Chocolate Weet-Bix Slice

One of my favourite slice recipe as a kid was what my Grandma called Kabs. It's really a chocolate slice made with Weet-bix/VitaBrits/whole wheat breakfast cereal brick thingys. I made some for the school tuck shop tonight so of course it made sense to double the quantity and make some for home as well. Mr 10 LOVES this slice.

Chocolate Slice (with Weet-Bix/VitaBrits)

3 Weet-Bix or similar, crushed

(What I do is keep all the crumbly and flaked bits from the bottom of the packet when it's finished rather than tossing them out.)

1 cup coconut

1 cup self-raising flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tblsp cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

150 g butter

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Melt the butter and add in the vanilla. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix it together.

Press the mixture into a greased and lined slice tray. Bake at 180 deg C for about 15 minutes or until browned.

If you want to ice the slice:

2 cups icing sugar

1 tblsp cocoa

2-3 tblsp hot water

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa. Mix in the water. Ice the slice and cut it while it is still hot. Otherwise it will crumble when you try to cut it.

You can sprinkle coconut, 100's and 1000's or your favourite sprinkles on top of the slice.

The slice is perfect to savour with the cuppa of your choice. ♥

Skin Care

Your skin is amazing. It protects, regulates body temperature and prevents water loss to name just a few of the important functions of this incredible organ. It is also able to absorb some substances. Two years ago I switched from branded chemical cosmetics to natural based skin care and cosmetics and my skin improved dramatically. Some changes were immediate, some were more recognisable over time.

Due to my genetic heritage, since I hit puberty I have always had oily skin prone to continual breakouts. The very first thing I changed was my makeup. I don't wear a lot of makeup. I don't like the feel of it on my skin and I think it's mostly a part of the whole unnecessary process of "fashion and beauty". I switched from a leading brand of cosmetics that used to cost me a fortune to replace and needed 2 different cleansers to remove to a completely natural mineral makeup. I buy all my makeup from MAD not only is their makeup 100% natural, it is economical and their service is fabulous.

I was amazed that I could apply my make up in two minutes flat and it looked natural while covering the redness I have in my skin. I was also surprised that it didn't take long to see a change in my skin. I had lost almost all the blackheads I had and my skin had cleared up slightly.

Then I was on the hunt for natural skin care. Sukin is the best, economical skin care range I have found. Check the prices for yourself. The cleanser I used to buy was $30 a bottle. Sukin is $10. If the local chemist has a sale on it is $8!! It is also 100% Australian. This skin care makes my skin feel sooooooooo soft. After using harsh cleansers for decades to try and control the oil in my skin it was absolutely lovely to have my skin feel soft. The moisturiser is beautiful and glides beautifully on my skin. The lip balm is heavenly. All through winter I have had soft, smooth lips and I hardly ever wear lipstick.

So I now use and wear skin care and makeup that feel glorious on, makes my skin soft, doesn't irritate my skin, keeps it beautifully clean and healthy, and costs less. Worth it? Absolutely no doubt about it.

I sewed!

My Sunday went a little like this:

I sorta feel like sewing but I'm not in a hurry and I want to wander around the net/read a book too. I have that beautiful fabric I bought to make a copy of this favourite singlet top of mine:

But I haven't cut a pattern off it yet. I know.. I'll start cutting the pattern and see how I go. I cut the back pattern. Man, I've had enough of this.. I'll get a coffee and wander through facebook land. I'll go back and cut a front pattern and facing pattern. That's enough.. it's raining outside so I'll read some of my novel. The Hubby is picking up Mr 10 from a sleepover... I'll cut out the fabric while he's gone. That's done. Time for some lunch. I fancy a little nap on the couch. Hmm... I might start sewing that singlet top together. Yawn.. had enough of that. I'll potter around the house and straighten up a bit. I might sew some more of that top now. The hubby is reading up on relativity again (my brain goes cross-eyed) I'll go sew the last bit on that top.

And before I knew it I'd enjoyed every bit of my meandering Sunday and had a brand new singlet top made. It looks like this:

I wore it yesterday and got a few compliments. :)

Wrap Up Paintbrush Holder

Little Miss going on 8 will be 8 soon. I know... you guessed didn't you? She loves nothing more than to draw, colour, collage, paint and make stuff. Let me tell you what she decided to do on the weekend.

The cat has an olive green, fake fur covered cat box thingy that cat's just LOVE to play in, hide in while they're stalking their prey and use the pole to sharpen their claws. Except our cat has never been in the box. ON the box inside the warm, lounge room window... yes. IN the box? No. She loves the pole thingy though. So much so that she has been sharpening her claws so vigorously the pole fell apart. Oh, you know that fake mouse toy hanging on a string to entice cats to play? She rolled her eyes, looked at me disdainfully and said, "How unsophisticated do you think I am?" and never touched the thing.

So Miss 8 decided that the box was actually a jungle scene. All it needed was some trees, vines and assorted wildlife to make it so. She drew some trees and vines, coloured them in and put them inside the box. Next for animals. For this she turned to her trusty friend Google for a little research to find out which animals would be lurking in her forest. The first animal she drew was a lion, coloured it in, cut it out and blow me down if it didn't actually look like a lion. I can draw lions. You might not be able to recognise them as lions but I can draw them. Miss 8 can draw lions that look like lions. So she spent a good two hours on a Saturday afternoon stocking her jungle. THAT's how much she like to create.

In an effort to encourage her artistic talents without fobbing her off onto the wonderfully talented Bob I've purchased some real art supplies as a birthday gift to replace the tacky, cheap kids artistic stuff that we seem to have an endless supply of. I thought she needed a box/container/bomb shelter to keep her brushes in so that they wouldn't become damage and wouldn't be lost.  In a previous post I linked to a tutorial for a crayon holder and I've adapted that to make a paintbrush holder. Only I'm kinda lazy and did it the easy way. ;)

Vicki's lazy tutorial for a paintbrush holder wrapper upper thingamabob.

Materials:

The original tutorial calls for fabric, wadding, stiffening.. yadda, yadda, yadda.. it's all too hard already.

Go to Lincraft or similar store and buy 2 heavy cotton placements that are reinforced with stiffening. Cost: $2

Go through your stash (if you have one) and find some matching ribbon/ric rac/lace/shoelaces/anything else to use as a tie or decoration. If you don't have a stash.. go through your Mum's/a friends or buy something suitable.

Cut one of the placemats in half lengthways like so:

Use a zigzag stitch on the cut edge to stop it fraying. This will be for the little pockets. I sewed crossgrain ribbon onto the cut edge with a fancy stitch on my brand new Janome. *sigh* Love my Janome.

Place the half placemat on top on the full placemat. Line up the bottom edges and the sides.  Stitch them together along the sides and the bottom.

Now for the pockets. What you need to do is stitch vertically starting at the top of the half placemat, sewing through both layers of placemats right to the bottom of the placemats. Leave a 3cm gap and then stitch another row exactly the same as the first. Keep stitching in 3cm intervals across the width of the placemats. I deliberately kept one section about 8-10 cm wide in case Miss 8 wanted to store something wider in the wrap in the future.

