Chicken Rice and Burritos!

Check out the food blog for the recipes.

PORTUGUESE CHICKEN RICE

BREAKFAST BURRITOS

Time to change your templates!

You know I change mine ALL the time, I guess I get bored easily.

I've had a lot of questions on how I do it, where I learnt HTML and if there's a way I can teach you all some tricks to making your own templates.

I pretty much taught myself everything I know, the easiest way is to find one of the free templates you like and then go from there......the more you mess with it, the more you will learn what code does what. I would suggest though doing what I did.....setting up a separate blog for templates so that you can play around and if it gets lost or really messed up, you won't be affecting your main blog.

So first steps:

1 - Make a separate blog for your templates
2 - Find a free template that you like and download it. You can find some great ones at Pannasmontata and Caz Templates
3 - Once you find the template you like, copy it into your blog



Now we're ready to start. I'm going to give you a free template for you to play with, so download THIS template and paste it into your templates blog.

Don't freak out, all that code is actually easier than you think and once you know what it does you will be like me, shocked at how easy it really is.

The first thing you're going to do is make yourself a new header. Use a program like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop to make it, just remember to look at your template to see how big you need to make it.

But before we get into that, how about something quick.....like changing your background?

Scroll down on your template to this part of the code:

body {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background-image: url("http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/2743/pattern1402jq3cg0.jpg");
text-align: center;
font-family: 'Geneva', Verdana, Times, sans-serif;
}

See where it says Background-image: the code in bold is where you need to insert the link to your background image. Try a few until you're happy with the one you like.

By changing the way it's worded, you can also make it a solid color.

body {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
background-color: #ffffff;
text-align: center;
font-family: 'Geneva', Verdana, Times, sans-serif;
}

Now, it will make the background white. Just play around with that a bit.

Next thing you're going to learn is how to change the color of your links. Right under the Body Code is this one:

a:link, a:visited, a:active {color: #b8707b; text-decoration: none ;}
a:hover {color: #Ffffff; background-color: #000000; }

The first line will be the color of your links as they will show up on the blog. The second line is what it will look like when you click on it with your mouse. You know how sometimes links will change to a different color when you hover over it???? That's where it's done.

The part that says text-decoration, is also a fun one to play with. If you add text-decoration: underline.......then your links will have an underline. You could also do text-decoration: underline overline......then the link would have two lines one on top and one on bottom. I prefer to use that code under my hover rather than my actual link color. All you do is add that code to the bottom right after background-color.

Go ahead and play around with that one too. Don't forget to save your changes as you go so you don't loose it all.

Next time we're going to make our own headers, so make sure you have a graphics program you can use. You can download free 30 day trials from Paint shop Pro and Photo shop. I use Paint shop Pro for mine.

Remember that I'm in NO way an expert and I'm sure other blog designers use different techniques, I'm just sharing with you what I do know of HTML and how I change my blog.

Hope this helps a bit, I can't wait until you all start doing your own designs.

Stop and Stare!

I come bearing photos, some fun ones some educational ones and some of where we'll be heading in May of this year.

You all know by now that I'm going home, home to South Africa, to boerewors and koeksisters, Nando's Chicken and the Lost City. I'm beyond ecstatic, as the time nears I can't control my emotions, I go from smiling like an idiot to wanting to break down and cry, it's such an emotional roller coaster but so well worth it when I step off that airplane and smell the South African air and get to walk into the arms of my family.

But first let's talk about what's going on here at home. Yesterday afternoon, the kids and Curt decided to play some softball in the backyard, it was fun watching them all laugh and have fun. I even got in there too, though for some reason the minute Curt throws the ball my way I tend to shut my eyes and cover my face. Not very conducive to actually catching the ball, but hey, who said I was perfect??? LOL





Love action photos, they're so much fun to watch :)

While they were playing I decided to snap some more shots of the lemon tree. Do you know that it produces these gorgeous white flowers and when they start blooming the scent is just heavenly, oh my goodness, I could sit out there all day, under that tree just with that wonderful scent all around me.


They are just beautiful!

Here's some baby lemons growing


And there's a few more pinkish buds starting to form.


But now going back to South Africa, do you want to see some of the places I'll be visiting???


