Where do my days go?

I have discovered since having my wonderful Grandkids, 2 of each, that I’m not as young as I thought I was and I’m lucky enough to be a Grandma in my 50’s. I work part time and baby sit 2 kids each Wednesday, I can tell you now I sleep well on a Wednesday night.

Up until I started this baby sitting gig, one then two over time I actually thought I was fairly fit but I’m not sure now if it’s the mental or the physical that gets me in the end.

My boys are just either side of 30 now and at gatherings it’s so much fun to see the two of them chat  about their kids who are very close in age, who has what problem with what child and how they’re dealing with it.

I say this as my oldest two Grandies  turned 3 last week and this week (10 days between) and we had a party at our place for family.  Food, cake, games and a perfect almost winters sunny day with clear skies to be enjoyed outdoors …. mostly because the mess is outside. Keeping it all cheap and cheerful.

I’ve decided I don’t always need to be busy, I have the dogs to walk, the kids to play with, work and great family. Sometimes it’s good to do nothing.

Sometimes it feels life rushes by, other times you want it to slow down so you don’t miss a thing.

 

 

 

Meatballs and subs

Taking a plate of food to family or a friends informal gathering is something we all do over here in Australia.   The idea of “bring a plate” is to usually ease the burden of supplying the food on one person, cost. It also gives the plate bringer a chance to shine with a favourite dish or food that they are good at preparing and love to eat to share. It really depends on the event as to how it’s catered.

My contribution this weekend will be meatball subs. Easy to make and prepare before the day.

So today I made my meatballs and my sauce to heat when we arrive. All I have to buy are some small hot dog rolls. Some one else is bringing salad another will prepare some hot chips in the air fryer and provide a dessert.

My meatballs  ready to go into the rolls.

 

 

Happy New Year 2023

Life has it’s up and down and can certainly be interesting.

Ferrero brownie ice cream cake

I don’t really have a specific recipe for this as I have many variations on a theme.

Brownie ice cream cake seems a good title.

I made a brownie, you can either make a packet mix or your own recipe as per usual instructions in a round spring form cake tin. Pop the brownie out to cool when cooked.

When the brownie was cold I put it back into the spring form tin making sure there was baking paper  on the bottom so it comes out easily when it’s ready to serve.

I softened up about  1.25 – 1.5L of vanilla ice cream, I then mixed some chopped chocolate through.

I cut some Ferrero Rocher chocolates in half and placed cut side down on the brownie. I then covered with the softened (like thick cream) and now spreadable ice cream gently pushing to the crevasses and smoothed off the top.

Lastly I covered the top of the ice cream with cling film so it was sitting directly on top then wrapped the whole of the tin in cling film and put back in the freezer.

Be careful as you need the ice cream soft to work with but not runny. 

Before I serve I will release the tin taking off the side, top with some strawberries and a dollop of cream and a few chocolate shavings. Christmas dessert done!

Can be done with any cake or even a large cooked and cooled biscuit/cookie. Any chocolate chopped and mixed through. Enjoy.

Edit: Things I learnt after making this delicious ice cream cake.

While Ferrero rocher chocolates are wonderful cold, not so much frozen, as in this dessert they were hard to cut through even with a hot knife (knife dipped in boiling water).

Next time I think I would try a chocolate to cut up that didn’t go so solid when cold/frozen so maybe try one before adding more to the dessert.

Will I do this style again, absolutely.

Puzzle or two.

The grand kids are now growing up with a 4th on the way and we are going through toys, games and puzzles at an alarming rate, they get bored of the same pictures.

I decided to expand upon my previous paddlepop stick puzzle using a printed image with something new, simple drawings of shapes with a felt tipped pen. Anytime the mood for a puzzle changes I can either go back to using a printed image or write numbers or the alphabet or whatever takes my fancy. His or her name.

I also made a matching or what we call a ‘same same’ game. I laminated shapes in this case flowers and a star onto a sheet of cardstock. I laminated the exact same flowers and a star as themselves and cut out around them. This gives me the shapes to lay on their matching partners. Do you have to laminate them, no but make sure they are on a thicker cardboard like cereal box thickness.

As times and tastes change the same same game can change as well. These are pretty simple easy to make out of scraps or things around the house.  It can be as simple or as complicated at you like.

 

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