Random

The last few weeks have certainly seemed to have flown by.  My life really is a cycle and it revolves around when lovely hubby is home and when he's at work.  

 

Things that need a little extra time to do, I always try to plan when he is at home so I have a little extra help with the kidlettes.

 

Things like making pasta.

 

 

People make their own pasta all the time and I can see why.  It's incredible.  It's also quite easy if a little time consuming which is why we really do love shop bought pasta that you can just bung into a pot.  The homemade stuff is worth it though and when I'm a little more comfortable with making it, I may even do it when it's just the kidlettes and myself.

 

 

The kidlettes themselves..... One moment causing me absolute joy and the next I'm on the brink of a mental asylum.  The below photo is an in-between moment....

 

5 minutes before I was ready for the asylum.  Then they kept at me until I came and saw what they were up to (the photo is the happy co-operative proof).  5 minutes later I was ready for the asylum again. 

 

Mum.  I apologise for when I put you through this when I was a child.  Sometimes I wish time machines were invented for just these moments.

 

There was also an outing to the Clydesdale and Heavy Horse Show at Gatton.

 

 

I didn't know it was on so I thank my Mum for the suggestion.  We left Master M with my Dad, my brother and Master M's cousins for the day (all boys),  and the girls headed off to look at the horses.

 

I'm not that big on horses but Little Miss R loves them and Mum thought it would be a nice day out.

 

 

 

 

It really, really was.  Three generations with my Mum, me and my daughter.

 

It's not quite a 2 hour drive to Gatton (maybe two if you add toilet stops), and the drive over and back were part of the fun of our day out.  In other words, we got to check out a few things that husbands and fathers drive straight past because the are on the A-B track and looking at things in between is not an option.  We happily meandered a bit.

 

Our girl got to pat plenty of horses.  There was a beautifully made wagon (see above photo) and plenty of demonstrations from the heavy horses and the jobs they used to do before the good old petrol engine was thought of.

 

There was also a farrier competition and a petting zoo which Little Miss R just HAD to experience.

 

 

 

Our girl also got to have a ride on a wagon drawn by 6 horses.  She LOVED this.

 

 

 

Just once around the arena but she thought it was fantastic.  I was only thankful for most of the day that Master M wasn't with us as he would have been so totally bored out of his brain.

 

We girls loved it though.

 

 

We even loved the fairies on their mounts.

 

 

 

Onto other things.  I've tried to make cheese.

 

 

It was a total disaster but I know where I went wrong so will update you when I get it right.  I didn't even take a photo of the disaster, it's too embarrassing.

 

The scones were perfect though.

 

 

 

It was raining and the coldest day of the year so far (not even 20 degrees celcius!) 

 

On the drive home from school the kids asked if we could have scones for afternoon tea.

 

I told them years ago that my Mum used to cook either pikelets or scones on cold, rainy days when we got home from school.  I know she didn't do it all the time but it really stuck in my mind on the days when she did do it.

 

It looks like my kids are loving this tradition too and I have to say when it's cold and raining outside, there's nothing better than a hot scone (or pikelet) smothered in butter and dripping in syrup, honey or jam. 

 

They're cheap to make too and now I have extras for school lunches tomorrow.

 

:)

 

xx Susan

 

 



Crochet update..... and the school holidays

It's been a bit wet around here lately.  That's to be expected with Cyclone Debbie to the north of us and flooding all around us over the last week.

 

It started the school holidays off early as all schools were closed for the last Thursday and Friday of the term in South East Queensland.  The kidlettes were VERY happy about that but I had already decided it was going to happen with the torrential rain on our roof in the early hours of Thursday morning. 

 

 I couldn't sleep of course and at 3am when the rain is pounding on your tin roof you start making adjustments to your mental school holiday schedule and calendar.

 

The first couple of days were easy.  We didn't leave the house.  It was way too wet (flooding) and windy and being outside was not that pleasant.  The kids did venture onto the trampoline in their togs for awhile as they always do when it rains but that was about it.

