March Eats

March was a bit of a quiet month in the food stakes, we relied on a lot of our staple dinner recipes and only tried a few new things. We're saving for a trip to Bali so eating out was a rare occurrence in the Bovary household, but I did perfect an easy dessert that Mister is obsessed with and tried a new cereal that is my new morning love, so they were pretty good developments!

Dominos Pizza
Cornflake Crumbed Chicken with Greek Lemon Potatoes
Slow Cooker Curry on the way!
Spicy Capsicum Dip with Water Crackers and Carrot Sticks

Dominos pizza is a treat that the Bovary household is a big fan of - it's a bit pricy for pizza so we don't eat it too often though. I make my own 'Designa' pizza, because there is nothing better than feta and prawns on a crème fraiche base! In terms of homemade dinners, my favourite for the month was definitely my cornflake crumbed chicken - the sweetness from the cornflakes makes for the tastiest crumb and I can't wait to make this one again.

Microwave Golden Vanilla Pudding
Chocolate Cupcakes with Confetti Sprinkles
Uncle Toby's Plus Iron
Sweet Milo Slice

A regular instalment after dinner in March was this awesome microwave pudding - I use a base of golden syrup and serve it with scoops of vanilla ice cream (I use this recipe for it, super easy!) A big fail was the milo slice, I followed a recipe I found online when I was poking around for new things to make with milo but it was really hard and didn't have a great flavour - should have stuck to dumping the milo into cold milk like I usually do! My best new find of the month was Uncle Toby's Plus Iron - I tried this sample pack and then bought a full size, such was my immediate love for it! I've since finished that and have bought two more because I found it on sale and wanted a back-up. Having a food back-up reminds me of Papa Bovary who buys everything in bulk, it makes me laugh!

 

How exciting was your March Eats? Any recipes I should give a whirl?

-Emma xx

February Eats

Another month, another food round-up for you all! I enjoyed some home cooking this month and the small handful of meals I ate out were really lovely and a nice treat. I'm still yet to indulge in new cuisines as per my 2015 goals, but I did make Greek lemon potatoes once more so at least I'm working on that goal!

second attempt at Greek lemon potatoes
seared tuna at Red Door Corner Store, Northcote
Chicken Satay from Paul Louey's, Rye
Brioche French Toast with Peach and Orange Custard from Red Door Corner Store

Another attempt to perfect my Greek lemon potatoes was a success, less of a success was the chicken satay from Paul Louey's in Rye that I had on Valentine's Day. $18.50 for this plate seems a bit excessive and it wasn't anything special (the Thai restaurant in Rye serves much better satay!)

A much better meal was shared with my best friend Candice at Red Door Corner Store - I went for the Brioche French Toast (yet again!) while Candice had the Seared Tuna. I had my first try of seared tuna that day! I have a full review of RDCS coming up on the blog.

homemade chicken & feta bowl, with spinach, rice, capsicum and corn
my home spin on a SumoSalad - southwest chicken w honey mustard dressing
a long-time favourite treat - Dorito's with Salsa!
Marion's Kitchen Korma Curry

We didn't eat out very much in February, and I tried to stay away from food court lunches by making my own versions at home. I threw together the chicken and feta bowl using bits and bobs from the fridge and freezer, whereas the 'el Bovary sumosalad' was a more thought out idea - I threw together everything I usually eat in my SumoSalad together and it was a pretty damn good copy!

Doritos and salsa are a rare snack for us nowadays but Mister and I really love them - why so addictive, huh? Last but in no way least was the Marion's Kitchen Korma Curry which we made with chicken - her boxed meal kits are the bomb, do yourself a favour and try them on a lazy weeknight!


raspberry swirl muffins for Mister's work lunches
Dairy Milk Picnic
Rolled Oats with honey and brown sugar apples
Baking spree - raspberry coconut tarts, banana tart and coconut turnover

Muffins don't personally float my boat but Mister loves them for taking to work, so I whipped up some raspberry swirl flavoured ones for him to take in and share with the boys. I seem to get bitten by the baking bug more often nowadays and I love experimenting with flavours, but sometimes you can't go wrong with a classic! Speaking of classics...Dairy Milk Picnic Block - turning a non-choc lover into a choc-lover since 2014.

I love eating oats for breakfast and often have overnight oats as they're really filling and delicious, but I didn't prepare anything overnight so whipped up some honey brown sugar apples to spice up some plain cooked rolled oats.

A big baking spree happened! I made tarts for my nephews birthday and then the rest just happened. The coconut turnover was the best out of that bunch for me, juicy and sweet with awesome flaky puff pastry.

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A big month of baking, it seems! What is your favourite thing to bake or make at home? Do you ever copy a favourite take-out/food court recipe at home?
-Emma

2015 Goals

Now that we're at the end of January I feel like I'm beginning to settle back into normal life, and I've taken time out to assess my goals and what I'm aiming to achieve this year. 2014 was a big one for me with the wedding, honeymoon and finishing work, so 2015 will be very different and I can't wait to see what it holds for me! I plan on being more organised when it comes to blogging, I'd like to review more skincare this year and post more regularly, too. 

