Button Toy

Paddy always plays with the buttons on the clothes I am wearing. So I thought I would make him a button toy.

Apparently he doesn't like it.....

I don't Op Shop, I Garage Sale

Today's Garage Sale finds....

A set of Australian legend story books for Paddy.

Two brand new hanging lanterns (the other one is blue) for $5

I always pick up cheap baskets and use them to store stuff at home or to put gifts in. Today I got a wicker hanging basket to put Paddy's outside toys in.

I also got a book of card games to take with us on our camping trips when everyone has nowhere else to go and are forced to play cards with me.

One women hosted her garage sale outside her shipping container in the container yard. She was unpacking more boxes as things were being sold. I think I might head back there again soon to see what else she has unpacked.....

Pizza Dough

I will remember one day to take photos of the food BEFORE it is all eaten. Everytime I take the last bite I slam my fist on the table in frustration because I didn't take any photos....AGAIN. Sorry guys.

Pizza has fast become my go-to food when I am out of time or lacking desire to stand over a stove stirring.

Every weekend I make a batch of pizza dough which does us for 6 pizzas for lunch and dinner through the week. I wrap them up and put them in the freezer. They can defrost in a matter of hours (or in about 2 seconds with this crazy heat!)

Here is the recipe I stole from Jamie Oliver.

1kg tipo '00' flour

1 tspn salt

2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast or 6 tspns

1 tbsn caster sugar

4 tbsn extra virgin olive oil

650ml lukewarm water

: Mix together the yeast, sugar, evoo & water in a jug and set aside for a few minutes

: Sieve together the flour and salt.

: Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in your jug of wet stuff.

: Slowly mix the two together.

: Put in a floured bowl with a damp tea towel over the top and set aside to double in size (in the crazy heat yesterday this took about 30 mins!)

: Knock the air out of the dough and divide into 6 balls.

: Use straight away or wrap in glad wrap and then alfoil and freeze.

When you are going to make your pizza, turn up the oven to the hottest it can go and put in a baking tray to heat up.

Get all your ingredients ready to go so you can whip the baking tray out, put the dough on it and assemble the pizza as fast as humanly possible and then back in the hot oven. Turn the oven down then to 180 or 200 degrees and watch it cook away. It will only take about 10mins.

Beautiful and easy I promise!

I don't Op-Shop, I Garage Sale

I started when I was pregnant and has become the thing I must do on a Saturday morning.

There can be some dodgy ones that's for sure but this morning was a cracker!

I bought this great Japanese fabric for $4!! Destined to become a cushion cover I think.

It is made up of all these little story squares, kinda like a cartoon.

This is mine and Paddy's favourite square. He loves birds.

I bought gorgeous doilies, a few books and a bag of wooden clothes pegs to turn into little people.

All up a total spend of $18.50. Gotta love garage sales!

Improvising

Wooden floors and a baby new to crawling = sore knees and lots of frustration.

I found these little things in the "crafts to finish" pile and strapped them on.

After a bit of freaking out and lots of tugging on them they seem to be doing their job.

Next in the crafts to start pile - baby crawling knee pads

Boredom Busters @ Mini-Eco

I have had to come to the realisation that my 10 month old is no longer a baby and needs stimulation to get through the day. Gone are the days of plopping him on the play mat with some toys.

It has been a hard transition having to come up with things to stimulate him during the day. It is my first baby so I have never had to prepare activities and fill in the days before.

So in anticipation of when he gets bigger and the activities need to get more exciting I have been drawn to different sites that offer activities for kids.

I found the Mini Eco site and just loved it. Here is a link to her Boredom Busters post that attracted so many ideas for kids activities from her readers.

There are some great ideas here.

Picnic Food - Paprika Chicken & Walnut Wraps

Despite the rainy weather I think everyone needs a good recipe for picnic food. And with my pledge to take snacks wherever we go, I trawled through recipes and came up with this beauty.

Paprika Chicken & Walnut Wraps

3 chicken breast fillets (600g)

1 tbsp mustard powder

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup walnut halves, chopped finely

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 finely chopped basil leaves

salt & pepper

6 wholemeal Lebanese breads

60g baby rocket leaves

1. Combine chicken, mustard, paprika and oil. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to marinate.
2. Heat frying pan over medium heat and cook chicken until brown on both sides and cooked through. Set aside for 20mins to cool.
3. Combine shredded chicken, walnuts, mayonnaise and basil. Season with salt & pepper.
4. Spoon equal amounts of mixture onto bread. Top with rocket leaves and roll up to enclose filling.

Isn't it funny when you write out a recipe you see the steps or ingredients that you changed.

This is what I did...

• I used chicken thighs instead of breasts
• I marinated the chicken overnight
• I used the parsley which is in my garden instead of the basil which I would have had to buy.
• I made flour tortillas instead of the Lebanese bread. We also had the leftover on some Turkish bread I had in the bread basket

Definitely file this one to take on your next picnic.