Fingerless Mittens

It's almost winter and so that puts me in the mood for knitting! So i whipped up these cute fingerless handwarmers. I bought this yarn for $1 a ball at LifeLine. It's so gorgeous. 100% Australian wool too. Love the colour! And i have 3 more balls of it left.

I got the pattern here. Now i just need the right buttons to put on as a feature. :)

Baby Shirts

So i'm always trying to find ways of saving money. I also love baby clothes AND sewing. I found a great way to combine all of these. Courtesy of this blog. The 90 minute shirt! Why didn't I think of that?! I raided my drawers for unwanted t-shirts and i scoured the op-shops.

This is what i came up with -

The cutest rock star off all time.

One of my new favourite craft blogs is U Create. LOVE it. I found a cute tutorial for headbands. I am always on the lookout for grown up girly things since i haven't be blessed with baby girls as yet. So i was super exited to find something that I could wear!

The tutorial is here and this is my results -

Hot Cross Buns!

Ahhhhhhhh i love hearing that song played on the recorder. It just reminds me of my childhood. :) Hot Cross Buns are just the perfect comfort food don't you think? Last night was our Easter FHE lesson so i figured i'd make them for the treat. We had the lesson complete with paper cut outs about how Jesus died and was placed in the tomb and on the 3rd day he was resurrected. Then we discussed the symbols of Easter. And how we eat Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday because they have the cross on them that symbolises the crucifixion. Then we, well Graham and I ate a hot cross bun that i made from scratch in my breadmaker. Ethan was opposed to homemade ones for some reason. *rolls eyes* I have to say they were delishious! So good. Here's the recipe -

In your breakmaker place these ingredients in this order -

1 egg
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
60g brown sugar ( i'm wondering if i can replace this with honey...something to experiment with next time)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
520g whole wheat plain flour
2.5 teaspoons dry yeast
310ml warm water

Select your dough cycle. 15 minutes into the cycle add 3/4 cup mixed dried fruit or just sultanas if you don't like fruit peel.

At the end of your dough cycle it will be REALLY puffy. Mine was almost spilling over. lol Take it out and gently kneed on a floured surface for a couple of minutes. Just until it's not sticky. Divide into balls however big you want them and place them on a greased tray. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl mix together -

80g plain flour
80ml water
1 teaspoon sugar

Put into a piping bag and pipe on the crosses on top of your buns.

Put them in a preheated 180C oven and cook for 25 minutes. When they come out of the oven you can put a glaze on them or leave them.

Glaze -
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon gelatin

Combine and heat on Medium for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. Brush over hot buns.

I didn't do the glaze because i was lazy.

Serve your buns cut in half and spread with real butter. *drool* try not to eat them all at once.

Fondant Cake

My second fondant cake! I was asked to make a cake for the Relief Society Birthday Dinner. The theme was "If friends were flowers, i'd pick you" I thought straight away that i'd use fondant since i've been wanting to experiment with it more. I googled cake photos and tutorials and figured i could make roses. Looked easy enough. I decided to make the Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake but in a round tin. Unfortunately that didn't work out. For some reason the bottom of the cake didn't cook. So it was back to the old faithful recipe that i've been using for years for birthday cakes - Chocolate Fudge Cake. It's the yummiest chocolate cake ever! I made the marshmellow fondant and put a little passionfruit flavouring in it. It's so yum. I have some left over which i may or may not get to eat. My kids like it too! I found a tutorial for fondant flowers and the woman doing it suggested putting bits of toilet paper in mini muffin tins. I did paper towel though in case you were wondering. I didn't think toilet paper was all that hygenic since the toilet paper is stored BESIDE the toilet and my boys can't aim that well all the time.
Anyways it worked so well at propping up the flowers while they dried. Here's a pic -

I made a vanilla buttercream to put between the layers of cake (2 layers) and over the entire cake so that the fondant had something to stick too. And then i layed the main pink fondant over, put the flowers on and voila! oh and i did add some sheer purple ribbon around the bottom.

