Uncategorized

Buying seconhand as well as this and that…

Do you remember my previous post about buying secondhand?

The latest purchase is a lawn mower, which was a necessary after the other mower (which was also secondhand and very old!) gave up the ghost. The cost of this one was $130 – a new one would have been about $350. It runs beautifully.

Secondhand price $130

New price $350

Saving $ 220

Total savings tally for 2010 – $320
So far, all savings have gone towards the mortgage as extra repayments.

In other news my sewjo seems to have evapourated this week, it must be the tiredness. I think right now I am more tired than ever before, I really need a good nights sleep but the little one won’t have it. I keep telling myself it will soon improve, I know it will…

We are going away over the weekend for one night, I’ve been looking forward to that! I’ll give details upon our return, there may also be some pics of a new feline addition to our family.

God bless and have a great weekend!

Home made sausage rolls

by Kelly Leave a Comment

It must be the turn of the weather towards cooler days that has me thinking of hot and delicious food. It is so much cheaper to make your own sausage rolls. I cheat a little by using some pre – prepared products but I’m a long way from perfecting home made pastry so… Here is what I do:

250g sausage mince

4 sheets puff pastry

3 thick slices of bread

1 onion

salt and pepper

other seasonings of your choice

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 cup water

poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

This is a really versatile recipe, you can add in some grated zucchini or carrot, garlic, cheese etc.

Make an egg wash by whisking the egg and milk together in a cup. Soak the bread in the water for about 5 minutes, when soggy squeeze out excess water. Mix this with the mince, onion, salt & pepper and seasoning. Spoon a line of your mixture on the edge of your pastry and roll over so that pastry joins – you can paint the pastry with the egg wash to make it stick together better. Cut off the rest of the sheet of pastry and use it for the next roll – you should get 2 long rolls to one sheet of pastry.

Cut your roll in half, place on a tray and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle seeds on if using.

Pop into a 200 degree (C) oven until golden brown.

Mmmmmm!!

Basic Lemon & Poppy Seed Cake

by Kelly Leave a Comment

For the cake

125grams butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or essence)

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups self raising flour

1 cup milk

rind of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

For the glaze

3 tablespoons sugar

rest of juice from lemon

Preheat your oven to 180 d (c). Grease and line a standard round cake tin.

Cream butter, add sugar, vanilla and grated lemon rind. Beat until nice and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.

Add the 2 tspns of lemon juice to the milk and mix lightly. Add the sifted flour and milk to the butter mixture in turns while beating slowly. Add in poppy seeds. Beat until creamy.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, cake is cooked when a skewer stuck into the middle comes out clean.

When ready, turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

While the cake is warm, brush on the glaze which you’ve prepared while the cake is cooking.

In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and lemon juice for about 5 minutes until beginning to thicken. You can let the glaze trickle down the sides of the cake if you have it on a plate!

This cake is gorgeous warm with double cream or icecream. Very popular with the children too!

Turn a top into an apron…

by Kelly 7 Comments

I bought this top at an op shop for a few dollars. When I put it on at home it didn’t suit me and looked very apron – like. Well, a girl can never have too many aprons! A pair of scissors and a sewing machine later….. Here’s an overview of what I did:

I started by cutting straight up the middle of the back so that when laid out it looked like this.

Then I cut out the sleeves, just following the seam lines (cut out the seams too.) Because of the style of the yoke and neckline, mine now looked like this.

Next I folded it exactly in half and cut an “apron shape” – that is that sort of curved look where the sleeve was. You can either “wing it” or use an existing apron as a guide for the shape. I also cut a few inches of excess from the back edges for a good fit when wrapped around.

The next step is to overlock (serge) all raw edges, which in this case was right around the sides and the top ties of the apron. Using the tie that came with the top, I cut it in half before attaching it by the raw edges to the sides where I wanted the apron to wrap around and tie at the back. Once all the edges were tidy and finished I sewed the ties at the top together to form a loop to go over my head.

Don’t you think it looks much better as an apron?!

The finished bear

by Kelly 7 Comments

Well, almost finished anyway, I’m thinking about making a dress as well (which some members of my family find very strange – “why would you put a dress on a bear?!”)

