Creativeness

KEYCHAIN / KEYFOBS

Aj and a mate are writing school curriculum so I thought it was a great time for me to share some of my current creativeness with you. 

I have a MadeIt store where I am selling these things. Feel free to take a look. If you don't have a MadeIt account (which you don't need to look, but do need to purchase) contact me and we can sort something out :)

BABY SHOES

APPLIQUE TOPS

And These are some new plants for the garden. I just LOVE Geberas and couldn't buy them at my local nursery. I planted them today admits the wind. My garden is slowly but surely filling up. Now to remember to water them in this time of no rain.













We also slaughtered 8 meat chooks today. A few of them were huge. I roasted one this evening in a roasting bag. Something I haven't done before. It's dinner tomorrow night, so I'll have to let you know how it goes.

Our new addition

Meet Asha, our 4mth old kitten

Asha is Miss Z's early birthday present.

We talked a lot about it and after seeing Miss Z with the kitten on Tuesday, I knew it was the right time. I personally am not really a big cat person, but she is cute.

Essie is fascinated by her. Asha, well, I can say I have seen a cat spit now :)

I'm sure you will see more of her in time to come but just a short one for now.

If you are wanting to watch some funny animations on cats try Simon's Cat. They are great!

AFTERTHOUGHT:

For those of you with kids who have behavioural issues (beyond simply the need for some good discipline), how do you cope and what are things that you have found that work? Cheers.

The egg freshness test

We have had issues with our chooks not laying of late. I have been leaving them locked in until about 2ish in the afternoon and have in the last few days been getting more eggs. 

not my pic but it looks much better :)

We had a bantam (Indian Game Bantam) go missing last week. She was the one that hatched our first ducklings. I followed her closely last Thursday and found her outside the property sitting on 11 eggs. We have put the top part of a pet carrier over her and the aim is to put the bottom of the container under her so when the eggs hatch we can bring her back inside the chook house. Since the ducklings hatched, Ravi (brown leghorn rooster) has been hanging with her and Aj has wanted Ravi x Bantam chicks. So in about another two weeks we should have them 

Back to the missing eggs...Aj found 11 eggs in the grass, three feet beyond our fence line, right near the road. All but two were in the 'standing up position' (see below). So still fresh. Not bad hey :) Cheeky girls. I wonder how many other nests are out along the roadside? 

Busy week ahead for us here. I trust yours well be a good one :)

Recipe: Tuna Mornay

Nigella

Part of my being a better wife/mother this year is cooking better meals for my family. Sooo I will also try and add some of the recipes that I find here. 

I found this Tuna Mornay recipe by Nigella Lawson this afternoon and although it seems complicated it really is easy. 

This recipe serves 4 people, but can be easily scaled up or down. One of the little 85-95g tins of tuna is perfect for one person. The peppers and mustard powder amounts can be increased depending on how spicy you like things. Adding cooked pasta to the mix before cooking makes the meal go further and makes for an easy one-pot-meal.

Tuna Mornay

425 grams canned tuna (in spring water or brine not oil)

60 grams butter or margarine

4 tablespoon(s) plain flour

cayenne pepper to taste - I only had black pepper in the cupboard

black pepper to taste

½ teaspoon mustard powder  - I used curry powder

1 stock cubes or 1 teaspoon of stock powder

4 spring onion(s) chopped finely

1 cup corn kernels (frozen are fine and easier) – I added a cup of corn and a cup of peas

2 cup milk

breadcrumbs

grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

sorry about the very bad photo :( 

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Take the pan off the heat while you stir in the flour, peppers and mustard powder.

Put the pan back on the heat and cook the flour and butter mixture for 1 minute, taking care not to burn it.

Take the pan off the heat again while you add the milk. Stir over low heat while the mixture thickens. Once it has, take it off the heat and stir in the tuna, spring onions, corn and stock powder or crumbled cube.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish and cover the top with breadcrumbs and grated cheese.

Pop into the oven (uncovered) for 20-30 minutes until the onions are soft and the topping is crunchy.

Serve with salad. Note: Other vegetables can be added to this. The sauce also makes a great base for other mornays, the chicken and asparagus variation is yummy!

Bringing in the sheaves - Aj here.

Hay, we had a great week this week!

You'll have to pardon the pun, but we had our hay cut and raked this week (thank you so much to our neighbours across the road!).

Mr T enjoying a front row seat as director of operations.

Glad I don't have to push a mower around this hectare!

On Thursday Ross from down the road came with his square baler (we can't shift or handle the big round ones). He managed to get 30 done before breaking the chain on his machine. Mel and I got those bales in and wondered where the rest of them would all fit, because they definitely weren't going to all get into the hayshed.

1 trailer, 29 bales

Working hard on the pedals so the carter can get the bales on the trailer...

