What the weekend brings

Master 10 gets a much needed haircut

Shopping for a new booster seat for Miss 6

Doing some landscaping in the backyard

Planting the pea seedlings in the veggie garden

Planning a new chicken run

Making some tea light candles

Celebrating Father's Day on Sunday in Australia

And just relax.....

Enjoy your weekend x

Fruit trees are blossoming

And a little patch of wild strawberries has started growing in our garden

Enjoy your day today x

Hey Birds, free feed!

Seed is out, free feed, calling all birds

While I was waiting for the birds to arrive, I baked some glazed lemon cookies.

I found this recipe over at cookingclassy.com

I love looking for new recipes to bake. These look really nice and I can't wait to try one.

Look at this! While I was typing this post, two friends arrived.

The photos are abit grainy as I had to take the pictures through the window. I didn't step out onto the balcony as I didn't want to scare them away.

As you can see, he/she was checking where I was!

Enjoy your free feed little friends. You can always come back anytime.

Made a bird feeder with hubby

The weekend was a mixture of going clothes shopping, relaxing and doing odd jobs around the house. The kids watched a couple of movies and played outside. 

On Sunday morning I set up the table for the kids to do some drawing. I laid out a large sheet of paper and put some colour changing markers out. It was good to see them using their imagination and creating some great pictures.

Later in the day, while the kids were watching a movie, my hubby and I made a bird feeder. Our other bird feeder was starting to fall apart so we decided to make another one. It was nice spending time together. I will put some seed in it tomorrow. I look forward to seeing what birds come to check it out. 

Still growing in the veggie boxes

The broccoli has just started to sprout their heads

We are still getting a few snow peas aswell

I hope I have enough room for my peas and tomato seedlings. I have noticed that some of the veggies have grown late this year. I think we need some more sunshine.

What is still growing in your veggie patch? Do you have any veggie's that are growing slow?

Starting the vegetable seedlings

I have found the best place for these guys to sit and get a nice dose of sunshine. It's in our bedroom near the window. They get warmth from the sun and lots of daylight.

Pea Greenfeast

Loving the sun

Tomato San Marzano

These came up in just two days

Saturday fun

On Saturday, Master 10 had two friends stay at our house for a sleep over. Last year he celebrated his birthday at a play centre doing Laser Tag games. So for this year we said he could have a couple of friends over and have a small celebration.

Before the rain came, we headed off to a park for a play. We then visited a local farm and saw a great range of farm animals.

This mummy sheep had three one day old babies

This guy was a cheeky goat

Every time I tried to take a photo he leaned in!

 Again!

In for a close up!

The kids loved feeding the chickens

A gorgeous cow having her lunch

We all had a great afternoon. It was great seeing the kids interacting with all the animals.

How was your weekend? 

Enjoying the sun and Incubating eggs

The sun is shining where I am today. It's good to see the garden getting a few rays of sunshine. 

Guess what these are?

Have you guessed?

Well, they are chicken eggs. Fertile chicken eggs, hopefully.

I am going to hatch some chickens. I have put them in the incubator where they are all nice and warm.

Now, I have to apologise for the picture quality of the incubator but they are in the laundry so there isn't much natural light to take a nice clear photo. I will try and work out how to fix this as I will be taking more photos of their progress.

I invite you to come back and check out how they are going.
See you tomorrow x

Vanilla Pudding Choc Chip Cookies and Cranberry Cashew Clusters

I did some baking for the kids lunch boxes yesterday. After having heaps of cake from their birthdays, I decided to make some cookies and chocolate clusters.

Vanilla Pudding Choc Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

100g packet vanilla instant pudding mix

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2¼ cups plain flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

2. Add butter and sugars together and mix until creamy.

3. Add vanilla pudding mix, eggs and vanilla essence, mix well.

4. Add sifted flour, baking soda and salt, stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Place a tablespoon of cookie dough on the baking paper. Make sure you leave enough room between the cookie dough as they do spread.

