British Jam Tarts

I know I should be down but I decided this morning to sit in the kitchen and supervise he kiddies making Jam Tarts. I never had these growing up as a child being from the States. In fact I have now lived in the UK for 8 years and had never experienced a Jam Tart until a woman from my ward brought some around last week. The kids LOVED them and my (Amazing) Hubby siad they reminded him of his childhood. So this morning while he was having a nap (he got up at 5 with our 3 yr old while I slept) I decided to take a chair into the kitchen and let my 6 1/2 yr old and my 3 yr old make Jam Tarts. It was a huge mess which my hubby will be only to please to clean up :) but it was also a Huge Success!! The kids loved making it by themselves without help from me. Here is the Recipe which I used. It is a Jamie Oliver one:

175g / 1 1/2 cups plain Flour
80g / 2/3 cup butter
2TBSP Icing (Powder Sugar)
1/2 tsp Salt
water
Jam any flavor
More icing sugar to dust

1. Mix together flour,salt, sugar and butter (cut into small pieces). Rub the mixture between your fingers till the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs.

2. Add the water (bit by bit) and knead the pastry gently, forming into a ball. Pop it in the fridge for about 1 hour.

3. Grease a 12 hole shallow tart tin. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface (about 3-4 mm thick).

4. Using a large cup or pastry cutter, cut out circles and place into the tart tins.

5. Fill each tart with about 2 heaped tsps of jam.

6. Bake in a pre-heated over at 200C (about 400F) for about 15-20 mins.

7. Allow to cool then sprinkle with a little icing sugar.

Girls Ruffle Dress from Pillowcase

Well as you know at the moment my crafting has been put on a major hold. I keep telling my wonderful hubby that surely I could sit at the table and make things for our precious Angel (whom by the way is a little girl!)but he is just not letting me move from the bed unless it is to go and lay on the couch or the couch unless it is to go to bed. I am grateful his work is letting him work from home during this difficult time but Im getting BORED!! I need to sort out some needle crafts and quick.

In the meantime I am looking up so much fun stuff on other websites and I have decided that I will just share some of my fantastic finds with each of you as I find them. So look what I found this morning:



I have seen so many pillowcase dresses but I think this is by far my favorit. Plus major bonus is you only need 4 materials:

•A large pillowcase (40 x 20 inches) or same amount of fabric (40 x 40 inches)
•Matching thread
•2 inch matching ribbon
•A button

So cheap and so Easy. To look at the fantastic Tutorial have a look here

I also wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and kind words. I have a lot of faith. I know that all is up to the Lord. Yesterday the Nurse told me she couldnt belive that I have made it to 22 weeks (I will be tomorrow) because when waters break before 20 weeks, and mine went at 19, it is unlikely to make it this far let alone to 24. Our baby is already a fighter and a miracle! Thanks again to everyone. I appreciate it more than you know!

Tough Times Prayers Needed

As I am in need of as many prayers as possible I wanted share a post with you all that my Husband has written this evening.

