A weeks worth of food!

This weekend we have been a little indulgent with our eating, afterall we are still 'Technically' on holidays till Monday :0D
On saturday we had Eggs benedict for brunch...this was D.E.V.I.N.E. 
I also made my dear husband his favorite...lemon meringue pie, but instead of one big one i made mini ones, just so he can portion it over the week end LOL.  He was one happy boy.
Anyway, I plan to do a blog post on these next.

Today however, I must admit I was in total BLISS.  My day started with a sleep in, then my husband woke me up saying that friends of ours have asked if our kids could come over for a play date.  My husband got them ready and they were out within the hour.  I got up had a cuppa tea with some toast, watched a bit of tv. 
After Breakfast I decided to do a bit of cooking.
Since being away, and the weeks leading up to our holiday I have been a little disorganised and have been on a bit of a crazy thing with money...which i hate.

So, today I decided enoughs enough! 
While away my husband and I decided to lose a little weight & just generally get healthy leading up to summer.
He made one point that I need to make him lunch everyday for work.  He said this because I can be a little lax in this area at times.
So today I got very organised.  I was going to do a large shop this week and stock up on food items but instead i thought I will use stuff i already have and see if we can live on this.
So far already I have made ...

* I made 10 chicken sandwhiches on multigrain bread for my husband (2 sandwhiches a day).  Ive pre-made them and are frozen in the freezer.  Each morning I will take them out and by lunch they will be fresh and ok.
*10 ham sandwhiches on mutligrain.  One each day for each child, each day of school. (also frozen)
*Banana Cake...sliced up into 15 pieces, frozen in individual bags.  This for one each day...husband, son, daughter.
*Carrot cake, also frozen to be eaten for afternoon tea or snacks.
*I portioned up crackers and cheese into individual bags for snacks at school & work.
*I made a ministrone type soup with leftover veges that were on their way out and I had a tin of Cannelloni Beans & tomatoes ...turned out quite good.  This will hopefully do dinner for 2 nights next week.
*I also put on a sausage caserole for tonights dinner...I put this with polenta and brocolli...the kids loved it!!

*Air popped pop corn, also portioned into little bags for each day of the week for each family member to munch on.
*A Loaf of bread.

I think this should do us for most of next week. I feel quite proud of myself.  Now I just got to put myself to bed and sleep as I plan on getting up at 5 (yes, FIVE) am...to go to the gym.
I feel so great tonight.  I find its amazing what a little organisation does...here's hoping i can stick to it each week.
Nitey Nite my friends...xoxo

The big smoke!

Yep, holidays are great but wow, its great to be back home! 
Sydney was a whole lotta fun.  We were busy, busy.  Did alot and caught up with alot of friends. We enjoyed ourselves and the kids had an absolute ball.

It all started early last wednesday when we all rose out of bed early at 5am to get to the airport by 7am.  It was super exciting!

After an hour and a bit, on the plane we were in sydney!!!!

Next we picked up our rental cars and were on our way to our accomadation in Cronulla. 

Little T and his cousin waiting for the big plane to take off...

Miss Mimi on the big plane holding her baby (Timmy) just before take off.  Her little cousin is in the back ground.

We spent the next few days just relaxing and catching up with friends...

With my most favorite gal pal...

One day we went for a drive to Kurnell, which is pretty much neighboring to Cronulla.  We got fish and chips and went for a walk along the headland.  It was soooo beautiful.  I didnt relise it until we got there but this was the actual site where Captain James Cook landed on Australia.  There were all these monuments and the kids had fun looking at them...

It was such a beautiful place.  Very green and lush and as we walked around the headland, I found my dream home....check it out..........

Cant you just imagin sitting here in the morning with a cuppa tea or in the afternoon with a glass of wine?

The kids admiring the view from the house.

I mean seriously, this house came out of nowhere and has everything....Ocean views, fireplace, beautiful big massave trees.  It was just stunning!

