May Themed Dinner #5 - Minecraft! (With terrible photos..)

(Disclaimer: It is very hard to photograph things in UV light - please forgive the terrible photos! Next time, I promise, I'll google how to do it properly. Hah.)

Our fifth, and final, themed dinner for May was one the boys chose - Minecraft.

It's certainly not a theme I would choose, and this one proved pretty difficult to plan for. I have never played Minecraft, making it hard to know what it's all about, and all the parties I found with this theme online really only had sweet, party foods. I didn't want to serve my kids just candy and watermelon for dinner!

We decided, as always, not to stress too much about sticking to the theme.

We splashed out and bought a UV light at Bunnings, that was to be the main feature of the decor. We picked up some cheap, plastic plates at The Warehouse, and broke out the highlighter pens.

Abraham wrote 'Don't mine at night' on pieces of white paper - so that the message was only really visible once the blacklight was turned on.

(We also ended up drawing all over our hands and arms with the pens - so much fun, to have day-glo tattoos!)

Abraham also made a wee diorama with the Lego, and Aesop drew some of the characters from the game and popped them on skewers. The animal puzzle pieces were a last minute addition by the boys.
We listened to Aesop's collection of Minecraft songs, on his Ipod. Did you know that there are Minecraft versions of lots of popular songs? It's a strange phenomenon.

(That's a square apple on that there pie. Or, at least, it was meant to be.. hmm.)

For the actual meal, I cut up salad into squares (lettuce, carrot, beetroot and cheese - kid salad!) and we had minute steaks and coated chicken drumsticks. We at with our hands - Aesop tells me there is definitely no cutlery in Minecraft!

For dessert I decided not to just serve up whole apples, or other fruit. I decided to make Talia's apple pie. It was DIVINE. (Only thing I'll say, is that if you don't make her pastry.. if you're lazy like me.. then buy flaky pastry, rather than short sweet. It was pretty darn sweet!).

After dinner we played the guessing game, with the little bits of paper stuck on foreheads. The UV light made it a bit fun, and we had a few giggles.
I think perhaps the game would be easier with kids even older than ours, though. Heh. Otto was pretty confused and his questions were 'Is my sister still Mollie?' and 'Is Dad still my Dad?'. Cute.

We've decided on our themes for next month. We hmmed and uhhed about taking a break, but I'm really loving not buying takeout, and also loving the idea that we might be inspiring a few other people to have themed dinners of their own.
Have you dined in theme, lately?

May Themed Dinners #2 - Dinosaurs!

Yesterday was our second 'themed dinner' for May (you can read about the first HERE..)
This was one I was quite excited about - Dinosaurs!

I really enjoyed the planning and brainstorming for these dinners, and I love the fact we decided to go with ideas that we all loved. But also, we chose to go with ideas that didn't involve anyone getting too stressed out from all the effort. I didn't want to go all out and over the to - it would completely ruin the treat factor if one of us didn't have fun preparing for it!

The first step in our Dino-dinner was a wee snack, as this was a meal that took a little longer to prepare.
The boys (big one included) snacked on a dinosaur egg, while they drew some decorations for the table.
Otto was especially amazed by this, he wondered how on earth I snuck into the nest to take the eggs.
(I went through the back door, and nabbed them while the dino was on his Ipod, of course..)
I think there is a better way to colour eggs, rather than the basic foodcolouring and vinegar I used, but this was a last minute addition so no time for research!

We decorated with plastic dinosaurs, cacti and the beautiful drawings (attached to kebab sticks..). I found some animal print fabric in the cupboard and we chose out a record with a prehistoric scene on the cover. (Though we ended up listening to Jurassic5. A little abstract, but sort of in theme!)

Dinner was a hearty feast of baby T-rex bones, trees and roasted potatoes. We ate with our hands, of course, which the boys really relished. Otto proclaimed part-way through the meal that dinos also probably ate with their mouths open - we chose to risk authenticity and try to eat with ours closed. Hah.

Even Mol got into the spirit of things, gnawing down on a bone. We had a good roaring session, too. Turns out our baby dino can roar along with the best of them!

Dessert was heaps of fun to prepare.
I had this fabulous idea to make a prehistoric swamp cake so, with a little help from google search, the $2 shop, some green jelly and a tonne of icing.. a super dooper dino-dinner-dessert was born!
I love the 90's feel - it would be right at home in the Australian Womans Weekly cake book.
The boys thought I was pretty awesome, and even Abraham was impressed. Quite proud.

All in all, a roaring sucess!
(Get it? Roaring? Oh ho ho!)

May Themed Dinners #1 - Breakfast!

Generally, our household has takeaways once a week. It's meant to be once a fortnight, but since Mollie has been with us we have indulged a lot more often. It's a matter convenience, but also a treat (especially for the boys.)
Unfortunately though, our wee town lacks any really awesome takeout food. We, nearly always, end up with something pretty ho-hum, and it feels like such a waste of money.
I had the idea that we could have themed dinners instead. Obviously, it won't be a convenience thing, but it will certainly be more of a treat! Good food AND a bit of fun - all that takeaways should be, but never are.
We sat down and had a brainstorm about possible themes, coming up with such brilliant suggestions as 'Butcher', 'Minecraft' and 'Puns'. We then each voted for our favourite five, and narrowed it down to the most popular five themes. We wrote lists of ideas for both food and decor, it was heaps of fun!

We decided to start with the easiest one first - Breakfast.

