Some baking & finishing

I had the urge to bake - again - so decided to make a pizza scroll for school lunches. It's just a basic dough rolled into a rectangle, spread with tomato paste, cheese, herbs and a mix of bacon, salami and cooked onion. Roll it up, cut it into rounds, and place them into a cake tin to bake. Here it is:

On the finishing front I finally tackled a project that's been 2 years in the making! Hard to believe this little owl has been sitting around since 2011, but he has according to my records. As you may know, my finishing skills leave a lot to be desired. So much so, that I generally don't even tackle the task. For me, the joy is in the stitching & creating and not so much in the finishing & displaying. Living in a house full of males doesn't make for the displaying of pretty, pink things which is where my tastes lie. Having said that, this is very masculine! This is my first attempt at a pillow, and all things considered, I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Lazy Sunday baking

Today was a quiet one at home with not much in the way of housework so I decided to bake something - if you can call a packet mix baking. This one was a "gourmet" packet mix - at gourmet prices! It was Donna Hay's caramel fudge chocolate brownies, and they were yummy! I opened the packet to find the brownie mix and a slab of caramel fudge. I must admit part of me seriously considered just chowing down on the fudge and calling it a day but I fought the urge and made the brownies instead. They were super easy too, just melt some butter, add to the mix with 2 eggs and stir. Chop up the slab of fudge, stir through and bake. They would be awesome warm with whipped cream.

Note to self: Work on my photography skills. Big time!

Merry Christmas - Better Late Than Never

I hope you all had an enjoyable day with family, friends and loved ones. I spent the day with my family at my sister's house, with lots of good food. I've also done some baking for various things, here's rudolph caramel tarts that I made for my youngest son's class break up party:

And some oreo balls and "swirly" cookies gone wrong, but they tasted yummy! These were for dessert for lunch on Christmas day.

A butterscotch cream pie that tasted OK before I froze it, then it was kind of bland :-(. This was also for dessert for lunch on Christmas day.

Here's some "faux"rer roches I made as a gift for my husband.

This was also a request of my husbands, chocolate ripple cake for dessert at dinner on Christmas day.

Here's some bon bons I made for Christmas lunch.

Here's our table set for dinner, just the 4 of us.

And last but not least, just because he's cute, here is my sister's dog Beau with his present from us.

Cooking Up A Storm

Well it is school holidays here which means 2 weeks of no alarm unless I'm working, and no running around dropping kids here, there and everywhere. Due to all this extra time I have been experimenting with meals in the kitchen, as dinner is usually on the run between various classes and commitments.  I'm not sure what's for dinner tonight, I may have to browse my magazines before I head out grocery shopping later.

I made my own version of smashed potatoes, with Italian chicken meatloaves and Italian dinner rolls. 

I also made some red onion relish to go with ham steaks.

And sinful brownies for dessert.

Some time ago I also  made cupcakes for Father's Day.