Finishing touches: Sew on some ribbon/a shoelace/next appropriate thing to make a tie. Decorate the wrap if you wish to. Taaa Daaa. You now have a unique wrap perfect for keeping long, thin stuff in. I reckon you could use this for: cutlery (keep it in the picnic basket or near the bbq), hair brushes and combs, tools (use leather or vinyl instead of fabric for the complete Malboro Man look), whatever else would be handy in one of these.

The pretty flowers on the outside of the case are Fozz Felt from my craft stash. It is self adhesive. Just peel off the back and stick it on. 

This took me less than an hour to make from start to finish and included time to stop and talk to the cat, take some photos and chat to the delivery man. Enjoy!

Cupcake Recipe

My tried and tested cupcake recipe:

This recipe makes 3 dozen regular cupcakes or 2 dozen muffin sized cupcakes.

You will need:

250g soft butter
1.5 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cups of milk
4 cups of self raising flour

Get the electric mixer out of the cupboard and make yourself a coffee. Drink it while the butter and sugar are being whipped into soft, creamy goodness.
Drop the mixer back a few gears and add the eggs one at a time.
Throttle the mixer right back to low and add 1 cup of the flour. If you don't do this you will be shrouded in a soft, white cloud of flour and your batter will be tough. After it's mixed in, pour in 0.5 cup of milk and let it mix in. Keep alternating the flour and milk until everything is mixed in.
Fill some patty papers about 2/3 full and bake for about 15 mins at 180 deg C.

Make another coffee to enjoy with your freshly baked cupcakes. If your cupcakes survive long enough to cool down, you can ice them. Enjoy.

It Went A Little Like This....

"Hi Guys, how was your day?" Followed by the anticipated, time honoured traditional responses of "Good" and.... "Good" in a slightly different pitch. In most households this is the usual, run of the mill after school greeting.

Today was slightly different. *I hear your audible collective intakes of breath.* I know, right, I couldn't believe it either. It went like this:

Master 10 going on 40, "We have to dress up tomorrow. In a New Caledonian Theme. And we have to take a plate of food to share. It could be something French if you like."

Let me translate for you. "Mum, I need the most awe-inspiring New Caledonian costume complete with beach and palm trees. While you're at it, can you whip up some French pastries filled with lots of whipped, soft cream, topped with some hip-defying chocolate with some Camembert made in the South of France by French maidens with soft-skinned hands on the side. By the way, I need it two days ago."

My mind automatically locks on to the beach scene only it places me squarely in the shallow ocean water reclining on a deck chair. The cool, gentle waves wash gently over my legs whilst I sip upon something with a little umbrella and bendy straw in it. My eyes drift lazily closed behind my humongous, designer sunglasses. I wave a lazy, indifferent hand. Wake me when it's all over.

Only to be jolted back into reality when Miss 8 going on 8 adds, "Oh, I'm dressing up too. Only mine is an Australian Aboriginal theme and we need real aboriginal food like witchety grubs!" Now read that again and at the end add in the most animated face to ever grace a Broadway Musical complete with big, blue eyes opened as wide as they can go without her eyebrows getting lost in her hair. Witchety grubs????? I'm sure that neither Coles nor Woolies stock them. Not even in the Deli department.

What does a mother do? She finds the nearest tshirt with a palm tree and "Wave Rider" or similar screen printed on it for Mr 10 and some black pants, a red jumper and a yellow flower brooch for Miss 8. TaaaDaaa... instant culturally correct costumes. Now, for the food. Hmmm.... I'll fall back on the trusty cupcake!!!  Everyone loves cupcakes. How to make them culturally correct?? I know! The kids can make toothpick flags to decorate them with! Hell, I don't even have to Google the flag design.

Voila! I'm sure that if I had a cape and pretty tiara I could save the world! How was your Monday? :)

Quick, Easy, Cheap Dinner

Dinner!

It's a photo!!!  Yes, a real, live photo. Of my dinner taken in my kitchen. :)

Let me describe how wonderfully simple, fresh and tasty this was.

The food!

Look at those glorious eggs! Check the colour! Fresh from Pete and Guy's backyard hens.

Plump, ripe, juicy tomatoes - $1.99 a kilo!

Avocado! This is half an avocado... there were 6 avocadoes in a bag for $1.99!

Wonderfully spicy Spanish Chorizo sausage. $10 a kilo... this is about 80g.

Sweet basil from the garden.

Dinner for 2 cost less than $5. Add a slice of toasted homemade bread and this is a well rounded, fresh, gorgeous, sharable meal any time of the day. And the very best thing... it took about 15 minutes to cook. Gotta Luv It! ♥

Creative Sausages

Our household loves sausages. The ones made with real, quality ingredients. With some small changes Tray Baked Sausages is one of our favourite dishes. 

Tray Baked Sausages a la Me!

Grab a baking dish. If you're wanting to impress anyone use a nice one coz I serve it in the same dish it's cooked in.

Collect together:

8 sausages
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of chicken stock
1 can butter beans
2 punnets cherry or grape tomatoes
Rosemary
4 large potatoes

Then do this with them:

1. Cut up an onion, throw it in the baking dish.
2. Crush a few garlic cloves, toss them in with the onion. We all know garlic and onions is like peas and corn. The go together. Small tip from Jamie Oliver. Don't peel your garlic if you're going to use a garlic press. The peel will stay in the press!
3. Open a can of whatever beans you have in the pantry. Give them a rinse and throw them in to the mix. I like butter beans or 4 bean mix. But don't go past chickpeas, kidney beans or whatever is handy in the cupboard. If you don't have any in the pantry - rummage through the fridge or freezer and see what you can come up with to add in.
4. Add a cup of chicken stock.
5. Lay about 8 gorgeous, thick, delicious, gourmet sausages atop the mountain of natural flavour enhancers.
6. Sprinkle over some rosemary. I only have the dried variety and it works just fine.
7. This is my favourite part... Get two punnets (one seriously is NOT enough for the avid roast tomato lover) of ripe, sweet grape or cherry tomatoes and with gay abandon place them around the sausages. My love of roast tomatoes surpasses... almost... my love of 10yo red wine! Almost. ;)
8. Now for the potatoes. We like our potatoes crispy so I cook them separately with their skins on coz naked potatoes means extra work and the skins crisp up nicely and crunch in your mouth. Cut them up, throw them on an oven tray and spritz them with some oil. A sprinkle of salt if you like. And they're ready.

Place everything in a preheated oven at 200 deg C (have you noticed I cook almost everything at this temp??) and leave it to cook for an hour to develop into delicious, nutritious goodness. Serve at the table in the dish.

Total prep time about 5-10 mins. Now tell me that cooking nutritious, delicious meals from scratch is time consuming. I dare you. ;)

Remember the fussy eater? She loves sausages! Only not mixed with other stuff. So I keep a few sausages aside for her and put them on the tray beside the potatoes for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Vegetables... to grow or not to grow...

That was our question.

The Hubby is NOT a gardener. By any lycraesq cross grain stretch of the imagination. Light reading for the husband is entitled: Tensor Calculus, Relativity and Cosmology. Which makes my brain go cross-eyed. I don't mind a little garden pottering as long as it doesn't involve too much heavily laboured breathing and sweating until I'm a dry husk of myself holding a shovel. If I can wander out to the backyard and turn some soil with a good thunk of the shovel (although I'd probably be using a spade) I'd give it a shot.

