Blue eggs and hot cross buns.

Aren't these eggs just gorgeous? My family will be surprised with blue eggs for breakfast at Easter, along with homemade hot cross buns.

Instructions for the eggs are at Southern Living and the bun recipe is from Rhonda Jean at Down to Earth. I've made these several times they aren't just for Easter either, my family loves them. Usually ice them with a pink, strawberry flavoured icing, they are even better than the ones the local bakery serve, perfect for finger buns.

Am looking forward to Easter, I have the whole long weekend off, nice. 4 days to do whatever, was 5 but one of the girls at work is moving and needed the day off, I took her shift.

Need to get into the sewing room to see what I can come up with for my great nieces and nephew instead of giving chocolate, though I might add some to the gift.

Dinner, lunch and a snack.

Last night I made one of the recipes from the $21 Dollar Challenge book, the Potato Pie for One - I increased it to feed 4. The kids seemed to like it, though David didn't, we both thought it needed something more. Perhaps I didn't put in enough Paprika but I think I will try it again, with additions and not so thick. I cut a piece in half, through the middle and fried it up for lunch, had one piece with mustard and the other with Mint Sauce.



Tried another recipe today from the book, Snow Drops. There are only 2 ingredients, coconut and condensed milk, they have come out so good. I just had to lick the mixture off my fingers before washing my hand, it was so good I wasn't going to waste it down the drain.


I just had 2 with a cup of tea. I am going to dip the base of half the batch into chocolate and then toast the rest of the coconut, add that to the remaining chocolate to make Coconut Rough. Very Yummy. Isn't my new teacup pretty? I bought it last week, I jokingly call it my little teacup, it's really quite big, a tad under half litre. The flower on it is a Bottlebrush. It's by Maxwell and Williams, got it for half off at a closing down sale.

Update: everyone loves the Snowballs, my son's friend gave them a 9 out of 10. The Coconut Rough also got a thumbs up all around. I don't think there's much left, I'm glad I hid a few away to share with a couple of friends tomorrow.

I've had a lazy day so far, Thomas ran late for school so I drove him, he was only a couple of minutes late and I had to call the credit union about a bill I tried to pay yesterday. Web bank told me it was over my daily limit, so I went to the local branch to be told it would cost $40 for them to do. $40 for a $17 bill, you have got to be KIDDING! When I rang it turns out that they have my limit set to $0, had it reset and I was then able to pay it myself without incurring a ridiculous fee.

I did get some exercise in, yesterday I bought a Door Knob Exerciser (similar) and gave that a try. The only door knob I have room to lay down in front of is the pantry so after moving the kitchen table I lay on a quilt on the kitchen floor. Also did half hour on the treadmill while watching an old Sherlock Holmes episode.

Appendix and a late night Shortbread recipe

It's 11.30 am and I'm just having breakfast - so far today hasn't gone as planned, I've gotten nothing done. I do have a reason, had to take Thomas to the Doctors, he has suspected case of Appendicitis. The pain started last night and he woke me this morning because it was still there. I dropped him off at school afterwards, gave instructions that he was not to play sports and that if the pain worsened or if he felt even the tinyest bit sick I was to be called. Supposed to work tomorrow but I've arranged to have the day off just in case.

Last night didn't go to plan either, Cassie asked me to make Shortbread to take to her last class, they are having a little party and I completely forgot about it. I watched a movie until 1.30 and only remembered when I was passing through the kitchen. Instantly my tiredness left and I knew if I didn't bake something I'd lie awake all night. I decided to go ahead with the Shortbread even though it takes an hour to bake, I cleaned up while waiting. Cut it up immediately and seperated each piece for quick cooling.

Shortbread - makes 16 pieces
The recipe is in imperial, not metric, I used metric measuring cups and found that there was too much butter - added extra flour to get the dough firmer the first time I made them, last night I just added less butter.

1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup pure icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup of butter, softened
vanilla - Optional, original recipe didn't have it, I added 1/4 teaspoon.

Preheat oven to 150 oC (300 F)

Sift flour and icing sugar into bowl, add salt. Combine all ingredients well.

Knead butter into mix, making into a dough - I find it easy to use a spoon to mix the butter, the mix is really soft and sticks to the hands. Once it is fairly well combined then use clean hands to kead into a dough.

Press mixture firmly into 8 inch pie plate or shortbread mold. Bake for an hour. The shortbread should be pale in colour, not browned. Cut into wedges while still warm. Sprinkle with extra icing sugar.

HAPPY EASTER!

I woke this morning and rushed out to start a batch of Rhonds'a Hot cross buns before returning to bed. When the dough was ready I got up to make the buns and used 1 cup of flour and 2 tablespoons of water mixed to a dough to make the crosses. Also started a second batch without crosses. Some of these are going to be frozen for eating later on. I did have to bake the first batch an extra 10 mins, my oven temp isn't always constant.



I boiled eggs for Cassie and Thomas, surpising them by adding shrink plastic designs to the eggs. I bought these 2 or 3 years ago but hadn't used them.






A few days ago I decided I needed an apron after getting covered in flour, found some ticking fabric in my stash and used this pattern to make one. I did find that the top part wasn't wide enough for me, I adjusted the pattern and have cut out a second apron. The first apron has been put to very good use. It's making good use of my stash too. I wanted to watch tv while sewing so used the 85 year old handcranked machine in the photo. I bought it at the Salvation Army store a couple of years ago, after replacing the needle the right way around it sews perfectly. My son Thomas loves using it and has made several pairs of boxers shorts on it.

We are heading out later this afternoon to pick up a fridge that David got on eBay, we are hoping it works better than the one we have now. The fan in the freezer section has recently frozen over, after weeks of making very loud noises. It doesn't evaporate the water/condensation from the cooling element so it overflows, floods the bottom and pours out over the floor. We knew it did it when we got it but it was a freebie and has lasted a couple of years.