Simple rules of the house, free printable

I found this fantastic free printable from

imom.com

It is fantastic!

I think they are sweet & simple rules for any house.

I think I need to print one out & hang one in every room & on every door!

Now, if I can just get the kids to read it!

Maybe I should tape a lolly to them so they will at least know where they are!

Cheese and bacon cob loaf dip

Today I am sharing my “go to” entertaining recipe. I made this on the weekend for Mr P’s birthday because it is one of his favourite foods. We always have this whenever we have friends over or if we are asked to bring something to someone else's place. It is quick & easy. Everyone loves it.

A lot of dip recipes work well with cob loaves. My fave is a spinach dip which I will share another day.

Cheese & bacon cob loaf dip

1 cob loaf

250g diced bacon

250g grated cheese of your choice (I just used light tasty for this)

300ml of light sour cream

250g of cream cheese

Cut off the top of the cob loaf (like a lid).

Pull out all of the bread to make a bowl. Just be careful not to pull too much out or you dip will leak.

Keep the bread that you have pulled out as you will need that later.

Heat a little oil in a large saucepan & fry the diced bacon.

When the bacon is cooked, remove the pan from the heat & put in all the other ingredients.

Stir well until all combined.

Spoon the cheese & bacon mix into the cob loaf.

Place the “lid back on top & place on a baking tray. Put all of the leftover bread on the tray as well.

I of course, cooked mine in the Thermo oven, (not to be confused my the thermomix)

180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

{oven temps & times may vary}

Serve in a large round serving bowl with the extra bread around the outside for dipping.

To eat, break off pieces of the “bowl” (the cob loaf) and use the pieces to dip into the cheese & bacon dip. At the end there is no cob loaf & no dip left!

I know that there is so many uses for this type of recipe. You can do a chilli in the middle & use the bread to dip in, your fave dip can be used & I have even done small ones with pumpkin soup. I will be sharing a lot more recipes for cob loaves in the near future.

Things I am loving

{this is not a sponsored blog, It is just my fave products I want to share with you all}

I am in love with

{510 Euphoria, 832 Bonzai, 260 Funtime Fuschia, 053 Apricot Punch, 740 Clear}

There is something fantastic about having beautiful nails.

I am in love with

Rimmel London Nail Polish

I mean, they must have been making a nail polish just for me when they came up with the

60 Seconds Nail Polish

It is perfect for the woman who does not have time to go & get her nails done at a salon. It has an extra wide brush so it takes less time to paint & dries in 60 seconds.

Marvellous!!

It also means that I can change the colours of my nails every day!

It is also perfect for painting little girls nails as it dries so fast that they can't smudge it or get it on the furniture! I mean, what little girl {& big girls!} doesn't love to have their nails painted!

My Favourite nail polish in the

I Lasting Finish

is the 053 Apricot Punch

Not only does is it the most awesome colour but when it dries, it has a fabulous fruity scent!!

YES!!

It smells delicious!

One truly amazing thing about

Rimmel London

is that I can buy it from my local chemist, supermarket or even when I am clothes shopping at one of the major retail store (you know them!).

Did I mention that it is VERY reasonable priced? Well, it is!

What is your fave colour nail polish?

More DIY phone cover inserts, I am loving these!

Last week, I did a post called, Personalise your phone every day of the week.

I have made some new inserts!

These fab inserts were made using

 

 

 

Papermania Summer Bloom by Stephanie Dyment

I love the shabby chic look of these papers.

If you missed the tutorial on how to make these

phone cover inserts

click here

Sunday at the Markets with my Georgie Girl

Today, my Georgie girl & I headed off to the markets.

I love to spend time with her at the markets. She loves the same things as I do & gets just as excited as I do with fabulous finds.

To find out more about my market day buys, head on over to Instagram to follow me.

jos_p is my name over there.

What is your fave market to visit on the weekend?

Ours is the

Petrie Country Markets

North of Brisbane.

Pork belly. Simple and easy in the thermo oven.

