My how time flies! Dinner cooked by Miss K

This week I am facing the fact that my first born daughter, is preparing to  enter grade 8 (high school). I have filled out forms, booked interview time, received book list & uniform requirements. It is all a little daunting. She is growing to fast! Last night she cooked our dinner. I did not ask but she politely told me to “Get out of the kitchen!”. Now, there is no arguing with a 12 year old who can nearly look you in the eye! She can do it now flat footed, without having to stand on her tippy toes. Those feet are what show me how much she has grown. She had the tiniest feet when she was little. This photo shows an ink print that I did of her feet when she was 4 months old. Not even quite 9cm.


She now has a size 11 ladies foot, which is becoming a problem! It is hard to find shoes in this size so on the weekend we took a trip in town & had to buy her men's sneakers!




She can now even fit her dad’s shoes, steals his socks & is eyeing off his wardrobe! Now Miss K is a self proclaimed tomboy. I have not seen her in a dress for about 6 years! She has a cupboard full of them but feels more comfortable in shorts & jeans. I love that she does not follow the crowd. She knows her own sense of style. High top sneakers & flat caps are her passion in life! The way I go weak at the knees when I see a pair of ruby red stilletto’s is how she feels when she sees the latest release high tops. I may be biased but I think she is the most beautiful tomboy ever!



She is a great sports woman. Miss K recently came fifth at the district Track & Field competition for discus. Her hockey team is heading into the finals in 2 weeks time. On Saturday she scored 2 goals, one of them was the most amazing goal that any of the parents, coaches & umpires had ever witnessed.



She has a passion for cooking, & most nights loves to cook desert.



This photo was taken by Miss G (please excuse the fuzzy!) I was cooking dinner & Miss K was preparing desert.

So, back to dinner last night. This is a meal that has become Miss K’s favourite thing to cook. I think it is a great, easy meal for kids to learn. She has been cooking this since she was about 10years old. So here goes……
Kiara’s pan fried seasoned chicken
3/4 cup of plain flour
1 tablespoon of chicken stock powder, (we use the Massels brand)
1 teaspoon of lemon & herb seasoning (we use the Nando’s brand that you can get from any Nando’s chicken)
3 large chicken breasts

Chop chicken into strips.



In a container, mix flour, chicken stock & herbs together.





Place 5 chicken strips in the container.



Put the lid on tightly & shake until well coated.



Heat olive oil in a fry pan. When the oil is hot, place the chicken strips in the pan.



Cook until golden brown.



Repeat until all chicken is cooked.



Serve with mashed potato & veggies.


Enjoy!

Monday quickie! Mars bar delights!

Yum, yum, yum! 3 words to describe these little pillows of yum! A quick & delicious desert. I had purchased a ravioli maker (ok, maybe I brought 2 different ones!) from aldi a while ago. It comes with the ravioli tray, a pastry brush & rolling pin.

I wanted to have a go at making ravioli but was a little too nervous. I get in these wild & spontaneous food moods, where some of my best creations are born! I just HAD to use the ravioli maker & I wanted some chocolate, so, Mars Bar Ravioli was born! Now, at this stage with me acting like a mad woman in the kitchen & the rest of the family becoming highly sceptical at what I thought was going to be genius, things got a little crazy! I am sure that someone else somewhere has made this before but I have never heard or seen it, it is too good not to have been done! I will not make you listen to a woman who may or may not be suffering from a chocolate kind of crazy any longer. So here goes……….

Some of you may not have a ravioli tray so I will do this recipe for the ravioli tray first & then how you can make it without a tray second.
2 x mars bars (titan bars from aldi are exactly the same & about 1/4 of the price!)
2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
1 x egg
a dash of milk

Printable recipe found here; Mars bar ravioli

Place puff pastry on a rack or bench for 10 minutes to thaw.
Chop mars bar into small pieces.

If you have a ravioli tray, cut one sheet of the puff pastry in half & place one half on top of the lightly greased ravioli tray.


Fill the ravioli holes with the mars bar.



In a small bowl, lightly whisk together 1 egg & a dash of milk. Brush this egg wash on the puff pastry, every where that there is not mars bar, so that it will help the top layer to form a seal. Place the other half of the pastry on top. Cover with glad wrap or the blue sheet of plastic that came under the puff pastry. Using a rolling pin, roll over the top.



The raised edges of the ravioli tray will make the individual squares, Carefully, place them onto a lined baking tray.

If you do not have a ravioli tray, cut one piece of puff pastry into 6 rectangles. Place chopped mars bar on one half of each rectangle, leaving room too seal the pillow.



Brush the egg wash around the mars bar with a pastry brush. Fold over each piece of pastry to form a pillow & fold in the edges to seal. Brush tops with egg wash as well.



Place the mars bar ravioli in a 200 degree preheated oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown & puffed up
.






Serve with a scoop or 2 of ice cream. You may find that you need to eat it with a knife & fork which my chickadees found hilarious! Who eats ice cream with a knife & fork????? We do now!!



Enjoy!

DIY fabric covered buttons

I love buttons! I know, a little strange you may say, but when you see how easy it is to cover a button with any fabric, you too will be addicted!



