October 2021

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End Of A Busy Week

Happy Friday friends. Hooray for the end of a busy week and now let’s bring on the weekend! I hope you are all well and keeping safe. Today I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some Friday favourites with you lovely ladies. #1 My first Favourite this week is meeting up with some church ladies on Saturday. We got together for our annual women’s conference. Normally this is held in the church building but this year because of COVID we met in small groups in different homes and everyone listened to the guest speaker via zoom. We enjoyed a really nice morning of fellowship and each of us received a cute little morning tea pack to enjoy during the scheduled break.  A group of kind ladies from the church had spent the previous day putting these together for us. Inside the pack, we had some really yummy parmesan and fennel biscuits. I’m a real savoury girl so these were my favourite. There was also a chocolate muffin, strawberries, a pink rice bubble bar and a Twining’s teabag. So good!! #2 I just love a sweet smoothie, don’t you? Usually, I just use normal milk for my smoothies but this time I tried almond milk instead just for a change and it was really delicious. The almond milk gives the smoothie a nice subtle nutty flavour. I added a banana, frozen berries and honey. It was a big hit and so filling. Warmer weather calls for smoothies!! #3 Speaking of warmer weather. I was complaining the other day about wearing jumpers and jackets because it was still cold. Then on Thursday, we got hit with some very warm weather! It was so hot in the preschool playground.  But I didn’t mind at all because I’m so excited that we are finally heading into Summer for real now! #4 Look at my shiny little Suzuki. It needed a desperate wash, my friend even commented that the mass of spider webs on the back windscreen wipers would look great for Halloween ha! I couldn’t stand them any longer so I stopped off at the car wash on Monday in the afternoon after work. It’s so nice to be able to see clearly out of the front and back windows. #5 We went out for dinner for the first time in months!! Tuesday night Steve and I went on a date night to our local club. We shared marinated crumbed squid for an entree, then we each ordered big juicy steaks for our mains. Finishing off with a really silky creme brülée for dessert. We were so happy to be able to enjoy eating out again. Yay!! #6 I made my family’s favourite quiche for dinner on Wednesday night. It’s super easy to make and just right for a busy weekday dinner. We enjoyed this with a side of chips and salad. Can’t go wrong with a good old quiche! #7 I know it’s all about Halloween this weekend but at preschool, the kids have started decorating their Christmas bags. Each child gets to take home a portfolio of their work and a gift for their parents, along with a graduation certificate. It all fits neatly inside their decorated bags. We usually start Christmas craft early because there’s always so much to do. It’s such a fun time of the year! #8 I made a quick dash to The Gamesmen on Thursday afternoon to pick up something my son had ordered. The Gamesmen is a small but very popular family-owned business. They sell new and retro video games, board games, lego and popular culture merchandise. This store is a real favourite because I used to take my boys there when they were little. So it brings back lots of memories for me. The Gamesmen has a really cool room that holds a big display featuring a timeline of the history of gaming. I guess you could say it’s like a mini-museum! It’s fun to look at all the games and consoles that were popular in the past. I have to admit that I was a bit of a gamer myself back in the day! This weekend we will be getting together with the rest of my family for Halloween. We will be having dinner and enjoying a spooky movie at my place. So I’m really looking forward to that. It should be lots of fun!! Happy Friday and enjoy your Halloween weekend!!

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easy quiche

Easy Quiche Recipe

This easy quiche recipe is ideal for those nights when you don’t know what to make for dinner. It’s also perfect as a breakfast dish too! There is no need to make a pastry base from scratch, all you need for this easy recipe is frozen shortcrust pastry. It’s delicious and full of tasty ingredients like bacon, chives, cheese, and baby spinach. But you could just as easily add any other fillings you like. Whatever takes your fancy really. Some Ideas For Quiche Fillings Ham Broccoli Zucchini Bacon and Leek Mushrooms Cherry tomatoes Easy Quiche Recipe Can Be Made Ahead Of  Time The great thing about this easy quiche recipe is that it can be cooked in advance and stored in the fridge for a later time. Just make sure that is fully cooled first before popping it in the fridge. Then warm it up in the oven at 175C, remember to cover it with foil so that the crust doesn’t burn. You can make this easy quiche the night before for breakfast the next day. Alternatively, it can be cooked in the morning and served later for lunch or dinner. What To Serve With Quiche A Leafy Green Salad This side is just right for the warmer Spring or Summer months. Slices Of Fruit Another light warm-weather alternative is to serve quiche with slices of refreshing fruit. Apples and pears make an excellent choice. Chips Or Wedges For a more sustainable lunch or dinner add a side of hot chips or wedges. This is sure to feed a hungry family. Roast Vegetables Another healthy option is to serve quiche with a delicious tray of roast vegetables. Zucchini, eggplant, carrots, and sweet potatoes are excellent choices. Jacket Potatoes Hot and steamy jacket potatoes make an excellent side for cold winter nights. Add sour cream and chives for a complete taste sensation. Easy Quiche Recipe Frozen shortcrust pastry 4 large eggs 3/4 cup milk 1/4 cup cream Cooked bacon diced or strips 1 1/2 cups shredded tasty cheese 1/2 to 3/4 cup of baby spinach 1 tablespoon chives Salt and pepper Instructions Preheat oven to 175 C Press defrosted shortcrust pastry into a 9-inch pie dish. Make sure to cover the sides of the dish with pastry right up to the rim. To do this you may need more than one sheet of defrosted shortcrust pastry Pierce the pastry with a fork multiple times along the bottom, then place a sheet of baking paper over the pastry. Place uncooked rice or dried beans on top of baking paper and blind bake for approximately 10 minutes Remove from oven and set aside Whisk eggs together with milk and cream. Add salt, pepper, and chives Carefully remove the uncooked rice or dried beans along with baking paper from the semi-cooked pastry. Then sprinkle cooked bacon, baby spinach, 1 cup of cheese into the pastry crust. Gently pour the eggs, milk, and cream mixture over the top, and then sprinkle the remaining cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes Quiche is cooked when the centre is set completely allow to cool for approximately 10 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

