Chicken dinner with Countdown

I was very excited to be asked if I wanted to make dinner to celebrate Countdown’s Price Lockdown. The challenge was to create a meal I hadn’t made before, or something I had always wanted to try, or my twist on a classic. I just had to make sure the recipe included chicken.

I was sent a voucher for Countdown to purchase my ingredients for my chicken dinner. Being a Mum to two young children I understand the challenges of feeding them something they will eat AND enjoy, plus doing it affordably. I purchased a number of items that had Countdown’s Price Lockdown logo for my chicken meal, meaning I got a great deal to feed the whole family.

As a child one meal I used to really enjoy was when my Mum cooked chicken with tomato soup, and with the weather getting colder it seemed a great opportunity to make it for my family and it was something I hadn’t made before.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 750g free range chicken breast (skinless, boneless)
• 1 onion
• 2 stalks of celery
• 2 carrots, (peeled)
• 1 cauliflower
• 1 broccoli
• 1 teapoon Homebrand minced Garlic
• 2 tablespoons of Homebrand Olive oil
• 1 can of Homebrand condensed Tomato soup
• 1kg bag of Homebrand long grain rice
• 1 loaf of Tiger bread (to serve)

Method

• Preheat oven to 150-180, depending on your oven.
• Prepare vegetables, I grated the carrot and chopped it quite small, I also cut the celery in half length ways and cut small. I find for my children they are more likely to eat them and it makes cooking them easier. Chop onion.
• Put the Olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic, onion, carrot and celery. Fry until the onion is beginning to brown.
• Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and then add to the frying pan with the vegetables when the onion has started to brown.
• Cook the chicken until all the pinkness has gone and you can just see white meat, remove from the heat and add everything from the frying pan into a dish which is oven safe and has a lid.

• Open the can of condensed soup and add to the warm frying pan, keep the pan on a low heat. Using the can fill it with cold water and add this to the frying pan also. Stir to combine. Once the soup and water are combined, add the soup mix to the dish with the chicken and vegetable. Stir to combine, place the lid on the dish and put it in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. I checked on mine after 20 minutes, gave it a stir and cooked for a further 10 minutes.
  

  

  
• Once all the soup is combined with the water add the liquid into the dish with the chicken and vegetables. Stir to combine, add the lid to the dish and put in the oven.
• Whilst the chicken was in the oven, I prepared my broccoli and cauliflower to serve with the dinner. I heated some water in a pan and placed the vegetables in the steamer pan. I also cooked my rice in my rice cooker.
• Whilst the vegetables and rice were cooking, I sliced the tiger loaf bread and buttered the slices, I thought the bread would be a good to mop up the left over sauce.
• Once everything is ready, serve up and tuck in.

This chicken dinner was a HUGE hit, we all really enjoyed it. After talking to my Mum about it she mentioned that she has also added mushrooms into it, but I know my children wouldn’t really appreciate that. Something to remember for the future though.

You could also have this meal with pasta or potatoes instead of rice if you wanted too. I chose to serve broccoli and cauliflower as my children both really like them.

If you go on to make this delicious chicken dinner, I would love to hear your thoughts,

Stacey.

Friday Favourites

This week for Friday Favourites, hosted by Happy Mum Happy Child and Lisasaurus is my review for Little Leaf Eco

Review for Little Leaf Eco, Stinky Bag and Kid’s Backpack

 

 

 

Review for Little Leaf Eco

Wow, its been a while since I did a review and even wrote a post. A few weeks ago I was fortunate to be approached by Maileen of Little Leaf Eco, to review a couple of her items amd I took her up on the opportunity.

I was sent a Stinky Bag for Little Miss and a Kid’s Backpack for Mr Happy. I am always on the look out for new and different things for my children and the chance to review both items has been well received in our household.

A Little About Little Leaf Eco

They are a New Zealand family owned company, with a focus on creating items to minimise waste, help the environment whilst maintaining a high standard.

The creater is a Mum of two boys and finding she was getting tired of lunchboxes breaking halfway through the school year, as well as trying to find the right shape and not always knowing what chemicals were used to create the lunchboxes, her first product the Lunch Tote was born.

Other products by Little Leaf Eco

On the website you can find the Lunch Tote, Stinky Bag, Kid’s Backpack’s and a selection of Wooden Toys.

 

On to the Stinky Bag

The Stinky Bag is designed to be used for sports, swimming gear, gym kits, toys, sleepover items and anything else you can think of. Little Miss is starting school in a matter of months and has weekly swimming lessons so I thought this bag would be perfect for her to try.

