Soaking Up The Country Sunshine

Hello?
I'm here!
Yes, I didn't disappear into the dark abyss of the internet, I am here!
I have recently relocated to a bit of a remote area in country NSW.
It is lovely.
My kids are happy.
I am happy.
I have decided to start work on my cookbooks.
Finally!
It will take a long, long time to cook, photograph and edit, and then finally they will be available to purchase through here and if Facebook allows it, on my page over there too.
I will divide the book into sections so if you only want one part, you can pick and chose exactly what you are interested in.
Forewarning: There will not be much meat in these recipes, if any at all.
There will be butter, lots of butter.
There will be sweet treats, as well as healthy salads and even a bunch of kid-friendly recipes to get those little ones involved.

For now I will leave you with some photos of the beauty that surrounds me...
See you soon!

Goodbye Holiday, Hello Home.

Good morning!
Today I feel great.
I feel well rested.
Finally!
Our weekend away with my family was amazing.
Good food, good wine, so many laughs and in a stunningly beautiful place.
If only the kids had slept a little better then it would have been total perfection.

We packed ourselves up and jumped in the car, ready for a short 1 1/2hr drive down south.

We travelled with my brother and sister-in-law, playing leapfrog and sending silly messages to each other as we watched the weather turning...

 It started to get dark, and cold...

We arrived at our destination and it was cold and blue...

We huddled inside and turned the heating on. I panicked at the thought of what I had packed for our supposed sunny holiday.
The girls pulled out their manicure kits and my darling girl was enthusiastic on joining in...

That night was pizza night, and we all took turns crowding into the kitchen creating our own masterpieces.

They were delicious!

The next morning we started with a coffee...

Then headed out the front gate for an adventure...

At the end of the street, mere minutes away...

We headed down the steep hill...

Then more steep hill, followed by stairs and finally...

We reached the shore!

We walked, collected shells, splashed in rock pools...

It was cold and windy, but clear skies and crystal water. Perfect for snorkelling!

We got home and the kids were exhausted from their long trek...

Then the men watched the footy...

Even later it was birthday party time for my grandpa. 

We had a big dinner followed by the birthday cake I had made for him...

After another rough night with the kids, it was a busy father's day morning followed by the local markets.
We saw interesting things for sale...

Bought lots of olives (of course!) and the kids had to have an ice cream from the Mr Whippy van...

Sadly it had to come to an end, family photos were taken, and then bags were packed.
Home we went!
It is so nice to be home again, the kids sleep well in their own beds, and I love having my own kitchen to cook in again.
But it was a lovely weekend, I can't wait for the next family holiday away!

Family Weekend Away

I am so excited for this weekend.
It is my grandpa's 70th birthday and the whole family are going down the coast to spend a weekend together.
It is a beautiful place, only a few hours South of where we live.
Our family have always spent holidays down there, my husband & I used to take many camping trips before we had the kids. It is such a beautiful place to relax and unwind.

The last time we went down was years ago, before I had any fancy cameras, but I still snapped up some lovely photos at sunrise...

I have been put in charge of the birthday cake.
Apparently my baking is up to par, so I have designed, and started to bake, the custom creation.

My rough sketch is a bit messy, but you get the idea!
Since my family is rather large, I chose to use the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt recipe that I used for my boy's caterpillar cake.
It is rich, dense, and tastes divine!
I figured that it would be good since we only need small pieces, it will go far!

I have to use my huge square cake tin to make two squares, and cut them into a football field shape.
With the remaining I will be making some delicious cake pops, hopefully in a football shape!

So my week will be full of baking (I also need to bring a dish to share for dinner one night) and hopefully a quick dash to the shops because I have come to the realization that I do not own a swimsuit!!
Oh dear!

It's Winter... So We Go To The Beach!

Bring on Summer!!

Winter Sunshine

Love these sunny Winter days!!

Strawberry Picking & Super Fast Salad

A long time ago I snapped up some very cheap strawberry plant bulbs from our supermarket.
Three in the pack, two died in a heatwave but one grew and grew.
It has taken over the pot and is now providing us with delicious, sweet berries every few days.



Eve spotted this one straight away, and lunged down to pinch it off.



Straight in the mouth, no need to wash, we don't use any chemicals here.



"You try?"



The rest of my little garden is going well.



I have one empty pot that I cannot decide what to put in, and I need to get some coriander seedlings since mine keep getting killed by the heat as soon as they begin to get leaves.



The crystal apple cucumber plant is dripping in tiny fruit, slowly swelling up.
I can't wait til we get to pick these!
Sliced in thick chunks with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and chilled to icy perfection, they are the best Summer snack!

Lunch today has been super healthy and super delicious.
I had some brown lentils (canned) left from dinner preparations and wanted to use them somehow with the brown rice sitting in my fridge.
This is what I ended up with...



It was very tasty but so filling, I served myself up half and couldn't even finish it!



It was so quick and easy to make, and much better for you than convenience foods!
I have no idea what to name my creation so feel free to call it whatever you want!

{insert creative salad name here}
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 carrot, grated
1 Roma tomato, finely chopped
1/2 Lebanese cucumber, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1 can flavoured tuna, I used herb and garlic
1/2 cup cooked and cooled brown rice
1/4 cup brown lentils (canned)
Sprinkling of chopped parsley

Method:

Mix it all together!

Add some grated cheese if you like...



And EAT!!

Fill up your tummy with yummy salad and green tea and try to resist the freshly baked biscuits lurking in the pantry...



I made these using wholemeal flour yesterday with a few variations, recipe coming soon!