Num Nummies Monday 23rd Sept 2013

It's a been a while, but I'm back. I signed up to October Unprocessed today and so really need to get organised with a thorough meal plan!

Of course, a meal plan also really helps with keeping costs down, and keeping any healthy eating goals  on track.

This week's plan:

Monday: Roghan Josh with diced beef (beef from our bulk buy last year)

Tuesday: Quiche with salad and potato (quiche in freezer). Lettuce from our garden.

Wednesday: Spaghetti bolognaise with wholemeal pasta (meat sauce in freezer)

Thursday: Chicken, corn and black beans on homemade wraps (chicken mix in freezer). Lettuce from our garden.

Friday: Cottage pie (freezer)

Saturday: Tbone steak and potatoes on BBQ, and salad (steak from bulk buy).

Sunday: Cheese on toast (homemade bread)

Breakfasts: mainly porridge, using steel cuts oats. Some days it will be cooked in the slow cooker overnight, but I cooked some over the weekend on the stove top and it is now in the freezer in small portions. There will be some days with toast from homemade bread.

Lunch: struggling for ideas, wanna share yours? Homemade bread features strongly but I would like to cut down on my bread consumption. Fruit and salads will be starting to make a regular appearance, especially once our veggie patch starts producing! 

You may have noticed that every meal (except lazy Sunday) has something from the freezer. I love my chest freezer! Also love my Mamabake group! I have joined a newly formed Mamabake group in my area, and we have met twice already for main meals, and once for a 'treats' bake up (think cookies and muffins).

In October we are doing a vegetarian theme, and it will be a straight swap. No cooking on the day. I am hosting the group in October and my kitchen simply couldn't cope with more than one person trying to cook. It barely copes with me!

I love my Mamabake group, and love that my meals for the next few weeks require little actual cooking by me in the evenings :)

Our little veggie patch is going well, and we are now able to pick some lettuce leaves when needed to go with dinner.

I am sharing this on Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Rainy day glue play

 

Imogen just loves glue.

 

It was pouring with rain one day last week, so we weren't going outside. A perfect day for Imogen to do some craft!

 

However, belatedly I realised that we finished up a glue stick the day before, and I couldn't find any more in the house.

 

This meant we simply HAD to go buy some more. We were already headed to Officeworks to get my diary bound (yes it is now March, I know) and I never need an excuse to wander around stationery shops. Imogen got to push around a little trolley with a flag, and Ezra sat up in a big trolley that I pushed around.

The tiled area is great for her to be able to set herself up, either at her little table or on the floor. Ezra isn't allowed in the tiled area so Imogen can leave things on the floor for a while before needing to tidy it.

 

It all started with Imogen drawing circles on pieces of scrap paper and asking me to cut them out. She kept saying 'But be careful, because scissors are sharp!'.

 

Thanks, Mister Maker. Love your work.

 

The circles turned out to be the heads of various members of our extended family. And that of Chu Chu, my nana's cat. Imogen then wanted the glue to be able to stick the 'heads' onto other pieces of paper. I pretty much left her alone with the glue - a big risk on my part. But overall it was worth it.

 

I had been collecting plastic bottle tops for some time, and brought out a selection of those to include in Imogen's artistic endeavour.

Below is Imogen's creative interpretion of Grandma. Grandma got more detail than most members of the family.

 

 

We will totally be doing this again next time it rains! I loved that this was something that Imogen directed, with no particularly special craft items needed.

 

Thanks for dropping by. What's your favourite activity to do at home when it is pouring down rain?

Num Nummies Monday 28th October

Hubby and I have decided to join Tricia’s family at little eco footprints by going supermarket free in November. They have done it all year, but we are trying just for one month.

So I am thinking a little harder about our menu plans, and what meals are possible with more local, sustainable foods. I have been super excited that Farmer’s Markets have started nearby us in Lake Macquarie, but they are only on fortnightly. We are totally going to be spending Saturday mornings there over summer.

This week's menu reflects the emptying of our freezers, and the warmer weather.

Menu Plan for this week:

Monday: Chicken sausages and rice, cheese and broccoli casserole (freezer)

Tuesday: Meatballs and potato gems

Wednesday: BBQ – Lamb chops and vegies

Thursday: Sloppy joes on baked potatoes

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: BBQ – Steak sandwiches, with salad

Sunday: Slow cooker pork, apple and sweet potato, following this recipe from OAMM

Review of last week: Things got switched around a little. We didn’t end up eating pizza at all. And the roast didn’t happen yesterday, as I neglected to take it out of the oven on Friday in order to defrost in time. The honey garlic chicken was very yummy, but we didn’t have it till Friday night, before hubby went to watch some A League soccer (football).