6. Bake for 10 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Set aside for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Printable Recipe

This recipe was adapted from the original recipe vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookies.

Cranberry Cashew Clusters

Ingredients:

250g packet dark chocolate melts

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup unsalted cashews

Instructions:

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once melted, remove from heat.

3. Stir in cranberries and cashews, until all covered.

4. Drop teaspoonfuls onto baking paper. Leave them to harden on tray.

5. Once set you can eat them, Enjoy!

Birthday celebrations with family

On Sunday, we had family over to celebrate the boys birthdays. We had birthday cake for afternoon tea and a bbq for dinner. It was a relaxing time spent with everyone and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.

 Somewhere over the weekend, I have caught a cold. My hubby was home yesterday so we both rested and stayed indoors. I found this book downstairs on the book shelf. I bought it last year and read a few pages then put it away. Now that I have slowed down abit with a cold, I thought I will grab a cuppa and sit down and enjoy reading some more of this book.

Maggi Stir Fry Creations

Last week I was chosen to do a review about the new Maggi Stir Fry Creations range. So, Friday night we decided to have an Asian Stir Fry night and try out these Maggi Stir Fry Creations.

Here is a brief background about the Maggi Stir Fry Creations:

The team at Maggi has discovered that the secret to a great stir fry is the layering of flavours.  Working with Asian cooks, they have developed a way for their consumers to do this at home. 

The unique two-step process allows for the perfect depth of flavour as the paste and sauce come together to create delicious Asian flavours. And by cooking the stir fry in steps the meat stays tender and the veg stays crisp.

The unique-two step process uses an Infusion Paste to coat the meat, so that the meat infuses with flavour as it cooks.  And a Finishing Sauce is added as the final step to complete the dish.

Launching into the Australian market in March 2013, new Maggi Stir Fry Creations has captured the imagination of both retailer and consumer alike.  A range of five products give consumers a diverse set of flavours to choose from – some old favourite like Honey, Soy & Garlic, and other more adventurous flavours in Sweet Chilli, Ginger & Lemongrass. 

These products are ranged nationally in Coles, Woolworths & Independent supermarkets for $3.29 RRP.

There are five products in the range of Maggi Stir Fry Creations.
 I was given four products to try:
Chinese Five Spice & Soy Beef
Sweet Chilli, Ginger & Lemongrass Chicken
Teriyaki & Sesame Chicken
and
Honey, Soy & Garlic Chicken

We followed the recipe on the back of the packet and used some of the vegetables that was suggested. You can also use whatever meat and vegetables you have on hand.
We decided to use snow peas, baby corn, bok choy and red pepper.

We also used broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms and beans.
 It was quick to prepare and with all the vegies in it, it works out to be a very balanced meal.


The unique two step process of Maggi Stir Fry Creations delivers those great Asian flavours that are so hard to achieve at home.

The infusion paste coats the meat so it infuses with real herbs and spices as it cooks. 

You mix the infusion paste through the meat and leave it while you prepare the vegetables.

Add the meat to the pan and cook it for 5 minutes. The smell of the meat cooking with the infusion paste smells fantastic. You can smell the flavours of the infusion paste eg. Teriyaki & Sesame Chicken.

Add the vegetables and cook for 3 minutes. Then add the finishing sauce which is the final touch for completing the dish before you serve.

The result is a delicious stir fry that you will be proud to take to the table for everyone to enjoy.

The meat was tender in each stir fry from being infused with the flavour from the paste. 

The vegetables were crisp and all equally covered in the delicious finishing sauce.

Each of the Maggi Stir Fry Creations that we tried were true to the flavours which was read on the front of the packets. All of them smelt amazing and we couldn't wait to sit down and try them all.

A big thankyou to Nuffnang for selecting me to trail this new product from Maggi. The whole family really enjoyed it, and we will certainly be adding the Maggi Stir Fry Creations to our shopping trolley in the future.

This post was brought to you by Product Talk by Nuffnang