Easter Activity: How to dye eggs

I am getting right into Easter mode at the moment, I go crazy for it, don't ask me why.  I just do.  I think perhaps because Christmas is such a busy time for me with Laura and Olivia's birthday right near it - Easter symbolises a more relaxing time.  Also it's autumn and it's getting cooler and I'm feeling all nurturing.  

I picked up that cute little bunny this week and he's going to adorn my entrance hall table.  Olivia has named him Bernard the Easter bunny.. sweet.

Today I'm going to run through with you easy and fun activity of egg dyeing - it's not rocket science but depending on how crafty or creative you are it can become incrementally more fun.   Make them with the kids or by yourself for a bit of craft therapy - use as an Easter centrepiece or gift to friends and family.  

Have fun!

You'll need:

hardboiled eggs

rubber bands, white crayon or candle you can shave into a pencil tip

dye (I used 1/8th tsp of wilton gel dye but you can use Queen brand too)

white vinegar

Method:

You'll need to hardboil your eggs (I boil them for about 8 minutes straight from cold water) and then ensure they are fully cooled.  I put mine in the fridge overnight.

Make your patterns by stretching rubber bands over your eggs and drawing on them with the crayon/candle.

Aren't they cute?

In a tall glass mix (for each colour) 1/4 cup white vinegar, your colouring and 1 cup boiling water.  Mix well.

With a mini ladle or long spoon lower your eggs in one at a time - leave them 1-3 minutes depending how dark coloured you'd like your eggs.

Have some paper towel on standby, lift the eggs out, draining any colouring you may have on the spoon or ladle, then place on the paper towel to dry for about 5 minutes.  Wipe off a little before storing.

You can go absolutely crazy with colours/double dip or even hand paint bits if you like!

 

Have you made your plans for Easter yet?

{EASTER} Activity Report: Hunter Valley Gardens

We love to get out and about at Easter - I try to limit the day trips to a few a week at most during the holidays because if it's more (and I made that disastrous mistake last year) you resume life after the holidays feeling like you didn't have a holiday at all!

Those who live in the greater Sydney region and who have kids anywhere from 1-9 will want to mark this in their calendar... a day trip to Hunter Valley Gardens is so so much more than just pretty surrounds - it's a fun family experience.  No one has to get on a roller coaster -there are no hideous sideshows or overly sugary distractions - just honest to goodness family fun.

As we're arriving we pass the Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory and the Lolly Factory but we'll be late for those who we're meeting so we vow to ourselves we'll stop in our way home....  we arrive and there's a train waiting for us to take us on ride ......

But it's full!  So we get ourselves acquainted with one of the entertainers - my girls LOVED the hula hoops - we have them at home and the moment they were out their eyes widened and they were like WOW!

All the kids (and even some of the parents) were 'rainbowed' too.  Very cute.

Then it was time for the train ride - remember if you're 1-9 this can be the highlight of your day...

The gardens are magnificent - there's many of them and the walking is not hard - easy for prams - it's tranquil and very relaxing.  There's tons of picnic tables and grass ready for picnics and if you don't feel like bringing your own there's a brasserie on site too.

Here's some of the scenery:

But folks that's not all, not all AT ALL.

During the Easter long weekend (22-26th April) there's going to be an eggstra (sorry couldn't resist) incentive to get along to Hunter Valley Gardens... so much to do and see!

Easter craft, gingerbread decorating, Hunter Valley Glee club, colouring in competition, hatching chickens (so cute!) and GAMES.

Easter egg hunt: and don't worry your kids aren't going to be beside themselves on chocolate... they are plastic but can be exchanged at the end for a cadbury egg...

Egg and spoon races - this was hilarious!

And sack races!

and there's a jumping castle too!

Full program is here

It all happens at the Storybook garden - which was by far my girls' favourite:

There's all your favourites there:

(all the kings men with Humpty - not real people, not real!)

You can sit with Alice and all her mates at the tea party! (This is where we found lots of eggs!)

There's literally loads of the story book displays.. this is another - Jack and Jill

We were very lucky on the day we visited we also saw a croc stars show with Kevin - I actually learned so much about how reptiles protect us from spiders (not a fan here) and help farmers with locusts etc.

Baby Saltwater croc!

Shingle back lizard

Everyone pat them too, even if you're nervous!

Turns out when we were leaving we had such a great time we were too worn out for chocolate or lolly factory.... so we've vowed - next time.. there will be a next time we'd also love to check out the number of gift shops on site too.. maybe we just need a weekend there!  Thank you to Hunter Valley Gardens for our invitation and a lovely day had by all!

