Strawberry Coconut Slice

I have very naughty lately, I have devoured almost all of this coconut slice by myself. I am blessed with a 'sweet tooth', LOL not a blessing at all!!

The recipe for these sweet little treats comes with compliments from Family Circle Winter edition 2009. they have lots of other delish desserts too.

Heres the ingredients & method:

You will need

1 cup plain flour

1/3 cup catsor sugar

125g melted butter

1 & 1/4 cups strawberry jam

Coconut topping

2 eggs

2tspns vanilla essence

2 & 1/4 cups shredded coconut

1/3 cup castor sugar

Oven temp-180 degrees C

Combine flour & sugar.

Add butter, mix until combined.

Press evenly into base of a pan lined with baking paper.

Bake for 15 - 20 mins or until golden brown.

Set aside to cool for 10 mins then spread the jam over warm base.

Coconut Topping

Put eggs & vanilla in a bowl, beat with fork until combined.

Stir in the coconut & sugar.

Spoon the coconut over the jam, pressing down slightly.

Bake for 20 mins or until golden.

Set aside to cool in the pan for a couple of hours.

Cut into squares & serve.

Cupcakes

Patty Cake, Patty Cake Bake me a cake.

Jaimee & I had ourselves a little baking day. She only comes home every second saturday now, so we try to make the most of it. We try to squeeze in as much as we can.

The other two girls are there in the background, that's a photo of them when they were about 5 & 7years old. They were all dressed up to go their uncles wedding.

Mmmmm........ Now here's a thought!! I wonder how these would travel in the post? If I send the girls cupcakes in the mail they might get homesick & come visit more often.

Every kitchen needs a taste tester, right! LOL

My Little Army Brother

My brother Chris

This is the oldest of my younger brothers, he is one of twins. He joined the Australian Army only about 5 years ago and he loves it. I never remember his job title, but whatever he does I know its VERY important. I know he maintains the equipment and airforce helmets etc. Yep I'm a bit ignorant to it all really, I don't mean to be but the last time i seen him was about 12 months ago when my dad was very ill and i don't remember a lot of details around that time.

Chris looks a lot like his uncle ,John who was in the army for most of his working life, he served in Vietnam too.

The cup is half full

My day off today! Up bright and early to leave home to get the grocery shopping done early. I 'd barely left home and can you believe what ran out in front of my path, yep A BLACK CAT.
No I'm not supersticious! but I grew up in a family that were very supersticious. I was often copping the blame for the bad luck around at the time. 'I told you not to put that umberella up in the house' and 'if only you hadn't put those new shoes on the table' Oh Geez!!
As much as I tried not to ingrain this stuff into my head somedays it's easier to lay the blame on something one or something else isn't it? But today wasn't going to be one of those days !! Luckily, as an adult i learnt the power of self talk and how to change my negative thoughts into positive ones.
So, when I saw that beautiful glossy black cat cross my path this morning i turned potential, dare I say it....bad luck into GOOD LUCK.
So far, i've had a really good day! I went to the supermarket to get my groceries and picked up heaps of bargains and managed to get everything(& more) on my list. Got through the checkout without strain and you wouldn't believe it i found 2 cheap white dinner sets that I have been searching for ages. I couldn't carry them but I'll get hubby to help me when he comes home we'll duck back down later,.Huh!the way my luck is going they should still be there!
Then home with the shopping and i went back down to look some more through the stores. Yay! SALO, SALO at Options Furntiture & Homewares, Yes and look what I found all their stock was from 35% - 60% off. I picked up the smaller cake stand for $9. This would look great with a little cupcake in it don't you think? Then i went to St Vincent De Pauls to search for more bargains and i could not believe it!! There was a larger one there for $2 in the box and all! only it didn't come with the glass dome BUT that's Ok I can still use it to display a small fruit cake on at christmas time. Whew!! I 'm exhausted from all this shopping. I managed to pick up some wire edged ribbons at Crazy Prices cheap and Oh yeah nearly forgot, see the pink & white check fabric in the photo it's big enough for a 6" table for $2.It only needs stitching around the edges.
The universe is speaking to me & begging me to tempt this theory of positive thinking and see what else i can achieve today. See you all later....................

What's for Dinner?

MMmmmm check out what we had for dinner last Thursday.

I have been searching other blogs for something different to have for dinner and then I thought why not fish??

We are very fortunate to have a seafood van stop over here in Inverell each week. The friendly guys hail from the Coffs coast and you can find them at the Beaurepaires Tyre Service store on Byron st every Thursday.

I don't usually get much chance to get there because I am working office hours most days so I asked a friend to pop in there last week and pick me up some salmon.

