new zealand goodies give away sneak peep number two

sneak peek number two

so we have 7 food goodies, a sheep (of some description), and these, i wonder what they are!

 ... sneak peek three tomorrow :)

i am giving away a box of new zealand goodies to one lucky person this week ... all you have to do is leave a comment (or a few!) during this week and you will go into the draw to win!

prize will be drawn on monday :) 

day 252: key issues

the nail polished keys ... no more guessing for me :)

day 251 and we have lots of keys for our house ... there's front door keys back door keys, shed keys, store room keys and they all look the same, especially to our peeps!  it is very tiresome constantly looking at my keys to find the right one so i am going to use one of the cool ideas i found on pinterest to solve this problem :)

this idea of painting your keys with nail polish i pinned from a day in the life of miss kranz onto my ideas for organisation ... i loved reading that she too got the idea from pinterest!  who ever did this first ... genius.  i am seeing a lot of time in my future simply because my keys have pretty nail polish on them ;) so the family and i are all at the same page with our keys, i did everybodies ... all colour coordinated and finished them off with some hardening top coat nail polish.  i did do both sides of the keys, painted the first side then turned them over and painted the other side.  to make the process a little quicker i used fast drying nail polish!

the before of my keys!

my sweet mum was on hand for photo taking!

outcome: no more having the peeps come with the keys asking which key is for what door, no more stumbling at the door with my packages searching for the right key for the door, no more *&^%&;%^*(% because i got the key choice wrong ... yes, it is fair to say today's creation is going to enhance the quality of my life no end!

my gratitude to miss kranz for finding the initial pin so we could both make our lives less complicated by using nail polish, and, of course, my favourite friend pinterest for always providing me with life simplifying solutions!

 don't forget to keep those comments coming, every comment goes in the draw to win a box of new zealand goodies :) sneak peek number two is coming right up ...

a sneak peek at some of the give away goodies

sneak peek number one :)

i figured i would give you a sneak peek at some of the food goodies in the give away ... i can tell you there are 7 foodie elements, and thanks to jen and jenny we know there is also a sheep of some description ... more sneak peeks later today :)

remember all you need to do is leave a comment during the week to go in the draw to win a box filled with new zealand goodies.  you can leave a comment every day if you like to have more than one chance in the draw ... good luck :)

day 251: buttermilk spice muffins

this is a good muffin to have butter with

day 251 and we have ALL been filling up on some very tasty, but not so healthy, valentine's food!  today it's time to get back on track and start with some healthy eating again.  i while ago i pinned 15 healthy muffin recipes from family go to my recipe must do's board on pinterest.  i figured these recipes would come in very handy for the peeps morning teas.  there were lots of yummy looking options and while they aren't the healthiest recipes i have ever seen, they are better than store bought because at least their are no additives and preservatives in them.  definitely worth trying them out and overcoming my fear of muffin making ... i have made some absolute rocks in the past~!

i settled on the buttermilk spice muffins as my first try ... i had all the ingredients and some leftover buttermilk from the red velvet cupcakes, i figured it was a sign ;)  AND almost no heavy machinery for this creation today, the arms get a work out with the whisk instead ... except for the topping which uses the food processor, even i couldn't think of a way to get around using this appliance.  i always look at a muffin recipe and think "what could possibly go wrong?"  they always look so easy to make and yet they are so hard to get right and taste delicious.

as with all muffin recipes i followed this one according to the instructions without deviation. they were made and ready for the oven in 15 minutes which was nice, they dishes with the food processor weren't so nice, but the topping did look so good :)

the batter that i tried not to over mix!

the crumbly topping ... tasted really nice actually!

the finished muffins ... see what i mean about the topping

outcome:  as far as muffins go, i think these are probably just ok ... the topping didn't stick to the muffins, so if you do make them, press the topping in as opposed to just sprinkling a tablespoon over like i did.  they tasted really nice, not spectacular but definitely not chooky food ;)  i don't know that i will make this recipe again simply because of the topping and because the actual muffin was a little on the dry side so needed butter .... but seriously, this could be just my ability to make muffins ... i kid you not, i am a total tragic when it comes to making muffins.  i think i will try their lemon raspberry muffins next ... i will not give up on muffins ... YET!

