A quick and easy entertaining idea....

Oh My...She actually blogged! I can hear the words being uttered from here! Yes, I know; lovely people, it's been awhile in between drinks, so to speak.... I lost my blogging mojo a bit last year. But I think I might be getting it back, albeit in bits and pieces, but back all the same.
This is only a short post, one which I thought I would share the easiest entertaining recipe EVER with you all.
One guaranteed to work every time and one that will leave you looking all fancy-pants in front of your guests!

Baked Brie.

I dare you not to love it! And whilst it is definitely not on the weight loss list, it is on the delish list.

Cast of Characters:

*  200g wheel of Brie.
(I use Jindi Brie. Because it's local produce and because it tastes divine. You can use whatever takes your fancy. If you want to find Jindi Brie they have a website www.jindi.com.au )

* 100g thinly sliced Prosciutto.

* 1 sprig of fresh rosemary.
* Splash of Olive Oil.
* Salt and Pepper to season.

The Fun Part:

- Line a baking tray with some baking paper.

- Take the brie out of the packet and proceed to re-wrap it using the prosciutto, I usually overlap the prosciutto a bit.

- Splash it with a little olive oil, not too much.

- Season with Salt & Pepper, again not too much and then sprinkle the fresh rosemary over the top.

- Bake in a moderate oven for around 10-12 minutes.

It will start to smell heavenly quite quickly.
Serve it straight from the oven whilst it's still hot. You will need a sharp knife to cut throught the now crispy prosciutto and into the oozy goodness of the brie. Prepare to hear silence, quickly followed by the sounds of delighted dinner guests.
Take a bow. You deserve it!

Oh and Happy 2013. I have a feeling it's going to be a great year! x

Iphonography

Iphonography.

It’s no secret that I love to take photos. I always have. I think I was about 9 or 10 when I got my first camera and from that moment on, it was a love affair. I remember saving my pocket money up to get film developed. I would ride my bike down to the local chemist to drop it off, and then return a week later to pick up my photos. I would take shots of everything, the garden, my siblings and friends; nothing was safe when I had my camera in my hand. Which was most of the time!

These days, I find that I don’t often get my “good” camera out; I tend to use the iphone as my camera. It takes great shots, and there are a heap of photography apps out there that can pretty up most pics if they need it. All of the shots above have been taken with my iphone. After being asked a few times now about various photo apps; I thought I would share a few of my faves with you.

1.       Instagram. My total addiction! I love it! I have “met” some fantastic people who are very talented with the way they take photos. I love seeing other people’s perspectives. I love seeing other parts of the world that I might not have. I love it!

             My user name is domblissleese if you want to look me up. I would love to see your shots too!

2.       Tiny Planet Photos. This is a really fun app. It’s able to turn your pics into a sphere so that it looks like a “tiny planet”.  It’s a quick and very easy to use and you will be amazed at how great your shots will look.

3.       PicFrame. Frametstic. Diptic. These 3 are all framing apps. I use all 3 often. They are a great way to combine a few pics together into a single frame shot. This is very handy when you have more than one photo you wish to share but don’t want to send or “post” more than one.

4.       Snapseed. This one is an editing program. It might look a little tricky to start with, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really easy.  It can help you tune up an image or add effects to it.

5.       Pixlromatic. Another editing program. This one is seriously easy to use. You can change your original shot with all sorts of filters and light effects. It’s a quick way to “jazz” up your photo and its fun to see the effects of all the different filters.

6.       MarbleCam. This is really fun! It basically makes your photos look like a marble! It gives your shots such a cool perspective. It’s one of my faves! And an easy way to get a macro type effect.

7.       Picfx. This is another editing app. It has loads of effects and also textures and frames. It’s very simple to use and can make your photos look fantastic very quickly. It has some great bokeh effects which I love too. This one is probably my favourite editing app.

8.       iWatermark. Basically this is a watermarking app. If you have ever had the displeasure of having someone take your photos and try to pass them off as their own, like I have; then you will appreciate this one. It’s easy to use and is a very quick way to mark your photo.

So, these are just some of the photography apps I use. Have a look at them and see what you think. If you are photo obsessed like I am you will probably know about some or all of them already. If so, what are your favourites? I would love to know what apps you love to use or recommend to others! Share the love I say!

xx

Wednesday Dinners

Wednesday Dinner

Wednesday is crazy town at Casa Bliss. As well as the normal routine of school & work, our after school time is very busy. Both of the cherubs play field hockey & Wednesday is a huge training night. No big deal, except that we live an hour away from the training field. And to get to that field, we have to drive on the most vile, windy road in existence. Up hills, down hills, around hills. Fun. Not.

