Condensed milk choc chip biscuits

Today my boys and I decided to do some baking, and what better for 2 x year olds to make but the easiest recipe ever! It isn't the healthiest but it's school holidays and we did a big run/bike ride (I ran, the kids rode their bikes), so we could afford a few unhealthy biscuits!

Condensed Milk Choc Chip Biscuits

Ingredients:
1 cup caster sugar
500g butter
1 tin condensed milk
3 cups self-raising flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cream butter and sugar.
3. Add condensed milk and combine well.
4. Stir in sifted SR flour and your choice of additions e.g. choc chips.
5. Roll into balls and place on a greased tray.
6. Press with a fork. Bake until brown.

As you will see Mr Keenan was a little bit enthusiastic with the kitchenaid and after adding the flour put it on a bit too high.. so we had a major flour catastrophe. I was very patient and amazingly didn't lose it with the mess! The boys of course thought it was hilarious! These moments are the ones we remember so I need to remind myself to be calmer as it really was quite funny and not something to go cranky over.. something I am trying hard to work on!

We are moving!

We have been waiting on news as to where we are moving to at the end of the year for ages! I have been quite anxious and impatient which I shouldn't have been as it doesn't make the decision makers decide where we are off to any faster! So yesterday BJ rang me at around 9am to tell me he had received an email and we are moving to Penang, Malaysia at the end of the year, and will be staying there for 3 years. This was our number 1 choice and I had done a ton of research into Penang - schools, housing options (even though we are allocated housing with no choice, I wanted to see what kind of accommodation other families in our industry are housed in), and of course restaurants/shops etc. It looks amazing. I have been told by so many people that it is a great place but it can be like Darwin. You either love it or hate it. I am not going to be working for 3 years there (there is potential for work, but I am going to see how I go first and prioritise the children & family over my work so that we can all be settled and happy), so am keen on getting into the whole lady of leisure lifestyle!

Over the next 6 months I will be sharing information as we decide on housing, schools etc and once we get to Penang I will be reviewing everything we do so that future expats have somewhere to go to look for information. I have been lucky in just over 24 hours a few Facebook friends have passed on details of friends of theirs in Penang and I have been chatting to them. They have been really helpful and given me lots of things to start googling, and also helped me out with some boring admin stuff which I am happy to know so I can help BJ with it. Since admin is my area at work it is kind of good to be able to help BJ at home to make sure we are all organised!

I thought I'd share some pictures of Penang I found on the internet to whet your appetites! I can't wait to get there.. We just worked out we have 22 weeks until our children finish school here for the year on 12 December, and it is likely that we will be moving around that time.. so 22 weeks seems like a long time, but when you are preparing to move overseas and sell your cars, uplift your whole life it isn't all that long!

Stretching the legs and watching Rio 2!

I have had a few weeks of little activity as I have been a little under the weather, I still have a sore foot and it has been school holidays so I've been focusing on the kids. I have been feeling better health wise and my foot while still sore is ok, so thought I'd get out this morning and test it out. I felt great, and will be trying to up my kms again to average 5km per run. I am not looking to do any longer runs at the moment - just really run for enjoyment and to keep my weight in check! I have noticed I am very bloated and that is not good - and obviously a major reason is because I have been lazy, and of course when I am lazy I eat for comfort, and then it is a very vicious cycle!

So on top of exercising this morning I also got back onto myfitnesspal and my goal is to record everything I eat over the next month or so to get me back on track.

Here is today's details. I was a bit slower than normal but really just wanted to stretch my legs. It was a gorgeous day. I started off with a gorgeous fruit salad for breakfast. I always find if I have a nice healthy breakfast that I am off to the best kind of start. :)

After devouring breakfast I headed out to stretch my legs. It was a lovely 19 or so minutes (well a bit more with a warm up and cool down walk), and was lovely to run around where I live when it is so nice and quiet.

After the run I headed home and chilled out a bit before we decided to set out for the day. On the agenda was a trip to our local large shopping centre, lunch and a movie - Rio 2. The kids were quite excited to be watching this movie, and mostly to be able to spend some of their well earned chore money. Their Aunts (well my best friends of over 20 years - so their honorary aunts, and their Mum who is like my second Mum), are visiting so they spoiled the kids by buying them a new outfit and something from the shop, so they ended up not needing to spend any of their chore money, which made them quite pleased. The kids had Subway for lunch (which amazingly always wins there over McDonalds), and I had Sumo Salad which I just love. I had the Peri Peri Wrap which while a few more calories then I usually would have is worth it!

Mango & Passionfruit Smoothies

I have been a bit MIA recently from the blog with school holidays upon us. I have been having a lovely time with the children. We just got home after a few days away which I will blog about over the next few days.

I have been making lots of smoothies for the kids as they love them and they're delicious!

Here is my current creation for my three starving children:

Mango & Passionfruit Smoothies

Makes 3 Large Cups

Ingredients
200g passionfruit frozen yoghurt
1 Tbsp passionfruit pulp
1 Banana
200g Frozen Mango
300ml Mango Nectar

Place all in your blender / thermomix / bellini and blend until combined.. then serve up!

Enjoy!