Wardrobe Wednesday - Floaty and Floral

Its my first time taking part in Wardrobe Wednesday.  I am such a jeans and hoodie type girl - mainly because I am so busy and the effort to dress up often just eludes me (read into that - I am too lazy).  That doesn't mean that I don't want to though.  Trust me, deep inside me there is a girly girl that loves her skirts and hair long and probably should of been born in the fashion of the 60's.

So each Wednesday, I am going to try to make more of an effort to get out of my jeans.  No promises though.

My outfit today - Skirt $3 in a half price ticket sale at Salvation Army.  Singlet - $6 from Kmart.  Sunglasses are dutyfree from Sunglass Hut.  I was wearing leather sandals, but they forgot to get in the photo.....

Joining in over here

Coconut and Chocolate Slice

I made this to take to playgroup on Friday, and its extremely addictive.  You can't just have one piece.  Unless you are dieting of course, then you had better not even go near it, because its just too tempting.

You can add jam between the base and the coconut layer as well.

BASE
80 grams Dark Nestle Melts
80 grams chopped butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly whisked
1 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

COCONUT FILLING

225 grams shredded coconut (I used dessicated this time as I didn't have shredded)
1 x 395g can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, lightly whisked

CHOCOLATE TOPPING
100 grams butter, chopped
350 grams Nestle Dark Chocolate Melts

Add all to list

Add to my Shopping List

Preheat oven to 180°C and prepare a slice tin (approx 18 x 26cm) with non-stick baking paper.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan quarter filled with simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water).  Stir occasionally until the chocolate melts and is smooth.

Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the chocolate and egg, and stir until well combined. Sift the flour and cocoa into the mixture, and stir until well combined.

Press the mixture evenly over the base of the prepared pan. If you find it a bit sticky, just lightly wet your hands so the mixture won't stick to you.  Bake in pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until firm to touch.

To make the coconut filling, combine the coconut, condensed milk and eggs in a bowl.  Spread evenly over slightly cooled chocolate base. Bake for 25 minutes or until very light golden. Set aside to cool completely.

To make the chocolate topping, melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat.  Add the chocolate and stir quickly until the chocolate melts, take off heat and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Pour the chocolate mixture over the coconut filling.  Either set aside in a cool place till the icing sets or place in the fridge to set.  Once set, cut and enjoy.

Kids in the Kitchen

Danger Mouse loves helping me in the kitchen.  Every time I bake, he drags up a stool and begs to pour, sift and roll.  It has taken me a while to truly relax and let him go for it.  Yes, Mrs Control Freak here - if the biscuits were not rolled nicely I would have to redo them.  I would freak if he sifted flour all over the place. Its taken me a while to get over myself, and its actually been really hard, but I have managed to let go of the control and just watch him enjoy himself creating ... or destructing.  Same thing when you are 3.

So why not throw him in at the deep end and get him icing cupcakes with a bag and tip.  I wasn't expecting great things, thinking the bag would possibly be too big for him to handle, and the icing too hard to squeeze out.  I was imagining towers of icing overflowing each cake.  I even thought the tip would end up loading massive amounts of icing straight into his mouth.  Of course I underestimated him.  This kid has been taking it all in.

He even got all creative on me and topped each cupcake with a flower of pink.  I reckon by age 5 I'll have him swirling beautiful creations on cupcakes! 

I am so pleased I have managed to let go of my parental dominating control when it comes to baking.  Danger Mouse is awesome in the kitchen.



Mum, A Mouse!

I plated up the kids dinner last night, and Sprat cried out to me "Mum, there is a mouse in our dinner!"..... sure was, a chicken mustard mouse!

Kids and their amazing imaginations!

Op Shopping Stash

Its been a while.  Again. 

I felt totally compelled to go yesterday, and found myself a stash of pretty summer dresses at Habitat for Humanity.  Time for a bit of boasting.  As mentioned previously I am half way (6 weeks) through my Spring into Summer Challenge.  To date I have lost close to 6.5kgs, and still have 6 weeks to go.  The dresses I brought are all size 12's.  My booty ain't seen a size 12 for a number of years.  Yea baby.  So I took some REALLY bad photos of me wearing my new dresses, because I was overly excited and very proud.  I love dresses.

I have no idea what these cost individually, but all up my stash of all the things below cost me $42.  There were also some books but these made their way straight into the childrens stash.

This is an English label I don't recognise, but is beautifully made and fully lined.

Ezibuy (love how I ironed it for the photo huh ...)



Jay Jays - I may turn this one into something for Ada as love the material but maybe not in a dress for me..

