One wemon mewingue pie coming up!...

...Those are the words of Famouse Mr. Elma Fudd...
When my husband was my boyfriend, one thing he made clear to me was, that the only thing that comes close to the love he has for me, is the love he has for Lemon Meringue Pie.

Yes, anytime I needed to say sorry, I love you, welcome home, get well etc, etc....all I had to do was whip up a Lemon Meringue Pie and all was sweet.
The sad thing is, Like alot of things, Once we were married I was over making Lemon Meringue Pie.  I started cooking new things, trying new recipes etc.  Although he enjoys these new things...he still ask for...you guessed it, Lemon Meringue Pie.
I dont think I mke it enough for him.

When we got home from Sydney I thought I would spoil him by making mini Lemon Meringue Pies.  As I was a bit tired from holidays, i cheated a little.
Normally Im all for making the base and all from scratch.  This time I purchased premade tart cases.  I will include the recipe for the base I normally make too at the end so if you decide to make it (and your not as lazy as me ) you can make the base, it realy is nice if you can.


Lemon Meringue Pie
Filling...
400g can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 egg yolks.  (Keep the whites)

Mix these 3 ingredients together untill well combined.
Place in each tart case evenly.

Meringue...
Beat egg whites untill firm peaks form, gradually add sugar, beating untill sugar disolves.  Spoon meringue on top of filling, bake in 180*C oven for 10 mins, untill light golden.
What your left with is this....

Biscuit base...
If your wanting to make the base all you do is combine 180g plain sweet biscuits, crushed ( I use scotch finger) and 90 grams of melted butter.
Combine untill realy mixed well and the biscuit crumbs are moist.
Press into a 23cm pie dish and refigerate while making the filling.

Hubby was one very happy, content man when I presented him with these mini merngues.♥♥

The Perfect Brunch. My Eggs Benedict

Ok, so as promised a couple of weeks back I said I would put some new recipes up...
After our holiday I made my family eggs Benedict fir bunch.  I was pleasantly suprised as I attempted to make this a few years back and the Hollandaise was a complete disaster, amazingly this time it worked.  Ive heard that Hollandaise is oe of the trickiest sauces to make...so extra proudness for that :-D.
First of all, I decided to make the Hollandaise as this can sit and wait while the rest happens.
To make the Hollandaise, this is what I used/did...

Hollandaise Sauce
*1 1/2 tablespoons of white wine vinager (make sure it's WHITE WINE VINEGAR...last time the mistake was just simple white vinegar, for some reason, that doesnt work)
*1 Tablespoon lemon juice
*1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
*2 egg yolks
*125g unsalted butter, melted

Bring the vinegar, juice & peppercorns to the boil in a small saucepan. (this happens quick, so stand by)
Reduce heat; simmer uncovered, untill liquid is reduced by half.
Strain through a fine sieve into a medium heatproof bowl; cool for 10 mins.
Whisk the egg yolks into the vinegar mixture.
Set the bowl over a medium saucepan of simmering water; donot allow water to touch base of bowl.  Whisk mixture over heat untill thickened.
THE NEXT PART IS VERY IMPORTANT-

Remove the bowl from heat; Gradually...and I MEAN GRADUALLY... (another thing i did wrong, it wont work if you pour in too fast) whisk in melted butter in a thin, steady steam, whisking constantly untill the sauce is thick and creamy.
This sauce will serve approx 4.

TO POACH THE EGGS
Another tricky thing....the perfect poached eggs.  With much trial and error I have finally perfected the poached egg,
What i do is...
Fill a saucepan with hot water.  Bring it to the boil. Pour in 1/4 of a cup of apple cider vinegar.
Take the water off the heat.
Crack an egg into a heatproof cup with a handle.  Next place the lip of the cup into the water and slowly tip the cup so the egg slips out, having the whites sit on top of the yolks. Reapeat with however many more eggs you need.
 Place the saucepan back on the lowest heat and cover.  Let simmer for 4 mins.  When ready carefully lift each up with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to soak up any moisture.  Cover to keep warm.

While eggs are cooking, this gives you time to cook your english muffins.
I also used shaved ham, but you could use bacon, salmon etc.  I heated the ham through quickly under the grill.

