Happy 7th BirthDay My Handsome Lil Man!

I can hardly believe you are 7 today.... It has gone by so fast! You have grown so quickly! Not to mention how tall you are! Wont be long before you will be towering over me! 7 years old and you are 4'4! I hope you enjoyed your morning! And i know you loved your Plasma Car! I cant wait for your BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY! Next week! I know you will have a blast even though it willbe your last Birthday Party here in the states for a few years!

Sorry for being MIA but i have been SO busy since my guys finally finished with their jobs! I have loads of recipes to share with you all and i hope you all can forgive me for my absence!

And the WINNER is......

Okay Okay Okay I KNOW im late annoucing the winner... Im a slacker.. i know...This has been a busy weekend! My girlfriend and i launched our business this weekend so we had a some what busy week and weekend! More to come on that Adventure! So according to Random.org the grand winner is # 24 let me go count down the comment list! I know i have one in there...but i will not count it :D And the winning comment is *drum roll pleaseeeeeee*

angela jiniel said...

I'm not going to pretend I looked at EVERYTHING thry had, but something I'd really like is this cutting board.

http://www.csnstores.com/Catskill-Craftsmen-Inc%2E-1318-KL1122.html

my email is angelajiniel (at) gmail (dot) com

Congrats Angela! What an awesome scale to win! I know you will definately use this! I will be in contact soon! Didnt win this give-away? Not to worry! I will hopefully be having another soon! My best friend has just started his own Jewellery Line Called "Sheer Elegance In Chains" he doesnt have anything up in his Etsy store just yet as he is working on some custom made pieces that someone ordered! You can check out some of his pieces threw his FaceBook page threw this LINK.

These are a couple of his pieces his made and sold so far!

Someone will be lucky enough to win a Bracelet! More to come on this at a later date!

~Irish Feast Part 2 the conclusion!~

Let me start off with saying how sorry i am that it has been longer then i expected getting my next blog post up! Things got hectic Friday was a busy day for us we had doctor appointments and then we rushed home i cleaned house and baked 2 chinese style pot roasts with carrots and rutabaga and gravy and irish soda bread to go along with it (recipes coming soon!)! Sat was a VERY busy day we picked up my sons best friend and we headed to a really cool place called "Imagination Station" Loche and his best mate Ethan had a BLAST! They explored the cartoon network exhibition where they learnt how cartoons are made! They played in the water works exhibit which was awesome! They ofcourse were a lil wet but well worth it :) I will put up a post at a later date of some of the great pics we took! We ended the day with a fab meal at "Spaghetti Ware House" the boys really had a teriffic time! I would have to admitt this was our first offical "play date" since Lochlan started school this year :)

I was up LATE sat evening baking a cake....from scratch....which is something i have NOT done since high school.....cake baking is NOT something i do...or really enjoy doing :) but i must admit the cake turned out great and was a huge hit at Kevins parents house! I made a strawberry/blue berry sponge cake with home made strawberry jam filling and home made whipped cream in the centre and i frosted it with vanilla whipped cream! Kicking myself for not taking pictures but to be honest i thought it was going to suck! So i will hopefully be makin another this week to send in with the boys as a treat for some of the people they work with :) So now onto what you all have been waiting for.....The last part to the Irish Feast!

First off is a recipe i have already shared with you all you can find the recipe for this

HERE

This is my super easy Fryed Cabbage and Bacon!

In this one below is i used peppered bacon and it turned out so dang delish!

Up next is a super duper EASY Irish Soda Bread! Its not pretty...BUT it sure tastes good!

~Irish Soda Bread Recipe~

2 Cups of all purpose flour

2 Cups of whole wheat flour

2 Tablespoons of raw cane sugar

1 Teaspoon of baking powder

1 Tablespoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

1/2 a cup of softened butter

1 egg

1 cup of buttermilk (maybe a lil more depends how the dough turns out!)

extra buttermilk and egg for a "wash"

Preheat your oven to about 375'F I took a cookie sheet and place a piece of parchment paper down so the bread wouldnt stick :)

In my KitchenAid Mixer i threw in the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and the butter! I slowly mixed it up, it gets a lil tough but thats ok the egg and milk will make it all better! Slowly add the egg and milk mix them in well once all added if the dough still looks dry add more buttermilk a little at a time though! You want it to be a lil sticky i found it works better when its sticky! Once mixed turn it out onto a lightly floured board and knead a little into a round shape and place onto your prepared tray/sheet, in a small bowl mix up the egg and extra buttermilk for a wash! I dont have a brush so i just used my fingers i dipped them into the bowl and then rubbed said fingers over the laof coating it in the slimmy wash! Now take a nice sharp knife and mark and "X" into the top of the loaf :) Place your tray into the oven and bake your loaf for 45-50mins in your preheated oven! If unsure take a tooth pick and just like a cake and check the centre of the loaf to make sure its done! You can also add more of the egg/buttermilk wash threw out the baking process :)

Now onto the Last of the feast!

Silver Side/ Corn Beef!

1 piece of silver side/corn beef

2 whole oranges

1 Tablespoons of Golden Syrup

40 whole cloves

6 bayleaves

50ish whole pepper corns

and enough water to cover the meat!

