day 271: omelette roulade

day 271 and its kirstys husband steve doing the typing again.  kirsty is now comfortable thanks to medication but still not able to sit or walk without pain.  rest assured that everything you see below has been approved by the boss.
i decided to take my own advice from day 270 and make an omelette.  our chooks have ramped up production recently so there is no shortage of eggs.  i didnt want any old omelette though, it had to be a little bit fancy and easy to prepare because it had to feed the family tonight.
I repinned this promising recipe from emanuela jalba to kirstys recipe must do board.  following back to source reveals a blog called chichoskitchen centering around the concept of an internet kitchen......worth checking out.

fresh is best - lettuce, parsley and eggs from our property

the hard bit is next.......flipping

an image designed to depict that something cool is about to happen

pretty cool eh?.....and surprisingly simple

wrapped and ready to go into the fridge

o for orsome

outcome: i chose to rest the omelette on a bed of fresh cooked spinach from our garden.  plating up was complete with a drizzle of olive oil.   taking a step back i admired my creation and wept.  it was at this point i realised i need to urgently (1) bar-be-que some meat (2) skull a beer (3) get my chainsaw and cut down a tree (4) get to my workshop and weld something.

with that done it was time to sit down and eat.  these are an amazing twist on the classic omelette and we all loved them, especially the kids.  i have to admit i had bbq sausages with mine, but they really were quite filling on their own.  thanks to emanuela jalba and chichoskitchen for todays pinterest creation

day 270: rustic rhubarb tarts

day 270 and its kirstys husband steve doing the typing tonight.  kirsty has badly hurt her back and has been laid out flat on the floor for most of today and yesterday.  we are having a family outing to a back specialist tomorrow, but in the meantime its all hands to the pump to keep 365 going!

given the situation, today was about finding something easy to achieve while giving maximum bang for buck!
being a bloke, I suggested food.  because kirsty couldnt sit at the PC to search, i had complete control (subject to kirstys approval of course).

i found this wicked looking rustic rhubarb tart from smittenkitten and knew it would be a winner!  this is pinned to kirstys board recipes for the boys on pinterest (subject to kirstys approval of course).

some of you might look at this and think "what the?...thats not easy, they make the filling and the pastry from scratch".  i totally agree, but it just so happens our neighbours gave us a heap of rhubarb over the weekend.  not only that but we had already cooked it following this recipe.  a quick check in the freezer and i discovered some sheets of sweet short pastry.......all i needed was an oven, and kirsty tells me we have one of those to!!!

two ingredients - but you might be thinking "they should make an omelette instead"

back pain - the ingredients for kirstys supper 

i cut some rustic looking pastry shapes and rustically dolloped the rhubarb in the middle.  then it was a simple task to pinch and fold around to create a pouch of rhubarby rusticness.

started to make four

thought i might want to eat one asap, so made one more

outcome:  im eating one as i type and it is 'o' for orsome (thats a kiwi-ism, not a spelling error).  i made five so i could eat one after the kids went to bed.  we will all have one each tomorrow and i cant wait.  served warm with a bit of yoghurt or icecream, or just eaten cold these are a yummy treat.
kirsty usually thanks people here.  i want to thank our neighbours for the rhubarb, kirsty for buying the pastry, and of course you for tolerating my blogging attempt today while kirsty recovers.  big credit also needs to go to smittenkitchen for the recipe.

day 269: cinnamon swirl bread

day 269 and i have help in the kitchen today with my lovely assistant pollyanna who is going to help me make cinnamon swirl bread.  this is a bread maker recipe from the money saving mom website and the recipe is pinned to my recipe must do's board on pinterest.

just a quick blog post today as i am feeling a little under the weather :(  Polly and I followed the recipe adding craisens instead of raisins.

outcome: the peeps loved it and asked for a second piece as soon as they finished the first one, while my husband came home from work and quickly polished off two slices.....i'd say that was a definite success!

thanks to ben for doing the typing, polly for helping out in the the kitchen and money saving mom for the awesome recipe! definitely a weekend recipe to share with the rest of the family :)

day 268: chicken and apple salad

the chicken and apple salad

day 268 and i wanted something light and yummy for dinner that used some of the already cooked chicken i had in the fridge.  i found this recipe from budget bytes for a chicken and apple salad on my recipe must do's board.  it sounded ideal, not too filling (we had a big yummy lunch, thanks lana!) and semi healthy!

the recipe is for 6 people so i halved it as it was just for steve and i.  you simply add the chicken, roughly chopped apple, and cranberries to a bowl.  the original recipe also adds in a diced red onion, but as i am not overly keen on raw onion i omitted it.  then you make a simply dressing to toss it in using one of my favourite ingredients, dijon mustard :)

the ingredients

put the main ingredients in a bowl, mix the dressing together and you are good to dress and eat :)

the finished salad, it was really good :)

outcome:  one word, yummy ... if you wanted others you could use fresh, easy to make, very quick, delicious, crunchy, economically sound, nice on the palette, time friendly ... you get the picture.  the next time i am in need of using some cooked chicken and want something simple and fresh, this will be on my hit list first :)

my thanks to beth at budget bytes for a really good recipe nobody could mess up and one the peeps will happily eat if i ever wanted to share with them :)  will definitely be back to budget bytes for more recipes if this one is anything to go by!