 

So what did we do?  Well the kids got plenty of screen time (bad Mum) because who wouldn't really let them have it when the weather was so bad and we still had power.  It also gave me plenty of time for some crochet.

 

 

 

 

Master M's blanket is coming along really well.  After not touching it for about 6 weeks (which coincided with the time we were without an airconditioner in 30 plus degree heat and high humidity),  I all of a sudden got a spark going in me again.

 

 

Then I ran out of yarn of course.  It seems I work a bit of a loose crochet and I'm almost there but need just the teeniest little bit more of a few colours to finish the blanket off.  So I've ordered some more yarn of the colours I need and have put that project on hold until the order eventually arrives from the UK.  It took 3 weeks to arrive last time so I'm not looking for quicker miracles this time.

 

So instead of moaning while I'm waiting for my order, I decided to start on a new project.

 

I excitedly got hold of one of the baby alpaca/silk mix balls of yarn I ordered ages ago and before I could talk myself out of it, I started a new project.

 

 

 

 

You will not believe how glad I am that I started this project.  The yarn is beautiful to work with and is the softest and most beautiful of yarns to feel against the skin. 

 

The shawl/wrap that I started making it with came together in no time.  Perhaps I let the kids have a bit too much tech time but hey, it was raining (flooding), we couldn't really do much else except board games and I was in my own happy tech/crochet space.

 

In no time at all I had this project finished.  All I need to do now is to block it to make the pattern really stand out and this shawl to look amazing.

 

I also planned out a number of other projects and the next one was a lovely textured scarf in this plum coloured pure wool.  I finished this one pretty quickly as I really enjoyed working with this yarn and making this beautiful pattern. 

 

It still needs blocking too of course so that the lovely pattern can be seen better.

 

 

 

Even though the school holidays started early, it hasn't all been flooding and crochet (or tech time for the kids).

 

Master M's had a couple of sleepovers at his mate's place across the road. There's been lots of back and forth across the street with the kids lately which is a good thing.

 

Little Miss R has also had her friend from school have a sleepover at our place for a couple of nights.

 

There's been lots of imaginative stories, outings and fun to be had. 

 

There's been A LOT OF LATE NIGHT CHATTER AND GIGGLING when trying to get children to bed. 

 

There's been some very imaginative stories which has resulted in children sleeping out in the lounge room.  (Yes kids, we are a little sceptical when a small creature in a red cape is wandering outside the window sill in the bedroom.  Even more so when the dog is very quiet and hasn't noticed a thing either!)

 

When we have other kids for a sleepover that usually means some of the kidlettes favourite meals.  So we've had homemade lasagne for dinner, pancakes for breakfast and homemade pizza for another dinner.

 

I made a double batch of pizza dough and rolled it out into individual sized pizza bases (extras can always be frozen), then the kids went to town making their own pizza toppings with what they had to choose from.

 

 

 

The best way I've found to get a good individual pizza base size is to cut them out with a noddle bowl.  Depending on the depth of the dough, you can always roll them about a bit thinner to make a bigger pizza if you want.

 

 

 

The food seemed to be a bit of a hit.

 

We took advantage of a small break in the weather to take the kids kayaking.

 

 

 

There was some paddling fun, some exploring fun and then there was a bit of an injury.

 

I'm so sorry to Master W's parents.  There's nothing worse than handing a bleeding and injured child who is in your care back to his parents.  Luckily no stitches were needed.

 

The kidlettes did have a lot of fun before that moment of course.

 

 

 

I also got a small chance to work on my next project.

 

 

 

Unfortunately it was while I was taking a couple of minutes to sort out my yarn in the wind and work a few stitches that the injury happened.

 

So the crochet has been going great guns lately.  I've even been working on my own pattern for a shawl.

 

Just don't allow me to look after your kids when I decide to take some crochet with me when we go out.!!!

