Hi there everyone :) Here is my meal plan for this coming week.
Friday - Slow cooker Beef Stroganoff with mashed potato
Saturday - Cheese toasties
Sunday - Father's Day BBQ dinner. We'll be having chicken kebabs and two kinds of sausages with salad, potato bake and bread rolls
Monday - Oven baked fish, chips and salad
Tuesday - Slow cooked apricot chicken with rice
Wednesday - Sausage and potato casserole
Thursday - Chicken schnitzel and cauliflower cheese
I'll be back later today with my next clean and organise challenge post!
See you soon,
Nadia
xxx
Friday, 31 August 2012
Thursday, 30 August 2012
My Evening Routine
Hello again! I'm chiming in late today with this blog post because today has been so busy! I love it though, I got lots done around the house and all my washing is now completely up to date. It's a good feeling.
It's time for my next post for the 20 Days to Organise and Clean your home challenge that Katrina from The Organised Housewife is running. It's still not too late to join, just click on the link above or on the button I have in my sidebar.
So, today's 'pre challenge' challenge (lol) is creating an evening routine. Like the morning routine, I already have one of these in place, so I'll take this opportunity to discuss it in more detail. Here we go!
3:30pm - Big kids have their showers and change into after school clothes.
4:30pm - Put on the last load of washing for the day.
5:30pm - Dinner time.
6:00pm - Clean up kitchen, stack dishwasher, wipe benches and take rubbish out if needed. Peg washing or put it in the dryer.
6:30pm - Shower or bath the little ones and have story time.
7:00pm - Put little ones to bed.
7:20pm - Make school lunches for the next day and make sure uniforms are ready.
8:00pm - Big kids bedtime.
8:10pm onwards - My quiet time!
As you can see, my evening routine is pretty cruisy. I've already gotten most things done during the day, so that frees up my time a fair bit by the end of it. Because we have four children in the house, I get the older kids to have their showers early because they're less likely to be dirty by bedtime and it makes for less rushing after dinner trying to get everyone ready for bed.
You'll notice that there are some fairly large gaps between the times in my routine. That's simply because we tend to slow down at the end of the day. I'll have a drink and a chat with hubby, or he may help me with a job I couldn't do on my own during the day. The kids will watch tv, or play outside or read. It also means if things are running behind, then there's plenty of time to catch up!
I love our slow evenings. Everything is done and the kitchen and house is clean and tidy ready for the morning.
Let me know about your evening routine!
Nadia
xxx
It's time for my next post for the 20 Days to Organise and Clean your home challenge that Katrina from The Organised Housewife is running. It's still not too late to join, just click on the link above or on the button I have in my sidebar.
So, today's 'pre challenge' challenge (lol) is creating an evening routine. Like the morning routine, I already have one of these in place, so I'll take this opportunity to discuss it in more detail. Here we go!
3:30pm - Big kids have their showers and change into after school clothes.
4:30pm - Put on the last load of washing for the day.
5:30pm - Dinner time.
6:00pm - Clean up kitchen, stack dishwasher, wipe benches and take rubbish out if needed. Peg washing or put it in the dryer.
6:30pm - Shower or bath the little ones and have story time.
7:00pm - Put little ones to bed.
7:20pm - Make school lunches for the next day and make sure uniforms are ready.
8:00pm - Big kids bedtime.
8:10pm onwards - My quiet time!
As you can see, my evening routine is pretty cruisy. I've already gotten most things done during the day, so that frees up my time a fair bit by the end of it. Because we have four children in the house, I get the older kids to have their showers early because they're less likely to be dirty by bedtime and it makes for less rushing after dinner trying to get everyone ready for bed.
You'll notice that there are some fairly large gaps between the times in my routine. That's simply because we tend to slow down at the end of the day. I'll have a drink and a chat with hubby, or he may help me with a job I couldn't do on my own during the day. The kids will watch tv, or play outside or read. It also means if things are running behind, then there's plenty of time to catch up!
I love our slow evenings. Everything is done and the kitchen and house is clean and tidy ready for the morning.
Let me know about your evening routine!
