Introductions

Let me introduce you to todays inspiration...



Available from CQS

My Ruffler, coz it's fun to say and I LOVE how easy, neat and even ruffles can be...

  

As I wandered the streets today I had a great idea for a skirt, so I rushed back to CQS and grabbed some 'inspiration' and headed home. With only a foggy idea in my head, but impatience eating away at me I started cutting.

 

The skirt I had in mind was slightly different to a one that I have successfully made before but I thought it would be just as easy... I thought wrong.

My skirt somehow turned into a shirt

and although I am happy with this, I am still dreaming of my skirt.

Maybe next time... :-)

Dinner by Dad

Dad was very concerned when I started snapping pictures of his dinner in progress... worried that I would claim all the credit on my blog that is!

Rest assured, I told him, that full credit would be given to him and yes it was for my blog which will soon become my online recipe book, once it holds all my our adaptions.

The first few years were easy, basic veg mashed up with some gravy, tomato sauce or white sauce (soy of course). Now comes the trickier years where I still struggle. Dad, who has been allergic to dairy his whole life is the King Pin here.

Bored with what we always seem to have we headed to the supermarket in search of something new and yummy...

Those parents who have children with allergies will know what I'm talking about when I say that this is not an easy task. It means reading the ingredients label on everything you pick up. As we live in a small country town our supermarket choices are limited and as such it can take up to an hour if we want to have a good search... but when we are on holidays, Oh the hours we can spend. It is so much fun going to the big supermarkets with their dairy free alternatives and just basic things such as biscuits. Have you ever looked at your ingredients in your biscuits? I have and here in our small town there are less than 4 packets that do not contain milk and or egg on our supermarket shelves. Next year, when I have finished work and am being a 'stay home Mum' I will relish in making a variety of homemade biscuits for my family.

Back to the shopping...

So we ended up grabbing a Korma Curry paste, no milk products but questionable if the little man, with tomato (or anything red it seems) allergies would react. Just to be safe we made a substitute just for him.

Korma Curry with Little Man's substitutions

Dad cooked off the onion and chicken, then removed enough for Little Mans dinner and put it in a seperate pot. To this he added mustard (seeded would've been nice but we were out, so he just used honey mustard), coconut cream and some cornflour.

Little Man's

For the rest of the family he followed the instructions but rather than add the cream, he added coconut milk instead.


Mmmm Yum

Cooking Rice 'old school' since our cooker kicked it tonight!

And wha-lah a  non-dairy, tomato/red free yummy dinner!!!

Ele-FUN-t

With a lounge room cleared of toys and enough room to swing, well, a net... 

we brought out the Elephant yesterday!

Received with thanks...

Last weekend a Friend dropped me off a few metres of a fantastic satin fabric. The boys were in need of some new bed time boxers so this weekend I set about whipping up some newbies.

This fabric was a HUGE hit! Sharks

"Are you finished yet?"

"Not yet..."

All Done and 2 very happy little boys.

... and 3 more for a special friend. Thanks so much S. x

And yet after making 5 pairs of boxers I still have an abundance of satin...

any ideas?

Four in the frame

With Christmas cards coming my MIL had asked me to get her a picture of all of us... hmmmm not too difficult I'll look through the millions of photos we've taken over the last few months. However it would appear out of all the photos that we take we never seem to be all in at once, someone is always hiding behind the lens.

So armed with our waterproof camera, luckily, we headed up to the Muesum to get all four in the frame. There is not too much to place a camera on at the Meuseum except the slimy gross water feature. With the camera delicately balanced on the edge of all that sludge we activated the self timer for the first time.

Even though the boys aren't smiling I smile when I look at the photo. The look of confusment is them trying to figure out why Mum and Dad left the camera over there, and how do they expect to take a picture of us when there's no-one over there?!?!?

Embrace the Camera

The concept behind Embrace the Camera Thursday is SPOT ON. I wish there were more photos of my Mum and Dad from when they were my age. I know how much that my children love these photos NOW, let alone in time to come...

I love you and I love your 'sharky' hair

Graduation day

Today is my big mans last day of the smooth start program. He will graduate today and finsih the school year, ready to come back again next year to start Kindergarten.

He is very proud of his spelling... and so am I.

