my fried rice

as i was making it for dinner tonight i thought i would share the recipe.
its so not fried rice but dont tell my kids that. they love it!
and its something that has morphed into the rice i make today. ive been making it forever. since i was at uni and it would feed a house full for a few days and was cheap as chips to make.
i pack it with veg that my kids eat willingly under the its fried rice name.

u will need
2 cups uncooked jasmine rice
hoisin sauce
soy sauce
1 head broccoli
1 large onion
2 carrots
peas and corn (frozen is fine)
4 or 5 mushrooms
bacon/chicken/prawns/pork/ham (optional)
sesame seeds/cashew nuts
olive oil and seasme seed oil
2 eggs

cook the rice in the microwave, on the stove or in a rice cooker using absorption method. and set aside. no need to chill it, so u can cook the rice as u prepare everything else.

in a wok or large frying pan add a splash of olive oil and the seasme seed oil. cook a wedge cut onion. add meat if using meat. and cook until meat is cooked. add chopped vegies. cook for a few minutes.

add to the wok 1 or 2 tablespoons of the hoisin sauce. plus a tablespoon (or a good splash we dont measure) of soy sauce. i also add a little bit of water...couple of tablespoons at this point and then cover and let it simmer away until the veg is cooked, but not totally soft.

push the veg aside, crack the eggs into the wok and cook. break them apart and mix in with the veg.

add in the rice now and mix it all around. sprinkle with seasme seeds/cashew nuts.
serve with sweet chili sauce

zucchini slice

thought i would share this recipe
i have no idea where it came from, a friend from work many years ago passed it on to me after she made it for a work shared lunch.
its yummo!
375g zucchini
1 large onion
3 rashers bacon (optional)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup oil (i used good olive oil)
5 eggs (i only had 4 yesterday and it worked fine too)
salt, pepper

grate unpeeled zucchini coarsely, finely chop onion and bacon. combine zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese, sifted flour, oil and lightly beaten eggs, season with salt and pepper. pour into well-greased lamington tin (16cmx 26cm), bake in moderate oven 30 to 40 minutes
serves at least 6

i have cooked this with less oil, it still works well
i have frozen it for short periods of time, works well
yesterday i made it with only 4 eggs, so used all the oil required, worked well.
and to take to peoples places i have made it as mini muffin size (takes less cooking time) and they will walk off the plate.
ive made it with bacon and without.
the best part i got zucchini into the kids and they loved it!
we had 4 slices for dinner with salad. and the remaining two for lunch today with salad.

i will be making this again when we harvest our own home grown zucchini's later in the season. its a great way to use them up.

sorry no photos...camera lense jammed and its all off being fixed i hope

cooking, growing and cuteness

well i think these r lettuce...coz i think they will be...but still waiting to work it out lol
beans, snowpeas, corns and a few other things today. will have to wait on identification there. the beans and snowpeas and the corns will be on potted tomorrow to get a bit stronger, and may come out of the green house too. and then in the ground in 22 days or something like that
cucumbers here, pumpkin and 2 tomatos r up today too.
also have some lettuce that i know is lettuce, and basil another cucumber and pumpkin in the other reseeded seeds. looks like i will have pumpkin and cucumber coming out of my ears!

how cute r these two, walking hand in hand through the wild flowers in our backyard. would u believe its only been 2 weeks since dan mowed! would of done it the other day but it rained one day and then his next day off we were in ballarat for emily. this week i HOPE
ooer YUM!!! cinnamon scrolls
this was super easy to do
i found the recipe here
http://eatmeblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/day-39-cinnamon-scrolls.html

A SWAP

i would love to organise a swap

this is what i have in mind. a 2008 diary swap.

i was looking at diarys the other day, the cheapy shop ones for just a few dollars and thinking of using my remembered sewing skills to making something nice for 2009. and then thought what a great swap.

so this is what i propose.

if your interested email me djon7593@bigpond.net.au

this is what u have to do:

email and join in before the 15 october. if we have enough people i will send out partner details by the 20th.

swaps will be due in the mail by the 30th november

your swap will need

to have a diary no smaller than 10cm by 5 cm as a guide, be covered in a quilted top, or altered with paper. make sure that its going to last for the year. then add in a few things to spoil your partner with.

thats it

im also thinking of organising a secret santa type swap, email if your interested in something like that too

mermaid tales!