Nadia
xxx
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
*RECIPE* - Apple and Sultana Cake
I decided to do some baking today, and made one of our family favourites. Apple and Sultana Cake. It's one of those delightfully rustic cakes, which requires little to no baking skill :) Don't we love those? I hope you enjoy it xxx
*I made a double batch of this mixture, because I wanted to make 2 cakes. The recipe is for a single batch, but the photos show the double batch. Just in case you think it looks like a lot - it is!
APPLE AND SULTANA CAKE
Ingredients:
2 apples, peeled and diced (great for apples that are bruised or are a bit old)
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup raw sugar (you can use any sugar, I used plain white sugar today because it's all I had)
2 eggs
125g butter, melted
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 cup wholemeal SR flour (I use gluten free SR flour but it is very lovely with the wholemeal)
1 tsp cinnamon
Method:
Peel and dice your apples and place them in a bowl with the sultanas.
Add everything else:(do you notice I don't bother sifting my flour for this cake?)
Mix together:
Pour into a greased loaf tin. Make sure you line the base with a piece of baking (greaseproof) paper.
Bake at 180 degrees celsius for approximately 1 hour. After it's been baking for about 20 minutes, cover it with a piece of foil. Because of the high sugar content of the fruit, your cake will burn if left uncovered for the full hour.
Check your cake after about 40 minutes as oven temperatures vary, just to make sure you don't over cook it.
And, here it is!
Before you turn the cake out onto a cooling rack, loosen the sides of the cake with a knife. The hot sultanas will stick to the pan as it cools and your cake will break apart. Or, you could line the whole tin with baking paper if you prefer.
Eat and enjoy!
This is one of those fabulous cakes that you just put all the ingredients into one bowl, mix then pour into your baking tin. So easy! It is a beautiful morning or afternoon tea cake and would be a lovely cake to welcome a new neighbour or to give a friend.
Remember, if you use the raw sugar and wholemeal flour your cake will look darker than mine pictured. I used white sugar and gluten free flour. But the raw sugar lends a gorgeous caramel flavour to the cake, I highly recommend it!
Happy Baking!
Nadia
xxx
*I made a double batch of this mixture, because I wanted to make 2 cakes. The recipe is for a single batch, but the photos show the double batch. Just in case you think it looks like a lot - it is!
APPLE AND SULTANA CAKE
Ingredients:
2 apples, peeled and diced (great for apples that are bruised or are a bit old)
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup raw sugar (you can use any sugar, I used plain white sugar today because it's all I had)
2 eggs
125g butter, melted
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 cup wholemeal SR flour (I use gluten free SR flour but it is very lovely with the wholemeal)
1 tsp cinnamon
Method:
Peel and dice your apples and place them in a bowl with the sultanas.
Add everything else:(do you notice I don't bother sifting my flour for this cake?)
Mix together:
Pour into a greased loaf tin. Make sure you line the base with a piece of baking (greaseproof) paper.
Bake at 180 degrees celsius for approximately 1 hour. After it's been baking for about 20 minutes, cover it with a piece of foil. Because of the high sugar content of the fruit, your cake will burn if left uncovered for the full hour.
Check your cake after about 40 minutes as oven temperatures vary, just to make sure you don't over cook it.
And, here it is!
Before you turn the cake out onto a cooling rack, loosen the sides of the cake with a knife. The hot sultanas will stick to the pan as it cools and your cake will break apart. Or, you could line the whole tin with baking paper if you prefer.
Eat and enjoy!
This is one of those fabulous cakes that you just put all the ingredients into one bowl, mix then pour into your baking tin. So easy! It is a beautiful morning or afternoon tea cake and would be a lovely cake to welcome a new neighbour or to give a friend.
Remember, if you use the raw sugar and wholemeal flour your cake will look darker than mine pictured. I used white sugar and gluten free flour. But the raw sugar lends a gorgeous caramel flavour to the cake, I highly recommend it!
Happy Baking!
Nadia
xxx
My Morning Routine - and a 20 day challenge!
Good Morning! I am participating in a challenge set by The Organised Housewife. The challenge is called 20 Days to Organise and Clean your home. I'm quite excited to be involved, because while my house is clean and tidy (thankyou routines!) I do need help in organising some things. I mean, I know where everything is in my house, it's not that I'm disorganised at all, but after I finish cleaning up, I seem to have a pile of 'stuff' that I need to keep, but doesn't really have a home. I'm interested to see some of the ideas Katrina has, and how I can perhaps apply them in my house. Plus, it's always great to see other people's methods of cleaning and tidying, because you might just find something that works wonders for you!