Being concerned about the state of our planet and sustainability, I was kinda keen to give the small backyard vegetable patch a bit of a go. That was before I realised our block was mostly rock. With soil that had hardened to rock-like properties. Apparently getting soil (I use that term very loosely and am throwing it in here with gay abandon) in that state into a workable, viable gardening state involves more hard slog than achieving world peace by Wednesday. Doable? Sure. By me? Not anytime soon. I'd rather gnaw off my left hand.

Then I discovered another option. Raised garden beds. Better still... gardens in pots. Golly, I could do that. Armed with my newly acquired knowledge it was time to research what exactly this gardening for a family kitchen caper requires. Apparently quite a bit more time and attention that I'm willing to invest. Planting, thinning, feeding (I have enough pets thank you), protecting (shining armour is far too hot for a sub tropical area), rotating (don't ask!) and starting all over again. Gee... that sounds like far more work and time that I'm really ready to invest at the moment.

Fruit, however, is a different proposition. The local nursery sells dwarf fruit trees! Get out of here! They are so darn cute and I can put them in pots on my front patio. A bit of a water with the hose, keep an eye on them for invading armies intent on mounting a siege and starving them out, and you can pick fresh fruit straight off the tree. Just by stepping out the front door. And those of us a little on the height challenged side won't need a death-defying sprint up a ladder or have to wait until The 6'3" Hubby got home  to grab an apple. Best of all, the kids can get their own! Now THAT type of gardening appeals to me.

Let's face it. Not everyone's cut out to be a Farmer. The same as not everyone's cut out to be an Astro Physicist. If you can't or just don't want to be fully self-sufficient, don't be. Do as much or as little as you like and buy your produce from a local, environmentally conscious farmer who DOES. ♥

Inspired Living

I've had an epiphany.

I've decided to live an Inspired Life. A beautiful, wise friend of mine talks about doing what you are inspired to do. I dedicate this post to her. ♥

Many things have fallen into place this year. The kids are at a new school which suits them much better and caters for and supports them as individual, whole people. The hubby has dealt with some family situations and is in a much less stressful situation. The friends I have around me love, respect and support me as I do them. All of a sudden I don't have much to fill my time. Seriously. I've never had so much free time. This has given me an opportunity to sit back, weigh my options and make some choices.

At the moment I donate baked goods twice a term for the school to sell at tuckshop. I participate in excursions and class activities. I attend ALL school events in which the kids are involved. I'm happy with that.

I have a whole lot of scrapbooking/stamping/crafts supplies which aren't inspiring me much at the moment. I'm thinking of selling some of it but not all of it. I have some arty ideas forming in my head that will need to be given life sometime soon.

The thought of going back to work full-time to the Accounting/Management work that I used to do fills me with dread and is as appealing as poking my finger in a black hole.

I've discovered a whole new delight in baking and cooking. Sure, I've baked and cooked before but I really enjoy it now. Really!

We eat takeaway food once a fortnight now instead of 3 or 4 times a week.

I cook as much food as possible from the simplest and freshest ingredients possible.

I've developed a whole new understanding of where our food is sourced from and what many manufacturers try to push upon us that is disguised as food in order to make a few bucks.

While society was busy working two jobs, accumulating stuff, over-achieving and over-scheduling their families, others were planning how they could work that situation to their advantage. They decided to sell us a whole lot of cheap stuff that they can tweak so that it look likes food. Then they sell it to us at prices waaaaay higher than what it would cost us to make it ourselves. They justify all this by by claiming it will enhance our life by saving us time or making us feel like we are treating ourselves and having a good time when we consume it. And we buy it. And we pay for it.

Most of the time it is not real food. Check the label.

Let me tell you what I've discovered. After I have eaten real food cooked without additives after a while a few things happen.

• Prepared, packaged food tastes god awful.
• I can smell the chemical additives in the "food" and "drink".
• I feel physically ill after eating it.
• Real food tastes amazing. Simply amazing.
• Sourcing and preparing my own food gives me a whole new appreciation of food.
• I feel good. I feel lighter, I have more energy, I sleep better.
• I have developed an appreciation for the farmers who provide the food that I eat.
• I have saved a whole lot of money.
• It doesn't take any longer to prepare a meal from scratch than it does to prepare a meal with "prepared foods".

 As always, I don't ask you to blindly believe me... try it yourself.  Just for a few months cook your own food with real food ingredients. It's not hard. There are plenty of recipes out there. Do some menu plans if it helps. Whatever works for you. Then see how you feel. See how much money you've saved by not buying takeaway or processed food. You may even be able to quit your second job. ;)

So for now I'm inspired to:

• Create - by making stuff whether that be with food, art supplies or cloth.
• Source the freshest, most reasonably priced quality food for myself and my family.
• Continue to nurture the wonderful friendships and relationships I have in my life.
• Continue to recognise and let go of what doesn't inspire me.
• Appreciate the real, uncomplicated, authentic things in life.

Live with Joy. Live with Love. Inspired Living. I'm lovin' it! ♥

More on Uncomplicated Living

There is so much on the internet about Simple Living. I prefer to think of it as Uncomplicated Living. These guys call it Minimalist Living. Whatever you call it, no matter the label these young men have something to say that's worth listening to.

This is a particularly favourite post of mine.

Enjoy.

Stuff makes thing complicated

Stuff. There is stuff about stuff going around my head.

When did having more stuff become more important and more sought after than things like: conversation, writing letters, spending time with family and friends, walking barefoot on the earth and other simple pleasures? And when did working long hours that prevent you from seeing your children/being with your spouse/spending time appreciating the world around you, in order to get the stuff become a normal, acceptable, expected way to live? And when did that then extend to TWO people having to live like this to get the stuff we think we need to own to have what we think is a good life? And now the children are growing up to repeat this cycle!!

When we moved from Townsville to Brisbane we panicked. House prices in Brisbane were more expensive. We couldn't afford to buy the equivalent of the house we lived in and might even have to settle for much smaller!! The horror!! So we went through the house systematically disposing of everything we didn't consider a necessity. We gave away/took to the dump shop/donated to lifeline 5 loads of stuff. 5 two tonne truckloads!! 10 tonnes of stuff!! That we had lying around not being used and not needed. As fast we unloaded the truck at the dump shop people were picking it up and taking it home for a little fix up to be given a new life.

As it turned out we didn't have to settle for a whole lot smaller and we even gained a pool. The house we have now has about 1/2 the storage space the other house had. I love this because every year I go through and sort it out and have not needed any extra storage other than a chest of drawers that the kids share for their clothes. Have we missed any of that 10 tonnes of stuff? Not one thing.

Downsizing not only saved us money in shipping and storage costs, it has saved us money in that we haven't needed to replace it. None of it. Because we don't need it. We didn't need it in the first place and we won't need it in the future.

