Picnic treats

Oh dear, I've been terribly absentee lately, please forgive me! With starting my new job and getting organised for Christmas I've just been so tired and not really up for writing anything. But I'm back and I promise to try harder in the future!

Today's post will be about picnic style foods.

My pulled pork is amazing if I do say so myself, I think food isn't something you need to be humble about! Especially when it's so easy, you just rub a shoulder of pork with garlic salt and pop in a slow cooker, cover with coke (not diet!) and leave for as long as possible, I like to leave it at least 8 hours. When the meat is tender and literally falling apart, peel off the fat layer, I like to cook with it on for flavour and juiciness but then pull it off 

after because it's rubbery and yucky to eat. Transfer to meat to a big bowl or plate and tip out the coke, saving about 2 cups worth. Shred the meat with two forks and put the pulled mess back into the slow cooker, pour in about half a cup of barbecue sauce and then some of the saved 'coke' unless you reach the level of desired juiciness. Now all you have to do is let it warm back up and then voila!

Now this pork is amazing in sandwiches, burgers, or just on its own, you could even mix it through a salad! But my favourite way of eating it is with roast sweet potato. Just slice partways down the middle of a washed sweet potato, wrap in foil, and then put on a lined tray....the juices might leak out that's all, and roast in the oven 180degrees for about an hour until soft. Then just squeeze the sides opens and pour the meat into the middle. This is good hot or cold.

Another item I like to take to picnics is my creamy potato salad.

In a large bowl put some frozen peas, sweet corn, chopped capsicum, and really any veggies you like.

Peel and chop some potatoes into bite sized pieces then boil until tender. Add the hot potato to the veggie bowl. 

Fry up some bacon until crispy and crunchy then chop or cut into small chunks and add to bowl. Mix everything around.

In a separate bowl add 1/3c mayo, 1 crushed clove of garlic, 1/4t mustard, 3-4 drops of lemon juice and mix well. You can add some whole grain mustard if you like. 

Mix the mayo mix into the potato mix and stir well. And voila! And easy potato salad. This recipe can be tweaked to make a pasta salad too if you just swap the potato for cooked pasta.

Cornish pasties are a must for quick and easy deliciousness that can be eaten hot or cold.

Into a bowl grate a carrot, potato, and half an onion. Squeeze out the extra moisture.

Add 500g of mince and 1t Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Now how you present this is up to you. You can make it like a sausage roll, spreading the mix across one edge of the thawed puff pastry and rolling it up, getting two rolls out of each sheet. Or you can make it look more like a pasty, cut circles out of the pastry, place the filling in the middle and pull up the sides to meet, squishing them together with a dab of water.

Either way works well, after you've shaped them all you have to do is pop them on a lined tray, spray with oil and crack some salt over the top for yummy pastry. Then just pop them in a 180 degree oven until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is cooked, this could take up to half an hour.

Deliciously divine piña colada cupcakes

Ok so this recipe is absolutely amazing and is one of my most frequently requested treats and sweets. So I thought I'd share it with you. Now when you make the batter it will looks super runny and super tasty but try not to eat the whole think before you cook it! And don't worry about the runnyness it will still cook ok, I will admit first time I made it I was worried too but it was super yummy. 

Also for the frosting make sure the cream cheese and butter are soft before you beat them, otherwise you will get a lumpy yucky frosting.

Ingredients:

[For Cupcake]

1/3 C coconut rum

3/4 C coconut milk

1/4 C pineapple juice

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 C plain flour

1 t bicarbonate of soda

1/4 t salt

1/2 C butter - room temp

1 C+3T caster sugar

3 large eggs - room temp

1 C dessicated or shredded coconut

1 C crushed pineapple

[Frosting]

250 g cream cheese - room temp

1/4 C butter - room temp

2 C icing sugar

3 T coconut cream

Method:

[For cupcake]

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

In a small bowl combine rum, milk, juice, and vanilla.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, bicarb, and salt together.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, beating well after each.