 

xx Susan

 

 



I LOVE my bread maker

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE my bread maker?

 

Probably not although I don't often go back through previous posts when I'm doing up a new one so it's quite possible I have.

 

 

 

A couple of months after my 40th birthday last year (yeesh!) I decided to buy myself a present that I had wanted for YEARS.  As I still hadn't received a gift from hubby or the kids for the BIG day and being the practical sort, I decided that I'd just go and buy something I wanted and wish myself happy birthday as I was measuring out the first lot of ingredients.

 

Nearly a year later and we still really enjoy fresh homemade bread.  I ususally make just a basic white loaf which makes the best toast on earth or a really yummy fruit loaf which Little Miss R and I really, really love. 

 

On the odd occasion I'll do something different and add a little cheese and bacon to the mix if we're having soup for dinner but mostly it's just the basics.

 

(Little Miss R loves fruit loaf and has not eaten any store bought version since I started making it.  I wouldn't either as the homemade stuff is so much better and freezes really well too.)

 

Homemade toasted bread with Nana's pretty awesome homemade Rosella jam makes a great breakfast or snack too!!  Honestly the toast is amazing.  I've turned into a bread snob and won't even have toast if I've only got shop bought sliced bread.  It's pretty dense so even though it's great fresh or toasted, I find it a bit too cloggy for sandwiches.  

 

Sometimes I put a loaf on and set the timer so we have fresh bread for breakfast which fills the hungry hoards up.  The kidlettes LOVE it with an egg.  Sometimes I make it so we have a fresh loaf for afternoon tea once school is finished.  That certainly fills the kids up and stops them looking in the pantry for the next couple of hours.

 

Other times it's a fresh loaf to have with a soup or stew for dinner.  Honestly it's one of the best things I've EVER bought and it stays on our really limited bench space because I know it's one thing that does get used quite a bit.

 

Homemade fresh bread.  Not much else beats it and I admit I did used to be happy making it and kneading it by hand, but it's so much easier using the breadmaker.  (...and I do make it so much more often now.)

 

Oh and I've found a recipe for a lemon and poppyseed loaf so I think I might have to try that!  Yum!

 

 

xx Susan



Leek and Mushroom Pies

In the frozen meal section of the local woollies they have Linda McCartney meals.  I don't usually buy frozen meals but my sister got me onto these as they are really, really yummy and great for lunch with a salad.

 

The leek, red onion and cheese plaits are so tasty and I decided I could make something similar myself which would work out much cheaper.

 

I had leeks and mushrooms in the fridge so this is what I came up with.

 

 

chop up 1 leek and about 9 or 10 button mushrooms.

 

I also used 2 shortcut rashes of bacon cause they were in the fridge and needed using.  If you wanted a vegetarian option then leave the bacon out.

 

On a medium heat I cooked the bacon and mushrooms for a few minutes then turned the heat down and added the leeks and 2 cloves of crushed garlic.

 

I let this mixture cook over the low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

Then I made a cheesy white sauce.  Everyone has their own white sauce recipe I'm sure so just make up about 2 cups of it and add about 3/4 cup of grated cheese in at the end.  I used cheddar and parmesan.

 

 

One tablespoon of butter to two tablespoons of plain flour per cup of milk made the sauce a nice thickness.

 

Then mix the leek and mushroom mixture through the white sauce and place a really good heaped tablespoon full onto the pastry.



 

I just used sheets of frozen puff pastry which I cut into quarters.  I place the mixture in the middle of one of the squares, brushed the outside with water and placed another square of pastry on top.

 

I then sealed up the edges and cooked them in a 200 celcius oven for about 25 minutes.

 

I made 12 pies and have frozen most of them so I have a quick meal on a night when I want something easy.  They are really yummy!

 

I've also thought about putting the filling in crepes or a baked potato if I wanted to do something different.  I made them into pies because I wanted to have some homemade meals in the freezer for easy dinners.

 

If you make something similar, enjoy! 

 

xx Susan

More rain..