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A Fun Month

Hello, Wednesday! Hope you are all doing well and thank you so much for joining me in today’s What’s up Wednesday post where I will be sharing a little of this and a little of that. It’s been a great month with lots of fun things happening so let’s jump straight in and start with What We’re Eating This Week It’s still cool weather here in Sydney so I’ve been indulging in my love affair with carbs. I made a cottage pie earlier this week and it was so delicious! What I’m Loving I am so happy about being able to get out and about catching up with friends and family. I think that probably the hardest part about being in lockdown was being unable to meet up with loved ones. But now that lockdown is all over, I am really enjoying the freedom to meet up with everyone who I have been missing. I have also been able to get together with my lovely friend for a coffee catch-up which was really nice! We still have a bunch of things we are planning on doing together. Both of us are being very careful about staying Covid safe and getting used to this new “normal” way of living. But soon enough we will be doing lots of local exploring. Sydney we’re coming for you! What We’ve Been Up To We’ve been getting back to work! I can’t lie this one has been a bit tough. Lockdown had me at home from work most of the time which was a real treat! I’ve been working at preschool full-time for about 13 years. While I do love it and am so grateful that it is very close to where I live, full-time work is tricky. Balancing work, family, and “all the things” can be exhausting. So even though I missed my family and friends, lockdown gave me some time to breathe. Sam is back at school and very happy to see his friends. Steve who works in hospitality is now even busier than ever. He worked all through lockdown but his hours were reduced a bit. Now Sydney is open again he’s back to working long hours and I’ve hardly seen him! What I’m Dreading Nothing! I’m thankfully not dreading anything. I’m just super excited about the end of the year. September through to December are my favourite months ever!! What I’m Working On I’ve been sorting through boxes and boxes of old photos, toys, and neverending Pokémon cards. Look at this cute photo of my son! Going through my kid’s photos from when they were little made this chore much more bearable!! I’m also working on our end-of-year preschool movie. Throughout the year I make sure to take lots of photos and film the kids while they are at preschool. Then I put a movie together for each class using the iMovie app. It’s hours and hours of editing but I really enjoy this project. The parents love watching it and often get very teary seeing their little ones. I’m still trying to work out what songs to use for the movie, so if you guys have any ideas please leave me some suggestions in the comments below. I would be forever grateful!!   What I’m Excited About November is a pretty big month at preschool. We will be getting right into all the Christmas crafts as well as practicing for our Christmas concert. Every year our preschool has a big concert for the parents. The children spend weeks and weeks practicing, Everyone gets a very important part to perform. There’s singing, dancing, a play, costumes, and graduation. Sadly we say goodbye to most of our older kids as they set off for big school while the younger ones stay on for another year. What I’m Watching I finally finished most of the shows I started at the beginning of lockdown. My favourites were “The Durrells” “Parenthood” and “In The Club”. I am currently watching a comedy/Drama called “Bliss”. It’s an English show about an accidental bigamist! It’s funny and it has quite a few laugh-out-loud moments! The show I am really loving at the moment is “The Block”. It’s an Aussie reality show about renovating houses that end up going up for auction. The winner is the couple whose house sells for the highest price. It’s the final two weeks so it’s all very exciting. Always lots of drama going on at the block!! What I’m Wearing I’m wearing work clothes again. Just the usual basics that I don’t mind getting ruined. Can’t be too precious about clothes when you’re working at a preschool. BUT I’ve also had the chance to wear some nice jeans that I bought just before we all went into lockdown. I wore them for the first time the other night when we went out for dinner. These jeans are from Witchery and are super comfortable. I’m loving the high waist and how everything feels nicely tucked in (ha, you know what I mean right?) What I’m Doing This Weekend I’m organising a Halloween dinner and movie night for my family like I did last year. I can’t seem to get my head around the fact that it will be November next week!! Because we had such a long lockdown it almost feels like we’ve had our end-of-year break and now it’s the beginning of the year all over again. I’m just confused!! What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month Warmer weather!! So far we’ve had really cool weather with only a few warm to almost hot days here and there. I am ready for Summer but it’s just not happening yet, come on already!! That’s about it Well, that’s all for now. It really was a fun month when we were able to enjoy life post lockdown. I  hope you have a most wonderful day. See you back here tomorrow where I will be sharing a recipe for a very simple quiche!     Linking