We were sent the pink ‘Princess in Training’ bag. When I first showed Little Miss her instantly had a huge smile on her face. She was keen to have a look at the different compartments and started discussing what she could use the bag for.

What interested me most about the Stinky Bag is the bottom zippered section that has been designed to store wet, dirty or used gear separately, ie the Stinky stuff! Plus, the bag has been made so you can put the wet/dirty clothes straight into the washing machine within having to touch them. Tip the opened part of the bag straight into the machine. And the bag is also washing machine friendly (note: I haven’t washed mine yet!).

We have used the bag for swimming lessons and it is perfect! No more having to take a plastic bag to put her wet togs, hat and towel in. The first time we used it, Little Miss had to put her wet things in the ‘wet’ section by herself!

Perfect size to fit everything

There a few pockets to the Stinky Bag also, an outside zip pocket and another one with a velcro seal. Inside the main compartment of the bag, there is a pocket to hold a few small items as well as a label for your child to name their bag.

Separate zip to get into the ‘stinky’ compartment, velcro pocket at the front

Plenty of room inside the bag, two small pockets and a label to name the bag

At the top there is the zip as well as a magnetic button, so you can fold over the top of the bag if you don’t need to fill the bag.

At $59.95 the Stinky Bag can be on the expensive side for bags, but for the size of bag it is worth it. I feel Little Miss will get a lot of use from this when she starts school and because of the design and style of it, I think it will be a favourite bag of hers for a few years to come.

The Stinky Bag comes in three different designs. The two other designs are Super Hero Stinky Bag and Hands Off Stinky Bag

 

Kid’s Backpack

The Kid’s Backpack’s are animal themed and perfect for toddlers and preschool children. They are made with 100% recycled cotton canvas, so lightweight for little people and they have adjustable shoulder straps and I would say they are washable.

There are five designs to choose from, I was given the Blue Dog backpack for Mr Happy. The other designs available are Green Cat, Orange Monkey, Pink Bunny and Red Dog.

Blue Dog Kid’s Backpack $49.95

What I love about it is that it is just his size, easy for him to put on and it can hold his lunchbox, and several changes of clothes for Preschool. It doesn’t have waterproof lining, but its easy for him to open and close.

It also has a handle on the top of the bag, good for hanging up and great for storing the bag at home. Inside of the bag has colourful lining, appealing to young children and has two pockets built inside, always handy to have extra compartments, Mr Happy just loves it. He turns three next month, but I would say that this bag would be ideal from age one upwards, as Little Leaf Eco suggests.

Colourful lining, two small pockets.

So there you have it, my review of two really great Mum-made and of course New Zealand and Eco-friendly products. Little Miss and Mr Happy are proud as punch with their new bags.

Happy Kids with their Stinky Bag and Backpack

Mr Happy ‘modelling’ without realising

Links for Little Leaf Eco

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest

NB: I was sent the ‘Stinky bag’ and Kid’s Backpack to review and all views and photos are my own. Some information has been adapted from the Little Leaf Eco website.

Friday Favourites

Have you heard of Friday Favourites?????

This has been running since February of this year. I linked my recent post from last weekend Mothers Day

 

 

Guest Blog for Romantic Gestures- How My Relationship Changed Through Post Natal Depression

At the end of last year Romantic Gestures were asking for Guest Bloggers to write for them, regarding relationships.

I love to write and thought I would get in touch and see if I could write something for the website. I heard back from the lovely Natasha, and now I have had two pieces of my writing published on their Blog which is featured on their website.

Romantic Gestures is a website which has been developed by Natasha and her husband Russell. They believe that in the busy world which we live in these days often partners, husbands and wifes can become ‘busy’ and maybe not have enough time for one another.

If you are looking for some ideas, to help you in your relationship or would like to surprise the special someone in your life, Natasha and Russell can help you.

I have my own section on the website called Bliss Bites and you can find the two posts I have written so far on there.

How My Relationship Changed Through Post Natal Depression

Thank You Ryan

 

Easter Time with Lulu n Cat

Yay it’s almost that time again, Easter!!!! When I was a kid, apart from Christmas and my birthday, Easter was another holiday I looked forward too.

It meant two weeks off school and lots of chocolate! I grew up with two younger brothers and we all did pretty well for Easter.  We were brought up to wait patiently until Easter Sunday before we could open one of our chocolately treats! (My husband tells me as a child, he was allowed to have his chocolate eggs on Good Friday, to me this doesn’t seem right and I insist our kids have to wait until Sunday).