We're starting with a trip to the Kruger National Park where the kids will get to see the big five up close and personal, I can't wait for this......I have such fond memories of our vacations there.

After we are heading straight to Mozambique, my country of birth, I can't tell you just how excited I am to return Home, to show my husband and my children the country I was born in, it's one of those beautiful lands that are not very well known, as a matter of fact when I usually tell people where I was born, they look at me like I'm crazy and then ask just where exactly is that.



One of the beaches we want to visit again is Bilene. How can you NOT want to just sit there and relax???

Then it's back to Johannesburg, if we have any time we may go down to Margate but if not, we will most likely be going to The Lost City

My favorite place to go for the day, there's a casino and restaurants, there's an artificial beach and waterfalls and just so much to do.

Another place I'm hoping to return to is Gold Reef City.

International travellers savour the offering of traditional African music, dance and history found throughout the complex. The carefully-documented history of Apartheid, chillingly yet beautifully depicted in the Museum, is a must-see on a South African visit. And nowhere else will the tourist find such a comprehensive and colourful depiction of mining life at the turn of the nineteenth century.

But it's not all about the sights because the food is something Curt and I are dying to get into again.

Calamari Steaks with garlic and lemon......*drool*

King Prawns



Crab Curry

Boerewors

Alheiras - I absolutely LOVE these and haven't had them for about 10 years

Bolas de Berlin - my favorite desserts, you can find them in portuguese bakeries. It's like a donut with a creme filling and rolled in sugar

I think you get a general idea of what a good time I'll be having LOL

Right now I've got laundry to do and I need to mop the floors too.

Spring break is over so it's back to school for Jasmine tomorrow and not a minute too soon, she is bored and getting cranky. The fighting and bickering between the kids is escalating and I'm just done, you know when you reach that point that you can't take another word? They fight about everything and everything is a competition....who gets their food first, who gets to have their bath first, who got what color towel, who drank out of what cup, who watched tv first, even the first one to take a bite of dinner is the winner........UUGGHHHHH!

I left you a great recipe for breakfast, Breakfast Delights and let me tell you, you can't just eat one, they are SO good, good enough that I offered to send a bunch of them to work with Curt in the morning and he quickly denied saying that they are too good and he is NOT giving them to anyone LOL

For dinner tonight I'm fixing a portuguese Chicken Rice, I'll have the recipe on the blog later.

Have a great sunday everyone.

Breakfast is Served!

Well good morning, have you had breakfast yet????

If you haven't I have the perfect treat for you and I've posted it on my food blog.

BREAKFAST DELIGHTS

You gotta try this chicken, because I said so......

I'm serious, you have to make it for dinner, it's so easy and SO SO good.

Go on over to Full Bellies for the recipe.

CHICKEN IN CREAM SAUCE

Slow Cooker Giveaway WINNERS!

Ladies, thank you so much for all the great recipes, wow we had a lot of good ones and a lot of participants yesterday, it was exciting.

This morning I did a random number generator on the list of recipes. Now remember that a lot of ladies couldn't see Mr Linky so I added everyone in individually.........THAT is the list that I'm following for the draw.

So according to Random.org, the winner of the new Crock-Pot Slow Cooker is:


Mari from "My Little Corner of the World" who submitted the Pot Roast with Tomato Sauce. Congratulations Mari, please email me your address so that I can pass it on to Merideth at Crock-Pot.


Now for the two slow cooker cookbook winners, you will each be receiving a new cookbook, I don't know which one yet, but I'll come back later this morning and post them.

The winners are:



15. Blue Cheese Steak Roll Ups - Crockpot Lady - Congratulations Stephanie!

34. Taco Meat Loaf - Annie - Congratulations Annie!


Please email me your addresses so I can get the cookbooks out.

Again thank you all so much, this was fun, who knows, maybe soon I'll personally give away another new slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Giveaway Update!

Boy do we have some amazing recipes being shared, I'm literally drooling over them all.....I just wish I could pick you all and have everyone receive a new cooker, but I can't.

SO, what I'm going to do is this............tomorrow I'll announce the winner of the new Crock-pot Slow Cooker AND I've decided to pick 2 more ladies to receive a new Slow Cooker Cookbook. I don't know which one yet, we'll see tomorrow.

