Yummies in hanging baskets!

I've been trying to grow some fruit and vegetables in our garden without having to ugly up the yard with lots of wire and mesh.  We have a very high bush turkey population and they are hell on the garden.  They are a protected animal in the area, but geez sometimes I think they deserve a bath in a great big saucepan on my stove!  Clearly, it's only a fantasy of mine whenever I have a damaged garden...

So, recently I have been growing the odd veg and fruit out of hanging baskets and they are growing great guns!  I haven't had any problems so far and will keep you posted.  I found some fantastic tomatoes at Bunnings (yellow!) specifically designed for hanging baskets, I also have strawberries, herbs and lettuce.

The lettuce is lovely now and you can see from my pic that it's been raided recently for our lunch.

I grow these just outside Master One's door and he is helping me water them and watches them growing.

Can't wait to munch!!!!

Strawberries

Hanging Tomatoes

Itsy bitsy tomatoes (they'll be yellow!). Also oregano, basil and thyme.

Lettuce & Parsley

Rainbow Cupcakes

I do try most of the time to ensure Master One eats super healthily, however, occasionally we like to break out and have  bit of junk fun!  This weekend I tried Rainbow Cupcakes.  They were delightful, messy fun! We had a ball making them, although Master One did need a bath when they were baking.  What's fun without some mess....right?

I basically made a Basic Vanilla Cupcake Recipe from Taste (my 'go to' website for quick, yummy recipes).

Then I separated the batter into 4 containers and coloured them using the instructions on the side of the food colouring bottles.  I was missing one crucial colour so my colours could have been better..  I then popped some cupcake casings into the muffin trays and carefully layered the colours, smoothing each layer out to the edge with the spatula.

Then a quick spurt of simple icing and a sprinkle of hundreds and thousands.

So gorgeous, a bit messy to make but well worth it once you see the looks on the kiddies faces when they bite into them :)

Vanilla Batter, ready for colour!

Coloured batter.

Voila!

Inside our Cupcakes...yummo!

Warming the cockles of my heart

It's starting to get colder of an evening, even here in the glorious Whitsundays.  Although our friends and family have no sympathy when I complain about 14 degree celsius overnight and 22 degree days, hardly REALLY cold but cold for us tropical folk.

One of my favourite winter warmers is chicken and vegetable soup!  Yummm!  We usually keep some to eat immediately and freeze the rest.  I've also taken to freezing small portions for Master Jack as he loves it!

Chicken and Vegetable Soup ready to serve.  The house smells soooo good!  Delish!

Master Jack's portions for freezing.  I picked these really cute, colourful, CHEAP containers from Woolworths for freezing.

There's nothing naughty in it, and if you make your own stock I think it's even yummier.  This is the best Chicken and Vegetable soup I have ever eaten.  If you've had a better one let me know, I'm always up for trying a new recipe!  The gauntlet has been thrown ;)

It's one of those great meals that tastes as good when you re-heat it as it did the day you made it.  For Master Jack I just throw in a few noodles to keep his little fingers occupied (what's toddler meal-time if not messy right?).

What are your favourite winter warmers?

Enjoy!

Fruitopia!

Getting my little man Jack to eat whatever I put in front of him is becoming more and more difficult.  He now knows his own mind and sometimes fights me, I think I'm in for a bit of trouble in the future.  He's stubborn like his Mummy.  Payback!

Jack has been pushing all fruit (except bananas, he loves bananas) off his highchair for weeks, but every day I try again.  I was thinking it was a lost cause.  Then yesterday, success!!!

I was delighted when yesterday he absolutely went crazy over some watermelon!  I had to take a pic of my little man to share.  Fruit in the tropics is so fresh and beautiful, mmmm.  You can almost see his tastebuds watering.

Persistance is the key!