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Black pumps fro 10 wardrobe essentials fro every woman

10 Wardrobe Essentials For Every Woman

Creating a wardrobe with a solid base of 10 wardrobe essentials means that you will be able to put together stylish outfits very easily. Best of all, investing in classic pieces ensures that you will always look on-trend no matter what season or decade you are in. Fashion trends come and go every year but true style is timeless. Sadly fast fashion has made clothing cheap and easily disposable. Nowadays fashion-conscious shoppers are able to update their wardrobes constantly because clothing is sold so cheaply. As a result, this is a huge cost to the environment. However, the good news is that there is no need to be a slave to passing trends. If you invest in these 10 wardrobe essentials you will be able to mix and match them for years to come. As a result, this is a win for your budget and a win for the environment. So let’s take a look at 10 wardrobe essentials that will make getting dressed effortless. Classic White T-shirt You could easily say that the classic white T-shirt is a popular culture icon. To illustrate, in the ’50s Marlon Brando and James Dean made the white T-shirt popular. Later down the track fashion guru Jane Birkin and famous designer Karl Lagerfield turned the white T-shirt into a wardrobe essential. Today it has become a firm closet staple that you can see on celebrities and fashion stylists everywhere. There are so many ways to style a white T-shirt, you can pair it with a blazer and pants for work. Dress it down and front tuck it into jeans and slip on a pair of white sneakers for a fun weekend outfit. Style it up and wear it with a beautiful skirt and heels for an evening look. The choice is yours and the possibilities are exciting and endless! Good Pair Of Jeans Finding a good pair of jeans that complements the shape of your body is a must! There are so many different styles of jeans with various cuts and styles taking turns at being “in”. Skinny jeans have held onto popularity for a long time but more relaxed styles are now on-trend. Straight-leg jeans look very sophisticated and versatile as a result of the flattering straight-leg silhouette. You can very easily style them with the other basics from your closet. Black Pumps Every woman needs black pumps as part of their wardrobe-essentials. The black pump will take you through any occasion looking stylish and sophisticated. Investing in a good pair of plain black pumps will mean that you don’t need to buy a different black shoe for every occasion. This is because the classic black pump is an all-round shoe that will go with just about everything. Little Black Dress Perhaps the only way to describe the little black dress is timeless, sophisticated, and ageless. It is suitable for so many occasions and is generally a lifesaver for when you are not sure what to wear, or for last-minute events. Ankle Boots Ankle boots are of course a fantastic easy style for winter fashion. But they will also enliven any summer outfit. There are many varieties when it comes to ankle boots. They come in high heels, block heels, flat, and kitten heels to name a few. Ankle boots match beautifully with jeans and will add a bit of fun and flair when styled with a cute summer dress or skirt. A Blazer A simple well-cut blazer will elevate any outfit and make it look stylish and chic. A blazer is incredibly versatile and can be worn with almost anything. You can throw a blazer over jeans and a white T-shirt, wear it with a dress, shorts or trousers. A blazer will be sure to give any outfit a boost! Black Pants You don’t have to work in an office to wear black pants. They are also considered casual and can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion. To make sure you can wear your black pants across all seasons choose a fabric like viscose or light wool. They can be tie-waist trousers, wide-legged, pencil-straight, or cropped at the ankle just like Audrey Hepburn made famous. A pair of black pants is a must-have wardrobe essential. Knee Length Skirt A knee-length skirt will take you everywhere from work to casual settings. Pencil skirts are both sexy and sophisticated and an A-line skirt is always flattering to the figure. Striped Back and White T-shirt In addition to the white T-shirt, a black and white striped T-shirt is also a classic wardrobe essential. It can be styled in so many different ways and it is such an inexpensive addition to your wardrobe. Coat It’s important to find a style of coat that works best for your shape and body type. Trench coats are often added to the list of essential wardrobe items however they may not always be flattering on everybody. Find a style that suits you best and add this as part of your 10 wardrobe-essentials. You can go for a three-quarter length coat, pea coat, or moto style. The choice is yours depending on what makes you feel the most confident. Ready To Simplify Your Wardrobe? Go ahead and make sure to add some of these pieces if you haven’t already. These 10 wardrobe essentials are made up of basics that are sure to help you blend outfits together easily.  

