Sunday Summery Week 22 and 23 / 2015

Hello Bloglanders

I'm back!!! LOVED our holiday but glad to be back home with my goodies, sleeping in my own bed and having all my clothes washed, ironed and packed in my closet.

Did you see the lion we've seen while on holiday???? I posted a pic on Instagram because I didn't want you to miss out, It was awesome ................................. two young ones in one go.

I'll add more pics later but I don't think I'll get to off loading and sorting before the weekend. Let's make a date to view the rest next week.

With Father's day coming up, I mailed off my dad's card ..................... or rather mini book. I've made a few variants some time ago and when an occasion comes up, I just "grab and mail". The colour scheme for this one was inspired by the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge - "Make it Masculine"

You can read how I made these mini books here.

I've got 10 mini pages inside and on each I wrote a reason why I love my dad.  Maybe I should do 2 more books  for the boys to fill out for Wynand. Think he would LOVE it.

And I made these Parmesan Scones:

I'm still trying to cut back on Carb's and this is SO yummy. I'm sure all recipes comes from somewhere but I really, really invented this one all on my own - and it's LOW CARB!!! Let me share it with you:

Parmesan Scones:

Blend together in a food processor:

1 cup Almond Flour

1/4 cup of Coconut Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder

Pinch of salt

Pinch of red Pepper

45 grams butter

Add:

1 Egg

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup milk

Blend again.

Scoop into muffin molds. (I used 4 medium ones)

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius in pre heated oven for 20 minutes.

Serve!!

It's rather flaky but that makes it even more scrumptious. Normally, I don't like the "graininess" of almond and coconut flour but it really works here. 

And my mum turned 77. We all gathered for Sunday lunch on the farm to celebrate.  As I opted for a gift card, I made this little bag to add a bit of sunshine to the "wintery" day.

I feel that my post is getting a bit too long so I'll add the info on how I've adapted a lip balm holder to make this gift "card holder handbag" tomorrow. Check back and all will be revealed.

In the meantime, have FUN and remember to try something new - TODAY!!

Sunday Summary Week 1-5

Hello Bloglanders

Can you believe it's the 1st of February and week 6 already??? I couldn't believe my eyes when I marked down the weeks for my January PL.  As I'm already behind schedule, I decided to do week 1-5 in one go.

When I made my New Year's resolutions, I decided to make a weekly checklist. I've printed a few. Every Sunday I make a list on the back of my card of what I want to achieve that week and when the week's done, I write the actual on the front.

Then, when I do my Sunday Summary, I can just add pictures. And this is what I did this week:

I tried a few recipes:

A roasted Halloumi salad, Hertzog cookies and fried onion rings. I used the same batter for my onion rings that I normally do for my Sweet and Sour chicken. Get my recipe here. I feel like a Masterchef!!

And I did some sewing:

4 Tops and pants sets for my mum. Here you can see my sewing scrapbook with the patterns and fabrics used:

And on my craft table:

I worked on a post for Craft Storage Ideas - we are having a Bloghop in March and I'm rather proud of my project.  Keep watching back and all will be revealed.

Finally, my December Daily Album is finished:

I will do a separate post later this week - I love how it turned out!! The die cuts, printables and idea came from Wilna Furstenberg's Heartfelt Christmas Workshop. 

And I sorted my European trip memorabilia. I can't help it - I collect bits and bobs as I go but this time round, I decided to take a pic of what I have, give away what I'm not going to use and do a PL spread with what's left.

My favorite was the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. You can see the admission tickets on the first picture, bottom right. I also bought the most beautiful sunflower paper clips there. It is in a little tin just above the tickets. 

Over the weekend I've sorted all the holiday pictures and I'll start on my PL pages next weekend if we don't go camping. Talking about that - we swopped our off road trailer for a caravan.  Her name is "MOTLAPPER". Sorry, it's Afrikaans but I'll try to explain. When Pieter was small he didn't know the difference between a moth and a butterfly so he came up with a combination of both the words MOT (=MOTH) + LAPPER (a butterfly is a "skoenlapper" in Afrikaans). I suppose if you do the same in english, it would be a MOTHFLY.

So I made some summery, camping,  MOTLAPPER stickers for my Personal Planner:

I used the "print and cut" function and some white sticker paper from Silhouette. It worked like a charm - I'll be making some more ....................................... so easy. You will see them again when I share some of my Planner pages.

That's it. I'm off to get some rest. It's a new month and the office is VERY busy. Tomorrow I'll have to be in front of my computer all day long getting our admin done. In the meantime, have a GREAT week and check back as I'll show my beautiful DD on Tuesday. Of course, I'll share the inside info right here on Play as U Go!

Thanks for looking at my blog today and remember to try something new - TODAY!

HQ Hamman Sweet and Sour Chicken

Hello Bloglanders

Happy Friday to you all!!  I don't normally share recipes but this one is my very own and we all love it. Maybe someone out there has been making Sweet and Sour Pork / Chicken just like this but then I didn't know about it.

Wynand and I both love crispy Sweet and Sour Pork - yes, the fatty ones and I've been trying forever to recreate it.  Even now I just work according to my instinct and had to measure everything to give you the recipe. See what I mean?

