter and combine with garlic. brush onto some bread rolls and put in oven untill crisp. [I used seeded rolls and hollowed out to cut down carbs and make it easier to 'hold' the fillings]. Once the rolls are toasted, place the chicken patty on the roll.

Mix some mayo and sweet chilli sauce and place on top of patty and sprinkle with fresh corriander and serve. YUMMM!!!! I am sure there are variations on this that could change this, but we loved it as a base recipe.

Variation ideas:
* add some chilli, ginger and/or red onion to the chicken mix
* before serving put some thinly sliced carrot and/or cucumber on the bun

EYE CANDY ;)

A part of me (okay okay - a fairly BIG part) just loves it when things are colour codes, symetrical, and ordered just 'so'. I also love entertaining, A LOT! So, when I stumbled across Amy Atlas who designs dessert tables, Ifell in LOVE!!!!
OH my - the detail, the colour combinations, the labels, the desserts, the glass jars and the fact that you could very easily tell if something is out of place by the very order of the arrangements! It definitley was complete eye candy for me (and even though I don't have her budget or staff) she inspires me when I put on an even at my place to pay attention to the details and go that extra mile!

Sorry for all the photos, but i really want you to capture the essence of her variety. WOW!

A 180' Moment

I know that through a lot of conversations of late that many people I talk to are very focused on making intentional decisions to build stronger marriages. In my opinion the best gift you can give your kids is happy parents. So, i found this picture (via fleur ave) and it very simply caught my eye due to its simplicity and its meaning. If you can't read the fine print it says:

How to build a lasting relationship:
1. Cut on the dotted line
2. Rotate 180'.

Be inspired for your own "180' moment" this week ;)
XXOO

Product Review : Cooks Pocketbook Companion

I recieved a book for my birthday from my darling brothers that just is nothing like I have ever seen before! It is a cookbook with a difference thats for sure.
It makes a great gift for someone that loves cooking and food (Male or Female). It baisically is tonnes of bite sized bit about everything and anything to do with food!
It covers (in tiny snippets) interesting facts about food, history of foods and interesting people that influenced the world of food in some way, how food has changed over the years and SOOO much more.



Some facts include :
* Largest bunch of bananas was grown in Canary Islands, 2001.
* The cocoa tree was so valuable that the seeds were used as currency. A slave cost around 100 cocoa beans, and the services of a 'public woman' cost 10 cocoa beans - the same as a rabbit.
* Do not pass food from one chopstick to chopstick; this is only done with the bones of the creamated body at funerals.
* Geumatophobia = a fear of taste
* For evert dollar that the World health Organisation spends on trying to improve the diets of people across the globe, approx US$500 is spent by the food industry worldwide on promoting processed foods.

Noo Designs!

I found this group on facebook, but I just love the simple and cute baby clothes that they come up with....the kind of outfits that just make you say "AWWWWWW"!!!! Check out their website for full gallery and information. Just Gorgeous :)

Displaying Children's Art

I am sure I am not the only parent that ends up with so many origional, one off art-works from the kids! So i have started filing them in display folders labelling the dates/ and any notes on them so they pack away nicley. However I do enjoy showing some of it off, but being a modern neat freak, the idea of endless scrap paper with a mish mash of designs covering EVERY wall makes me cringe a little. Then I cam across this genious idea from Sarah Jane's blog entitled "making an art gallery".
What a great idea!!! She did some finger painting art and then bought a few ikea frames and created an art gallery to display it with a difference.

There are two different ways you could do this that I see:
1. You could cut out the shape/ animal/ design from the dry painting and glue it on backing board.
2. Go to a framing or scrapbooking type place and get them to di-cut the shape into the monuting board and place over the full painting giving similar effect.

Either way - I love the unique and classy way she found to store and showcase some special paintings. Definitley trying this one!

Amazing Kids Bedrooms

Another wonderful snippet of interior design inspiration from Design Dazzle. Check out some of these beds and bedroom designs....just so precious! What kid wouldnt love a built in bed or a sippery side from their bed :)

Piklets with a difference

I can't take credit for this idea (thanks Gourmet Mom on-the-Go) but i just loved doing this with my 3 1/2 year old son. We made pikets and then seperated a little of the mixture and coloured it. Then inject some into a regular medicine syringe and design away. The bog above had smiley faces, but the sky is the limit. You can try doing letters, shapes etc..... I did find that thickening the mixture a little hepled to stop design 'bleeding'. Take care flipping them and cooking them on a lower heat for a little longer seemed to work for us. Weren't quite as "perfect" as hers, but we had a BLAST for the afternoon anyway ;)

My favourite birthday things ;)

As it is my birthday today I thought I would share some of my favourite things that I just love and some of the pressies I got. I appologise for the terrible lighting on some of these - taken from my phone ;)

My eldest son shouted me a coffee and babycinno at our dinig table - sooooo cute!!!!


I took a trip down memory lane with some DVD's of Lucille Ball's show. I used to love her as a kid and watched I Love Lucy religiously. SOOOO funny and such good clean slapstick humour - PURE GOLD!!!!

What my hubby got me - a pink Guess wallet...LOVE it!!!!

My pink birthday flowers (sensing a colour here - lol)!!!!

Latin Dancing lessons and a dinner out was planned for last night - wooohooo!!!! Postponed till next week when hubbys back is better! Can't wait for that!!!!

Olive Oil - not just for the kitchen!

One of my latest tricks has been to swap my make up remover for olive oil. It has saved me so much money first of all - since we always buy the big tins of oil when on special. All i do is decant some into an airtight container and keep it in the bathroom. Tip some onto a cotton pad and remove eye makeup. Then pour some into palm of your hand, rub together to emulsify and then rub into skin. Wash off with normal face wash or warm facewasher.