Stuffed Chicken Breast

This recipe includes instructions for pan frying OR cooking in the oven.

This recipe was jotted down by a friend for me to try and I have adapted it slightly for ease

These took approx 30 minutes to prepare.
They take approx 15-20 minutes to pan fry (medium-high heat) or 25-35 minutes to cook in the oven (200 degrees C).

This recipe serves two, but I have listed the ingredients weight per person to easily adapt for more or less.

Ingredients
Two Chicken Breast Fillets (Approx 200g each)
Butter (Approx 25g per Fillet)
Mixed Dried Herbs (1 Teaspoon per Fillet)
Sundried Tomatoes (3-4 per Fillet)
Basil Leaves (4-6 per Fillet)
Plain Flour (1 Tablespoon per Fillet)
Egg (1 Medium did 2 Fillets)
Bread/Cracker Crumbs (Approx 25g per Fillet)

Oil for pan/baking sheet
Salad to serve.

Equipment
Rolling Pin/Meat Mallet
Scales
Two Bowls
Two Plates
Baking Sheet/Frying Pan

Method
Lay out the fillets and beat with a rolling pin or meat mallet until they are about the same thickness as your finger tip.
 
Take one of the bowls and mix together your butter and herbs, then spread them along the middle of your fillets.

Next, add a layer of sundried tomatoes followed by a layer of basil leaves.

Then roll your chicken breast carefully into a sausage shape.

Put your flour on one plate, breadcumbs on the other and beat your egg into the remaining bowl. Grease your pan/baking sheet and get the oven/hob heating (medium-high hob, 200 degrees C oven).

Roll the stuffed fillets in flour, then egg and then breadcrumbs. Stick in the pan/ baking sheet and cook!

Silly Thing, You Can't Swim! (Updated)

H: What do you want to do today?
Me: Hmm maybe decorate or something?

What did we end up doing? Well...

I was pottering around trying to decide what to do today when I see something splashing in our pond. I wasn't too worried given that our pond is full of tadpoles and has a big mummy/daddy frog in there too. But as the splashing continued my gut said to go and check. So off I toddle out the front door expecting to find the frog has got himself stuck in a plant or something. But what I saw made me question my own eyesight.

Me: Uh, babe? Can you come check something for me...

So out comes Hubby and he glances in the pond, then he leans in for a closer look. "That's a hedgehog!" he says. I nod and sent him in for gloves and a towel. Meanwhile our lovely neighbours have overheard the racket. "There's a hedgehog in your pond!?" They exclaimed. I nodded again. Next thing I know the neighbours are helping us fish him out and put tadpoles back in. I wrapped him in a towel and called the local vet, while rocking him like a baby which he seemed to like.

We rushed him on down there and while a little dazed, he seemed to be okay. But to be on the safe side they took our details (for when he can come home) and took him for some tests and to be cleaned up and fed. I had been a little nervous about feeding him because although I have cared for hedgehogs before, I am not familiar with ones that have taken a dunk.

We came back to neighbours asking where he was and if he was okay and I hope he will be pleased to know the whole street loves him already.

While this did mean I got to meet a bunch of my new neighbours, I would rather you didn't throw a hedgehog in your pond every time you move.

This picture was taken once we were heading to the vet - my primary focus was getting him checked over and taking this picture was an after thought once he was safe.

Update (9/6/2014): The vet has called, the hedgehog is happy and healthy and we can collect him tomorrow ready to release him. They had to wait until he was eating, drinking and had some medicine (almost drowning and being out in the day was a big shock to him) but now that he is we are welcome to go and get him.
As we will be getting him tomorrow during the day we should hopefully be able to get some pictures before he heads back into the wild.

In Laws or Out Laws?

We've all heard the rants, from monster in law to out laws everyone has a horrible in law story. Or do they? I was always told I would understand when I got married, warned almost. But my in laws aren't monsters or out laws. They don't insult me or try to talk my husband into divorcing me, in fact usually they always support us both.

This is not a "look at how lucky I am" post, this is because I want you to think about how lucky you are.

Maybe it is just because my Dad didn't support me, but I see every hug and phone call from my in laws as the sweetest thing in the world. Are there times they upset me? Sure. Just the other day my mother in law made a joke which upset me, but the second I said "that's a touchy subject" she dropped it mid sentence. Nobody is perfect, we all say things we shouldn't without meaning to or even knowing. No doubt I will have upset or annoyed them at some point, but we always are there doing our best and that makes those times so easy to move on from.

There are many things my in laws have done that make me feel so special, they almost heal the wounds left by my father.

The first time I visited them, I was so nervous. I had had so many warnings that in laws are horrible people that I was preparing myself for their hate almost. But they were great! They talked to me about movies and foods and so many things that I cannot list them all. But they were friendly. By the second/third visit they were giving me hugs and telling me they were so pleased their son had me in his life.

