Daisy Chains and Picnics

  Jodie spotted this gorgeous leaf insect in the backyard last night and he was still here this morning so I managed to garb a few more photos of him balancing precariously on my washing line. Below are the photos we took last night, not the same quality because it was hard to focus in the dark.

  I love pasta but Scott is not a huge fan, especially of small pasta, he prefers the large pasta with plenty of flavoursome sauce. I had a few things in the fridge that needed to be used, so I bought a packet of large rigatoni pasta and a bottle of chunky vegetable pasta sauce. And added them together with some leftover prosciutto, mozzarella, capsicum and fresh basil. A quick and easy week night tea using leftovers from the fridge. Ingredients 500g rigatoni pasta 4-5 slices prosciutto, cut into pieces 1 red capsicum, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 700g pasta sauce 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped 200g mozzarella, torn into chunks 1/4 cup parmesan, grated Method 1.  Cook pasta according to packets directions. 2.  Heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a wok or deep frying pan over a medium heat. Add prosciutto. Cook for 2-3 minutes, add capsicum, continue cooking for a further 1-2 minutes, then add garlic, stir fry for 1 minute. Add sauce and cook until heated through. 3.  Drain ...

 How it is supposed to look ... ..Versus ours!. I got a box of Bird's Trifle sent through from Scotland because I wanted a childhood trip down memory lane. Jodie loves trifle and to be honest I am not very sure if I ever made a Bird's trifle for the kids when we lived back home, it was just something that you saw every day in the supermarket but I usually made trifle using separate ingredients, not from a kit, so I was intrigued to see the kids response to one of our childhood desserts.  Cerys got down to making it and it was quite amusing seeing the directions on the packets, especially the custard as I buy ready made custard (yep, I don't make my own custard, shocking, I know!!, maybe one day 😜), anyway, I couldn't resist taking a series of photos during the process just for memory sake. Making the jelly. Making the custard. Sponge and jelly. Custard on top of the jelly. Of course Scott and I just had to try the dregs that were left in the pan and it was every bit as...

I had a couple of overripe avocados in the fridge as well as some leftover buttermilk so decided to make a loaf as Cerys really enjoys this sort of thing for breakfast and lunch at work as it is quick and easy to eat. A tasty and healthy way to use up overripe avocados. You can also use walnuts or seeds instead of pecans. Ingredients 2 cups plain flour, sifted 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 2 ripe avocados, mashed 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup pecans, chopped Method 1.  Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line an 9" x 5" loaf tin. 2.  Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together egg, avocado. Stir in buttermilk. 3.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine well, add more buttermilk if the batter is too dry. Stir in nuts. 4.  Pour into loaf tin. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy.

We have been wanting to get our front yard tidied up for years now but there was always something else taking priority. The garden down the front was seriously in need to some new colourful plants as it is mainly green bushes that have been there since forever and there was plenty of space to add some plants. We are by no means green fingered at all, everything has to be easy kept with the minimal of tending to, so basically it is the survival of the fittest in our garden!!. I came across some reduced plants in Bunnings on Friday 16th April 2021 which were hardy and easy to grow, I got some ground cover and a few that will bring some colour to the garden. We started planting on Saturday 17th and continued on Sunday, so we will see how they get on. Our soil is very hard, clay like so it's a miracle that anything grows at all. Scott dug some holes which I added some multi-purpose potting mix and bedded the plants into it, we covered the soil with gravel in the hope to keep the weeds ...