Providence Meadows

Friday afternoon, Ross came back with a new chain and, in a short time, had the baler running again. Lovely friends of ours were over to share in our Friday night pizza, so after tea we all got out there and started carting it in - all 200 more bales!

Heaps!

Now this is why I really appreciate where we live: seeing how many bales there were, I wasn't sure how we were going to get them all in that night. So I posted a request for anyone local to help and, within an hour two blokes had showed up with their buses (for you non-locals, that's Tassie speak for 4WD) and trailers! As you can imagine, with all the amazing help, the job was done very quickly!

Paul, Tracey, Miss E and Miss B; Sam and Roger: without you, the job would have been so much bigger, harder and would not have been finished in one evening. Thank you so much.

Recipes: Mummy's LCM bars and Quiche

With school starting again this week, we are in a new season of ours life. A season where afternoon tea has to be high in energy and filling. MrT is a Graham. Tired, hungry Graham's turn into grumpy Graham's :D Isn't that right MotherInLaw, its a family trait?

I need something different from the standard choc chip biscuits that are always available. Not to mention the other three kids are also needing a good afternoon tea. A bowl of fruit salad and a LCM bar. It is also a great time for the kids to sit around the table and chat.

This recipe is simple and economical. I pressed some mixture into muffin trays and put chocolate on top. For chocolate bars, mix chocolate melts in the pan with the butter.

Mummy’s LCM bars

5 cups (120g) Rice Bubbles (I used Homebrand Rice Pops)

120g butter, chopped

1/4 cup golden syrup

1/3 cup (90g) crunchy/smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup (60g) sugar

1. Grease 20cm x 30cm lamington pan. Line with baking paper.

2. Put the butter, golden syrup, peanut butter and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

3. Simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered and without stirring, until mixture thickens. Take off heat. Stir in cereal. Mix until evenly coated with sugar mixture.

4. Press firmly into the pan, with the help of the base of a glass. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into fingers.

This was tonight's dinner with a simple salad and a dinner roll. It was very yummy! I added some basil pesto and garlic to the bacon and onion as it cooked.

Quiche

2 sheets ready rolled shortcrust pastry

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

4 rashers bacon, rind removed, finely chopped

1 cup grated tasty cheese (a handful)

4 eggs (I personally love using duck eggs in my quiches)

1 teaspoon plain flour

300ml cream (no cream in the fridge? Use more milk and some extra flour)

1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a fluted 3cm deep, 23cm (base), loose-base flan pan.

2. Line base and sides of flan with pastry. Trim excess. Line pastry with baking paper. Half-fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and beans. Bake a further 10 minutes or until golden.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and bacon. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Cool.

4. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C. Whisk remaining ingredients and salt and pepper in a jug. Add bacon, onion and cheese. Pour into pastry dish. Place onto tray. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Stand for 5 minutes. Serve.

I trust that these recipes are easy to read and to make.

Let me know how you go.

XOX

School book, farm happenings and a funny thing

It's Friday!!! AND the first of Feburary. 

Aj went back to work on Tuesday so this week has been a 'blahhh' sort of week. The students all start on Monday so the years activities like playgroup and library sections will start soon to. I'm sure I'll feel better once the year is in fully swing.

SCHOOL BOOKS

We went into the school yesterday, meet MrT's teacher, saw his class room and collected uniform and books. It was then home to contact the books. MissZ had fun creating with the scraps. 

I was taught how to laminate books in grade four. I am not sure why but I remember us all sitting at our desks covering our books. I was (and still are) a perfectionist so hated bubbles. I'd much rather get a new book than have bubbles in it :D I found this great tutorial on Kelly's page. I use the cut off corners on the inside corners of the book for extra strength. For the books that MrT has, exercise books, you don't even need to cut a spine notch as the contact can go between the cover and the pages.

FARM HAPPENINGS

• We have a duck and Light Sussex hen, sharing a nesting box and 21 eggs. 
• We have six new ducks, five for the freezer, one for eggs.
• Our chickens are hardly laying at the moment. Although a few people around here are experiencing the same issue with theirs. 

A FUNNY THING

I was heading out to a friends last night and my man and dog were looking just like a photo from a Country Style mag. Of course she moved when I pulled out my phone. Sitting in the car trying not to take a photo of the window frame, I called Essie to look at me. Photo1 is Essie leaping through the open window of the car, muddy paws and all. Photo2 is me getting a 'looks similar to what I had in mind' photo. And yes, Country Style would have told Aj to wear dark coloured socks lol

 

Enjoy your weekend all XOX

Yes it is Saturday the 2nd of February at the time of publishing.

Today has been great with apple pies made, lemon cordial and two ducks slaughter; one in the slow cooker as we speak. Nothing fresher than that hey.