~Day Dreaming~

So today was the most laid back day i have had in oh so long.... Im not complaining :) Anyway while i was standing in front of the mirror in our master bathroom after thinking about my laid back day i started to think about all the things i had hoped to get done to this house in the next couple of years, you know like the Bathroom Vanities in our bathroom and the bathroom down stairs. So after washing my face i went down and joined the boys on the couch to watch a movie but i had my laptop with me and i started browsing threw bathroom vanities on one of the CSN stores! I know.. i know... we wont get to do that with moving back to Australia and all but Hey a girl can dream! Anyway i came across some realllly nice ones! Like these just to show you a few!

I like this one alot, Im loving the glass in the doors!

Now this one i could totally see in the boys bathroom down stairs! It fits into the "spa'ish" theme i was going for when i first picked out the colour theme! Love the extra room below.

This is extremely fancy i know :) But can you just imagine what kind of house this sort of vanity belongs in?!? :)

This is simple and would work wonderfully in my small master bathroom! I am a huge fan of the darker woods! And simplicity!

This is different i love the bowl its stunning!

I wish i had a master bathroom big enough for something like this! Although i know hubby would hate it cuz i would have all sorts of things all over the vanity top.... im bad about that LOL!

~Lamb Chop Rub and Tasty Cous Cous~

This is an extremely tasty meal! Like usual no idea what i was cooking for dinner..like most nights and this is what i came up with!

Now i dont know how many of you are lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's near you, technically we dont have one THAT close but its close enough (plus we like that its just down the road from another grocery store i LOVE Whole Foods Market) :) and it seems we try and make a trip up to Ann Arbor atleast once a month to stock up on bulk whole foods and other organic goodies! One of my fav things to buy is this;

MMM definately one of my fav things to fix lately because it can be dressed up or dressed down!

~Lamb Chop Rub~

(this rub is enough for 6 large chops!)

2 Tbsp of onion powder

2 Tbsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of sea salt

2 tsp of freshly ground pepper

1 tsp of spicey hot chilli powder

1/2 of ginger powder

1 Tbsp of brown sugar

Mix all the ingredients into a jar/bowl and mix, take your chops of choice :) drizzle one side of the chop and sprinkle the rub over top do this on both sides and place into an extremely hot pan to seal in the juices! Depending on how rare or well done you like your meat depends on cooking time!

This rub is a little sweet and some what spicey :) just the way we like it in our family!

~Tasty Cous cous~

2 cups of dryed cous cous

1 Tbsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of rosemary

1 Tbsp of dried chives

1/2 tsp of sea salt

1 c of raw peas

1 1/2 c of chicken stock

1/2 c of heavy whipping cream

fresh thin slices of parm cheese to garnish!

In a large sauce pan, combine the chicken stock peas, garlic, rosemary and salt. Bring to a boil, turn to low allow peas to cook and become tender, also add the cream at this point. once peas have become tender remove from heat pour your 2 cups of cous cous in slowly stirring threw the liquid. Once stirred throughly place a lid onto and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Remove lid after said amount of time and fluff the cous cous with a fork and serve.

Place thin slices of parm cheese on top and serve! This is super simple and oh so tasty, cous cous in general is fun to play with when it comes to trying new things!

~Just another Day~

Just another day here in my lil swanton home, not alot to say today it was an ok day for me i had a couple of low moments today, we had to take my son in for his check up and he needed some blood work done. There was a brand new mum in the waiting room with a beautiful little girl in her car seat. Oh so tiny and precious.... i didnt know where to look or where to go once the tears started welling up... Baby girl started crying that beautiful new born cry and that just shot a pain threw my heart... It was hard but we got called back not long after that. Im not handling pregnant women and new born babies very well at the moment i have a love hate relationship with the idea... I ache knowning they are going threw something i was going threw not to long ago....6wks to be exact..yep i try not to remember how long its been since i lost my angel baby but its impossible...i would be almost 19wks had i not lost him/her... Anyway Lochlan had to have 7 vials of blood drawn and even on good days im bad with seeing him go threw this BUT 2day i was already an emotional reck.. thank goodness i had to use the rest room and skipped out on it...stood outside the door and listened to the carryin on tho which was still hard... Anyway no recipes today just some pictures of my beautiful flowers in my garden! Hope your all well and enjoyin your week so far, recipes tomorrow i promise!