Now make sure you a a big enough pot for the piece of meat and the whole oranges!

I usually take the meat out of the plastic and wash it off seeing its so slippery and slimmy *ICK* sorry not one of my fav pieces of meat to work with! Take your whole oranges and slice them in hlf and squeeze some of the juices out of them into the bottom of the pot and toss em on in there then throw in the cloves and bayleaves! Now place your piece of meat in move the oranges around so they all sit in nicely :) Now toss in the pepper corns and add your Golden Syrup once everything is in the pot add your water make sure there is enough water in there to cover the meat! Now bring the pot to a boil and turn down to a slow simmer straight away! Now i let mine cook for atleast 2.5 hours and it turns out so moist and full of flavour! After its done cooking you can leave it in the pot untill your ready to serve it! Remove it from pot about 10 mins before serving let it stand! Then slice it against the grain MMMMM! This silverside is DELISH cold on sandwhiches as well! ENJOY!

I hope i have made up for being MIA the past few days! Dont forget to get yourself entered into the giveaway i am hosting! You could win yourself a brand spanking new Estilo Kitchen Spring Scale! Go HERE and enter to win!

~Part 1 of an Irish Feast!~

~Good Old Butter Milk Scones~

3 Cups of All Purpose Flour

2 1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1 stick of butter (unsalted and COLD) (cut into small pieces makes it easier to rub into the flour!)

1 cup of COLD butter milk

1 egg (beaten)

(a lil extra buttermilk or egg to brush the tops of the scones b4 baking!)

~Directions~

First Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, sift your flour salt and rub in butter. Once done rubbing the butter throughly threw the flour mixture, make a well in the middle of your bowl and pour in the buttermilk and beaten egg. Mix QUICKLY to form a soft dough, if said dough its still to dry dont be afraid to add a lil extra buttermilk if necessary! Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and roll out very lightly until desired thickness i went for about 1inch i reckon! I couldnt find my circle cookie cutter not till the last batch so i "made" do with pulling the dough apart and shaping it with my hands! DO NOT work the dough to much or you WILL end up with HOCKEY PUCKS! Once you have enough cut out for your cookie sheet go ahead and "glaze" "wash" them with your beaten egg wash or extra buttermilk. I baked mine for 16mins each batch you can bake them longer if you want them a little browner on top! No more then 20mins tho!

Nothing beats a HOT scone fresh out of the oven smear it with a lil Homemade Butter Homemade Strawberry Jam and Freshly made sugar free whipped cream!

D.E.L.I.S.H

Look forward for these next recipes Ladies!

Irish Soda Bread (its ugly but it sure is tasty!)

Fried Cabbage with onion garlic and chillie powder and Peppered Bacon

And one of the most succulent SliverSide/Corn Beef Recipes EVA!

~Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig~

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig is the Gaelic way of expressing a wish that you have all the blessings of St Patrick's Day and the "luck of the Irish" to go with it. There are many humorous explanations for this expression. One comes from the legend of the 'Little People' of the land, know as leprechauns. Finding or catching a leprechaun (who would then give you gold) was a lucky event that could only take place in Ireland ! The Irish are descendants of great Celtic and Viking fighters and invaders. Their natural fighting skills often ensured survival & hence they became known as the 'lucky' people .a classic case of making your own luck ! But then "The Luck of the Irish" may all be legend.

Well I hope everyone is well! I have spent the day working on a family feast for St Patricks Day! I will Post Pictures and Recipes later! But just so you can understand what kind of feast it is we will be enjoying tonight here is the list of what ive cooked so far;

Silverside/Corn Beef cooked in cloves, pepper corns,bayleaves, oranges and golden syrup!

I have fryed up cabbage, onions, bacon, garlic and chilli powder

Ive baked Butter milk scones serving them withhome made strawberry jam and freshly whipped cream!

And Irish soda bread!

My Prodcut Review for my Estilo Kitchen Spring Scale will be posted in the next couple of days as well! Be sure to enter to win your own scale! Go here to enter!

~Estilo Spring Kitchen Scale Product Review~

Talk about super quick shipping!(it arrived on Monday!) You all know what this is right?? Thats right this is the scale that i am hosting a giveaway for! CSN contacted me about doing a product review and possibly a giveaway! Well the giveaway is under way! Now its time for the Product Review!

I did NOT think it would get here this quick! The UPS man delivered it just after lunch at first i thought hmmm could it be my scale already??Nahhh couldnt be maybe its Kevins school book! BUT i was ready either way i placed the box on the dinning room table and ran for my camera! And after snapping a pic of the package i was quick to open it up and woohoo it was my scale! Now after taking it out of its actual box and loving how cute it was! Its going to fit in nicely on my counter top with my other gadgets! It is very light weight in itself which isnt a bad thing but dont drop it to many times i dont think it could handle it to much! I LOVE how the bowl has a lip on the bottom, which keeps it in place when put on top of the scales! This will help me out most definately! Seeing im not very graceful when it comes to moving about in my kitchen i often knock stuff over as i am always rushing around doing atleast 3 things at once! What can i say? I work better under pressure so why not do more then one thing at a time while in the kitchen! Now this scale is not for a professional cook thats for sure it doesnt measure LARGE amounts :) This scale is perfect for me because i havent "weighed" ingredients since home ech in high school! YEP back when dinosaurs roamed the earth thats how LONG its been! :P But now that i want to start tracking my measurements for a cook book id like to write in the future i NEED to know exactly how much im using! Love that it is dish washer safe! HUGE plus for me...i dont enjoy hand washing dishes...AT ALL...i usually have one of the guys do those pots/pans/skillets that need hand washing! The numbers on the scale are plain and simple easy to read!