Dont you just love these little steps?...

We then did the whole city thing.

The kids Loved the city.  The last time we were in the city was when Miss Mimi was 2 and Little T was 4 months old so they dont realy remember it, this city trip was fun for them.  Unfortunalty, the day we travelled to the city it was cooooold, wet, windy and grey...but we had fun anyway!  We made sure we found a cute little german pub (yes...underground it was) for a warm cosy lunch.

The boys ordered 1litre beer jugs (as they do) and it was Shnitzels all round...

The kids loved the opera house, harbour bridge and seeing the big face of Lunar Park.

The bridge!

The amazing Opera house.

You can see Lunar Park in the background.

So, Thats our trip....I must admit, I am glad to be home.  I relise I love my own bed, my own car and my own food, my own surroundings...but it was still great.

I am so thankful to have shared this with my family xoxoxo

ARE WE THERE YET...?

Next week my family and I are going away for a weeks holiday to Cooooold Sydney.  We are going away with my sister and her husband and her 2 georgouse kids.
Im so excited.  I cant believe how quick it has come around.  It seems like only yesterday we were 'thinking' about going and here we are preparing to go.
Right now its the smack bang middle of winter and Im preparing for warmth.  We will be alot closer to the snow and it gets pretty chilly this time of year down there.
We decided to fly down.  We were originaly going to drive and have a bit of a road trip however after much discusison wedecided it would  probably be easier to fly...Plus, the last time my kids went on a big plane Miss Mimi was 15 months old and Mr.T was just a jelly bean in my tummy :0)
So we thought it would be fun to fly.
Going with the cousins and aunty and uncle add to the excitment too.
We live on the QLD/NSW border so to drive it is approx. an 8 hour trip.  Once we would have done it in one big hit but now with kids we kinda break it up a little.  So it would be a 2 day trip.
The kids have been on and on and on about "when are we going???" Mr T, being the cute lil' 5 year old he is, thought when I said 2 WEEKS it meant 2 SLEEPS...Um....No!  The poor little guy has been so patient and trying so hard to understand just exactly when it is we are leaving.  It think he's startingto get it LOL.

We will be staying in Cronulla, such a beautiful place. Right on the beach. My sister and her husband lived there before the rug rats arrived. We also have beutiful friend there that we will be spending some time with...OOOOH, Im so excited!!! Im not sure who is more excited, me or the kids LOL.

some pics of Cronulla...

some more of Cronulla beach...

The beautiful walk, not far from where my sister used to live.  She pretty much had this view froim her kitchen window, loungeroom and balcony.  Jelouse Much?

Nit Pick!

When my daughter started prep two years ago, it was going well.  She enjoyed it and the year was progressing well.  I noticed she was itching her head alot but never thought anything of it.  One day I casualy thought "I wonder if she has head lice?"  I know this sounds weird but I never remember having nits as a kid and up untill that date neither had my kids.  In I went looking in her masses of locks.  I had no idea what i was looking for as I never had seen a head lice before.
I did happen to see a large 'ant' looking bug in her hair, I picked it out thinking it was jut that.  Anyway, when she went to bed I did a brief google search and asked on a parenting forum about head lice.  It then occured to me....My daughter... HAS NITS!!!!
I didnt panic as I thought I will check her again in the morning to confirm it, mayby she hasnt got them.
Next morning before school I had another good ol' dig through her loooong thick hair.  Yep...to my horror I discovered eggs and quite a few bugs crawling around.
I literally glued her hair to her head with hair gel and got straight to the chemist.  I purchased nice natural healthy hair de-nitter shampoo, combs and spray.  I eagerly sat down that afternoon shampooing, combing, washing and drying...2 and a half hours later, we were done.
A whole week later I did it again as a follow up treatment.  Another 2 and a half hours later. Done!
Anyway, I was very proud of myself for getting ontgo it and being a responsible parent and all.
ONE MONTH LATER THEY WERE BACK WITH A VENGENCE!
From that point on it was a never ending battle.  Let me tell you.  For just over a year we battled with this issue.  What started out as a bonding, responsible activity was strating to turn into an irritating, annoying, time consuming problem that I despised.  It was then I understood why people chop their childrens hair off.  Miss Mimi has got the thickest, longest most beautiful hair any child could possably have, hence the reason it took so long to comb and condition and the reason these little blood sucking leeches love her hair.  I was at my wits end.  I had gone from the pretty smelling, natural, soft nit treatment to essential oils to the most potent of chemicals, ...I know, I know...terrible but NOTHING WAS WORKING!  I was gluing her hair to her head for school everyday, washing it every night.  I would pick her hair while I was watching t.v and when I was talking to friends...most of the time without even relising I was doing it....I was becoming obsessed. 

