chicken, leek & mushroom pie

Puff Pastry is my latest obsession in the kitchen. I have made this easy delicious Chicken, Leek & Mushroom pie a few times now and the whole family love it! Clean plates every time. Recipe here with a few alterations to what I already had in the cupboard "make the most with what you've got". I used chicken breast, plain milk from the fridge, and puff pastry instead of vol au vents and added mushrooms. All I did was cook the filling up, then got one sheet of puff pastry and piled the filling in the middle, then laid the other puff pastry sheet on top and folded edges up, brushed with some milk then in the oven for about 30-40 mins at 180 degrees approx. Served with salad that we also already had in the fridge. Scrummmoooh!

custom made seat belt covers

I've said it before.. you either love leopard print or you hate it! It's in your genes. My mum loves it, I'm a fan, so naturally Lacie should love it??!? My baby turned 5, so the perfect gift of course was custom made leopard print seat belt covers.. I made these for her last week and couldn't wait to give them to her. She told her Grandma that these were her favorite present of all! Wooo hoooo. I told you it was in the genes :)

I also made her this little card and sewed on the little garland flags of material. It was a poor effort on my behalf as I "was" going to make real life size ones for her birthday but just ran out of time! Maybe next year? 

 

I had to pick her cake for this year as she wanted a surprise cake. I bet she didn't predict a dinosaur cake?!? This was the easiest one for me to do, as again time hasn't been on my side over the past few weeks.

The Women's Weekly kid's birthday cakes
"huff & puff" page 42

I feel soo guilty that I didn't make more of a effort with the hand and home made little things for her birthday. Maybe next year! Happy Birthday Lace x

dear diary...

This blog thing is kind of like therapy on ones hectic life. So here I go..

Last Thursday night I got a phone call from my husband to tell me I had to take him to emergency cause he snapped his Achilles tendon playing footy with his mates! The poor thing was in agony to say the least. I packed the kids in the car and off we went... well kind of.. after Mitch somehow poohed out the side of his nappy on to the wall, I somehow lost he keys in the car and had to run around mad searching for the spare set (mind you, this is while Heath is turning green with pain and about to pass out), when we were finally on our way I had a huntsman spider (I thought it was a trianchela, but my husband corrected me) as big as my hand sit on the other side of the windscreen and stare me out the whole way... we arrived. Long story short, he had operation the next morning and in a cast for 6-12 weeks! So for me, in short, I now have 4 babies to look after..

My patient has been very good (so far). I get text messages and emails from him from the bedroom if he needs anything.. After bacon & eggs on Sunday I got the kids out of the house and took them to the movies to see Gnomeo & Juliette. We loved it! Yesterday I did some cooking. Heath is a mad raspberry fan, so I found a recipe for White Choc Chip & Raspberry muffins from Julie Goodwins cook book and whipped some up for the patient. They were scrummo!




My kids went a little nuts over my sister-in-laws humus the other day so I made a big batch for them as well. I tried a little too hard on presentation for this picture! ha ha.. that's paprika and a bit of olive oil drizzled on top.. Little Bon is getting into some right now with some carrot and biscuits. If you can smell garlic?? Well, that's coming from my house..

I go back to working 3 days a week in April so I need to get some child care sorted pretty quickly, so in between cooking, nursing and stuff, I drove around my suburb checking out child care... How disappointing. Out of the 70 million I looked I would only leave my children at 2 of them. I need to reassess my situation.

You may hear a little less from me over the next few weeks, or possibly may get swamped with dear diary stuff.. ??

some shorts & some dinner

I headed over to The Remnant Warehouse the other day with a good friend and we both walked out with exactly the same things! How could we pass up a metre of stretch denim for $4!! We also got some other heavy material for the boys in our lives that was also only $4 per metre too. My girls live in shorts and tights and have been looking for a little pair of denim shorts for ages. So, I made some! I used a elasticated pants pattern from Making Children's Clothes sewing book and made a few alterations for a better fit. I'm not one for frilling things up too much, but I found these crochet hearts from Peg's Pieces yesterday and thought they'd look a bit cute on the back of the shorts. The hearts were about $4-5 each, so the total cost for these little shorts were only about $10 each! Bargain I say. Well that was what I told my husband over dinner last night, justifying my fabric purchases "for the family"!!! I also added to him that without the crochet hearts the shorts only cost $2!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and I also have enough denim left for at least another 2 pairs.. That makes it only $1 a pair! So, here they are. The girls love them!

