Re-Organisation

Not feeling so Goddess-like today

For some reason i just didn't seem to get anything done today. The kitchen looks a little like a bomb has hit it (which really isn't very conducive to cooking and very un-virgo of me)

So this leads me to the next part of the blog, I am going to work through a few ways to better organise the home, streamline the chores and ultimately ensure that we all have enough time for the important people in our lives. If you have any tips or good sites which would fit this description, please leave a message or post.

Shopping

I found having a new addition to the family, princess A, means that shopping and strolling the aisles just isn't really an option.

so what are some options

Fruit / Veg and Milk

Aussie Farmers Direct

They deliver to my area on Monday and Thursday  (Milk etc) and Wednesdays (fruit and veg).

I order a regular order for a Monday which includes Milk, Bread, Eggs, cereal and Yoghurt. For the Thursday order I have an abbreviated version, milk, bread and bagels. I have the choice to change the order up until lunchtime the day before the order, so if I am using more than normal, or have lots left over I can cancel / change the order. Note that for the Monday order changes have to be made by lunchtime on Saturday, the first time I wanted to make a change it was on a Sunday and I was disappointed when the original order arrived on the Monday.

I order my staple fruit and veg (potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, apples, pears, a lemon, a few onions, tomatoes, capsicums etc) which arrive every Wednesday. This can also be changed.

Overall I have found the service of Aussie Farmers pretty good, last week some of the items were not up to their usual standard, they happily refunded the money. I will keep you posted as to what this weeks produce is like.

Groceries

Coles on line 

I normally do a weekly coles shop to arrive on a Monday or tuesday. the last few weeks I have been a bit slack in ordering and things have gotten a bit out of hand, hence I think the push to re-group and look at the options.

What I normally do is choose one cook-book or cooking magazine for the week, and decide on the 7 meals which will be made. Looking in the pantry, fridge etc to see what I can use up. Then I order all the things I need for the recipes and of course the staples. I have a master list of items which I have ordered before, so really its just about clicking on them. I find the whole process takes me about 1/2 hour (including choosing the recipes).

Nappies & Baby items

I noticed that i was spending a lot of money on nappies, wipes and formula for princess A. I have found that there are lots of online souces. some of them are listed below. The ones I have used I have marked. The others are a work in progress.

The Bulk Warehouse

They were really pormpt to take the order, they processed it fast, but it took a while to arrive. I ordered Formula, wipes, nappy sacks and nappies. The prices were terrific.

Medione

Medione phoned very quickly with follow up. Not everything I ordered was available. I ordered Nappies (which were sold out) and some blueys (the sheets that I put on the change mat and which are good for being out and about). The box of blueys is so huge, that I realistically have enough for princess A and probably 5 more children (not a thought I am ready to entertain).

Go Toddler

I haven't used this site, but several of my friends have recommended it. I will test it out next time I have to place an order and compare the prices to the bulk warehouse.

Getting Organised

I have found that it is really a matter of getting things started so this week I am going to De-Clutter and then I can start to plan from there.

Watch this space for time-saving fun ways to be de-cluttered, organised and stress free.

Baby food at home

I promised one of the girls in my mothers group to send through all the different, slightly off beat things I have been doing in regards to feeding my baby girl.

All the suggestions below, are suggestions, princess A handled it all really well and enjoys her food, whenever introducing something new or different ensure you try it slowly and if unsure always ask your health care professional.

4.5 Months - 7 Months

I started solids a little earlier than other mums, because princess A was ready and it seemed to make sense.

 Some of the foods I introduced where - (recipes below)

• home made rice -cereal
• home made millet
• home made barley
• home made quinoa
• home made porridge (oats)
• veggies - pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach, beetroot, avocado
• fruit - pear and apple (both cooked and raw), papaya,
• dairy - yoghurt, cottage cheese
• other - chia seeds
• tea - fennel tea, chamomile tea, rooibos tea

Home Made Rice Cereal

Ingredients
short grain rice (arborio) the same rice you use for Risotto
Water

Method - stove top
on the stove, boil the rice till really soft and then puree

method - thermomix
cook the rice in the thermy and then blitz on 10 for a few seconds

Storage
at the start you may want to store the rice in ice cube trays, I found Tupperware ones with lids the most suitable. Once baby is eating more you might like to start using pods or larger tubs for freezing excess.

