Easy pizza scrolls

Who doesn't like easy meals.I love them and now that I am trying new ideas anything fast and easy to me is great.

Well I found the best recipe in Woolworth's Fresh magazine.I don't know how often they put it out but it is free and has some great ideas in it .

Easy Pizza Scrolls

you will need

1 cup of self raising flour
3/4 cup (i just used a tub) of Greek yoghurt.
Mix the above   then knead for 5 mins.

preheat oven to 180. line a baking tray

roll out dough into a rectangle ( well the best rectangle you can)
spread on
the recipe said bolognaise sauce.I used tomato supreme .you could use pizza sauce.
then top with shredded ham and grated cheese.

roll up from long side and  cut into 3cm slices.
place on tray cut side up
now cook around 20mins till golden brown.

Looks weird here and messy but it cut well and it stayed together as well.

All cut and on the tray ready to cook.They look good don't they.

All done and the smell is awesome.They tasted really good and the LM actually ate 2 of them which I didn't expect so they must be good.

I might make some more up and freeze them for school lunches ..I wonder if they would freeze OK.I guess I will just ask mum....

So if you are looking for a quick yummy dinner of lunch give these a go.

Thanks  Woolworth's.

Outside today

I love my garden.I love how everything blends into each other.Our front yard is more structured and neat but the back yard is like a jungle in some places-just the way I like it....

 

When we painted my birdhouses I went down into the yard to do it....I don't go  into the back yard much as it is hard for me to get down and up the stairs with my legs at the moment as there is no handrails and I am still a bit unsteady. .......

So glad I tried that day as it was good to see how things are growing.I miss pottering around in the garden and saw heaps of things that need to be done in there but today I just stood back and admired the plants.

To think that our garden is only around 6 years old and there was nothing here when we made it no trees nothing.We put the pool in and because we had so much dirt we got rid of some but Kevin and the boys put the rest of the dirt (if you could call it that it was mostly clay )around the edge of the yard to make gardens for me.We used to put a plant on the ground and just pile up the clay to keep it in place and that was it.When all the plants were in we mulched.....And then we mulched ..........and then we mulched some more.

That is the only reason we have as to how things how grown so well is the mulch.So every spring we still like to put fresh mulch on the garden to refreshen it up.

So the above photos are just a few parts of the garden that took my fancy today.Even my old church birdhouse looks great sitting on the bench near the pool.

I can't wait till I am truly better to get out there and fix it up but until then I am happy with how it looks now.

Huggies wipes container quickie....

If you are like me and used Huggies baby wipes you would have these containers everywhere.

We don't use them very much anymore as the LM is 5 but I do have a pack in the car for accidents or whatever ( Kev is pretty messy)...I am still finding empty containers in the garage.

What can I do with these.?(chuck them)... Anyway I came up with (probably saw it somewhere  ha ha ha ) an idea to keep LM happy when we are out for a meal or just to use in the car.

I used -

-1 x  Huggies wipes empty container.
-some stickers to decorate the box from my stash.
-A small note pad.
-Small pencils.I was going to use crayons but I hate them in the cars (thats a lie I generally dont like them anytime ).
-A little pen with multi coloured ink.
- 2 AA batteries you never know when you will need these.
- A mini lollipop-for a little treat.
-an a small rubber.

I just put everything in the container and stuck some stickers on it to make it look less boring.

10 mins later all done.

Looks great .I have already (no I got Kevin to ha ha ) put it in the car so it is ready to use....It is also a good size for me to put in my bag when we go out for dinner....Just pull it out and off he goes.The only downside is "Dee how do you spell?" ' Dee how do you spell this" but I guess it's not really a downside just him learning......but heck I can whinge if I want....

Our Australia day

Happy Australia Day .....(well I am a day late )

Or as Kerry and I call it Happy Freedom Day.

What?????

It was on Australia Day that I left my husband of 18years when I discovered he was cheating with my business partner.THIS WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE......( although it took me awhile to realise it)

So now I have another wonderful husband of 10years who is the best and words cannot describe how I feel for him.