To make it worse Mr T picked them up and so did my husband and I...I never got them at school but now, in my 30's I get them?????  WHAT???
Just when I almost admited defeat and waved my little white flag to the head lice I once again did a complete and thorough search on the net for a solution.  I thought "surely someone else out there has had this problem"  And it turned out I was right.

In one blog I read one lady had tried EVERYTHING including bleeching and cutting off her 7 year old daughters hair....with no luck.  I thought 'eek, thats very drastic...but yeah, I understand'.  Like me she had tried everything, taken advice of everyone and even tried a few of her own techniques.  Nothing worked.
She was so determained to beat the little suckers that she went as far as interviewing chemist, parents and doctors...putting all their advice and she came up with a VERY simple solution to the problem.  I tried her
solution and much to my suprise...very happy suprise, it worked!!  So now, this entire school year none of my kids have had nits, even through the crazy nit season they managed to avoid them.  WooHoo!
So I just have to share this amazing secret with you...such a simple solution.

Use 500ml of listerine.  Any Listerine will do however I gung-hoed it with the original, antiseptic brown one.  Like in the picture.

Next wet your child's hair all over with the listering.  Drench the hair completly.

Next I wrapped their hair in plastic glad warp and outside to play they went for half an hour.

I got my kids to hold their heads over the bath tub.  This prevented it from running down onto their skin.  The excess went down the drain.

Aparently, from what this lady said the menthol in the listering is lethel to lice.

Next, put them in the bath.  With a jug pour in 500ml of vinegar and 300ml of warm water.  Pour this through the hair to wash the lice out.

Using Vinegar to wash it out not only washes out the lice but also dislodges the 'glue' the eggs have so this allows easy removal of the eggs.

When they are out of the bath dry the hair with a hair dryer.

Then, with my daughters hair I used my hair straightner.  I sat down and combed her hair as well as straightened it.

Doing this you are brushing out the dead lice and eggs and the heat of the straighter kills any that are thinking about living on.

I repeated all of this again one week later.  Since then I have had nothing.

Oh, also i must add....I have put listerine in a spray bottle and spray the kids hair before school every morning.

I honestly recomend you give it a go.  If you are at the end of your tether like I was I promise it will work!  Those annoying little pest are a thing of the past...for now!

Our smooshie lil' puppy!

Meet the 5th member of our family...Jonah, or as we commonly refer to him..Jojo, pups, puppy, baby or Joey. He is such a beautiful lil' thang. He's a beautiful 4 year old maltese. We rescued him from the AWL about 18months ago and it was the best thing we ever did.  He truly is apart of our family.  He comes everywhere with us, watches tv with us, sits out the back with us, sleeps with us, goes to the beach/park with us and pretty much comes everywhere and does everything  we can do with a dog.
We LOVE him!

I just adore how he cocks his head to one side when you talk to him, I love how he talks in his sleep...yes, he actually barks, growls and 'talks' in his sleep...Its soooo cute.  I love how he does spins and flips when you put your flip flops on to go out.. just expecting he's going to come too. I thinks its so, so cute when he looks up at us innocently with his underbite, I love when Im waiting for the kids to come out of school and I say their names, he looks for them just knowing where they walk out from and licking them to death when he sees them,  I love how he just loves our family unconditionally.
Getting Jojo was the best thing for our family.

