Pages

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Slowcooker Teriyaki Chicken Review

You can find the recipe here.

This one was a semi-win.
Yes, yes, yes no photo again DOH!

This was nice, but there was WAAAAYYYYY too much pineapple!! It could do with either a TONNE more chicken, or else a HEAP less pineapple!  The recipe calls for two LARGE cans of pineapple - after doing the calculations to convert to NZ sizes, I found that meant a LOT of pineapple.  Well I followed the recipe even though I was thinking it sounded like way too much pineapple.  You can learn from my mistakes haha (as can I!)

SO .. I would adjust so you just use ONE small or medium size can of pineapple .. or use one large can, and double the amount of chicken.

Sima J

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Slowcooker Garlic Pesto Chicken Review

You can find the recipe here.

Another non-photo but winner here!
I was seriously starving so wolfed this one down before any pictures could be taken!
I had it with some spiral pasta and steamed fresh brocolli and baby carrots (from the markets). 

It is AMAZING the difference between rubbish chill-store veges from the supermarket, and the FRESH delicious veges from the farmers markets on Saturday mornings. You can TASTE the carrotyness and the brocolli isn't flavourless!!

YES .. I'll be happy to make this one again :-)
(p.s. I used Nando's lemon and herb sauce for this one .. YUMMM!!!!)

Sima J

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

A post about glue ..

Hahaha I laugh at myself and how frugal I am.
This was the state of my slippers the other day:


But do I go buy some more .. ?
Nope .. nothing a bit of PVA won't fix .. again! (yes, this has happened to them before!)
It's true though .. they are actually fine  and still going strong after a bit of gluing!
Amazing stuff glue! 

(did anyone watch that Grand Designs episode when he made that glue out of rabbits??! That was insanely amazing!! .. for those of you who missed out - the glue was SUPER SUPER SUPER glue .. REALLY strong!!)

Anyway enough rambling about glue - who knew I'd write a post about glue haha.

Sima J

Monday, July 22, 2013

The Bound Owl Quilt

So I finished binding the Owl Quilt ..

Love how this little roll of binding (made by me btw) looks like a rose .. ready to sew on!


The tag for the quilt:




The final product on the bed:


Sima J

Sunday, July 21, 2013

My Zig-Zag Rainbow Quilt

Now that I'm in the quilting groove, I'm continuing on with the last one I started ages ago - my zig-zag rainbow quilt .. that is for .. ME! Nope, I'm not giving this one away - it is destined for the couch to snuggle up to at night :-)
I saw the design over on CluckCluckSew (you should check it out if you love quilts .. she is amazing!) - here is her one which you can read about on her blog here :


And here is my finally cut pile of 6' squares! I plan to make mine with an extra zig-zag to make it that little bit bigger.


And a couple of my favourite pieces are here:


(this green is the same as Ellie's Owl Quilt's backing, except in green - I am in LOVE with the print!)



(I love how this looks like lace over yellow!)

EXCITING MUCH!!

AND .. I have another quilt on the go. The inspiration is from here:

Heart quilt

I am planning to do mine on a white background though, with bright purples and blues as the hearts. Here is my backing .. a white pattern on off-white fabric :-)



Loving it :-)

Sima J

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Owl Quilt

My middle Master 4yr has been unwell the last 5 days which is really stink (I missed seeing my sister up on holidays :-( boo!) BUT .. every cloud has a silver lining .. mine was that I've had a good amount of time to work on my littlest's quilt! Now it's all quilted, ready for me to bind it yipee!!




Sima J

Friday, July 12, 2013

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

You can find the recipe here.

Well the scariest slowcooked meal has been accomplished with flying colours *phew*

I was super worried that the HUGE pork roast wouldn't fit in the slow cooker!! It did ... JUST!! I had to even put a weight on the top to hold the lid on until it cooked down a bit!!



It really was a monster roast! It will do us for 3 dinners (plus 2 guests for one of those dinners) and the dog got 2 dinners out of it too with all the fat/bones!

It was a yummy rub on it - had a bit of a kick with the chilli, but not too much (I don't like too much heat). So my verdict on this one is .. thumbs up!