Usually Kerry and I have lunch or do something together to celebrate Freedom Day but this year with her being pregnant we had an early dinner together during the week (now its not just me and her her celebrate our day we now bring partners ) So today it was just me Kevin and the Little Man.

Day started off great  with a sleep in...Kev made breakfast while I did some housework.
LM was asleep still so we just kept his breakfast aside till he woke up.Gee it was great just me and Kev eating together no noise just us.What a way to start the day.

Kev then read the papers and then out the back to mow he back lawn.I sure he has a lawn fetish.He loves mowing it and keeping it looking great.Well I like it looking good but not like him ha ha ...

Kev went and picked up my new rugs.I  think I love them.They just look so different to what I had but I guess I will get used to them....

 

The colour hasn't shown correctly here.They are darker with greenish toning's.

So after putting the rugs down it was off to the hairdressers so LM can get a hair cut before school starts.

Then off we went to LM's swimming lessons where he got an award for freestyle ...Yeah told you he is a fish....

We then went to Panthers League's club where they had  an  Australia Day carnival...Lm got to ride the dodgem cars which he loves and then we went over to Aqua golf....

I didn't have a Australian day shirt to wear so on went the AC/DC one which is just as good.....
.

Check out LM's face....so cheeky..

 

I love this picture....

 

LM was so serious trying to hit the ball.He did manage to get a few in good. The main thing was he loved it and asked if we could go again...

Another favorite picture.....LM said that he just watched DA and did what he did.....too cute....

When we got home Kev and LM went swimming...Oh course this involves a whole lot of Kev throwing LM in the water.The laughter that came out of that pool was magic....(sorry I had to do some editing here.LM likes to swim in the nude.....)

 

Then how did we finish the day-with home made hamburgers of course.They look a bit ? but they were great and everyone enjoyed theirs.While we were eating dinner we watched a family movie....

 

 

Yes ET...what a great way to end the day.LM got scared a couple of times and cried but I cried as well and I have seen it a few times.I love that it doesn't matter how many times you can see this movie it is still wonderful each time...

 

So on the whole we had a full yet a really good family day.Nothing amazing just a great day but isn't that the best type....

Hope your day was as good as ours...

My Little fish

I have said it before that the LM is part fish we are sure he has gills.........

Well now we have more proof......

When in QLD my brother-in-law Ross took some photos of the LM swimming in their pool with an underwater camera.

They have turned out great.... I want to buy an underwater camera now to get more shots like this.

Isn't this photo great?????  But I love the next one better.....

I think I will get this put on a canvas.It just looks surreal....

Oh since we are talking about the LM I have to tell you what happened today.

I was on the phone talking to my mum and I could hear LM chatting away to him self (well so I thought ) so when I finished with mum I said "who are you talking to " "No one just myself " OK I thought no problem he does that.....

Next thing the home phone rings It's the Police Emergency call centre -Yep you heard right. Apparently the LM called 000 to have a chat.

He has a old mobile that Emmanuel gave him -( it has no Sim card ) and he rang from that. I was really apologetic to  the lady who called to see if all was OK meanwhile LM came in saying "I'm sorry I'm sorry ) I got him to apologize to the lady who told him if we have an emergency he can call back then......She said I should be proud (proud I will strangle him ha ha ) as he said his full name gave her our home address and our home phone number....( I am glad he knew all that but...)

After thanking her LM and I had a big big talk about when to call 000.......

Not more than 20 minutes later  he was eating something in the lounge room and spilled some milk  "OH NO LOOK WHAT I DID I HAVE TO CALL 000 IT'S AN EMERGENCY""

Back to having another little  big talk with him....

Like I have said before "life is never dull around here"

6 Weeks to go

Only 6 weeks to go till I meet my little grandson and I am just so excited.

Kerry and Emmanuel came over for dinner last night and poor Kerry she has swollen feet and looks so  tired.She said she is over it but then again she has been over it for months.

I wish I could take away all the crap for her.Don't get me wrong she can do the labour ha ha ha I will do the rest....

She may be over it but I feel she is positively glowing.......And so is Emmanuel -look at his grin.

