Turkey Pie

Ever wondered what to do with your left over Christmas Turkey? Try this recipe:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 200 g cup mushrooms, halved and chopped
• 3 rashers rindless bacon, chopped
• 2 cups cooked turkey meat, chopped
• 1 cup cream
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 6 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 leek, halved and chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium. Cook leek for 3 mins until soft but not coloured. Add mushrooms and bacon. Increase heat to high and cook for 4-5 mins until mushrooms are soft and bacon crisp. Add turkey, cream and mustard. Season with salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 3-5 mins until sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat, stir through cheese and parsley and cool.
2. Preheat oven to 220 °C or 200 °C fan. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
3. Cut 4 x 14cm round and 4 x 17cm rounds from pastry. Lay smaller rounds on prepared tray. Top each with a quarter of turkey filling leaving a 2cm edge around pastry. Brush edges lightly with beaten egg. Top with remaining pastry, folding edges over to seal. Cut a small steam hole in the top. Brush with egg.
4. Bake for 20 mins until puffed and golden.                                                     

And I'm Done!

Hooray! Finally I finished my hampers. Each one has a jar of apricot jam, a jar of grand marnier & raspberry jam, a packet of Christmas Tree shortbread biscuits, a noodle box of white chocolate rocky road & a packet of Lindt chocolate balls.

Here's my recipe for the white chocolate rocky road:

2 packets of white chocolate melts (375g each)
1 packet of marshmallows (not the mini ones)
1 packet of raspberry or strawberry & cream lollies
1/2 cup desiccated coconut plus extra for sprinkling

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave. I put it in for a minute at a time on 70% power & stirred in between until melted.

In a large mixing bowl add lollies, marshmallows & coconut. It doesn't matter that it's really chunky as you'll be cutting it later anyway. Stir in chocolate until just mixed.

Pour into a slice tray lined with baking paper.

Put in the fridge until set. Lastly cut into small squares and enjoy!

Almost Done!

Wow it's been busy! But I'm almost done. So far I have dresses with matching bracelets for my two nieces and pajama sets for the boys.

I've made apricot jam & grand marnier jam for the hampers, and one lot of Christmas Tree Shortbread Biscuits which was enough to cover two hampers.

So on tomorrows list is grocery shopping & then a night of cooking more shortbread & chunky white rocky road.

Best Handmade Christmas Gift Ideas

Scouring madeit, etsy and various other handmade websites for ideas for Christmas presents, there were so many great ones and I just don't have enough people to give to. So I've decided to list some here so that others might have the opportunity to use them.

What little girls don't love a set of hair baubles. These ones are personalised with the girls initials and they're so easy to make. Just hand cover some buttons and thread through some hair elastic.

How easy are these peg angels to make! How gorgeous would they look on your tree? Just take a peg and hot glue your feathers and wings on. Add some string to attach to your tree and viola!

Another great idea using pegs is to pattern one side using paper or pen and put a magnet on the other side . They're great for holding kids artwork or paperwork on your fridge.

Who doesn't love shortbread? This idea takes the humble Christmas Tree shortbread and makes it into a great gift idea. Soak bamboo skewers overnight and add then to your shortbread trees before baking. Wrap individual trees in cellophane and then pop a bunch into a coffee mug. What Dad wouldn't one of these!

Handmade Love

Well here is my first attempt at making my nieces dresses for Christmas, pattern free. I'm pretty chuffed at how they turned out. I'm going to add little beaded bracelets to them in matching colors (photo's once their done).

I'm still working out what I'm going to make my nephews. I'm thinking either chalkboard placemats or appliqué t-shirts & shorts pj's. If you have any other ideas I'd love to hear about them. :-)

A Handmade Christmas

I'm setting myself a challenge. This year I'm going to attempt to hand make all the nieces, nephews and extended family Christmas presents. We bought Miss Ones presents earlier in the year but I'm sure I can add some handmade to the bike hidden in the shed and the Little People School Bus under the bed in the spare room.

I have three nieces and two nephews, and I usually do hampers for each of my siblings and my parents.

I'm almost finished a dress for niece aged 6 and will make the same dress but in a different fabric for niece aged 7. I also have some handmade bracelets for them. That means I just have to figure out what to make nephews 3 and 5 and niece aged 1.

For the hampers I think I'll definitely make my strawberry and grand marnier jam, Christmas tree shortbread, and some home made chocolates. I'd like to include something useful and non-edible but I'm having trouble thinking of something. I scouring Etzy.com and madeit.com for inspiration so I'll let you know what I come up with!

Warning! May be Carcinogenic.....

I've just had my third friend diagnosed with breast cancer in a year. At 35-ish the last thing that should be on your mind is "could I have cancer?". Like many women my age (and my recently diagnosed friend) I occasionally check my breasts and it's usually a quick exam every couple of months, if I remember.

When I think about my lifestyle and look back I smoked and took the pill in my twenties, but come the thirties I became more health conscious and began eating healthy, quit smoking, exercised more and tried to relax as much as possible. Mostly this was because I was trying to improve my reproductive health and give my baby the best possible start in life.

So hears something I recently discovered. You may already know this, but many do not. The vast majority of skincare, haircare and cosmetic products contain something called Parabens. Parabens are a class of chemicals used as a preservative in cosmetic products.

Parabens are effective and cheap to manufacture which is why they are so widely used. The problem is they have been found in small numbers in breast cancer tumours. They've also been known to cause dermatitis and skin allergies, not to mention eczema.

How many times have you heard someone say that every time they use Palmolive they get a rash? This cheap and popular brand contains parebens and mineral oils and both are carcinogenic. So why are we still buying these products?

Part of the problem is that so little is known about the exact effects of parabens and not enough research has been done to ban them or even justify warning labels. This research could take years or even decades to complete. In the meantime we are moisturising, washing our hair, even brushing our teethe with these carcinogens every day.

Tell your family, tell your friends.......read the label and if you see the word paraben, don't buy it!