(Sorry for the moppy post..)

~Adventures in Homemade Goodies~

Homemade mustard?? Yep you betcha! Eggless Mayo??? That can last in the fridge for a couple months?? Mhmmm! The mayo is quick and easy, i know alot of you all once seeing the ingredients will be like WHAAAA???? But believe you me it tastes just like mayo and you can add all sorts of goodies to it! Lets start with the mustard recipe shall we.

~Homemade Mustard~

1/2 c of mustard powder

1/4 c of sugar

1/4 c of white vinegar

1 tsp of sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl or container, cover and store in a cool dark place. Taste after 2 weeks. If its still strong, leave it for a few more days. Once the msutard has mellowed, scrape from the container and place into a clean jar/bottle and refridgerate. This can last months when stored well.

I added garlic powder to mine and some paprika. My boys like that this mustard is spicey and sweet!

You can play with this recipe, as there are many ways to alter it and make it better.

When all mixed up this mustard is extremely strong smelling :)

Mayonnaise (Egg Free)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup of vinegar

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of mustard powder

Empty the can of milk into a mixing bowl, add the salt and dry mustard. Slowly start pouring in small amounts of the vinegar, whisk to combine. This does not take long before it starts to thicken. Once all the ingredients have been whisked together, taste it and adjust to taste. You can always add more vinegar, dry mustard or salt to your liking. I like to add some olive oil and a little lemon juice, its VERY tasty!

~Super Simple Delish Summer Corn Salsa~

This is one of the simplest salsa's ever! And it works right in to your "mexican" night menu!

The night i made this dish up my boys were craving Chipotle and i refused to give into the craving myself....(even though i REALLY really wanted it also!) So i dug around in my pantry and freezers and pulled out the last 2 cups of sweet frozen corn from our local farmers stand you all know how i love my locally grown produce! Some local chicken breasts, raided my spice rack! And found some yummy stuff in my veggie crisper draw! This is what i came up with :) Heres the recipe for just the corn the rest will come promise!!

1 Can of naturally sweet corn

1 Fresh tomato

hand full of fresh cilantro

1 hlf of a green pepper(capsicum for my aussie readers!)

a pinch of salt

8 garlic scapes (if you have these on hand!) or just 1 small clove of garlic minced

Drain the corn and empty into serving bowl, dice your tomato to you and your families liking same goes for the green pepper as well (i kept my around the same size as the corn kernels) Add them to the corn. Roughly chop the cilantro and add it to the bowl as well. Mince the garlic/scapes, combine and mix all the ingredients in the bowl now and sprinkle with sea salt and serve!

This is really refreshing you can have it in home made buritos, tacos, salad or just straight up on corn chips!

Lochlan attempting to eat his soft shell taco!

Nathan's Burito that he had a hard time folding lol :)

I had mine on a salad! MMM

Kevin's Burito was also jammed packed and hard to fold up LOL

Happy Friday my Gorgeous Friends! Hope EVERY singal one of you have a fab wkend!

~Trying to move on~

To the baby that I carried, But never seen your face, Or tell you how much I loved you, Or ever to hear your cries. You will never be forgotten. The excitement we had for your coming. When I realized I'd never hold you, The feeling I had was numbing. My angel baby is who you are. My angel baby you'll always be. Your loving memory will live in my heart. So you will always be right here with me.

Sweet Pea is what we called our little darling when we found out we were pregnant.

So here i am making my return, i wanted to thank all of you who have emailed me and checked in on me. I decided i wanted a tattoo to remember my angel baby by something i would always have and could never loose. I went to my tattoo artist with a couple of ideas having NO idea exactly what i wanted... And this is what he came up with! I absolutely LOVE it! Its everything i wanted and then some, he did a fantastic job and i couldnt imagine having anything different.

I am still dealing with it in my own way, i have good days and bad days but i am taking each day as they come.

I am still alive...

Just wanted you all to know that yes i am still alive....

I am not feeling up to blogging much lately...

Reason being? We lost the baby :(

I will post about what happened.... at a later date when i am able too.