shocking pic...the sun is so sunny here this morning! and i love it its very nice after winter! well here it is a finished mermaid outfit. forgive the serious pic, i was interrupting her fav morning show lol. im quite happy with the final product. it took forever this week, every spare moment i had was sewing scales and then stitching them to the tail, but lilly loves it, is currently giving it a cuddle!!??!! the material has a shimmery shine that changes the colour as u move too. it has an elastic waste and the back seam is completely unstitched so that she can walk around. hopefully it will grow with her for a while!!!.
some of the details...yes stuipd i know but i did hand stitch seed beads on as well, u can just make them out! the things u do for your children!....:) the top i made like an apron, it just ties over her clothes to complete the look! lol i wanted more than a bra type top. emilys tale is next on the list. i want to make hers quite a bit shorter so the flipper doesnt touch the floor, she trips over enough now! the girls r both getting some dress ups for christmas. im going to make them. which means i can throw out more of the old old dress ups lilly has had since she was emilys age. sadly mine are way better quality (but cost the same?) i hope that means they will outlast my little dress up girl.

does anyone watch heuys cooking adventures....on tuesday or wednesday this last week (cant remember which)my dh was cooking with heuy. pretty cool for dan....:)

some information for those interested
lemon cordial
i first found a cordial recipe here
http://crazy-mumma.blogspot.com/2008/07/homemade-fruit-cordials-nablopomo-10.html
its all to easy and is made in a few minutes (not worth buying really)
for my lemon we
used 500g sugar
500ml water
pop both ingredients in a pot, heat until sugar has melted + plus a minute or two after that - thickens the sugar syrup just a little.
u should have about a litre of sugar syrup
generally cordial is then equal parts fresh squeezed fruit juice and the sugar syrup.
we didnt use equal parts lemon juice. i used about 800mls ish maybe less in the sugar syrup i didnt want it to be too tart for the kids. its perfect for us. its lemony for me and sweet enough for the kids.
homemade cordial tastes different to store bought. the taste is refreshing and reminds me of expensive flavoured waters u can buy. but i know only the best fruit was used to make it.
we do add citric acid about a teaspoon a litre i think helps it to last a little longer.

the lavash bread biscuits i found here
http://simple-living-simple-cooking.blogspot.com/2007/03/lavash-bread.html
i use alot of things from this simple little record blog. lots of base cooking ideas that r helping us to cut out even more preservatives and fake food

how dare you

did i even tell u all i joined the team over there...link in the side bar.

this months theme was everyday...we werent required to add to the theme but it had so many opportunities so i just had too!!!

this is what i did. printed lilly onto some printable fabric photo paper

followed sort of a tutorial here http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=1098 and went with some fabric scrapbooking ideas from doona downeys book (i love that book)

i added some quilt wadding for insulation and then some lining, including a plastic layer so that condensation doesnt leak everywhere.

thats a 600ml bottle and its alot bigger than the bottle. i bought lilly and emily new thermos water bottles this morning and it should fit those i hope nicely. it will also protect these bottles from some damage...they were not cheap!

cooking and sewing

recently i was left with a what will i do about crackers, savory biscuits and the like. full of preservatives and children that eat packets of them a week. i had no idea when i came across a few ideas. we turn our day old homemade bread into crackers by drying them out in the oven to eat with cheese or philly spread or homemade dips, then i found a recipe for lavash bread biscuits. totally yum!!! easy to do esp when u can roll out the dough with the pasta machine we bought dan for fathers day! we have made them twice, they last a few days and r so hard to STOP eating just ask dan! hehe
yesterday i made them with my little helper. she was putting the cooled ones in the box before the new tray came out of the oven. im sure my little helper ate half of every tray that came out of the oven..she didnt eat much dinner last night lol.

her fav job everyday is to help me out in the kitchen. she pulls up the chair to the bench and says help help until i give her something to do lol.

my newest sewing project!! its for lilly's dress up box. she loves playing dress up and is finally steping away from dressing up as a fairy! I am however upset by the quality of bought dress up clothes, they r not sewn well and cost a bomb...so this time i decided i would do the sewing and from my own design too lol can u guess what it will be??

ive managed another two rows this afternoon. the base is calico. and ive cut out another two rows but they r still being prepared

i will show some more of the project tomorrow.

making pasta

today i travelled a little bit more through my quest to rid our home of preservatives in our food, plus the age on alot of the food we eat.

we made pasta!

so easy!

the dough

550g plain flour

6 egg yolks

4 eggs

extra virgin olive oil until comes together...about 50mls maybe more

bring together...we mixed ours in the kitchen aid

knead until smooth dough

wrap in glad wrap and leave in fridge for about an hour.

we borrowed the pasta machine, i didnt want to buy one in case i thought the making to hard...we will be getting one for home but.

it has to be rolled flat a few times before u get it to this stage. it was rolled down to 5 on the pasta machine before this step.lilly enjoyed having a go too...she rolled out the angel hair.
emily enjoyed the eating lol (its heart warming to see her using her injured hand and arm even if it is just pasta....its more than she would of done a week ago...it builds hope in my heart)

and here it all is...we made two doughs and two different pasta cuts.