Now, I buy my button making kits on eBay. I find that buying them from fabric shops can be quite expensive for just a few. I buy them in either lots of 50 or 100. That way, I know I always have them on hand. Make sure that if you buy them that you also get the tool included.



Clockwise, Top part of the tool (blue), fabric circle to cover the button, button top (plain shiny silver), button back (with shank), bottom part of tool (white large circle)

Now, to show you how easy it is…..

Cut a circle of fabric a little bit larger than the button top. Over 1cm bigger than the top of the button.



Place the fabric on top of the bottom part of the tool (white) Put the top of the button, face down, on top of the fabric. Make sure it is all centred.



Place the back of the button on top, making sure that the shank (hook) is facing up & that all of the material is pushed towards the centre.



Put the blue tool (top) on top of the button back & push down until you feel it lock in.



Remove the blue tool, turn over the rest & pop out the button.





You can make these fabulous self covered buttons for any craft or sewing project.



The centre of this fabric flower is a self covered button. The tutorial for this hat embellishment can be found here…… Funky Fedora  
In some blogs for the future, I will be showing other uses for these fabulous buttons. As you can imagine, there is a lot!!!
Enjoy!

Strawberry Parfait

OK, if you are a true Queenslander, you remember going to the big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast.

You only went there for 1 thing, a parfait!! There was nothing that came close to a Big Pineapple Parfait. You could have a Macadamia Parfait (Mr P’s fave), Pineapple Parfait (of course), there was many but my fave was the Strawberry Parfait. I have been craving one for so long. So, I made my own! Now, I waited till everyone else had desert because I really did not want to share! Cruel, I know, but when a woman has a craving (no I am NOT pregnant!) there is no way she will share. Well, I thought I wasn’t going to share, that is until Miss G (the strawberry queen) spotted my Parfait!! She could not  get a spoon quick enough! So I had to share! She matched me spoon for spoon!! Now, there is not a lot of ingredients, only 3 (& a dusting of icing sugar) but there is something about having them all mixed together that makes you weak at the knees with your first mouth full.
OK, OK!! I know I am going on but when you taste it, you will know what I mean! So here goes!
1 punnet of fresh strawberries
Ice cream
Whipped cream

Printable recipe here ; Strawberry Parfait

Now, if you are watching your weight, just make sure to use light ice cream & cream.
In a large glass, spoon a layer of ice cream in the bottom.

Cover the ice cream with chopped strawberries.


Repeat until the glass is filled. Top with fresh whipped cream.

Dust with a light sprinkling of icing sugar & serve!
Oooooooh, soooooooo yummmmy!!!

Enjoy!!

Home made Taco seasoning. Cheaper, better for you & tastier!

In our household, we LOVE taco night. We have taco’s at least once a week. It is a quick, simple meal that pleases even the fussiest member of our household. Everyone gets to make their own so there is no “I don’t want that”, “I don’t like that”. I put all the toppings into individual bowls & it is a help yourself taco bar. One thing that I do have to cater for is the fact that the chickadees do not like taco seasoning. That’s fine, plain brown mince for them. Mr P & I however LOVE taco seasoning. A full packet is a little too much for 2 people or even one when Mr P is on a road trip. The packet seasoning mix is also full of preservatives. After much researching & trial & error, I think (well I know!) I have found the perfect taco seasoning. There is no preservatives & it makes enough to keep you in good supply for months! Just make sure to keep it in an airtight jar or container.
So here goes….
1 tablespoon of chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1  1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 tablespoon of cornflour

Mix all of the above ingredients & store in an airtight jar.
3 tablespoons of this mix is the equivalent to 1 packet of store brought taco seasoning.
Brown the mince. Combine 3 tablespoons of the mix with 3/4 cup of water & add to the browned mince. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes or until thickened.

Enjoy!

Sharing is caring!

Today I am looking after my youngest who is home from school sick so I thought I would just do some sharing with you today. I came across this great site a while ago that has every free printable you could want! Check out Tip Junkie

Princess Party Pintable's

Beach Party Pintable's

Printable gifts

Recipe Cards

Budget Organiser

You really should get over to Tip Junkie & have a look! This is just a small amount of the free printable’s that are there.

Enjoy!

Monday quickie, Parmesan Croutons

 
I love salads! I could eat a salad with every meal! Even though it is the middle of winter, I still love a salad & lamb chop for dinner. One of my favourite  things to have with my salad is croutons. I especially like Parmesan Cheese Croutons. All my favourite things rolled into one…..bread, olive oil & cheese!! It is such a great way to use the end of a loaf of bread that would normally get thrown out or forgotten. You make croutons with any type of bread….. white bread, brown bread, sour dough bread….what ever you have on hand. Adding croutons is a great way to bulk out a salad & make it a little more filling.  Tonight we are having Caesar Salad so I thought I would share with you this recipe, so here goes…….

Ingredients
Half a loaf of bread
Olive oil
Packet Parmesan cheese
 
 
Pre heat oven to 130 degrees
Cut bread into bite size pieces

Place on a lined baking tray
Drizzle with olive oil

Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese over the top
 
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown

Simple, easy & cheap!
Enjoy, I know I will!!!