Tuna Pasta Salad

I like to have a nosey at the salad bar for inspiration for dishes I can  make at home for cheaper and in bulk!!  So this recipe is the product of one such nosey :)  This dish is great for hot days (and/or stressful ones) as it doesn't take too long to cook, so we always have this a lot in the summer.

Ingredients
500g pasta
2 cans of tuna (185g), drained
1 can of sweetcorn (325g), drained
1 green pepper, cut into small chunks
1 cup of salad cream

Cook pasta and drain...just a note - I like to add a dash of olive oil to the water while the pasta is cooking, I have no idea if this helps it not to stick together, but I do it anyway lol!!

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, it's ready to be served :)  If you are going to eat it cold, let it cool down first before covering it and then store in the fridge.  Just before serving, add a little more salad cream to 'freshen' it up.

Enjoy!!

Fruity Croissant Pudding

My brother-in-law made this for us at Christmas and it was so delicious we were all fighting over seconds, it was not a pretty sight!!!  You just need croissants, custard and fruit but don't underestimate the yummiest of this simple combination, mmmm mmm mmmm :)

Ingredients
6 croissants
1 1/2 - 2 cup of soft fruits e.g. raspberries, blueberries
1 pint custard
sugar or caster sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/350F.

Tear up the croissants into bite-size pieces to cover the base of your dish...my dish measured 12"x 9". 

Scatter on your chosen fruit over the croissants....blueberries and raspberries work well together or I used a frozen summer fruit mix this time.

Pour your custard all over, making sure that everything gets covered.  Let it sit for 5 mins before cooking, so that the croissants get a chance to soak up some of the custard. 

Sprinkle a little sugar all over just before putting in the oven...I just used granulated, but caster or brown sugar should work just as well.

Put in the oven for 25-30 mins...now enjoy with anything creamy :)  

Simple DIY Pamper Gift

I've just finished making 13 of these for the children's teachers at school and nursery, and they all seemed to love them....and they only cost me 50p each!! :)

Each one contained a shower puff and a coloured bar of soap...

I wrapped them in cellophane and tied with ribbon and/or string...to alternate it a bit I cut some tissue paper slightly smaller than the cellophane and then wrapped them up, it's hides what you are giving and also adds a bit of colour if needed.  Cellophane is one of the best things I've ever bought to fancy things up a bit, definitely worth the investment...I bought a roll of clear wrap from my local florist.

I made a DIY stamp for the tags, click on link for my DIY foam stamp tutorial and then just wrote in pencil the word 'pamper' underneath.  The kids then wrote a message to their teachers on the back.  Yeahhh, job done...and since it's now the summer holidays I think I might just treat myself to one of these pamper kits too :)

Portuguese Chicken and Potato

My lovely Portuguese friend is a fabulous cook and constantly tantalizes my taste buds with her dishes.  The other day she forgot I was coming over for lunch and so she quickly threw a dish together with me watching trying to take mental notes of everything she was doing.  Needless to say it was delicious and is now a favourite in our home too.  In our house we call it 'Maria's chicken'.....for some reason we name our dishes after the people that introduced us to them, so we also have a Tait cheesecake, Sister Win's soup and Nanna's noodle soup!!

Ingredients
6 chicken drumsticks or 4 chicken breasts
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
freshly ground salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
flat leaf parsley, big handful

Put the chicken in an oven proof dish and do a couple of little cuts into each piece of meat to help the flavours infuse into it.  Add the chopped onion and garlic.

...I like to use a pestle and mortar to grind my garlic for this recipe (cause that's the way Maria did it, and somehow for me adds to the yumminess of the dish).  It's also a great way to relieve some stress!!

Next add your potatoes to the dish, then throw on your 1-2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp vinegar and give it a good stir to make sure everything is coated.  
Sprinkle your 1 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of paprika, with your freshly ground salt and pepper and a big handful of flat leaf parsley (cut up ever so slightly....I quite like mine big, but do it however you like), then give it a good stir again.
Now this is the best bit, cover it over with cling film or foil and let it marinate for at least 1/2 hr...I love making this dish in the morning and having the wonderful aroma just waft through my house all day...it's worth making this dish just for the smell alone lol!!  

Once marination is complete and you've wiped the dribble from your chin, put in the oven on Gas Mark 6/200C for 20-30 mins till chicken and potato are cooked through.  This is one of those meals that once you've cooked it once, you can literally glance at the recipe card next time and just quickly throw it together, it's great for so many reasons...hope you enjoy it as much as we all do xx

DIY Foam Stamps Tutorial

I love making foam stamps, and at the moment I can't stop making them, dreaming about them and using them....how sad is that!!! Actually I find it all quite exciting, haaaha...they're really simple to make and great for stamping on things, so far I've just used them on tags and paper bags...but I would also like to try them out on material, wood and anything else that I can find!!