Alternate adding flour mix and rum mix, beating well after each addition. You do not need to add all the liquid.

Add the coconut and pineapple.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full

Bake for 25 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

[For Icing]

Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.

Slowly mix in icing sugar then mix in coconut cream.

Pipe onto cupcakes.

End result.....I think you'll agree its delish!

Recipe: snack crumbles

I had a lot of kinda mushy pears that I had to use up ASAP so I whipped up a super fast crumble. It was even faster because I had the crumble topping ready made in the freezer.

So in a small saucepan I mixed together 4 small pears and 2 apples, peeled and finely diced, and a large handful of sultanas. I added about 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of water and if I'm really honest about 2 teaspoons of mixed spice because I really like the Christmassy flavour. Then I simmered it all together for about 10 minutes. As you can see from the picture I have these individual aluminium baking cases which I spread the mixture across.

Grabbing the crumble bag out of the freezer I sprinkled some on top of each pear mix and popped it in the oven for about fifteen minutes to get some colour on top.

The topping is plain flour, sugar, shredded coconut, and rolled oats mixed with butter. I couldn't possibly tell you the measurements because I do this by feel. But If I had to guess I'd say 1/3c flour, 1/4 c coconut, 1/4c oats, 1/4c sugar, and 3 tablespoons of butter. 

Once the mini crumbles cool I wrapped them in foil, labelled them and popped them in the freezer. They'll be great for quick snacks warmed up in the oven, or to take to work and eat cold. 

So give these a shot, or use your own fillings, they are easily customisable to your favourite fruits or flavours.

Garden wall

So today I added more plants to my wall. We don't have much of a garden but we do have a wall that has full sun although on the floor allows for part shade. Lately I've been expanding my little garden.

I started with herbs, very easy to grow and require little effort. I now have thyme, rosemary, coriander, mint, oregano, and parsley both. These I grew from seedlings. But now I'm one upping my game and trying to grow rosemary and parsley from seeds. In some tiny terracotta pots that I painted with green paint and chalkboard paint i planted the rosemary and half the parsley which will hopefully be grown enough to make super cute Xmas gifts. 

As you can see in the large pot at the bottom there are some tiny tufts of green...a new addition of carrots! Hopefully they'll be awesome and go well with my new capsicum plant and older pots of spring onion, spinach, and garlic. Not to mention my jug of leeks....did you know that you can re grow the ends of leeks in a little bit of water?! I'm very excited to watch them grow in a new glass jug.

I start my new job tomorrow, and I will admit to feeling very scared and nervous about it. To mark my entrance into the adult workforce today i planted some seeds of bok choy with the idea that it's a fresh start, a new beginning. 

I'll admit though I'm not very good at gardening so once they're ready to be harvested I'll have no idea what I'm doing! But I guess I'll figure it out when it comes to it.

Now my indoor plants are also super cute. In this photo they're outside because it was quite cold in my office and I wanted to give them a bit of sun. But usually they're kept in a greenhouse from ikea in my office, or along my windowsill. My greenhouse plants are grown in mugs or cups and are super cute in a weird way. 

The little pots are the rosemary/ parsley gifts to be.

Too many distractions in the kitchen!

We all make mistakes. Especially  in the kitchen. 

Today I made my banana bread muffins. Now they're just banana bread cooked in cupcake cases for ease of freezing and eating for breakfast. And today I tried something new by adding a touch of mixed spice and about half a cup of oats. The problem was I got distracted by trying to make a cool logo for my blog that time flew and I forgot all about them. Luckily I remembered in time so they didn't burn but were awfully brown. Oh well, still good!