The chicken and potato casserole is always a winner, but it is a little thick and filling for summer. Perfecto for winter though! I am unlikely to be making it again before Autumn next year.

No photo this week. Batteries are dead in the camera. I am more interested in making posting my menu plan a habit than in worrying about having a photo. But definitely next week.



What's your favourite meal on the bbq?



Linking up again to Menu Plan Monday on I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Num Nummies Monday 22 October 2012

Just about everything this week will be coming from the freezer. I have had a cold for a few days, and woke up during Saturday night with a nasty throat, so I don’t really feel like cooking much. Thankfully there is plenty in the freezer – both fully cooked meals (like the casserole) and uncooked but ready to go (like the pork and apple for the slow cooker).


Monday: Chicken and potato casserole (from the freezer)
Tuesday: Slow cooker – Pork and apple. Adding sweet potato this time too.(Pork from the freezer)
Wednesday: Slow cooker - Honey garlic chicken with rice (Chicken from the freezer)
Thursday: Sloppy joes mixture on baked potatoes (Sloppy joe mix from freezer)
Friday: Homemade meatlovers pizza, with fresh dough. (Everything in fridge or freezer already)
Saturday: Sausages and potato, on the barbeque (Sausages from the freezer)
Sunday: Roast lamb (from the freezer)


Wednesday’s dinner is a new one. I am hoping it tastes good, because I would like to include it in my list of ‘dump’ recipes for OAMC.

Imogen will be eating the same as us, except Friday night. We usually eat pizza after the two girls are asleep for the evening.

Breakfasts will be cold cereal for Imogen and my husband, as that's what they love. I have been stocking up on the cereal they like lately, as I found some good prices. I will be eating toast and some granola, when I get around to making it in the slow cooker. There are also some waffles in the freezer that I whipped up a few weeks back, and some fruit loaf from our local baker. It is soooo yummy. I buy it everytime we happen to be there, if there is a loaf from the day before, which get marked down.

I am trying to get more organised with lunches, but at the moment they are pretty much peanut butter sandwiches or wraps for Imogen, and something similar or leftovers for me after she goes down for her nap.

So that's this week.


I'm not really organised yet in the photo department, so here is one from a few months ago. Perhaps my daughter won't love it in a few years but this is such a classic shot of her at breakfast time...

And yeah, it's not a great photo, but I love it. My dad is always shocked by how much she tries to fit in at one time! Imogen is eating two Weetbix, by the way. I usually add some hot water to soften them up, then add milk.

She does love her Weetbix.

I would ask 'How many do you do?' but that possibly won't make sense if you aren't from Australia.

So I'll simply ask, what is your favourite breakfast over summer? I'm planning ahead so will add your suggestions to my rotations!

Thanks for dropping by today.

I will be trying very hard to link up with orgjunkie today on her Menu Plan Monday - first time ever!

And we grew to four...

I actually wrote this post almost two weeks ago - but am only now having the time to post it!

Wow! Time has surely gone past in a flash! I sit here typing with one baby asleep in the bouncer, and one toddler asleep on the couch in the loungeroom, with the theme song for Play School repeating over and over on the DVD menu page.

Baby Ezra was born in late June, on her due date according to the scans, but two days early according to my calculations. She started to arrive in the early hours of a Saturday morning, and was here less than four hours after I worked out I was actually in labour.

Praise God, everything went smoothly. I was in at the hospital at 3.45am and Ezra arrived at 5.30am. I had the gas, although I was convinced at one point it wasn't really working. The midwife reminded me that I needed to be breathing it in for it to work - I was too busy telling her it wasn't working to breathe it in!

I feel very blessed to have had such a relatively easy natural birth, after the planned c-section with Imogen.

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to blog since then. Ezra is a placid little thing, but Imogen is not so much. Imogen gets a little jealous, so I rarely have a moment to myself. Because there is also general life things to attend to as well, not just playing with those two! Also, Imogen has decided that day sleeps are not for her - today's one is just luck.

Doing those sessions of OAMC before the baby was born was such a great move. I got a few things done the week before she arrived, and have done a few shorter sessions since then. More often that not, I do three or four meals of one or two dishes at a time. Because there are only two adults and one toddler eating the meals, I get a few serves out of one dish anyway.

