APAD - day 2

Fun at the zoo today :-) It was one of those lovely days when everyone gets along & no major stress happened. Right up until the car broke down on the way home :-(

Grrrrr!

Xxx

A photo a day for the summer-day 1.

I love the Photo A Day thing that bloggers do, but I never thought I could manage to maintain it for a whole year. So instead, I decided to do it just for the summer holidays, like a little diary of what we are up to.

We had originally hoped to go to a river festival today but at the last minute we decided it would be too busy for Miss K & we would stay closer to home instead. This turned out to be a great decision as my SIL went & couldn't even get parked there were so many people! Instead we did a bit of shopping including shoe shopping which almost turned into a huge meltdown from all of us, & had lunch before returning home to spend the afternoon in the garden. I am rapidly falling in love with my little garden, if you had told me 5 years ago that I would be interested in gardening I would have laughed at you! How times change!! So for Day 1 you get a photo of my 'garden', I will do a proper post on it soon.

Ok, I'm off to bed as we are going to the zoo tomorrow, my girls love the zoo so I'm gonna need a good nights sleep to keep up with them!!

Xxx

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Mushroom Pasta

Like most families, mealtimes can be a battle in our Home. My older girls are slightly fussy, but can eat for England! My youngest, Miss L-R, well fussy is probably not the right word. Stubborn, strong willed...these are more fitting. She's not a big eater, she'd quite happily graze all day long if I let her, esp if theres biscuits or chocolate involved. Yoghurts, toast & jam, strawberries, ham sandwiches, tomato soup, sausages, chicken & pasta are pretty much all she eats. I try really hard not to cook different meals for everyone, but sometimes I do give in just to make sure she has eaten. This recipe came about one evening when chaos was occuring, during the Witching Hour (why is the hours of 3:30-7pm so blooming hard!?!) everyone was hungry & whiny, & I didnt have a clue what to cook. Then it hit me, my older girls & myself are big fans of spaghetti carbonara, so why not try to recreate it? Although I had no clue how to make it & no time to research it, so it was a case of making it up as I went along. Normally this would be a recipe for disaster, but it was a complete success, with empty plates all around :-)  I cant think of a better name for it though?

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Mushroom Pasta

4 Chicken Breasts

1 Pack of Bacon

1 Pack of Mushrooms

1 Pack of Fresh Egg Spaghetti (You could use dry pasta instead, we use fresh eg pasta due to Miss K having an intolorence to dried )

50g Butter

50g Plain Flour

1 Pint of Milk

Large amount of grated Cheese

Garlic (Powder or Fresh)

Pepper

Oil

1) Chop the chicken, bacon & mushrooms. Heat some oil in a large saucepan, add the chicken & cook through. Then add the bacon & mushrooms, & a pinch of garlic powder (depending on how much garlic you like), continue to cook.

2) In a seperate pan, melt the butter, then add the flour to make a Roux (Oooh check me out, using fancy terms, lol!), keep stirring the mixture till its smooth. Then slowly add the milk, mixing frequently to get rid of lumps. It usually only takes about 3/4's of a pint of milk to make a decent amount of sauce. Once you have a nice consistency, add a handful of cheese, season well, & keep stirring for a few minutes. Then add the sauce to the pan with the chicken, bacon & mushrooms, stir well & simmer. (If the sauce starts to thicken too much & disapear, add more milk).

3) Whilst the chicken, bacon & mushroom goodness is simmering away, cook the pasta as directed. Once the pasta is cooked, drain then add to the sauce mixture & stir well.

4) Serve with a liberal sprinkling of grated cheese if desired. Garlic bread is also very yummy with this!

**Please note, I am not a professional chef (LOL!), nor a recipe writer. This may not be the healthiest of recipes, although Im sure it could be made into a healthier version. I am just a Mum, who had a small triumph over a fussy eater, & thought she would share this triumph! If I have missed something, or you do make this, please let me know!!**

Thanks for reading.

xxx

Stuck in a blogging rut

Im in a real rut at the mo where blogging is concerned. I want to blog, but I just cant come up with anything to blog about.

