binding

Making binding at home is so much cheaper- yes it takes so much longer but that is okay. For the price of 1m from Spotlight I was able to make 8m......


Sorry it has been quiet around here- we have had colds, sinus issues and now my little miss 4 has Gastro.

Hope all are well in your part of the woods.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Menu

Hi Everyone,

I am on a journey to make yummy and healthy foods. Being a Weight Watchers member means that I am constantly trying out some yummy and low fat meals. Our fridge has gone from having a lot of processed foods to being mainly fresh produce. Yes our grocery bill may have gone up in the one shop but over all it has gone down as I am not impulse buying and shopping a few times a week AND my weight on the scales has gone down.

On the weekend we grocery shop for the week and this is based on the menu plan that I have written up. I must admit having a plan has made life a lot easier.
Here is this weeks menu at my house:

Saturday: Lamb Shanks in a mushroom ragout
Sunday: Spiced steak with roasted tomatoes and kidney bean salad
Monday: Tuna, rice and tomato bake.
Tuesday: Thai Chicken Broth
Wednesday: Dukkah Lamb Cutlets
Thursday: Indian Chicken with quinoa salad
Friday: Honey Mustard Pork.

I must admit since menu planning we are eating a greater variety of foods and I am enjoying trying out new recipes. Just need to get Miss 4 to eat what we do- she is very fussy.

Weekend Wrap Up

We had a lovely relaxing weekend. Not much happened and it was lovely. Sorbet and walks on the beach on Saturday. On Sunday we bought Miss 4 a new bike- she has never had a big girls bike and is SO SO SO excited about it. She has training wheels because we did not want to buy a bike that would only last a little time, so we bought the next size up bike. She loves riding it and even made up little songs about riding her bike- SUPER cute.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finds

Just a little one that I love to head over to when I need to make a gift for a friend etc.

Tipnut

Is an awesome website that has links to all sorts of projects.
--Crafty Ideas & DIY Projects
--Home & Garden Tips
--Recipes, Food & Baking Tips

It is a great spot to stop by if you are looking for a project, someone has usually written a tutorial on how to make it.

Thursday Thoughts.

It is funny how we take things for granted. Life is so precious and often we don't just stand back and see what we have.

I think my own perspective on what I have and how grateful I am was strengthened when I lived in Chile. To see so many people begging and living on the streets. The men who wash your windscreens at the traffic lights just so they get money to feed their families. The Public schools and hospitals where the buildings were falling down. The places we were not to go because even the police stayed away.

And then the simple things- playing at the playa (beach) and picking up the broken glass everywhere so your child's feet don't get cut up. Only drinking bottled water, you never knew what was in the water.

BUT-- people there live these lives everyday and some seem happy to do so. The health system is not like ours and many have illnesses that will not be treated and there are no pensions like the ones we have here. This is a way of life for some. We saw it but we were lucky that we had a house (I will not say all the issues it had) a car, my little girl went to a clean and good school, we went on holidays and experienced different places and things that only being there you could do. We had a maid, at $5 an hour most do and by having her we supported her family. When we left we gave all our foods to her (very quick move and unexpected) and even some of the furniture we had bought whilst there. We treated our maid with respect I often said to her we are both humans you are no different- she cried about this.

I think we often whine and whinge about what we want and cannot have yet there are so many that live with less and are happy about it. I am guilty of this too, I also need to stand back and look at what we have.

If you want to read about our adventure in Chile- visit my other blog- http://tellosinchile.blogspot.com/

Life is short, live, love and learn.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday tinkering

What do you love to tinker with? Any little thing that you are not trained in but love playing around with??? for me it is Photo Shop. I just love to play around. I am not at all trained and I just love to play (in all hope that it works out). Remember all the things I made for my daughters party well I loved it. I designed my logo and all of the business things for Skip Chasey- I love knowing it really is something that I have done, worked on it to get it here.

So when people ask me if I can help them out I do. Today was some dinosaur cupcake toppers for a friends little boys 3rd birthday.

Monday Makes

So let's see what I can create on a Monday..... Why a Monday??? well little Miss 4 is at daycare on Monday, Thursday and Fridays. I seem to get a bit done on Mondays.

Today I was able to work on Some Custom Orders, Make some patterns and cook a yummy dinner.




I made a superhero cape and cuffs too but will get some photos of that tomorrow.


Oh and dinner was a lovely Chicken, sweet potato and spinach lasagne all WeightWatchers friendly of course. Might post some photos and the recipe in another post.

This week at Skip Chasey I have some mailing to do and some making of items for my next market night.

Have a lovely Week.

What's been happening at Skip Chasey

There has been a lot of new and interesting things happening here at Skip Chasey. I have been introducing new products and still running with some old ones. I really love creating for people and working on new projects. Life would be boring otherwise right?

So I will post some photos of the new products and will update you all as to when the next market night will be- not too far away.







I am always happy to try to make something you may have thought you need- just email me

skipchasey@live.com.au

Easter’s Left over’s!

How many of us have these left over after Easter???


What do you do with them? Throw them away? Store them?

Well how about we reuse them and create a mini hunt for our children. I love the look on little ones eyes when they are searching out Easter eggs, well why not make your own treasure hunt. It really is simple and great for both dry and wet weather days.

Take a whole heap of little things or big things that you may have laying around the house and take photographs of them.


I take individual photos and upload them to a program that I can make a collage with. If you do not have any program or want an easy one I suggest picasa. It is free and easy.

Make a collage of the photos-


I used my laminator so that Miss nearly 4 can use this over and over again.





If you don’t have a laminator you can use contact- I suggest sticking the paper to some card to make it sturdier.

Attach the card to the basket and hide the items.




Let the little ones loose to find the treasures. You can give them some stickers to mark off the items as they are found or even a white board marker as it will wipe off.

You can also take this basket with the items and hide them somewhere other then your home/yard. A simple and cheap way to entertain our children using items from our home.

Healthy Eating

I have been on the journey to find the smaller person that resides inside this body of mine. The Journey has been helped by the new Weightwatchers pro points Plan. It truly is a lifestyle and not a diet. I can still indulge and I do when I feel like it. Meal planning makes this all the more easier. I am horrible at meal planning especially at the moment with only having moved into a new house and all the trouble and trials that brings. BUT I have planned dinner tonight- A slow cooker meal. I really do not use my slow cooker enough and should use it more often, it would make life so much easier.

Tonight’s Meal is-

Lamb Stew

Here is what you need-


500 grams of lean diced lamb or lamb cutlets
2 big potatoes (approx. 500grams) total
2-3 carrots
1 Large brown onion
2-3 garlic cloves
1 cup of beef stock ( I used consume as I prefer the clarity and flavour)
2-3 rosemary stems





Brown the meat



Peel and cut the potatoes into large chunks
Peel and cut the carrots into large chunks
Peel and cut the onions into large chunks


Peel and grate/mince garlic- I use my microplane- one AWESOME piece of kitchen equipment.


Place all ingredients into the slow cooker. Depending on the time you will have will determine the heat setting. My Slow cooker has Low and High and as I knew this would be on most of the day I set it to low. If it is was only going to have a few hours I would set to High.




You can serve this with green vegetables on the side which will not add any propoints.

If you find the stock is a little too thin you can thicken it a little prior to serving.







Pro Points per serve = 8 (serves 4 people)

I served it with a cauliflower mash- just mashed it with cream cheese and a little parmesan. This only added 1 extra propoint.



What are your favourite low fat and easy meals?