Lately...

We are in the first week of the term three school holidays. I can't believe the year has gone so fast! We are always so busy, so to spend the last few days of holidays with family has been lovely, here is a little snap shot...

We've been baking

Alexis has been "Super meow meow"

Poppy has been watching the veggies in her little garden grow, finding worms and relocating them here and watering, so much watering.

We watched Poppy dance in the all schools dance event in the last week of school.

They've been playing nicely so far these school holidays, they even weeded the garden for hours.

Tommy and I have been meal planning, especially healthy lunches.

We flew kites.

We stocked the fridge with healthy treats. 

We've enjoyed smoothies most days.

They've explored the 'junk yard' behind our sheds.

We walked, scootered and ridden bikes.

We enjoyed family lunch dates on rainy days.

I have been loving the gorgeous Adore U range.

I've enjoyed quiet baths after the children have gone to bed.

We've walked around the Seaport, stopping for coffee and chips.

We've swam at the Aquatics centre.

And we've pulled out a few board games and old favorites. 

We've been enjoying our own company and re-exploring the town we live in, our family usually has every day booked or double booked in the holidays, so it's been really nice spending time together. 

We are getting busier this coming week, but for now, I'll enjoy the slow paced days.

Happy Holidays! x

Muesli bars

Lately I've been trying to use what we have at home instead of popping to the shops every day(we live about a two minute walk away from a major supermarket). Our pantry, fridge and freezer are constantly full to the brim like we are stocking up for some sort of world ending event. When we run out of something I pop to the shops to get it and end up loading four more bags of groceries into the car. 

My first effort in doing this, has been preparing Tom and my lunch's on a Sunday, saving time and money and leaving out the option of a 'grab and go' not so healthy lunch (mine is usually toast with peanut butter!). I recently tried these Burrito Bowls and they were delicious.

So this morning when I realised I had run out of some school lunchbox bars, I had a poke around and found enough ingredients to make my own, they were a winner with the kids (and big kids) and so easy to make. 

What you'll need:

2 cups of oats

1 cup rice bubbles

1/2 cup of your choice, I had pretzels in the cupboard so I crushed them up and used those, but you could use nuts, m&m's, or dried fruit.

1/4 cup butter

1/4 honey

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

What to do:

In a bowl combine oats, rice bubbles and extra of your choice (I chose pretzels as my children attend a nut free school).

In a small saucepan on high add butter, honey, brown sugar, stir until melted. Then simmer on medium for 2 minutes.

Pour butter mixture and vanilla into bowl and press firmly (really firm so the bars don't fall apart) into a slice tray lined with baking paper.

I topped mine with half mini m&m's and half melted chocolate. You could top yours with white chocolate, mini marshmallows, nuts, pretzels, sultanas or anything floating about in the pantry.

Place in the fridge to set. Mine took about 30 minutes.
Cut into bars, wrap in lunch paper and serve.

The bars we get at the shop can be priced up to about $1.00 a bar. This recipe made 12 bars and cost about $0.20c a bar, and I know exactly whats in them!

Now I just hope there is some left come Monday morning!

Burrito Boxes

Spring is in the air, and we have already been eating dinners outside, refreshing the garden and enjoying lighter meals.

I have been looking for some different lunch ideas for Tom and I, and found these 'burrito bowl' lunch boxes. I have put my own little spin on it, but they are so easy, so I thought I'd share.

In a baking dish (yes I used a foil one, don't judge me), I placed three chicken breasts, 1 green and 1 red capsicum, sliced and two sliced red onions.

I then covered the chicken breasts in fajita seasoning,

then salsa,

and baked in the oven at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked right through.

Then in the little lunch containers (plain pink is an upgrade on the usual 'Disney princess' containers Tom usually gets), I places two table spoons of brown rice, corn, kidney beans, the cooked onion, and cooked capsicum.

Then I topped with the sliced, cooked chicken and salsa and a slice of lemon. I'll also add a little container of greek yogurt to put on top.

I then stacked them in the fridge and voila! Lunches for the next few days.

They will last for four days in the fridge, and this recipe that I created made six lunch containers (I only photographed four).

I can't wait to tuck into one of these tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday! xx

Five

On Friday my tiny twins turned 5. I know people say it all the time, but it really is hard to believe that it was five years ago that I gave birth to my gorgeous little Alexis and handsome Rory, two tiny little babies that would keep me on my toes for the next five years.

The count down has been on for what feels like months, every night for the last two weeks Rory would ask "how many sleeps now?", until finally they fell asleep on Thursday only to wake up as five year olds the next morning. As soon as they were asleep Poppy and got to work on some decorations and Tom got to work in the backyard, setting up the cutest little cubby house that they would find in the morning.

They have been asking for months for a big car seat like Poppy's, and as they had well and truly grown out of their baby car seats it was the perfect gift for my grown up two. 

After present opening and taking Poppy to school, we headed out to Pop's house to have a visit, and go out for a special birthday morning tea. Then we spent some time at home playing with a few toys they got for their birthday and then we went down town to the party shop where Rory and Alexis chose a balloon each.

Then we met Poppy and Aunty Sarah for a special after school treat at our favorite frozen yogurt place '123Yo!'

Then that night we had more family over for pizza and cake.

I was looking for easy options for the cake this year, so this ice cream cake was not only a winner for the twins, but for me also (1 tub of vanilla ice cream mixed with some chopped maltesers and frozen raspberries then put into a cake tin and freeze until ready), I could make it a week before and everyone loved it.

On Saturday night we had a little fire in the back yard and a few friends drop in for some nibbles and for the kids to play, the twins loved showing everyone their new cubby and playing on the trampoline with their friends.

Instead of another cake, I got a bunch of 'sweetie treaties' as my children call them, and made a fun dessert platter to share around.

 So now my grown up two are playing quietly with their new toys, tired after their big birthday weekend.

Enjoy year five my beautiful babies, I know I will enjoy sharing it with you.

xx

Lemons

We don't have a lemon tree in our new home, we just need to sort out our garden and organise where everything is going to go then I will pop a few citrus trees in. 

We are lucky enough to be able to stock up on lemons from Tom's parents beautiful tree, and this year it has been loaded, I have seen a few others in our neighborhood that have been loaded also, and have heard lot's of people say it's been a great year for lemons.

Which works out well for me, as after I had my Melanoma removed earlier in the year, my doctor has changed my diet to boost my immune system a bit, and one lemon a day was on the top of his list.

I have been squeezing the juice of one lemon into a glass of water every morning, which is actually quiet tasty, and on a cold night I sip on a cup of hot water with lemon and honey.

Mornings are always the busiest time of day, and I love anything that is going to make my life easier (who doesn't), so yesterday I spent 20 minutes juicing a big bunch of lemons, putting the juice into ice cube molds and popping them in the freezer, so of a morning I can easily pop a cube into a glass of water.

And of a night a cube will easily melt in a cup of hot water. When the cubes were frozen solid, I popped them out into a zip lock bag and now they're ready to go.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezie!

xx