BubbaChic

THE Curry Competition

This Saturday marked a long awaited date, one that was taken very seriously in this house - The Annual Curry Cook off. It was a Brit-inspired night that came together for the first time last year, where Brits (and a few Americans) made curry and gathered with lots of wine and beer. All curries were then tasted and a winner crowned.

Last years winner was my very own Mr B. His chicken curry is hard to beat...that was until last night, when more Brits, Europeans (and a few Americans!) gathered and 13 curries were entered into, the now growing, competition.

A veritable feast followed and we got to taste curries of all types.

It was awesome.

Voting then took place...

and a new winner was crowned..

(notice Mr B's t-shirt 'Keep korma and curry on')

The lamb curry took first place, Jon's lamb curry to be precise and the first lamb curry he has ever made! I am thinking he has a flair for this cuisine and he and Mr B should think about opening an Indian restaurant!

The bar was set high, but we'll be ready next year! ;o)

 

 

Culinary Class for six!

Six 7-8 year old girls came over to my house after school yesterday, a quarter of Maddy's Girl Scout troop, all looking to earn their 'snack' badge. We had three recipes to make in 1.5 hours, not a problem, I thought, this will be a doddle!

I had spent the evening before selecting healthy recipes and writing each one down on recipe cards for the girls to take away with them. In the morning, I shopped for the ingredients, I was ready! That was until all six girls were in the house (usually running in different directions!) and it dawned on me that my nice little 'cookery' lesson was going to be everso slightly more taxing than I first anticipated!

We began with this guacamole recipe which called for lots of chopping, mashing and stirring all of which most of the girls got bored with pretty easily. In the end I opted to put the half chopped, half mashed ingredients in the blender and whizz it all up. We served it with some pre-baked whole wheat pita breads and the girls whose attention I still had (the others had been distracted by the white fluffy creatures of the house) made their own batch of pita chips.

The resulting guacamole and pita chips were really good, I highly recommend that recipe.

Whilst I had visions of photographing each stage of the process, it didn't happen - I was far more concerned with ensuring that each girl left with all her digits still in tact and refereeing the various issues that seven year olds bring up.

My new Keurig coffee machine was put to good use with a few strong coffees to keep me going! (perfect timing on its arrival!) and all in all I think each girl had fun and got involved in some way in each recipe.

Next time, I may employ some help to ease the process!

It really made me feel blessed to be where I am right now in my life that I am able to step forward at a moments notice and host events like these as I know Maddy was very happy for it to be taking place in her house.

I feel blessed for my hard-working husband who provides for us and supports me jumping in and getting involed in the kiddies activities, even if it means he has boxed pizza for dinner.

It has given me some food for thought about Maddy's impending birthday party....

 

 

Recipe Testing

I have been trying out some new recipes recently and here is a little selection of our favourites for the month!

 

Weight Watchers baked onion rings

 

Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington (Made by Mr B)

Carrot and zucchini bars

 

Chocolate salted caramel tarts

 

Dark chocolate brownie with ginger ice cream and salted caramel sauce

All were very scrummy and well worth making again!

 

 

The Art of Pancake Making

On this lazy Saturday morning, we made a little extra effort on the pancakes..

 

The kiddies made their own too...

 

Maddy made a sun and Joshy made a Death Star (ala Star Wars)

 

All good fun!

 

And all under the watchful gaze of this little fella...

For the love of s'mores!

The kids and I have a new found love....the love of s'mores!

 

We have made microwave versions before ( microwaving the marshmallows) and they always seemed pretty adequate until last weekend, our friends became away of our lack of real s'more experience and built a campfire...

 

...we then tasted a little slice of heaven...

 

Maddy fully appreciated the experience...

 

and tonight we were craving more s'more goodness so stoked up the bbq after dinner and made a very fast and yummy dessert...

 

and then me and Maddy started thinking...wouldn't it be cool to hold a camping-themed party! Where we could invite friends (after sending out cute invites) make t-shirts for the kids and Maddy and me would need cute charm bracelets (or try making them) make sweet party favors and even buy a t-shirt for Daddy 

It would also be a good time to try making this pie and these little lovelies!

More s'more goodness here, here, here and here!

