day seventy six: blueberry muffins

the finished blueberry muffins

day seventy six and it was REALLY hard getting out of bed this morning ... oh my, the kids slept until mid morning as jet lag took hold of us all.  luckily for today, we had nothing but laundry and unpacking planned, but for the rest of the week, we have plenty of things we need to get on with.  that said, i decided the kids would need something exciting to have for breakfast tomorrow morning to help entice them from their slumber.

so this evening i am making blueberry muffins for tomorrows breakfast, pinned to my recipe must do's board is a blueberry muffin recipe from the plated life website that claims these are the best ... cool!  i have had many disasters with muffins and i rarely bake them because they never turn out very nice, but the photos on this website and the really clear instructions made me want to try this recipe :)

the ingredients ready to mix together

this is my attempt not to over mix!

again, no heavy machinery required, only a whisk and some bowls ... i tried really hard not to over mix the batter, then launched them into the oven.  these bake at a high temperature for baking and mine still took a full 24 minutes to bake as they are really large (texas size) muffins :)

ready for the oven :)

outcome:  from the moment they started smelling, they were good!  they are really nice and moist inside with almost a crunchy outer layer, which sounds terrible but is so yummy and their was nothing that was dry about them unlike my usual muffin attempts ... actually they were so good i think i will make them for the daffodil day bake sale on friday :)

my biggest thanks goes to pamela at plated life, maybe my nightmare as a muffin maker is over thanks to some very good recipe instructions and an awesome recipe ... i'll dare to dream anyway :)

its time to send some new zealand goodies

day seventy six and its time to say a big THANK YOU to you all for coming and seeing what i am up to and especially for all those lovely people that leave comments, they honestly make my day!

i received a lovely comment from christina (hello :)) who received the bottle of singapore goodies i sent for my pinterest creation on day sixty two ... it's so good to know it arrived safely and you can see her opening it up with the goodies inside here on christina's blog :)

anyway i thought it would be fun to send some new zealand things to someone in the mail in another bottle given the success of my first bottle sending :)

if you would like to receive such a bottle please leave a comment over the next couple of days and i will get ben to randomly select someone again to send it to on Friday :)

today's pinterest creation will be up later today :)

day seventy five: no sugar oat drop cookies

perhaps not the most beautiful, but full of yummy flavour!

day seventy five and we are back in new zealand, i am so sad to have left my family behind, it was heartbreaking because we had the most amazing holiday with the people we love and adore spending time with.  i miss you so very much sis.

so with this in mind, a lack of quality sleep on the overnight flight, it was time to make some comfort food ... given how much food we ate on holiday i thought i had better make it a semi healthy option and the following cookies pinned to my recipe must do's board seemed to fit the purpose!  the recipe is from the really lovely blog of blueberry girl and they have no butter, sugar, flour, or eggs in them.

add the wet and dry ingredients together and you are good
to shape!

the other exciting thing about these cookies is they require no heavy machinery and come very close to being a one bowl wonder recipe ... you only need to mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl, then combine and shape into cookies on a baking tray!  not bad i say :) remember these cookies aren't going to grow in size in the oven so shape them to the size you want the final cookie to be.

the shaped cookies ready for the oven :)

outcome: these are surprisingly good, i am somewhat amazed given there is no sugar, no butter, and no eggs involved!  they are really yummy, the banana adds a good amount of sweetness with the dried fruit and you get a nice crunch from the nuts.  they are definitely a wholesome winter cookie and they went so well with the cup of rhooibos i had with them!

my thanks goes to blueberry girl for this lovely recipe, it will be well used in this house as my husband is a diabetic (he is sweet enough!) so they fit the bill perfectly!

day seventy four: tic tac toe restaurant style!

tic tac toe in operation :)

day seventy four and its our last day in singapore for this trip :(  i am very sad, i hate leaving my sister and her family, we all get on so well and love spending time together so it is a difficult day.  to cheer up the glum little peeps, steve and i took them out for some lunch at the local coffee shop. 



what you need to get the game rolling!

this idea from how does she featured on be different act normal came to mind while we were waiting with sad kids for our order ... i didn't need it for keeping them sitting patiently, i just wanted to cheer them up a little because all they were talking about was their impending separation :(  this idea is pinned to my home school projects board and when i saw it, i thought it would be a perfect distraction in helping hungry kids who are sometimes impatient waiting for their order!