This is the other $4 a metre material in a heavy brown that I also made yesterday. While I was checking out the crochet hearts I found and liked this trim to make the shorts a bit more girly. I have just about finished Lacie's pair but I was 5cm short of the trim and need to get some more! Tip: Measure how much you need and don't guess..

And these are for little Mitchie. I made my own pattern for these shorts as I don't have any patterns in his size (00). I am still thinking of adding a pocket or a patch somewhere but just not sure yet.

After another day of fabric shopping, I needed to prepare an easy dinner for my gang. It was deeeelish!! As simple as steak, baked potato and beans... but the deeelish part was the butter mix I made from a mag I was flicking through.

100g of softened butter
1-2 crushed garlic cloves
1 long red chilli seeded and chopped
1 tbsp of lime zest

Mix together and put in glad wrap and roll into a log. Put it back in the fridge and when meat is cooked to your liking and is on your plate, cut a few slices of this butter mix and put it on your steak. Mmmmmmmm! Too easy. I have stacks left over, but it is sure not to go to waist. A slice in my mash, or on chicken or on broccoli or anything..

For the next week I am doing a clean out of my freezer, fridge and cupboard, so it will be total miss match dinners until I'm ready to re-stock again. I'm actually doing a clean out of my wardrobe as well. I have 2 bags ready for the raggy bin already. So look out kids toys!

I can't think of a title?

I had to finish off our little present for Will this morning. He is 6. Along with the super easy library bag I made, I made this peek-a-boo toy sack. I found the tutorial here. I plan on making about 4 of these bags for Mitchies room and hang them on some little hooks. Fabric bought from Peg's Pieces.

Before the party Bonnie painted every ones nails. Heaths too! Hmmmmm, will he remember before going to work tomorrow??

This is Mitchie at the party today wearing his new t-shirt I made him. It was a scorcher of a day today, so lucky it was a pool party and the kids swam all afternoon. And for some strange reason I nearly fell asleep on the floor laying face down on their bean bag .... hmmmm, I wonder if that had anything to do with my recent late, very late nights?? The sewing machine might have the night off tonight. But I can't wait for tomorrow for Mitch to wear another t-shirt I have made.

my mitchie xx

And I just couldn't help myself in showing you the delicious dessert I made for our good friends last night. Hot Chocolate Baklava with Vanilla Cream.... recipe by George Calombaris in the FEB/MAR Issue of Donna Hay magazine.Totally scrummo!

To all the mums and dads that have their babies starting school tomorrow for the first time, big hugs and smooches to ya all!! Lace has her little meeting with her teacher tomorrow, so the uniform is hanging on the door, shoes are shinny... NOT, due to her wearing them everyday for the past 3 weeks, we have matching white socks which is very rare in our house, the giant school backpack is basically empty as only has her hat which I am sure she will wear as soon as she wakes, and her green monkey bar knickers are ready too.
I pictured having warm cuddles and telling Lacie stories of what she was like as a baby and how big she is now to be going to school, and how wonderful it will be to have her very own teacher etc etc.... Well that sure as hell didn't happen. She decided that she HAD to cut out a felt tie for herself and sew it on a dress up shirt right on bedtime! Clearly telling her "no I don't think so" didn't go down too well, so it was straight to bed with no story and no cuddles. I think I was more upset. But as cleaver as BOTH my angels are they came up with a plan between them both that they were too hot and needed a cool shower! So yes, we all hopped into the shower and another half and hour passed by... BED TIME PLEASE!!!!! Cheeky things.

Until the next time we meet x

"the list"

My brain is going to explode! It is absolutely overloaded with stuff I want to make and ideas I want to try. I have been up to the wee hours of the mornings lately just trying to get through "the list" in my brain. There is something about a list. It's 100% mine and it is 100% up to me to complete. I love a list. I wrote down my list of things to do the other day and showed my Mother-in-law, and she had a little giggle that I wrote down vacuum, wash up etc... amongst other things of cause, like take Mitch to the doctors, get refund on trundle bed, get brake lights fixed etc... But I need a list. Getting through "the list" is like my own personal achievement for the day. My own pat on the back kind of thing. Just like when I make stuff, it's a personal satisfaction that I get from just me. It's getting a bit overwhelming at the moment with my make stuff list. It's growing and growing and growing and I can't stop it.

Anyways, the other day I make a patchwork library bag for Lacies little friend. Well she loved it. Yay!

