3 Minute Chocolate cake

This week for the Friday Food Find I have cheated ever so slightly.  I have made this cake a few times.  Even Mr Magoo has made this cake.  He made it when his grandparents were coming to visit.  Well, a few weekends ago Mr C was pretty bored so he & Miss Pants spent some time together and made a cake.  Now, except for the bit where Mr C used a slightly too small cake tin (ring tin) & it over flowed all over my oven, and stank the house out for DAYS, it turned out REALLY well.

INGREDIENTS
90g margarine or soft butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tbspn cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 cup self raising flour

METHOD
Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
Beat the margarine and cocoa to a paste.
Add eggs, then flour,sugar & milk all together.
Beat for 3 minutes.
Spoon into a greased ring tin or 7" x 11" pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
ice when cool as desired.

Mr C iced it upside down & cut off the bits that hung over the sides of the tin, then ate them.  He served it up with a dollop of lite cream.  THANKS DEAR!!  'Twas Yummo. 

Bye for now, K

Mum's Advising Mums

I've been thinking about this post for a while.  It never seemed quite finished but now I think perhaps I'm not supposed to finish it.  Perhaps YOU are...

Remember in May I went to the Christian Women's Conference.  Well after that I was thinking that it'd be pretty cool if there was something like that for Mum's.  Just Mum's, not "women" generally.  Not that big though because it would be near impossible to get through what you wanted to get through.  Much like a typical day as a Mum I guess, but when you are taking time out from your normal day to learn about how you can better connect with your kids or get some useful advice about dealing with particular ages & stages you want it to be time well spent.

Then a few weeks ago I read this post.  I quite like the blog 71 Toes.  I've been quite busy dealing with sick kids, and trying to catch up with things in between, but  I thoroughly enjoyed this post.  Especially the first lot of dot points in the post.

They called it a Motherhood Retreat. 

I think it sounds like a fabulous idea.  They ALL stayed at someones house.  I can't imagine anyone having a house big enough to accommodate all those women, however, it wouldn't be that difficult to rent a furnished house for a long weekend and find a bunch of cheap hotel rooms nearby to fit everyone in.

Each of the women seemed to take a turn to present 'something' of interest to everyone regarding motherhood.  I think the fact that each of them prepared information to share is really great.  It says to me that they really are interested in being better mothers.  They are seeking out information to help themselves and other Mum's to grow in their roles.  After reading the post I'd really like to take a look at the book Your Child's Self Esteem.

Don't you think it would be AWESOME to participate in something like this.  You contribute but also learn!!  I think I would LOVE it!!

Bye for now, K

Autumn is Gone...

Winter is here ALREADY. *Sigh*

We didn't really have much of a Summer here :( Yet Autumn came along quickly & now it is Winter ALREADY. *Sigh*

Spring and Autumn are my favourite seasons. My Nanna used to love visiting us here in Autumn. Here are a few pics I took with my very-old-very-in-need-of-replacement mobile phone.

Love these reds

Lovely Yellows & Reds

I got these pic's using Mr C's fancy pants camera and wanted to share them earlier but I've been slack & my laptop doesn't share the same software as Mr C's camera (so I couldn't get the photos for a while because the PC had a temporary holiday).

See the little sucker leaves, even they are changing colour.

Love this view in the afternoons.  These trees look like they're on fire some days.  They look better when it's cloudy.

Beautiful colours

We enjoyed some walks this Autumn.  We collected some leaves, and enjoyed stomping through the crunchy crackly leaves too!!

The first lot we collected dried out, cracked & came unglued from the pages they'd been stuck to, so I laminated the pages.  We collected more leaves & I laminated them before we used them for anything.  It seems to have helped them keep their colours too.   The great thing about laminating them is that we can use them again.

Here's a picture of our family, created by H.  That's me holding Little H on the right.

There are a few Winter related crafts I have in mind. Have to wait & see whether we get to them.

Now, just to share how lucky our family is I thought I'd point out that as you read this, we are on our way to sunny Cairns!!  Yep Far North Queensland awaits!  (Not so sure we'll want to come back.) 

Bye for now, K

Ham & Cheese Scrolls

This weeks Friday Food Find comes from Nicole (aka The Planning Queen) at Planning with Kids.  I've made vegemite & cheese scrolls & twists before but I'd never done this variety so technically they're new to me & qualify for my FFF.

I didn't actually go & use Nicole's blog so I'll just let you know what I used.