So here's a list of the things you need, I say 'need ' in the loosest terms as you can so easily use other items to replace the ones below e.g. lollipop stick for foam board.

Equipment
foam board
double sided tape
foam letters
acrylic paint
foam brush

I first decide what I'm going to be stamping on and then cut out the foam board a tad bit smaller, so that it helps me to line the stamp when it comes to printing it....or you could just decide on a word/phrase/symbol and go from there.  If you don't have foam board to hand, you could use a CD disc cover instead, this works great because you can see through so you know exactly where you are stamping your chosen design.

Cover one side of your foam board in double sided tape....carpet double sided tape is brilliant for this, it's really sticky for foam, but apparently not so great for carpets!!! :)  Arrange your words etc the way you want them to look, making sure that they will fit within the foam board you have cut, and then just put the sticky side of the foam board carefully on top and push down, and that's it!!

If your really clever you'll be able to rearrange your letters backwards straight onto the foam board, personally this one is not for me...after six kids and lack of sleep my brain literally wouldn't stretch that far, so I find the first way sooo much easier :)

Now the fun bit, stamping , yay!!  Just a small amount of acrylic paint goes along way, so don't squeeze out too much.  Put a small amount on your foam design using a foam brush being careful not to get it on the sticky foam board, if you do, just wipe it away with your finger...yes, I like getting messy.

Stamp on your chosen item (hopefully not one our your kids) and then decorate however you wish.

As you can see I literally couldn't stop myself, and I still have more ideas to come...so watch this space!!

Microwave Meringues

Yes, these meringues only take one minute to bake in the microwave and only need 2 ingredients!!!  I use to make these when I was a kid, and loved watching them grow in the microwave :)

So here goes, super quick, so that you can get making some, mmmm.

Ingredients

1 egg white

2 cups icing sugar (approx.)

Mix the two ingredients together in a bowl (I used a medium egg, so if you use a larger/smaller egg then you will need more/less sugar), then keep adding little amounts of icing sugar (if needed) so that you can hold it in your hands without it sticking to you....I find it easier to 'knead' it towards the end on a worktop that's sprinkled with icing sugar, so that it's no longer sticky...and as you can see by my fingers, you do get a tad bit messy, but it's worth it :)

 

Put some greaseproof paper on a microwavable plate, and make 3-4 small balls (about the size of a 10p) and place in each corner.

Place the plate in the microwave and set the timer for one minute...I have a 700W microwave, so you may need to adjust your timing according to your wattage.  They should hopefully come out looking something like the picture below...just give them a second to cool, peel them off and put aside.  Now roll some more balls and use the same greaseproof paper over and over again, and keep zapping :)

This recipe makes about 24-28 meringues, so there are plenty to go around...now that hard bit is deciding what to go with them.  I chose large dollops of cream and summer fruit, mmm.

Faith in God books...for Parents

We've just recently had a new Faith in God leader called and she asked to visit with our eldest two children in our home so she could introduce herself, see what goals they had achieved and to set new ones.  On asking to see the kids books, only one was produced, and the other was lost...again!!  It's probably with all the odd socks and pens that mysteriously go missing in our house...sooo got to find that place one day ;)

Anyway, to help out I got down 'our' copies of the Faith in God booklets that have listed against each goal the date and what the child has done to achieve it.  Our new leader thought this was a great idea, especially as books go missing (quite frequently) and leaders can change.  So I thought I'd share it, in the hope that we can always be one step ahead of those missing books ;)  I keep our copies on a high shelf, so that there's no chance of them getting muddled up with kids ones...or getting lost for that matter!!

I would love to hear what do you do to help your children with their Faith in God goals etc????

Temple Ordinance Card Holder Tutorial

I use to keep my printed Ordinance Cards on the fridge with a simple magnet, but after being embarrassed handing across one card with a splash of tomato sauce on it, I wanted to make something that would protect my cards but still keep them in a place where I can see them on a regular basis.  So below is the result, it's super easy and fairly quick, and luckily didn't cost me a thing as I had everything I needed to hand, but even if you don't it still shouldn't cost too much :)

Materials needed

clear CD sleeve

card

double-sided tape

adhesive magnet tape

I started by cutting off the flap on my clear CD sleeve (but you might be lucky and yours might not have one), so that I was left with a square...if you look closely you'll see I made the back a bit larger than the front, but this isn't necessary.