Once the toast has popped, Place the ham, egg and a drizzle of Hollandaise.  Top with chives and cracked pepper......YUMMMMMMMM...Our new favorite breakky/brunch.
Here's how it looked...

This is now a regular in our home. This is the perfect sunday/dayoff/lazy breakky.

I've changed...again!

Im sorry for changing the look of my blog "again"!  Unfortunatly as I have a love of designing and playing with patterns, colors etc I see new blog templates and just have to try.  What do you think of the latest?  I hope its ok...feel free to offer sugestions. Im always up for it.
Anyway the look of this blog is the only thing that has changed...nothing else.
~EnJoY!♥♥

1000 awesome things...

Hiya all....I thought I would just pop in to share with you all a site that I stumbled across recently...http://1000awesomethings.com/ 
I thought I would share as it pretty much is....well....awesome.  I like it as it is a blog a guy has set up and he puts a simple pleasure on it everyday.
Here is what he wrote on his blog...
"1000 Awesome Things is just a time-ticking countdown of 1000 awesome things. Launched June, 2008 and updated every weekday."
Some of the reviews people have written are...
*“Strangely heartwarming… perfect for rainy days.”
*“Honors the little joys of life.”
*“Laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with just enough sarcastic nostalgia…”
*“Laugh out loud. You feel like you’ve thought of these things a thousand times but just haven’t stopped to write them down.”
*“A lovingly beautiful blog. It’s like being a three- or four-year-old and looking at the world for the first time again. Read it and you’ll feel good about being human.”
...and my personal favorite...
*“Given the hectic nature of our lives, it’s easy to overlook the little things that make it all worthwhile. Thank goodness we’ve got this new site to remind us of life’s small pleasures. They’re just getting started with the list but we’ve already identified a few favorites including that pile of assorted beers left in your fridge after a party, locking people out of the car and pretending to drive away, and finding money you didn’t even know you lost.

This last comment pretty much sums up what this blog is all about.  Looking at the simple things in life (that give you a buzz) that so often get neglected and overlooked and just appreciating the small things in life...a motto I 100% stand by.

Once you start filing through this blog, i guarantee that you will be at your computer for hours. 

What things can you come up with...? (leave a comment here)
 
3 big pats on the back to the creator of this blog...YOUR AWESOME!!!!

Oh how I lOvE my bath...

So, I did a spin class today...its been about 6 months since my last class all i can say is *UGH*...anyway, i must admit i felt pretty good afterwards.  This afternoon my leg muscles started aching, kinda like those dreaded growing pains you get when your little.
I decided as the sun went down, and the coldness of the night kicked in that I was going to fill my bath and soak...ahhhhhh!

Often when im sick with the flu and aching with muscular pain the best thing I do is fill a hot bath the brim and pour in a box of epsom salts and pull out my little box of potions...my essential oil collection from le reve.  I have a fantastic little book that has mixes for all types of ailments.
Tonight because of my aches I put in ...
*4 drops of basil
*3 drops of clary sage
                              *3 drops of marjoram

PLEASE NOTE...a little tip Ive learnt is, that when you place pure essential oils in water you need to mix them with a little milk.  The reason is, when you think about oil and water...the 2 dont mix.  Adding the milk breaks down the oil allowing it to disperse properly through the bath water.  You dont need much milk, just a few drops to mix.

That along with the epsom salts...I was in heaven!  The smell was devine and the salts just does somthing. Click HERE to read some realy, realy interesting info on the wonderful benifits of epsom salts.

 I didnt do it tonight (being a school night and all)  but usually too, I will light my candles and drift off to bubble heaven.
Who needs expensive day spas...heehee (although that would be good too).
Now im rugged up, in my warm snuggly jammies with a hearty bowl of minestrone soup...mmmmmm!

Next time you are stressed, sick, tired or just want time out I completly recomend a warm soaky bath........your bodies, mind and sanity will thankyou for it, trust me. xoxoxox

A weeks worth of food!

This weekend we have been a little indulgent with our eating, afterall we are still 'Technically' on holidays till Monday :0D
On saturday we had Eggs benedict for brunch...this was D.E.V.I.N.E. 
I also made my dear husband his favorite...lemon meringue pie, but instead of one big one i made mini ones, just so he can portion it over the week end LOL.  He was one happy boy.
Anyway, I plan to do a blog post on these next.