My Mum is coming down for a week at the end of this week, so I am hoping to get some more meals in the freezer whilst she is here. Now that we have a chest freezer, I have some more freezing space to fill!

Update: My mother has just left this morning, and I miss her already! She was wonderful - helping with washing and doing lots of cleaning. I got some cooking done too, so the freezer is a little fuller.

Num Nummies Monday #4

Another week, another ‘so close’ on the sticking to the menu plan.

Lamb chops on Wednesday didn’t happen, but the rest of the week was okay. Saturday night ended up being takeaway (I know I said I didn’t want it this week) of fish and chips. It was a long day, with a trip to Sydney to see my cousin referee at a women’s national competition of rugby union.

Friday night was steak and potato bake – and boyo was that potato bake yummy! We also ended up bbq-ing some thin potato slices as well, as a friend came over for dinner. Well, he came over to watch the rugby league with hubby but of course we invited him for dinner first. I forgot though that he doesn’t eat potato bake (strange, I know) but we still polished it all off anyway. Imogen really enjoyed the potato from the bbq – she had stuff all over her face to prove it.

Last night we didn’t have cheese on toast, but Imogen and I finished off the fish from Saturday night and hubby ate a pie.

Menu plan for Monday 16th April to Sunday 22nd

Monday: Curried sausages and rice (freezer meal)

Tuesday: Steak and potato bake (freezer meal, with steak not cooked from Fri night)

Wednesday: Chicken legs, rice and vegies (chicken is marinating in the freezer)

Thursday: Lamb chops and potato bake (we will eat those lamb chops!)

Friday: Meatballs, vegie sauce and pasta (freezer meal)

Saturday: Tuna bake and shepherd’s pie (freezer meals, neither is enough for all of us)

Sunday: Leftovers or cheese on toast

I bought some bananas on special last week, and I will be making them into some banana choc bread. I came across this recipe for Chocolate banana bread and thought it sounded a bit of alright! I will actually have too many bananas for just that recipe, and I have just come across this recipe - Strawberry banana muffins, so I will also use up some extra strawberries in my fridge too. Hubby might enjoy these as a new recipe for the muffins he takes to work.

I am also going to make these little gems today - Cranberry Brie Puffs.

I like the change from the jam (on Joy the Baker's site) to the cranberry sauce, so that’s what I’ll do. I’m excited because there is a little bit of camembert cheese in the fridge, taunting me, as I can’t eat it cold. The things you give up for pregnancy and your unborn child! But I can eat it hot. Yay!

Crafting - the letter 'I'

Imogen and I have finally ventured into the land of glue.

Imogen would have gone there a long time ago if she had her way, but hubby and I have tried to avoid it. She has known for a long time what the glue stick is, and that her dad and I don't want her to have it without us.

Last week I succombed and we tried a collage with coloured paper on the letter 'I'. I am rather certain that I did more of this collage than Imogen. She seemed more interested in the glue stick with its lid off than in actually sticking anything on the paper with the glue.

I freehand drew the letter 'I', and used the glue stick on the inside of the letter, with Imogen watching. I put down a couple of pieces of paper, hoping she might understand how it worked, but I wasn't communicating something properly as she kept wanting to put paper down where I had not put glue.


Eventually I just put glue all over the paper and she stuck where she liked. She was also quite into putting the paper onto the glue stick and then sticking it down that way.

This was her final masterpiece - with a little help from her Dad and me!

Yesterday we tried something else. I came across this post for glue over the weekend - home made natural glue -  and thought it sounded pretty good. Especially as it should last for a while and Imogen can accidently eat it and won't be ill. She's not really one for putting stuff like glue in her mouth, but you can't always be sure.

Anyways, I whipped some up in the morning while Imogen was catching up on Play School, and we took it outside once it had cooled down enough.

I had picked up a couple of rolls of brown paper a few months back, thinking of crafting, but today was the first day it has been used also. It will be coming out again very soon I think!

Here is Imogen soon after we started:

I stuck the paper down with sticky tape, but it didn't work particularly well. Next time I will use packing tape.

Imogen thought she might try pouring the glue on the paper.

She also felt that the paper wasn't ripped up small enough.

This was as far as we got today.

I wasn't sure when we finished up if I might try again tomorrow with the same page, but I think I might leave it as is, and start a new one. When the 'I' is dry, I plan to blue tac it to the wall above her play table inside.