Again thank you all for participating, I'm so excited for someone to walk away with a brand new slow cooker and only hope you love it as much as I love mine.

Come back tomorrow to find out who the winner is.........I'm leaving the contest open until tomorrow morning in case any of you are late with your entries and to also give us all a chance to come by and see what you're cooking.

Slow Cooking Thursday Giveaway!

There seems to be some who can't see the Mr Linky. For some reason it's not showing up if you're using Internet Explorer. Please switch to Netscape or Firefox so you can see Mr Linky. I'm not sure why it's doing this and I apologize in advance.....I'll also add your recipes to this post by hand to help out. :)



All my slow cooking recipes are now online and starting today, I will add all the recipes shared weekly to my online del.icio.us site too. So if you're wanting to find ALL the slow cooked recipes that have been shared since the first SLOW COOKING THURSDAY, here is the link for you.

Don't forget to add your name to Mr Linky and a link back to your SCT post so others can come by and see your recipe too.


Welcome to the Slow Cooking Thursday Giveaway. I've been doing this feature for a long time and I have some wonderful faithful participants who truly deserve to be rewarded.

Crock-Pot has offered a slow cooker to the lady who shares the best slow cooker recipe this week and since I know it will be hard to pick because I'm sure you're all coming out with your best ones, I will have to recruit the help of the random generator to pick a winner.

The winner will receive a brand new slow cooker from Crock-Pot in the mail. Good Luck!

Lemon Pudding Cake recipe

3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.

Beat egg yolks; blend in lemon juice, butter and milk.

Combine sugar, flour, and salt; add to egg-milk mixture, beating until smooth. Fold into beaten whites. Spoon into crock pot. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours. This tends to over-brown around the edges, so keep an eye on it.

Here are today's participants, for those that are having problems with Mr Linky:

1. Chicken and Biscuits or Crustless Chicken Pot Pie - Tammy 3 Sides of Crazy

2. Easy Meatloaf - Organizing Junkie

3. 40 Clove Garlic Chicken - Living to Tell the Story

4. Slow Berry Cobbler - Simple Country Cooking

5. No-Hurry Vegetable Curry - The McIllece Spot

6. Corned Beef and Vegetables - 2 Peas in a Pod

7. Pot Roast with Tomato Sauce - My Little Corner of the World

8. Mexican Chicken Soup - MJPuzzlemom

9. Lime Chicken Tacos - Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

10. Hobo Stew - Karen's Korner

11. Whole Meal - Just Another Day in Paradise

12. 3 recipes - Michelle's Family Life

13. Vegetarian Hot and Sour Soup - Geekypoet

14. Mozzarella Chicken Breasts - A Bibliomane Amidst Butterflies

15. Blue Cheese Steak Roll Ups - Crockpot Lady

16. Crockpot Peanut Candy - Momma's Cookbook

17. Slow Cooker Potatoes - Heather's Brain

18. Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole - The Homeschool Way

19. Crockpot Corn Chowder - Kay's Simple Life

20. Pizza Dip - Jewlsntexas

21. Easy Chicken - Girl Fisher

22. Tamale Pie - Lories Stitch In Time

23. Stuffed Peppers - Becca

24. Honey and Orange Carrots - Eleisia

25. Corned Beef Brisket - Melonie Workerette

26. Chicken in Mushroom Gravy - Terri

27. Buffalo Chicken Dip - Creative Triplet Mom

28. Bison and Sweet Potato Stew - Angela's Kitchen

29. Sweet and Sour Beef Stew - Big Blueberry Eyes

30. Chicken Dressing - K C's Cafe

31. St. Patty's Noodles - School in 'R Home

32. Pepper Steak - 4everMom

33. Easy Beef Vegetable Stew - Kristi

34. Taco Meat Loaf - Annie

WHO Bread and Tuna Pasta Salad!

If you want to know what we had for lunch today, go on over to Full Bellies, Happy Kids and check out the recipes I just posted.

Easy Pasta Tuna Salad

WHO Bread

Enjoy!

The day kids start asking questions......