Oh and guess what happened when they were here?Peanut was kicking around in her belly so she got my hand and put it on her belly OMG thank you so much the feeling when I felt him move was over welhming to think that is a part of me in there.Thanks Kerry for that you have made me so happy .LM kept asking "what was The Peanut doing he couldn't feel anything"
Later he told me that Peanut was sleep walking.

LM  is also excited about the baby's arrival.He wanted to look up Google the other day to  find a red blanket for him.When I told him he already had a present for him he said "no that's from you and Da I need to buy a red blanket "and he continued to scroll through Google images.Strange child...

Purple chilli plant

Yes a purple chili plant......have you ever heard of that.While in Bunnings getting my spray paint
I had to check out the plant section.Of course you have to have a look at all the wonderful plants whats a trip to the hardware store without checking out the nursery...

Anyway getting back to my story,I needed a plant to go in my wine barrel on our back deck.We have just replaced the barrels and transplanted the plants but I don't think they are going to survive,So I was looking around to see what to get when I spied this........the plant is so pretty beautiful green and white leaves with deep purple chilli's.Yes the are edible-bonus......

It is actually called Chili Purple Tiger..you can eat the chili's and the tag says it goes well with basil,garlic and ginger,all meats and seafood.

So even though  I don't like that taste of chilli's  I do like the look of this plant  so I guess I will be looking for some chili recipes as there is heaps on this plant and I don't want to waste them .......

Blue and white lollies.....

Only about a week and a half till the baby shower.I am so excited I have already been making bits and pieces.
I have made the cake pops they are in the freezer till I need to ice them.I am halfway through the cake and I have made my nappy tricycle (will post that later) So I decided to do a sweet table in blue and whites as a focal point for the shower....

Great idea but ......
Blue and white lollies ,do you know how hard it is to find blue lollies????

Well let me tell you it is hard.

So off I went on the search for blue lollies.

What a hard time I had....I managed to get some blue Hersey's Kisses on line saying "It's a boy" some blue smarties and some blue lollipops.Then I found some pretty blue and white swirl lollipops they look so cute.

I also saw blue jelly beans so I will get them on the weekend. I decided to bring in white marshmallows and white mini mints and also silver Hersey's kisses to make the table look fuller.

When we were at mums I picked up 3 beautiful jars so just have to get a couple more and everything will be done for the sweet table.

Do you have any suggestions for a boys sweet table?

 

They look good don't they.I also got little blue and white bags so people can take some home. Now I just have to get some mini scoops or tongs then I have got my sweet table done.I also found a lady who makes macaroons so I ordered some blue and white ones they should look good on the table.

 

Apart from the cake pops I am making I will also have some vanilla cupcakes and I am going to try making some buscuits and icing them (better cross your fingers because I have never made them before.)

So I think if it all goes to plan it should look really .I have a few special bits I am going to put on the table but I will show you that when I post about the shower.Now I am off to the kitchen to finish that cake....

Bird houses

I love birdhouses.I have them everywhere.

I don't like real birds ,but strangethat I am  I do like bird houses.

Any way while in QLD I went into one shop and was checking out all the beautiful home wares
when I spied a display with bird houses.So over I went.

They were beautiful instead of being the normal black or cream that is everywhere these ones
were bright blue,bright green,orange and hot pink Oh there was also yellow.

OMG.... I fell in love with them.  I just didn't know what colour or where to put them when I got them home but then I checked out the price YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME $49.95,yep you heard me right.

Now I really liked these but I am not stupid so I walked away.

Well I kept thinking about them and oh maybe I should have just bought them But no I did the right thing.I am not going to pay $100 for 2 birdhouses.

Yesterday I walked into the Reject shop and they  had some birdhouses on display  "LIGHT BULB MOMENT" the large one was $15 and the small $10.So I bought both.

Then I went to Bunnings.Oh what colour to do them ? at first I thought orange and checked out the spray paints yes orange it will be,but when the man served me I had changed my mind to bright green.Well the look Kev gave me when he saw the green paint was priceless "nice shade of orange" he said...Yeah well when I thought about it as much as I liked the orange I thought it may be a bit in my face for me where as the green will blend in with the plants etc.....