Yes the rain is still about. Gympie (about an hour's drive north of us) is completely cut off again and if it stays like that for another day then hubby won't be able to get home from work.  Actually there's plenty of roads between here and Blackwater that are cut off so here's hoping the creeks go down so he can get home.

 

While the kidlettes are at school I've been getting a little bit more of the house in order, not much though.  I've found that I'm very easily sidetracked and more so when I'm supposed to be doing housework.

 

On a bright note, my blanket is all joined together and I'm just working on the border so NEARLY THERE!!!!!  Woohoo!

 

 

Rainy days are just right for soup.  I've been eating plenty of it lately from either out of a can or homemade.

 

Yesterday I made the yummiest chicken and vege soup with some potatoes, carrots, zucchini, garlic, onion, red lentils, chicken stock and of course some left over roast chicken.  There wasn't much left so I picked the carcass clean and bunged it in the pot with the veges and it is certainly DELICIOUS. 

 

Just perfect for a cooler, rainy day.  Plus I also have plenty left over for today and have frozen some too.  Bonus.

 

 

Of course on rainy days it just happens to completely bucket down when you have to pick the kids up from school.  Even with umbrellas we got pretty wet so once we got home and dry, I decided to make some pikelets for afternoon tea.

 



 

I remember my Mum used to make pikelets for us on rainy days after school.  The kids decided they want it every day but that certainly won't be happening!

 

 

Unfortunately I started to get a bit of a sore throat and leaky nose during the day so all I wanted was a good night's sleep to hopefully stop the dreaded lurgy getting to me.

 

Did that happen? 

 

NO!!!

 

The bloody dog whinged and cried all night keeping me awake and then my girl spent half the night being sick. 

 

She's home from school today so I think we both might crash in the lounge in front of the box and a few good movies.  We might watch girly movies that we don't get to watch when Master M and Daddy are here so I can see The Secret Garden and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness on the horizon.

 

Yes, my girl absolutely loves The Inn of the Sixth Happiness with Ingrid Bergman which is wonderful because it's one of my all time favourite movies.

 

Hope you are all having a great week, I'm going to consult the boss about what to watch then make a little nest for myself.

 

Chicken soup for lunch anyone?

 

xx Susan

Osso Bucco

I decided to have another comfort food evening on Saturday.  It was hubby's last night home before going back to work for his next shift and I just wanted something I knew we would all really enjoy.  Osso Bucco was my choice this time and it was so unbelievably delicious.



My Osso Bucco recipe

 

                               *      about 6 Osso Bucco pieces

                               *     1/4 cup plain flour

                               *      2 tbsp olive oil

                               *      1 onion, diced

                               *      2 cloves garlic, crushed

                               *      2 celery stalks, diced finely

                               *      2 carrots, diced finely

                               *      1 zucchini (corguette), diced finely

                               *      1/2 cup dry white wine

                               *      1 can diced tomatoes

                               *      2 tbsp tomato paste

                               *      1 cup beef stock

                               *      1 bay leaf

                               *      pinch of dried thyme (or a handful of fresh if you

                                            are  lucky enough to have it)

                               *      salt and pepper

 

 

 

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil and cook the onion, garlic, celery, carrots and zucchini over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes (until vegetables are soft).  Transfer the vegetables to a bowl.

 

 

 

Coat the Osso Bucco pieces lightly with the flour.

 

 

Heat the remaining oil and brown the Osso Bucco pieces for about 2 minutes each side.



 

Now for one of the most important steps:

 

Pour the wine!

 



Add the wine to the meat, bring to the boil and cook for about 1 minute. 

 

When pouring the wine it is essential to pour a glass for the cook as well.

 

 



 

Add the vegetables back to the pan as well as the tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf and stock.  If using the dried thyme then add this now too.  Season with salt and pepper and give a little stir.