2015 Goals!

-Visit the Melbourne Aquarium
Mister has been promising me he'd take me there since we began dating - we are now married, so I think he needs to get a wriggle on!

-Read 30 Books
I'm off to a great start already, you can check out my Goodreads page here

-Start a herb garden
I've never been a keen gardener so this might be a challenge!

-Book our next overseas trip (Bali 2016!)
Our dear friends are getting married in Bali this time next year and it's so lovely to have a holiday to aim for!

-Make curry paste from scratch
My favourite dish is Massamun Curry and I'd love to make my own paste for it.

-Perfect Greek lemon potatoes
One attempt down so far and it was a success - now to perfect them!

-Buy new furniture for the guest bedroom
I am setting up one of our spare rooms as a guest bedroom and can't wait to decorate it all!

-Eat 6 different cuisines
Using Urbanspoon as a guide, I'm going to try 6 cuisines I've never had before and hopefully find some new favourite restaurants!

-Slimline my makeup and skincare stash (Project Use It Up!)
I think I would enjoy my stash a lot more if it were organised better and only had amazing products in it, so that is my ultimate aim.

-Install nail polish racks in beauty room
Who wouldn't want their polishes displayed so they are easy to reach for? 

What cuisine is your favourite? Anything out of the ordinary that I should try?
Emma x

July Goals / June Update

Recapping my June goals:
-Walk 52km (improvement is the goal, not perfection!)
Huge fail on this one, I only managed around 30km and it definitely affected the way I feel about my health and fitness right now. Can't let this happen in July!
-Limit takeaway coffee (health + budget orientated)
I still indulged in a few takeaway coffees but I consciously thought about whether or not I wanted one before ordered, whereas I used to just buy them as a habit even when I didn't want one. I've been having an instant coffee each morning and really enjoying it!
-Read 3 novels
I really enjoyed my reaching choices this month, which were all borrowed from my local library. My favourite was The List by Joanna Bolouri which was the best sexy read I've ever come across. I also read J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy which took me ages to get hooked into but in the end I didn't mind it, and my final read was Paris Was the Place by Susan Conley which made me yearn for a trip abroad (and made me think about asylum and the idea of family...)
-Cut back on small beauty purchases and put that cash towards wishlist items
As you will see in my upcoming monthly round up haul I still bought some little beauty purchases, but I definitely also put a whole stack back on the shelf instead of buying and didn't buy any large beauty items either (I'm waiting for something awesome to splurge on!)
-Finalise hens + kitchen tea guest list
I was slack with finalising these and really wish companies were prompt at getting back to customers! Would love some tips on what you enjoy in a hens or kitchen tea?
-try making Mum's lentil soup on my own
Obviously wasn't as good as Mumma Bovary's but it was still delicious and perfect for cold Melbourne nights!
-create + hang artwork in the bedroom
So pleased with this one, Mister Bovary and I created a quirky canvas print for the wall and even he said it has helped pull the room together and give it some personality!

5/7 ain't bad!

takeaway coffee and a book I read in June // My version of Mum's lentil soup // my most recent library stack

July Goals!
-Walk 52km
-20+ days of stars*
-Read 3+ books
-Finalise wedding bouquet details
-Order our wedding bands
-Try cooking with a new recipe x3
-Start filling some pot plants


*stars are for days when I workout and eat healthily all day- no cheating!

Goals for June

Recapping my May goals:
-walk 50km.
I ended up on 51.41km for May, which is a good achievement considering I had to go slow because I was off work with a sore back. Having my mother in laws treadmill has been a blessing for me, rainy days are no excuse for jumping on and it felt good to hit that round number.
-fill and hang new photo frames
We ended up not hanging these but placing them on their stands as it looked a lot better - still not sure these are the pictures that will stay in the frames, but for now they will do and I'm glad I get to look at my new frames all the time now! We also hung up our new coat rack, happy days!
-make up bags of product for Mumma Bovary and my sisters
3 bags are sitting in my beauty room ready to dole out to the girls - I still have more to give them but will make up a new bag soon for those things. They aren't all that knowledgeable about beauty so a few products at a time will be better for them to try out I think. I gave Mumma Bovary some self tanning stuff that she loves, my sister some foundations that are too dark for me to trial and the other sister picked up some eyeshadow and even more foundation. Be gone, huge stash!
-book wedding videographer
I've made steps to achieving this, ultimately I'm just waiting for the company to finalise our arrangements and pay a deposit for this.
-read 4+ novels
Being off work had something to do with this being ticked off - I finished Kylie Ladd's Last Summer in May so I counted it, and I also read Mindy Kaling's book and two V.C. Andrews from the Dollanganger series. (My name on GoodReads is emmabovary if you'd like to link up!)
-keep up my water intake to stay hydrated
Lazy fail on that one!

Goals for June!
-Walk 52km (improvement is the goal, not perfection!)
-Limit takeaway coffee (health + budget orientated)
-Read 3 novels
-Cut back on small beauty purchases and put that cash towards wishlist items
-Finalise hens + kitchen tea guest list
-try making Mum's lentil soup on my own
-create + hang artwork in the bedroom

What goals are you aiming towards this month?