Me In A Snap

I just listed some of my handmade felt Christmas ornaments on Trade Me! Plus a whole bunch of other things too!

If anyone feels like having a look you can check out my listings here.

And for anyone doing the Kiwi Christmas Ornament Swap… I am not sending out any of the ornaments pictured above… there is a different one being created for that! :)

Last weekend my parents came to visit so I did a little bit of baking. I decided to try out a recipe I saw on the How Does She blog.

I have to say I was a bit dubious about the “perfect” claim… but oh boy these cookies were amazing!!!

Yes the cookie is on my knee… it was about to be devoured so I took a photo!!! These cookies did not last long in my house, I think I baked them on Sunday and they were all gone by Tuesday! :)

Here is the recipe if you want to try these… but I have warned you, they are too yummy to not eat them!

• 2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 Cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar (granulated)
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 Cups Milk chocolate chips

Melt the butter in the microwave and at the same time combine your dry ingredients into another bowl. Add to the flour the baking soda and salt. Whisk it together to combine.
Add the brown sugar and white sugar to the melted butter and beat until smooth. Then add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Now add the chocolate chips, but you only want to add about HALF of the chocolate chips now. Put aside 1/3 – 1/2 of the chocolate chips in a small bowl and mix the rest in with the dough. Tip: Milk chocolate chips taste the BEST, but if you find the cookies a little on the sweet side, substitute half of the chips with semi-sweet. You need to stick that bowl of doughy goodness in your fridge for about an hour. Get the bowl of chocolate chips that you put to the side, get out your baking sheets, and let’s start rolling! Tip: use a scoop to measure out balls which are uniform in size. This will prevent some from over-baking while others are undercooked. Okay, roll some dough to form a ball, then dip the top of the ball into the bowl of reserved chocolate chips. Then place a couple of inches apart on your baking sheet. This is what will give your cookies that “perfect” look. Stick them in a pre-heated 180 degree oven and bake for about 13 minutes. You want to remove them when the tops are just the tiniest bit shiny.

We are getting a babysitter tomorrow night so I am going to make another batch of these to leave for her to eat while we are out :)
Enjoy your cookies!!!

I have decided to join up to Eighteen 25′s weekly photo challenge. Some weeks I’ll probably forget, but this week I managed! Each Wednesday they are going post a time on their blog, then on Thursday at that specific time I am supposed to take a photo of whatever I am currently doing. Then on Friday I post it to my blog and link up to see what everyone else is doing! Since they are in the US and I am in NZ I am a day ahead of them… but that doesn’t matter. I will just take my photo on Friday and post it on Saturday, it all works out the same in the end!

So here is what was happening at 5pm yesterday:

We had friends over for dinner and one of the guys bought some awesome bubble wands, so we all went outside and played with the bubbles!

If you want to join in head here to find out more:

I was recently asked to be involved in a product testing/launch for Bakers Delight. I personally have not had any bread from their bakeries but I have had yummy treats, so I was excited to be included!

Earlier in the week 2 loaves of their new Hi-Lo (high fibre, low GI) bread was delivered to me. My challenge was to come up with ways to use the bread to keep lunch exciting. Miss Delightful is a little bit young to be involved although she did enjoy eating the bread! So I focused on Mr Wonderful and myself. Here is what we had:

Day 1: I made a scrummy ham, pickle and mayo sandwich
Day 2: I was feeling lazy so had a honey sandwich, mmmm honey!
Day 3: I sent Mr Wonderful off to work today with a ham, pepperoni and cheese sandwich, which I think he intended to turn into a toasted sandwich.
Day 4: Today I braved it and gave Miss D a different sandwich, she loves peanut butter and banana so I mixed the 2 together, sounds disgusting to me, but she ate the whole thing!
Day 5: Today’s lunch was chicken, hummus and tomato sandwiches, delicious.
Day 6: I was feeling a bit rushed for time today so it was just a plain old peanut butter sandwich, but the bread made it taste so much better :)
Day 7: Today the hubby was at home so I treated him to an ultimate sandwich made up of: ham, pepperoni, cheese, tomato, mayo, pickle, and chutney. There wasn’t a crumb left on his plate!

I don’t normally eat white bread, but I did find this stuff very tasty to eat! And it helped me to eat proper sandwiches, most days I just have peanut butter or honey, but this bread and the challenge forced me to make ‘fun’ sandwiches!

The new Hi-Lo bread is available at any Bakers Delight store, you can go to their website to find a store near you. While you are there you can drool over their yummy treats as well!

And I have been given 5 vouchers worth $5 each to giveaway, thanks Bakers Delight! So if you would like to grab one of these, check out their website to see if you have a Bakers Delight store near you, and leave me a comment telling me about your yummiest sandwich idea. The 5 winners will be randomly drawn on November the 9th, so you have 2 weeks to enter (open to New Zealanders only, sorry)!

We have had a wonderful long weekend with both family and friends.

On Saturday we started the day off by walking around the lake (add 3kms to my 80km total!). Then we met up with some friends and their kids for a play at the playground. While Miss Delightful slept Mr W and I attacked some dead trees in the garden. Since we are renting it is hard to be motivated to garden, but it looks heaps better now. Then we enjoyed a BBQ dinner with friends and Miss D had fun playing in their sandpit.

Sunday we headed off to church, Mr W was drumming, and Miss D enjoyed watching him. We got Miss D home and in to bed and then my parents arrived to stay the night with us. Sunday afternoon was spent at home playing, my parents haven’t seen Miss D since she started walking. She was very excited to show off her new skills!

This morning we headed out to a playground near the river in town, Miss D enjoyed watching the ducks and splashing her feet in the paddling pool. It will be a fantastic place to head to during the summer! Then we had a lovely stroll along the river (another 4kms added to my 80kms!). We are now in the process of getting Miss D to have a sleep, she may be a little over excited from our busy morning. And I am trying to rest at the same time, as I have a sore throat and stuffed nose!

I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend. Wasn’t the weather wonderful??!!

I have signed up for the Kiwi Christmas Ornament Swap!

You can too… just head to Sew Funky.

This should be a really fun experience. I will be put in a group with 6-7 other ladies and we will all make an ornament and post them out to each other. So by Christmas I will have 6-7 new ornaments to put on my tree, all handmade! You have until November 5th to join up, and then you have about a month to create your ornament and send them out!

I already have a few ideas, I just have to choose one and get sewing! Christmas is coming… yay!!!