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A Day In The Life

Happy Monday, friends! I think that my favourite kind of posts to read on other people’s blogs are usually “A Day In The Life “ones. Probably because it’s a sneak peek into someone’s ordinary day. We’re getting back into the swing of things pretty fast around here now that lockdown is over. I’ve started full-time hours again at work and life is going back to some kind of normal. So even though I think my days are really not that exciting, I thought I might record a day in our lives and share it with you today. A Day In The Life-Wednesday 20th October 2021 My alarm went off at 6 am like it usually does but I didn’t get up until 6.30 and then I remembered to take a screenshot at 6.41. Oh my goodness, getting out of my nice cosy bed is such a huge struggle. I always wish I was one of those jump out of bed people but unfortunately I’m not. The first one to get up after me is always my little cat Sushi. Isn’t she so cute? She sleeps in Sam’s room but as soon as she hears me get up she’s out like a shot and ready for her breakfast. Here she is looking at me because she knows she’s getting her favourite cat food. Felix jellies selection. We’ve tried other varieties but she likes this one the best. During the lockdown, it was sometimes hard to find this at our supermarket. Sushi wasn’t happy on those days. A Cloudy Morning I rolled up the kitchen blind and was greeted with a cloudy day. I checked the forecast and it predicted showers and a chilly kind of day. Sigh! I made sure to have a glass of water first thing. If I don’t then I find that I forget with the rush of the morning and then it’s about 10 am before I remember I haven’t drunk any water. We need to stay hydrated friends!! Daily Cleaning Routine I went to the laundry and grabbed my cleaning caddy where I keep my cleaning supplies and headed over to clean the main bathroom and ensuite. I have this cleaning routine where I clean the bathrooms every day and then take the weekends off from this chore. This works well for me because I am no longer frustrated at the bathrooms not being fresh and clean. It also means they never get really dirty and I especially love not having to do them on the weekends. It’s kind of like my big reward. It doesn’t take long to do the bathrooms at all and after I finished I put my cleaning caddy back in the laundry and took out a load of washing from the machine. I had preset the timer the night before to start this load about an hour before I got up. The weather looked so dodgy that I thought it was best to hang it up inside to dry. I then put another load on for Steve to hang out later. He worked until 2 am so he wasn’t going to be up for a while. I took my face masks off the pegs to wear at work. They were nice and dry after being washed the night before. I like wearing cloth masks because they smell so nice from the fabric softener that I use. The disposable ones we have at work don’t smell that great. I headed up to the kitchen to unpack the dishwasher. Can you believe that before we had our kitchen renovated earlier this year we didn’t have a dishwasher? When I was growing up we did own one but we must have only used it a handful of times. My mum preferred to hand wash and she used the dishwasher to store her plastic containers WHAT??? I didn’t think that this was strange at all back then. Ha! I do now. So now that we do have a dishwasher I wonder how I ever survived handwashing everything. I guess it’s because we all took turns and didn’t know any better. I certainly could never live without one anymore!! Getting Ready To Run Out The Door While I was in the kitchen I quickly got breakfast ready. I made porridge in the microwave. The trick is 3 tablespoons of instant oats in some milk and then cook on high for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The porridge cooks perfectly without spilling over. 3 is the magic number for sure! Sam likes to take a thermos with leftovers for lunch to school. I did the old trick of heating up the thermos with boiling water first before putting the food in. This works so well and keeps everything nice and hot right up until lunchtime. I got the rest of the lunches packed and ready to go. I raced off to get dressed and was happy my hair wasn’t frizzy especially since it looked like it was going to rain. It was a different story about an hour later when I was at work. The frizz set in. Sigh! A Busy Preschool Day I got to work and then it was full-on from then. The children spent the morning enjoying being back at preschool. It was painting, playdough, building, stories, singing, running, digging, climbing, and all the fun things that preschool is all about. I had a salad for lunch which was very nice but I felt like I had overdone it with the salads on Monday and Tuesday. The rest of the day raced by and then it was home time for the kids. After a flurry of packing away and setting up again for the next day, it was home time for the teachers. I picked up some mangos, berries, and raisin bread on the way home. We were running a bit low on fruit and my home delivery wasn’t scheduled until Friday. Oh yes, and I needed sour cream for my beef stroganoff