Not only have we downsized our stuff we downsized our cars. We had two cars in Townsville because there is no viable public transport system. One of them was a car we bought second hand at auction and was still under a new car warranty. The other we bought new and paid cash for. Moving to Brisbane meant access to a train system that works brilliantly for us. So much so we sold the bigger, older car and survive quite nicely with our 4 cylinder Lancer. Our everyday living is getting the kids to and from school,  scooting out to get groceries/run errands and visiting friends. I'm continually confounded by the number of really large cars and 4 wheel drives I see during the school and shopping runs. I don't need a 4 wd to traverse city streets. I don't need tonnes of boot space, just enough for groceries and school bags. I don't need an 8 cylinder motor to get me from one set of traffic lights to another or to drive 3km to school. Our 4 cylinder often takes us on holidays away. It handles highway driving really well and has plenty of space for luggage and other paraphernalia we need to take with us. A smaller car means cheaper to buy, smaller fuel costs, smaller insurance costs, smaller registration costs, smaller depreciation costs and smaller maintenance costs. We saved ourselves thousands of dollars (if you don't believe me, do the sums - there are plenty of websites that give info on the costs of owing a car) and the environment a whole load of carbon gasses by downsizing our cars.

We are living very comfortably with less stuff and with smaller stuff. It means I don't have to work, we know we can pay our bills because we are debt free and we know that if life throws us a yorker (for those cricket fans among us) we can live very well with exactly what we already have for an extended period of time. It's a nice feeling. Downsize your stuff and you'll downsize your stress.

You'll also have more time. Time for family, time for friends, time to cook dinner, time to be. I know that many people have trouble with that. Living at a fast pace for an extended period of time gathers momentum. It can be difficult to transition to a slower paced life. Especially when most of the Western world is bombarding you with the message that you need to do and have more, more, more. Less is more. You will stop looking for validation from others. You will begin to feel just fine the way you are. You won't need to have lots of stuff to feel good about yourself and the life you are giving your family. You won't need approval from others to feel worthy. You'll seek out people who accept you for who you are not who you are when you have lots of expensive, shiny, new things to admire. You'll stop feeling the need to justify your choices. You'll feel happier and more at peace with yourself.

Life isn't a contest. There are no winners and losers. Life is a journey. Don't spend decades chasing "stuff". Spend decades enjoying the earth, it's peoples and it's joys. When the journey ends I won't be saying, "I wish I'd had bigger and better stuff." I'll want to be saying, "I'm thankful for the joy, the love, the earth and the precious moments. I've enjoyed my family and friends and laughed a lot. See, I have the wrinkles to prove it!" ♥

Solar Power

A few months back we decided to put our money where our mouths are and install solar power. The hubby knows a bit about it as his company uses it in rural and remote areas to ensure that telephone and Internet infrastructure is kept functioning as best it comes. I just know that we have this huge, natural resource available to use and we aren't using it to it's full potential. I think it would be a better to spend money on determining how to harness and store solar power than working out how, where and when to store the toxic waste from nuclear power stations.

So we have a spectacular array adorning the roof of our abode. I don't even know it's there and completely forget about it. Except when it's windy. When nature gets up a bit of a breeze now it whistles and moans around the solar panels like the house is a portal to another dimension.

So I was reading this post on Gavin's blog and was hit smack on the forehead with the realisation that I've been using the solar power all wrong!!! Armed with my new knowledge I approached the hubby aiming to contribute a new piece of knowledge to his already considerable knowledge bank. Turns out he knew that. (Of course he would, why did I think he wouldn't. O.o ) But he neglected to mention it to me. The person who's in the house all the time. He assumed I would automatically figure that out myself. :) So.. here's my new routine and why I changed it.

I'm not going to provide lots of facts and figures... I'm not good at that... I'm going to keep it simple. The government pays us twice the amount of money for our solar power to go into the grid than it costs us to draw power from the grid. While the solar power is going into the grid we are earning money from it. That happens during the day. So it makes sense to use electrical appliances when the solar power is not being fed into the grid which is at night. The hubby tells me the solar power feed stops at around 4pm so now the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, pool pump and dryer all get used after 4pm as much as possible. Which is not hard to do.

This will save us money, make us money and by way of feeding power into the grid, prevent the need for coal-fueled stations to make more electricity. Win, Win, Win!

Food Additives

When my son was two years old and I was pregnant with my daughter he was throwing massive tantrums. I'm talking 45 minute trantrums of full on screaming, kicking, crying and throwing. Often 3 times a day. Every day. Anywhere. Without warning. People in shopping centres would stare at me, shake their heads and mutter under their breath. Others would come up to me and ask me why my child was screaming and what was I going to do about it. One man accused me of traumatising my child. Another suggested that I smack him (read: beat the crap out of him) until he shut up.

I remember when my daughter was six months old (yes, the trantrum throwing went on for about a year) he was throwing a huge hissy fit in the car. He was climbing out of his seatbelt harness and wouldn't stay in his seat. I couldn't drive without him being in the seat and the screaming was driving me insane. I ended up pulling up on the side of the road and sitting on the footpath beside the car until he stopped.

I was tired, I was emotional, I was frustrated, I didn't know what to do, I couldn't control him no matter what I did and I couldn't find anyone to help me. He was out of control and I was right behind him. At the end of my tether one day I decided to google tantrums and see if I could get some help from other parents in the same situation.

I happened upon a forum discussion about food additives and behaviour. The discussion centred around preservative found in bread as being a particular culprit. Having nothing to lose I decided to cut bread with preservative added out of our diet. Starting there and then. The local shopping centre had a Brumby's bakery so I bundled the baby and toddler into the car and went down to buy a couple of loaves.

A mere 3 days later ALL the tantrums had stopped. Like magic. Peace had descended upon us. He was transformed into a happy, smiling, cheerful little boy and our lives headed down a new path. I was enjoying my new boy. He was delightful. He wanted to help. He was interested in what was happening around him. He was calm. He started exploring more. He slept better. He was happy and I was happy for him.

At the time I was running a playgroup and was Townsville Area Coordinator for Playgroup Qld. A few months after I'd discovered how additives could affect behaviour Playgroup Qld hosted statewide presentations by Sue Dengate. I attended her Townsville presentation and the information she presented changed my view of food forever. If you are interested in how additives affect our bodies I recommend you visit her website or get your hands on one of her books. It will change the way you think about food. It made me angry to find out what is being put into our foods without our knowledge. I'm still angry that people refuse to believe that unnatural additives adversely affect our bodies.

So the next time you see a distraught, emotional, fed up, angry parent trying to deal with a screaming toddler be gentle with them. Smile, offer to help and mention food additives. Even if you get pushed away the seed may be sown and could help them out one day. You just never know. I wish someone had said it to me. :)

Easy meals for when you are feeling less than optimal

I'm not feeling great today. The kids have both had the flu and I have an awful cough that's driving me nuts. :/

A really quick, easy, nutritious lunch is called for. I had a mixed plate with homemade relish (or whatever you happen to have on hand), hunky slices of cheddar cheese, crackers and an orange sliced into wedges. Lunch in a minute. You could add some cold meat or salami, crusty bread or salad.

It's a quick, easy meal from whatever is in the fridge, freezer or pantry that can sit in the slow cooker for dinner tonight.

I found:

Chicken thigh fillets (about 700g)

The remains of a packet of frozen mixed vegetables (about a cup)

8 Mushrooms

1/2 a carrot (don't ask!! who uses half a carrot???)

1 head of broccoli - I always add the stalk to slow cooked meals

1 brown onion

1 can coconut milk

4 tbs Korma Curry Paste

Put it all in the slow cooker together on high for 4-5 hours. Don't worry about browning anything it will still taste great and the emphasis is on having a great meal for dinner with minimum of effort when you feel crappy. Serve it with some rice or crusty bread.