This morning I made an apple and pear strudel, I've never made that before but wanted to have a crack and I had heaps of pears left. Having only scrappy bits of Filo pastry left I layered it up and sprayed each bit with oil. Next time I'll stick to melted butter for the sheer difference in flavour, and I'd use a lot less pastry. I was worried it wouldn't wrap properly and I overdid it a bit! But it was yummy and full of flavour from the apple, pear, and sultana filling. I had a teeny amount of filling lefts over so I quickly whipped up a crumble topping using butter, flour, sugar, oats, and coconut. I popped the filling in a small pie case from woollies I think, sprinkled the crumble mix on top (and froze the extra ), then popped it in the oven. Once it had cooled I stuck it in a bag and took it to work for an after lunch treat. I was so pleased with it I have a new crumble flavour! Typically I made apple or apple and raspberry crumble but now I can include pear!

Clearly not my best day in the kitchen but given the fact that I worked today and have a really sore arm/wrist from said work, the fact that I got two dishes out is pretty good. 

Frozen smoothies

Lately I've been inspired to try new things in the kitchen. Now this is partly for my cookbook 'Kitchen Magic' and partly because my new job is inciting a feeling of change. Instead of squashing this down I'm going to embrace it!

I'm more of a night owl than a early bird, I mean seriously it's so bright all the time here, at least at night it's quiet and i have a much wider range of freedom around the house. I definitely prefer to be alone in the kitchen so I can really spread out and make what I want without judgement. So I quite often cook late at night after my mum has gone to bed. My point is though that breakfast is my least favourite meal of the day.

When I have to get up in the morning and need to have breakfast I find myself feeling very unenthusiastic and really quite lazy. So for some timesavers that let me have ten more minutes in bed I've begun experimenting. I started by freezing individually wrapped muffins for a quick and easy breakfast. I even tried healthier ones with carrot in! Not my favourite texture but ill experiment more with the next batch.

And now...now I'm trying breakfast smoothies! I generally don't drink them very often but I'm thinking if I have them literally prepped then I'll have no reason not to. There wasn't much range of fruits at the local market so all I got were apples and pears which was very disappointing. But that's ok! 

I probably should've googled and tried specific recipes but I really just let loose my random side. 

Because I wasn't sure how it would work i tried both blending then freezing the smoothie, and leaving it chunky when froze to be blended when I want one. So I made two batches of each 'flavour' and stuck them in the freezer.  So all I have to do on an early morning before work is grab a blended one and let it defrost a little before popping it in a glass to drink. Or quickly blend up a batch and enjoy.

Also I wanted to make it feel a little breakfasty I added some breakfast oats...you know, the ones you pop in the microwave with some milk and then force yourself to eat. It made the texturea little strange but should help to keep me fuller for longer.

So do you have any super delicious smoothie recipes I should try?

Recipe: Fruit Mince Muffins

For a Christmassy snack and a deliciously scented house try these yummy muffins.

Ingredients:
300g Plain flour
75g Brown sugar
1 1/2 t Baking powder
1 t Bicarbonate soda
1 t Ground cinnamon
1/4t Allspice
250g Fruit mince
300ml Buttermilk
75ml Milk
4 T Vegetable oil
1 Egg
Icing sugar, to dust

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease or line the muffin pans.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate soda in a bowl. Add the cinnamon, pecans and fruit mince and stir to combine.
3. In a separate jug, mix together the buttermilk, milk, oil and egg. Fold into the dry ingredients until just combined.
4. Fill the greased muffin pans with the mixture and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. Set aside to cool slightly. Dust with icing

Cooking tip

So recently I've been cooking muffins. I'm one of those people who struggles to eat breakfast because I can't be bothered getting up or I don't know what to make. So what I do now is make a batch of muffins or banana bread in cupcake cases instead of a loaf and then freeze it.

By individually wrapping each muffin in cling film I can grab one out in the morning and pop it in the microwave for about a minute (unwrapped) and enjoy a yummy and super fast breakkie with minimal effort. So I don't end up with millions of muffins loose in my freezer I put them all in a large ziplock bag which I label with the name of the recipe and the date. 

So this...

Which is super yummy fruit mince muffins...recipe to come later....doesn't get wasted as it becomes this...

A yummy breakfast or snack for someone with little time.