Now, my latest crafty craze (well the last 24hr craze that is) is stuff for BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!! Where is all the stuff to make for boys???? Well, we have a little boys party tomorrow that I have already make the super quick library bag for, but I also have a great little Peek-a-Boo pouch that is just about finished too. Will show you tomorrow. It's been nice checking out boys material! So keeping with my little boy theme, my little Mitchie needed something just for him. So, I got a few of his plain coloured t-shirts and made these..... (this idea came to me at 11.45pm last night, and I just had to make 3 of them, hence my very late night - cause that's when babies sleep!!)

 

I am soooooooooooooo happy with them!!!! Just LOVE them. I have already been out today to buys some more to make! Yes of course my Mitchie was wearing one of his new tops!!.. Totally GROOVY I reckon! I will be selling these soon cause I reckon really little boys (from newborn to 1yrs) miss out a bit with groovy fun hand made stuff to wear. Let me know if you are interested in buying any. Leave me a comment on this post or email me at sarahbowling@live.com.au

OK, so another tick off my "list", is hand made lables by me! Can you see them on the bottom right hand side of the t-shirts????? It really makes them look like a "for real" label!! Ha ha, but it's just little old me! So, the name freddles comes from a teddy bear that I still to this day sleep with. I love him and I am not embarrassed to say so! I'm a bit proud of myself actually, these labels look exactly how I planned. So you will now start seeing these labels on my creations from now on. All I did was check out if my printer would print direct on to fabric????? Well, it did! I ironed on some light weight interfacing and fed it straight through. Then used my Mumma's old fashioned pinking shears for the edge. Easy peezy!!! A close up for you below..

I'm totally into these!

Moving right along.... The girls have loads of tights and they are now starting to get very marked and warn at the knees, some have paint on them etc etc... So don't bin them. Cut them! I didn't even sew a hem or anything. Hey, let them cut them themselves! Maybe??



As promised to my kiddie-winks, pancakes was on the menu for this morning. Prepared by Miss Bonnie Doon we tried a new thicker fluffy recipe. The verdict was that our thin crape pancakes are way better.

check out my GIANT pancake flipper! an awesome present from my dad!!

Lucky that Bon checked the hen house this morning as we had loads of eggs. We also had a surprise visit from the kids Uncle Shoo Shoo and Aunt Beth. I had no bread or cold meat for lunch, so thanks again to the chooks we had enough eggs for a fritata.

lunch today

I still have soo much to say, but I think it is time for some sleeeeep. We just had a beautiful dinner with our friends at our place and woooo hoooo my home made dessert was a hit! Hot Chocolate Baklava with Vanilla Cream. One from the current Donna Hay mag.

What a Welcome Home!!

After 2 nights away we walked in the door to this...

yummo

thanks Molly & Molly



So it was an omelet for breakfast this morning all from our own home grown produce...

eggs, tomatoes, chives, basil & parsley

How good is that! I'm a bit proud of us. Gee can you tell?

Hand Made Presents

You know when you always drive past somewhere and think to yourself "I'm going to stop by that place one day", well I am on a mission to actually stop and check out everything and everything I have ever been curious about. Hence the latest "I'm going to stop by that place one day" thingie.... Ibrahim Pastry Shop of fine Lebanese sweets. It just so happens to be on the way to Spot Light, so I have said to myself "I'm going to stop by that place one day" quite a few times. And so I did. I'm a big Lebanese food fan. And who doesn't love baklava? We were having some guests over for dinner so an even more better reason to stop by and buy some sweets. Ibrahim Pastry Shop... Tick.

   

412 Princes Hwy, Rockdale NSW

So, now to me and making stuff. I am really trying to do the whole hand made present / gift thing this year. Today I am seeing my dad, his Louise who is the girls Grammy and she is my inspiration. And her beautiful daughter Rina. They live interstate. My dad, Louise and Rina have an amazing story that I will share with you next week. Crazy town AMAZING!!! Anyways.. We haven't seen them for Xmas yet so its present time! And what to make for my dad who is a unique artist himself hmmmmmm? (I will dedicate a blog post to his art soon.) I know he loves my Caramel Slice so I made a whole batch for him for this weekend. Best part is he will have no choice but to share with all of us! Can't wait for afternoon tea today..

My Recipe here

Oh my god... stop it. Way tooo delish.