Here are a few WIP pics:

Sweet and Sour Chicken (you can use pork / beef / veggies)

INGREDIENTS
2 Chicken breasts cut into cubes of about 2.5 cm square. (that's about an inch.  it does not have to be exact)
1 cup Cake Flour
60 g of Selfraising Flour
Quarter of a cup of water
Quarter of a cup of BROWN Vinegar (I use the ordinary, cheap variety; this gives the golden colour to the dish)
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for deep fry

METHOD
Coat the chicken cubes in the Cake Flour.  (I put it in a plastic bowl, close the lid and SHAKE!!! Your cubes should be WELL coated in flour.)
Now make the batter by combining the Selfraising Flour, water, Vinegar, salt and pepper. (I tend to under season as you can always sprinkle salt over afterwards. It should be the consistency of "flapjack" batter. See 3rd Pic)
Dip the chicken cubes in the batter, let the excess drip off and deep fry in vegetable oil. (According to my thermometer it's about 140 degrees Celsius; 275 Fahrenheit. If you don't have a thermometer don't stress - it should be as for French Fry's.)
When they are golden brown, remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain off the excess oil on kitchen paper. Serve with sweet and sour sauce of your choice.

What's for dinner? Of course, Sweet and Sour Chicken!

Now I have to run to get my weekend organized. I'll be back on Sunday with my weekly summary. Please check back as I'm working on a few extraordinary projects and you don't want to miss out.

Seed Crackers

Hello Bloglanders

And I'm back to share a five star recipe.  Now, I'm not the world's biggest baker - I love to bake bread, do rusks for my family once a month, cook if I have to and try to stay clear of cakes and pastries.  My little phrase for 2014 (other people have little words; IMPERFECT ME has 3!!) is "TRY SOMETHING NEW". So, still snowed under with the black bridesmaid dresses, I try my something new while feeding the family. This recipe comes from Tim Noakes book "The real meal revolution". It's called Nutty Crackers in the book but as it only contains seeds, IMPERFECT ME renamed them "Seedy" Crackers.

Now, first of all, I'm not following the Tim Noakes diet but I think he has a point and if every recipe in his book tastes as good as this, I'll try some more.

I've altered the ingredients and method and my recipe now looks like this:
INGREDIENTS:
200g Sunflower seeds
60g Linseed (the original recipe called for Flax seeds but I didn't see it and just added Linseed - it turned out so well that I adapted my recipe.)
100g Sesame seeds
2 tbsp Psyllium husks (don't have an idea what this is but I got it from my local health store)
2 cups of water
1 ts salt
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients together and leave for 10 minutes. (I have forgotten about mine, left it for half a day and it was my best batch yet.)
Spread the mixture on 2 baking trays lined with baking paper. I use 2 jam roll tins and pat it with my wet hands as you want it as even as possible.
Now bake for one and a half hour.
The original recipe says you must turn the trays as it will burn, I didn't do that and mine didn't burn - I've done 6 batches up to date.
Remove from the oven and break into pieces. Once cool, store in an airtight container.

This is what the "sludge" looks like before it goes into the oven:

And when it comes out:

Pieter's Princess is allergic to wheat and even she can eat them. They are yummy on their own but for  a "snacker" like me, they get 12 out of 10 with a dip. Best part is they stay nutty and crisp - I even add the crumbs to soup.

There you have it. My best recipe of the century!! I will never buy crackers again!!

That's it. I'm off to try something new. Have a wonderful week.

On a (Jam) Roll

Hello Bloglanders

As promised .......................................... my Father's Day Jam roll recipe:

Apricot Jam roll

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Beat together the following: (you can do it by hand or use a Kenwood / other appliance)

4 Eggs

4 t Baking Powder

1 cup of Castor Sugar

1 cup of Cake Flour

a Pinch of salt

1 t Vanilla extract

Pour in a greased and baking paper lined roll tin.

Bake until light brown. 

Turn out on a wet cloth.

Spread with apricot jam (I heat mine in the microwave to make it more spreadable).

Roll.

Enjoy with your fave cupa!!

Back to the black bridesmaid dresses for me. I'm at #5 of 8.  Problem is not making the dresses but getting all the young ladies here to fit.  Tomorrow I'll take a pic and show my progress. It's 65 days before THE wedding!!

Thanks for looking at my blog today. Have fun and try your hand at something new.

Pinterest Inspired Me

Good morning Bloglanders

Halfway through the week already!  On Write Click Scrapbook Teka Cochonneau is doing a series called "Pinterest Inspired Me". Of course hers is more like - "I saw this on Pinterest and it made me do this". BUT I get a different sort of inspiration when looking at all the ideas on Pinterest.  I think this is the whole idea - there are no right or wrong - if you get inspired, you get inspired. Whatever works for you.

A while ago Monika Wright shared a risotto recipe found on Pinterest and as I love risotto, I immediately re pinned and have been making it ever since. Click here if you want to get hold of the recipe. When my rice loving walking partner, Charlene had her birthday yesterday, out came the recipe and a gift bag filled with all the ingredients.  She had to work late yesterday and I can just imagine the joy when getting home and somebody delivered dinner in the meantime. Anyway, that was my idea. This is what the pressie looked like:

I just love that stamp of the little girl and the cat - just makes me smile.  And inside it looked like this:



I have packed everything in Ziploc bags and finished it off with toppers made out of gift wrap scraps.  Love the color combo.

I loved the card so much that I didn't want to hide it inside an envelope.  I used it to decorate my shop bought party bag and made a mini folder inside the card to hold the recipe and a birthday note.

Well, Pinterest inspired me!  Have a great Wednesday and please come back to play right here on Play as U Go. I'll be back to share more of my inspiration.

Hazel