Recipe: Morning Muffins

You know what I love to do when trying a new recipe for the first time? And I should really do this more often because it's so helpful. I like to print off a copy of the recipe and scribble notes all over it. 

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm better than...in this case Martha Stewart, but sometimes in the kitchen you have to do things your way. 

For the sake of demonstration I'm going to show you what I mean. My changes will be in bold.

Morning muffins

Makes 12, 15

Ingredients:

1 1/4c plain flour

1/2c brown sugar

1/2t baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

1/2t baking powder

1/2t nutmeg

1/2t salt

1c rolled oats

1/2c raisins, 3/4 c

3T olive oil

1 egg

1/3c milk

4 medium carrots, shredded, 2 large carrots finely grated

1 medium banana, mashed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Coat a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray. Line 15 muffin holes with cupcake liners and spray with oil. Beat together flour, sugar, bicarbonate, baking powder, nutmeg and salt until combined. Stir in oats and raisins. Add oil, milk, egg, milk, carrots, banana, and whisk until blended.

2. Fill each muffin cup with 1/4c batter. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 23-25 minutes. 25-30 and you want to make sure the base is definitely cooked so it might be necessary to crank the heat down a little and leave it in longer. Cool and enjoy.

Yay me!

Id like to interrupt the regularly scheduled Crafty Cravings programming to take a minute to talk about me! 

So I've spent almost six years of my life slaving away at a job that ranges from boring, to frustrating to pure hatred. But now for the light at the end of the tunnel...I got a job! A proper career job for the future rather than just one for money.  It's only a temporary part time position but it's a start. So be proud of me peoples! 

I'm not great with change and I'm more than a little terrified but you know what? I'm going to be great at it. I hope. 

Project: magnet board update

So here's the update I promised on the second magnet board.

Using command mounting tape I stuck it to the wall. But first I used a glue gun to stick some ribbon across the top and bottom to pretty it up.

Voila. Finally to add an extra touch ( and because my markers aren't magnetic) I sewed...and not well coz I suck at sewing, some pen holders. My first attempt involved sewing strips of fabric into each other. My second attempt involved looping the material and sewing one line across it. Neither look fantastic but work as planned.

Project: magnetic boards

So there are some really cool magnetic things out there, but my mum won't let us put stuff up on the fridge and I don't have any magnetic surfaces other than my chalkboard in my room. I didn't want to use my chalkboard for too many magnets or things like that...it's not that big! So I looked around...and decided on a new project. 

I bought two baking trays from Kmart, $5 and $8 each. 

Luckily one came with a hole in one side like this. 

So I threaded a ribbon through it and hung it up with a command hook. 

 ( the picture is my notes for a tinkerbell costume so I wouldn't forget my idea)

I was going to cover them in fabric to pretty them up, but I didn't have any pretty fabric and didn't see anything good whilst I was out shopping so I decided it didn't really matter.

The other tray is a dilemma. I'm having lots of ideas and I'm not sure what to pick. 

Option 1: attach mounting hooks or tape to raised edges and stick it up with the raised base sticking up. ( think sticking a baking pan upside down)

Option 2: attach mount to bottom of raised base and stick up with the edges raised and the base indented. (Think sticking the pan to a wall with the side you would cook on visible)

Option 3: pick either way of mounting but paint around the edges to add colour.

So what's your verdict? Any suggestions?

I shall post an update once the second tray/board is up.

Recipe: Choc Pear Pudding

Ok so I will admit to stealing this off Nigella. So it's not my recipe, but that doesn't mean I can't share it...because it is damn delicious!

Ingredients:

125g soft butter

25g cocoa powder

25g caster sugar

150g plain flour

2t vanilla extract

1t baking powder

1/4t bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

Salt

1 can of pears.

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

2. Drain pears and arrange in a greased tin.

 This one was perhaps a little too big but it doesn't really matter.

3. Blitz all other ingredients in a food processor or whisk together with electric beaters until it comes together as a soft consistency.