A little tip for rice. I freeze it. Cook extra, put it in the freezer and it's there when I need it for that meal in minutes or when I feel like you've been run over by a bus/Mac truck/herd of stampeding gazelle. I heat it in the microwave or in a saucepan. The rice dries out when it is frozen so Iwill add some water to it.

This took me a whole 5 minutes to get into the slow cooker and is what I'm planning for our dinner tonight. :)

Australian Owned

I found a pdf file listing Australian Owned companies whose products are available in IGA and Foodland supermarkets. There have been some changes since it was published e.g. CSR sold out in late 2010 but it should give you a fairly good base for shopping Australian Owned.

Australian Owned List

Happy Shopping!

Grass Fed Beef

After discovering that some meat you buy is injected with a brine solution I decided that I would try and source some quality, fresh, local beef. Preferably from a local farmer. Ideally it would be grass fed and organic.

I found Keiran's Meats who supply grass fed beef, slaughtered humanely at the farm, packed in 1kg bags and delivered to your door.

*Edit - Keiran's Meats no longer has a website. I've sourced another local supplier Qld Natural Beef *

My next goal is to empty the freezer of the bits that have accumulated, use it up over the next few weeks and place an order. Then I'll be trying to source chickens and pork. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

*Edit -  Qld Natural Beef will also supply chicken and pork if you request it.*

♥

Cleaning Products

Every cleaner we use on ourselves, our homes, our clothes and other possessions affects the environment in some way. I've swapped all my cleaning products and personal care products to environmentally friendly ones and I was surprised to find that they are all made by the same company. :) I was even more pleasantly surprised to find that the products are Australian Made and the company is Australian Owned. (That will earn me a big thumbs up from Dick Smith.)

That company is Nature's Organics and I would encourage you to try their products. Not only are they environmentally friendly, they are easy to use, can be found in most supermarkets and most of their products are cheaper than their brand name counterparts. I kid you not... that's why I started buying them in the first place rather than making my own. Take some time to look through their website and try a few products yourself... I use and highly recommend the Dishwasher tablets, Toilet Cleaner, Shower Cleaner, Dishwashing Liquid and Laundry Detergent for all my cleaning needs. If you try it, let me know what you think. 

♥

Uncomplicated Living in the City - You CAN do it

Life is a journey. I've learnt to savour it, enjoy the moments, focus on what is happening right now and live without complications.

What does all that mean?

It means I live with as few commitments and schedules as possible.

I don't commit to any extracurricular activities unless I wholeheartedly wish to. The kids have one sport they participate in and no extra tuition they aren't wholeheartedly wanting to participate in.

The time available to spend with my family is spent WITH my family. Even if we are all doing our own thing we are generally in the same living area.

Evening meals are eaten together, at the table with no outside distractions (no tv, no phone calls, nothing). This is our family time at the end of the day to talk about our days and connect.

Quiet time is a regular part of our life to unwind, step back from our busy lives and just be.

Read. Every day. Do it with your kids too.

We eat fresh, unprocessed foods as much as possible. Try it. You will feel the difference in your body, energy levels rise, emotions level out, skin clears up, hair shines and mood swings will be a thing of the past. You'll find unprocessed food will taste awful and make you feel even worse. Give it a chance and your body will naturally guide you to what it needs. Channel the money you save on buying take away food into buying fresh food. Learn how to prepare it simply, quickly and deliciously. Get the family to help you. You'll teach them invaluable life-time skills.

I connect with family and friends in meaningful ways. I surround myself as much as possible with people who I know will help me up when I need it. I help my friends and family up when they need it.

I have relationships and possessions that add quality to my life and let go of the ones that don't.

I don't gossip.

I'm honest.

I don't lie.

I don't judge people for how they choose to live.

I focus on being optimistic.

I like to learn and am always searching for learning opportunities.

I try to live environmentally consciously.

It's not always simple to live an uncomplicated life but it's well worth the low stress levels. A slower pace of living is a joy. It gives me an opportunity to look around, focus my energies and enjoy the journey.

♥

Sewing Machine

I have a brand spankin' new one of these!!!!!  I used it on the weekend!!!  I'm in love. ♥

I have a very basic little Brother sewing machine I bought about 22 years ago. It has served me well seeing me through sewing droughts, patches of sewing bliss and travelling up and down the East coast with me a few times. But it's starting to break down. Bits don't close, the light hasn't worked for years, some parts are bent/broken from all the moving and the front loading bobbin is painful to unravel all the time.

So my Mum bought me a brand new machine. Bless her. ♥

What did I sew? I hear you asking. Let me share.

 I had a black skirt that was an awkward length. It's a tierd skirt made of soft, cool cotton that wasn't long but it wasn't short and the length just made me look dumpy. So instead of giving it away to the op shop I decided to lengthen it by adding a piece of ribbing to the top and adding elastic around the waist. As I never wear a tucked in top this won't affect how I wear the skirt and now I have a brand new wardrobe item!

I did the same with a pair of long pants made of stretch crepe. They fall beautifully and are soft and lovely to wear but slightly too small around the hips now and keep falling down because they are hipster pants. I've sewn a piece of ribbing on to the top of them the same as the skirt and now they'll be more comfortable.

I also... attached a shoulder strap back onto a top, patched a tear in one of my favourite summer dresses so that I can wear it again this summer, sewed some seams on two pieces of clothing where the stitching has broken and started making one of these for my daughter's brand new "grown up" paint brushes I have for her upcoming birthday. I'll take some photos and make a tutorial on how to use recycled items to make a quick and easy roll.

I used to sew a lot. I started drafting patterns for my dolls at 12 from one of Mum's old drafting books. We didn't have a lot when I was growing up so I used to enjoy making new clothes to go out in. Then I got busy. I moved to Sydney, worked in a bank and jumped on the end of the 80's "Greed is Good" train. I ended up broke, in debt and had to move back home. A tough lesson but one well learnt. Since then I haven't been a big spender. Although we live very comfortably accumulating stuff just isn't important to us. I still shop the sales and don't spend extravagantly. We have a budget and we stick to it. I'd rather have the money to travel a bit, show our children some of the world around them and live an uncomplicated life.

Now I'm rediscovering the thrill of creating with the sewing machine. :)

Mmmmmm.... Lamb Shanks.....

Friday night we had friends over for dinner. They'd had a rough week so we decided to invite them over for dinner. I'd already decided to cook lamb shanks and after leafing through Taste I found this enticing recipe and thought it would go perfectly with this and some steamed green beans for a delicious, satisfying, easy meal. OHHHHH MYYYYY!! This is without doubt THE most delicious lamb shank recipe I have ever cooked. I doubled the recipe (because I always like to cook more for the freezer/more meals) and so far we've had two main meals and lunch for 4 adults and have enough left over to go into the freezer for another meal!!!