And it was yum. super yum!

Recent Projects

Crocheted Necklace - you can find the pattern here. I think it's really cute! And it's so easy.

Memory Wire Bracelet
Earrings - the little blue beads match the ones on the bracelet - i LOVE drop earrings.

Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding

My dish arrived!!! It came yesterday and i was so excited. I am seriously impressed and in love with the dish. It's HUGE. Alot bigger then i was expecting. I'm going to have some fun cooking in it! It would be really good for a large family or for a potluck dinner.

The recipe had great potential but it didn't turn out as good as i'd hoped. But before i turn you all off lets get going with it and see what we can do to improve it.

Read the recipe here - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/3729/chocolate+hot+cross+bun+and+butter+pudding

The dish - as you can see it fits right across my stovetop!

The ingredients-6 chocolate hot cross buns. (I used regular fruit ones. And i used 8 instead of 6).

-30g unsalted butter

- 125g roughly chopped chocolate. (I used Club 70% cocoa. The darker the better in my opinion.)

- 1 vanilla bean. (I used a 1/2 teaspoon of imitation vanilla.)

- 600ml thin cream

- 600ml thickened cream

- zest of 1 orange. (I used a seville orange)

- 4 eggs

- 170g castor sugar

- 1/4 cup brandy(optional) I used orange juice because i don't consume alcohol.

First up cut your hot cross buns in half and butter one side. Place them in the dish.

Next scatter over roughly chopped chocolate. Taste it just in case the chocolate is poisoned.

Replace the lids.
Next start making the custard. In a bowl put your eggs, sugar and juice.

Mix until just combined.

On the stove in a saucepan put your cream and orange zest. Heat slowly on low heat until it just starts to simmer.

Remove from heat and add the egg mixture. Stir well.

Pour in and around your hot cross buns. mmmmmmm. Then leave them for 30minutes so that they can soak up the custard a bit.

Preheat your oven to 170C.

Place your buns in a large roaster or something else big enough. Fill half way up with boiling water. If you've ever made baked custard then you know what i'm talking about.

Bake for 45 minutes.....or an hour....or however long it takes to cook that custard. Recipe says 45minutes...i found i cooked mine for an hour and it STILL wasn't cooked.

Finshed product! Looks yum huh? It IS yum but the custard is so 'creamy' that it made me feel ill. The actual hot cross bun was divine though. I am not sure why the custard didn't set. I used the exact quantities for the custard. Some was set around the actual buns and a little on top but underneath was just runny like cream. And there was a heap of custard. Maybe it was too much? Maybe half the custard would be better. I'd like to try and make a healthier version of this so that it can be eaten and enjoyed for Easter. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!!!

Recipe and product Review

I love cooking. I love trying new recipes and making people happy with food. I guess you could say that I ‘love’ with food. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s not so good. Not so good for my waistline…or lack thereof. Nevertheless I am excited for Easter. One of the best parts of Easter is Hot Cross Buns. That and the massive amounts of chocolate I am ‘allowed’ to consume because hey, it’s EASTER! And whoever invented chocolate hot cross buns should be given some sort of award.

Thanks to the awesome people at Buyster I get to preview a little something for the kitchen. They don’t just sell kitchen stuff however they sell all sorts of things – Furniture, Home Decor, RUGS! I didn’t even know you could buy rugs online. But you can! Right here - http://www.buysterrugs.com.au

What I am going to be doing is reviewing a baking dish. See it here. Looks awesome. And the recipe I will be attempting is Chocolate Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding. You’ll get to see me make this step by step and hopefully it will taste good! Not that you will be able to taste it. But I’ll tell you all about it. ;) And then maybe you can make one too.

Stay tuned!!

I've got a shop!

www.madeit.com.au/justjewell

Jam!

I love homemade jam. I did plum and apricot.

