:: Slow Cooker Thursdays - Lamb Casserole...

Our honey comes in very large buckets - fresh!

This week I'm trying something new. You could say I'm cheating a little (well in my books I am). Actually I wouldn't really class it as cheating but as an experiment of convenience. I love cooking from recipes. I have a huge collection of cook books and regularly visit my favourite site for inspiration. I cook using fresh ingredients. I love seeing every little element come together to create a dish full of flavour, taste, nutritional goodness and heavenly aroma.

Whilst doing a shop in Woolworths the other day I was seduced by the yellow ticket label of 'Buy 2 for $5' special. It was a MasterFoods slow cooker recipe base. I must admit I hadn't tried them yet so curiosity got the better of me and I bought the Lamb Casserole recipe base. I read the ingredients list on the back - not bad, no preservative numbers - I'll give it a go... All I had to do was add diced lamb, 2 carrots an onion, 1 tbs of honey and a 400g can of tinned tomatoes. I followed the instructions on the back of the packet and hey presto - 8 hours later and 1 delicious dish... The meat was so tender. It literally melted in your mouth and the taste was just fine. I needed to add a little salt and pepper and I was one satisfied customer.

If you're keen on a Slow Cooker Lamb Casserole using all fresh ingredients you can find some here. I have to admit I'm liking the sound of this one. Ginger and chilli! Yes please! Although a visit to the naturopath this week has had me cut out chilli and DAIRY! Is life worth living???!!!

What My Naturopath Told Me...

Lately I've been feeling a little tired and heavy. Yes I'm battling a little excess weight but this time I'm finding it just that little bit harder to lose a few kilos no matter how hard I work at it so I end up giving up and succumbing to these...

My mother (God bless her) booked me in to see her Naturopath. As I sat there in reception filling out paperwork, ticking little boxes of symptoms that I've been feeling and for how long my eyes widened and widened at just how many boxes I was ticking -

'Yes! That's so me! I'm tired, have shortness of breath, have pain in my shoulder, experience regular headaches yadda, yadda, yadda!' 

Honestly if you were to look at my list I would've come across as a serial hypochondriac! But as I sat there I thought to myself...

Is this part of getting old? Am I old? I don't think I'm old but I do sometimes wake up feeling old... I mean didn't someone say that 30 was the new 20?! I'm sure someone credible like Cosmo or Cleo did state that! I should be in my prime, running around full of energy in heels nonetheless, doing 5 things at once, talking "business" on my mobile whilst updating my Facebook status and most of all being a fabulous mother! 

In reality, the last time I wore heels I couldn't walk for a week afterwards because my knees hurt so much after trying to keep my balance for half a day! Once in her office, the Naturopath listened and nodded and scribbled.

'Let's fix you' she said.

After a few magical moves and tests that I was laughing internally over, she was able to tell me more things that I failed to mention to her or tick in the list. So she set me home with two small bottles and told me to acquire a third - Apple Cider Vinegar...

I'm to drink a tea tree and olive leaf extract potion, a zinc potion and some vinegar which I hope to God is sweetened  because it has the word Apple on the bottle! I'm to stop all dairy and drink Almond milk (I hate soy!) and stop all spices, chilli (not happy!) and anything acidic. One week... Until I see her again! Can I last the distance? Perhaps... After this last cup of cows milk infused tea and white choc chip cookie...

Have you or do you see a Naturopath? Has it helped? Or are you a little bit of a sceptic about natural therapies? Don't they all tell you to dump dairy?

Sewing Along with Sew Delicious...

Last night I stumbled across Roslyn's Quilted Mat Sew Along over at her place - Sew Delicious.  When I read that I would only need 12 x 5" squares I thought well this Quilted Mat Sew Along was meant to be! I have 12 lone half triangle squares left over from a quilt top that I have put together but haven't yet finished. Following Ros's instructions I quickly whipped my first mat top up. The whole process only took me 20 minutes - Quick and simple. And look at how close I got to matching up the corners...

On Wednesday Ros will be taking us through the basting and quilting steps. I may just have a finished mat to show! If you have some fabric handy, begging to be whipped up into something useful, join in on the Quilted Mat Sew Along here.

I've made a second mat - I'm slightly addicted! Come and see my grey, white, black and mustard chevron pattern here.

:: Re-Grow Celery from Food Scraps...

Did you know that you can re-grow certain vegetables from food scraps?! Yes sir'ee it is possible! I have made this fascinating discovery through Pinterest - I love Pinterest! You can re-grow celery, onions, shallots, fennel, garlic, cabbage, bok choy, Romaine or Cos lettuce, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, pineapple, ginger and lemongrass. The list is on my board here.

After making a bolognese sauce last week, I decided to give this little experiment a whirl. I cut the bottom part of my celery off and immediately placed it into a dish of warm water. For a week now I have been changing the water everyday and taking it out to bask in the sunshine and low and behold... Sprouts!

The next step is to plant it into the the ground so that it can continue to sprout and hopefully grow into more celery! From what I have researched, if you do try this only plant good quality veggies. Preferably fresh and organic. This will ensure the original vegetables goodness will be passed down to the next lot you grow.

I've just planted the ends of shallots and some garlic...