This year Little Miss is three (going on 13), she will be four in June and Mr Happy is two next month. And this will be the first year I will attempt to do an Easter egg hunt for them. I say attempt, cause I can see it being a tad chaotic. I am really conscious about how much chocolate they should eat/be given at their age, so I have been putting some thought into what they can ‘hunt’ for. I found these cool Playdoh Easter eggs, $12 for 10 eggs which I thought was prety good. The kids, are HUGE Playdoh fans so I think these eggs filled with Playdoh will be a big hit.

I also have two of Lulu n Cat Easter Bunny Jars one in lime green and the other in blush pink. I think the kids will really like these to collect their mini chocolate eggs and Easter stickers in. Plus after the chocolate is gone and the stickers have been stuck everywhere (usually everywhere but paper!) they will get to keep the jar! They will be a great keepsake, plus they can be used each Easter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emma of Lulu n Cat also lives in New Plymouth, last year I did a review of her cool creations.

I would love to know of any Easter traditions anyone would like to share.

 

Kiwi Mummy Blogs Review- Write Size, writing pencils for children.

 I was given the great opportunity by Kiwi Mummy Blogs to review Write Size- writing pencils for children.

Write Size are writing pencils for children, with the aim to ‘Deliver results and great handwriting’

I was really impressed with the way they came packaged in a canvas type drawstring bag. The three packs of pencils as well as some information was supplied in the bag.

The pencils originate from the West Midlands in Great Britain. They were developed four years ago by Ross Williams- Managing Directior “Write Size has been developed through personal experince of watching my children struggle to learn to write with tools which are obviously too big for them.” With his knowledge of working in the construction trade he was aware how crucial it is to have the right tool to carry out a job successfully.

The pencils were launched in the UK at the London Stationary Show in March 2015. They have been well recieved with positive comments from teachers and parents. You can read more about the launch via the blog on the Write Size Website.

Now, the important bit about the pencils.

The Write Size pencils come in 3 sizes,

• 2-6 years- Learn control and grip
• 6-10 years- Improve confidence and ability
• 10+ years- Deliver results and great handwriting

The pencils are different sizes, depending on the age of the child using it. The size will help the child have better control when using the pencil, if the pencil is the wrong size (too small or big), the child will not get the benefit.

 

Review/Experience

I asked a good friend who has two school aged daughters if they would be kind enough to review the 6-10 years and the 10+ years pencils. I felt my children who are aged three and almost two, might not be ready to use a pencil. Although , saying that my daughter who will turn four in June is already writing her name so I should get her to try the 2-6 year old pencils. (Perhaps another review, another time?)

 

Gwyneth 11 years old, likes art and crafts, drawing doodling and writing

What did you think of the pencils?
I liked them – they were really good, they were easier than most pencils to use

It improved my writing & made it easier to add fine details when I was drawing. I would recommend them and buy them again.
They were comfortable and didn’t make your hand ache even after writing for awhile.
I used them for maths at school, and a lot of drawing with them.
I was impressed with them.

Gwyneth using 10+ years

Great drawing Gwyneth

Felicity 8 years old likes drawing & art and crafts, Felicity used the age 6-10 pencils

What did you think of the pencils?

I liked the pencils, they were nice to use. They didn’t break, and they were easy to use.
They are nice and comfortable, your fingers don’t hurt. I used them for doing my homework and for some drawing.
They helped make my work a bit neater, I like them and would recommend them.

Felicity using aged 6-10 years

 

Can you buy them?

Sure! As of the beginning of this year, they became avaliable in New Zealand, and are for sale in Warehouse Stationary. Each pack costs $9.99 and contains 5 pencils.

They are also avaliable in the UK through the Write Size Website Shop.

 

Care of the pencils

You are advised to use a jumbo sized pencil sharpener to sharpen your Write Size pencils and they should be sharpened at least once during a school week.

The pencil should be changed when the three coloured lines no longer sit above your child’s hand when they are using it.

 

You can also find Write Size on Facebook Write Size Facebook page

 

I was kindly sent some Write Size pencils to review. A huge thank you to Gwyneth, Felicity and their Mum for the photos and the assisting me with the review.

 

 

Cloud Nine Creative

Cloud Nine Creative can be found on the South Island of New Zealand in Christchurch. Lee Sinclair is the lady behind Cloud Nine Creative and most of the items that she sells are handmade. And guess what there is a Sale live now on the website!!!!

I found Cloud Nine Creative during one of my Instagram searches (I’m always on Instagram, yes I’m a little obsessed!). I saw her gorgeous tassel necklaces and just knew I had to have one. I was lucky enough to be offered one in exchange for a review and I absolutely love it.

Lee sent me some information about herself and Cloud Nine Creative. (The information I was sent is in italics).