For dessert I cut up a punnet of strawberries and drizzled over some coconut liqueur and some chocolate liqueur from Castle Glen Liqueurs, let it marinate for an hour or two and served it with vanilla ice cream. Yummmmm

Milk

Milk... a dairy product straight from the cow. Other than being pasteurised and homogenised (homogenisation is a completely unnecessary process that does nothing other than mix the cream uniformly into the milk) milk is a fairly natural, untouched product. Right?? Apparently not. :(

There have been many reports in the media about dairy companies adding a cheese making byproduct called parmeate into milk. This in effect "dilutes" the milk and solves the problem of having to dispose of the parmeate. I don't want to name names and spread "unsubstantiated" rumours so I challenge you to judge for yourself. Buy a bottle of Pauls Farm House Gold milk or Parmalat Full Cream Milk and a bottle of any regular full cream milk and do a taste test. The hubby could even tell the difference.

Armed with this information I was surprised to find that the Farm House Gold was only 50c a litre more than the Dairy Farmers Full Cream Milk!!  Well worth the few extra cents for the taste alone.

Edited to add:

I have found a milk that is pasteurised only without any homogenisation. The big bonus is that it is from Cooloola dairy on the local Sunshine Coast dairy. Ohhhh Myyyyy. The cream on the top. Globules in the milk. Heaven in a cup. So far I've only found it at IGA Samford. IGA (Independent Grocers Australia) are champions for local producers. Their staff are friendly, helpful and well-trained. Their shelves are always stocked. Their prices on the basics that I buy regularly are cheaper than Coles and Woolworths. IGA owners are locals. The employ locals. I support IGA and would urge anyone concerned about Coles and Woolworths controlling the market that supplies us with the food we eat to consider supporting IGA.

Some food for thought (pun absolutely intended):

Coles and Woolies

You can have a say about who controls the food that you consume and provide for your children. If you want to eat food free from chemical additives and with the nutrition your body needs to grow, think, heal and work properly to prevent the need for medical intervention. If you want to source your food locally so that it is as fresh and nutrition dense as possible. If you want a CHOICE in what food you can purchase. If you want to cut the carbon footprint of the food you buy. Then I would recommend you shop locally. Shop independent grocers and ensure that your dollar is speaking for you. Don't wait until you have no choice. It's too late then.

Reducing the Carbon Footprint....

is not as simple as it sounds. Buy fresh, buy local is easier said than done. I also try my best to buy Australian made and owned. Deals are done, contracts are signed and money changes hands faster than you can say Jimminy Cricket!

Delving into the origins of your purchases can be a tangled web, needing much unravelling. Even more so for ownership.

Efforts thus far have resulted in the following being sourced as locally as possible:

Beef: Grown and slaughtered by a local butcher who delivers to your door for bulk purchases.

Eggs: Very fortunate to have a chicken owning friend with more eggs than he needs. Eventually I'd love to have my own chickens.

Fruit and Veges: Sourced from the local market and delivered to the door. As close as I can get to locally grown without joining a co-op and not being able to choose my produce.

Honey: Local honey sold at the local fruit and veg shop.

Bread Flour: Laucke flours are based in SA and are Australian made and owned.

Despite my best efforts and our living in one of the highest sugar cane growing states in the world I'm yet to find a sugar company that is Australian owned.

So.. all that effort and I've only just scraped the surface. This is a bigger than Ben Hur venture that I'm sure that will involve a whole lot more research and effort to untangle. Perhaps it's tangling behind me as fast as I'm finding the threads in front of me!!! :) Will keep you posted.

Why all the posts?

;) There are many posts today as I'm transferring all the information I've put up over the past weeks on my Weebly blog to blogger.

Quick and Easy Stir Fry Dinner

I've been out with my Mum all day. We've been back and forth, here and there looking at everything from art supplies to laptops to sewing machines. Getting home late, coupled with being quite weary from my busy day, meant a quick, easy meal for dinner.

I had a couple of cans of vegetables in the panty for just this occasion. Be sure to wash canned vegetables really well to wash off as much salt as possible. I had some snow peas in the fridge, along with red capsicum. There was some chicken in the freezer and a packet of noodles in the pantry. Voila!! All the ingredients for a stir fry.

Here's my stir fry - the quick, easy, version.

4 chicken thighs (the packet said 650g) sliced or diced
1 can champignon mushrooms
1 can baby corn
2 handfuls of snow peas
half a big red capsicum
1 large brown onion cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce (or oyster sauce is good too)
1/2 tbsp fish sauce (be very careful with fish sauce it is very strong)
1 tsp honey
Noodles or Rice to serve

I always cook the chicken first and remove a portion for the fussy eater who is quite happy to eat just some chicken and quickly microwaved broccoli.

Heat some olive oil in a pan, brown the chicken in a couple of batches and remove onto a plate. Add a little more oil and cook the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is see through. Add the capsicum, baby corn and mushrooms. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the snow peas. Add all the sauces and honey. Serve with rice or noodles.

If you really couldn't be bothered cooking rice I can vouch for the following: cook 2 packets of 2 minute noodles (after you throw the chemical laden flavour satchet in the bin) and stir them through the stir fry. Seriously! The family loves this.

This took me a total of 15 mins to cook. I kid you not. Open a few cans, slice up 3 ingredients and toss into the pan. Far more nutritious than a fried, takeaway dinner. Yay!

More About Baking Bread

I bake my bread in the oven. The loaf that comes out of the breadmaker just doesn't cut it for me. So here are detailed instructions for what I consider to be the perfect loaf of bread.

Firstly, I use Laucke bread mix. I like it. Gives a great loaf every time. It's totally Australian made and owned. There are no added anythings outside of what you actually need to make a loaf of bread. My favourite is the Golden Wholemeal Bread Mix. You can buy a box of 4 pre-measured packs so that you don't need to weigh, mix or measure flours. On the box are directions for breadmakers and for bake it yourself. Even though I mix the bread dough in the breadmaker I use the bake it yourself measures for water.

So for the Golden Wholemeal Bread:

Into the breadmaker goes 2 tsp of yeast (conveniently provided for you with the Laucke bread mix) and 400 mls of warm water. If you like add half a teaspoon of sugar to provide food for the hungry yeast. I then use the jam setting on the breadmaker to get the yeast moving along because it has a 10 min cycle of heating at the beginning of the jam setting. After 10 mins the yeast and water mix will have bubbles and froth forming on top of the water. Add the packet of bread mix and set the bread machine to dough.

When the cycle is finished heat the oven to 200 deg C. While it's heating up place the dough into a greased/oiled and floured large loaf tin or bread tin. Cover it with a damp cotton tea towel and place in a warm spot. (I have a spot inside the loungeroom window where the sun shines through that has been dubbed the "bread spot" by the kids.) The loaf will rise even further! When the oven is hot cook your loaf for 30 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it.

Today I'm making bread rolls. I just took globs of dough about the size of small dinner rolls, rolled them into balls between my hands and put them on a oiled tray. The dough made 16 of them. At the moment they sitting in the sun and look to be bigger than a dinner roll but smaller than a hamburger roll. I plan to put them in oven for about 15 minutes to cook so that we will have hot, crusty bread rolls to go with our Beef Bolognaise. Droooooool. Minimal effort for a delicious, warm, crusty bread.

Minced Beef Bolognaise

This is a regular in our house. Everyone loves it because it tastes delicious, it is hearty and I serve it with scrumptious sides. I love it because the kids have no idea how many vegetables they are eating, it is quick and easy, you can toss in whatever is hanging around in the fridge after their friends have gone, everyone loves it and it's delicious!!