The curly-haired girl hates the trip over the hills. She very rarely gets to training without feeling sick. Being the caring, sympathetic, Mummy that I am, I give her a big hug & kiss & tell her to “Suck it up Princess” & all is well. Yes, strangely, I’m still waiting for the Mother of the Year award!!

Training starts around 4.30pm & we often don’t finish until 7pm. It’s usually really cold, sometimes wet and as the season progress’s and daylight savings finishes; it is dark. So by the time we get home it’s close to 8pm. Kids need to have showers & get cleaned up and they are starving. Ravenous......Hungry......
So I need to have something ready to eat.
Instantly. 
Before they turn feral.

BECAUSE THEY ARE HUNGRY!!!

You get the idea....

So anyway, I thought I might start sharing some of my time saving Wednesday dinner ideas with you. The slow cooker features a fair bit. I know I’m not the only Mum that runs in different directions after school, so I thought it might come in handy for some of you. I hope you like!

Now drum roll please..........

Wednesday Dinner Idea Number One

Lasagne Slow Cooker Style.

This is a favourite. And it’s quite filling (read great for starving teenage children!).There is always a heap left; so leftovers can either go in the freezer to pull out when needed or, if like my family, you think lasagne always tastes better the next day, then voila!  Thursday’s dinner is good to go!

It is really easy, and basically the same as normal oven style lasagne, just done in the slow cooker instead.

Cast of Characters:

Meat Sauce:

*2 teaspoons crushed garlic

*1 lg brown onion finely diced

*500g lean beef mince

*2 tins of crushed tomatoes

*3 carrots grated

*2 zucchini grated

*fresh oregano; fresh basil, fresh parsley, a handful of each; finely chopped.

The Rest:

*Lasagne Sheets; I use the fresh sort found in the refrigerated section in the supermarket.

*1 tub of ricotta

*Grated mozzarella.

*Baby spinach.

What to do:

Gently fry the garlic and onions. Add the beef and brown. Add the grated carrot and zucchini. Add the tomatoes. Let it simmer away till it smells so good that you want to eat it now. Add the herbs.

Take it off the heat. Let it cool.

Then in the slow cooker pot start to layer.

First some meat sauce. Then a layer of lasagne sheets. Then some more sauce. Then another layer of lasagne sheets. Then a layer of ricotta, don’t be light handed, then top it with the spinach. Add another sheet of lasagne, then some more sauce And then a final layer of Lasagne sheet. Top it with a little more sauce and the grated mozzarella.

Put the lid on the slow cooker, turn it onto low and leave it for around 6 hours.

Seriously. How easy is that?! And trust me when you walk back in the door later that evening, your house smells divine and dinner is sorted!

I don’t put exact amounts in my recipes because I’m a bit of a “add a bit here, add a bit there” type of cook. Play around, add different vegetables, mushrooms have been known to find their way into my layering, as have thin slices of pumpkin.

All I know; is that my family devours this. And if it can fill up my 14yr old boy then it must be good!

Happy Wednesday Lovelies! xx

Teenage Appetites

Like most mothers of teenagers; I am constantly amazed at just how much food my kids can and do eat.

My son seems to just finish his dinner, and then 30minutes later is asking what else he can eat.
He is growing like a weed; he is well and truly towering over me now, and is the same height as his Dad. His shoulders and chest seems to be filling out and the last remnants of that little boy seem to have disappeared, only to be replaced by this grownup teen and don't even get me started on the size of his feet!
I'm really conscious of him having "good” food to eat whilst he is having this massive growth spurt, I want him to be able to eat when he is hungry, but have good food choices available for him.
One of the things that seem to be a hit is cereal. He often will grab a bowl (or 2!) for his "after dinner" snack!
I make a batch of this Muesli up and he devours it. It's a pretty healthy snack for him.
It's super easy to make, so why not give it a go.

Crunchy Muesli

 Cast of Characters:

- 2 cups of Rolled Oats

- 2 cups of crushed up Special K cereal

- 1 cup of shredded coconut

- 1 x 200g pkt of dried Fruit Medley

- 1/2 cup of dried cranberries

- 2 tbs of wheat germ

- 2 tbs of Ground Almonds.

And here is the best part....

Put all of the ingredients into a large container, put a lid on it.

Shake well to mix it all up.

The End.

How simple is that!!