outcome for day 267:  pollyanna's little friend is fairing so much better today and it was wonderful to see her and give her a big hug.  as for the chick flick gift, she seemed to love it and will no doubt spend some time using the contents tomorrow as she recovers!

day 267: chick flick survival gift

click flick goody bag for a little peep :)

day 267 and we have had a terrible start to this weekend :( pollyanna's best friend ended up in hospital last night with a really serious medical situation ... it was terrifying for polly and for us as we adore her, so i can't imagine what it was like for her parents.  a lot of things happened and in the end thanks to some awesome advice she has come out the other side and is recovering thank goodness.

we know she will be spending a lot of the next few days lying down getting back to full health so this chick flick goodies gift basket from heartland paper seemed like the ideal thing to give her!  the idea is pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board.  polly went shopping with gusto collecting lots of her little friends favourites, chocolate, toys, favourite movie type, popcorn, a magazine, and some other little bits and pieces.

what we put in hayley's chick flick bag

the finished gift bag lined with tissue paper :)

outcome:  we will deliver it tomorrow but i know she will love it.  polly put so much thought into all that went inside so i am sure this little gift of polly's love will make her feel a little happier and help with the recovery


outcome from  day 266:  nicky loved the nuts and she left a note saying they had made her day :) AWESOME!

big thanks to  heartland paper  for their cool gift ideas, this one is perfect for so many occasions and for all age types making it a definite do again :)  ok, go to go, mum is off to singapore today to visit my sister :)

day 266: 'we're nuts about you'

a really cute, versatile gift :)

day 266 and i need a quirky little gift to give our real estate agent tomorrow ... i am sure she thinks we are nuts, but to be honest she is the best real estate agent we have ever dealt with and i am sure at some stage will sell our house for us, especially with all the effort she puts in.  i am VERY aware it's not often you can say this about a real estate agent, we have had some real duds in the past!  anyway, she did some special things for us over the last week so this gift idea from debbie at the happy scraps seems like the perfect little gift for acknowledging her hard work :)  the idea is also pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.

i decided on layering a selection of nuts, made a funky tag, added an angel charm my sweet friend dee made, some ribbon ... and we were good as done :)

the bits and bobs

the filled jar .. i love nuts, i hope she doesn't have any nut allergies  : 0

done, complete with ribbons, tag, and angel :)

outcome:  i'll let you know tomorrow, but i already have four other people who are all happy nuts i plan to gift these jars to also!

my sincere thanks to debbie at the happy scraps for this cool idea that has whimsy and gratitude written all over it, love it and so versatile for so many different occasions :)

day 265: picasso helps me put a mini art gallery together :)

100 days to go, 100 days to go, la la lala la la, 100 days to go :)

ok now i have that off my chest, welcome to day 265, and it has taken me a while to get to this pinterest creation because i have never graffitied anything in my life before the size of a wall ... but i reckon this creation inspired from sarah's tumblr board and pinned to my home school projects board is totally worth it!  in fact, this is one of the first things i pinned about a year ago when i joined pinterest ... who knew then how i would come to depend on my friendship with this spectacular site ;)

any way, let us not get sidetracked from today's creation, where i take to the walls of our classroom with a sharpie and pretend like i am pablo picasso.  really nothing could be truer than the half quote i am writing on the wall from picasso,

every child is an artist

the man was an absolute genius as an artist, but when he opened his mouth it was mind blowing.  some of my favourite quotes come from this man, for example the other half of the quote above is,

the problem is staying an artist when you grow up

another of my absolute favourites is this one from picasso,

inspiration exists, it just has to find you working

ahhh, the man speaks the truth, even when you don't want to hear it.  i have taken so long to put up an art space on the wall as i knew the only way i could achieve it was to hand write it and i really didn't want to have my wonky handwriting on the wall for everyone to see :)  but as the team at pinterest says, 'done is better than perfect' and they are totally right.  the peeps have been churning out some awesome artwork over the last few weeks and they deserved the bare space on the wall to be turned into a mini gallery to show their wares off. so i set to with sharpie in hand and just DID IT :)

the before :)  yes, that is pinterest in on the laptop screen!

the after, before the artwork was installed!

the completed gallery, complete with it's first installations!~

outcome:  the artwork looks superb and the peeps are incredibly proud to have their own mini art gallery ... and they should be.  today was a lesson in getting over ones self and doing things as opposed to worrying about perfection.  i am absolutely certain picasso himself would have been proud of me today, even if aging has taken away my ability to be an awesome artist ;)

i would LOVE to thank the person who's original concept this is, but alas i can not find them :(  whoever you are, thank you.  it's creations like today,s that make you realise how little things like this can make your children's day, and it certainly did :)