playing in mud puddles

Sweet Potatoes continued

I'm currently in the middle of Heather Bruggeman's 30 Day Vegan workshop. Perfect for sweet potato treasures, don't you think? 

She recently posted a video of cooking roasted sweet potatoes. She said they are so good, "people will be talking about them". That's a big thing to say about roasted sweet potatoes. After all, they're just roasted sweet potatoes, right? (that's what the inner sceptic in me thought )

With sweet potato discoveries last night, I thought, perfect timing to have a go. So I did...

...and you know what? They were realy really good. The simple dressing of olive oil, orange juice and coriander (aka cilantro) is the secret. Holy guacamole - or rather, holy sweet potatoes! Nice combo. Even our very passionately anti sweet potatoers approved (and that's saying something)..

Also included, an almost 5 year old decided we MUST have one more photo. "Mum! Let's put in a fork and make it look like a REAL MEAL!" And so he did....

Yum scrum...

Cookies!

I've been participating in Heather Bruggeman's Whole Food Kitchen workshop for the past 10 weeks.

It's been very informative, full of yummy recipes, luscious photos and a great group of people.

Being that the course is about to end, I thought , perhaps, it would be beneficial to actually MAKE some of the recipes (rather than just keep looking at the pictures).

The strawberry (our version has been raspberry) thumbprint cookies were a lunchtime success...

arranged prettily on the plate by...

eagerly eaten by...

...and so it goes (yum yum)

 

now...

time for (another) cup of tea and on to the promised chocolate chip cookies...

it's a good day to be at our house..

Wowee! THIS and THAT

Now THAT'S a whopper!

We braved the garden yesterday morning and found THIS amongst the weeds and tall (so very tall) grass. How does it grow so fast?! 

The only sensible thing to do with a zucchini THAT big is to... make cake.

And make cake we did! A gluten free chocolate zucchini cake  (I used rice flour and rapadura sugar) no less ( it was made often this summer considering the mega zucchini crop we had in the garden). Of course I found the recipe originally on Soulemama ...

Who needs a whisk when you can use your own two hands, right? 

The cake was pretty yummy and I am currently giving any guests a nice false impression that my children come home to freshly baked cake after school or that we regularly have cake after dinner every night (I've been on a bit of a roll, much to everyone's delight).

AND, the cake was eaten (or partially eaten) and THEN I remembered to try to take a pic of it. Thought I'd fill the gaps with some flowers from the garden?

So, I suppose it was good AND, because there is zucchini in it, I feel prefectly justified in sending slices in school lunchboxes...

AND finally, even though the recipe called for 2 CUPS of grated zucchini  - we still have THIS much left of THAT zucchini! 

 

Quilting

One of my new year's resolutions this year is to learn to quilt. 

Hence, I am now an official member of a quilting group . 

We meet every other Thursday and work on whatever kind of quilt we feel like. Our teacher is lovely and patient (especially with me and my very beginner status).

I'm learning all sorts of "quilter's lingo" - such as "quilting in the ditch" (can't help but giggling) and surely there'll be more to come...

I've FINALLY (finally finally) finished this quilt which was started about last May (meant to be completed over a few weeks, but life had other plans).

It's a relief to get it completed and is already being snuggled under during our regular family viewings of the Brady Bunch (found the whole series in a shop - great Christmas pressie).

I used a thin IKEA cotton blanket as the backing so that we could use it year round. The grey and blue fabrics were also IKEA - they're nice and heavy and give that lovely weight so as to actually feel like you're snuggling under something.

Big 4year old requests are being made for quilt number two. I see diggers, trucks and fire engines to be snuggled under in the not so distant future...

VROOM VROOM....

 

Cupcakes!

With the two oldest away at horse camp (how lucky!) for three nights, we have shrunk to a family of four. The two youngest are not yet complaining. Rather, they are enjoying a bit of extra attention and extra space. It's amazing how much more chatty they are (they claim it's because they FINALLY have room to TALK, as certain older siblings are "ALWAYS TALKING so nobody else can" ). 