You know that day? The one where you're sitting there enjoying a cup of coffee and out of the blue "Where did I come from?". You choke on that sip and then pretend you actually meant to do that and try to act all cool so your kids don't see that you're stumped and you're scared. Worst thing for a parent is when the children smell that fear.....boy do they capitalize on it.

So I'm sitting there thinking "Oh Lord, please help me, I'm not prepared for this conversation". What do I tell them, what exactly do they want to know? Could it be that they just wonder where they were born, what state, or is it that they're actually asking the details and how they came to be in this world.....because really, with my luck, I would go on about the birds and the bees only to have the kids ask me what that has to do with Idaho????

Yesterday Nicholas asked to see some photos, he wanted to know what he looked like when he was born....so I brought up the labor pictures (bad bad mommy) completely forgetting that there is one in there of my heart shaped placenta. Yes cause you see, I'm special like that, his placenta was shaped like a heart and the doctor thought it was so neat that out came the camera, we have to save that for prosperity, who knows if some placenta loving person out there will one day marvel at such an amazing sight. *snicker*

So we're scrolling through the photos and BAM there it is, I quickly look over at Nicholas and watch his shocked expression, followed by his tiny hand jumping to his mouth, I honestly thought the boy was going to get sick. I fumbled for the mouse trying to quickly pass this one by but hey, it was too late, the trauma had been made. Through some talking and comforting I was able to calm him down and now he's fine with it, he doesn't want to ever see it again "EVER" but he's ok. He's embraced it LOL

After about an hour I was sweeping the floor and humming "I want to break free", don't ask, I have this habit of belting out whatever song comes to mind and wow are they weird ones at times. From the couch I hear this little voice "Mommy, how did I get in your tummy?"

So I gripped the broom harder, my knuckles turned white and I did what any other parent would do.......I pretended I didn't hear. And again he asked, this time louder "Hey mommy, I said, how did I get in your tummy?".
Dagnabit why can't the 8 year old be asking these questions, why is the 4 year old so obsessed with this? I didn't know what to say, so I said "Well mommy and daddy sat up one night and made you" (Idiot!).

Then comes his reply "no.....God made me". You know I love my smart kids but sometimes it can be a royal pain in the behind. I kept looking at the clock hoping Curt was about to walk through the door from work so I could pass this hot potato to him, but alas, it was only 2pm and he wouldn't be saving me for the next 2 or 3 hours.

Me - Nicholas, yes, you're right. God made you, but he asked mommy and daddy what he wanted you to look like and we told him. Want a cookie? (look I'm not below bribing with a snack if it gives me some time to come up with the right answer)

Nicholas - No I'm not hungry. But how did God put me in your tummy and how did I get out?

I was literally sweating by now, I don't think it takes a scientist to figure out that I'm NOT prepared for this talk yet and don't even know where to begin.

After about 20 minutes of back and forth talk where I told him that God took mommy and daddy's love and made a little Nicholas and then placed it in my tummy, he was finally content with the answer and proceed to play Yoshi Island. Little bugger!

So please, for all you parents out there who have had to do the whole Birds and the Bees talk, I need help, I need to know exactly what to say and how to say it without going red and stuttering. I want them to know the truth but I don't want to traumatize them LOL



Now onto something else, I hope you haven't forgotten the giveaway happening tomorrow on my Slow Cooking Thursday. It's open to all my SCT participants who have been so faithful and have stuck by me even when we were down to like 5 people LOL

I want to see your best recipes and then I have decided I will do random generator because honestly I can't just pick one, I can already tell that they will all be awesome and I am not one to make people feel bad. How can I just pick one of you????? I'll let the random generator do it for me. Good Luck!


Bonnie asked me if I could do a tutorial for the blog templates, I'm more than happy to do that so in the next few days I may be posting a few lessons on HTML and blogger templates.

In the meantime if any of you would like a new header for your blog, just email me and I can help you with that, I love graphic design and if you just give me the colors you want and maybe a photo or an idea of what you want, I'll see what I come up with.....and best of all, for FREE.

Now I'm out of here, my kitchen calls me "bake bread.....bake bread" so guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to bake some WHO Bread......don't look at me that way, it may sound weird but it's really good and I'll be back with the recipe for you, I may even throw in a warm slice with butter if you're good. *wink*