we hope to get 4 meals out of the angel hair and maybe 3 from the fatter one. it will dry on the rack (our washing rack) for about a day and a half and i will store it in big tupperware containers until its gone... :)

we r currently eating the angel hair with bol sauce and its YUM!...

making pasta is always going to be more expensive than buying the dried packet. but its the cheaper way to make the ones stored in the fridge section of the supermarket. the latina ones. which is the ones we like to eat mostly, or the gourmet packets

each dough cost me about $4.50 maybe a little more, we used savings brand flour, and regular free range eggs.

so if we get 4 meals out of the angel hair it cost me $1.20 (we r a family of 2 adults and 2 kids)

not bad i say

if u eat organic it will of course cost a little more.

and out of all the eggs whites we have left over...dan is going to turn them into a desert.. :)

we hope to keep making pasta now, in big batches so we only have to do it once every other month..:)

ps my bread making is getting better the changes i made to the dough in the below post worked a treat...its getting pretty light and fluffy...im off in search of a slightly bigger loaf tin now

a blog award

ooer thanks sue smith

The rules for the award are - (1) The winner can put the logo on their blog. (2) Link the person you received your award from. (3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs. (4) Put links of those on yours. (5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated

ok 7 blogs...i love and visit sometimes daily

Mel goodsell

emily falconbridge

Soule mama

Kirsty Piper

Lusi austin

Kate mason

Bety

I heart this!!!
I bought it for daniel a few years ago. I use it all the time!
i have been mucking around with my bread recipe. trying to make it less heavy, im getting there
here r some of the changes i have made
500gm plain flour or so (i havent changed that part from the original)
2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup lukewarm water - think a babies bath
3/4 milk

mix flour, salt and yeast together
add wet ingredients

now heres why i HEART my kitchenaid (hehe ok dans kitchenaid)
leave it on mix for 20 minutes!
spray a bowl with oil, place dough in, turn the dough to cover in oil
cover with plastic wrap leave in warm place for 1 hour

punch down, turn out on board, knead for a few minutes
shape into 2 balls and place in a tin beside each other.
spray with oil, leave for 30 minutes.

heat oven to 200c
cook for 30 minutes.

ok dan helped me with the changes including getting out his baker tafe book lol...i had no idea of the science involved in bread making. its all about the heat

he has also suggested adding some butter to the mix...im yet to try that but.

chefs r great husbands, they have heaps of knowledge
we cleaned our wooden chopping boards tonight (as in dissenfected)...so easy i had no idea it was that easy. it will get done more often
use table salt(cheap salt), shake a few tablespoons over your board. Cut a lemon in half and start scrubbing.
the salt acts as a scruber and the lemon has the acid to kill. pretty cool i thought...nothing grows in salt they tell me...and better yet all natural too.. :)

we r trying the homemade dishwashing liquid right now. thanks mel for putting it on your blog.
i quite like it, the no bubbles thing isnt so bad as we have bore water we lose the bubbles quickly anyway. i love the lemon smell and it seems to clean well and leaves things nice and shiny. thanks mel.

everyday life

its so nice to have it back.



i spent the morning getting the house back undercontrol, and while im not finished after lunch i wanted to be with my kids, so the rest of the house can wait.



we were going to art, but they wanted to build towers from blocks and cook. So thats what we did.

first the tower building. all sorts of mixed up blocks and nice just to sit together.

and then some cooking



we made bread...i have wanted to make my own bread for the longest time, since starting to read soulemomma's blog. well after a 30 minute search of the house to find my book with the recipe in it i wanted, we made some flat bread to go with dinner tonight. it was fun. we used the kitchen aid to bring it all together and then the girls did some needing (sp?) of the dough which is currently doubling in size and is nearly ready to cook and become part of our evening meal.
i love the look on emilys face as they discuss the sharing of the dough hehe..so cute


i often get lost in the maze of things we as mothers have to do in a day and forget to enjoy. today i enjoyed being with my kids, providing our meal and generally just being mum. I want to enjoy it everyday its such a gift. take the time to enjoy just one thing with your kids tonight after work and homework and all the other things u have to do...its so worth the effort.

oooer look at this
its emilys kitchen...

how cool is it looking....it still got a door and range hood to go, as well as a hole for the sink then some painting and the tape ware....its just so cute, i cant wait to paint it this week. doing some sanding tonight so that i can start painting it the next night.

during june i started working on my masters entry, but as it was this year i never finished it. i was 3 parts done. Im going to submit my layouts i think...but i thought i would share with you all what i had made as my gift. Its a cushion of sorts a large monogram with the photos all printed on printable fabric and stitched in place.

not the best pics of it, but i have let lilly have it, as she was so patient while it sat up waiting to be submitted for masters. oh well on to next years comp...: )