Amidst this extra space, there has been time to do some more... Which brings me, in a round about way to this...

Do you remember book orders from school? Well, they are still as popular, and desired (in our house), as when I was a child. A couple of months ago there was deep pleading for a largely overpriced  (in my opinion) cupcake recipe book.

HOWEVER, a similar one was found (by a mother who doesn't always forget everything), and given to a very happy girl, for Christmas.

 

 

 

The end result? A very proud little girl (and tasty cupcakes too!)

Happy 2012 (whoa)

2012? Really? It's really here. 

We were all in bed last night and I pointed out to everyone that it was 2012 in Australia and 1999 in the northern hemisphere. Felt like we were having a nice family moment snug in our beds, yet together at the same time... enjoying the shared silence of the measure of time.

"Uh, mum?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't you mean 2011 in the northern hemisphere?"

Silence. 

Lots of giggles.

(I was never the best with time differences anyways...)

 

We spent New Year's Eve making mandalas. Using collected magazines from the year, we cut out and placed pictures and words which we were drawn to and placed them to our fancy. It's a collage really. But I think placing with intention and because certain areas mean different things... well, that must be what makes it a mandala. 

It was really interesting reflecting on the one's we had made last year. Very telling stuff. 

A wonderful way to welcome the new year ....

I hope you are enjoying your first days of 2012...

 

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you all a merry merry and merrier!!!

I was out at the shops and came home to the clever cookery of my (not so) little ones...

They had made "Santa Hats"

How clever (and yummy scrum scrummy too)!

Also wishing you peace, calm, and fun, love and laughter over these next few days!

xx

Some challenges to brilliant inspirations...

Some challenges come with celebrating Northern Hemisphere holidays in the Southern Hemisphere (especially in a subtropical climate).

As mentioned at Lady Cordelia, I too, am a major soulemama groupie (how can you not be?). 

For years I have been getting so inspired and filled with this little thought ... "you know, I think I could DO that..." and sometimes I actually do.

Sometimes best intended inspirations have interesting twists and turns...

This is our fridge.

I definitely DIDN'T consider the humidity factor when overcome by inspiration to make peppermint bark for all of our friends... oops.

This leaves me with quickly getting bark removed from fridge, cut, and wrapped within about a 3 minute window before it begins to MELT!!!

They look lovely in the FRIDGE. Now I must hope that all are home when we deliver above treats as they definitely won't last on a doorstep. I'll bet not many of you will be giving this out in freezer bags! Too funny... but I'm still very good at getting it into my mouth before melting occurs... quiet skills which are so essential in life.

Makings...Lamingtons

Busy elves inspire busy elves...

After so much MAKING, a young voice filled with grit and determination declared, "Mum, I'm going to make lamingtons..."

Considering that we have never made Lamingtons, I was curious.

Turns out that she, the determined one, copied down a recipe at school. She had already found all ingredients in the cupboard and away she went.

The flurry and finesse in the kitchen was most impressive, I must say.

She was in her element...didn't even object to beating the eggs with the egg beater for TEN whole minutes.

She took all of the pictures.

AND, they tasted very nice, indeed.

Her determination (when applied appropriately) will take her far in life.

Aren't children simply amazing?!

What are your children up to today? Please send them a giant THANK YOU for all of the inspiration and courage they give to us from me, would you? Thanks.

 

 

 

Makings...Busy Elves and Chrissy Baubles

It's all happening over here...

Chrissy Baubles... 

A lovely EASY pattern, full of encouragement, from Pip's book, Make Hey when the sun shines, at meet at mike's.

And...

The Peppermint Bark factory is busy, busy, busy (how many times can I talk about Peppermint Bark?!)!

Smashing candy canes ...

(in a loving way, I'm sure) ...

Melting chocolate...

Spreading chocolate (and sneaking tastes, note cheeky smile... mandatory in cooking, right?)...

All of this production was especially flowing due to our realization that the power is to be out for the whole day (OUR PLANNED COOKING DAY!!!!) in about 2 minutes.... gotta go...

xx

What's happening at your place?