Well Christmas is over for another year. I love Christmas but i'm always so glad that it's over. I cooked a huge turkey this year and we still have leftovers that we will eat for the next week no doubt. I've already gained 2kgs in the last 2 days. It's a good thing we bought a Wii Fit for Christmas. And speaking of which - who's idea was it? Ethan gets frustrated that he isn't good at the games even though it's the first time he's ever played them and then there is much weeping, wailing and nashing of teeth. I'm very ready to take the stupid game back to the shop! Although it IS pretty fun. :)

And as the year comes to a close i can't help but be pleased with some of my accomplishments this year. If you can call them that. I had 3 things i wanted to do this year - 1. have my baby naturally and without drugs, 2. Get my licence, 3. Get my citizenship. 3 from 3 ain't bad ;) I don't have any goals for next year yet. I need to make some.

It's probably a good thing Heavenly Father has a sense of humour. Nicholas seems a little self absorbed. His prayer tonight went something like this....

(me helping): Dear Heavenly Father
Nic: Heo Faza
me: Thank thee for this day
Nic: no Nicky do it
me: ok (pause)
Nic: Nicky, Nicky, Nicky
me: *silent laughter*
Nic: Nicky, Nicky, Nicky
me: *not so silent laughter*
me: *composing myself*
me: Please bless all the Nicky's
Nic: Nicky, Nicky, Nicky
me: in the name of Jesus Christ Amen
Nic: AMEN!

Amen indeed.

Success!



I have successfully made yoghurt!!! wooooo!! Ok so i wasn't putting enough water in the canister but i finally got it figured out and made some delish strawberry yoghurt.


I've also redecorated my lame-o kitchen. New curtains and decor. I found that awesome green vase for $9 at Lifeline. It was MADE for my kitchen.

Before -

After -

Still not quite finished. I need to put this pic in a frame and hang it up above the power plugs there on the left.

Feeling Crafty

I'm not sure if it's motivated by wanting to save money or just sheer boredom. The first thing i decided to do was make my own baby wipes. Instead of paying almost $5 for 80 wipes i get 180 wipes for just over $5. I searched for a recipe that i already had the ingredients for. No use making my own wipes to save money if i have to go and buy a heap of stuff that i don't usually buy, right? I found this recipe - http://www.essortment.com/all/howtohomemade_rhjg.htm and it's perfect! I added lavender oil and tea tree oil. I read somewhere that tea tree oil helps then keep longer. Who knows really? I just know that it smells good. So i had all the ingredients except for the paper towel. I found Viva paper towel for $3.49 for a 2 pack (120 'wipes') You need a good strong paper towel that won't fall apart once it's wet. I had an old Huggies wipe container which i reused. I unrolled the towel and refolded it back in the container. This takes some time and effort but worth it imo. I also experimented with a cylinder container i bought for $4. Both ways work really well.

Yesterday when i was at church i used some store bought wipes. I didn't like them! I prefer my own wipes. So much nicer. The store ones suddenly felt slimmey and didn't seem to clean as well. I'm sticking to my own from now on.

My next project involved a lamp. I am revamping my bedroom. I wanted it to be more inviting. I got new curtains, new bedding and de-cluttered the room. I needed a new lamp. I went to Target but nothing jumped out at me and said 'buy me'. Then i was cleaning up Lachlan's room and came across an old lamp from when i was a kid.

It's shade was long gone but it stilled worked. I thought maybe i could do something with it. Only problem is that is was pink. Very PINK. And it had no shade. I then happened upon a cane basket at the op shop. PERFECT for the lamp shade. It was $1.

I painted it in a reddish-brown shade and spray painted the pink bottom black. I think it's now perfect for my room!

The rest of my house is going to get a makeover because it's horrible. I need cute lamps for my boys rooms. And my kitchen needs a complete makeover. So stay tuned for that. :)

Also on the 'crunchy' side of things, my mum gave me a Easyio Yoghurt maker. The only thing i've successed in making is sour milk. I've tried it twice and still - curdled sour milk. I'll give it one more go before declaring yoghurt just one of those things i cannot make.

Just a catch up...

Just thought i'd catch up whats been going on lately. I have been fairly slack with my blogging.