4. Spread mix over the pears. This is not easy and will not look pretty. I personally prefer to use my (clean) fingers as it allows me to spread it over the biggest part of the pear better. Nothing has to be fully covered though, Nigella herself will say it doesn't have to be perfect!

5. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Take it out earlier if you prefer a squishier pudding type of batter or leave it in the full length of time if you'd rather have it more like a cake with pears in. Either way is absolutely fantastic and goes great with ice cream.

Told you it wasn't pretty and admittedly not my best effort topping wise. 

Trying new things

So I've always thought when cooking with wine that white goes with chicken and red goes with beef. So when my boyfriend found a slow cooked roast beef recipe he wanted to make (translation : he wanted me to make it) I was a bit put off as it calls for white wine. 

But I decided to put my wine-prejudices to the side and try something new. Eek! 

The recipe is a cheaper cut of beef, in this case blade, cooked in beef stock, white wine, and whole grain mustard with onions and carrots. It's seared off first then left in the slow cooker for over 6 hours. 

The result? A tender juicy piece of meat with plenty of sauce that can easily be turned into gravy.

I personally am not a fan of slow cooking veggies like carrots and potatoes so next time will exclude them. But does anyone know if that will affect the taste of the sauce and meat? My gut says no because carrot and potato aren't particularly flavoursome on their own but I'm willing to listen to other's wisdom...

So my overall lesson 'don't be prejudiced or afraid to try something new with food'. A slightly edited version of this will be going in my cookbook! 

Bookworm galore

So I'm going to let you in on a terribly kept secret...I love to read. When I say I love reading I'm going to expand on that for you.

My 'library' currently contains 315 books. I would have more but before I had enough money I used to sell my books to get discounts on new ones. Then I found online shopping and MUCH cheaper books so now I can keep them all. My books are spread across 3 bookcases because I absolutely have doubling them up on a shelf, unfortunately I still have to because I have little space and lots of books.

Of that 315 books I only have 46 that I have never read. This number seems large because I recently re bought the famous five and secret seven box sets of my youth and have yet to get to them. This means only 14.6% of my library is unread.

This year I have read 109 books, though that number will likely reach 110 by bedtime. This is 34.6% on my library read in 9 months! My current goal is 120 which at the time of setting was half my library but I guess now I shall have to up that number to 158 by the end of the year. At my current pace I think it'll be tight but possible.

How do I read so much? I have multiple books on the go. One smaller one in my handbag ( Five have plenty of fun by Enid Blyton). One in the bathroom for reading in the bath or on the loo :-p ( Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich). And finally one in my bedroom which is the one I'm typically most absorbed in. Currently I'm half way through Kresley Cole's Untouchable. And I love it! So I read a range of genres from young adult and almost kids books from my childhood, to paranormal romance which is definitely not fit for kids! 

I hope one day when I have my own house to have a proper library and it HAS to have a sliding ladder!!!

Project: chalkboard

So I recently decided I wanted a chalkboard. But the decent sized ones are so damn expensive. My mum recently replaced a black whiteboard we had in the kitchen because none of the pens showed up against the black. So I grabbed the 'blackboard' and a can of chalkboard paint ($10 from typo) and painted myself a chalkboard. 

I painted it with three coats to ensure an even coverage and then painted the edges with silver to neaten it up. Then once it had dried I rubbed it down with a piece of chalk and wiped it off. I read online that covering it in chalk first will prevent that oh so annoying occurrence of still being able to see what's been written after you've attempted to wipe it off. And it worked too. When I wipe off chalk you can't see what was written...yay! 

Finally the board was complete but I still had the issue of hanging it up. I didn't want to screw it into the wall so I had to improvise. I tied string through the holes in the back and hung it up using command hooks. But then it kept falling. Finally the string snapped and I was close to screaming. I bought MORE hooks and triple threaded the string and finally it stays up. 

