Mmmmm Pavlova

One of the many terrible things about living in the UK is the desserts. Seriously there are no desserts like the ones we have here in the UK in the states. Ok so maybe there are but I never experienced them. And maybe terrible isnt the right word... maybe there are other words to describe the amazing creations of this country.

One of my favorite desserts in the UK is Pavlova. There is something about the combination of meringue, when it is cooked correctly crunch on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside, with Fresh Double Cream and Fresh Summer Berries! There is just nothing like it.

If you are even in the UK you can of course buy it in the store. Or if not in the UK or you are in the UK and want feel adventurous you can make it yourself. Here is my favorite recipe when I am making Pavlova myself. I think a lot of people think making meringues is difficult but really they are not that hard at all. Have a try! Let me know what you think of this recipe!


Ingredients:

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 225g or 1 Cup golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 vanilla pod
  
• 284ml carton double cream
• 1 lemon zested
• 450g (I just put loads of Mixed Berries) raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries or a mixture
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Cover a baking sheet with baking parchment. Whisk the egg whites with electric beaters until they just form stiff and shiny peaks. Gradually add the sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time and whisk really well between each addition. When all of the sugar is used up continue whisking for 3-4 minutes or until the meringue is stiff and glossy and stands up in peaks, then whisk in the cornflour and vinegar. Spoon the mixture onto the baking parchment and use a palette knife to make a circle about 20cm in diameter. Put in the oven, turn the temperature down to 120C/fan 100C/gas 1/2 and cook for 11/2 hours. Turn the oven off and leave the meringue inside until completely cold (you can make this the day before and leave to cool overnight).
2. Carefully peel off the baking parchment and put the pavlova on a serving dish. Don't worry if it cracks. Scrape the vanilla seeds into a mixing bowl, add the cream and lemon zest and softly whip, then spoon onto the pavlova. Mix the berries, spoon the fruit on top of the cream, dust with a little icing sugar and serve.

This is seriously delish!! Let me know if you make it how it turns out!

Thrifty Thursdays

I have been thinking over the past few weeks how can we make this site more useful and also more fun. So I will be introducing a few things which I think will be very Popular and exciting to everyone.

The first thing I thought about was Introducing a Thrifty Thursday. I thought that each Thursday I could like a few really good deals that I have found and give a tip or two on becoming more Thrifty, ways to make a little bit of extra cash, or ways to save a little bit of cash. So as time goes by I will try to show more deals and extra money saving tips but as this is our first week Im just kind of putting a taster out there. If you like this idea please comment and let me know.

USA Deals!

• WalGreens are offering $5.00 off a $25 spend when you print and take in this coupon.

• Amazon are offering 20% off Haribo I believe you will have to use coupon code HARBO454 to get this offer but it is great. It makes most 5lb bags or Haribo only $12.00. Plus on Amazon if you order $25 or more you will get Free Delivery.
• Check this out Crocs.com have Buy One Get One Free Plus Free Shipping. I love Crocs. Especially on the kids they are such great shoes. Have a look at this site!
• Here is one for Christmas Amazon have on offer Cool Water By Davidoff For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 4.2 Ounces What a bargain, Cool Water Cologne only $23.00 down from $59. That is an amazing Deal!!
• Anyone need work boots? Galls has Galls Waterproof Duty Boots down from $104.99 to only $9.98. Have a look at some of their other sale items as well!
• Books-A-Million have a large number of Childrens books on offer from only $2.00 plus if you use this code at check out BKLVFREE you will also get Free Delivery. Might make some great Christmas gifts.
• Restaurant.com as a new 80% off code TASTE available, which is valid through Aug 31, 2009. The $25 gift certificates are normally $10 or $15 (depending on restaurant), but are $2 or $3 with the code. They also sell $10 certificates for select restaurants for $4, making them 80 cents each with the code. Be sure to check the restriction as they vary from venue to venue. This deal expires the 31st of August.
  
• Old Navy has Free shipping on all items online with this Code SHIPFREE. Is that not enough for you ok, ok how about 15% off for purchases of $75 or more with code SAVE15 or 20%off of order $100 or more with code SAVE20. Happy Now? :)
• Panda Express have a Friends and Family deal. Buy 2 Entrees and get the 3rd Free. Here is the voucher.

UK Deals!

• £5 off when you spend £15 or more at Dominos Order online and use code LNFYNRRR.
  