my thanks to family go fro the healthy muffin recipes, while this one probably won't be done again, there are 14 others still to try :)

still to come today, a sneak peek at some of the goodies in my new zealand box give away ... so keep those comments coming :)

day 250: happy valentine's day

happy valentine's day everyone ... hopefully you have been shown some love by someone special today!

day 250 and we had a lot of hearts around our home today ... i was very lucky and woken at 6am this morning by my sweet husband who had made me a pinterest inspired crepe paper rose ... I KNOW ... apparently he figured he should do something pinteresty to show how much he loved me, well it took my breath away so i'm keeping him for good ;)

our very festive looking dinner for valentines :)

today's creations were inspired by all the hearts i have seen pinned all over pinterest in the last couple of weeks.  i started with making the peeps heart shape sandwiches for lunch .. they were very appreciated!

heat shaped sandwiches for lunch

i then made dessert for tonight in heart shaped moulds ... jelly topped with chocolate mousse :)  they went down an absolute treat this evening.

everything just tastes better in a heart i reckon!

for our actual dinner we had home made chicken burgers with heart shaped cheese and these egg in a heart shaped basket thingees!  the valentine's day egg in the basket things were inspired by these ones from petite kitchenesse.  it was a beautiful evening, so everything ended up on the bbq and it looked very romantic with all the hearts floating around!

the ingredients for the heart shaped egg baskets :)

the chicken burgers definitely tasted better with heart shaped cheese ;)

our heart shaped dinner was delicious ... not fabulous for the 17 day diet, but too good to miss!

along with yesterday's red velvet cupcakes and all the heart shaped eating today, the 17 day diet took a day off ... oh well, back to it tomorrow.  in the meantime, the valentine's food we ate today was absolutely delicious and perfect for getting us into the spirit created by st valentine :)

my thanks to all the wonderful valentine's inspiration i have seen on pinterest, especially to petite kitchenesse for inspiring such a cool heart shaped eggy bread.

finally don't forget to leave a comment, all those that do throughout this week go in the draw to win a box of new zealand goodies ... i will show you some things we have been collecting tomorrow ... :)

new zealand goodies give away

it's a give away ... there's a lot of love about this week, so i thought i would share some with my treasured blog friends :)

i have a box full of new zealand goodies to give away ... the goodies are all my favourite things from new zealand.  over the next few days i will be sharing some of them with you, the remainder will remain a surprise for the winner!

all you have to do is leave a comment this week even just to say "hi" and you are in to win ... it's my way of saying thank you to all the lovely people that visit my blog during the week.  the winner will be drawn next monday.

in the meantime, have a wonderful valentine's day tomorrow!

day 249: red velvet cupcakes

red velvet cupcakes for valentines day :)

day 249 and is there a recipe more perfect for valentines day than red velvet cupcakes?  i think they are the best idea for this day of love so today i am making them for my sweet husband and mum to take to work for their colleagues ... and, of course, the peeps and i will be saving a couple for morning tea tomorrow (totally taking morning tea off my 17 day diet so i can take part in eating one!).

i found this recipe on pinterest from joy of baking and it looked like one i could follow, even if it did require heavy machinery for the batter AND icing :)  it's worth it, after all valentine's day only comes once a year and we are talking about cupcakes here!  the recipe is pinned to my st valentines love board on pinterest.  i didn't sift the flour, i never sift, i should, but i don't.  apart from that, the recipe was followed according to instructions :)  i didn't watch the video clip, but for those who want a more in-depth recipe, there is a you tube demo provided.

there was a lot of red and pink at my house tonight ...

and things got even redder :)

lucky for me this was a family affair and everyone helped ...

even the peeps, pollyanna was in charge of mixing the frosting :)

and there they are ready to have their chocolate hearts added ... we made almost fifty of them!

outcome:  SO GOOD!  i love these, definitely going to do green ones for st patrick's and put gold coins on top! they are quite labour intensive and have ingredients for miles but they are totally worth it ... so cool looking and the sneaky taste i had was divine!  hopefully everyone at both workplaces will love them too :)

my thanks to the joy of baking website for this cool recipe ... no doubt about it these cupcakes are RED!  not surprised with so much red food colouring, totally perfect for valentines :)