The magnetic nature of the board still work and I bought a bunch of pretty magnets and using some scrap material and a magnet I made a little chalk holder. 

So this is the finished project!

My 10 favourite things about myself.

My friend has recently done a post on her blog about the things she likes about herself and it was inspiring. So I decided to try it myself. To really stop and take A moment and think what is good about my life. Often we focus far too much on the negatives.."I'm fat" or "I work at a deadend job" but today I'm going to focus on what is going well.

So here goes...

1. I'm creative. I love to try and see what I can make and when things don't turn out well I can come up with interesting solutions to problems. For example I was baking with a friend recently and she dropped the blind baked pastry on the counter before we could fill it. But instead of chucking everything out and wasting all that time and ingredients I decided to mash up the pastry further into crumbs and press it into the base similar to the base of a cheesecake. Creativity and problem solving is a valuable asset nowadays and I'm glad I have even a milligram of it.

2. I love to cook. Following on from number one is my love of cooking. Not only do I love it but I am good at it. My food tastes good and whilst my presentation is never very great the food itself is totally worth the effort. Baking is my favourite and I really wish I had more time or reason to do more cake decorating and really further it but alas no. But I love to cook enough that I'm creating my own cookbook as a resource I can continue to use when I'm old and married.

3. I can multitask. Right now I'm watching Rizzoli and Isles, writing this post on my iPad, talking to my friends on Facebook, and I've got dinner cooking away in the slow cooker. Multitasking and managing conflicting deadlines or tasks is great for work but is also handy in daily life. I am proud of my ability to do so many things at once and still do them efficiently.

4. I am content with my appearance. Whilst I'm not the skinniest or most beautiful girl out there I am content with how I look. I don't understand why everyone always hates themselves, or are constantly trying to change themselves to suit others. I'm not skinny, and you know what, I don't care. I like my body and I like food far too much to restrict myself. I'd rather be jiggly and happy than depressed and eating salad. I like my eyes, in the right light they feel like they sparkle, and my hair is pretty nice. My smile is real and sometimes I get a double chin but I'd rather look happy than be a miserable cow. Plus my boyfriend loves me for who I am, and that's enough for me.

5. I'm honest. Occasionally brutally honest but I think life is too short to sugarcoat unless you hurt someone's feelings. I've been asked for my opinion before and I prefer to give it straight because lying or pretending something isn't the way it is doesn't help anyone. If I think you're being a twat I will flat out tell you unless I feel like you're too emotionally fragile to hear it.

6. I am handy. When I say handy what I mean is I can build my own flat pack! This sounds silly but I think it takes a level of independence to build your own bookcases, computer chair or bedside table. So I'm pretty proud that I don't have to get anyone to build it for me.

7. I love to read. Most of the authors that I read are quite prolific which is great for someone who reads as much as I do. I also have no issue rereading books, I don't understand why people don't...you find so much that you miss the second time. I currently have a goal to read half my library in a year. At the start of a year that equaled 120 books although its probably higher now. I'm currently at 104 books this year :-D

8. I don't define myself by other people. I don't compare myself to others to determine my worth or to support my self esteem. I'm my own person and I like that. Before I got a boyfriend my mum once told me that I should lose weight if I ever wanted to get someone to love me. And you know what I said back? "If they don't love me for who I am, but only for my looks, then they don't deserve me. And I don't want someone that I have to be different for. I deserve better than that."

9. I'm thoughtful with my gift giving. Or at least I try to be. I always try to give gifts that mean something or that each person would appreciate. And I like to give gifts randomly too when people feel down or have done something to celebrate. Presents make people happy and random unique ones make people feel appreciated. So I like to do that.

10. Finally, I like that I have an over active imagination. This is both a blessing and a curse. I have really vivid crazy dreams and I love that I can remember them and experience them so deeply. But this can work against me when I'm alone at night or its dark and something is making noises. But so long as I avoid scary movies I am generally good. My dreams are beyond wacky and I feel the depth and real ness of them. I love it. 