The next hand made present for my dad is his own design from when he was up last.... A stuffed bow tie. Cool huh? The only thing is, I just that second realised when I looked at the photos below this one, that I made his bow tie the wrong way... Ooops sorry dad. He will know too! It should have pointy ends. Ahh never mind. Oh! And how cute is this... When dad was up last time and we made a few of these bow ties, when he went home he actually went to a fabric shop and bought some fabric and sent it to me!! He's a legend! So this is where I got this light blue fabric from.

the cool dudes and their stuffed bow ties 



Ok, next is Rina. We made her a stuffed felt owl the other day, so she is getting one of those and also this little bag that I had made months ago. It was lucky that I had a little stash of things I had made cause I was running out of time. It fits lunch stuff or just bits and pieces.

Lacie has been felt MAD since we started the other day. She of course had to made Rina a present too. She pinned the heart pattern on the felt herself, then she cut it out, then hand stitched it all by herself!!! I helped wizz around the edges on the sewing machine. She then stuffed it herself. We love it. This is about the 5th heart she has made in 24 hours. Hmmmmm I wonder where she gets that from?

Last, but definitely not least... A bag for Louise. I have made about 50 million of these bags and in the end hated making them. But I hadn't made one for a few months so this was really fun to make. I had all the material needed in my cupboard. Plus, I still use my bag every day and love it! So this is for Louise. Hand made presents done!

I was wondering what I would end up making for everyone... Huh, and this was it.

I'll be hanging out with my dad over the next few days so I might be light on the blog posts.

What have you always driven past and thought "I'm going to stop by that place one day"? Maybe just stop and check it out. 

Cooking, Kids & Sewing!!

The kiddies had a play next door yesterday morning so I got a cook'n! Chicken & Mushroom Risotto and some veggie mince to blend up for my baby boy. Heath fixed the oven today so I whipped up some of our favorite Bran & Date muffins for afternoon tea.. Mmmmmmmm.

 

chicken & mushroom risotto



mince with loads of hidden veg

 


mmmmmm... bran & date muffins!


After helping the neighbours move some wood around to the back of their place, the girls refused to have a shower, as they were covered in sand, so I hosed them down in the back yard!! It was hilarious!! In the end they were rudey nudies running around the yard while Mitch and I chased them. So fun. They also got some soap and had a wash too.. Once all dry and clean we had to eat our dinner on the front step and pretend we were at school eating our lunch in the play ground. And yes, Lacie was dressed in full school uniform, again!! Cubbyhouses was next on the agenda (Heath was out for most of the day and night, so it was just me and the kids). That entertained them for a while, then it was playing shops...

playing shops, cubbyhouse over to the right.
a cushion cover i had made in between them

Finally the kids were passed out on the lounge and mummies time began. I had picked up some cheap stretch knit from Lincraft the other day. It was 50% off and worked out to be $4.50 a metre! So I made this!

This is my 2nd attempt from Make It Perfects Coastal Breeze dress pattern. I made this one 2 sizes smaller that my 1st one so it didn't fall off my shoulders and the band was tight enough to not slip down. I had to laugh at myself late last night... I went to try on the top half of the dress to see how the size was going, and couldn't put my arms through the arm holes???? I had sewn them together!! Ha ha funny me... no patients is my problem. Anyway, I finished the binding on the neck this morning and I like my new dress..

Leave me a comment on my blog to let me know you've been here. Would love to hear from you, where ever you are...

Busy Day @ The Bowlings..

all hands on deck to give our veggie patch some love

molly just laid an egg for bon

finding worms for the chickens

colour my world

my little artists

 

home made pikelets for afternoon tea

home made red onion chutney for a friend for xmas

My Pikelets Recipe (best ever, even if I do say so myself!)

1 cup self raising flour
1 pinch bicarb soda
2 tbsp caster sugar
3/4 cup milk approx
1 egg

Sift dry ingredients into bowl. Add sugar, egg and milk. Hand whisk till smooth. My measuring jug is 1lt or 4 cups so I actually mix the ingredients straight into the jug. Or maybe pour mixture into a pouring jug to pour straight into pan. Otherwise us a ladle from the bowl. Eat warm with loads of butter and jam... mmmm or freeze for school snacks.

Red Onion Chutney

1 tbsp olive oil
4 red onions, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Heat oil in pan, add onions and cook stirring for about 10-12 mins or until soft. Remove pan from heat. Add sugar, vinegar and 1/2 cold water. Stir to combine. Reduce heat and return pan to heat. Cook, stirring every now and then for about 20 mins or until it thickens up and caramelises. Set aside for 5 mins to cool. Put in sterilised jars or air tight container. Great on top of brie cheese and biscuits or on ham sandwich etc etc..