With that said, I thought I would give you a few recipes that our puppy loves and mayby pass onto your baby.  First of all, here are a few things you SHOULDN'T feed your dog...

*Chocolate, Coffee, Caffeine

*Alcohol (well, this is obviouse)
*Avocado
*Macadamia Nuts
*Grapes & Raisins
*Yeast Dough
*Raw/Undercooked Meat, Eggs and
*Onions,Chives
*Milk
*Salt

Ok, now thats out of the way, here is a couple of great recipes from makedogfoodrecipes.com that I have found realy useful....

Healthy One Pot Dinner Recipe For Dogs 

This recipe will give you approx. two cups, so


depending on the size of your dog you can double,

triple recipe. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.

You can also freeze individual servings!


2/3 cup Beef, cubed (any meat can be used!)

3/4 cup carrots and sweet potatoes, cubed

1/2 cup instant brown rice

1 cup water

1/4 tsp. garlic powder (Optional!)

1. Put all the ingredients, except rice, in a large pot

and boil.

2. When the vegetables are tender, add rice and

cook until done.


Note: you may have to add a bit more water during

cooking.


Here's some snacks for your puppy too...
Cheese n' Garlic Cookies for Dogs

1 1/2 cups white rice flour


1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/4 pound safflower oil margarine

1 clove garlic -- crushed (Optional)

1 pinch salt



1. Grate the cheese and let stand until it reaches

room temperature.

2. Cream the cheese with the softened margarine,

garlic, salt, and flour.

3. Add enough milk to form inta a ball. Chill for 1/2

hour.

4. Roll onto floured board. Cut into shapes and

bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until slightly brown,

and firm.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen, depending on size.


Like I always say, making your own food from scratch is so much healthier AND cheaper...so why not also make it for your other family member.  It reduces fleas, keeps your dog healthy and stops them from stinking...Im meaning their poo's as well as their breath...It also stops that icky 'dog' smell from radiating from them...ugh, a smell I detest.  So I hope you enjoy my doggy recipes that i have shared with you and enjoyed meeting our baby.

blah..blah..blah...

Before I start todays Blog, I must apologies for my female sookie la-la blog last time.  I must warn you, its "that time of the month" right now for me and I tend to get.....um........a little hormonal, LOL....so again, I apologies.

Now, getting on with it...Once again it has been QLD school hols for the past 2 weeks and the kids have been home.  We havnt done alot which has been nice.  We have been to the movies.  Toy story was pretty awesome.  We saw it in 3D and that was good...not amazing but it was good.  The kids enjoyed the whole experience, wearing their 'special' glasses, so it was worth it for that.  HeeHee.
Anyway, I thought that seeing its been cold (have I yet mentioned that in my Blog...hmmmmm...) I would make sausage rolls.  I have never made them and Im not exactly fussed on those icky mass produced ones that you can purchase in the super market *ugh*.   I had a recipe sitting in my recipe box for some time and so I made a lot, they were pretty yummo, even the kids liked them.

Here is the recipe....Give them a try...

HOMEMADE SAUSAGE ROLLS

Ingredients


Makes approx. 20



Basic Mince Mixture

500g Lean Beef Mince,

1 grated brown onion,

1 peeled and grated carrot,

2 crushed garlic cloves

1/3 cup roughly chopped parsley in a bowl.



Additional Ingredients

2 slices white bread, crusts removed, roughly chopped

2 tbs tomato sauce

1 tbs barbecue sauce

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 egg, whisked

2 sheets frozen ready rolled puff pastry, partially thawed

1 egg, extra, whisked

1 tbs sesame seeds



Method

1. Combine all the ingredients for basic mince mixture in a bowl.



2. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Soak bread in warm water for 2 minutes. Drain and squeeze out as much water as possible. Combine bread with basic mince mixture, sauces and egg in a large bowl.



