Tuesday check-in................

Hey there!! How's your Tuesday treating you? Mine is ticking along nicely thankyou....

                                                                             

Coffee with friends...a little bit of (yawn...) housework and now into the kitchen for a spot of baking................

                                                                                 

School pick-up next then the fun truly starts!!?!.............

                                                                                 

Have a good one people.................


                                                             Janelle  xx                                                                                                                                                              

Weekend Ramblings..............

Hello there!! So how was your weekend??  We had the usual Saturday morning of chauferring children here, there and everywhere then I spent the better part of the afternoon throwing mulch at the garden beds.....very satisfying. And hard work!!!

                                                                                   

I know the garden will definitely be thanking us for it during the coming warmer months....

                                                                                 

Ooooohhh.....pretty!!!................

                                                                                 

So, aside from puffing and panting in the garden I also managed to score myself this fabulous white metal chair from.......Aldi, of all places!! And I am loving it. Not exactly sure where it will live so it's just getting dragged all about the house for now.

                                                                                   

And speaking of dragging furniture all about the place, we had a little shuffle around of some bedroom furniture. Always good to start this type of thing on a Sunday evening when one should be organising one's family dinner............

                                                                                 

A little craft was squeezed in here and there when I could manage it. I have officially crossed over into Granny world, where I've basically been living my whole life, and am whipping up a batch of these knitted coathanger covers!! I love these. Simple as that. And I must say so do my clothes!.............

                                                                                 

And that's that. Weekend round-up complete................

                                                                                 

Have a wonderful week won't you??!!

See you soon......................




                                                                         Janelle  xx                                                                                                                                                    

Minestrone Soup.......

Hello!! It's Friday arvo here which in my books is the official start to the weekend. Actually, some weeks we even tend to officially start the weekend come Thursday night....no sense in waiting about I say....
                                                                                 
Any hoo....today I thought I'd share a "what we had for dinner" post with you. I think I've said on here before that I soooooo much prefer baking to cooking actual meals. I do like the fam to eat healthy though so am always on the look out for quick, tasty, EASY and child-friendly meals (meaning my children will eat it without any probs. Well....minimal fuss anyway...) I love sharing recipes but am usually alot more confident on the baking side of the fence so I prefer to not call these posts "recipes" as such but treat them more like we are all just sitting around having a cuppa and discussing what we had/are having for dinner.

Soooo.....what did we have for dinner????

                                                                                 

A simple, basic Minestrone Soup........

                                                                                 

I have no idea if this is traditional, I'd say adding a carton of Safeway chicken stock to it probably isn't, but it is quick, healthy and the whole family loves it. Every time. And that is the most important thing to me. Oh yeah, and it's tasty!!

                                                                                 

                                                                                       
 
                                                            Minestrone Soup

1 onion, diced
4 or 5 bacon rashers, chopped into smallish squares ?
2 carrots, diced
1 zuchini, diced
1 potatoe, diced
garlic - 1 teaspn minced (please use fresh if you have?!)
Italian mixed herbs
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can 5 bean mix, rinse and drain first
1 large carton chicken (or any type you have laying about) stock
1/2 cup pasta
Splash of red wine (if you have)
Parmesan cheese
And maybe cheddar too

Okay.......

Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and throw in your bacon and onion. Cook for a few mins until brownish.
Add the rest of your vegies (I will add here...please use any vegies you wish to) and the garlic. Fry off for a few more minutes. I sometimes add a drop or two of water at this stage if it's all starting to stick to the bottom of the pan.
Now throw in the tomatoes and beans. Probs a good time to sprinkle in your herbs now too. And your wine. If you haven't drunk it all by now.
Lastly toss in the pasta and tip out the whole carton of chicken stock. You may or may not need to add extra water later. Just keep checking.

Bring all this to the boil and then I cover it (with the lid slightly tilted) and let it simmer until the pasta is cooked. I do admit to often forgetting about it so I'm not exactly sure of how long.....maybe 15-20 minutes?

When you're ready to eat it throw a good amount of the parmesan cheese on top. This really makes it I think. For the kids I often just use our 'normal' cheddar cheese and they love it.

                                                                                 

Always serve with some type of delicious crusty bread!! Although this time I just threw a pack of supermarket dinner rolls in the trolley and heated them up. Win!!!

                                                                                 

                                                                               

I do hope this has all made sense!! I tend to just throw in whatever and however much ingredients we happen to have on hand at the time but I think that can often be the best way to cook for one's fam yes?!?

                                                                               

I would love to hear of anyone else's everyday quick easy healthy family-meal recipes. I love getting new ideas....things can get a tad tedious after eating the same meals week in week out!! After looking through some oldish cooking mags the other day I came across a few other yummy tasting recipes. We tried one out this week and it seemed to pass the family test!! So I will hopefully get that one to you next week.....

                                                                                 

In the meantime have a fab Friday and an even 'fabber' weekend!!!

Enjoy!!!........



                                                     Janelle  xx                                                                            

Morning Tea............

Hey there and Happy Thursday!! How are things treating you in your neck of the woods? Anyone up for a cuppa??

                                                                                     

I am still loving all things black and white and these mugs are being used around here on a daily basis. Just loooove that pattern.......