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Fun Moments

Hi Friends and happy Friday to you all. Thanks so much for joining me for today’s Friday Favorites post and having a look at this week’s fun moments. Oh my goodness what a super busy week it was!! Jumping straight back into real life after so many weeks of lockdown was a bit of a shock!  Not going to lie, this week was just plain exhausting and I’m not sure I’ve ever been so happy to see the weekend. Yes, it was definitely a hectic week. But thankfully it was also full of so many fun moments. #1 The Kids Returned To Preschool! I blew up a whole bunch of balloons on Sunday night to take to preschool the next day. My plan was to welcome back the kids with signs and balloons. I have to say that I felt very relieved when I was able to fit all those balloons into my tiny Suzuki on Monday morning and take them to work. It’s also lucky that I don’t live very far because it was pretty crowded inside my tiny car. The children were bursting with excitement as they came in through the gates on Monday morning. The parents were so happy to be dropping their children off and many were taking photos of their children standing outside the fence near the balloons. It was just like the very first day of preschool at the beginning of the year all over again! #2 Salad All Week I promised myself that I would begin the new school term by making sure to eat much healthier as well as cutting down on my portion sizes. Lockdown had me sneaking in lots of cups of tea and biscuits. Let’s not talk about all the chips, cheese, and dip at night in front of the TV! So I took a salad to work each day and by day three I just couldn’t look at another cherry tomato anymore. During my lunch break, I found myself staring into my lunch container wishing with all my heart that my salad would just turn into a Big Mac. Fortunately, I managed to plough on until the end of the week and jazzed things up a bit with some avocado on toast. #3 I went to Ikea to get a few things we needed. Look at this cute lunch bag I picked up for only $1.50. It’s big enough to fit my fruit and lunch container (with all that salad). I really enjoyed looking at all the Christmas decorations they had for sale. I nearly bought this cute little town. But I just couldn’t think of where I would put it in my little house. I’ve already got plenty of decorations. But I might have gotten a little carried away with the number of other things I bought! Ikea is definitely a huge favourite!! #4 Tuesday after work we had a staff meeting. So to keep us all awake and motivated our director supplied us with some treats. I’m happy to report that I resisted the urge to indulge this time based on the promise I had made myself to be good with how much I ate. Plus I knew that we were going out to my friend’s place for dinner that night and I absolutely did not want to ruin my appetite. #5 Mexican Monday On Tuesday My super hospitable friend and her husband are kind enough to have us over for dinner on Mondays for what we call Mexican Monday. Except for this week, it was on Tuesday night because Steve had to work Monday. We could have called it Taco Tuesday but we had nachos. Anyway besides all that, we had a really fun night. This was the first night back together in ages because you know, lockdown! My friend’s husband always makes a very nice Gin and Tonic. I hadn’t had one of these in months! We had a big tray of Nachos with guacamole, cheese, and sour cream. All the good stuff!! Oh yes, and there was also a big salad ha! Blueberry cake and Ice cream for dessert. So Yum! #6 Time For Another Declutter I am determined to go through some boxes that I have in my little garage/office and get rid of the clutter. I want to replace them with new boxes I bought from Ikea last weekend. So far I’ve only managed to do two. Sigh! I’ll keep persevering until it’s done. But I was running really low on motivation, time, and energy this week. Hopefully next week I’ll be on to it with more zing. These boxes are full of my boys’ old books, uni papers, toys, and Pokemon cards. I don’t like mess and clutter but for some reason, I haven’t dealt with this mess until now. While I was sorting through I found these old favourites. I must have read these books to both my boys a billion times. I threw away a lot of stuff just from two boxes but books like these I’ll keep forever. #7 I’ve been so tired when I’ve gotten home in the afternoon. The first thing I’ve done a soon as I’ve walked through the door is made myself a cup of coffee. I only usually have coffee in the morning at work. I didn’t even think caffeine really had an effect on me but I certainly felt more awake after I had a cup. #8 It’s no secret that I love Spring and it’s my favourite season.  I look forward to Spring all winter long but this week the weather has been all over the place. I rolled up the kitchen blind on Wednesday morning and it was a bit blah. It brightened up as the day went on but there was a real chill in the air. The forecast kept predicting rain and gloom with low temperatures all week. I kept wearing all the wrong clothes to work and felt either too cold or too hot. I