It keeps really well in an airtight container; well actually I probably shouldn't say that, because it doesn't last very long here at Casa Bliss to be able to test that theory out! But I'm sure it would.

Anyway; try it out, it's guaranteed to make the hungry locusts teenagers in your world happy. And if you don't have teens at your place; try it anyway. You will be glad you did!

Oh and Happy Monday Everyone!

xx

The inside hot tips!

Last weekend at Casa Bliss, we had a visit from some very dear friends whom we hadn't seen for awhile. So this visit meant a very special cake needed to be made. After scouring my bazillion cookbooks, I still couldn't find anything that took my fancy. Then I remembered a fantastic recipe that I had seen over on another blog. So I gave it a go and it was SENSATIONAL!! Yes it deserved uppercase letters!

So here's today's hot tip, head on over to to Larissa's blog Little Pudding here and give this a go.

It was seriously good, in fact the whole cake was pretty much devoured in one sitting by us all, our special guests loved it, my cherubs loved it, my beloved loved it and as for me, well I just managed a tiny slither....or two!!

And whilst I'm on the hot tip bandwagon here's another one....
Cake in a Mug!!
I got the recipe of Pinterest. Don't you love Pinterest! I had seen a few recipes for this but I was a bit doubtful....but this was good and easy and demolished! In fact my curly haired girl declared she thought it was possibly the best afternoon tea ever, (I think she was quite possibly slightly delirious because her brother was away on school camp and she was living her dream of being an only child but...I will admit it was a rather impressive afternoon tea!) I did alter it slightly to adapt it to being gluten free, and it still worked out great.So give this a go too!

Cast of Characters:
4 tablespoons flour ( I used gluten free and it was fine)
4 tablespoons of sugar (I used brown sugar)
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons of milk
3 tablespoons of oil
3 tablespoons of chocolate chips
A drop of vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients to a large microwave proof mug and mix well.
Add the egg, mix.
Add the milk and oil, mix really well.
Add the chocolate chips and vanilla, mix.
Put it into the microwave, cook for 3 minutes.
The cake will rise up over the top of the mug, this is ok, let it cool slightly, then serve up to admiring children who will profess to all that will listen what a fantastic mother you are.....or something like that!
Enjoy!
Oh and have a lovely weekend!
xx

Autumn Bliss

One of the things about living in South Gippsland is that when the seasons change the weather changes quite dramatically. Today as I'm writing this, it's freezing cold outside. It's raining,windy, and quite bleak. But inside, well, inside is toasty warm and lovely. Now what you may or may not know, is that my kids are hockey players. Three times a week I make the trek over the hills to training & for games. Some weeks it's four times. It is around a 1 and 1/2 hour return trip each time. But the scenery is beautiful so it's not too bad. However, it's cold. Really cold. Watching my kids train & play means I have to rug up or face no feeling in my toes! It also means I have to be extremely organized when it comes to meal planning.
I use my slow cooker a lot. Apart from casseroles, I also cook roasts and actually pretty much anything in it. It works well for us. It is late when we get in, so meals need to be ready to eat.
The other thing I tend to do a fair bit is soup. It can be heated up quickly and is full of goodness for my hockey mad but, tired after training, kids.And after posting a picture of the soup I made on Wednesday on Instagram, I got a few requests for the recipe. So here goes.....

Red Lentil & Sweet Potato Soup.

Cast of Characters:
- Olive oil, just a splash.
- 2 small or 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
-2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, then chopped into small cubes
- 2 zucchini, chop one into small pieces, the other grate finely.
- 1 cup of dried split red lentils
- 8 cups of vegetable stock, I use 2 cartons of the low salt kind.

Heat the oil in a large pot, add the garlic and onion and stir until soft. Add the sweet potato and lentils. Stir. Add the chopped zucchini. Stir. Add the vegetable stock and the grated zucchini. Stir well then turn the heat up to high and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer away, stirring every now and then for around 30 minutes. The lentils will thicken up, and soon your kitchen will be filled with the most delicious smell. Serve it up, with nice crusty bread. Or do as I do, turn the heat off, let it cool down, then pop it int the fridge ready to be heated up again after hockey training!

It's healthy, so easy and so simple and so so delicious! Give it a go!

Snap it. Sweet.

Easter Sunday. Children's laughter. Warm Sunshine. Grown ups catching up on each others news. Lots of food. Chocolate. Wine. More laughter.
Oh...and dessert......Cannoli. Our Easter tradition.
Life is good.

Playing along here Faith Hope & a whole lotta Love