 

 

Cover with foil, put the lid on, turn down to low and let cook for between 1 and 1 1/2 hours.  I usually do closer to 1 1/2 hours but only had 4 pieces of Osso Bucco this time so I cooked it for just over an hour.

 

If you're using fresh time, stir that through now before serving.

 





Serve with either Risotto Milanese, Creamy Polenta or Mashed Potato.

 

We had it with the polenta this time which was incredibly awesome.  Just click on the creamy polenta link above if you want to see how I make it.

As you can tell by the next photo, food presentation and portion controls are not obviously my thing.

 

 You'll be pleased to know that I didn't eat all of this as I was bursting at the seams after only about half.  Leftovers for Sunday lunch.....yum, yum!

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

xx Susan



A happy weekend

Our weekend started slowly with a lovely sleep in followed by a leisurely breakfast.

Then we headed out to my sister's house mid morning to pick some more mulberries.   I ended up getting a few for my bowl which was a miracle as Little Miss R ate 2-3 times more than what's shown in the picture below.
 

My sister was off on holidays later that day so we came home with plenty of goodies from her fridge which would go off otherwise.  It's certainly helped me with my menu planning for the week and the bottle of cream that had just about reached it's due date gave me a good idea for dinner.

 

 

I used our big slow cooker to make up a stew.  It certainly doesn't look the best but is chock full of beef, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato (kumara), carrots, spinach, onions, cannellini beans, red lentils, some herbs, beef stock and probably a couple of other things I've forgotten.

 

DELICIOUS.  I've also put half of it in the freezer so we can take camping with us in the school holidays.

 

Instead of toast or bread rolls, I decided to make some cheese scones to go with the stew.  These go really well with soups as well and I love having them for breakfast the next morning if there's any leftover.

 

They're so easy to make.  Just mix 2 cups of self-raising flour, 2 cups of grated cheese and 1 1/4 cups of milk together.  It's a really wet mixture so I just plonk spoonfuls onto a baking tray to cook.  No kneading, rolling or cutting out which is just how I like it.

 

 

Depending on the size, cook them for between 10-20 minutes in a moderate oven and you have yummy, easy cheese scones which everyone loves.

 

 

 

 

Then I made dessert which the whole family were pretty excited about.  We rarely have dessert so it did cause quite a stir in the house when I said I was making one. 

 

Remember the mulberries we had picked in the morning?  Well they were to form part of the Fruit Galette.

 

Mix 1 x 250g pack of light cream cheese, 1 egg yolk, half a cup of icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of cornflour together.  (Pictures 1 and 2 below).

 

Then mix 2 cups of fruit (I used mulberries and strawberries), with 1 tablespoon cornflour, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract together.

 

 

I use 2 frozen sheets of puff pastry and divide the mixture in half to make two galettes.

 

Place half the mixture in the middle of one of the sheets of puff pastry, leaving a wide border around the edge (middle bottom picture above).  Then fold the sides over to enclose the galette, brush the pastry with the left over egg white and sprinkle with a little sugar.  Cook in for about half an hour in a 200 degrees celcius oven.

 

 

So we had a nice hearty dinner, followed by a tasty fruit dessert served with cream and ice-cream.  It was SO good.

 

 

I've also been spending my time organising things for our camping trip.  Nine days to go now and we're going for at least a week, possibly more at this stage so I want to be organised.

 

 

I've got the kitchen stuff organised as well as all the bedding which all has to be put inside the trailer.  I can't move it out so that I can open it so I need hubby to do that in the next couple of days. 

 

I really want to have the tables, chairs, tarps and everything else we may need packed BEFORE he goes back to work this shift.   It may sound very organised but he arrives home late on the Monday afternoon and we're heading off on the Tuesday. 

 

For the sake of our marriage I want to have as much as possible packed into the camper this week and then all we have to worry about when he gets home next is packing the food and clothes in.  It will truly make for the start of a happier holiday if I can get that done.