If you have been wondering how I am going on the

Challenge to myself, 30 days without an oven,

I am sill going & it has been over 6 weeks!

I have become addicted to using my Lumina my thermo oven from Aldi.

I have discovered, after one of my fabulous blog followers told me her Dad makes the best pork crackle in his, that the Thermo oven, makes the best pork belly!

It is super quick too!

All you need is

Pork Belly

{this Aldi one came scored already}

sea salt, olive oil &

a thermo oven.

You can do this in a normal oven of course, you may need to adjust the cooking times though.

Wash & pat dry the pork belly with paper towels.

If it isn’t already, score the skin about 5mm down in diagonal stipes around 1cm apart.

Rub the skin with a liberal amount of olive oil.

Give it a good covering of sea salt & rub it in again.

Place on a high rack in the thermo oven for 20 minutes on 240 degrees Celsius.

When it is all nice & crisp on top, turn the heat down to 170 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

Cut into strips & serve.

This is the most perfect pork belly I have ever tasted!

No need to worry about extra ingredients, the pork belly is simply yummy.

It is so simple & easy.

Personalise your phone, everyday of the week! Phone cover DIY

Ok, so I like to have everything matching. My shoes must match my bag which matches my jewellery which of course matches my clothes. My phone however has let my down for quite sometime. Not any more! I thought about it & came up with a quick & easy way to match my phone to my outfit!

Scrapbooking paper! I brought a plain, clear silicon case for my phone & cut up some of my scrapbooking paper that I have a mountain of & there you have it!

Once you have your paper cut to size, just trace the phone, then mark out any camera or flash holes with a pen.

Take the paper back out of the cover & use a Stanley knife to cut out the holes.

Put the paper back in, then your phone & you are all set to go!

Now I can change my phone cover everyday of the week!

I think it would look awesome with a photo of the girls in there too!

I have got you thinking now, haven’t I?

Pondering the big questions in life, well Georgia is.

image source                     image source

Oranges & lemons.

Pretty straightforward, right?

How does an 11 year old find them straightforward? They don’t. Oranges & lemons can be rather confusing.

{insert wavy flashback music}

This was the question that she wanted answers for.

“Mum, why is it that oranges are called oranges because they are orange but lemons are not called yellow?”

{this is her thinking face!}

Now please tell me how to answer that one!

{yes, I just laughed cause I think it is a pretty good question}

A challenge from one of my fabulous readers and free handbag tutorials!

The other day, I received a message on the

Sew, cook, laugh & live Facebook page

from one of my blog followers & one of my dear friends, Mel (thanks Mel!)

• • Hi Jos, I have a little challenge for you....I'm looking for some simple fashion accessories that are more practical for mums of toddlers, I have a few scarves etc but I find Moni pulls on them a lot and invariably I end up stuffing it into my bag so I don't lose it, I have stopped wearing jewellery and accessories because they are often not practical when wrestling with a tantrum throwing whirlwind, so I'm wondering if you might be able to come up with some ideas to help me, i thought it might be an interesting project for the blog too, I'm sure I'm not the only mum with this problem.

    Regards

    Mel

 

Thanks for the message Mel! Do you know that up until that point, I did not even know that someone could message my blog Facebook page!

When my girls were little, my number one accessory was a fabulous handmade handbag. Seriously, do you know how many women check out other women's handbags? You can make your own & know that you will be the only person with that bag because the pattern & fabric choice is a reflection of your personality.

Here is a few handbag tutorials that I already have on the blog.

Bias binding handbags for beginners

The best bag you will ever have

{this one is also a perfect nappy bag, all day bag, you name it bag}

I have also come across a fabulous ongoing linky that is happening at

Threading your way

Bags & totes link up

There is some fabulous bag tutorials there. I am going to make a few myself.

Do you also know that you can just embellish a bag? These bags are basically just a lined tote bag & I sewed on a few rows of ruffles to the front.

Whenever I use a handmade handbag for the day, I get so many compliments! Think about it, how often do you have handbag envy? 

I hope that has given you some ideas Mel & anyone else who is wondering how to look fashionable.