I love you!!!

Lunchbox Ideas

First rule of a fun lunch box is that stickers ROCK! My boys love to open their lunch box and find out what sticker Mum has put on their lunch today. It is low cost, makes them smile and is worth every cent. I put stickers on their plain jane soy yoghurt containers, use them to attach the seasoning for noodle snacks, hold their lunch bags closed... the list is endless.





Stickers are great for attaching, sealing and causing BIG smiles!



Secondly, think beyond the fancy packaging that you see on the supermarket shelves... recently when I picked up my little man from care I was lucky enough to come at afternoon tea time. It really seems quite silly that it hadn't occured to me sooner but there was a little guy there who was munching down on one of those biscuits and dip packs (all the ones I have found have milk products)...

Seeing the pack without a lid gave me all the inspiration I needed!

Put a scoop of Nuttlex and a scoop of your child's favourite spread into a container and mix it all about.

Add some biscuits

Like I said, simple. Now my boys can sit up just like their friends and shovel the vegemite into their face.



Lunch Punches are fun and make eating an everyday old sandwich into a fun time.

There are so many different lunch punches out there now, it is hard for me, let alone the kids, to decide what they will get in todays lunch box.

Putting all these ideas together has given me Monday's lunch box...

I would LOVE to hear your ideas on lunch boxs. 



The week so far...

... has been CRAZEE! It is that time of year again with less than 2 weeks to go until we put up the Christmas Tree and I start wishing that I had made more homemade decorations to put up.

On Tuesday I got the kit to make this table runner and topper.

On Friday I took the completed tops back to CQS and got the backing and wadding... and another Christmas kit.

On Friday night my boys helped me to place the pieces of our new wall hanging together and I began the appliqué on my machine.

On Saturday I took my completed wall hanging back to CQS again and got the backing and wadding. I have now finished the wall hanging completely and just need to finish Tuesdays project but...

This morning I had another look at all the other projects on my wall hanging pattern and headed off to CQS again with grand intentions of having another Santa hanging

In between all this crafting we have practically lived at the pool and as you can see these boys LOVE the water!

 Are you organised for Christmas this year? Do you wish that you'd have created more too?

Sunday 'choccie' pancakes

It has become a firm tradition in our house that Sunday morning means Pancakes. In the beginning I had always struggled making pancakes that my husband could eat, due to his allergy to all things dairy and eggs. So it was he who began our traditional pancake breakfast using his chef like method of ‘a bitta this’ and ‘a touch of that’. It frustrated me to no end that he couldn’t give me an exact measurement. I tried and tried but mine always came out so rubbery and his were always so fluffy and soft...

After many years of persistence (around about 4 to give a more accurate level of my determination) I have finally mastered the art of Egg free, Dairy Free pancakes! I to have now adopted his method of ‘a bitta this’ but I have taken care to measure out my ingredients just for you. So now in my first Blog ever I would like to share the secrets of my success with you.

Egg and Dairy Free Pancakes

4 Cups of Self Raising Flour

1 Cup of Sugar

1 teaspoon of Baking Powder

5 Cups of Soy milk

Extra trimmings...

Lemon juice and sugar

Chocolate topping and Ice-cream

Fresh fruit and syrup

Put the Flour, Sugar and Baking powder into a large mixing bowl and give it all a good mix around with the whisk.

Then add the 5 Cups of milk and alot of elbow grease with that whisk and you are ready to get cooking.

You will need a generous dollop of margarine ( I use Nuttelex which is a dairy free spread) into the frying pan and then add your mix. Flip over when the bubbles begin to pop! Leave them for another 30 seconds and remove from the pan.


This scrumptious plate is for my Man! And the reason that it is called Sunday CHOCCIE pancakes. Mine is much more reserved.

Decorate with your extra trimmings and dig in!

My tips and tricks

The quantity above provides breakfast pancakes for all four of us and enough leftover for the boys school lunch boxes

Little helpers are great at mixing and pouring in all that milk.

I only ever use my good old banged up frying pan, never my new non stick beauty.

I prefer a metal flipper rather than a plastic one.

I use my mix immediately, the first ones out are always the best and rarely make it to a plate.

Extra trimmings are never optional!!!

Do you have a Sunday tradition that is special to your family?