So off I went -one happy camper with my cheapo birdhouses and my green paint......

When I got home I started painting the houses ,Kev was watching me so I just handed him the can to finish.I think he thinks I can't do things sometimes IT drives me  crazy but  today I just went with the flow.

The colour was better than what I thought .   I love where I have hung them on my back deck I just want to get a couple of large candles or maybe a fern to go inside them as I feel they look empty at the moment.

Otherwise I love them love them and will do some more.I think next time I will get me the orange paint or maybe the yellow  ha ha ha

New Ruler

I have seen these giant rulers around and thought what a great idea.So as part of my "do all the crafts" I have on my list I thought I would give this one a go so I can mark it off my list...

Kev picked up the timber which was a piece of pine 6 foot long by 8 inches wide  and this only cost $11 from Bunnings.I gave it a coat of stain but didnt like that when it dried so I tried another colour we had in the shed.Well this time it turned out great.

Now the hard bit 'THE MEASUREMENTS'  if I was to do it I would mark it by eye and it would be good enough but NO not Kev he looked at a few pictures on which way they did theirs then he marked and measured them  on properly.Gee he did a good job cause it looks fantasic.....So now I had to do the numbers.

I printed them out using the font Century Schoolbook size 300. Traced them onto my marked ruler .Then just used a sharpie to colour them in.

So now I just have to hang it up in the bar room and start making memories by marking off heights.
I cant wait to see this ruler get filled with everyones heights .It will be so fun to see it fill up and see just how much the kids grow.

Now I am going to make one for Kerry she said she would like one but I thinks she wants a white ruler....

The Little Man is growing up

Today I have realized just how much the Little Man is growing up. .. grown up

I can hear muffled music and thumping coming through his bedroom's closed door.???????

Upon getting closer I realize it is some sort of music from the  Pop Hits of 2012 CD (or called something similar Kerry got him for Christmas) I can also hear well actually feel it to be more precise of a thumping kind of noise.

What is he doing in there ????

I open the door......

Music blares out almost knocking me over (well not really I just wanted to be dramatic )....

The smell of smoke is unbearable -(I know drama queen again ,gee he is only 5 )

My eyes are adjusting to the darkness (here I go again dramatic-he has the light on )......

In his arms is a girl in a short pink dress with a pink bow in hair white frilly knickers peaking out from under her dress..He is swinging her around ,laughing looking at the both of them in his mirror.He is such a peacock.

They are dancing, while  he is dancing she is hanging limp in his arms. Oh the power he has over her is over whelming for my 5 year stud.

He sees me and stops....starts to laugh drops the girl to the floor and runs over to me "what do you want Dee me and Minnie (mouse) are playing clubs and we are dancing .... so you have to get out you are too old to club" Great kid I will show you too old...

Yes friends the girl is none other than that vixen Minnie Mouse.She has taken my place ...she is his big love....the girl to take dancing whatever happened to dancing with me I mean we used to do a mean Wiggles Hot Potato dance ....

So I guess I now dance solo no giggling toddler in my arms .No he is now a big boy and he hasn't even started school yet.Yuck what changes are going to happen then.I suppose he will be too big for a kiss and cuddle goodnight or when he leaves in the morning I wonder if he will still kiss me goodbye.

Well even though it was devastating to see him in the "CLUB"  (OK OK I am being dramatic again ) it was also sooooo funny to see him dancing with Minnie and singing along with the music.Yes singing he knew the words.... I guess my little boy is growing up.....

And as for you Miss Minnie Mouse keep your skinny little arms off my boy and stop two timing poor Mickey......

Hey Kev -Kevin do you want to dance with me.....Hot potato hot potato....cold spaghetti cold spaghetti......

Chili prawns warm salad

What's happening to me? Twice in one week I have tried something new for dinner.Tonight I made chili and garlic prawn warm salad. It was a mixture of two recipes.