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gingerbread men

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Men Recipe

Yesterday’s post was all about The Benefits Of Cooking With Children.  So today I thought it would be fun to share a simple Gluten-Free Gingerbread Men Recipe that you could easily make with your kids at home. This recipe contains beautiful aromatic spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice, and of course ginger. So you will be able to smell and taste the flavours of all the spices without the ginger dominating. I love the smell of gingerbread men baking in the oven because it reminds me of Christmas. Indeed Christmas is fast approaching and this recipe would make a perfect treat to bake with the kids. I’m sure they would love to leave these delicious Gluten-free Gingerbread men for Santa on Christmas Eve. Along with a glass of milk of course! Gluten-Free Gingerbread Men Ingredients 100 grams softened butter 100 grams brown sugar 50 grams golden syrup or treacle 1 egg 250 grams gluten-free self-raising flour 2 teaspoons ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 250 grams fondant icing 3 tablespoons water Instructions Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F Add the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until light and fluffy with an electric handheld whisk. Add the syrup and egg, continue whisking. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until the mixture comes together. knead gently until it forms a dough then wrap in cling wrap and chill for one hour in the fridge. Sprinkle flour onto the work surface then roll out the dough. Use a gingerbread men cookie cutter to cut out the dough. Place the gingerbread men onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15-18 minutes in the oven until golden and firm in the middle. Leave to cool Icing Whisk together the icing sugar and water until smooth. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a small hole. Pipe eyes, mouth, buttons and any other designs onto the gingerbread men cookies. As another option, you can use Writing Icing Pens to decorate the gingerbread men. These Writing Icing Pens come in a variety of colours and they are very easy to use. Notes When using gluten-free self-raising flour the dough may be a little moist. If this happens then you can just add a bit more flour to the mixture until you have the right consistency. This recipe can also be made with regular self-raising flour. Instead of butter, you can use Nuttelex or lactose-free buttery Enjoy! This delicious gluten-free gingerbread men recipe is sure to be a big hit.  

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cooking together for benefits of cooking with children post

Benefits Of Cooking With Children

There are so many amazing benefits of cooking with children. It is a fun activity and in addition, it is also a wonderful learning opportunity. At preschool, we try and have as many cooking experiences as possible and the children absolutely love it. We usually find that there is never enough space for everybody around the cooking table. The children are always so excited and eager to be involved in cooking activities so we always need to make sure that everyone who wants to gets to have a turn. Benefits Of Cooking With Children Great Opportunity For Spending Time Together You don’t need to set up a big complicated cooking experience for your kids. Indeed, just try and cook with them as part of your everyday routine. So invite them into the kitchen as often as you can when they are young because believe me you’ll be begging them to come into the kitchen and help when they hit the teenage years. Kids love to watch grown-ups during meal prep time. I know it was one of my favorite things to do when I was little. While they are in the kitchen with you it’s a perfect time to chat with them about their day. Furthermore, it’s a great opportunity to discuss important things like nutrition and healthy eating. Show them what you are mixing, cutting, or cooking. Explain to them what is happening inside those delicious-smelling pots and pans. You can assign your kids simple tasks that they will be able to do safely like peeling or mixing. Anything that will make them feel like they are helping. I know of a mum who would give her child the task of picking out the seeds from the capsicum. What a perfect fine motor activity!! Any time you are able to spend with your child in the kitchen is time well spent. Cooking Benefits Children’s Literacy Skills  Cooking experiences are wonderful for showing young kids pre-reading concepts. You could most definitely say that cooking and literacy go together. Writing Begin by writing out a shopping list together. As you write your shopping list you can name the items you are jotting down. By doing this your kids will be able to see the purpose of writing. Older children who are independent and enthusiastic writers will be more than happy to write or copy their own list. Once you hit the supermarket you could ask your children to mark off the things on the list as they go into the shopping trolley. Reading There are plenty of simple and fun recipes designed for children in the kitchen.  You can find these quite easily in cookbooks or online. So go ahead and ask your kids to look for a recipe that they would like to follow. By following a recipe when you cook with your child they will be able to appreciate that literacy is essential and helpful for normal everyday life. In addition, reading a recipe together will help them to see and understand the concept of following instructions in a sequence. Increase Vocabulary Cooking with children is also a fantastic way to expose them to interesting words. Think of all those unusual names for ingredients and equipment found in the kitchen. If you ask your kids to describe what they are doing as they help you cook this will also increase their vocabulary. You can discuss the process of what it is you are both doing in the kitchen as you are cooking. For example, you could talk to your child about what they are peeling, cutting, or mixing. Cooking Benefits Children’s Fine Motor Skills Preparing food with your child in the kitchen encourages their fine motor development. Children grasp, use tools and participate in tasks that require them to use bilateral coordination when they are busy helping you with cooking. To get your child to work their fine motor muscles you can Give them a potato peeler to peel a carrot. Use a rolling pin to roll out dough Give them children’s scissors to cut ingredients like herbs. Use a safe knife to chop soft ingredients Cooking Helps With Basic Maths Concepts Counting One of the benefits of cooking with children is the opportunity to look at early maths concepts. Children can count the number of ingredients that are in the recipe. They can also count out how many of each ingredient they need. For example, ask them to count how many strawberries they need to add to a fruit salad. Children can also count aloud how many cups or teaspoons they are adding as they go. Weighing and Measuring Cooking is a great chance to increase the use of language around weight and measurement. You can discuss things like Quantities What is heavy and what is light, The size of the ingredients being used How much of something is needed. Time Cooking is also a great way to introduce young children to the concept of time. You need to use timers when baking. Recipes will also ask for ingredients to be mixed for a certain amount of time. All of these instructions help children to understand what a period of time actually is. Cooking With Children Promotes Healthy Eating When you involve young children in the kitchen this will promote a positive lifelong habit. Cooking with your child teaches them about how to live a healthy lifestyle and learn about nutrition and healthy food choices. Children can sometimes be fussy eaters and may be reluctant to try new foods. Cooking with children encourages them to be adventurous enough to taste new foods that they might otherwise reject if it was just served to them on a plate. Bring The Kids Into The Kitchen With so many benefits of cooking with children, why not go ahead and start now! You could begin by trying this Jam Drops recipe or this simple playdough recipe is really great too. We make this with the kids at preschool very often. It’s easy and the