The 'pre challenge' tasks started 2 days ago, but the actual challenge doesn't begin until Monday next week. Once you subscribe (it's free!), Katrina from The Organised Housewife sends you an email each day giving you your daily task with a link to her blog post on that task. In 20 days (4 weeks, because you don't receive tasks on the weekend) your house will be clean, tidy and you will have some organised routines in place. It's not too late to sign up, so what are you waiting for ? You can sign up by clicking on the button in the sidebar, or at the bottom of this post.
So, today the task is about establishing a morning routine. Lucky for me, this isn't really a 'task' as such, because I have a good routine in place. But reading back over a post where I've talked about routines, I realise I haven't discussed the morning part of my routine in any great detail. So, today is a good day to do that, don't you think? Here is what my morning routine looks like:
6:00am - My alarm goes off and I get up to have my shower and get dressed.
6:20am - I head into the kitchen and make the school lunches if I didn't do it the night before and begin unloading the dishwasher.
6:30am - I wake the big kids so they can get dressed for school, then go back to the kitchen to start their breakfast and finish unloading the dishwasher.
6:45am - Kids eat breakfast. I click the kettle on and get tea/coffee ready for me and hubby while he gets showered/dressed for work.
7:00am - Big kids pack their school bags, brush their teeth and make their beds while I get the little kids dressed and stack the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.
7:10am - Free time to read/watch tv for big kids (or if they're dawdling it gives them some time to catch up). Some play time for little kids. I sit down with hubby and have a coffee. I'll also put a load of washing into the machine to start.
7:30am - Walk out the door to drive hubby to work and the kids to school.
8:10am - Run any errands or go to the supermarket to pick up anything I may need.
9:00am - Come home and start my housework, put dinner into the slow cooker (if I'm slow cooking that night!) or chop vegies. Later in the day I take my little daughter to preschool, so I try to get most things done in the morning. Day carries on as usual.
And that's it! I probably don't need to wake so early, but I like to make sure I have time for a coffee in the morning, and if I need to iron a uniform or make lunches then it gives me time to do that too. Plus I love not having to rush or rush the kids! It works well for us, so I will continue with it for the time being.
Feel free to link up your morning routine! And don't forget to join the challenge! I'll be blogging about my progress as I go along :)
Nadia
xxx
The 'pre challenge' tasks started 2 days ago, but the actual challenge doesn't begin until Monday next week. Once you subscribe (it's free!), Katrina from The Organised Housewife sends you an email each day giving you your daily task with a link to her blog post on that task. In 20 days (4 weeks, because you don't receive tasks on the weekend) your house will be clean, tidy and you will have some organised routines in place. It's not too late to sign up, so what are you waiting for ? You can sign up by clicking on the button in the sidebar, or at the bottom of this post.
So, today the task is about establishing a morning routine. Lucky for me, this isn't really a 'task' as such, because I have a good routine in place. But reading back over a post where I've talked about routines, I realise I haven't discussed the morning part of my routine in any great detail. So, today is a good day to do that, don't you think? Here is what my morning routine looks like:
6:00am - My alarm goes off and I get up to have my shower and get dressed.
6:20am - I head into the kitchen and make the school lunches if I didn't do it the night before and begin unloading the dishwasher.
6:30am - I wake the big kids so they can get dressed for school, then go back to the kitchen to start their breakfast and finish unloading the dishwasher.
6:45am - Kids eat breakfast. I click the kettle on and get tea/coffee ready for me and hubby while he gets showered/dressed for work.
7:00am - Big kids pack their school bags, brush their teeth and make their beds while I get the little kids dressed and stack the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.
7:10am - Free time to read/watch tv for big kids (or if they're dawdling it gives them some time to catch up). Some play time for little kids. I sit down with hubby and have a coffee. I'll also put a load of washing into the machine to start.
7:30am - Walk out the door to drive hubby to work and the kids to school.
8:10am - Run any errands or go to the supermarket to pick up anything I may need.