We had it with roasted skin-on potatoes and coleslaw last night, and the same tonight except on buns instead of with potatoes. Tomorrow I'm thinking of trying to use the left overs in some kind of pie :-)

In future I think maybe I'd try a smaller roast - it took from 8am-5.30pm to cook!! 

Sima J

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Wheatie Bag

Congrats to Stacey from Dear Future Me for winning the wheatie bag .. here's what she got:



I made it fairly large as I like the bigger ones so you can wrap the warmth right around you! I used some off-cuts being frugal me and a pillowcase from a 2nd hand shop to make the back. I used an old sheet, doubled for the actual inner, and filled with wheat!
You could make this too (if you have a sewing machine) it's quite easy!! 
Also, I separated the wheat into three sections so that it isn't all lopsided :-)
Enjoy Stacey!!

Sima J

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

And the Winner Is ....

I did a little give away on here for celebrating my 100th post a while back.

I used the random number generator (handy little thing isn't it!) and the winner is ....

Drumroll please ...

... Stacey! From Dear Future Me

Congratulations Stacey!!! 
(and I promise you Whangarei Bloggers this was absolutely coincidence - no rigging of the votes!!)

Sima J

Friday, July 5, 2013

Farm Wife's Fresh Pear Tart

Mmm Mmm I have had this recipe printed out ready to make for QUITE a while now.  Like we're talking a year here!! I printed it last year in pear season with the intention of using it to use up the excess cheap pears from Huanui.

I never got around to making it last year, but this year I finally made it!
 .. YUM .. this is a really nice 'tart'.

I feel like it's more cake-ish and less tart-ish than I expected. Never the less it is delicious and you can easily pair it with cream (if you're not dairy-free like me) or ice cream, or (in my case) sorbet. It is also just fine by itself like a cake - nice and moist and full of pear-y goodness.



The recipe is from here if you want to give it a go.
I would say you could probably swap the flour out for a gluten-free equivalent - and although I love sweet things, as I am trying to cut down on sugar a little bit, it probably would work just as well with half the sugar! 

Have a go and let me know how the results turn out! (also, in the post where I got the recipe he said he used peaches and I'm sure that would be just as tasty!!)

Sima J

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Crock Pot Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs

You can find the recipe here.

As per, no photo. Seriously - I always forget when everyone is grumpy because they're hungry and I just wanna get them FED and HAPPY!!

The review is a thumbs up for this one!

Tasted delish - even got a compliment from the man of the house
 (only compliments if he really means it!) :-)

Give it a go and see what you think :-)

Sima J

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Crockpot Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks

You can find the recipe here.

Again, no photo - Sorry peeps!

The review is a thumbs down for this one unfortunately!

The balsamic just took over - it tasted like vinegar chicken! I ate it and the kids did but the man of the house was not impressed and didn't even eat any (which is rare - he usually eats stuff even if he doesn't like it!!)

Definitely taking this one off the list of recommendations!! 
(I think maybe if you put in a 1/4 of the balsamic it might be okay - maybe??)

Sima J

Monday, July 1, 2013

WIN A WHEATIE BAG!

Hey there readers!
So I said a couple blogs ago that I had reached my 100th post and would do a give-away. I asked you what you wanted and it seems you want handmade :-)

I have been racking (wracking?) my brain to think of what I could make (that wasn't TOO time consuming .. my life seems to be really busy somehow .. 3 kids/homeschooling .. guess that'd do it?!) but was still cool and useful. 

So when we had a slight mishap the other night with Master 4yr when his hot water bottle developed a hole (whilst in bed, it wet him, the bottom sheets, the top sheets, duvet cover .. gosh! How can a little water get so far!) I thought I need to make another wheatie bag (his one had been taken my Miss 20months).

Perfect idea for a give away!

This is only for New Zealanders (since postage would be huge since they're fairly heavy!) sorry any overseas readers! 

I made this one for my little girl tonight...



It matches her duvet cover I made (see post here)

As you can see (and don't look too close, I didn't trim the straggling strands!) it has a cover (so you can take it off and wash it).

The one I'm giving away I can make with this fabric if you want (the cover that is), or you can choose a different fabric - I've got a few in my cupboard, so I'll let you choose if you are a winner!

All you have to do to enter is make a comment below it's as easy as that :-)

I'll draw a winner (at random) next week, Monday 8th July at 7pm so get your comments in before then!

Good luck!!

Sima J