When we told them we wanted to get married a bit sooner than planned (we went from planning a two year away wedding to a month away wedding) I was prepared for the hate. But they hugged us and said they would support us whatever we chose to do and while they would absolutely be there if we wanted they would understand if we didn't want anyone. Silly! Of course we wanted them there!

For our actual wedding they drove down the day before and stayed up until 2am the day of helping me with wedding prep (like flowers). And even bought me an actual wedding bell! My Mother in law ran around organising everyone whenever I needed so I could get ready. She was amazing!

On my birthday I was supposed to go to London, unfortunately I was so ill I almost collapsed. So off to hospital I went. When we got back she made sure I took my antibiotics, tucked me up on the sofa and waited on me hand and foot so I could recover. My father in law sorted out a bunch of movies for me to watch and they chipped in with my husband to get me a Hudl!

But the biggest thing was helping us move. Not only did they help financially (my father in law loaned us money for moving costs), they helped emotionally (my mother in law listened to me complain about a million things and gave me a hug when I needed it) and physically (they arrived 2.30pm Sunday and helped us load and finish packing (clean washing and kitchen stuff mostly) as well as unload and unpack on the other end. They treated us to dinner, made sure we were settled and then took the 2 hour drive home late Monday night, just in time to roll into bed when they got home.

I guess what I am trying to say is, I won't always see eye to eye with my in laws. But they are amazing and I love them. And you know what? When they do annoy me or upset me it is because they are FAMILY and that will happen. You fall out with your mum and dad sometimes, this is no different.

All Systems Are Go

Well we have been biting our tongues, we didn't want to say anything until everything was confirmed. But now that is, we can share the good news.

We got the house!

We move in approx two weeks and although we have arranged the internet to be set up almost immediately upon moving in, understandably the updates may be a little slow while we settle. So here is a little taster of what to expect over the coming months...

Kitchen - We need to put up some shelves in the larder/pantry, install blinds, redecorate and add accessories.

Living Room/Dining Area - We will be replacing sofas and dining table eventually, we also need to install curtains, paint some furniture, remove the wallpaper and redecorate, add accessories.

Half Bath - We need to give it a bit of paint, install some storage and some redecorating/accessories to make it less dull.

Entryway - We need to build our house hub (storage for coats, schedules, key hooks etc), fill some holes and redecorate, repaint the heater, install a curtain over the door (privacy and to keep in the heat when winter rolls around).

Stairs - We plan to sand and stain the banister and look into extending the banister to ceiling.

Bathroom - We just need to install some storage and redecorate/add accessories.

Master Bedroom - We need to re-build the wardrobe, build a new bed (Hubby is a little tall so his feet stick out the bottom of our current bed), build a TV cabinet, bedding and curtains and redecorate.

Kids Bedroom - We plan to build a wardrobe and possibly some other storage. We need new curtains and cushions and we want a reading nook etc. We want a toy area, quiet area (for reading/relaxing/calming down) and learning area.

Office/Craft Room/Guest Room - We plan to turn the smallest bedroom (which is still rather large) into an office and craft room for me and Hubby to work along side each other on our own projects without falling over each other. This means building a custom double desk, lots of storage and a relaxing feel. We also want to move our sofa bed in there when we get a new sofa, so that when family/friends stay over we have somewhere for them.

Gardens - We will be going from a tiny courtyard out back and a patch of concrete out front to a decent sized front and back garden with lawns, hedges, decking, a pond, a tree and so there will be a little work to do. Mostly cosmetic. Cut lawn, the pond is currently a plastic pre-build and so we want to make it blend in a little better, we want to install flower/veg beds, re-stain the decking, repaint the bench/seat unit, add a shed. Just generally add our personality to it.

So as you can see, we will be very busy bee's and that should mean lots for you all to read and enjoy (:

Faffing with Fabric

We have been faffing with fabric for a couple of weeks now while dreaming of the new house, we have ordered a few samples and are still waiting for some but we have already fallen in love with a couple of them. We ordered swatches and searched around for the best prices of what we liked and that is how we stumbled upon threadandloop.co.uk which is where we intend to do most of our ordering from as they seem to hold all the fabrics we had fallen in love with from across the internet!

So on with some pictures, I have included close ups and full shots. Full shots are from google and iliv, close ups are from threadandloop.co.uk and please remember that these are just the ones we like so far. We have more samples on their way to us as we speak!

This fabric caught our eye as it is fun and colourful, without being a whole block of colour which can be a bit much. We plan to use this for curtains and then feature the colours in other places through out our sons room.

This fabric is only £8 per metre and is 140cm wide.

It may not look it, but this is actually a PVC/Oilcloth type fabric. We knew we wanted polka dots and so I spent hours searching (I honestly started to see spots) and just as I was giving up hope I discovered the "Great Spots" range. And right there was Lime/Kiwi and it was perfect. Fun fact: Hubby dislikes green and swore he would never have it in the house (despite owning green things like clothes). yet he took one look at this and fell in love with it.

This is £10 per metre and is 133cm wide. 