When Alisha and I were married we dreamed about having our own little family one day. Alisha is the oldest of seven children and I’m the oldest of four, we liked the idea of having maybe four or five children ourselves. We realise that doing so would probably put us in a position where we’d sometimes struggle to find the money to support our family but we were certain that a big family was right for us.
Kaylee was born to us in December 2003. She was born six weeks early and was in the hospital for ten days. Alisha endured around eighty hours of labour before requiring an emergency caesarian.
A couple of years later we were delighted to hear that we were going to have another child. But there were problems. Alisha’s waters broke at 22 weeks and she was kept in hospital to avoid her getting an infection. She was kept in hospital for two weeks before the doctors decided it was pointless for her to be there. She came home and a couple of weeks later I had a call asking me to come home from work as her contractions were very close. Spencer was born later that day at a gestation of 26 weeks. It took the doctors 20 minutes to get him to breathe on his own before they took him away. One of them even fainted at the sight of him. His body was the size of an adult’s hand.
Spencer progressed steadily until we had a phone call one morning asking us to come to the hospital. Spencer’s lungs had collapsed and they were certain that he was going to die. They called us in to say our goodbyes. Thankfully Spencer was defiant and proved the doctors wrong.
He’s given us scares from time to time, had a couple of surgeries, been in hospital for other reasons, and so on. To look at him now you’d never believe that he was 3-4 months premature. We know that it is a miracle that he is with us today.
This brings us to our current predicament.
Alisha is 19 weeks pregnant. On Thursday she noticed something was wrong. After a scan it was found that she has a small tear in the amniotic sack and that liquid was leaking. This was bad news.
The doctors have told Alisha that they expect her to deliver in the next couple of weeks and that the baby will die shortly thereafter. I refuse to believe it. Having experience everything that we did with Spencer I know that miracles can happen. I’m not prepared to accept this eventuality until it happens. We’re doing everything possible to ensure that Alisha makes it to 24 weeks. That way, at least, the doctors will be required to do everything they can to assist the child.
I can’t imagine what will happen if Alisha gives birth to this perfectly healthy child and then have to watch it die. Right now my head just isn’t in the game. Please remember Alisha and our baby in your prayers. I’m sure that, with everyone’s help, there is a miracle waiting to happen.
I want the doctors to be dumbfounded. I want them to shake their heads in disbelief and to go and tell their colleagues that they can’t understand how this was all possible. Sadly though my wants and desires are secondary to those of God. I place my wife and child in his hands and just hope he answers the prayers offered on our behalf.

I am asking everyone who has faith in any God please pray for us. My husband keeps saying he knows there is a miracle waiting to happen and I am praying this is the case. I know the Lords will is what will be done. I just keep praying that his will and my will are one in the same.

Homemade Take 5 Bars

Super easy and yummy, that's why I like them!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of square shaped pretzels
• 1 bag of Rolo's

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Put one pretzel with a Rolo on top onto baking tray
3. Cook until Rolo is soft (not melted) about 7 minutes
4. Take out and smush another Rolo on top
5. Put on plate to cool
6. Eat till you're sick!

Broccoli Salad

As anyone who has read our blog before will know I love spring / summer time. One thing that I love is summer time salads. One of my favorite salads is a Broccoli Salad. My sister made this for me last April when I was visiting her in the states and since then I have been hooked. I make it every time we have a BBQ or when we are just getting together with friends. Sometimes I make it as the main course in our dinner with some nice bread. It is just fantastic! Since so many people ask me for the recipe I decided I had better put it on here then I can just refer others to my blog to have find the recipe. So here it is. I hope you and yours enjoy it as much as me and mine do!!

Broccoli Salad:

2 Fresh Raw Bunches of Broccoli
1 cup slivered or flaked almonds
1/2 cup grated cheese
1 cup craisins (you can use raisins if you want be we LOVE craisins)
1/2 small red onion finely chopped
4 - 5 rashers of bacon cooked and crumbled (streaky bacon for anyone in the UK)

Dressing:
1/2 cup of Mayo (I use light and it works fine)
1/4 cup sugar (I use splenda and it works fine)
1Tbsp white vinegar.

Directions:
Cut all stems off Raw broccoli and cut into bite size pieces. mix in Almonds, Craisins, Bacon, Onion and Cheese. Once those are all mixed in another bowl mix the mayo, sugar and vinegar. Pour the dressing over the top of the Broccoli mix and enjoy. I do like mine chilled so I always make it a few hours before hand and put it in the fridge.

People always look at it and say Oh I dont like broccoli so no thank you but I say just try one bite and that is it. They are then hooked for life! Someone said to me it needs a different name then broccoli salad because broccoli puts people off. Trust me though you cant be put off once you have tasted it!!

Painting Aprons

A few years ago I was babysitting a friend of mines little boy around Mothers Day and decided I wanted to do something really nice for her and fun for her little boy and my little girl. I bought some plain white Aprons and had the children, using felt paints, paint their handprints on the Apron it was lovely. I still have mine and love using it.

I think these make fantastic Mothers Day gifts for any fathers out there reading our blog!!