Christmas Gifts 2010 - More Homemade Goodies!

I decided to add on to my nephew's gift, I already made him this rattle block from Felt and wanted to give him a little something extra.  I quickly made these felt shapes for him:

Earlier in the year I made a set for Mouse as well, these are different in that they are reversable, I used two different felt panels for each side of the shape, now the cute little man can learn colours and shapes!  I'm busy on a alphabet set for both him and Mouse, hopefully I will have that finished by the new year.

Pumpkin / Butternut Bread

I've had a few requests for my pumpkin bred recipe.  I wanted to take pics as I go along and do a proper recipe post, but I forgot to take pics of half the steps!  Just a quick note - I prefer using butternut as to pumpkin, I find that pumpkin can be a bit watery,

Here is a photo of the finished product in a mini loaf tin and the recipe:

250 ml Sugar
125ml Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
5 ml Salt
2 ml Ground Nutmeg
2 ml Ground Cinnamon
125ml Water
250 ml Cooled, mashed cooked pumpkin / butternut
375ml Cake Flour
7 ml Bicarbonate of Soda

Mix everything well, pour into greased loaf tins / tin and bake for about a hour at 180C, if you make mini tins it needs about 45 min baking time - easy as that!

We have been making this recipe for years in our house and I'm not sure were we got it from originally.  My little sister likes to add in some chopped nuts as well.

Enjoy!

Christmas Gifts 2011

This year we all agreed that we are not going to spend a fortune on Christmas Gifts, we are going to stick to eats for gifts.  For the grownups I'm making some delicious fudge and homemade Pumpkin bread, this of course I'll only be able to make on the 23rd!  The kiddos will each be receiving a jar of homemade play dough and my little nephew receives a special gift as he is only a few months old!

I made him this jingling cube from felt, super easy to make for that special little one. 

I cut 6 squares of felt all in different colours, stitched them togheter and half filled it with cotton.

I added a small plastic container in the middle with a bell inside, covered that with more cotton and stitched the opening shut.  Easy as that!  No blanket stitch or anything like that, I'm totally hopeless when it comes to blanket stitching.

I saw some other great designs of the same kind of concept on these two sites:

My Poppet - great step by step tutorial!

Make Baby Stuff.com

Product Review and Giveaway {Flippen Lekka BBQ Spice}

During my search for natural foods without added nasties I found this little gem of a product!  Flippen Lekka BBQ Spice is truly an all in one seasoning!  I met Andre a few days ago and as we stood there chatting about eating, food and his gorgeous product I immediately saw that this isn't just another product, this is made with much care and loads of love from his side for good honest food and seasoning.  I was shocked to learn that some spices are cut with flour, to make them affordable - but now you are trying to cut out wheat or you have a child with allergies and you are giving them flour through spice!  Scary stuff!  His spice is full of natural herbs, spices and salt.  No added MSG or unwanted flour or any other surprises for that matter!

I made some gorgeous Elgin Free range chicken yesterday with his spice and it was so delicious, I'm hooked!  Taste good and it is good for you too!

The Flippen Lekka BBQ Spice is an all round spice, you can use it on any meat {beef, chicken, lamb, mince} and in dishes such as potjies or stews.  You only need one spice in your kitchen from now on!  It is R15.00 for 100ml and all containers are sealed for freshness and quality.  If you would like to order some you are welcome to contact me on trudie@jollymommy.co.za

Andre very generously sponsored one bottle for a giveaway.  Easy to enter, simply head on over to Flippen Lekka BBQ Spice's Facebook page, friend him and leave me a comment to validate your email and user name on facebook.  Easy as that!  Closes 14 December 2010 and the winner will be chosen using Random.org.  This is open to RSA postal addresses only.

Playdate at Stodels Nursery

I consider myself blessed to know two wonderful blogging moms.  Georgia from Love and Lollipops and Grietjie from Joyful Mama's Place. Not only did blogging bring us togheter, but they are now very dear friends in "real" life!  I always enjoy spending time with them, after a visit I always feel relaxed, refreshed emotionally and spiritually, and I feel ready for the next challenge in my life, knowing that they will be there to support me.  On Thursday we had a playdate at our local garden nursery, Stodels.  The children had a blast!  In the picture right at the top you will see Mouse, Sweet Pea and Little One sitting in a little "tree house".

Here's another one of the 3 musketeers, you can see the top of the slide that is the exit out of this little house!

Sweet Pea's sweet little face looking out of the window!

Mouse on her way to join Sweet Pea :)

Mouse using the exit slide! :)

ArrowBoy and Mouse trying to climb up the slide!

Mouse, ArrowBoy and Sweet Pea on the trampoline = loads of fun!

Mouse pushing Ta-Tam in a little trolley while we watched the new baby lama!

A very fun day!  Thank you my dear friends!

Book Review {Lead Like Ike by Geoff Loftus}

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, I'm normally not one who can read through a business book without getting bored halfway through, but because this book is based in history and reality I really enjoyed reading and learning from it.

Book Description

Dwight Eisenhower’s leadership methods during the most daunting project in history, the D-Day Invasion, provide invaluable strategies for today’s business person.
No modern CEO has ever led such a large organization—the immense Allied military forces of the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada—in the face of such crushing pressure to succeed. Lead Like Ike begins with Eisenhower reporting for work as the CEO of D-Day Inc., facing a ridiculously tight timeline, having to create an executive staff and company, and then managing D-Day Inc.’s early projects, the invasions of North Africa and Sicily. By analyzing military operations as business operations, and the commanding general as CEO, Lead Like Ike finds management lessons for modern corporate executives.

Well written and laid out it is easy to look up key points after a chapter is finished, there are 10 chapters all with their own distinct business strategy.  A good read if you want to learn more about business!

Kalahari.net link for South African readers

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through the Booksneeze program, but I blog with integrity and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.