First up - i have allergies. Sucks. Last year i had 'hay fever' for the whole spring and summer. First time in my life i've ever had allergies! This year, same thing. Except now i've got itchy, gritty eyes aswell as the itchy throat, sneezing and runny nose. Joy. It's like having a cold for 6mths. Graham has it too. So we are both not feeling the best. Tomorrow i'm going to buy some Claritin and drug myself up.

It's been school holidays. We went to Brisbane for the first week. A dust storm blew through while we were there. It was pretty cool...until we came home and discovered i'd left some windows open. There was fine layer of dust over the kitchen and our bedroom...oh and my exercise bike. We had another dust storm a few days later but it wasn't as bad. Yesterday was dusty too. All the dust sure isn't helping with the allergies either! So it was school holidays, we went to my nieces Nija Turtle Birthday party. That was fun. Then we went to Natural Bridge. Unfortunately we didn't see any glow worms. We also when to the Koala place...can't remember the name of it...saw some Koalas and the kids ran around the bush while my sister and i sat and talked and Graham went off to find geocaches. The weather was nice. Sunny and hottish but nice.
We've also been to the movies and we saw UP. Great movie! I really liked it and so did the kids. I love going to the movies and eating popcorn, lollies, m&ms, drinking fizzy. Fun!
On Saturday just gone we went out to the Oakey Amy Flying Museum. That was cool. There were lots of planes and helicopters on display. The boys got to go in one. It was dusty and HOT but good.
Tomorrow we are going on the bus into the city. The boys love the bus so we are going in. I'm sure we'll have to go to Target and then there will be much wailing and nashing of teeth when I try to leave WITHOUT buying toys.

I've also been trying to lose weight. calorieking.com.au is my friend. LOVE IT! I really hate dieting but it's a must right now. I had 17kgs to lose after having Lachlan. I've lost 1.5kgs. lol But i'm sticking to my calories(mostly ;) ) and exercising 6 days a week. Tomorrow is weigh in day. I'm sort of nervous. I want to have lost another .5-1kg this week. I've only gone over my calories ONE day. Pretty good. for me. I'm an emotional eater and i tend to binge. Not my best quality obviously. I love food. I just need to eat less of it.

Graham got another job. Promotion i guess is a better word. He starts at the beginning of November. His new job is Admin 2IC. cool as.

I have to get my licence by the end of the month because i'll need to take over school duties when Graham starts his new job. I need to practice my manouvers and parking. Lots of lessons coming up!! And plus Ethan starts swimming this term. I'd like to be able to go and supervise. At least to start with. I'm very nervous about my boys and water. Ethan has almost drowned twice. I can't let him out of my sight in a pool again.

Nicholas started talking. About TIME!! He turns 3 on the 12th October. And he can finally speak! He went from saying a few words like mum, dad, juice and blabbering noises to constructing a sentance all in about 2 weeks! It was amazing really.

Lachlan is getting big. He was 7.15kgs at his 4mth weigh in. He's SO cute. SO CUTE!!!! He is almost sitting up by himself. He has started eating food too :) I wasnt going to start him until 6mths but he was grabbing everything and looked interested so i tried him on some pureed potato and he loved it! He's 5mths now. He's a pretty good sleeper too. Doesn't seem to be getting any teeth just yet.

Will post some pics tomorrow....i better get my boys to bed!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

So i decided to do some sewing. I didn't think there was actually anything that i wanted to make for myself. I found a tutorial for a very cute Very Hungry Caterpillar. So i had to make 2. One for Ethan and one for Nicholas. Aren't they cute?! Ok so mine don't look exactly like they should..but the boys LOVE them and that's all that counts. :)

My new project. I bought this yarn on Wednesday.

It's 30% corn and 70% acrylic. Who'd of thought of corn, huh? It feels really nice. I thought i'd go for another beret. This one turned out MUCH better. I LOVE it! I will actually wear it...although with the weather these days i probably don't need it. I crocheted it with a 4.5mm hook.