We donned our PJs, decked the table out with a checkered table cloth and a vase of flowers, and indulged in a 'big breakfast' type feast. We had bacon, little breakfast sausages, hashbrowns, mushrooms, tomato and scrambled egg. Nyum!



We scoffed down some mixed berry pancakes for dessert - with a side of ice cream/soy yogurt and chocolate sauce, of course. So good.



The evening concluded with a husband, and all his children, in front of a rugby game. Cosy.

I'm really excited for next Fridays theme. Watch this space!

Check the list - 26. Make sushi and miso.

No words needed for this one. Except one, maybe - YUM.

(Checking this of the list.)

A backyard barbeque.

A few of our goals this Summer include spending more time outdoors, and nourishing friendships with certain people we really enjoy. Hosting backyard bbqs are pretty much the perfect way to do both, so we're starting early!

Bunting, gazebo, flowers in a Agee jar, music, cute new blackboard table, smoochy couple shot - check.

Food - including sausages, meat patties, crash hot potatoes, roast pumpkin and chickpea salad, lamb chops, coleslaw, bread, green salad, chocolate ghana peppermint cupcakes and strawbery cloud cake.

The kids played touch, hung out in the tent and watched a Dvd. The brazier was roaring, the music was playing and I hear, while I was putting Mol to bed, there were even sparklers!
The company was perfect, the feijoa cider was delicious and all was lovely.

Such a brilliant evening. Here's to many more like it!

Check the list - Dairy-free ice cream.

I avoid eating dairy. Did you already know that? I forget.
It's not that I'm allergic as such, it just makes my throat and nose all yuck.
So, yeah, I don't eat cows milk products when I can avoid it.

One of the goals on my list was to make my own soy ice cream. Lite Licks is pretty good, but hard on the pocket and limited in flavours, I figured making my own would be awwwwesome.

I googled and googled, looking for a good soy ice cream recipe, to no real avail. What I did find though, was a bunch of delicious looking coconut milk ice cream recipes. Who knew?!
I decided on this 'Raspberry' one by The Nourishing Gourmet.



I borrowed this fancy looking ice cream maker from my friend Ashlee, and it all seemed pretty easy. 
I purchased the ingredients, chucked them in, and set it to work.

 It got to the texture of frozen yogurt.. sort of. But then it didn't get any harder.
I took it out and put it in the freezer, stirring it every hour or so.
It eventually froze through, but the texture is less than amazing, far more icy than creamy! Maybe like a badly made sorbet? Ha ha.

In conclusion, despite being very pretty, it was a bit of a flop.
I think it's for the best though, imagine having dairy-free ice cream at the push of a button - Helloooo weight gain. Plus, on special, Lite Licks works out about the same price anyway!

Either way, consider yourself ticked #2!

It was all yellow.

If yesterday had to have a theme, it would have been yellow.
Sunshine, popcorn, and buttery yellow knitting. Lovely.

I also have a recipe to share with you. I had planned to do so earlier in the week, but it just seems to fit so perfectly with the 'yellow' theme, that it would be a shame not to share it today.
It is a recipe for Zucchini Loaf, given to me by my Mother-In-Law quite a few years ago now. It doesn't sound very appetising, but I swear it is one of the most moist and delicious things I ever bake. The 'healthiness' of the courgette is counter-balanced with a tonne of sugar, and even my kids will eat it. (Though, I confess, I did tell them it was banana until they'd finished the first piece..)

Charlotte's Zucchini Loaf

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 tsp vanilla
1/2c oil

2c firmly packed grated zucchini (green or yellow)
1c walnuts or 3/4c choc chips (optional)

2 1/2c flour
4tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 177C (350F).
Mix eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil.
Stir in zucchini and walnuts/choc chips.
Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Place in two loaf tins, and bake for approx 40 minutes.

I usually freeze one loaf and we devour the other, slathered in butter, quite promptly. Nyum.

Sweetness.

Yesterday was a flurry of last-minute Christmas baking/food crafting. I can quite honestly say I've not been around that much coconut in all my days.
We decided to package up wee parcels of homemade sweets for the families on Abraham's side, and this is what we are putting in them:

- Apricot balls. Recipe is from Tiny Happy. (These are gluten free/vegan, such a good recipe to have up ones sleeve for family with allergies!)

- Chocolate truffles. Recipe from PaisleyJade. I made a double batch, adding choc chips to one batch, and covering those in melted dark choc, and adding choc and glazed cherry pieces to the other and rolling them in cocoa powder.

- Shortbread. Another recipe from Tiny Happy. I'd never made shortbread before (I'd never made any of these things, actually..) but I'm pretty stoked with how it turned out. Might just be added to the 'go-to' recipe folder.

- Peppermint bark. Another recipe from PaisleyJade. What can I say, everyone seems to be doing it - and now I can see why.

- I also made the Oddfellow log recipe on Paisley Jade, but those are still setting. Fingers crossed they've worked out okay.

- And, I also made some, very spicy, crackers. No intentionally. I was a little heavy on the cayenne pepper, resulting in crackers that reallllly need to be dipped, or cheesed. Hoping the Boxing day crew will forgive me for that one. At least they look good, right?

Today's last few jobs are tidying, and making lemon sour cream cake and roast veg salad, then I'm done and dusted! Woo! I can't wait.

Sooo, wishing you all a fantabulous Christmas with your beloved ones. May your festive days be filled with love, warmth and cake. I'll see you in a few days time xx