Hope your all well.

I miss you all!

A Recipe and Exciting News!

Lets kick this post off with a promised recipe!

Simple Easy Tasty Pancake Batter!

YOU wont be disappointed!

2 cups of milk (i used the milk left from making my own butter!)

1/4 cup of sugar ( i used raw sugar)

2 eggs

3 Tsp of honey

1 tsp of oil

1Tsp of vanilla

2 and 1/3 cups of flour (i used hlf wheat hlf white)

1 1/1 Tsp of baking powder

Nothing to it toss the wet ingredients into a blender then add your dry ingredients! Turn it on for a few mins making sure everything mixes up nicely! Depending on your choice of batter (thick or runny!) whether or not you add a little more flour or a little more milk! We like our batter to be a little runny as i find this recipe does puff a little! Use a large spoon and drop desired amount on to your griddle or frying pan! I let the batter sit a min or so then add a few choc chips to mine for my guys!

Give it a go you can add all kids of goodies to your pancakes which im sure you all do! This recipe does not disappoint there is no weird baking powder after taste like some recipes give you! Plain or jazzed up! I keep the batter in my blend and keep it in the fridge for a few days and its still tasty when i get it out and cook it up!

Now onto the exciting news!

So May 7th i turned 30........OH BOY! I had NOT been looking forward to this at all... Now leading up to my birthday we were extremely busy, April was Lochlan's Birthday... Then his big bash! Then it was my mother in laws birthday! Needless to say we have done a lot of celebrating in this time...After Lochlans party i was exhausted! Didn't matter what i did i couldn't get enough rest... We figured it was just all the celebrating! With 30 creeping up around the corner..... and the lack of a visit from mother nature....we decided to do a pregnancy test....expecting the usual....when im having "issues" it usually all starts with missed periods...In the last 6 years we have done plenty of pregnancy tests...all showing negative...and this is exactly what i expected this time...those of you who know me and my adventures in fertility issues know a couple years ago we were told from some of the biologic medicines i had taken for my Psoriasis had made me infertile....so missing a period or being "late" really didn't excite me at all.... so i sat by our window in the bedroom over looking the box like usual making sure they hadn't changed the signs or anything lol...grabbed the stick and went off about my business...told hubby "ok 3 mins tell me when its up" not sure exactly what i was doing....and then his like "ok its 3 mins babe" got up when to the bathroom picked it up glanced and about had a heart attack my throat felt like it was swelling up......my heart sped up.....i felt faint...i screamed a lil.... hubby was like whats wrong??? whats wrong??? my response "uh...um..i THINK im pregnant?!?!?!"......he was gob smacked...i ran in and grabbed the box and double checked...triple checked....gave him the box and the test and told him am i????? AM I??? Sure enough the pink line was there..... called my mum even tho it was 6am there in australia....and told her! Next i called my best friend Angie! We didn't tell EVERYONE till we had it confirmed seeing there was doubt in our minds that it was "REAL" but what a birthday present huh???

This is my "first" pregnancy photo lol 6 wks!

So onto my birthday celebrations! I was spoiled rotten! We celebrated the nite before at my fav restaurant "Carrabba's" with friends and family. And then friday morning we got up got Loche ready for school dropped him off and hubby took me to michigan! We went up and had a tour of the Mac store! That store is simply amazing! I was told we were going up there to get a cover for my birthday gift i had been given earlier! I Ipod Touch! So i picked out a hot pink cover! And was totally surprised when we left with a matching MacBook! *GASP*

After the Mac store we wondered around the mall and he bought me a bottle of Dolce&Gabbana perfume "The One"

Here is my other present he got me as well!

Hubby and i before we hit the Mac Store!

Yup this is meee! Lol this was taken before we headed to Carrabba's!

Hubby and I!

My fav 3 men in my life!

This was taken at Red Lobster after we returned from Michigan! After dinner we met Kev at the movies and watched Iron Man 2! What a birthday!

These are my beautiful mothers day flowers my hubby got me!

So yes these are some of the reasons i have been MIA :) that and we are still preparing to move back to australia! It has been something else i tell you we have some life changing things headed our way and we are trying our best to spend as much time as possible with friends and family while we are still here in the States!