Homemade Dulce De Leche

Last months Donna Hay magazine had a section that was all about caramel.  Caramel is my favourite!  Growing up allergic to chocolate caramel was always my go to flavour choice.  There are so many things in this magazine that I want to make but I decided to start with a quick simple one.  Homemade Dulce De Leche.  Yum!!!

Homemade Dulce De Leche by Donna Hay

2 x 395g tins of condensed milk

Preheat oven to 220*C.  Place condensed milk in an ovenproof baking dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil.  Place the baking dish in a larger deep sided baking tray and fill with boiling water until it reaches 2/3 of the way up the sides of the dish.  Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes-1 hour and 45 minutes or until caramel in colour.  Spoon the caramel into a bowl and whisk until smooth. Spoon int sterilized glass jars and keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.  This recipe makes 2 cups.

I obviously skipped the jarring and storing in the fridge and decided to pop it all straight into some shortcrust pastry to make a delicious caramel tart.  I think I might be making another batch of this though to swirl through some vanilla ice-cream.  Delicious!!!

M Date - Movies

Last weekend Corey and I had our M Date (yes, we are doing these way out of order).  We decided to go to Gold Class to see The Hunger Games.  I had been wanting to see this since it came out but hadn't been feeling quite up to it.  I am so glad we finally go to watch it.  I was so impressed with this movie. I think they recreated the world of the books so well.  The contrast between the districts and the capitol was done perfectly.  The capitol characters costumes were phenomenal. The colour, the eccentricity, I was very impressed!

And I must say Rue was the cutest little thing I have ever seen! I think she was my favourite character even though she only had a small part.  Have you guys seen The Hunger Games?  What did you think?

The Good, The Bad & The Bump(y) - 17 weeks

The Good

• Having working internet again.
• Finally being able to bake again without wanting to throw up.
• Corey working his last night shift last night.
• Gold Class movie dates with Corey.
• My fun new maternity exercise class that I started this week.
• New cloths and new hair making me feel refreshed.
• My nice new heat pack which helps to ease my back pain slightly.

The Bad

• Missing last weeks bump post due to broken internet.
• Not being able to buy cute clothes for Squishy because we don't know the gender yet.
• Grocery shopping with cravings. I spend way too much money!!!
• Back pain. It is killing me. Especially when I get it in the middle of the night and it wakes me up.

The Bump

And here is little Squishy at 17 weeks. The bump doesn't look as big as I feel which I always find funny when I take these pics.  I always feel huge then I see these pics and think I'm not really that big. It's a vicious cycle that I go through each week.  But, I am learning to accept my new body and stop obsessing over every kilo and just embrace this time in my life. I found it hard at first because I was so used to eating perfectly and going to the gym consistently with Corey and keeping track of my weight every week.  It has taken me a while to realise that I need to put on weight in order to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby but I think I am starting to get there.  I think one thing I still need to accept is that every pregnant women is different and I need to stop comparing myself to every other pregnant lady I know and see.  Getting my hair dyed and cut on the weekend definitely helped me feel a little bit better about myself. Now I just need to hold onto this feeling for the next 5 months!

Pay It Forward...Handmade Styles

I saw this post over on Melissa's blog on the weekend and I was so super duper excited that no one had commented yet.  I had seen pay it forward go around a few blogs I read but I am always too late to join in.  I snapped up the chance to be involved this time and I am so excited.

So here are the details.  I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post.  The gift will be handmade by me.  It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days.  It will be a surprise.  All you need to do is:-

1. In your comment, tell me your two favourite colours (that will help me make an appropriate gift).
2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along too.  Pay It Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.
3. You must have a blog (this is to help me figure out what to make for you).
4. After commenting here, you must re-post this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours.  If not, I will chose the next person who comments...
5. I will need a way to contact you so please leave your email address.

I am so excited to get a chance to take part in pay it forward.  So, who wants to play?  

Pyjama Party Reveal

Today is the big reveal day for Karen's Pyjama Party and I finished just in time.  I was hemming my pj's this morning before I headed out to the hairdresser.  I am so glad I got these finished today because it has been rainy gloomy weather all day so it's the perfect time for cosy new winter pj's.

I bought the fabric from Spotlight and it is so amazingly soft and warm I think I could live in these. Especially if this weather keeps up! I wonder if pj's are considered too casual for casual Fridays???  I love super baggy pj's so I went up a size from what I made last time and I am so happy with the cosiness.

Another part of the pyjama party was to share what we are currently reading.  I have become addicted to my ereader and I read a lot more now that I have it.  I keep it in my handbag so I can read whenever I have a spare moment.  It's amazing how much you can read in all those little moments.

I am currently halfway through Wicked by Sara Shepard.  This is the fifth book in the Pretty Little Liars series and I am totally addicted.  These books are only like 200 pages each and are so quick and easy to read.  I think after these though I am going to need something a bit more meaty to read so my next series on the list after these is the Millenium Trilogy.

And because Veronica Darling asked so nicely here is a quick pic of my new hair.  My hairdresser took this before and after and text it to me after I left.  I love the difference!

Squishy's First Blanket

I have been wanting to make some things for Squishy but am finding it hard since we don't know Squishy's gender yet.  I thought to stay safe for the next 3 weeks while we wait to find out that I would stick to making toys and homewares type stuff that I could make unisex.

First up I decided to crochet a quick blanket for the stroller.  The stroller we bought is red so being anal about colour coordination I had to have something that would match.  I chose red, teal and blue because I thought it could be unisex.  Also, it goes perfectly with the red stroller.

I decided on a simple granny square blanket.  I used a 5mm (H) hook and 8 ply yarn.  I made a bunch of squares then lined them up inside the stroller and decided that 5 squares by 4 squares would be the perfect size.  I love granny squares because once you have made them a couple of times they are so quick and you can make them while watching tv.  I have so much more that I want to make for Squishy and am having loads of fun crossing things off the list.  I just can't wait until we find out the gender so I can knit up some cute jumpers and sew some cute clothes.

White Chocolate & Raspberry Muffins

So our internet went a little wacky this week and the only way I had to post was via my iphone which I can tell you right now I am not exactly skilled at.  I gave it a whirl to post for Anzac Day but I have no idea how to add more than 1 photo or to format my posts so it was a no go for anything more detailed.  Which was a bit of a bummer cause last weekend I made some delicious muffins that I really wanted to show you.

 

This muffin recipe was in the latest Donna Hay magazine but was actually a part of an ad for a car.  A little bit random but they sounded delicious so I gave them a whirl.

I decided to go a little bit fancy and buy some nice white cafe style muffin cases while I was in Woolworths.  The girls at work were very impressed telling me they looked just like proper muffins from the cafes.  If you are looking for a quick easy but delicious muffin then you must give these a try.  I had to remove them from our household before Corey and I ate the entire batch.  

White Chocolate & Raspberry Muffins

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp finely grated lemon rind

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries

1 cup chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 180*C.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with non stick baking paper making sure the paper is 5mm from the top of the tin.  

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl.  Add the sugar and stir to combine.  In a seperate bowl combine the sour cream, eggs, lemon rind and oil and whisk together.  Stir through the flour mixture until just combined.  Carefully fold in the raspberries and chocolate and spoon into lined tins.

Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.