"The Craft Group" plus...

I love Summer. I love holidays. I love snacks at 5pm. But they are not always good for me. Except these! 1) A slice of cucumber, cream cheese, smoked salmon and chives. 2) Half a cherry tomato, a basil leaf, half a bocconcini ball, toothpick together then sprinkle with balsamic vinegar. Sooo good. And so good for you too!

At The Craft Group I mentioned to the ladies around me that I was after dessert ideas for Christmas. One of the suggestions sounded super healthy and easy. Kathy also told me that it was really yum too (although I wasn't 100% convinced). So I tried it and I am totally sold on this great dessert idea! I made some for our family in pretty individual glasses and I made one for a friend in a bowl, for Christmas. I made some for our own family Christmas and I couldn't stop eating it. SO nice! May I present to you... (from Kathy B with extra comments from me!)... Chia Pudding Dessert (It can be dairy free, gluten free and has no added sugar) Kathy's Chia Puddings using multi coloured chia seeds Ingredients: 1 cup chia seeds( doesn't matter what colour seeds. Kathy used colour combo and I used white) 3 cups coconut cream or milk (that is about 2 cans) Fruit slices ( mango and blueberries are our fav) Coconut yoghurt from health food shop* Soak se...

I love it that the ladies at The Craft Group have a wealth of crafty skills that we don't see on thursdays. I think it has a lot to do with the attitude of crafters. They will give anything a go and in the process, through trial and error, realise they are (or can become) good at something new! Melanie told me she did a bit of cake decorating and was asked by her niece to do a cake for her 18th. Here is the clever and pretty result. Yes, all the flowers are edible icing, all hand made. Beautiful Melanie. I'm sure your niece, Robyn, was very happy with such a professional addition to her celebrations!

Mum & Dad had their 60th Wedding Anniversary this past week with lots of smaller celebrations rather than one big one. For one of the events I thought I would make a cake! Cake decorating is not really one of my things but it is amazing what you can learn from the internet and from talking to the lady in the cake decorating store I found not too far away. I learned a lot from the I am baker blog website which includes a video tutorial. A little tip I picked up… the blog says to use a sugar syrup on the cake first to make the icing stick and stop crumbs coming away from the cake, but the cake decorating shop said to heat up some apricot jam in the microwave and smear a thin layer of that on the cake first. Cool in the fridge and the icing will stick with no crumbs. Yay for easy tips that really work! Happy 60th Anniversary Mum & Dad!

This looks so impressive, I really must try it. Hmm, not sure when. You try it and tell me how you go. Click here for great pictorial instructions. Pastry folding AND… I have so many nice things to show you. Things made by the clever ladies at The Craft Group. So, starting on monday, I am showing off one project a day! You will be inspired for a craft filled year.

What a morning we had yesterday! At The Craft Group we hosted our annual "Cancer Council Morning Tea" as part of the big Australian wide fundraising project, the Biggest Morning Tea . We did some Craft, then we had some announcements. Then Pam introduced her ex neighbour who is fighting a pretty big battle at the moment with Cancer. Bec was coming home from hospital yesterday and is really not well.  We couldn't ask her to come and speak but we still were encouraged by her. We watched a You Tube clip made by her church. It is just Bec talking and sharing where she sees "Home" to be. It's only 5 minutes long and is really worth watching... Click HERE to watch it. Then we read out an email Bec sent to me the other day. She said how much Psalm 139 meant to her lately. (I've added it below). If you are reading this Bec.... thanks for sharing your Hope with us. It was very touching and helps put life into perspective. It is really all about ...

There are always different things happening in our household. Annalee, 23 has a "delicious" diary and she is trying to keep up with the weekly recipes. Yum. Corey, 18 has joined a Scottish Pipe Band. He is a drummer (on the right), so this is just another way he can beat a drum.  Our origins are in the Netherlands but we found out the kids are 3% Scottish! Their great great grandmother was a Macpherson. So a day at Brigadoon at Bundanoon was a tribute to that 3%! And Jacob is now 21! We had a fun party at home with about 80 terrific young people. Oh and my Dad is home from hospital after his broken hip and is doing really well! I took Mum out for the day on saturday and Mark and the kids "Opa sat".  Annalee did a great job. She said she had a snooze on the lounge! I assume Opa didn't try and jump up and do cartwheels while she was asleep!

Dear Pressure Cooker, I am sorry I have been ignoring you. Please don't be jealous. My new Slow Cooker has been out on the bench a lot and I do admit that I love it but I will never replace you. Thank you for rescuing me the other night. I knew I wanted to do something with the kilo of chicken thigh fillets sitting ready in the fridge and I did have plenty of vegies but what I didn't have was TIME! I had 20 minutes to make something out of that chicken and in 20 minutes.... which included the preparation time, you gave me and my family a super yummy and healthy meal. You are the best. It didn't take me long to chop some onions and put them with the chicken pieces (each cut in half) into your big shiny pot. Throwing some mixed herbs, salt and pepper onto the chicken didn't take long. That all browned a bit on your base while I quickly speed-peeled 6 whole carrots and washed and top'n tailed a heap of green beans. I had no time to peel the spuds so gave t...

Not only does she do  brilliant crochet , Nadia went all out when we asked everyone to 'bring a little something' to share for our  Cancer Council Morning Tea .  The icing is meringue and inside is a sponge she made herself, split in 3, with fillings of fruit and nuts, punch, caramel and cream. My biceps had a workout carrying it around showing it off to everyone. One cake into about 40 slices. Not bad hey?  Apparently this is a traditional cake to bring along to a birthday or family celebration. She said it is not for the fainthearted but I know you can do it! Click on 'read more' to see the recipe. Copy and paste it into a word document if you want an easy way to print it. Thanks for sharing your secrets Nadia!

The other day Jenni brought along a really nice cake for morning tea. Here is the recipe.     For the recipe,  click below on 'read more'.