Breakfast for champions or hardworking Mum’s. Tomato, mushroom & corn fry up.

Today is day one of my healthy new life. You are going to find that there is going to be a lot of healthier recipes here on the blog. Don’t worry though, I will still be treating myself to sweet treats every now & then so you will still find some yummy indulgent food here too. If you want to follow me on my new healthy lifestyle (and hopefully a lot of weight loss) you can follow the journey at Living Sweet & Simple. I will be sharing the recipes here though. Today I kicked off the new healthy life with a beautiful breakfast.

I prepared this on the weekend & then this morning I just had to reheat in the microwave, cook some wholemeal toast & eat. When I was doing the fruit & veg shopping on Friday, I found a bargain at my local fruit & veg shop when I spotted a box of tomatoes for $4.99. That’s right! A whole box that would normally have been the price of 1 kilo. A lot of this weeks recipes will involve tomatoes if you didn’t just guess that. I used to make this breakfast when I was a gym junkie. Yes, hard to believe but I used to get up every morning & go to the gym for at least an hour. I found that this breakfast was filling & kept me full of energy a lot longer than breakfast cereals. It is seriously easy to make & if you make a huge batch then you will have your breakfast organised for weeks!

In a big saucepan, throw in tomatoes, mushrooms & drained tin corn with a generous amount of olive oil.

Cook on medium high, uncovered for around 10 minutes. I like to cook it until it starts to look a bit like a chunky sauce. Then increase the heat to high for around 5 minutes or until it starts to thicken. If you are making it in advance for breakfast, freeze in 250ml containers (freezer safe & microwave safe).

When you want a quick & nutritious breakfast that takes as long as cooking toast, pop the lid off a container & reheat while your toast is cooking (follow your microwave instructions from the manufacturer)

This is delicious!

I like to eat breakfast after the kids have gone to school so this morning I had an apple & a cup of warm water with fresh lemon squeezed in when I got up this morning to keep me going.

What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Sunday Snapshots- kids in the kitchen

On Sundays, I like to let the girls take over the kitchen. Mr P had left for work early this morning so it was the perfect time to make a mess! Today was cupcake day. The girls love watching Cupcake Wars, Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes….you name it. If there is a cake making show, they watch it! Ok, I must admit, I too love a good cake making show. Today they went with Chocolate fudge cupcakes with chocolate butter cream icing. There was a few gel icing pens in the cupboard so they put them to good use. There was also some fondant so Kiara got a little extra creative.

We have a Martha Stewart in the making!

This is when I like to close my eyes & just let the mess happen!

Do you let your kids loose in the kitchen? I love to see what they can create.

Nice wheels!

I wasn’t going to share this story, it was one of the moments that you just feel so embarrassed. But, I have been told that I have to! Fellow bloggers told me that I have to. Thanks ladies!
We had a bloggers group the other day. Some of my most fave bloggers were going to be there. Finding something to wear to a bloggers group is hard for me. I like to dress up but I don’t want to be “too dressed up”. So I went with the standard dark blue jeans, cute t-shirt & a cardigan. I thought I was looking pretty cool. The t-shirt was pretty new, I had only worn it once before.
So, off I go. I had to stop & get a packet of mints on the way because the last thing you want when sitting at a table with a group of awesome women is to have stinky breath. I headed into the service station & as I got to the counter the guy serving said, “Nice wheels.” At first I thought he was talking about my car. I get a lot of people tell me they like my car. But no. I followed his eyes.

They were looking down here……







Yes, thank you Ripcurl for strategically putting the wheels of this bike on my breasts!
Now, I have heard breasts called many things…..jugs, rack, hooters but I have never heard them called wheels before!
As you can imagine, I turned red. Said thanks, paid for my mints & hightailed it out of there!  When I got to the bloggers meeting, I thought I would lighten the mood & tell them what happened. It lightened the mood alright! I mean, if you can’t laugh at yourself then life would be pretty boring! I have strange & funny things like this happen to me all the time. I often get told that I should write a book, well I write a blog so I am now going to start sharing the insanely random things that happen to me. If you don’t believe that randomly funny things happen to me all the time, then check out what I found today at my local fruit & veg shop…..







Yes, the jar of pickled onions reads, “Bum Hummers, 1,000 farts in a jar.”
I kid you not. Then, would you believe I saw something else? Well I did!






This label reads, “Chilli Willie Pepper Sauces. Smack my arse & call me Cindy.”
Obviously Cindy must be pretty hot!

Ahhh, just another random day in my life!
What strange label, t-shirt or sign have you seen that made you smile for the rest of the day?

Dancing in the rain

{free printable found here}

Here in Queensland, it is raining.