Home Made Millet

Ingredients
Millet (whole if you can cook it and puree it very finely) if not use millet flour (I used organic first)
Water

Proportions are about 1 cup millet to 2 cups water - but i found that mostly i added more and do it to what works and is easy to put into the containers.

Method - stove top
on the stove, boil the whole millet till really soft and then puree. I would taste it to see when it is no longer gritty,
If using millet flour, add flour and water together, keep stirring till it is cooked and no longer bitey.

Method - Thermomix
place the whole millet or the flour into the thermy, add the water, cook on 100 degrees for about 10 minutes, blitz on 10 for 10 seconds or till pureed to the consistency you like

I always made enough to store a few meals in the freezer. To thaw, I take the tub out, let defrost in the fridge, but if I am out of time, I actually put the frozen contents of the tub in a small saucepan, with a little water and heat through. all pre-made frozen food I heat through before giving to princess A.

Home Made Barley, Oat porridge & Quinoa

same method as for the Millet and rice. Quinoa took ages to cook, but seems to be quite filling and nutritious.


I don't make the Oats in advance, I just soak some the night before with water so they are already soft and then just boil them up in the morning.

Princess A particularly enjoyed the Barley

Chia Seeds

the best way  to prepare these is to make them into a jelly, this jelly can be used with everything else - banana, pear, apple etc or added to rice cereal etc.

a bit more about chia  

To prepare the Chia, I found the easiest way is to put a table spoon into a jam jar, add boiling water, stir that they are all covered and then you have a jam jar of jelly, keep in fridge and add a teaspoon to the food per day.

Some people like to sprinkle a teaspoon over the porridge or other cereal in the morning.

Tea

I  have personally always enjoyed herbal teas, and after doing some research found that there are some benefits for babies.

Fennel tea, Chamomile and Rooibos are the choices I made.

Fennel tea

Place a few fennel seeds in a small saucepan, add water and bring to the boil. let it steep and then put in bottle or sippy cup, diluted with some water

Chamomile tea

as above, can be made with fresh chamomile flowers, or otherwise a good quality tea bag

Roibos tea

I started this one at 6 months. Princess A loves it and it seems to be really good for her. I prepare this with a teabag in a cup, i put some in a sippy cup diluted with filtered water and give it to her all day.

A drinks about 100 - 150ml of other fluid a day.

Apple & Pear 

Pear and apple were the first fruits I introduced. At the start I pureed them with a little bit of water and froze the excess in ice cube trays and later on in the larger tubs.

I still have pureed fruit for A, but just don't blitz it as much so that it still has some consistency.

I also started to introduce Apple and pear raw.To do this, I grate the apple / pear with a very fine grater and either give it to her by itself or mix it in with her cereal.

 Other foods

other foods mentioned above, yoghurt, cottage cheese etc are all pretty self explanatory.


I regularly give A rusks which she loves. Today I also gave her a slice of ripe pear, she thought it was terrific.

 

Baby Shower Madness

After a really busy short work week, I am really questioning the wisdom in offering to make cupcakes for a friends baby shower.
Saturday has arrived, the Thermy was very helpful in making short work of the cupcake mix. Same recipe as for earlier this week.

But now to the designs, I found out that my friend is having a boy, so that narrows the colour scheme, so now to the theme.

I am tossing up between boy coloured baby things
 - prams
 - bottles
 - shoes
 - nappy pins
 - blocks etc
or animals similar to her invite
or crying babies
or babies with blue hats and dummies.

Prams

Alphabet blocks

pins

Baby with beani

A suggested I do some of all, but that could be a little too work intensive.

Also trying to work out how to display them. I used to have one of those Cupcake trees (I assume it is somewhere under the house) I always thought it was somewhat of an awkward useless item, but now considering tomorrow, may have been a useful addition to the kitchen.

Watch this space for design ideas and pictures.

Thermomix Vanilla Cupcakes

Family Friendly Dessert for Queens Birthday long weekend lunch

Ingredients

175 g unsalted butter
160g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp grated lemon zest
pinch of salt
2 Eggs
160g self raising flour
100g plain flour
190ml milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180. Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with paper cases (get a second tray ready or a six hole, as it will make about 14 cupcakes depending on the size of your eggs)

2. put the butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest in the thermomix, put on 37 degrees to soften the butter, put on position 4 and beat till pale and fluffy. Then add the 2 eggs one at a time.

