Marie Alley

So most of you may already know, but I am an American that has lived in Australia now for nine years and one month. I have to say that one of the holidays I miss most is, Thanksgiving. It was a great time knowing that our family was going to get together and have a magnificent feast!!! Although Australia has a thanksgiving day of its own, it is not nearly as celebrated or as festive as ours. 
I have wanted to do a Thanksgiving dinner every year, but, truth be told, I would probably melt away in this heat! Well, it has been too long! I decided to crank up the air conditioning and invite some close friends to join my husband, our kids, and I in a Thanksgiving meal.  
Being as I was very excited this year and put up all the Christmas decorations, it already looks very festive. But I did want a special touch of a Thanksgiving theme on the table. This is where my Thanksgiving rag Garland comes into play. It’s a inexpensive way to make something really pop!!  
I contacted a very sweet friend of mine who is all too generous in donating her scraps for my cause! And I have to say that it turned out exactly the way I was hoping. I will do an update after I take pictures at Thanksgiving!!  

Used:

Thin rope

147 pieces of fabric 

19-20cm long
4-5cm wide
This made a garland that’s 64cm long!!
Then I added a string of tiny red LED lights!

Enjoy!

(PS, the more it frays over the years the better. I like rustic! But, for a clean look, you can use pinking shears on the end or something)

First I started by cutting all of my strips. They are not perfectly the same which I like.  Then I shuffled them in random order as I did not have equal amounts of pieces. 

Next, I simply tied them in a loose knot onto the rope. I knew I would need to slide them down as they went. Also, larger  the knot, the more rope it covers. If I make them tight, the knot is too small. 

Then, I made a cup of tea. 😉

When I was through, I loosened them up and spread them out a bit more making sure the Rope was still covered.  At the ends, I tied a very tight slipknot in case I ever want to hang it. In the end, I can put something prettier if I choose through the slip knots. 

Then I burned the ends. 

And tucked them under. 

I then went to every few ribbons and pulled one ribbon left and the other right creating more of a 3-D effect.

We will have a very long table for Thanksgiving and I will put this going down the centre like a runner.

I love the random patterns in this.

I found a long thin wire that had red LED lights on it. I wove this through the Garland and used the fabric to hide wire, but exposed the lights. 

So, formula isn’t cheap!   Well, ours aren’t, anyway. $22 a can!!!  Paying that much means I consider this stuff powdered gold!!!   Plus the fact my baby needs this to survive.  Lol.  I always hate leaving any behind, so I have used the handle to scrape out every bit!!  I’ve had a few people exclaim how they wish they knew!!!  So, just thought I’d share my little trick that doesn’t make you leave ANY formula behind!!
P.S.  Once I told my husband that I was sharing my trick, he said that I should also share his. He uses the formula scoop handle to open the tab of the next formula tin as he has no nails!!  😉
Enjoy!!  

Xoxoxo 
Marie

  

Okay.  So you know that moment when a friend comes over and brings a little something to nibble on and it ends up being one of the best things you have ever tasted??  This was one of those moments!!!!!

  

It is completely and entirely a perfect treat to bring to someone who might need a little pick me up!!  

I will post the link below, but I omitted the nuts and sprinkled Himalayan salt on top and bottom.  It made for a perfect treat for my wonderful husband’s birthday today!!!

 And is it worth trying? Let’s just say that I have a very bad tummyache from the “test tasting !!!” 

Enjoy!!!!

Marie

http://www.bundysugar.com.au/recipes/desserts/fudge

I wish!!!!!  I wish so badly you could smell and even taste this amazing dish! I have to admit, halfway through cooking it, I wondered whether or not I would like it. Let me tell you that your first bite will make you gaurd your plate so no one GETS ANY!!!  I mixed a bit of low sodium soy sauce and Chili paste to drizzle over the top.  Although it was also amazing, it did not need it.

  The recipe comes from a lovely lady named Angel on YouTube!!!   The link is below so you can get the recipe as well!!!!  Enjoy and let me know your thoughts as well!
Xoxo

Marie 
http://youtu.be/fKm3GM_fWNw

  

Okay. So I don’t normally cook so that it looks pretty. If I did, I would have to start cooking meals around noon. I am very much a rustic cook (just throw it in and eyeball it)!  This does frustrate me though, when a meal turns out amazing and I don’t know how much I put in of each ingredient.   Tonight I forgot to think about a side dish and decided to go with my trusty stock of potatoes in the pantry. I grabbed my ramekins and vegetable mandolin and got started!!

I started by simply peeling about 1 1/2 – 2  potatoes per person (I had 3 different types) and slicing them thinly with my mandolin.  I placed each serving into a ramekin that was sprayed with cooking spray.  Again, it is not pretty because I use every bit of the potato so there are some small bits in there as well. 