• If there is one thing I love about living in the UK it is the Cheap flights to the mainland. Ryanair.com have flights to 80 European Destinations for only £5.00 each way. You have to book by the end of the day today.
• Asda have on offer M&M's, Minstrels, Maltesers and Revels for £1.00 each. They were 2 for £3.00. Bargain!
• Another one at Asda. They have on offer Homepride Pasta Bake Sauces 2 for £1.00 or £1.50 each. I love it when Asda do these deals! I love Craisens and they have the same offer on them 2 for £1.50 or £1.79 each!
  
• Play.com have on offer Peppa Pig DVDs for £2.99I think this is great. My little ones LOVE Peppa Pig.
• WOW for this next deal! Tesco have in store Pampers Sensitive wipes 6 packs for only £3.66. This deal is only valid from September 2nd until the 8th of September. Stock up!

And for a THRIFTY TIP!

We only have a few months until Christmas. Are you looking to make a little bit of extra money? Well one way that I have found to make a few extra pennies is through online surveys. I will admit that you dont make loads of money but I have made about £150 ($200) over the last year doing online surveys. So are you wondering where to do them? Well in the UK the best one I have found isLightspeed Research Limited. They also have one in the US too. And the rewards are great. They pay you into a paypal account. Plus they pay you when your credit is really low not like some others which make you wait until you have over $20 or £20 in your account. Lightspeed pay at only £10 or $10. Which is great.

If you want to find some other online survey places in the US go to www.boxticker.com. They list loads of different survey sites. In the UK have a look here www.internetpaidsurveys.com There are a lost of more there.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THRIFTY THURSDAYS!! Is this a feature we should keep and do each Thursday? Would you benefit from it?

White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Cookies

MMM... So yummy! Hope you all enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 egg

1 Tablespoon vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ cup white chocolate chips

1 ½ cup dried cranberries

1 cup macadamia nuts chopped.

Preparation: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with pan release. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda and stir into the sugar mixture. Do not over beat as this will cause the cookies to be tough. Fold in white chocolate chips, cranberries and nuts. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until slightly brown on the edges. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets before placing them on a cooling rack.

Makes about 36 1.5oz cookies

Sewing Calendar

Look what I just found

How fantastic!! A new sewing idea for every third day of the year in 2010. Definitely on my wish list! Just had to share!

Car Trash bag

So I have two little children and though I love them dearly I have to admit that they LOVE to make messes. One of the places my children cant help making a mess at is in the car. They dont know what to do with their trash once they are finished with it. So this morning I decided to make them each their own little trash bag for the car. Hopefully it will help them to keep their bits of the car clean. Here is a tutorial on what I did. Let me know if you like it or if you think you could do something to improve on it.

Also I love to use scrap bits from around the house. So the fabric for these comes from my daughters new pants. They were way to long so I cut them and hem them up. The rest of the leg is now trash bags.

The best part about this bag to me is that it is lined and so the material wont get dirty and I can always flip it inside out and give it a wipe if necessary.
Items Needed:

• Ribbon
• Empty Old Shopping Bag
• Bottom of old (or new in my case) pairs of pants. The size depends on how big you want the bag so I will leave that up to you.
• Sewing Machine

Step 1: First I cut the front and back of the pants off and into matching size rectangles. I left the bottom hem on the pants.

Step 2: Cut the shopping bag the same size as each piece of material. You will need two pieces. One shopping bag was more than enough for me.

Here is what I mean about cutting them the same size.

Step 3: Pin the shopping bag rectangles to the rectangles on the Pants. The shopping bag is the inside of the trash bag so you want to pin it to the wrong side of the material.

Step 4: Sew the shopping bag to each piece of material. It should go through the sewing machine supper easy. Mine did. When you pin it pin it tight it will make it easier to get things in and out of the finished trash bag.

Step 5: I then sewed interfacing to the top of my bag. I used the side with the hem from the pants as the top. I wanted it to be thicker so that the opening stays open most the time. Hopefully the picture above shows what I did. The one on the left is the side pinned down with the interfacing it in already and the right is when I was getting ready to pin it down and then sew it.

Step 6: Once the interfacing is sewed in you will need to sew on ribbon for it to hang in the car. You only do this to one of the pieces of material because you only want the handle on one side.

Step 7: Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this. You will next pin the two sides together. ready for sewing.

Step 8: I also pinned some ribbon on the inside to cover up any stitches I had made and sewed it on one end. Hopefully the above picture shows this well enough.

Step 9: Once the bag is all sewed up on all sides turn it inside out.

Step 10: Hang inside the car and hope that the kids use them.