3. put the flours together and add to the thermomix on reverse position 1. - depending on how thick you may want to make it a little faster. add the 190 mls milk. put on speed 5 for about 5 seconds

4. spoon into the paper cases and bake in the over for 20-25 mins - or until a skewer test comes out clean.

5. leave in tray for 5 minutes, then turn onto oven rack and allow to cool.

Straight from the oven - cooling

Decoration

Wilco - Patty cases - inspired the decorating theme

Cupcakes were iced with White Chocolate Ganache and fondant

 

Rain Rain Go Away

'Its raining, Its pouring .. the old man is snoring' well not literally, my husband is awake.


We thought that today would be a wonderful day to get the house ready for our lunch on Monday.A was really insistent that we have a casual lunch, the domestic goddess in me normally goes way overboard with intricate details - which lets face it aren't normally that conducive to a family lunch with 4 children under 5 in attendance.


Menu

Entree / Nibbles

• Thermomix made hummus with carrot and celery
• Frittatas with sun dried tomato, roast pumpkin and feta

Main

• Sausages (supplied by my sister in law) - I think they will be Vegemite and cheese 
• I have never had them before, and I am not a sausage connoisseur but I will let you know what they are like
• They were yummy - slightly unusual flavour but once you got used to it - they were quite yummy - no complaints from our guests !!

• Pork loin with crackling
• Thermomix apple sauce

  

  Roast Pumpkin, sweet potato and parsnip tarte tatin

• Roast pumpkin, sweet potatoe and parsnip Tarte tatin
• Broccoli salad with bacon and almonds
• Peas and beans

Dessert

• Cupcakes - iced with white chocolate ganache and coloured fondant
• Berries 
• perhaps some home-made ice cream (still trying to work out whether I can get an ice-cream machine)

Recipes and pictures to come once the delicious menu is complete.

hopefully the rain will hold off for a reconnaissance mission for a BBQ, ice cream maker and final ingredients.

Ice-Cream Machine

Today my husband decided that we would invite the extended family to lunch on Monday to celebrate the long weekend.

So planning started, I was inspired to try to create my own Indulgent ice cream and decided to visit Bing Lee to purchase a sunbeam 'Gelateria' ice-cream machine.

I was so excited I could hardly contain myself as I took the box home.

Upon opening it, disappointment struck, it appeared that the box had been opened before, the packaging wasn't perfect (but then its only the packaging). I took a closer look, the machine was dirty, slightly greasy and the inside of the ice-cream maker was slightly rusty.

I was devastated. I tried to have my husband (A) convince me that it was OK and my Mum (H) tell me that "the ice-cream won't touch the rusty part". That wasn't the point, if i am going to spend that kind of money, than at least let it be new.

So I returned it. Sadly it was the only machine they had, they tried to explain to me that this is how it arrived from the manufacturer. Well this either means that someone at sunbeam had a masterchef inspired dinner party and made ice cream and then took the machine back to work and packaged it and sent it to Bing Lee, or it had been used in the store as a demo machine or someone had bought it, indulged, changed their mind and returned it. Either way, the staff justified themselves and kept telling me that it wasn't their fault. OK, they personally weren't to blame, but their store did sell a used machine as new.  So not only do I not have a machine to make the ice cream, but I got a nasty sticker on the car window as I double parked as there was no parking outside the store.

Well, looking on the bright side, I saved some money, but I still have all the lovely ingredients to make delicious homemade vanilla and caramel ice cream.

I went to every home store in my area and called all the others Big W, Target, Myer, David Jones etc no-one has an ice-cream maker, even the ones I called, mentioned "you do realise its winter - this is a summer stock item".

Well I am terribly sorry that I seem to be the only person who would like to make ice cream in winter.

Hopefully there will be some joy tomorrow as the search for an ice cream maker continues.

Welcome

Speaking to a friend last week, I asked her if she thought that anyone would actually find anything I wrote worth reading, her response "you'd be surprised". So I thought I would just start and see what would happen.

I apologise in advance for typos, misspellings, terrible grammar and all the other errors new bloggers make.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you find some inspiration, ideas and something worth spending a few minutes stopping by.