 This next one I love, but not with bare white legs.  You get the idea though...

Pumpkin Patch Skirt for Ada

Another skirt for Ada

Pumpkin Patch jeans for Ada

 Blue doilies 

And for the boys, my most favourite purchase of the lot.



Worst Mummy of the Year Award

I won this today.  Short and sweet.  I was busy taking photos for this blog and I forgot to pick Sprat up from school .... BAD MUMMY!

Thankfully school is only 1km away, and I managed to get there not that long after the bell rang.  My poor boy was sitting in his classroom, shoulders slumped and looking so dejected.  Cue my heart breaking.  The kids and I must of looked a wonderful sight - Danger Mouse was half naked and covered in green marker pen, The Girl was drenched from head to toe and I was rather frazzled.

Bad bad bad mummy.  I have never let my blog, crafting time or otherwise come before the kids.  Danger Mouse and The Girl were having so much fun watching me prance around in my op shop finds.  We were pretending to model and Danger Mouse was trying his hardest to photo bomb me on every photo.  In between my clothing changes The Girl was rushing out to the fountain in the garden and bringing back rocks to put in a little bag she found (hence the wet child).  Maybe we were having too much fun to realise what the time was?

Naughty mummy.  No super mummy in this house today. 

White Velvet Funfetti Cake

I've been trawling the recipes on Baking Makes Things Better again.  Its just all so yummy and tempting.  Decided on the White Velvet Funfetti Cake today, as need to get more oven practice in before the Christmas Cake bake on Thursday.  Plus it looked like a fun cake for the kids lunchboxes.  I used green and blue dinosaur sprinkles, the kids supervised the icing process (read into that there - they ate more icing from the bowl than probably what went on the cake) and they liked the thought of eating the wee sprinkle dinsosaurs in each piece.

Unfortunately my oven has a vendetta out against me.  True story.  Apart from the fact it was made for a family of Smurfs (teeny tiny and wee), it cooks stupidly uneven.  My cakes today were overcooked in all aspects, apart from the saucer size raw patch on the top of each one ... I watched them closely, but that middle patch just didn't want to cook. 

I need to suss this oven before Thursday!  Its D Day for the huge bowl of dried fruit I have soaking in lashes of Brandy.

Afghan Biscuits - The First Bake in the New Place

It has been a totally crazy 2 weeks.  We've been in our new place for a week now, and I am living in a surround of unpacked boxes, piles of 'stuff' that don't have homes yet and general day to day mess.

The children are finding the transition hard and keep asking me when we are going back to our old house to live.  I really want to get the house totally sorted and unpacked to help with them settling, but the energy is eluding me and I am struggling big time.  And am sure it doesn't help that we still haven't found the box that has the boys much loved matchbox cars in it ... Usually by now I am totally unpacked and sorted - am I getting older and slower haha?  Whoo hoo for the long weekend this weekend, no commitments and time to just hang, settle and cruise at our own pace.

I decided to give the kitchen a trial run and bake some Afghan biscuits, using the recipe here from Baking Makes Things Better. 

I haven't found my flow in the kitchen yet, but know it takes a while to get used to something new.  Lucky I had my wee helper to assist.



And while we were busy creating, The Girl decided that it would be the perfect time to escape outside and go for a ride in the rain ... why not?

The hubby assured me the biscuits were devine, as all of the recipes off Baking Makes Things Better are!  I am into week 6 of my 12 Week Summer Challenge, so there is no baking for me.  Here is a bit of trumpet blowing though - 5.7kgs lost in 5 weeks.  Hard work, dedication, determination and self control of crazy sugar cravings - I am just a little bit proud.   When I am finished I will post before and after photos.  If I am brave. 

Roll on this weekend for some quality family time and settling in!

Weetbix and Cranberry Slice

I've been baking galore this week.  I should be packing, as we are shifting next weekend.  I love packing and cleaning.  Said no-one.  Ever.  I would rather be baking.

I also have my 18 year old nephew staying this week, and like most teenagers, this kid can eat.  So I have filled my cupboards with baking in the hope we can fill his bottomless pit.  This slice never lasts that long around here and is easy to chuck together in a hurry.


125g butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup dried cranberries
5 Weetbix, crushed
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line the base and sides of a 16 x 26cm pan.

In a medium sized bowl, place butter, sugars and golden syrup and microwave on medium for 2 minutes or until butter is melted.  Cool.

Combine flour, baking powder, coconut, sultanas, dried cranberries and Weetbix in a large bowl.  Make a well in the centre and stir in the cooled butter mixture and beaten egg.  Mix well.

Spread into prepared pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes.  Cut into bars while still warm.