 

 

I've also been re-arranging the tool box at the front of the camper too.  Hubby just throws everything in it and we have to ferret through it all when we want to find one thing.  I quietly spent some time on Sunday using my old laundry detergent buckets to put ropes, tent pegs, tools etc into so that we can access them easily now.

 

 

 

 It's much more organised and Hubby was impressed when I made him come out to see what I had done.  I'm sure he'll be happier when we're actually camping and he needs to grab things quickly and he can find them easier!

 

So it has been a busy weekend doing stuff around the house then a late Sunday afternoon trip to the beach which I'll write about in another post.  Only one week left now until the school holidays and we're all so ready to get away for some camping fun.

 

xx Susan

Thank goodness my dryer's fixed

A couple of days ago my dryer decided to make a bit of a clunking sound then burn the towels that were only trying to become nice, fluffy and dry for us.   It's amazing how one small piece of rubber belt has the potential to burn your house down but we're lucky that we have a safety mechanism on the dryer so I only had smoking, smelly towels to deal with.

It's now fixed and with all of this rain still around I'm very happy about that as it means I can actually get some things dry.

Then while I was grocery shopping today I saw some of the most absolutely beautiful looking salmon steaks on sale.  I LOVE fresh salmon but very rarely buy it because it's so expensive if you're wanting to feed a family.  In fact, I used to wait until lovely hubby was away on one of his work shifts and buy one piece for myself occasionally as a special treat.

At half price, I could get two huge pieces today.

It was so absolutely delicious, with just a little salt, pepper and lemon juice for a bit of extra flavour.  Not that it needs it as I think fresh salmon really has no need for extra flavour.

I knew Master M wouldn't like it and I wasn't even sure about hubby so I cooked up a couple of frozen crumbed fish fillets and some home made potato and sweet potato (kumara) chips.

Little Miss R ate all her salad, all her piece of salmon (which she shared with her father) and all of her sweet potato chips.  I'm not surprised as good stuff like that this kid will eat.

Master M ate his chips, some of his crumbed fish and declared that the salmon was 'yukky'.  That's not surprising either.

I'm now having a big craving for more fresh salmon although hubby declared that he really liked it.  Considering the price, I may have to just go back to buying it for myself when he's away.

Then again, I have a girl that will fight me to the last tiny mouthful of it and will then tell her father if we've had it and I wouldn't share.  Did I really encourage this girl to speak when a baby?  BAD DECISION!

xx Susan

What's making me happy today.

Crochet...of course. When the going gets tough, pick up a crochet needle, try to hide from the world and hook to your hearts content.  I would have been a LOT happier if I'd got more than two squares done (and only the cream section of them), but hey, 2 is better than doing none at all.

Even the dandelions in my backyard are making me happy right now.  What's not to love about these little spots of bright cheeriness sprinkled about your yard.  When your son picks a few to give to you presented with the most beautiful smile and a declaration of "I love you Mummy"... you can forgive almost anything. 

ALMOST I say because he has been a complete and utter TERROR over the last 4 or 5 days.  (It's amazing how these bright weeds can almost render pushing your mother to the complete brink).  Perhaps it's a male DNA thing.  They know how to drive you completely insane and yet the smallest, tiniest, almost insignificant thing can wipe all previous ills. 

Maybe it's just me and I'm weak....

A tasty plate of leftovers as a picnic in the lounge while watching a movie can lift everyone's spirits.

A visit from Grandad whom we haven't seen in awhile is definately cause for celebration and frivolity.  Oh how we love him!

(This is my father-in-law and not my dad.  We do LOVE Poppy with an absolute passion too but he lives only a couple of minutes away and not 7 hours like Grandad does right now - Grandad moves around cause of work quite a bit.)

...and Daddy is finally home.  Everyone is happy at this event, none more so than Mummy this week.  It's leftover soup and homemade bread for dinner.

 

I'm hoping for some really loving family time over the next few days before lovely hubby has to go back to work and I've got to deal with the whole back to school routine again.

Hope you're all having a great week.

xx Susan