Easy Peasy - Cookies and cream icecream layer cake

You may remember my little Laura has a boyfriend - Master Z - they had a little farewell last Friday and Master Z gave Laura a little easter egg with a big 'LOVE Z' on it.  She was quite chuffed.   Poor little mite had his tonsils out yesterday in the hope that it might cure his sleep apnoea  - such a scary thing - Laura had apnoea when she was born - but grew out of it at three months - I can't imagine how scary it has been for Z's parents... so I do hope it's the answer to their prayers.

Laura asked me what happens when you have your tonsils out - and I gave her the brief rundown and told her you need to eat plenty of cold things like icecream and jelly whilst your throat is recovering because it's swollen and throbby for days afterwards.   She asked if we could make some icecream for Z which was such a sweet idea - but it's been a really busy week and I thought I'd cheat a little and make something a bit more fun than just icecream.

My Mum used to make this with vanilla or chocolate icecream and jaffa thins when I was a child - but I haven't seen those for years so this recipe uses these chocolate thins - they are imported from NZ by Coles.  They are super thin biscuits with one side covered in chocolate.

Ingredients:

1.5 packets Griffins thins biscuit (any thin chocolate biscuit would suffice)

2 litres cookies and cream icecream

Method

Line a loaf tin with cling film

Line the bottom with biscuits

Spoon about a 1cm thickness of semi melted icecream over the top, then add another layer of biscuits on top.

Continue to do this until you get to the very top of the loaf tin (Or run out, whichever comes first!)

Cover the top with more cling film and put in the REFRIGERATOR (Can you believe I originally wrote oven??!) for at least 3 hours.

Just before serving, remove from tin and take off the cling film and turn onto a tray and slice - serve with an Easter egg - just for easter if you want to serve it that way! (You might have just overdosed on hot cross buns by then...?)

When I was 17....

image: Flickr

• 1 lived 20km from where I live now
• I was in Year 11 at High School
• I was studying three languages at school
• I wanted to be a linguist
• I loved INXS, Sting and the Police, U2
• I bought Cosmo Magazine and sometimes Smash Hits
• I taped my favourite film clips on the VCR.
• A highlight of our family's week was watching the Comedy Company on Sunday night.
• I went to Naval cadets on Saturday - I loved to sail
• I got a spiral perm
• I loved hairspray and charlie perfume
• I slept in a single bed and my bedroom was pale pink and blue.  Very 80's.
• I had my first boyfriend who owned and could drive his own car
• I met my now best friend, we weren't best friends then but I did introduce her to her now husband - who was my first ever boyfriend (and is now good mates with my hubby - how incestuous!)
• My must-have gadgets was my walkman and my ghetto blaster.
• My favourite meal was thai coconut chicken curry (My Dad made this at our house)
• I couldn't wait to enrol to vote
• I kept a diary
• I couldn't wait to grow up and leave home, travel the world!

What were you doing at 17?  Link up your blog entry or just tell me here!

Sunday Baking Project: Little Pecan tarts

Hello friends!

I hope your weekend has been a pleasurable one.   I spent most of yesterday cooking and cleaning out my fridge... oh my I had a few unidentified fridge objects (UFO's) in there.  I feel so virtuous now.  I also got cooking some comfort food for my frills - slow cooker macaroni cheese using some delicious red american cheddar.  

I also made these.  Pecan pies and tarts always remind me of my aunt - I remember she's fond of these little bits of heaven. This recipe makes twelve mini pecan tarts, or 1 large one (but I'd halve the pastry portion).

I'm off to a picnic today so I'm sure there won't be any left in our basket when we return.  The frills were all begging me for one when they cooking - they are hanging out - of course I sneaked a test, you know, to check they were alright and everything - I've got to say as much as they are nice cold, out of the oven they are something else!


Recipe adapted from Stahman Farms
Ingredients
Pastry
1 1/2 cups plain flour
180 gr cold butter, diced
3 tsp caster sugar
1 egg yolk
cold water


Filling:
2 cups shelled pecans
3/4 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup cream


Method:
Firstly we make our pastry by either rubbing in butter with your fingertips into the flour and then mixing in the egg yolk, sugar and enough water to make it a smooth dough.

Alternatively you could mix all the ingredients in a food processor and process, adding a little bit of water at a time until it comes together.

Wrap dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes - during this time preheat your oven to 200 degrees c.

Grease your tart tin/s and roll out your dough on a floured surface until about 3mm thick.  If using mini tart tins it's easier to cut out with a cutter/bowl around the approximate size of your tins.

Press into the edges and take off any excess from the sides..