they were so happy to just sit and play

outcome:  really cool, i was surprised at how quickly this caught the kids imagination ... AND how they weren't that keen to stop even when the food arrived!  i must remember this definitely for future restaurant experiences when the kids get fidgety or are sad for that matter!  i think they loved the novelty of playing with utensils and food items, and that we parents didn't mind :)



the happy boys with their food

my sincere thanks to how does she for this wonderful idea featured on be different act normal ... its so nice to have positive options rather than just nagging the kids to sit quietly :)

day seventy three: monogram tags for presents

the finished package for a special little girl :)

day seventy three and its time for some pretty packaging ... sam and isla are off to a birthday party for a little girl turning six!  pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board is a fantastic, but simple monogram gift tag idea from martha stewart.

what you need :)

i just sketched a letter on rough paper and cut it out so i could use it as a template.  if you aren't confident at sketching you could just print off a large alpha from the computer and use that as your template.  the patterned paper i used was quite thin so i decided to matte the monogram to give it a bit more substance and make it less floppy!  i really like the effect this created and as it was for a girly girl, i added a bit of glitter for some added bling!



the matte and topper......

isla ready for the party....

outcome: the writing is all on the back of the monogram, so it makes a great tag, but the best part is the personalisation of the gift ... this is especially cool for little people that recognise their letter and feel excited by the present because they know it must be for them.  i loved this project, it was quick and easy but the effect was awesome :)

big thanks to martha stewart and her team of wonderful people that come up with such cool, useable ideas!

day seventy two: chocolate lego minifig's

the chocolate in the ice tray worked well but not the m&ms!

day seventy two and it's time for some more lego fun!  my sister and i went shopping this morning to haji lane where we found a gorgeous shop called threadbare and squirrel.  it has the most beautifully designed clothing, locally designed bags, and awesome bits and pieces! we also happened upon this lego necklace i had pinned to my whimsy board which i adore!  we are ALL lego lovers and this made me so happy.  my sister bought the ring with flowers and we felt like kids in a candy store where all your dreams come true!



our lego finds :)

that inspired me to carry on with the lego theme of the day and make some chocolate lego minifig's using the ice tray to adorn the top of the kids ice cream for dessert :)  this idea is pinned to my party ideas board and is inspired by justJENN's recipe website, she uses hers on top of cupcakes and they look SO cool!



the ingredients!

we decided to try and jazz them up a bit by adding a mini m&m to the lego minifig tummy :) apart from that all you need is the lego ice tray and some melted chocolate, and a cold fridge!



the lego minifig's with their m&m tummy's

outcome: not loving the m&ms but the rest of it is really cool an i would just stick with the chocolate for next time! simple is best, and am loving the fact that it worked awesomely well in the ice tray ... this is definitely something i will be using at ben's lego birthday party :)

my thanks to justJENN's for such a cool, simple, and totally doable idea ... it made us all smile and that makes it a winner with me :)

day seventy one: care package for isla and sam

the care package for sam taking shape!

day seventy one and we are enjoying our last few days in singapore with still so much to do ... sadly all the cousins are now starting to fret about the fact they will be separated soon and the holiday will finish :( 

so that isla and sam have something to look forward to after we leave, i am putting together a care package i found on pinterest (pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board) from the martha stewart crafts department.

the idea is that you mail it to someone special, obviously i won't be sending this one but instead leaving it to be found somewhere after we have gone as a surprise :)



the goodies for the envelopes :)

i brought over some things with me with a new zealand flavour for the kids and am also using some things from singapore to stick in for each day ... just some little treats and i'm thinking it will work a little bit like an advent calendar but for only five days :)



the simply embellished envelopes :)

the instructions here are awesome and the embellishing you could do for this project is endless!  for today mine is simple but hopefully enticing for the little peeps these are for.  i love how the whole thing consertina's together and the last envelope flap folds over and seals the envelopes together so efficiently!



the finished care package for sam :)

outcome: hopefully the two little peeps who will recieve these in a couple of days time will love them, for now that outcome is pending :)  as for what i think of this care package ... awesome, love how the envelopes work together and that they are self sealing making it really exciting for the person recieving it ... just make sure that whatever number of days you do do, they are odd otherwise the sealing system won't work!

once again martha's craft department has come up with a gem, regardless of how you use this envelope care package, its bound to be a winner with the person who is gifted it .... and i will certainly be using this again, maybe even at halloween as a spooky advent in the lead up to the witching day!