So if you like the look of this Spring Scale and you think you would use it! Enter to win your own! GO here!

~ Giveaway!~

G'day Ladies! Lately ive found myself perched on my bar stool in front of my breakfast bar researching new kitchen gadgets online... one of the things ive found myself looking at is a kitchen scale! I know i know..."WHY Kira WHY would you NEED a scale you NEVER measure ANYTHING!" :) but you might find this funny....i asked for a measuring scale for christmas! And didnt recieve it which is ok cuz i really only asked because i didnt know what else to ask for! And my mother in law asks every year for a christmas wish list! So i asked for kitchen gadets and what nots! So how suprised was i when approached by CSN who asked me if i would do a review of one of their products and possibly a give away?!?! So after looking around on their awesome shopping sites i found the perfect item i wanted to review?!? I have choosen the Estilo Spring Scale in silver! And one of you lucky readers will be given the chance to win the same scale in black!

Based in Boston, CSN began in 2002 and has grown rapidly into a top 3 online U.S retailer of home and office goods with over 400 employees! CSN is said to be formerly a best kept secret! They have some wonderful name brand items! Not to mention they even ship to Canada!

Now onto the details of this giveaway!

PLEASE leave a seperate comment for each entry you do!

Mandatory to enter this giveaway is;

1*You must be a U.S resident or Canadian resident.( 1 entery)

2*You need to check out one of their 200 sites come back and comment what your fav item is and leave a link to the item!! (1 entery)

The rest of these are for extra enteries!

3*You MUST be one of my followers or become a follower of my blog!(2 enteries)

4*Blog about my giveaway(5extra enteries!)

Thats a grand total of 9 enteries to win this scale!

REMEMBER you must place a link in your comment for enteries 2 and 4!

Please leave your email address in one of your comments as i will NOT hunt you down if you are the winner of this giveaway!

Spell out your email address so you wont get spammed ie;

iwannawinthisscale (at) gmail (dot) com

This giveaway will end midnight March 26th winner will be picked via random.org and annouced somtime over that wknd! REMEMBER all your enteries are to be done in seperate comments and i will add up each entery for each person :) Prize will be sent directly from CSN
GOOD LUCK LADIES!

~Homemade Butter and a Great Big Thank You!~

Ok so before we get to the butter making :) i just wanted to say THANK YOU to a wonderful lady and her dad over at Green Bag Lady they are wonderful ppl let me tell you! I came across her blog a couple of months ago and won a give away! She sent me an awesome hand made reuseable shopping bag that she made herself! Here is what she is all about!

"Green Bag Lady"

I am an artist. I make bags. I will give you a FREE handmade fabric shopping bag at Green Bag Lady Events if you promise to use it instead of paper or plastic. Your name, city, country and bag number will be recorded on this site. The use of these bags worldwide is documented here. Send me our pictures, your stories, and your extra fabric. Let's start a revolution... one bag at a time!

I also won a bag for my hubby! And a gift card! Thank you so much Teresa and Dave your both wonderful and i am so happy to spread the word of what you all are doing! I have baught material and plan on making my own now as well! Please check out the site and see how many bags she has given away! Also she has the pattern up how to make your own reuseable shopping bags!

~Homemade Butter~

What you will need!

A clean glass jar with a lid!

Some heavy whipping cream!

heres the heavy whipping cream in the jar with lid waiting to be shaken!

Shimmy and shake the jar! Its a great arm work out let me tell you! You will feel the change in the cream after about 10mins as it turns to whipped cream its nice and thick :)

You need to continue to shake it even though it doesnt feel like its moving! It will slowly start to get so thick that it starts collecting all the bits of whipped cream spread all over the jar! The picture below shows you what i mean!

Turn it and shake it do what ever you have to to get it to get sticky! YOU will know when its almost done as the butter will seperate leaving you a light milky coloured liquid! see pics below!

What is that stuff? Its Butter milk baby! ( i have promised mine to pancakes for my guys!)

So once you have gotten the butter to seperate you need to fish it out and rinse it off in a strainer, then place it in a bowl to knead! You want to do this to press out anymore of the buttermilk that is trapped! I did this for a few mins mushing it around in a bowl and pouring the excess butter milk into the jar!

Then once all the liquid has been pressed out i moved it over to a clean bowl and placed in the fridge this batch has had garlic placed into it as we will be making fresh bread and having this garlic butter spread over it! YUMO!

Heres a pic of the buttermilk! The jar is full now as i made a good amount of butter last night!