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Self-Care Tips That Will Change Your Life

Self-care is extremely important so that we can function daily as the best version of ourselves. We all live extremely busy lives working, studying, looking after children, partners, elderly parents, doing housework and chores, etc. Therefore it’s vital that we remember to practice self-care and not put ourselves at the bottom of our long list of those we care for. Self-Care What is Self-Care? Before we start I thought we should look at what self-care is exactly. I used to think it meant hour-long bubble baths and all-day spa visits. Whenever someone mentioned self-care I would instantly find myself thinking “Who on earth has any time for that?”. But no I was totally wrong, self-care isn’t that at all. The definition of self-care is “the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress” Oxford Dictionary Simply put, it just means we need to do beneficial things for our minds and bodies which will help us be healthier and happier. I’m definitely all for that. So let’s have a look at some simple self-care tips that we can all practice- Go For A Walk Walking is a time when you can be completely by yourself. It doesn’t have to be a long walk, it can be 10 minutes or it can be 30 minutes. This is a perfect time to clear your head and also get a bit of exercise. Journal Spend some time writing down your thoughts and feelings. It can be extremely liberating to write these emotions down on paper. It’s also great for our mental health to practice gratitude so you could take the opportunity to include in your journal a list of things you are thankful for each day. I love using pretty coloured gel pens and stickers to decorate my journal. I find this super motivating and a fun little creative outlet that doesn’t take much time at all. Listen To Your Favourite Music Play some music that you find uplifting. Maybe a song with powerful motivating words. I like Whitney Houston’s “One Moment In Time”. This is such a booster of a song and one that inspires faith and courage. I love belting out the lyrics (sorry neighbours). You could also listen to music from your high school years and have your own dance party. Release those endorphins and you will find yourself feeling instantly happier. Enjoy Your Favourite Drink Sip on your favourite relaxing tea, cosy hot chocolate, or refreshing juice. Whatever it is just make sure you sit down and take your time to enjoy it. No chugging! Have A Nap Listen to your body when it’s telling you it’s tired. Don’t keep pushing on, put any guilt aside and lie down for a nap. You will wake up feeling refreshed and it will do wonders for your health. Naps can boost memory, lift your mood and make you feel less stressed and irritable. Catch Up With A Friend Make time to engage with friends as often as you can. You can sit in a park and chat, go to a coffee shop, or enjoy some retail therapy. It can be an all-day activity or just a catch-up for an hour or so. Having friends you can share life with is so important for your well-being and health. Good friends bring you comfort and joy, they can help relieve stress and have huge benefits for your mental health and general happiness. Breathe You can take a few minutes to practice breathing exercises anywhere. Take some deep breaths inhaling slowly and deeply through your nose then exhaling through the mouth. Relaxing your shoulders and jaw. This is one of the best ways to lower your stress levels. It’s amazing how important it is to be aware of how you are breathing. Unfortunately, it’s incredibly easy to forget the importance of breathing and slip into bad habits like holding your breath when you are stressed or anxious. I know that this is what I tend to do. Recently I invested in a smartwatch and discovered that it has a super helpful feature. It actually leads me through short simple breathing exercises throughout the day. Eat Well Have you ever found yourself just slapping together something to eat on the run that may not contain many health benefits? Consider taking the time to make sure you eat nutritious food that will fuel your body. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and don’t forget to drink water. Don’t Try To Be Perfect This is a hard one especially now with social media. We have to be a bit more realistic and realise that what we see on Instagram etc is just a snapshot. It’s a tiny minuscule fraction of someone’s life that may or may not be staged. We shouldn’t compare ourselves to anyone neither in real life nor from what we see on social media.   We are all doing the best we can and we have to give ourselves grace and remember that some days are going to be better than others. Perfect people don’t exist. Do Your Nails You can splurge on a manicure and pedicure or do your nails yourself. Find a time when you can enjoy doing this without any interruptions. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending time on your nails and then have to attend to something that ruins all your careful work. Choose a fun coloured nail polish that will put a smile on your face. Alternatively, if you don’t feel like wearing nail polish you can just trim and buff your nails. It’s always satisfying to see nice healthy nails when you look at your hands. Go Somewhere Quiet and Peaceful Visit a place that you find relaxing like the beach or a park. You could also visit an art gallery, museum or library. Find somewhere that makes you happy and make a date to go there with yourself, your partner, or a friend. Stretch This will make

