garden, christmas and bolognaise sauce

Well what a busy weekend, even though it rained most of Saturday we were able to get the standard roses and lavender planted in the garden bed in front of our house. We have 2 of double delight and 2 of freesia, both perfumed which is a must have for roses.

We put up our christmas tree in the lounge yesterday, because I want to get as many days of christmas lights in as possible.

Bolognaise sauce, I thought I would make some yesterday morning. I got it all started turned the heat down low, then went outside to talk to my husband. He asked me if I wanted to replant our hanging baskets with the petunias we had bought an Saturday, which I did after finishing then tidying myself and the table up, I sat down and looked at the clock it was 11.40, my husband asked if I had thought about what to have for lunch, just as he was asking I remembered the sauce. With that I raced inside yelling over my shoulder I bet it has burnt dry, to my amazement it had thickened quite a lot but hadn't burnt. We ended up having it for tea last night but I did need to add some water to it to heat it up. My husband said it was the best sauce I had made in ages.

Just goes to show that sometimes cooking isn't about the time spent looking after it, it can be the time spent ignoring it !!

crunchy chicken with honey mustard dipping sauce

Hasn't it been hot, we are in the process of getting air conditioning before xmas.

A recipe for easy crunchy chicken with a honey mustard sauce, I made the other night.

Crunchy chicken

- I used 2 chicken breasts with the skin off.

Remove the tenderloin and cut the breast into similar size pieces. I got 10 pieces. Beat 2 eggs together - we are lucky to have fresh eggs straight from the chooks. Place 1 cup chips and 1 cup of cornflakes - doesn't have to be Kellogs can be no name, in a medium freezer crush together by hand until it is mostly pieces the size of a 5 cent piece or smaller. You can use a combination of both or all cornflakes - this doesn't give it the really crunchy flavour but is still quite nice or all chips. Place a cake rack on a tray. Dip chicken into the beaten egg, then drop into crumbs, push down into crumbs to ensure that you get plenty stuck on. Then put onto the rack. Bake 180.c fan forced or 2oo.c without fan. It took about 20-25 mins to cook. I carefully turned them after 15 minutes to get crunch on both sides.

Honey mustard sauce - while the chicken is cooking place 1/4 cup water, 2 tbsps honey , 1 tsp seeded mustard & 3 heaped tsps dijon mustard in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil simmer until thickened slightly 5 - 7 minutes, can take less time so watch it. Check for flavor you may prefer more mustard or honey. Tip into a small dish to dip you chicken into when cooked.

Enjoy!

You can make the chicken but don't cook it, then freeze them for a later date.

More nails and waxing

Waxing - Practice practice practice that was needed to pass my test - written next week then practical. Nails - Stripped my acrylic nails off - and re did them, now all new and fresh with a beautiful mauve glitter french manicure.

I have been very busy over the weekend shifting my daughter. Made the Nigella chocolate again today, with my variations for my eldest daughter as she loved the last one. On Sunday afternoon I made samosas and pasties, very tasty.

Fingernails

I have been busy yesterday re doing my nails. I am a nail technician - I work out of my daughters hairdressing shop -so I can do my own acrylic nails. My eldest daughter says that I do them too often, not really as I want to try different designs on my own nails.

This is a picture of one of my designs, I am not the best photographer when it comes to photographing my own hands.