While I am not on the Tuckshop roster at Owen’s school, I did volunteer to be on the baking roster.  For me that means baking about once a month and making my designated thing – choc chip cookies.  No too bad a job, for me!

So, tomorrow is my first day to take my wares up to the school and I have been baking them for the first time this morning.  Probably should have tried out the given recipe on the kids before now – just to make sure they are edible – but it’s too late for that now!

Here is the recipe for Choc Chip Cookies that the Tuckshop Convener handed out with the rosters…

Ingredients:

• 250 grams butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 250 grams choc chips

Method:

Cream butter, both sugars and vanilla.

Add lightly beaten eggs gradually, beating well after each addition.

Mix in sifted flour and salt.

Add choc chips and mix well.

Shap tablespoons of the mixture into balls, press down on lightly greased trays, leaving space for spreading.

Bake in a moderate over for 12 – 15 minutes.

Loosen on try, leave to partly cool and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

Notes:

• To make them thinner and crunchier, press down with a spatula half way during cooking.
• Turns out they are OK cookies (not my absolute fave, but not terrible either).  I accidentally ate one while still warm…  :)

Marc turned 33 on March 1st.  After what could only be classed as a crappy day, we decided that March 2nd was going to be his birthday day for 2011.  It was a much better day all round!

I made his cake on the 1st…  And continuing with the Bad Day theme, I should have left it until the next day.  I’m sure it would have turned out much better…  While it tasted great, the icing did not go to plan, oozed everywhere and consequently did not look pretty at all!

What did Marc get for his birthday this year?  A brand spanking new birth certificate and a rushed passport.  Marc is off to LA for 5 days next week (for work unfortunately).

Turned out to be not a bad birthday after all :)

Owen yells out to me this morning, “MUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!!!!!  COME AND HAVE A LOOK AT WHAT ROOOOOOOOOOBEN’S DOING!!!!!!!!”.

So of course I come running.  It’s usually something terrible, messy, and/or dangerous…  Something he should not be doing.

But this is what I came across in our lounge room..

Reuben had decided that today was the day that Bay-Bay (more commonly referred to as Baby) had indeed done a poo and needed to be changed.

Several times.

Must have been a shocking nappy.  Poor Bay-Bay…

At least now her legs are nice and clean!

And I’m glad I kept a few new born size nappies for Reuben to put on Bay-Bay…  He was attempting to use one of his pull ups in her!

This is my very first ever loaf of bread, made by me.  And the bread maker.  And someone named Laucke.  Laucke does a great job.
I must be a competent ingredients measurer…  lol

Anyway, this is the very tip of the iceberg of an elimination diet process for Reuben and Ella (and the rest of the Harvey Five as well).  Preservative-free bread.  And you know, at well under $3 for the bag of mix and a little time in the bread maker, it turns out to be not only a better bread choice, but a whole lot cheaper than a loaf from just a few aisles over in Woolies.  Something to think about perhaps…

Most importantly though - how does it taste?

Well, here is Reuben eating his first ever slice plain (just the way he likes his bread), and still warm…

He came back for seconds, so I think it passed the taste test!

Strange picture to post, right?  It’s not so much what’s going on in the picture, but the actual picture itself that is important.

While the rest of the crowd was partying away Ella’s first birthday, Marc was telling Gerrod about our camera woes… My favourite, everyday lens wasn’t working and I was having to resort to the little camera, which I don’t like very much at all, hence the lack of photos lately!  Marc got the lens out for Gerrod to have a look at.  And lo and behold, as soon as Gerrod fitted it to our camera it worked again!  Magic!  So this pic is one of the first that was taken with the lens back on the camera, where is may never leave again now!  Thanks Gerrod!!!

Cooper and Ella share a special bond.  Not only because they are cousins.  Not only because Cooper is so gentle and aware of Ella and Ella in turn, is very tolerant of all the patting and general toddler boy attention (sometimes a bit on the rough side, but not often from Coop!).  But also because they both chose February first (2009 and then 2010) as their birth days.

On Tuesday night, their birthday, we had a small family party at Jode’s house.  Complete with cakes for both of the cousins and enough party-type finger food to feed a small army!  We Carter’s/Craven’s/Harvey’s really do over-catering very well ;)

Then on Sunday we had a party for Ella at our house!  I’m sure Ella didn’t know why there were so many people at her house.  But Ella, they were all their to help you celebrate your birthday – I hope you enjoyed yourself at least a little bit!

I need to mention a few thank you’s here -

• Thank you to Jode, who came over Saturday afternoon and spent some quality time with her big sister playing with the icing creating the cake.  And then stayed later than she should have and helped assemble other party bits and pieces.  We had a blast!
• Thank you also to Nic, she came over Saturday night and just did what she was told :)  Seriously though, among other things, Nic was in charge of Tiny Teddy Car Assembly, and she did an awesome job and made the night just that little bit more better-er for being there.
• Lastly, thank you to everyone who helped out on the day, from taxiing people, bringing party food, generally looking after people and cleaning up (you know who you are!).  Yes, I said cleaning up.  Marc and I barely had to do a thing after everyone left!  It was G R E A T !!!  So thank you all so very very much – all the help was greatly appreciated!

Happy Birthday, Cooper and Ella.

Love you both lots and lots.

xoxoxoxo

Don’t you just love beautiful, ripe tomatoes?  I eat them like apples!

All foodie posts have a new home.  Check out the right-hand side of this little blog’s front page and you will see Recent Cooking, and that’s where you’ll find all food/cooking posts from now on…
Happy reading!

These cute little things were a big hit at Ella’s first birthday party.
So easy to assemble and no cooking required, so the kids could help as well!

What you’ll need:

• Mini Milky Way Bars (the ones in the multi packs)
• Smarties
• Life Savers, cut in halves
• Tiny Teddies
• Melted chocolate (we used left over white choc)

How to make:

Make a cut in each Milky Way, about 2/3 of the way down the bar with a small sharp knife.  This helps to keep the bar in shape.

Pop a Tiny Teddy in the cut.

Make sure you take a minute to admire the absolute cuteness of the Tiny Teddy in the Milky Way.
Don’t you think he looks like he’s tucked in his little bed?  So sweet!

Use the melted chocolate as your “glue” and get sticking!

Notes:

• We attempted to use icing as glue to start off with, but the chocolate held better.
• If you want to add little head lights, pop two Mini m & ms on the front of the Milky Way.
• Make more than you think you’ll need of these little cuties.  We ran out so fast that I didn’t get to try one on Party Day!

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