So that is me. I hope you like me as much as I like myself, and if not I don't really care. I am who I am, no apologies, no justification needed.

Project: DIY Corkboards

So I saw this really cool idea on Pinterest, basically it's cork heat mats covered in material so they look pretty. And as for a corkboard they work great. I cut material to just a bit larger than the mat and pinned the excess using flat pins to the back of the board. This keeps the front nice and smooth and works a helluva lot better than my first attempt with a glue gun. Then you can pin photos to the front.

This is what they looked like...one I covered in photos and the other old ticket stubs.

So that's the positive. Now for the downside. I can't for the life of me get them to stay up on the wall. I know not everything works out the way you expect but damn is this a pain. You see I don't want to damage the wall by using nails or anything like that. 

Test no 1: mounting tape. Well you think this would work. The whole point of the tape is to put photo frames and that kind of things up on the wall. But despite sticking a ton on each board they refused to stay attached to the wall. Or, which was worse, they stay stuck to the wall but not the cork. It was a struggle to get the sticky ickyness left behind off the wall so that idea was scrapped.

Test no 2: blue tack. Hah! Didn't do a thing to hold it up.

Test no 3: Velcro. So the Velcro I bought is sticky and so far has held the longest. But it still will not stay stuck to the wall. I even tried covering the back of the corkboard with paper to prevent the texture of the cork being an issue. But alas, they still fell. 

My final hope is command picture mounting strip. Hopefully once I find and buy these my damn boards will stay stuck to the wall. If not, I give up and they may have to sit in a drawer somewhere until I come up with another solution.

Any suggestions?

Recipe: Mustard Chicken Bake

~*~ The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. 

In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude. ~*~

Julia Child

Ingredients:
1 Chicken Breast
1 Packet of powdered soup mix
1/2 Peeled and thinly sliced sweet potato
1/2 Onion, thinly sliced
1/2 Carrot, peeled and sliced
2T Wholegrain mustard
1/2C Cream
1/2 C Chicken stock

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Coat vegetables in half the soup mix and layer on the base of an overproof dish. Coat the chicken in remaining mix and place on top of vegetables.
3. Mix cream, stock and mustard in a jug and pour over chicken.
4. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.
5. Remove foil, pour out half the liquid into a seperate container (this can be saved for yummy pasta sauces). Return dish to oven and bake for a further half and hour or until chicken is cooked through.

Recipe: Anzac Biscuits

This is my Anzac Biscuit recipe. Everyone at work loves them and cant get enough. I personally prefer them chewier so I take them out the oven nice and early but if you prefer your biscuit crunchier leave it in a bit longer. But my point is...these are so damn EASY!

Ingredients:

1C Rolled oats
¾ C Shredded Coconut
1C Plain flour
1C Sugar
125g Butter
2T Golden syrup
½ t Bicarb
1T Water

Method:

1.Mix oats, coconut, flour and sugar together
2.Melt syrup and butter together
3.Mix bicarb with boiling water
4.Combine liquids. Mix all ingredients
5.Bake for 10-15 mins at 150 degrees (keep an eye on it, light golden will be chewy, darker will be crunchy)

Well hello there

I can't be the only one who loves creative projects, making thoughtful presents for friends or just trying all sorts of things I find online. I also love cooking and have in fact combined my two loves...food and projects into my current 'thing'...I'm creating a cookbook to give to friends and family for Christmas. Kitchen Magic - With a Whisk not a Wand, as its currently titled, is a labour of love and dedication...which they damn well better appreciate, although even if they don't I can guarantee ill use mine for years to come.

So that's what Crafty Cravings will be about. A collection of my favourite recipes and projects to try and test. I hope you like it.

A little about me to start, I'm 23 years old, currently trying to get a full time job so I can get out of a job I hate. Since I finished uni I've been feeling a little lost and out of sorts, I've been doing lots of projects t o fill my time and keep myself sane. 

So here goes...welcome to the beginning of something new.