As I am sure you have realised by now we are a fan of cottagey things. I grew up in a quiet country village and so those cottagey things make me feel safe and secure. They make our house our home. And so we knew we wanted a patchwork style duvet cover and we couldn't find anything we liked, until we were looking at fabric and saw this. Funnily enough I saw it and thought I would show Hubby, he saw it and ordered a sample because he knew it was perfect. Reminds me why I married him ;)

This gorgeous fabric is only £8 and is 140cm wide (so a little too thin for a duvet cover, but we will add a border and that will resolve that issue).

And we plan to use this adorable fabric for some cushion covers, probably for the front room. We have some huge comfy cushions that are big enough for floor cushions and right now the covers aren't our thing. But they have sentimental value as they are the same cushions and covers I had for sofa/floor cushions in my childhood home so having them in our new home is really exciting. The covers will be carefully stored away in the attic and we will sew these new ones to make it a little more us.

This fabric is £8 per metre and is 142cm wide.

We will be faffing with more fabric over time, but these are all we have picked out of our current samples. We have more on their way to us as we speak.

Happy Dance! House Hunting

Oh my gosh! Sorry for the lack of updates but I have barely had chance to stop and eat let alone get online. This will be quick but I will try to cover everything.

Last week.
Tuesday was supposed to be our second viewing of the bungalow, we had the wrong time and asked to rearrange.
Wednesday we were informed it was now let agreed. It sucked and the search continued.

Nothing special jumped out at us, but there was some options.

This week
Monday something amazing happened. Our current estate agent posted a property to rent that is a few houses from my Nan who I absolutely love and used to spend all my time with.
Tuesday we were the first viewers (it was posted after closing time the night before). We said YES! It is not only gorgeous BUT we have free reign to decorate and the option to buy in the future. Perfect. We met the next viewers as we were leaving. We drove home and had a missed call from the estate agent, the couple we met wanted to view our house!
Wednesday they viewed it. Loved it and said it is at the top of their list. They went home to sleep on it and said they would be aiming for moving in at the end of May if they take it.
Today we are paying the first lot of fees and then the gorgeous family home will be officially let agreed and paperwork begins. Assuming we pass all the checks (we should but I worry) we will be moving in approx a month. Exciting!!!!!!!!!!

I Don't Poop Rainbows

I really don't poop rainbows, even if this blog sometimes seems it. So I wanted to say a little something about why this blog is usually very puppies and unicorns.

Number One is my husbands job. He works with vulnerable adults and while I am not so up my own backside to assume his bosses read our blog, I am aware that what I post is out there for anyone to read at anytime and that while I am not my husband I do represent him. In the same way your head teacher on a school trip tells you to be on your best behavior because you are representing the school.
So I try to behave. If I come on here cussing and shouting, if I insult people around us it paints a negative picture and could effect his bosses opinion of him.

Someone once said to me (regarding facebook, but applies to anything really) if you wouldn't say it in front of them, then you keep it to yourself or between you and your partner/best friend. I have been guilty in the past, when I was younger, of being mean. And yes I still sometimes rant about people, who doesn't? But now I keep those thoughts safe. I pour a glass of wine and phone my best friend or ask hubby for a back rub while I rant.

Number Two is that this is my family blog. Yes it's public and I won't deny that the 140 likes and 90 comments we got on facebook about how cute our jar labels are was heartwarming (we all like a compliment), but this blog is ultimately set up so that we can look back at our houses and decor choices and so that family can see what we have been up to. We (okay maybe more me than him) have a huge family that is spread out over the UK and splattered in other countries and this gives them a way to keep up. I know some of you are thinking "does your uncle really care about the colour of your bedroom?" and to be honest, he may not care enough to ask but that doesn't mean he doesn't care at all. When family visit, they want the grand tour. They comment on things like the bedroom decor or how cute the kitchen is. Well a lot of my family doesn't really get down this way much, so they are able to have the house tour through this blog or skip over it and catch up on what we've been up to.
Anyway, back to the main point... Because this blog is out here for our family we don't want them reading all the bad stuff. I mean sure we'll touch on things like my health etc. But they don't need to read a 4 page essay each week on useless doctors.

Number Three is the most important one. The internet is not the same as real life. I don't mean everything online is fake or anything, just it's different. If I come online and whinge and complain, anyone can read and anyone can comment. But anyone can skip over and as great as that is it can give a false perspective. But by stepping away from the computer and complaining to a friend, I know they can be trusted to listen, support and tell me when to strap on my big girl panties and get over it.

So please don't assume I'm high on fairy dust, I do get upset and annoyed. But I try to stay away from the computer when I feel that way and instead have a cuddle with the cats and calm down.

Also to touch on the lack of pictures of my son - he is 3. He is not yet old enough to consent to his picture being plastered everywhere and I'd like to respect that. That's not to say I never post pictures, but I try to limit it. The internet is forever and before I post I try to think "would he want his friends etc seeing this in 20 years time?" That doesn't in any way mean I think you're a bad parent for posting pictures of your children, it all comes down to personal preference and this is mine.