All I did was cook some angel hair pasta (you know the real skinny spaghetti ) while that was cooking I got some baby spinach a few cherry tomatoes ,capsicum and placed in a bowl.I put some crushed garlic and a chopped up chili (thanks Kev for cutting it up ) in a fry pan with a little oil add green prawns (Kev actually bought green prawn meat which is green prawns with the tail cut off  and it was cheaper tastes the same )and cook.

When prawns are cooked add spinach ,halve cherry tomatoes  and capsicum to fry pan and mix in cooked  spaghetti .stir for a couple of minutes.....serve...

This was another fantastic recipe that you really should try.

Now what am I going to make next time on my adventure to trying new dishes... ?

Little Man sees Disney

The LM loves Mickey Mouse but his favorite is Minnie Mouse.I really loves her the most and watches everything she is in.He also has a couple of soft toys of Minnie and OMG does he love these or what.

Anyway last year I saw an add for a Disney show at the Sydney Entertainment centre and thought LM will love this I am going to get tickets.

Well I couldn't get a family ticket for any of the Sydney shows so I tried Newcastle YEAH we got in.

We took Annaliese who is like LM's cousin to see it with us. .The parking was great the trip up was good not really that much longer than Sydney well yeah it was longer but there wasn't the traffic to deal with .

Talk about great seats 6 rows from the front straight on...It was fantastic LM and Annaliese both loved the show.....The LM was yelling out 'Hello Minnie'.....he was just entranced  by it and then it was over till next time.

The only bad thing was the prices of somethings like  $16 for a popcorn not large but a medium one....Water was $5.50 a bottle thank goodness I brought my own for the kids but otherwise a great day was had by all I even caught Kevin bopping to some of the songs....

God that man is cute I mean he took a day off work to take 2 kids to a Disney show and then to sit through it without whingeing  Give that man a beer ha ha  or two NO KEV 2 NOT 3.....

5 years of Books.

For the past 5 years I have made a book every year on the Little Man's  life.It has no one else in the photos just him.

I put the school photos from day care in it ,birthday,Santa,you know what I mean just my favorite pictures from the year.

I was late doing 2011 due to being sick but finally got it done late last year so this year I was prepared and as soon I finished Christmas bang!! I did the book for 2012.

Just picked them up  today and they are fantastic...I order 1 for me (of course ) and another for my mum ,Kerry, Lisa (his godmother) Deb (my step sister ) .I have done that for the last 5 years so we all have a set.

It was good today as the LM and I sat down and went through the books and talked about different pictures.He has grown so much but you don't realise it till you look at all the older photos.

I don't do much writing in the books but this year I did..... I wrote what the LM's favorite colour ,movie, and food was (gee that was an eye opener)ha ha and a few other bits.

 I also scanned the writing of his name and put that in.

This will be the last of this type of book I make. I have  a similar book idea I want to do for this year as it is his first year of school and I am also doing a 365 book online.

All these book were done via Big W which I think is probably the best of those out there doing the books.
I wouldn't touch Snapfish again if you paid me and with  Target books the software is not user friendly.The ultimate book makers are Memento but they are quite expensive.I know you get what you pay for but just to do a everyday book it's too much.

I did our wedding book and 2 others using Memento and I love them.  Anyway if you are going to do a book I would recommend BigW... these books are usually $20 each but I wait till they put them on sale (which is quite often ) and then I get them for $10 each which is great when you are buying  a few.

The best thing is they only take around a week to process which is also a bonus.I won't kid you though I have had trouble with some of my orders but they always fix it no problem so I am happy and will continue to use them.

It's just a nice way to display your photos instead of a photo album where they get lost (or people take the picture saying they will give it back .....sure you will ).We have quite a collection now and I imagine that it will just continue to grow......

A couple of quickes....

Hi I just had to post these as I was impressed by how both turned out.

Firstly I made these little custard tarts for Kev as a surprise (actually they were part of a test run for Kerry's baby shower ha ha ).
I bought the pastry shells from Cole's were they are $5 for 12.You can get either sweet or savoury.They are great just to have in the cupboard for visitor's when you don't have time to make the pastry.

I just made a thicker custard than normal so it set quite fast.I cut a strawberry into quarters and "BOOM" quick custard and strawberry tarts.