I'm curious to see how these babies fair. Have you ever tried this before? If so, how successful were you in re-growing from food scraps?

:: Stills - At Our Place...

Many things happen in the course of our week at our place. One thing for certain is that there is always some form of making happening in the kitchen is always smelling great! Luckily our kitchen is smack bang in the middle of our house so it smells heavenly in any room you choose to sit in. This week was no exception - White choc chip cookies were on the menu.

I've been busy each and every evening this week in my Creative Space. Sunny's birthday is a few short weeks away and this year I want to make her gifts. I want to see her little face light up when she unwraps her presents this year knowing that I made my baby girl her presents... I have a few things on the agenda and can say that I'm 1/4 of the way through. Perhaps this will be a new tradition of mine where some of my gifts to Sunny will be handmade by me - her mama.

So here's what happening at our place...

1. My Embroidery Swap surprise handmade for me by this lovely lady.
2. My favourite kind of tea...
3. A fresh batch of white choc chip cookies to satisfy a sweet tooth. Recipe here.
4. My secret weapon when chopping up onions! Yes it does work! And yes I look absolutely stupid while I chop onions but hey my eyes are thankful for it!
5. A little growing experiment that is actually working!
6. A colourful veggie patch out the back.
7. Experiment number 2...
8. Sewing class this week - She made an owl. See more pictures on my Facebook here.
9. Plasticine play.
10. Plasticine puppets were made and ongoing Puppet Shows filled up our Sunday afternoon!
11. Building up in the garden to make room for more vegetables.
12. The view from my bedroom window - Hello Sunshine!
13. A cute face - Working with teeny tiny pieces is not easy.
14. A birthday present in the works.
15. A doll for Sunny...

So what's happening at your place?

20/52...

This week was all about the hair. On Thursday morning you asked for a specific hairstyle to have for preschool that day. One little friend from your class often wears her hair in two braids and today you wanted your hair just like hers. Your teacher told me how proud you were of your new hairstyle that you even had to get up in front of the whole class at group time and show it off!

Oh Sunny... You're growing up! You're going to start to care what you wear and how your hair looks. I was never the type of mama to focus on looks or make 'prettiness' a big deal. I love dressing you up and at the moment you're happy to wear whatever I buy you or dress you in. In my line of work I have seen many mothers start their girls at such a young age that they are already wearing make up and nail polish to preschool at the age of 4 and dictating what brands of clothes they wear and even having their eye brows waxed  by their mothers! YES! I've seen it all! I don't want this for you... I never want this for you! I want you to know that you are beautiful and that you don't need these silly things to define YOU! There's plenty of time in life for it...

What makes my heart break is that these silly mothers are fuelling their 4 year old daughters to look a certain way and these girls then act a certain way and exclude other little girls who don't wear a particular brand of clothing, wear make up or have 'pretty' nails or a particular hairstyle in a very hurtful way...

As your mama I'm trying very hard to teach you right from wrong and how to be strong, gentle, empathetic and kind. I love that you have dirt under your fingernails at the end of the day, it shows me you've been busy being a child! I wash the paint stains off your clothes feeling happy that you are free to explore and play and what I love most of all is that you are so happy with something as simple as a piggy tail hairstyle...

{Joining in with the lovely Jodi here)

:: Slow Cooker Thursdays - Spaghetti Bolognese...

Spaghetti bolognese - A family favourite. It has kind of become a weekly staple at our house. When I cook it, I cram in as much vegetables as I possibly can and I love sauce... Lots of it! Everybody has a different recipe for this famous dish. A secret ingredient that makes their sauce stand out from the rest. My secret? Fresh vegetables and ingredients. I don't oppose ready made sauces but there's something about creating your own using ingredients from kitchen cupboards. Oh and I add a splash of red wine. Just a splash... This is a family dish after all :)

Here's my list of secret ingredients...

(The Australian Women's Weekly Slow Cooker - Best-ever Bolognese Sauce)

1 tbs olive oil
125g prosciutto (or bacon)
2 med. brown onions, chopped finely
1 large carrot, chopped finely
2 stalks of celery, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500g minced veal
500g minced pork
1 cup dry red wine (I find this to over power the sauce so I only use half a cup)
1 1/2 cups beef stock (I add another 1/2 a cup to make up for the wine)
1/4 cup of tomato paste
1kg ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped coarsely (You can use 800g of canned diced tomatoes)
1/3 cup of chopped fresh basil
2 tbs finely chopped fresh oregano

1. Heat half of oil and cook prosciutto until crisp. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic until softened  Transfer to slow cooker.
2. Heat remaining oil and brown mince. Add wine and bring to the boil. Add to slow cooker. Stir in stock, paste and tomatoes. Cook covered on Low 10 hours or High 5 hours.
3. Stir in fresh herbs and cover for last 10 minutes. Season to taste.

Trust me when I say that this is one delicious sauce. So delicious that it didn't last for a photograph... We ate it all before my camera got to it! I like to freeze my sauce in separate containers and whip them out on nights I don't feel like cooking. What can I say, nutritious and delicious!

Do you cook in bulk? Have any bright ideas for me? I'd love to hear them...