I have a fussy eater. She likes fairly bland food, doesn't like lots of texture and doesn't like to mix her foodstuffs. Unless it's to add sauce. She's just beginning to venture out of her food safety zone (at almost 8yo) and try new foods. She loves this dish!!!  What's more... I can freeze it in fussy 8yo meal sized portions so that when we want to enjoy a meal I know she'll loathe I can fish a ready made meal out of the freezer so she can also have a meal she enjoys.

Here's my recipe:

1kg Minced Beef*
3 rashers bacon
1 large brown onion, diced
2 cloves garlic chopped or minced (add more if you like garlic)
2 medium sized carrots, grated
2 medium sized zucchinis, grated
6-8 largeish mushrooms
(These are the basics... add whatever you have in the fridge or pantry. Try broccoli, capsicum, green beans, kidney beans.)
1 large can diced tomatoes (or 6-8 large ripe tomatoes)
1 large can Heinz Tomato Soup (This is my secret weapon!!! And it has to be Heinz... the other brands just don't have the right mix of herbs for my liking.)
A dash of worchestershire sauce (you can leave this out if you'd rather)
Basil
Parsley
Oregano
(Add spices to your own taste. Don't be heavy handed... herbs enhance, not take over, a dish.)
1 tsp salt
Ground pepper to taste

Brown the onion in some oil.
Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.
Add the bacon and cook for a few minutes.
Add the mince and cook until browned.
Add the vegetables.
Add the soup.
Add the spices to taste.

Let this simmer for a couple of hours on the stove. It really does make the flavour mindblowing. If you need dinner to be ready like 5 minutes ago microwave the grated and chopped veges before adding them.

Serve with:
.... grated parmesan cheese
.... warm, crusty bread or rolls
.... rice
.... corn chips
.... pasta
.... make lasagne
.... place in a casserole dish, top with puff pastry, pop in the oven to make a pie
.... thicken and make sausage rolls
.... wrap in tortillas with tomato, avocado, lettuce and grated cheese

We are having this for dinner tonight!! :)


*I try not to buy the cheap supermarket mince because it has added water. Yes, water. In their pursuit of the sweet, almighty dollar some supermarkets (and butchers) have been known to add water to meats to boost the weight. So you end up paying about $8 a kg for mince that is sometimes half water. That's $8 a litre for water people!!! You know that liquid in the bottom of the pan when you brown the mince?? It's water. This also means that the minced beef doesn't cook or brown as it should because it's boiling in water and loses it's flavour.

Chutney

The hubby and I had the house to ourselves for dinner on Friday night! Yay! The kids were off at a birthday party. :) So we indulged in some take away Indian delights from a nearby family run restaurant. You know when food is really good. The table falls silent, food magically disappears from the serving dishes and you wish you had grabbed that last piece of naan bread when it was still there.

I like to serve Indian food with a yoghurt dish and chutney. *Insert Homer Simpson drool.* It was with great sorrow that I scraped the last of the Jamworks Mandarin Chutney out of the jar. I picked it up in Stanthorpe a little while ago. The Granite Belt is one of my favourite spots on the planet (that's a whole post on it's own). I'd discovered a little gourmet deli shop a few suburbs over that sold it. Unfortunately my favourite little deli didn't survive the January floods that swept through the inner city. Sad, very sad.

Not knowing how I was going to get my hands on the next fabulous chutney to be had, Google and I conferred on some recipes and decided I could probably make some myself.

My Chutney Recipe

The kitchen yielded 5 oranges, a couple of red apples, an onion, some garlic and ginger, 2 cups of sultanas (this is double the quantity because I LOVE sultanas in chutney), 1 1/2 tblsp salt, cracked black pepper to taste, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar and 2 cups of vinegar (a mix of white wine and apple cider). Cut up all the fruit and vege, put everything in a large pot and simmer it until it's thick. I swear, cross my heart, it was that easy. This recipe made 4 jars. I gave one away to friends last night when we went over for a bbq.

Next time I might not put in as much vinegar and maybe add some allspice. I had some with cheese and crackers for a snack and it's pretty damn fine. :):)

** Update: After having a few weeks to settle and develop the amount of vinegar in this recipe is just perfect.

Farmgirl's Blog has been a source of inspiration for making bread and everything farm fresh. She has a recipe for fresh pita bread with lamb mince filling. I had some lamb, so I minced it in the food processor, mixed in some minced onion, thyme, parsley and rosemany. No Sage for fellow Simon & Garfunkel fans. I didn't have time to make my own but I had some store bought pita breads. There are always tomatoes in my house and onions in the pantry. They went together into a salad. Some finely chopped telegraph cucumber, a smidge of minced garlic and some Jalna Greek Yoghurt and we were on our way to Greek heaven. :):) Seriously, this was a damn fine dinner. Quick, easy, fresh and delicious!!!  Just how I like it.

Strawberries

Are coming into season here and at $2 a punnet are a bargain buy. At the height of the strawberry season the local markets have a 5kg box of strawberries at various stages of ripeness for $5. That's a buck a kilo!! It's worth a few minutes effort to go through it, pick out the ones that can be popped straight into the mouths of hungry family members and put aside those that are perfect for jams, sauces, cooking and baking. Jams! Did I say jams! I've never in my life made jam. I spent endless hours as a child picking out rosella berries when Nanna made jam but I've never ventured there myself.

I went through the fridge and found a few strawberries too ripe to eat but certainly not in a state to need to go into the worm farm. I hit the google trail and found many recipes for coulis (a really fancy french sounding name for sauce that needs to be said with a heavy accent). Only thing I didn't like about them was the added sugar. Then the added lemon juice to add tartness. What the? It didn't make sense to add sweetness then add sourness to balance it back. Aren't strawberries delicioso all by their sweet little selves?? Also, if we were to have this for dessert, poured over ice cream we certainly didn't need any more added sugar.

So I ventured out onto that limb I sometimes find myself precariously balanced on and blended the strawberries. That's it! Nothing added, no fancy ingredients required and no posh name. Blended strawberries. Poured straight over some delicious vanilla ice cream. Lordy me this was absolutely knee weakening dessert.

Freshly Baked Bread

A few weeks back I was going through my generously sized pantry wondering why on Earth I didn't have any shelf space. So I thought I'd rationalise and get rid of any appliances which were a good idea the time/were used to death and now we hate them/languishing sadly waiting for someone who would use them and love them. The first thing I pulled out was the bread maker.

Commercial bread is often baked with preservatives, additives and flavours. Of all the food additives, it was bread that was the biggest culprit to contributing to my son's massive tantrums. The very first item I cut from his diet was preservative laden bread. Three days later his tantrums had ceased and my sanity was restored. If you really don't want to bake your own bread ask your local baker if they used additives. If you can't find one that doesn't rest assured that Brumby's bread is preservative free and I found my son didn't react to it. ;)

I used to love the bread maker. There's nothing like waking up to the smell of freshly baking bread. But the loaf it baked wasn't quite right. It didn't gel together properly, had a big hole in the bottom from the stirrer and was really difficult to cut.