If you missed my last beary post, this is a design by Joan Blyton and is 12 inches tall.

This was a steep learning curve for me – the jointing and positioning of limbs as well as the facial features was really challenging, and I found the instructions sadly lacking in detail. I ended up needle sculpting the face quite a bit as I didn’t like the way it looked.

I’m not really happy with this bear, I think it’s a “cute” bear but lacks character. I’m sufficiently pleased though to have another go in the near future, I’ve already started drawing up some designs to hopefully achieve the look that I like.

I must also say a big thank you to Sandi for her help and encouragement!

Cornflake slice

by Kelly 3 Comments

My mother-in-law gave me this recipe, the children love it. Very easy.

1/4 pound butter

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup cornflakes

1 cup coconut

Mely the butter and honey and add to mixed dry ingredients. Press into a shallow tin and bake at about 160 degrees (celsius). Allow to cool in tin, cut into squares. Simple!

Egg throwtogether slice

by Kelly 3 Comments

It’s a strange name for a dish but I’m at a loss to know what else to call it. It’s one of those dishes you make over the years and alter to suit what you have available. I have made this a lot since we have been keeping chooks and have plenty of eggs. So here’s a basic recipe to get you started:

10 large or 12 smaller eggs
1 onion
3 – 4 rashers of bacon
1 cup milk
1/2 to 1 cup of milk
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 cup cheddar cheese (use some parmesan too if you have it, it’s delicious!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tomato
salt & pepper
garlic salt, herbs, other seasoning (optional)

Cut up your bacon into small pieces and fry in olive oil until browning and smelling amazing. Add in chopped onion and continue to fry until browning. Lay into a large greased dish. (I use a large rectangular dish or roasting tray, as long as it has deep sides).
Whisk eggs in a bowl, add olive oil, salt, pepper and other seasoning if using. In a cup mix the flour with enough milk to make a paste, continue to mix in milk until runny in consistency.
Whisk the milk and flour as well as remaining milk into the eggs. Pour the mixture into your dish, over the bacon and onion.
Sprinkle grated cheese all over, then place thin slices of tomato on top.
Bake in a hot oven (200 degrees celscius) until golden brown on top.
Beautiful served with fresh, crisp salad.

There are plenty of other ingredients you can add to this, lastnight I dumped in a cup of leftover cooked rice. You can add grated zucchini, leftover roast vegetables, capsicum, tuna etc.

A very quick and easy dinner that all the family loves! If you try it let me know what you think.

Homeschooling makes Mum smarter too!

by Kelly 3 Comments

I’m very often asked whether, as a homeschooling Mum, I am a qualified teacher. My reply is usually along the unpopular lines of “I believe every parent is qualified to teach his/her child”. Which is usually met with a blank stare, followed by a polite if not bewildered “oh“.

The truth of the matter is that I am a university dropout who wasn’t particularly academic at school. I put in the effort, but didn’t get the grades.

Since I started homeschooling I’ve realised how much I don’t know and how much of the drivel I was taught at school was incorrect, hypothetical and (in my opinion) stupid! Homeschooling is like being given a second chance at learning. Even though you are the teacher you are learning and revising at the same time and it’s a wonderful thing. It makes me a more effective teacher because I am a genuinely interested student.

If you have considered homeschooling but don’t think you have the smarts I recommend to give yourself a chance, and with the right resources and attitude, you can do it!

I was lucky enough to win

by Kelly 1 Comment

This beautiful little skirt in a giveaway by Missy Melly. Skillfully made from gorgeous prints and my little one loves it. I’m really impressed by the professional presentation of the Missy Melly swing tag and business cards that were included – this lady knows what she’s doing!!

I also snapped up some monkey hair clips – who could resist?

Thank you for making this a happy day for us Shan!

Kitchen appliances I love

by Kelly Leave a Comment

My grandparents gave us this slow cooker which is large enough to feed an army. What a great invention this one is! Cheap cuts of meat are transformed into tender morsels, and it’s totally set and forget – a busy Mum’s dream come true. I’ll be using this constantly over winter.

It took us a while to figure out how most Asians in this part of the world cook their rice so perfectly – rice cookers! So easy to use, it cooks your rice quickly and perfectly, no more soggy mush!