I hope that this makes sense if anyone has any questions email me on alisha@homemakinghoneys.com. If you make one email me pictures I would love to see how yours turns out!

Jelly Bean Bracelets

The other day we had a bunch of my friends and their children over and we made Jelly Bean Bracelets. They are fun and easy to do. All we did was get some elastic and a large eye sewing needle and just literally sewed the jelly beans together. Tied the ends and that was it. All done. Here is a picture of the little wrists with their cute bracelets. It is a good way to get children excited about sewing too! Good Luck making your own.

Hi everyone this is my first post as well. I thought i would show you what is now my nephews favorite meal. He is way into things that live in water so I found a wat to make hot dogs into a octopus.

This is what you will need, hot dogs, mac n cheese, and gold fish crackers.

First take the hot dog and slice it in half, leaving one inch at the top NOT CUT. Then slice in half again on the other side. Now you have 4 "legs". Take each one of them and cut them in half now making 8.

Now put your octopus in the pan covering it in water. Cook like normal.

After you make your mac n cheese place the octopus on the mac n cheese, sprinkle the gold fish around, and you have a great wasy meal kids will love. You can use ketchup or mustard for the eyes or simply poke a hole in it with a tooth pick or skew.

If you have any questions let me know I will help.

Also if there is a certain craft you are looking for out of my list here tell me I will do a how to for you. Time out doll, princes, ballerina, or wedding invite cup cake topper, candy bar holder purse, chalk board gift bag, tons more just ask, :) Thanks everyone enjoy

WAY Way Way cute Fly Swatters.

O.k. so this is my first time posting on Homemaking Honeys, I hope that I do well! Anyways I am into really fast, easy, and quick crafts. If it looks like I can't do it, I don't even try. I saw this fly swatter idea in a magazine and it looked so cute and easy that I just had to try it!!

Here are the supplies you will need:

one sandal (my hubby works at the D.I. so I had him just bring one home for me!)

ribbon (I just used leftovers from other projects

a pencil

a dowel (about 12 inches long)

craft glue

I started by cutting the ribbon and tying knots around the sandal, you could probably skip this step, but I think that it makes it look cuter! Don't forget to burn the edges of your ribbon so it doesn't fray!

Next you are going to take a pencil and make a hole into the bottom of the shoe, mine was about 1/4-1/2 inch deep.

Then you are going to fill the hole with craft glue.

Stick the dowel into the hole and there you have it. Drill a hole at the top and tie it with ribbon so you can hang it up. So "flippin" cute and easy.

Make sure that you don't buy a dowel that is bigger than the sole of you sandal!

Blush Meringues

I made these for our book club BBQ last night, and they went down a treat! I found the recipe whilst looking for things to cook using berries, and when I saw this, I thought it would be great summer dessert! You have to be fan of meringues, which I am....ENJOY!

20 meringue nests, depending on the size. I used ready made ones from M&S and they were good!

For the filling :-

250g tub of marscapone

284ml carton double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

Couple of handfuls of fresh or frozen (thawed) mixed berries, lightly crushed

Beat marscapone until smooth, add the double cream and the sugar and whisk again till soft peaks. Very lightly stir in the fruit, so it is rippled through the cream. Sandwich the meringues together with the fruit cream. Eat the day they are made....which won't be a problem, I'm pretty sure!!

Chore Chart

Recently my 5 year old has been wanting an allowance to be able to buy her "own" things. I wasnt going to just give her the money. I felt that at 5 years of age she was old enough to do something to earn it. So now she has chores. We needed something to record whether or not she was doing her chores and I was not excited about the idea of printing off a new sticker chart each week. What a waste of paper and stickers. So I made this:



It was so Simple I thought I would share with each of you. Here is what I did.

Item needed:

Small cork board (I bought mine for only 70p)
scrap material
hot glue gun
paints
fabric flowers

Start by taking the cork board out of the frame. Mine just popped right out.

Paint the frame any color or colors you want. I did mine to off set the fabric so it was yellow and then did a splatter of a deep pink and orange all over.

Next I covered the cork board with my fabric using hot glue.

Then I put the cork board back in the frame once it had dried completely. I then made two fabric flowers and attached them to the corners.

For the actual chart all I did was make it up on the computer and laminate it and then hot glue it to the cork board.

Really very simple! And my daughter loves checking off her chores as she does each of them.

August Book Club Book

Over at our book club website we have chosen to read The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Definitely a must read!! Here is a link to the book:

If you would like to join us in reading this book then head on over to our book club site, Honeys Read 2 and join us. We would love to hear your views on this book!!