   

Then, I wiped olive oil all over the tops and sprinkled salt, white pepper, garlic powder, and parsley over the top. 

   

 

I baked these guys at 200c for about 45 min. I then took them out and basted them with a bit more olive oil and put them back in for 10 minutes.  

   

 

Because I had packed them in so tight, this is turned out like a beautiful soft potato on the bottom and a bit crunchy on top!!  They were amazing!!  Definitely going to put this in the recipe box and make it again!!

Let me know if you recreate this and I would love to see any pictures you have!!

Xoxo

Marie

Who loves party lights???  I do!!!  It is a shame that there is so much money!!  I saw an idea on Pinterest and just had to give it a go!!  I hope you enjoy how easy and expensive it is to recreate this look. 

First, I purchased a lot of 200 ping-pong balls on eBay. The ones without markings on them. You can get them in on variety of colours.  

Second, I used the very tip of an art knife to slice a small X on top of each ping-pong ball. 

After that, I simply slipped one ball onto each LED fairy light. 

The result was something soft and beautiful!!

  

Xoxo

Marie

Okay, so is anyone else addicted to these wonderful Waters??!!  Seriously, I have seen these blowup on Pinterest and all over Facebook!!!!   I was like, “Ewwwwww!!! Bits of food in my water?!??”   But, I have always been a girl who loves lemon in water especially in the morning. Definitely loving that “Eat Right For Your Blood Type” book!!!  ANYWAY, I’ve been throwing in cucumbers, oranges, lemons, limes, mint, watermelon, strawberrys, etc.  The entire family is hooked!!!   

This great detox water not only rids your body of harmful toxins, but helps to flush fat from your body as well.  apparently this is great for a clearing the skin as well. Time to start making pitcher fulls!!!

  

I would absolutely love to hear your favourite recipe!!!

Xoxo

Marie

We’re trying to teach our kids about all the people who serve our community. These people work tirelessly and risk their lives so that we can be safe. 

Our younger boys are particularly interested in the fire fighters, police, and ambulance officers.  Over time, I have explained about what midwives, nurses, and doctors do for us and have done for us and they are also very grateful for them. 

We were very excited to come together as a family and come up with an idea to say thank you. Of course cookies and baked goods sounded like a great idea, but we wanted something that would last a bit longer. In these professions there is not a lot of downtime, but we thought it would be nice to give them something that would cheer them up when there is.  We have a few more items we want to put inside including a special note from the family. 

  

  

So we came up with the idea of fun boxes!!  Everyone had a part to play in putting these boxes together.  Whether it was ordering the goodies to go inside or  decorating the box itself, we all had fun contributing to this project in some way!!

First, we went and purchased boxes from a local discount store. Then, we wrote out a bunch of hand made labels and the kids coloured them in!!

   

 

After the labels were finished, we put them on the back of packing tape and taped them to each side of the box.  Then, we took out the mod podge and stuck the top one on with that!!

   

       

Once dried, the boys got to pull out some of the goodies!!

Each boy chose a different service department.  They were chatting about the different areas in which is workers serve. It was a sweet time with them. 

Judson- “Fyermen make sure my fwends don’t get huwrt!”

Xavier- “Officers go after the badies.”

They’re so sweet!!

   

          

I’m not quite sure that Nicholas wanted to give up his box LOL!!

 

I would love to hear what ideas you have for serving and reaching out to the community!!

Xoxo

Marie

P.S. Once we delivered the boxes, I will post the photos here!!

So, lately there have been a lot of posts going around the internet with fantastic April Fool’s Day ideas!!  Wow!! There are definitely some very creative people out there!!

I absolutely love pranks and surprises and I think I have now turned everyone in my family to my side LOL!

I came across this idea, but could not wait until April Fool’s Day to play it out. I think it definitely gives them some character!!!

I would just be tickled pink if you could share your photos with me if you recreate this idea as well!!

Xoxo

Marie

  

Hi guys!!  Today, I made my hard-working men in the family Sopa since they decided to move a piano for me. Lol. Sopa is a traditional Mexican soup with noodles that has a tomato base. It is amazing!  

So I basically lightly fried a bag 

of 500 g of noodles. While that was frying in a bit of olive oil, I threw these ingredients into a blender!! 

• 3 tomatoes
• 1 small onion 
• 2 heaped tbls of garlic 
• a pinch of baking soda 
• 1/4C chopped coriander 
• Salt/Pepper

When your noodles get lightly golden, pour your tomato mixture into the pan of noodles. You can then add water until it is the consistency you are happy with.  You will basically need to let it simmer until the noodles I just right for you.  With this particular recipe, I threw in about 5 tablespoons of tomato paste which made it a  deep red and a bit too overpowering. 

But it was still yummy!!!!



Enjoy!!

Xoxo

Marie