Considering that I live in the state that has been given the title of the “Sunshine State”, it is not something we can get used to too easily.

But I have learned to think about the good things that come with the rain.

My flowers & vegies are booming.

We get to spend more time watching movies together.

My girls pull out the sketchbooks & draw until they can draw no more.

The lawn is so green & lush.

And I can use the rain as an excuse to go a little crazy!

And who doesn’t love the chance to wear a

Fabulous & funky raincoat!!

Oh, & gumboots!

Do you let your kids get out & play in the rain? Isn’t that part of the fun thing about being a kid?

Easy to make camera strap cover and a DIY camera bag tutorial

Ok, so I love my new DSLR camera, I really do. But the standard neck strap that comes with it is just not comfy at all.

So I made a padded cover for the strap!

This will make Mr P very happy. Ok, maybe he won’t be too keen on the colour but he will be happy that it will actually be around my neck more often! As soon as I pick it up, he straight away says, “Put it around your neck.” He has a fear that I am going to drop it. Ok, so it may be the most expensive present he has ever brought but he needs to let go & trust that I am totally in love with it.

{hear that Mr P?}

The strap cover that I made is just like a long tube that is lined with polar fleece & fits snuggly over the strap.

Now, I think I need to make a couple more. All different colours of course!

Nothing about DSLR camera’s are pretty at all. Even really cute & fashionable bags are hard to find. I have found these super cute ones from Jo Totes in the USA.

But as Mr P just spent so much on a new camera, I think I will have to stick with the unattractive one that I have or follow this tutorial that I found on how to DIY your own camera purse

Vanilla & lace Blog spot

The tutorial is straight forward & very do-able.

I have also found links to several different camera strap cover tutorials. Click on the pictures to take you there.

Wordless Wednesday- a day by the sea

Linking up for wordless Wednesday @

My Little Drummer Boys

Twinkle in the Eye

Crochet, my new toy!

If you have been following along on the Facebook page, I have been trying to learn how to crochet. The reason why I have been wanting to learn is that I have always wanted to have a fancy tablecloth with crochet around the edges for high tea!

Like this one!

I now have a new toy to give it a go!

The lovely Jessica from Sharp Crochet Hook sent me this awesome crochet hook that makes edging simple & easy.

There are so many easy & awesome patterns on the site that are all on my to do list.

When you buy the hook, you also get this fab little pattern book.

{click here for ordering details}

Awwww, I wish I knew how to crochet when I had my babies!

Who knew that you could also crochet through paper!

This would look so pretty on a high tea invitation, a birthday card or Mothers day card.

Ok, wish me luck!

Look what I made, shabby chic lights!

This is one of the projects that I have seen done so many times in the blogosphere & I have been wanting to do.

Now I have done it & I want to make a whole heap more!

It is a string of battery operated LED lights, some plastic disposable cups, fabric scarps, trim, double sided tape & glue.

All I did was cut 1 cup open so that I had a template like this.

I used a string of 20 lights so I needed 20 cups. I then made 20 covers out of scrap fabric using the template that I made from the plastic cup.

I then put a strip of double sided tape along each cup like this…

This was used to hold the fabric in place as I covered each cup.

Roll the fabric around the cup & glue it securely. If you are going to use hot glue, be careful not to melt the plastic cup.

{yes, I found that out the hard way!}

I then glued the trims on to the opening end of the cups.

Poked a hole through the bottom of the cup & poked the LED lights through.

And there you have it! One unique set of shabby chic lights!

My new camera. I think I am in love!

Mr P had the day off on Friday. He took Georgia for a haircut then went shopping…….for a new camera for me!

This is my new Canon 1100D Digital SLR Camera.

I have dreamt of an SLR camera. It has been on my wish list for as long as I can remember. It came with a twin lens kit so twice the fun! We spent the whole weekend taking photo’s.

One thing that has been on my “must take photo wish list” has been to get pics of the kids in front of a graffiti wall. When your kids get older, you need to start thinking of new ways to take pics of them that they are keen on doing too.

After much driving around industrial areas, we found this…….

Kiara ran up to the wall & bounced off it!

{she is pretty cool like that!}

Georgia is always so full of energy so this jump in the air pic was perfect for her!

This is the 2 of them just being cool!

Georgia just “hanging” around!

Sometimes you even have to get Dad t come along for that little extra boost!

{thanks Mr P!}

Nothing was safe this weekend. If it moved, we took a photo.

If it looked awesome, we took a photo.

Even if it didn’t move, we took a photo of it!

I have to say, I think I am in love with my new camera!

P.S. Don't ask me where the graffiti wall is, it's my little secret!