June Themed Dinners #1 - Easy peasy picnic

When Abraham and I first met, as teenagers, we spent a lot of time having picnics.
We would head to the supermarket and load up on super cheap shaved ham, cheese rolls, orange Deep Spring (remember that stuff? Favourite drink ever!) Willy Wonka Chocolate (remember that, too?) - and head to one of the local schools' playgrounds. We would sit there for hours, talking and just hanging out. It was there that we got to know each other (and fell pretty head-over-heels).

Picnicing has been a theme throughout the entire time we've known each other.
It just makes sense that we'd share this with our kids.

We kept this theme night very simple - almost a 'night off', but not quite.
We laid out our fave picnic blanket, a beautiful hexagon quilt I found at the op shop for $5. Some of the hexies have seen better days, which makes it perfect - I don't feel bad about putting it on the ground, but I'm so pleased we can give it regular use!
We made some hot chicken and salad rolls (I coated strips of chicken in breadcrumbs and chicken stock. Nyum) and filled bowls with mixed nuts, bbq kettles and peanut M&Ms. We made soda stream with Barkers cordial (closest thing we can find to Deep Spring!).
We popped on some Ben Harper. This album is definitely the main feature on the soundtrack of our first six months together. I still adore it just as much, 13 years later.

This was our first theme night with one family member absent, which was really strange. Even stranger than I expected it to be.
Aesop chose, at the last minute, to go and stay at his friends place, instead of hang out with us. I must say, there was a twinge of sadness when he made his choice - though I didn't let him see that. He is getting to an age now, where he is beginning to go out and do things on his own. He is scooting to and from school alone, and spending more time with friends etc. Growing up so fast!
It makes me feel even better about doing these theme nights - before Aesop is too old to want to get involved in them!

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 Dinner #4: Mexico!

Our themed night this week had a little Mexican flavour.

After a week of chicken pox, and a day trip to Rotorua, we were pretty knackered come Friday evening. None of the grand plans I had really panned out, and we ended up with a very 'lax version of the dinner I was intending to dish up. As usual, there were no complaints : )
Oh, except for me not making Mexican hot chocolate.. might need to do that another night..

This theme was, by far, the easiest to find a soundtrack for. Turns out a large portion of Abraham's record collection is made up of suitable albums. We also listened to the soundtrack for The Mexican while we prepared dinner. Brilliant.

We sipped on virgin mojitos, glasses rimmed in sugar. I made flour tortillas ala Talia Christine (pretty much the handiest recipe I've ever found) and filled them with burrito chicken and salad. Abraham whipped up some churros for afters (in balls.. must find a pastry bag!) they were ahhhhhmazing. I'll see if I can find his recipe for you.

The table decorations were thrown together in a few minutes - a book about Our Lady Of Guadalupe, a cactus, an old blanket from Abraham's Nana, corn chips in a basket and a sombrero we picked up at the Salvation Army for $1.
(If I'd been more organised we would have also had a pinata, and crepe paper flowers hanging above the table. But the rule remains in place: if anything is stressing out the person organising it, then it gets left out - these are meant to be fun nights!)


Next week we'll have our most challenging theme so far - can't wait! Any guesses what it might be?

May Themed Dinner #3 - Fast Food!

Our third theme for this month was 'Fast Food'.

My boys are big McDonalds fans. Aren't all kids?

I have no idea what the attraction is - well, I have an idea.. but I, personally, can't stand the stuff. The food tastes like nothing, and I always still feel hungry after eating something so... fake.

Aesop inhales a quarter-pounder, a shake and fries, and Abraham is a big fan, while Otto enjoys the thought of it far more than the actual food - he rarely even eats half of a happy meal (and then asks for different food!). I guess the toy might be the winning point for him.

Seemed a great plan to see if we could recreate a (slightly healthier and much tastier) Maccas meal.

   Since fast food is mostly of the takeaway variety (for us, anyway.. our kids have never 'eaten in', I don't think!) I didn't feel like we needed to do much in the way of decorating. I popped a red table cloth on the table, popped all of our 'American' style sauces (mustard, mayo, ketchup and bbq sauce) in the centre, chucked on a Beastie Boys album (with a take out menu on the front..) and voila!

The food speaks for itself, really.

Abraham whipped up some boxes for our fries and chicken nuggets (if I did this again I would make chicken tenders myself, rather than serve ones from a bag!) and I used a few sewn, recycled book, bags I had around the studio to put everything in (stamped with an 'L' for Larsen Burger, naturally! Heh). I wrapped the burgers in greaseproof paper, and we used the leftover cups and straws from Pop Roc Parties for our soy choc shakes.

My burger had a touch of greenery, but the boys had Quarter-pounder knock-offs. Meat, plastic cheese, onions, pickles, sauces.. all on a sesame seed bun. It got the seal of approval, too. Phew.

Mollie discovered a new love for chicken nuggets and Aesop inhaled the meal as if it were the real McCoy. Otto, well, he wasn't anymore enthused than he usually it. Guess it's just not his type of food (he is more of an antipasto type guy. I kid you not!), fair play.

 The biggest hit, of course, was the toy.
You didn't think I could make homemade Happy Meals without a toy, did you?
I hmmed and uhhed about what sort of toy to put in. I wanted something quality, that would not just get played with one day and then forgotten about, or broken. I also didn't want to spend more than $5. A difficult combination.
The choice was obvious in the end, though - Lego minifigures.
I was lucky enough to find them half price at Kmart, making them just $3 each.
(We even got 4 we didn't already have! Always a bonus!)

LOVING these nights. Already so excited for next weeks. Pretty sure we will be doing it all again next month. Are you tempted to join us?

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!