Today however, I must admit I was in total BLISS.  My day started with a sleep in, then my husband woke me up saying that friends of ours have asked if our kids could come over for a play date.  My husband got them ready and they were out within the hour.  I got up had a cuppa tea with some toast, watched a bit of tv. 
After Breakfast I decided to do a bit of cooking.
Since being away, and the weeks leading up to our holiday I have been a little disorganised and have been on a bit of a crazy thing with money...which i hate.

So, today I decided enoughs enough! 
While away my husband and I decided to lose a little weight & just generally get healthy leading up to summer.
He made one point that I need to make him lunch everyday for work.  He said this because I can be a little lax in this area at times.
So today I got very organised.  I was going to do a large shop this week and stock up on food items but instead i thought I will use stuff i already have and see if we can live on this.
So far already I have made ...

* I made 10 chicken sandwhiches on multigrain bread for my husband (2 sandwhiches a day).  Ive pre-made them and are frozen in the freezer.  Each morning I will take them out and by lunch they will be fresh and ok.
*10 ham sandwhiches on mutligrain.  One each day for each child, each day of school. (also frozen)
*Banana Cake...sliced up into 15 pieces, frozen in individual bags.  This for one each day...husband, son, daughter.
*Carrot cake, also frozen to be eaten for afternoon tea or snacks.
*I portioned up crackers and cheese into individual bags for snacks at school & work.
*I made a ministrone type soup with leftover veges that were on their way out and I had a tin of Cannelloni Beans & tomatoes ...turned out quite good.  This will hopefully do dinner for 2 nights next week.
*I also put on a sausage caserole for tonights dinner...I put this with polenta and brocolli...the kids loved it!!

*Air popped pop corn, also portioned into little bags for each day of the week for each family member to munch on.
*A Loaf of bread.

I think this should do us for most of next week. I feel quite proud of myself.  Now I just got to put myself to bed and sleep as I plan on getting up at 5 (yes, FIVE) am...to go to the gym.
I feel so great tonight.  I find its amazing what a little organisation does...here's hoping i can stick to it each week.
Nitey Nite my friends...xoxo

The big smoke!

Yep, holidays are great but wow, its great to be back home! 
Sydney was a whole lotta fun.  We were busy, busy.  Did alot and caught up with alot of friends. We enjoyed ourselves and the kids had an absolute ball.

It all started early last wednesday when we all rose out of bed early at 5am to get to the airport by 7am.  It was super exciting!

After an hour and a bit, on the plane we were in sydney!!!!

Next we picked up our rental cars and were on our way to our accomadation in Cronulla. 

Little T and his cousin waiting for the big plane to take off...

Miss Mimi on the big plane holding her baby (Timmy) just before take off.  Her little cousin is in the back ground.

We spent the next few days just relaxing and catching up with friends...

With my most favorite gal pal...

One day we went for a drive to Kurnell, which is pretty much neighboring to Cronulla.  We got fish and chips and went for a walk along the headland.  It was soooo beautiful.  I didnt relise it until we got there but this was the actual site where Captain James Cook landed on Australia.  There were all these monuments and the kids had fun looking at them...

It was such a beautiful place.  Very green and lush and as we walked around the headland, I found my dream home....check it out..........

Cant you just imagin sitting here in the morning with a cuppa tea or in the afternoon with a glass of wine?

The kids admiring the view from the house.

I mean seriously, this house came out of nowhere and has everything....Ocean views, fireplace, beautiful big massave trees.  It was just stunning!

Dont you just love these little steps?...

We then did the whole city thing.

The kids Loved the city.  The last time we were in the city was when Miss Mimi was 2 and Little T was 4 months old so they dont realy remember it, this city trip was fun for them.  Unfortunalty, the day we travelled to the city it was cooooold, wet, windy and grey...but we had fun anyway!  We made sure we found a cute little german pub (yes...underground it was) for a warm cosy lunch.

The boys ordered 1litre beer jugs (as they do) and it was Shnitzels all round...

The kids loved the opera house, harbour bridge and seeing the big face of Lunar Park.

The bridge!

The amazing Opera house.

You can see Lunar Park in the background.

So, Thats our trip....I must admit, I am glad to be home.  I relise I love my own bed, my own car and my own food, my own surroundings...but it was still great.

I am so thankful to have shared this with my family xoxoxo