Im blaming the weather, its July, yet the weather here is absolutely miserable, grey & seemingly constantly raining. Its so depressing. I have so many WIP's that I am just not motivated to finish, Im not even motivated to start something new. I dont even want to bake :-(

I do have 1 or 2 finished projects to show, but its impossible to get a decent photo of them with no light. Fingers crossed we may have 5 minutes of sunshine soon, & then I'll be snapping away!!

I think that once I have dropped little Miss L-R at school this afternoon, I'll come home & do some painting. I havent painted for ages. I'd really like to have a go at some Cath K style roses. Maybe painting something pretty might scare the funk away?

The next post will be more upbeat I promise!! ;-)

Oh & the photo? That'll be the lovely little Miss L-R with her Olympic torch that she made yesterday. At least my girls bring some sunshine into my life.

Take care.

xxx

A gorgeous giveaway.....

....is happening over on the lovely Jenny Arnotts blog. Go take a looksie!!

xxx

The past month in photos

Phew, the past month has been a crazy one! So much happening, school holidays, the Jubilee, a heat wave, followed by torrential downpours. Craziness. So here's the month in photos, enjoy (Please note, blogger has uploaded these in the completely wrong order, but I dont have the energy to rearrange it all!):

Our Jubilee trifle & the girls dressed up for their Jubilee party at school.

A treat for myself :-)

Some painting time.

Some stitching time.

Some Wii time, boogeying away ;-)

The birthday girl, this was in the middle of her party.

Sewing a little something

Making pretties for my home <3

More sewing :-)

An empty ironing basket, this is momentus!!!

A little bit of crochet

Enjoying the sunshine & some baking

Finding a new place to explore :-)

More crochet, these are all WIP's, that I'll do a better post on soon.

My little 'garden' got flooded :-( 

I know nothing about gardening but was proud of how well everything was coming along, until the rains came & the snails & slugs had a feast on everything.

This isnt my garden, this was at the garden centre. I can only wish to one day have flowers like this!!

I attempted polka dotted nails, as polka dots make everything better :-)

A treat in the sunshine

Some painting

Setting up for the Jubilee (pre rain & slugs)

K's Jubilee Crown

Finishing WIP's. This one was started over a year ago, & its finally finished. Very fitting for the current weather.

& thats it!!

**I've become slightly addicted to Instagram, my username is lisapinke, feel free to follow me & let me know your username so I can follow you back!!**

Ok, its now absolutely hammering it down with rain, & I have to go out soon, so Im off to do my little dance to the Sun Gods to make it stop please!!!!

Happy Friday.

xxx

The one where we celebrated a birthday!

This weekend saw my lovely Miss K celebrating her 8th birthday. It was a manic weekend! She had 2 friends come for tea after school on Friday, then a family party on Saturday (which, to be honest, was very overwhelming for her, even though it was all people she knew well. She spent most of it in my bedroom playing on her guitar. This autism thing is so hard to predict, some things she copes so well with, others not so much) then yesterday we went to the zoo, which was fun but blooming freezing! Such a busy weekend, it was definitely hard work getting myself & the girls out of bed this morning & off to school in time.

Miss K is currently loving Lala Loopsy dolls, so that was the theme of her cake. It was a 2 layer Marble cake, with pink frosting. The buttons & flowers were made from white fondant, & the finishing touch was a Lala Loopsy doll (with 2 little friends) sitting on top.

Apologies for the poor photo, I have to admit I had a 'mare with making this, & so this final cake was made on Sat morning & finished about 10 minutes before the guests arrived! I had to snap a quick Iphone photo whilst I had the chance!

The birthday girl loved the cake, which made the stress worthwhile! In fact it was in her words 'the best birthday ever!'

***