Cut some squares of baking paper and place inside the tart and cover with rice or dried beans (or pastry weights if you have them don't worry if you don't)  Place on a baking tray, and bake for 20 minutes or until light golden brown.

Take out of the oven , remove the baking paper and the beans an return to the oven for another 8 minutes - this will make the base crispy and avoid the filling absorbing into the pastry.

Meanwhile, whisk the maple syrup, brown sugar, egg and cream together.

When you take the casings out of the oven, turn down the oven to 160 degrees c and add your pecans to the casings.

Then pour the filling in over the top, until just full and bake for another 40 minutes or until set.

Allow to cool completely before turning them out - then you can store them in an airtight container for a couple of days - you could even freeze them if you were making ahead - I would just reheat before serving if that's the case... 

So are you drooling?

Low Fat Friday with Lucy: Veal Stroganoff - not spiky!

Hi everyone!  Today I have the lovely Lucy from Diminishing Lucy here to give us a low fat Friday option - I'm very sure I'll be giving it a go myself.  Lucy who lives in Adelaide is someone I became 'twitter mates' with about a year or so ago and we just 'clicked'.  We have a very similar approach to blogging, and our kids are of a similar age - and she has an Olivia. We finally met a few weekends ago and it was one of those times where someone is exactly how you expect them, and our online life easily transitioned to a 'real life' friendship.  Whilst swapping kiddy pics on our phones we were very shocked to discover that her Lexie and my Olivia look like identical twins, seriously!   We'll be catching up again over the Christmas holidays with the kids - will be great to see how they measure up in real life!

Liss has a number of stroganoff recipes, so I wondered at the benefit of another. But then we both realised that everyone loves a strog, especially as the seasons change and the slow cooker comes out.

And this version is a very easy, very low fat, very child friendly stroganoff.

My children (Olivia who is 7, Charlie who is 5 and Lexie who is 4) are all enamoured with it, and it was at their request that I cooked it this week.

It is mild but still has a little zing to it. My children like spicy food. They eat mild curries and chillis and mustard and if a dish is spicy, Lexie tells me "it tastes SPIKEY Mumma...I luff it."  I use veal as it is naturally leaner and lower in fat than beef.  Instead of sour cream, I use natural yogurt - it contains a fraction of the fat and a much higher protein value. The carrots add colour and sweetness.

It is far removed from a traditional stroganoff, but delicious and comforting and creamy and entirely guilt free.

Low and Slow Veal Stroganoff

500g lean veal strips or cubes
1 onion, chopped into chunks
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup of beef stock
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 cup button mushrooms, cut into quarters

200g tub of low fat natural set yogurt

1. Place the veal, the onions and the carrots in the slow cooker

2. Combine tomato paste, beef stock, cornflour, garlic, praprikas and mustard in a jug and mix well to combine
3. Pour this liquid over the meat and veggies in the slow cooker, stir to combine.

4. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours.
5. 30 minutes before serving, add the mushrooms and combine.

6. Stir in the yogurt to combine and warm through.

7. Whilst you cook some pasta, the mushrooms will soften and take on the paprika flavour, and the yogurt will dissolve to give the strog a divine but healthy creaminess.

Enjoy!

Don't forget your dog at Easter - fun and hilarious things to buy your dog!

I'm giving some thought to what to get for Easter for the sixth member of our family, our Dog Dougall.  Every year he gets Christmas presents, birthday bones and something for Easter.  Last year we got him some new water bowls and a new lead, this year I'm thinking of something else.

As you might know, chocolate is poisonous to dogs, so don't give your hound chocolate for Easter - but I have found some weird and wonderful things on the internet I thought I'd share with you... what do you think?  I'm not as bonkers as I thought, there are MUCH nuttier nuts out there than me I think!

A couple of Gucci toys out on the market for dogs - and that are utterly hilarious is Chicktoria and Beakham rubber chickens. They are $14.95 - 24.95 each depending on size from Dogue

Easter egg doggie treats - I thought these were cute and not too exxy at $5 a packet from Snootypaws (they also have doggie donuts, I am NOT joking)

You could alternatively make my doggie biscuits and ice (or not) with carob like these?

Obviously those swedes at Ikea are enamoured with their dogs too because they have just released the Hundstol - the dog high chair!  It comes with a built in doggy bowl and everything. lead free paint and takes dogs up to 35kgs.. I'm thinking perhaps because it's so cold there in the winter?  There's obviously a market for it...perhaps more couples are opting for dogs than children these days??  Details, dimensions here:




Do you think you'd invite your dog to the dinner table? Do or would you buy gifts for your pets on birthdays/holidays?  Do you think all of this is totally whacko or what?