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Fun Family Reunion

Hi Friends I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are reset and recharged for the week ahead. I’m bracing myself for the beginning of a new week that finally sees us going back to normal. Preschool is open again! and I will be jumping back in full speed ahead with all the fun things that term 4 will bring. But for now, let me show you a peek into our weekend where we were able to have a fun family reunion. The day I was most looking forward to finally arrived! My oldest son and his lovely fiancee were able to come over for a visit. It has been four long months of lockdown and four long months of not being allowed to get together with family. Oh boy, that was hard and I’m so happy it’s all over!!! Saturday My oldest son turned 28 on Saturday so it was a double bonus. We were able to have a family reunion and celebrate his birthday. Earlier in the week, I had asked him what he wanted me to cook for him for his birthday lunch and he asked for quiche. Haha, I’m so glad he loves a good old quiche, so easy to make. When he was living at home I would often pack him quiche for his lunches.  Quiche was something I would quickly throw together when I had no idea what to cook for dinner. Quiche was what saved my sanity when we had leftovers but not enough and we needed just something extra that would make it an easy dinner. Yes. I truly love quiche and not just because it tastes great but for all those other reasons too. We had so much catching up to do and the day went so fast. I was really happy that they were able to spend the whole day with us. Did I mention how happy I was!!!! We had so much to talk about and we laughed so hard. It was the best time. Reminiscing Both my boys are huge Pokémon fans but I would say out of both of them my oldest is most definitely the biggest fan. He was five years old when Pokémon fever hit Australia and he has been a die-hard Pokémon fan ever since then. He has a gazillion cards and while he was visiting he pulled them all out looking for a rare one that is worth quite a bit of money. Unfortunately, we didn’t find it but it was fun going through a lot of his cards and favourite childhood toys. We found his old Gameboy, photos, and special things I was happy I had kept safely stored away. Look at all these cards and that’s just a tiny fraction of them. I had flashbacks to when he was little and I would open his bedroom door to find these cards all over everywhere. The mess used to drive me bananas back then. But now I just find myself wishing for those days back. sigh! They grow too fast. Pavlova Again! I say you can never eat enough pavlova ever. My younger son had requested a pavlova for his birthday just ten days ago and this was my oldest son’s request too for his birthday cake. This time I made two and we only ended up with a small piece leftover. Yes, we are huge pavlova lovers over here. The day just flew by and it was sad saying goodbye but now that Sydney is open, we can get together anytime. They only live about half an hour away so we’ll probably see them again in a couple of weeks. I am planning a bigger fun family reunion with the rest of the family soon. I can’t wait! Time To Declutter Again After spending Saturday pulling out boxes and drawers looking for Pokemon cards and toys. I have realised that it’s time to declutter again. I’m pretty good at keeping up with a regular cleaning routine but it’s time I got rid of a few things that are no longer useful and are taking up space. These Drona boxes are great for storage but they are looking old and yuck. I need to go through all of them and throw out a lot of old paperwork etc. Sunday afternoon I made a quick trip to Ikea. Ikea is another place I have been missing and it was so good to be back. I’m lucky that we only live about 10-15 minutes away by car. I went there to pick up some Drona boxes to replace the old ones we have. A New TV We have finally decided to buy a new TV and so while I was at Ikea I had a look at some TV units. I have this TV cabinet that I am very attached to but it only holds a very small TV inside. We bought this TV cabinet about 25 years ago and I really like it. But it is super bulky, totally outdated, and not very practical anymore. The only thing stopping us from getting a new TV is me and my love affair with this cabinet. So I’m breaking up with it and moving on. We really need a new TV, it’s so small and we’ve had it for a very long time. Sam, my younger son is so excited and busy researching the latest and greatest TV we can buy. I am amazed at how much cheaper TVs are compared to even 10 years ago. Ikea Meatballs While I was at Ikea I bought the traditional Ikea dinner of frozen meatballs, sauce, vegetable cakes, and lingonberry jam. I threw all this together for dinner when I got home and everyone loved it. I also found these little cinnamon pastries. Starting this week I am going back to eating fewer treats and smaller portions. I’ve gained 2 or 3 kilos depending on how I move the dial on my scales and those kilos have

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