 

Foooooooood

This week marks the begining of Vacation Bible School (VBS) for us at our churhc and I am helping out 250 kiddies per day with different craft projects. A lot of the last few weeks has been devoted to the planning of this along with the looking after of 2 children, 1 husband 3 cats and 2 kittens (one of whom needs her cast changed every week)

So, this is one of those catch-up post which lists all the new recipes I have tried. I fell in love with Panera Breads chopped Asaian Chicken Salad...I dream of that salad but at $8 a pop I knew I needed to try and make it for myself. Thats when I happened to run across this recipe and last week, I made Jay and I 4 Asaian Chicken Chopped Salads and they were YUMMY!!!!

 

If you are going to do this recipe, you HAVE to make BOTH dressings!! (I added some hot thai chilli sauce into my peanut sauce for a kick!) It is soooo good, you will not regret it! (and the wontons, don't forget the wontons!!)

 

I also made this Banoffee Cheesecake with Pecan Caramel Sauce for a BBQ around a friends house...and then made an extra one for Jay to take into his work, along with 2 Bakewell Tarts for his team who are working uber hard at the moment.

 

Playdates, Pizza and a Craft Weekend

Today was a more low key kinda day - well needed after all of the racing around we have been doing with swimming lessons and activities since returning back from holiday.

We lounged, played (I cleaned) and then the kiddies made their very own lunch. Joshua and his friend made pepperoni pizza and Maddy made garlic bread pizza balls. The fact that they made themselves seemed to directly impact the fact that they also gobbled most of them up in one go.

 

The pizza dough was the Light Wholewheat bread dough recipe from 'Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day' Its a wonderful staple dough that we transform into bread or rolls with dinner, pizza crusts even naan breads with curry.

 

I love it when my kids have a hand in making food and they are then prepared to try new foods. Maddy use to be a very picky eater. One phase of bread and butter only was particularly rough, she then moved on to tuna sandwiches which made me feel marginally better. She now happily eats a whole variety of foods, healthy and not so healthy - but a variety none the less. Josh, well, doesn't. He is still a picky eater and we are still working on him.

 

I have ordered this book and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I am hoping that by giving the kiddies their own step-by-step colourful cookery book, for them to pick (and then make) dinner from, we may be able to expand Joshua's eating repertoire.

And yesterday, I came across this how I want to go!!!! A weekend away of crafting, in a neighbouring state, does that sound dreamy or what

 
photo taken by Jay, trying to suss out the correct angle of the flash...(and after a martini tasting session!)

Dinner - Freaky Style

Had to share a photo of dinner, how to do it here

The children approved (not to sure Mr B was that impressed though!)

Giving Thanks

We are on holiday here in the US - a holiday that we wouldn't get back home - Thanksgiving!

The house smells delicious right now - a cross between cranberry sauce and a root beer glaze which is going to baste the ham. We are joining sweet friends tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving - American style. I believe the turkey has been cooking since Sunday - which is a hint as how big that bad boy is going to be!

In the midst of the preparations, I am still beavering away on Christmas doll orders (which have to be all finished up and sent by next wednesday - eek!) Here are 2 cuties waiting patiently on the stairs to go the the post office...

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all!

The Easy Life

OK, so I admit it...as a mama and a wife and a *homemaker* I am all about looking after my family and making them happy - but if I can do it with just a little less time of cooking and cleaning (and thus a little more time sewing...) then I am all for that - hell yeah!

So, a couple of months ago - I discovered www.e-mealz.com and OH. MY. LIFE....I am hooked.

This bad boy service cost only $1.25 per week and it plans out all your meals for you based on where you shop, what you eat (lowfat, low carb etc..) and plans in the special offers on food that they have so you save MONEY - its a win-win right?

I know, I know, I sound like I have been paid by them to place this post right here slap bang in my blog, but seriously they haven't paid me a penny - I am just hooked, a fan....completely sold.

For the past few months we have eaten things that we have never tried before (including our picky children, well we haven't actually eaten our picky children, rather they have tried new things is what I meant to say!) and we have all eaten like royalty for approximately half of what we were spending before on groceries (so it seems only logical that I get to spend the deficit on fabric right?...can somebody please explain that to hubby??)

I have no idea whether this service is available in England (I meant to google it and never got around to it) but seriously, if it isn't - then approach these ladies about getting it started there because it is GOOD!

Ok...rant over...I have got to go, I have a rather amazing and everso easy chicken dinner to get ready  for my lucky family....