9:00am - Come home and start my housework, put dinner into the slow cooker (if I'm slow cooking that night!) or chop vegies. Later in the day I take my little daughter to preschool, so I try to get most things done in the morning. Day carries on as usual.
And that's it! I probably don't need to wake so early, but I like to make sure I have time for a coffee in the morning, and if I need to iron a uniform or make lunches then it gives me time to do that too. Plus I love not having to rush or rush the kids! It works well for us, so I will continue with it for the time being.
Feel free to link up your morning routine! And don't forget to join the challenge! I'll be blogging about my progress as I go along :)
Nadia
xxx
Monday, 27 August 2012
Weekly Meal Plan #7
Good Morning All! Here is my meal plan for this week. I haven't exactly stuck to it so far, but I've indicated where things are different and why :)
Friday - Sausage and Potato Casserole (we didn't actually eat this, I ran out of time and just cooked up the sausages and served a Continental pasta packet and vegies on the side.
Saturday - Baked beans on toast
Sunday - Shepherd's Pie (we didn't eat this either! We actually went fishing on Sunday and caught some threadfin salmon and mudcrabs, so we had those instead. Delish!)
Monday - Creamy chicken casserole and rice (cooking in the slow cooker as I type!)
Tuesday - Chow Mein
Wednesday - Zucchini Slice
Thursday - Beef Stew (from freezer)
So as you can see, I don't always stick to my meal plan. 99% of the time I do, but sometimes you just have an odd week where things don't quite fall into place. The good thing about it though, is now I have all the ingredients for 2 meals (I have extra sausages in the freezer) that I can put into next week's meal plan which makes things a bit easier then!
Have a lovely week,
Nadia
xxx
Friday - Sausage and Potato Casserole (we didn't actually eat this, I ran out of time and just cooked up the sausages and served a Continental pasta packet and vegies on the side.
Saturday - Baked beans on toast
Sunday - Shepherd's Pie (we didn't eat this either! We actually went fishing on Sunday and caught some threadfin salmon and mudcrabs, so we had those instead. Delish!)
Monday - Creamy chicken casserole and rice (cooking in the slow cooker as I type!)
Tuesday - Chow Mein
Wednesday - Zucchini Slice
Thursday - Beef Stew (from freezer)
So as you can see, I don't always stick to my meal plan. 99% of the time I do, but sometimes you just have an odd week where things don't quite fall into place. The good thing about it though, is now I have all the ingredients for 2 meals (I have extra sausages in the freezer) that I can put into next week's meal plan which makes things a bit easier then!
Have a lovely week,
Nadia
xxx
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Granny Stripe Blanket
Good morning! I'm here to tell you about an exciting new project I'm about to get underway. It's a project that will undoubtedly take a very looooong time to complete, but I'm very excited about its beginnings.
I love crochet. I am definitely not an expert, considering I've only recently mastered the Granny Square, but I do love it. I've kind of stopped and started crochet over the years, but this time it seems to have finally all clicked, and I'm actually understanding the different stitches and what they look like and how things all fit together. It's so relaxing and just lovely to sit down with a hook and a ball of yarn and watch it come together.
I come from a family of knitters/crocheters/crafty women and while I have always been reasonably crafty, I've never really taken the time to learn a craft fully and make wonderful things with it. I'm hoping now this will change.
I've always wanted to make my children a blanket each. Whether it's for their beds, or just to snuggle with to watch some tv, or to keep as a keepsake from me. I originally wanted to make heaps of granny squares and then join them together to form a blanket, but I'm now realising that while it's feasible to make one like that, it will be quite tedious to do one for everyone that way. It would mean starting that fiddly granny square from scratch lots of times, lots of ends to tuck in, lots of squares to block and then join.....I can't see myself ever finishing them.
But I was determined to make them. And so, it struck me. If I'm now understanding the stitches required to make a granny square easily, why can't I try the one with stripes I've seen over at Attic24? I'm a long time follower of Lucy's beautiful crochet filled blog. But be warned, if you decide to take a peek, you can expect to be lost for ages in pages and pages of what she charmingly calls 'hooky goodness'. Love it.