I chose some pretty card and printed off the first line to the words of the song 'I love to see the Temple' using a font size of 26 with a free font called 'Daniel' ...this link is great for loads of other free fonts too, they have hand picked a load of free fonts from the web, so definitely take a look.  If you don't have a computer you could write on some words or use stickers instead.

Then I placed my Ordinance Card in the sleeve and placed it on top of my printed words to make sure it was all lined up and central.  I marked with pencil either side at the top of the sleeve, placed a ruler on top and slid the sleeve and then cut with my rotary cutter.  This was then my guide for cutting the rest of my card, I made sure my card slightly smaller than the sleeve to make it fit in nicely without warping.

I then stuck double-sided tape to either side of the card and carefully slid it into the sleeve and stuck it into place, and then attached the adhesive magnet strips on the top and bottom. 

I flipped it over, put my cards in and it was done :)  When my cards are facing outwards I love the fact that the words of the song are so apt for the person on the card.  I hope you like this post, because I've loved the simplicity and easiness of it, but also how effective and pretty it is.

He Truly Loves Us

What a giggle we had last tonight for FHE, it was one of those good ones....so here goes :)

Some of the children have been using rude and cheeky words to each other (nothing too serious, in case you're worrying, or wondering), which hasn't made for a nice atmosphere in the home when they've been said, so we decided we needed a conference talk that was apt for this....and Paul E. Koelliker of the Seventy's talk jumped out at me, maybe it had something to do with the title 'He Truly Loves Us'.

I shared how Elder Koelliker had spent some time with two missionaries and as they were reflecting on their day and the people they had met they had these 3 questions....but before I read the quote below I asked everyone to listen for 3 concerns that the missionaries had-

 “How can we help each individual develop a desire to know more about Heavenly Father? How do we help them feel His Spirit? How can we help them know that we love them?”

I actually ended up having to read this 3 times as the two youngest children kept being a distraction (nothing out of the norm there then)...but we got the right answers in the end.  We then jumped to the next story about another couple of missionaries that knocked on somebody's door and got this reaction -

The door opened, and a rather large man greeted them in a less-than-friendly voice: “I thought I told you not to knock on my door again. I warned you before that if you ever came back, it would not be a pleasant experience. Now leave me alone.” He quickly closed the door.

 We talked about how these Elders would have felt and what their reaction could have been....and then we read what they did -

As the elders walked away, the older, more experienced missionary put his arm on the younger missionary’s shoulder to comfort and encourage him. Unknown to them, the man watched them through the window to be sure they understood his message...as he witnessed the expression of kindness between the two missionaries, his heart was instantly softened. He reopened the door and asked the missionaries to come back and share their message with him.

As we discussed how this simple action of Christlike love helped to share the gospel, we shared how our thoughts, actions and words can be an example to others....and now this is where all the giggling begun with our game.

We had one of the children sit at the front of the room with a headband on...or in our case a length of spotted fleece, while another child handed out one small piece of card and pen to each family member.  All of us had to then write a nice word at the top of our card that described the person sat at the front.

One by one we put our card in the headband and tried to describe the word by sharing things the person does to be the word we had chosen and then the person wearing the headband would have to try and guess what the word was...it was lovely to hear everyone share different examples of how this person was being a good example to them, and it was also great because everybody was using good words towards each other...and the children couldn't wait to picked to go next.

You might be wondering where all the giggling came from but we laughed because the fleecy headband made people's hair go funny and kept slipping down, some of the explanations of words were hilarious as were the guesses....I think we will have to remember to play this game again sometime soon, and not just to get our kids to use nice words but to have a good old laugh together :)

We summed the evening up by reminding everyone that we can be good missionaries through the way we act and the words we use, and that through these simple everyday things we can feel His love as will others around us.

DIY Mod Podge

Mod Podge is forever being mentioned on Pinterest and I had no idea what it was, so I found out...and how much it cost, eeek at the latter one.  I was hoping that somebody, somewhere, had 'pinned' a cheaper alternative, and they had, whoopppeee!!!  Pinterest to the rescue again :)

This DIY: Decoupage 'recipe' is soooo cheap, quick and easy that even I was shocked by it, so much so that I couldn't stop telling my fellow crafters all about it the other night whilst I was making a label for it.

I made the label whilst chatting, eating and giggling and hadn't even noticed that I had misspelt it, so I made another one and stuck it on, only to then have it pointed out to me that I had misspelt it again!!  I've actually quite taken a liking to my misspelling so I haven't replaced it as it makes me chuckle whenever I look at it now -

Here is the 'pin' I mentioned earlier with the recipe and instructions - Do It Yourself Divas/DIY: Decoupage

Hope this brings a massive smile to your face each time you use it....because it does me, ooooo, I love a bargain and plodge :)