                                                                             

The roses bushes here are currently covered in little buds just hinting at the promise of good things to come. The climbing iceberg roses out the front do have a few flowers blooming which have quickly been snipped off and brought inside to enjoy......

                                                                                     

With friends.......

                                                                                   

We also have a new mag...good to go. I will admit to a slight magazine addiction. And by slight I mean raving-out-of-control-at-times type of thing. However with the addition of gorgeous blogs and of course everyone's best friend pinterest I have managed to curb this problem just a tad. Though the sight and smell of a freshly purchased mag just waiting to be perused at some (often unattainable!!) quiet solitary moment is still kinda hard to beat right?!?
               
                                                                                   

                                                                                   

And so that is it from me today...morning tea is well and truly over and the countless afternoon jobs are set to begin......

                                                                                   

Wishing you a fab rest-of-the-day......

                                                                                 

...........


                                                       Janelle  xx                                                                              

Cleaning Day!!!

And Good Afternoon there!!!

                                                                                     

 
I've been cleaning like a mad woman today and of course had to do what any self respecting woman would do......pop it on her blog......

                                                                                 

I must admit to being quite shocked and pleasantly surprised to find that there was in fact a table in our dining area.....not just an enormous pile of kiddo craft......

                                                                                   

So I trotted out and picked a few roses off the verandah, plopped them in the middle of my new-found table, then felt it necessary to take a few snaps. If for no other reason than for evidence and for me to look back on in the next week or so when the pile of crap craft reappears.

                                                                                 

 

What are you up to today?? I must say, this cleaning caper is quite tiring but also rather satisfying.....must try it again one day......

                                                                                   

                                                                   

Honey Drop Biscuits......

Hey there!! Well we are all back to 'normal' here today...children at school and I am left to re-construct the house after they have had a 'fun and creative' two weeks at home....
However, before I do that I wanted to share, or rather re-hash, a recipe with you. It's my basic Jam Drop biscuit recipe which I have posted on here before but this time we decided to ditch the whole jam thing and smother the biscuit in icing and sprinkles. Sounds good yes??!!?

                                                                                 

 
I'm not sure what one would call these now though. "Drops" just doesn't seem to get the mouth watering exactly does it??! We kind of think of them more as a honey biscuit so let's go with Honey Drops today shall we??

                                                                                   

So here we go.......

                                                                                   

                                                                                   

                                                                  Honey Drops                                                               
Ingredients

115 grams butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar (I use organic raw)
1 egg
2 (large!) teaspoons honey
1 cup self raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup plain flour, sifted
1/4 cup cornflour, sifted

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees

2. Place your butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat together until pale and fluffy.

3. Now add the egg and honey and beat until all is well combined

4. Sift in your dry ingredients and mix together well with a wooden spoon, spatula or whatever takes your fancy.

5. Roll about a teaspoon of mixture into balls and place on a greased or lined baking tray. Give them a little gentle squash.

6. Pop in the oven for about 12-15 minutes.

7. Once you take them out of the oven let them sit on their tray for a few extra minutes to cool and then transfer them onto a cooling rack.

8. You could just simply leave them now and enjoy (in which case I would press them lightly with a fork before baking them) or once they are cool spread a little vanilla icing on top, sprinkle with sprinkly sprinkles and watch your family eat a whole lot of them.....

                                                                               

Pretty simple yes?? These really can be made very quickly and I do believe most kids (and big people too!) would enjoy them.

                                                                                     

So off you pop and whip up a batch....you can thank me later!!!??!

                                                                                 

Hope you have a great week!!

See you again soon................


                             
                                                             Janelle  xx                                                                                    

Pillow talk.................

Hello there! Now I'll start off by asking you to please excuse any mistakes or mishaps in this post....I have 3 very L.O.U.D children about 2 metres away from me, because they like to be close. At all times. One is making very loud and very accurate bird noises, one is asking for food (of course...someone is always asking for food in this house) and one is just chatting. And chatting. Aaaannd chatting.......School holidays - gotta love 'em. (actually I really do love them but that still doesn't stop my children from driving me crazy some days!?!)
So, anyway, onto more exciting things.......
Pillowcases!!!!!

                                                                                   

                                                                                   

Homemade pillowcases to be exact!?! After searching and searching for the right pair, with no luck, I decided to just whip up my own.......

                                                                                   

                                                                                 

I did briefly consider going through the process of making these but honestly, if you can sew you can make these. I just plopped a pillowcase I already had onto the fabric, cut around it and then sewed it up!!!

                                                                               

And I am really pleased with them. I love the black and white spots propped up amongst all that white......

                                                                                 

                                                                                   

I think it needs just a pop of colour now (melon? mint? aqua?...) and the bed will be sitting pretty....

                                                                                 

I love a good quick d.i.y project and this was certainly that.....

                                                                                 

How about you? Are you a DIYer or a buy it all the way type?? I think half of it is in the challenge for me.....

                                                                                 

                                                                                       

Right...I'm off to find something else to whip up....but first I think a nice loooooong walk/bike ride may be in order to burn off all that excess energy (the kids.....not mine!!!)

Now go and have a fab day please...............


                                                   Janelle  xx