INGREDIENTS
3 sheets of puff pastry
approx 200g shaved ham, roughly chopped
a few handfuls of grated cheese

METHOD
Preheat oven to 200 deg C
Line a bikkie tray with baking paper
Sprinkle ham & grated cheese over the sheets of puff pastry making sure you leave a couple of centimetres at one edge bare.

Roll the pastry towards the bare edge forming a log.  This edge will help seal the scroll.

Cut the log into pieces 2-3 cm wide.
Place on baking tray & pop in the oven for about 15 minutes.

I wasn't sure whether they'd cook better on their side or flat.  I think they cook better flat but look nicer truned upside down after being cooked on their side.  What are your thoughts?

Bye for now, K



WIP: Simple Softie, Upcycling Jeans

I had seen this book before.  I wanted it!  It came up at preschool one day in their fundraiser stuff that sits at the front counter.  I NEEDED it & it was cheap so I got it.  (Then I got the exact same one from my Mother-In-Law for my birthday. Great Minds... Lol.  Might swap it for book number 2.)

 H decided to make one of the finger puppets in it.  He made THIS cute little thing.  He traced the pattern bits himself, then cut it out & traced around it onto the felt.  Hw did it ALL himself, pretty much.  I threaded and knotted the needle for him (each time).  And I did undo & redo a couple of stitches where he competely missed stitching the second ear in place but he did the face himself. The eyes are there but as as I've said before the quality of pics leaves a LOT to be desired at times.  I think he did a great job!!

I grabbed some jeans out of my wardrobe & put them on one day only to discover that they were SUPER short.  I didn't actually pay for these jeans mind you.  They were cast off from a friend & made it into my wardrobe with a few other pairs of jeans, but these ones were shorter.  Obviously I had worn them rolled up at times but hadn't had them out for quite some time.  I've been thinking about wearing skirts more lately but haven't because I only own three & wanted to get some long boots (without heels) to wear with them.  It is pretty cold here already after all. So I figured that if I turned these jeans into a skirt then I could get some boots with my left over birthday money from my Mum. YAY!!  So here are my before and after pics.  I used THIS TUTORIAL as a guide.  It was EASY.  My overlocker kind of died before I was finished but I've been wearing it anyway.  What do you think?

Sorry... This last one was taken with my dodgy phone & didn't get edited before upload. Here it is though, skirt AND new birthday boots. I added some decorative stitch, similar to the stitching on the back pockets, to the cut off leg pieces before adding them. For my first effort I think it turned out REALLY well & if I can do it, ANYONE can do it!

Bye for now, K

 

Choc Coffee Muffins

About a month ago I hosted a Chefs Toolbox party and we made the YUMMY Coffee Choc Friands from the website.  I didn't get to take a picture of them so I changed the recipe slightly and made them again, to suit me, hoping to take pictures but I forgot, again.  Sorry about that. 

Anyway, here's what I did.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup icing sugar
2/3 cup plain flour
1 cup almond meal
180g butter, melted and cooled
6 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons instant decaffeinated coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
100g white chocolate drops


METHOD
1.  Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2.  In a mixing bowl combine sugar, flour, almond meal, butter & egg whites.  Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
3.  Pour dossolved coffee into mixture & mix well.
4.  Fold the white choc drops through.
5.  Spoon mixture evenly into the muffin (or Friand if you have it) tray.
6.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from the tray.

They were good but I have to admit the dark chocolate gave it that something extra (I am NOT a fan of dark choc), so perhaps next time I'll try milk chocolate instead of white.

Mr C said he could barely taste the coffee, I thought it was OK.  It wasn't what we normally drink (& he has really strong coffee) so perhaps that made a difference.  I'm not sure.

Perhaps next time I make them I'll remember the photos.

Bye for now, K

Slow Down & Simplify

I found this blog yesterday, Slow Your Home.  I found it purely by accident, and thought it seemed so fitting given that I have this overwhelming desire to declutter my life.  This post arrived this morning, by email, so I thought I should share it, just in case you are in the same place right now.  Perhaps it'll give you the motivation you need. 

I had a little look around through older posts and I have a feeling it is going to become one of my favourite blogs to read.

Go on, pop on over & have a look.  Maybe you'll decide to join in with 2012 in 2012.

I'm thinking I'll have to record my own trials and tribulations into the world of decluttering my life.  Perhaps I'll share them with you...


Bye for now, K