But she has created this blanket called the Granny Stripe Blanket, which, instead of going around and around like you would a granny square, you go up and down in stripes instead. No joining, no messing about, just row after row of cute little treble clusters. You can find the pattern for it here.
So I'm giving it a go! I'm making a rainbow stripe one first for my 4yo daughter and will go from there. I'll blog my progress as I go along (as well as my regular blog posts) and it will be so exciting to see how it all unfolds. I begin tonight!
I did go and buy some yarn yesterday to get started, would you like to see?
It's just to begin with, of course. I have some more balls coming in the post and then I'll see how much more I need to finish it off. But I think it should turn out beautifully. I keep peeking in the bag because it's just so pretty. But wish me luck because I need to crochet a looooooong chain (without losing count of my stitches - eeek!) and apparently that and the row of double crochet to follow is the most challenging part. But after that it should be easy. I am so looking forward to it. I think I will have an early night and snuggle up in bed with a cup of tea and my crochet. Bliss.
See you later,
Nadia
xxx
I love crochet. I am definitely not an expert, considering I've only recently mastered the Granny Square, but I do love it. I've kind of stopped and started crochet over the years, but this time it seems to have finally all clicked, and I'm actually understanding the different stitches and what they look like and how things all fit together. It's so relaxing and just lovely to sit down with a hook and a ball of yarn and watch it come together.
I come from a family of knitters/crocheters/crafty women and while I have always been reasonably crafty, I've never really taken the time to learn a craft fully and make wonderful things with it. I'm hoping now this will change.
I've always wanted to make my children a blanket each. Whether it's for their beds, or just to snuggle with to watch some tv, or to keep as a keepsake from me. I originally wanted to make heaps of granny squares and then join them together to form a blanket, but I'm now realising that while it's feasible to make one like that, it will be quite tedious to do one for everyone that way. It would mean starting that fiddly granny square from scratch lots of times, lots of ends to tuck in, lots of squares to block and then join.....I can't see myself ever finishing them.
But I was determined to make them. And so, it struck me. If I'm now understanding the stitches required to make a granny square easily, why can't I try the one with stripes I've seen over at Attic24? I'm a long time follower of Lucy's beautiful crochet filled blog. But be warned, if you decide to take a peek, you can expect to be lost for ages in pages and pages of what she charmingly calls 'hooky goodness'. Love it.
But she has created this blanket called the Granny Stripe Blanket, which, instead of going around and around like you would a granny square, you go up and down in stripes instead. No joining, no messing about, just row after row of cute little treble clusters. You can find the pattern for it here.
So I'm giving it a go! I'm making a rainbow stripe one first for my 4yo daughter and will go from there. I'll blog my progress as I go along (as well as my regular blog posts) and it will be so exciting to see how it all unfolds. I begin tonight!
I did go and buy some yarn yesterday to get started, would you like to see?
It's just to begin with, of course. I have some more balls coming in the post and then I'll see how much more I need to finish it off. But I think it should turn out beautifully. I keep peeking in the bag because it's just so pretty. But wish me luck because I need to crochet a looooooong chain (without losing count of my stitches - eeek!) and apparently that and the row of double crochet to follow is the most challenging part. But after that it should be easy. I am so looking forward to it. I think I will have an early night and snuggle up in bed with a cup of tea and my crochet. Bliss.
See you later,
Nadia
xxx
Friday, 17 August 2012
Weekly Meal Plan #6
It's time for my new weekly meal plan!
Friday - Slow cooked apricot chicken and rice
Saturday - Toasted sandwiches
Sunday - Oven baked fish and cauliflower cheese
Monday - Rissoles, mash, veg and gravy
Tuesday - Fried rice
Wednesday - Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and white sauce
Thursday - Slow cooked Beef Massaman Curry and rice
I'd love to know what's on your meal plan :)
Have a lovely week,
Nadia
xxx
Friday - Slow cooked apricot chicken and rice
Saturday - Toasted sandwiches
Sunday - Oven baked fish and cauliflower cheese
Monday - Rissoles, mash, veg and gravy
Tuesday - Fried rice
Wednesday - Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and white sauce
Thursday - Slow cooked Beef Massaman Curry and rice
I'd love to know what's on your meal plan :)
Have a lovely week,
Nadia
xxx
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