3. Lay pastry sheets on a flat surface and cut each in half. Form 1/4 of the mince mixture into a long sausage shape along the long side of the pastry. Brush opposite edge of pastry with egg wash. Roll up to enclose filling and with join underneath. Cut into 5 even portions.



3. Place rolls onto prepared tray and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 30 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve.



Tip

The bread in the mince mixture prevents the filling from shrinking in the pastry and also absorbs any fat that may soak through.

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These little sausage rolls are so delish.  We had them for dinner one night with a salad and we had leftovers for a yummy warm lunch the next day.  Great for freezing too.

Im defintly making these again, especialy for our next party.  So give these a go, your family will thankyou.

Weighty issues...*sigh*

Why is we are never happy with ourselves?  I try so hard to be content and happy with...'me' but there is always somthing I pick at.  At the moment its my weight.
its funny, you know, Ive never had weight issues EVER in my life until I hit my 30's.  (or is it since having kids...mmmmm???)
I was always a slim ( I used to weigh 49 kgs before kids), fit, healthy girl that could eat what ever, when ever and could wear pretty much anything.  Now its all about calorie counting, counting points, portion control, weighing, measuring, not wearing certain things etc etc...This is all quite foreign to me.  Dont get me wrong...I have always eaten quite good, even as a teenager I was more of a subway eater rather than good ol' Maccas.  Ive never realy liked deep fried or greasy food In fact the thought of that sort of stuff turns my stomach *ugh*.
Im now a 31 year old mum of 2.  I weigh 59-60kgs and Im 162cm tall.  I know Im not grosley over weight and to be honest I dont want to sound as though im obsessed, but I am bigger that what I used to be and it feels bizzare.  I would like to get to 55kgs to feel healthy. 
The problem is it is soooooo hard, I try....I realy try!  I do the portion control and points thing for about 6 weeks and the weight does come off however when i start baking or cooking things for the family it slowly, slowly comes back on.
I do go to the gym, I love the gym but at the moment Im in the process of changing gyms... woohoo! so I havnt been for a while....Im hanging out for the new one to open this Tuesday YAY!
I guess what Im trying to say is why does weight loss need to be an issue with us all?  Im not talking about unhealthy, overweight obeseness...that is a whole nother issue, but Im talking about those couple of extra ones that creep on.
I hate them, I want them gone, because I know a few grow to many... but I also enjoy food....to me it is the soul of life.  I like my food.  I enjoy wholesome food, comfort food, entertaining food and healthy food.  It all good. 

I was looking at Jennifer Aniston the other day and I thought "wow...she has an AMAZING body AND she is *shock shock* 40!!!!!!"

I did the same with Gwyneth Paltrow a while back who I think is about 37..amazing body and what sucks is she has had 2 kids *sigh*

I also happen to know these two beautiful woman work their butts off like nothing else.  They have personal trainers, dieticians, MONEY! a nanny, gyms in their own home and watch every little thing they eat.  They are super lean and work hard for it...Good on them I say BUT lets get back into the real world.

I...a 31 year old married mum who rarely has a baby sitter, struggling to make ends meet with money, struggles from day to day just to get... life done.  No help, nothing.  I do it all alone (with my hubby of course)....and besides, I kinda want to enjoy what I have which often involves food.  I dont want to pick food to bits and scrutinise each and every bite...  I would LOVE to look like those girls, but I somehow need to find a happy place with it all.:0( 

I just wish I could be happy with the way I am.  I 'Think' I look ok but my mind tells me constantly Im not what I used to be....why cant I be the way I used to be??? (size 8)

Anyway, I guess it will just be one of those life long issue with all woman...somthing that will never end untill I just simply learn to be happy with 'ME'!

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