Now my friend gamer friend Doug makes his own bread. So inspired by the thought that if Doug could do it, then so could I....  I turned to one of my other friends in internet land (Google) and did some serious research (wandering through blog land oohhhing and ahhhhing over all the delicious recipes with accompanying visually delicious pics). Turns out you can use the bread maker to make the dough and then bake it in the oven!! Who'd have thought!! :) You know what?? It works an absolute treat. It works so well that 5 of us ate a whole loaf for Saturday lunch. ;)

Here's how you do it. 

Step 1 - make the bread dough according to the directions and set the breadmaker on the dough cycle.
Step 2 - Cook it in a preheated 200 dec C oven for 30 mins.
Step 3 - Cut while still warm so the bread can only be enjoyed in big hunks with lots of delicious crusty bits.

A few details. It's all in the details isn't it?

Do you need a proper bread tin? NO I used my large loaf tin bought from the Supermarket.

Remember to butter and flour the pan so the bread doesn't stick coz you don't want to lose any of that delicious, crunchy crust to the bread pan goblins.

DON'T follow the rules!! If you are a teacher/lawyer/judge/rule maker/of lawful good alignment look away now. I ALWAYS put the yeast in with the water. *Gasp* Add 1/2 tsp suger *Double Gasp* and let the yeast activate before adding the bread flour. Your loaf will rise to the occasion every time.

Pizza is a regular affair in our household. Not only does it make it easy to cater to the different tastebuds it's easy, delicious and uses up all those bits and pieces that float around the fridge looking for a home.

There was a time, long ago when unicorns roamed the planet and I regularly used the bread maker to make pizza dough. Somewhere along the line I got busy/lazy/distracted and was buying fresh store bought pizza crusts. So, armed with the knowledge that I was now officially a fabulous bread maker I started making my own pizza dough again. OMG Divine! Why did I stop? I don't remember. But I'm so glad I started making it again.

Here's my really quick and easy pizza dough recipe:

2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 cup warm water

At this point I like to give the yeast time to activate before adding everything else. I found that the jam setting on the bread maker has 10mins preheat at the beginning on the cycle. Who knew reading the instruction manual could be useful? On a cold, wintry day it is perfect for getting the yeast up and running.

Add:
1 tsp salt
2 tblsp oil (I use a lightly flavoured cold pressed Australian virgin olive oil)
2 cups plain flour

Switch on the dough setting on the bread maker, sit back and relax.  Yeah, it really is as easy as it sounds.

This is enough to make 2 family sized pizzas with a fairly thin crust which will crunch up perfectly in the oven. I cook my pizzas at 240 deg C for 10 mins, turn oven down to 200 deg C and cook for about 7 mins.

To get a really crunchy crust cook the crusts on a tray without any toppings for 3 mins at 240 deg. This is long enough for the dough to hold it's shape and not go droopy when you pick it up. Assemble your pizzas and then finish cooking them directly on the oven rack.  Yummmmmoooooo

Passionfruit

Cooking with fruit and veg that are in season is a great excuse to search out new recipes or pull out some old favourites. The hubby was given a bag full of passionfruit the other day so I surfed the net for a quick and easy recipe to use them up.

I found this recipe on Taste.com.au (my favourite source of recipes). The name was enough to capture my attention. :)

These were quick, easy, light and delicious biscuits. I didn't have fresh lemon on hand so I left out the lemon rind. These biscuits are perfect to have with a cup of tea without needing to ice them. I didn't have white chocolate so I made passionfruit icing and iced half the batch. Next time I'm going to make a double batch because they didn't last long!

Eggs

Eggs aint eggs.

Eggs should have firm, high whites that don't spread all over the pan when you crack them.

Eggs should have bright, orangey-yellow yolks that sit round and high when you crack them open and not be pale, insipid yellow and barely half a cm high.

Eggs shouldn't be weeks old when you eat them.

Eggs from caged battery hens should be banned! Keeping birds in cages to mass produce inferior quality eggs in the name of convenience and making extra bucks should be a crime.

Be very wary of supermarket eggs. They are weeks old and not fresh. Try this: Crack an egg produced from a caged hen and bought from a supermarket. Now crack an egg produced from a barn raised or free range bird less than a week old. You will be amazed at what you have been accepting as an "egg".

My local fruit & veg store sells fresh, free range eggs from a local producer for the SAME PRICE as the old, stale free range eggs at the supermarket. My baking tastes better. It rises higher. Quiches take on a whole new range of deliciousness and colour. Even plain old boiled eggs take on a new dimension.

BUT it gets better. A few weeks back I caught up with a friend who will always be very dear to me for the loving, gentle, generous soul he is. He helped me out many years ago when I was going through a particularly rough patch. I discovered not only does now live literally 5 mins down the road but.... wait for it.... he has chickens in his backyard!! My oh my. The eggs. Straight from the chicken. Need to be experienced to be believed. So for the price of a bag of feed I have the freshest, most beautiful eggs to create with.

Oh.. and I forgot to mention. Pete is one of the best cooks I have ever had the pleasure to know. Short of a dollar? Can't go out for dinner. Come over and I'll cook lobster for you!! With some champagne to wash it down! Some things you just never forget. Bless you!!

Fresh Produce!

I've spent the past year or so sourcing fresh produce to eat and cook with. The supermarket can provide a convenient place to get all your shopping needs in one place but quite often the quality isn't up to scratch, it costs more and the fresh produce has been handled by delivery people, staff and many customers mostly resulting in bruised, mishandled produce.

The local Fuit and Veg shop is in the same complex as the supermarket. Their produce is always fresh, great quality and cheaper. The supermarket trucks in their produce from another State. Let me explain something to you. Much of the produce is grown in our State, transported to another State where it is bought by the supermarket buyers and then transported BACK to our State for sale in the supermarket. That is INSANE!! The produce is either very old or picked green so that it has no flavour. It also makes the cost of our produce far greater than it needs to be.

Ask your local fruit and veg shop owner where they get their produce from. Our local shop gets their produce at the local markets. In the same city. You aren't paying extra for added transportation and the produce is fresher because it hasn't been shipped across the country twice. They are able to take advantage of any growers sales. An extra bonus is that you can buy very ripe produce that is perfectly fine for saucing, stewing, roasting or blending for a fraction of the original price.

You cannot put a price on personal service. Looking for slightly riper or greener fruit? Perhaps something not on display? Chances are the person serving you is the owner and willing to go the extra mile for the customers. Our local fruit & veg shop offers an online ordering service. You can choose to collect the prepared order which has been packed for you or if the order is > $30 they will deliver it to you. For FREE!! Tell me that isn't an added extra for families struggling to find extra hours in their day.

Fresh Produce!! Try it. You'll like it. :)

Real Food

How real is our food?

When my son was about 2 years old I discovered that food additives, preservatives, colours, flavours and the like affected his behaviour. At that time I began to change the way I viewed and approached "food". Much of what is marketed, produced and sold as food has no food in it.

My basic guidelines are:

• If it has more than a few simple ingredients
• If it has ingredients represented by numbers
• If it has ingredients with scientific, unpronounceable names

IT IS NOT  FOOD

That doesn't mean that I never buy, serve or eat processed food. It means that for the majority of the time I endeavour to feed myself and my family what our bodies are designed to eat - real food. As fresh as possible, as unprocessed as possible and as delicious as possible. :)

This is my journey.