When Cloud Nine Creative was started the main product sold was jewellery, but due to a passion of interiors Lee soon realised some of the tiny graphics she was using on her jewellery would work well as larger items. Along with jewellery on the website you can also find cushions, art prints, plates, vases, planters and clocks. The majority of the items sold are handcrafted, and some items are limited edition, to ensure that item is deemed more special. However, the cushions are printed with unique designs and made in the Canterbury studio and the plates and planters are hand painted.

Lee devlops her own products, and uses inspriation from her mood board which is a collection of vlolours and ideas, as well as pieces from magazines that catch her eye. Making things, the planning, the sourcing of items brings her a lot of joy and I think you can see by looking at her work this clearly shows. She tries to source as much material as she can from New Zeland suppliers but at thimes certain things come from overseas suppliers.

Lee explained as a child she has a love for creativity and she was always interested in arts and crafts. This led to pursuing a career in graphic design, and having the opportunity to work in Australia and London for six years, before returning to Christchurch and starting Cloud Nine Creative.

Cloud Nine Creative was fortunate to have not been affected by the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2010. At the time a range of jewellery was created and produced called ‘Love Christchurch Collection’, 20% of the proceeds were donated to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal. Over $10,000 was raised.

A lot of Cloud Nine Creatives sales are made on line, of course this can bring disadvantages as well as huge advantages. Lee explained that online sales are growing all the time, and if people need something quickly and have it instantly delivered to your front door this is great. However the drawback to buying online is you are unable to touch and feel the product you are buying. Cloud Nine Creative products can be found in boutique stores around New Zealand and there is a pop-up store in North Canterbury. Selling online and via shops, Lee feels is the best of both worlds. heck this link for a list of stockists throughout New Zealand.

For those of you who are Blockaholics like myself, you might like to know that some Cloud Nine Creative’s piece was used in the kids bedroom of the sisters Minanne and Sarah. Here’s the link to The Block Villa Wars website showing you the room. The following photos were obtained from Cloud Nine Creative Facebook Page

Green Magical Forest Cushion $69.00

Prints avaliable as A3, A2 & A1

 

The Leather Tassel Necklace I received is the Cornflour Blue one and retails for $65.00. I love it! I find that it goes with most outfits and really adds a ‘pop’ of colour to your clothes choice for the day. Sure, its a little pricey for some people but I think you get your moneys worth from it. Plus, its always a bonus to wear something that is NZ made, I love to support local businesses.

There are at least 10 different colour necklaces to choose from via the website and new to the collection of beautiful jewellery are Tassel bracelet sets, these retail for $49.00. I ABSOLUTLY love them, I don’t have one but owning one is on my wishlist.

 

I felt when looking at Cloud Nine Creative website a lot of her pieces were unique and different. Tassel necklaces are quite ‘in’ at the moment and I find her ones are really nice and well made.

You can also find Cloud Nine Creative on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me introduce……Clever Poppy

I discovered Clever Poppy on Instagram, I’m just a tad obsessed with Instagram. (I’m sure some of you can understand the obsession!?)

One day, I was just looking through the search option, (this is a great option to look through if you want more people to follow on Instagram, you can see what others are posting) and I stumbled across Clever Poppys DIY Kit- Easy Watercolour Art. I thought the finish of the work was really lovely and looked like it wouldn’t be too tricky. I love arty crafty things, as some of you may know (hence my blog name), I’m all about the craft. I have too many craft supplies, (so my husband says) but I dont think you can ever have too many?!

The main thing that caught my attention about the DIY art kit is it is something that can be done with kids. My Little Miss, just loves crafty things. And I really like to be able to do things that include both of us.

 

Julie is the lovely lady behind Clever Poppy, I sent her some questions, and here are her answers.

Can you tell my readers a little bit about Clever Poppy, how did you come up the name and a little about yourself:
I have always been passionate about DIY projects and have made many I love over the years. I recently noticed that DIY projects were becoming quite popular in mainstream media, but while most people love the idea, they don’t have the time spare to get sorted to make projects of their own. So I created Clever Poppy to make it easy for people to experience the fun of creating something beautiful for their home. I studied law and graphic design at uni -wish now I had chosen something in the arts field! After practicing commercial law for 4 years and pretty much hating every minute of it, I finally got the courage to completely change tack and moved into a brand experience / promotions agency. I did that for 3 years and learnt a hell of a lot about marketing and project management, and realised how much happier I was doing something creative. Then I went on maternity leave to have our little man Harvey. While I was on leave I gained a lot of perspective and realised I just had to follow my dreams and start my own business doing what I love. I still work part time in promotions but my main focus is Clever Poppy and this will hopefully become full time down the track. Very exciting and I’m loving every minute so far!!