Whoa!! then as i was heading out the door to go home from work I nearly forgot to take it out of the fridge! A short stop over to our new IGA store to pick up some small potatoes and fresh asparagus and i was on my way to planning a quick n easy dinner for two.

So if you are looking for something light yet filling you should try this dish. I was quite proud of myself really since i have never cooked asparagus before and I still don't know whether i did cook it 'the right way' but it tasted exceptional with the hollandaise sauce.

A Beautiful Pink Giveaway

I stumbled upon another perfect pink blog YAY!!

Guess what!! they are participating in Cindy's ( My Romantic Home) Monday Giveaways and are hosting their very own 'Birthday Giveaway for Kae'.

You'll find them at http://talesfromanoccottage.blogspot.com and they are giving away sweet pinky foofy gorgeous loveable gifts.

Have fun entering or just enjoying the girlie blog posts.

Don't forget to add their button while you're there and share their passion4pink like me!

Here's a little sneak preview shhhh.......

Satin Chocolate Puddings

Here's my recipe for Shabby Chikky Cottage

Satin Chocolate Puddings

You'll need:

200g butter, chopped

300g good quality dark chocolate, chopped

4 x good size eggs

2 egg yolks

3/4 cup of castor sugar

1/3 cup of self raising flour

2 tablespns plain flour

cocoa powder for dusting

How to:

1)Preheat the oven to 18o degrees celcius fanforced or 200 convention

Grease 6 oven ramekins or moulds

2)Put butter & chocalate in a heatproof bowl and over a saucepan of simmering water.

make sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl.

Cook stirring occasionally with a metal spoon until the butter & chocolate melt

& mixture is smooth.Remove from the heat & set aside to cool for 10 mins.

3)Put eggs, yolks & caster sugar in the medium bowl of an electric mixer & beat

until thick. Stir in lukewarm chocolate mixture.Sift flours together over chocolate

mixture & stir gently to mix.

4) Pour mixture evenly into prepared moulds & place on an oven tray. Bake for 20 -

25 mins or just until the tops start to crack. the top needs to be set whilst the

centres need to be soft.

5) Stand the puddings for 10 mins Dust with cocoa powder & serve with cream.

Or remove from the moulds & turn out on a plate lined with baking paper.

Then turn upright onto warm serving plates.

(just a hint!!Find those ramekins before you start melting chocolate that way you won't have to 'make do' with the wrong size dish & a 'not so soft' centred pudding , lucky for me hubby has a sweet tooth LOL)

He loves me, he loves my chokky fudge!

Here is My hubby, Craig taste testing my chockky fudge for a Shabby Chiki Cottage 'Cook Off'.

Hope Chiki Choko likes it as much as Craig does.

He's giving it the thumbs up anyway, so I am happy !!!

Stay Safe but Have a Load of Fun!!

Three beautiful, free spirited young ladies who can't wait to get together to see each other again. Miranda, Monique & the blonde 'ring in', is Jazmin.

She is one of Monique's best friends but Miranda has become very close to her too.

This is an old photo taken last April on a trip to Byron Bay where life is very 'alternate'

up there. Quite a culture shock for some!!

Jazmin is about to get on the plane right now, actually using her mobile to chat with her friends on facebook. Can you believe this! when I left home we did not even have the landline phone connected for 2 years.

Miranda & Monique will pick her her up from the airport and travel onto another friends house where they are staying at the Gold Coast.

Then from there they are going to see The Presets Concert WOW! Who are the Presets?! Well I am going to google them soon, when I find them I'll tell you. Girls will spend a couple of days there before coming home. I know I am not supposed to worry but it's hard not to worry.

Miranda phoned last week to tell me about the trip and she nearly hung up the phone after I give her all the 'be careful, don't do this, don't do that' . She said 'Mum, you really have to stop worrying about us so much'. I replied ' well work out how i can stop doing that then tell me & i'll do it'. I explained that she will know what it is like when she becomes a mother herself. It is simply impossible!

I got more than had ever wished for in these girls.... that is educated, independent young ladies and much, much more... They have surpassed my expectations and I am sooooo proud. I would like to think I might have some influence on their friends too but they have their own mums to thank too I suppose.

I think of my own mum, who must have worried herself sick at times, I grew up with out the telephone connected and I have 4 siblings, me being the oldest. My only access to the rest of the world was through the corner phone box and my Aunty who had the phone connected.

You know, thanks to technology we have today I actually feel like a little angel watching over them as they wander their way through life. I hope they feel safe & secure knowing that i am only a phone call or a cyber second away.

Well, now they are building memories to last them a life time. Somedays I feel so lonely without them I could cry for hours but mostly I just miss them and hope that wherever they are that they are safe and happy.

Luv u guys, stay safe but above all else HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!