I have to say this Kev ate them all so they must have been good.

Next I saw these little jars on the net everywhere and thought what a cute idea one day I will make one.Well yesterday was "one day"..I just got a little jar that once had jam in it and went through LM's bits and pieces and found this little kangaroo.

I glued the kangaroo onto the lid and then just spray painted the lid red."Fantastic" is how it looks .I put some little lollies in the jar and it now sits on my desk.I will give it to the LM soon but I want to make a few in different colours and sizes to put on one of his shelf's.

PS it looks like I changed the colour in the last picture but it was just the light....

These are the LM's tomatoes.We are teaching him about growing things so bought some tomatoes.They haven't done so well this year with the heat and such but yesterday LM was so excited to see these he had to pick them straight away and said "dee can make me a salad with these Do you want some Da?" how cute........small salad....

Chicken wrapped in Prosciuto with prawns

Now when we were talking about New Years Resolutions one of the things I said I wanted to do and was on my "list" was to try different types of meals for dinner.

Well tonight I made my effort and the results were YUM .....

I made chicken wrapped in prosciuto with peach and rocket salad  with prawns.What a mouthful but gee it was a yummy mouthful ha ha ha

Firstly I wrapped a chicken breast in prosciuto  using a tooth pick to keep in place.Then cooked it in a fry pan for a couple of minutes each side transferring to a oven proof dish and cooking in oven till cooked.Meanwhile I washed some baby spinach,peeled and cut up a  couple of peaches  and put on the plate.Now this is all the recipe did but I thought it needed something else the plate didn't look like a full meal....So I had some green prawns which I was going to use the next night  so I put some oil and crushed garlic in a frying pan added the prawns.The smell was amazing.

It was just what it needed to finish this dish off.Kev loved it.LM said the prawns were yuck and just ate the chicken and 'bacon 'thats what he calls proscutio...I thought it was going to be weird having chicken with spinach and peaches but actually it was really nice...

I am just glad I am taking note of my to do list and not ignorning it ha ha ha ..Kev said "we will see how longs this lasts"

I said "hope you choke on your chicken "

I will be making this again...hope you give it a try as well.

Baby Shower cake part 1

The baby shower is getting close and I have been looking at pictures of cakes on the net and thought how beautiful and that's what I want for Kerry's shower.

I bought 2 of the cutest little icing joggers for the top I have the colours worked out but now for the cake......

I used to do wedding cakes and such but that was years ago and I want this to be perfect for Kerry so  I rang a couple of cake shops up to find out how much for the 8inch cake and a 6 inch cake -they gave me the price for mud cake as it was cheaper and they were to cover it in fondant and all I have to do is the fun part and decorate it.

Well I hope you are sitting down because I wish I was when they told me the price $180 for the cakes undecorated I nearly died.

Now I can be stupid with money especially when it comes to things like this (if it is for Kerry I will get it no problem no thinking of the cost ) but not this time...

I am going to just do it , like I know I can do it but I am scared as it has been so long since I did a proper cake.

I am not doing mud cake either forget it .If I am going to do it it will be done right and its fruit cake all the way.

My dad's mother years ago (crap almost 30years) gave me this recipe for a fruit cake that she used to do and decorate and it is a wonderful light fruit cake the best you will ever taste.....So today I cooked my cakes..

Pictons fruit cake

2 x white wings sultana butter cake mix
1 kilo mixed fruit
3 teaspoons mixed spice
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 eggs
6 oz butter (real butter )
3 tablespoons water
sherry brandy or rum

preheat oven to medium heat I used 160

put all the above in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon around 60-70 strokes.
place in a well greased  tin and bake 1 1/2 -2 hours....Remove from oven pour over brandy wrap in towel till cool.

You have to try this cake it is truly a yummy fruit cake and so easy.....Why are there 3 cakes when I only need 2? I have a husband who loves fruit cake and you know what they say the way to a mans heart is through his stomach......I just like spoiling him.

Now I have to cover it YUCK not looking forward to that.Oh well I let you know how that turns out