Do you sell your kits anywhere or just on the Internet? 

At the moment I only sell online, but I’m looking into getting them into stores next year. She did feature in some markets in Auckland leading up to Christmas, lucky Auckland!

How long have you been doing Clever Poppy?

I launched Clever Poppy on 7th August 2015, so it hasn’t been very long! I can’t believe that, it feels like I’ve been doing this for a lot longer, but I guess if you take into account all the planning and prep then it all kicked off in March last year.

Where do you hope to see the business in a few years time?

I would love to be New Zealand’s go-to brands for creative DIY projects! I’ve love to have a variety of kits for sale on my website and in stores nationwide. I also would love to do more freelance work developing DIY projects for third parties.

Do you have a favourite DIY kit? 

My DIY Cooper Magazine Rack for sure.

What’s next for Clever Poppy? Are you able to share what you are planning on doing next?

At the moment my focus is on getting the Clever Poppy brand and concept into the marketplace, and testing various kits to see what gets people excited. Next year (now this year 2016) I’d like to focus on developing kits for wholesale, so you can find me in shops around the country. I’m also working on some freelance project where I am developing DIY projects for third parties, so I’m very excited about where that might lead.

I purchased the DIY- Easy Watercolour Kit for $30, I was really keen to give it a go after seeing what others had created. I loved the idea that everything you needed was in the kit and it would be something that Little Miss would enjoy too. It was money well spent in my opinion.

After the white-out liquid has been applied

Before the white-out liquid

The kit includes: 5x Designs- ‘Young and Brave’, ‘Love you to the Moon and Back’, ‘Welcome to the Chaos’, ‘It’s cool to be Kind’ and ‘but first Champagne’

Watercolour paper, paintbrushes, watercolour paint palette, ‘magic’ white-out liquid and DIY wooden poster hanger as well as really clear instructions, with photos to assist you step-by-step. I needed to trace the design and apply the white-out liquid but once that had dried I gave Little Miss free reign to paint away.

When we did the ‘Welcome to the Chaos’ design, Little Miss applied pink and red paint and it looked lovely, but then she discovered the black paint! I really wanted to stop her, but I knew I just had to leave her to do what she wanted and in the end the result looked FAB! I used the wooden hanging poster kit to hang it up, and now it hangs in own home.

 

Little Miss with the lovely red and pink

The finished result!

 

I have now bought three kits by Clever Poppy and through following her on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest you can keep up-to date with new kits she is either developing or has released. Julie also shares some great DIY ideas you can do at home with the kids or without them.

Just the other day Julie shared that she was looking to add more deisgns to the DIY- Easy Watercolour Kit, I cannot wait to see what deisgns she comes up with.

Review for Kiwi Mummy Blogs: Kellogg’s Coco Pops Favourite Family Recipes

A review for Kiwi Mummy Blogs, who sent me a tea towel for Coco Pops as well as a small recipe book Favourite Family Recipes. The book features eight recipes which contain Kellogg’s Coco Pops.

We don’t buy Coco Pops usually so receiving the book to review was a great excuse to buy a box of the childhood favourite cereal. With it currently being school holidays here in New Zealand this book is perfect if you want to do some baking that won’t take too longer and taste great. Plus, all the recipes are child friendly, so it’s great to get the kids involved.

I was tempted too make the Chocolate Crackle Balls but my three year old daughter requested the Chocolate Crackles, so we made those instead.

The recipe said it would make 36 mini chocolate crackles, we didn’t really need that many so I decided to half the recipe. I had all the ingredients I needed in my pantry, except for Kellogg’s Coco Pops and Kremelta (vegetable fat shortening, made from hydrogenated coconut oil. It is popular used in Australia and is used for a lot of children’s foods). I hadn’t cooked with it before so I was quite intrigued as to how it would work out.

Little Miss loves to bake, and is always requesting to do so. After looking through the Favourite Family Recipes book, I thought that Little Miss would be able to make these herself, with a little of my help and supervision.

The recipe was very straightforward and didn’t take Little Miss and I long at all to mix everything together and spoon the mixture into mini paper cases. These are a quick, easy and tasty treat for kids and adults.

Even though I made half the recipe we still had 32 mini paper cups filled with Coco Pops mixture. The recipe suggested adding sprinkles if you wanted something colourful for a kids party, which I thought was a good idea.

 

Along with the Favourite Family Recipes booklet I also received a tea towel. I think it is so nice I don’t want to use it to dry my dishes, don’t think it would look better hanging on a wall in a frame?

NB: The recipes featured on this blog post can be found  via this link