Eight

 On the 9th of October Poppy turned 8. She had decided she would like to go rock climbing with her friends instead of having a full blown birthday party (phew!) and it was the perfect activity for my active girl.

The day before her birthday she met with six of her friends at our local PCYC where they giggled, rock climbed, jumped on the trampolines and did gymnastics. It was the perfect catch up as it was the end of the two week school holidays and all the girls were missing each other.

On the morning of her actual birthday Poppy had asked to go to McDonald's for breakfast, as she had never been for breakfast before, so all the children were very excited. She got the hot cakes and a juice and won two free sundaes on the Monopoly promotion stickers, so it looks like another trip to Macca's is to be had in the next few weeks before they run out. 

The 9th was a Sunday and also the day we go to a friends place to watch the Bathurst car race every year, there is always lots of our friends and children to play with so it was the perfect thing to do on Poppy's birthday, one of our friends Lily turned two a few days before, so both the girls had birthday cakes to share. Lily had a great "Dory" cake and Poppy had requested a 'Pinata' cake (where you 'smash' a chocolate dome and reveal a cake covered in lollies underneath!) 

Happy Birthday my gorgeous girl, I hope the year ahead is your best yet.

xx

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

Sharing boards

If you follow me on Instagram (@hollirob) you would have noticed that 'Sharing boards' are my new favorite tummy filler.

Between the five of us, we all like different things, so I'm finding these fun sharing boards a great way to please everybody, and to use up left overs in the fridge from the week before.

The last few weekends, I have whipped one up late afternoon when everyone is "staaaaarving" and then later at night when everyone gets the nibbles again, I pop something easy in the oven, like some chicken wings, spinach and cheese toasties, or I use up some left over veggies in this recipe.

I have noticed the children trying different things they may not have tried before, or not for a long time, In the busy day to day, I sometimes forget to add new things to their plates to try, instead just going with what I already know they like.

I also love whipping one up in the afternoon for an after school feed. I can put one together before I head out on school pickup and it's ready to go when I get home with three tired, hungry children.

  
With school holidays just two days away, I'm sure I will be making a few to get us through some of these cold wet and windy days.

Yum! xx