The Apple Isle

Well what can I say, three posts in a week, your lucky I suppose that I have nothing to do right now and want to sit and write this lol.

I want to tell you all, I take photos of a lot of stuff intending to write on here. More often then most the time passes and the enthusiasm does too. Not today though, today was productive for me.

I woke up at five am, yes crazy, but that's life, I've always been an early riser. I got up intending to write, but instead I remembered that I stewed a batch of apples yesterday.

See I live on the most awesome island ever. There is always so much fresh fruit and veg it's crazy. With the generosity of others my family can eat all summer off the produce people bring to my door step. Over run with carrots, we eat carrots till we're orange. Carrot cake, stir fired, baked, soup, steamed. And the same goes for zucchini, apricots and berries. Plus Tomatoes, but they lend to chutneys and savory items more.

Dean and I planted a garden this year, so we can hopefully repay some of the generosity this coming season. In the mean time though we are up to apples. I love apples, I have one a day. Before we moved a Few months ago the house we lived in had two apple trees, and I used to apple it up all season.

My favorite thing to do with apple though is to stew them,and put the stewed apples into cakes and muffins. Well actually, when my babies were, actually babies, they were pretty much introduced to solids by eating stewed apples.

I don't know how to connect the writing to the picture on the app yet, so your going to have to connect picture with step yourself.

I've been wanting to put up a stewing apple post. Just to show you that it's not hard, and with a little, very little effort you can make fresh apple sauce yourself. It's organic, thick, and made by YOU!

Step one

Peel and core apples, placing them all in a big enough pot for the batch your stewing. I added a few pears here because they were sorry looking. In and out of lunch boxes till they aren't good for anything else but being made into mush.

Step two

Put the lid on and cook over a low heat. Yep you heard. No water, sugar or spices. Just lid on and let the heat and steam from the natural juices do the work.

Step three

Stir every now and then so that its not sticking to the bottom. It doesn't take long, and when it is done you can choose how mashy you want it. I like mine quite chunky. So when I put it in cakes and muffins you can see bits still.

Step four

Separate into zip lock bags (I like to measure it into 1 1/2 cup baggies so I know it's the right amount for the recipe I use) and put in freezer till you need it.

Or

Bake them into yummy cakes and things right away. Like I did, at 5am

Or

Do both!

:)

I love living on the Apple Isle.

Chocolate

I think I've posted about this before, but I'm doing it again, just to let you know that the practice is still alive and kicking in my house.

So I feel the same way about Easter as I do Christmas, in all aspects! Too much stuff, and not enough Christ. Well this isn't a post about my gripes, not really. It's more what I do when Easter is over, with all the extra things my kids get.

It's well over a week now since the easter bunny graced our lounge room floor with all his/her Easter delights. And over these past days since, I would constantly walk by a chair that I have near the walk way, which has been harboring all this time, well used, brown Easter hunt bags. I would look down briefly to these bags sitting on it, knowing I was just biding my time. Inside, I knew, because mums know everything, were loads of un eaten chocolate Easter eggs. See, with five kids that equals a lot of not only given, but eaten and un eaten chocolate. And unlike Christmas where I can't really do much about all the extra 'stuff' they get, I can at Easter.

What I do is, I wait until I know the kids have eaten all the good kind of chocolate, you know, Cadbury, red tulip...well that's about it really. Then whats left is all the generic sort waiting for me in the long forgotten Easter bags. Which are thoughtlessly left in obscure places like the chair I have near the walk way!

I take these bags, and whatever else I find un eaten around the house, and I un wrap all those chocolate bits from their little foil confines, and put them away in the pantry.

For what? I hear you ask. Because they didn't eat them before! what makes me think they will eat them because I've taken the wrapper off?

For baking! Trust me, all those awful tasting, cheap, making it look like you got the kids loads of chocolate chocolate will be oooed and ahhhed over when you pull out a tray of hot choc berry muffins from the oven. Or told your the best mum in the world when they eat their portion of choc custard, or warmed their little bodies after an afternoon of playing hard with nice big mugs of hot chocolate. I just smile when this happens, add more whipped cream to the quickly disappearing mug of yumminess. Knowing that for one hour in my day today, I took the time to gather the unwanted, forgotten 'extras' we dish out to our kids, and made them into things that nourish their souls, and give them memories.

Well nourishing their soul may be pushing it, but who can pass a hot choc berry muffin hmm?

On the edge of something, I can feel it

I was going to delete this blog, it serves no purpose, but to let me talk to myself, say out loud what's on my mind.

I'm not going to delete it. There is a way we all do things in this life, and this is mine. This blog is not face book, twitter, work, or for me to brag. It's about me and how I live.

Well, how do I live. I live well actually. I'm not rich, don't seek to be, I have enough. I'm not a super model, I don't even think I'm pretty. I do like to dress up on a Sunday though. It's my guilty pleasure. I like to be fit, but I'm not right now. I will be though I don't like feeling the way I do.

I say all this, because like I've said before on this blog, I like to do new things, stretch myself and grow. There are lots I things I think I can do. Like running a hundred meter dash like I used to, very fast. But can I actually do that anymore, no.

But what I can do is try.

Not to run, but other things. I do like to sing, actually I love music but that didn't happen. I didn't take singing lessons like I wanted to a few years ago. I can't even remember what new and exciting thing I did that year.

But last year, I decided to write a story, and post it to a free web site for stories called Wattpad. Who knew I could write a story from beginning to end. It was hard by the way. Hard to make what was in my head read well on paper.

I started with an idea, then thought about it all the time till it had bones. I told my husband and sister and they laughed at me. I told them that I was sick of reading the same old stuff in the genre I loved and that I was going to do this.

One night, I sat at the computer and starred at the screen, looking back and forth from husband to computer and said "I'm going to do it, I'm gong to load a chapter."

One year later to the day, today. I've written three stories and have two more on the way. To my surprise I have fans, a web page, and a face book page where a small handful of people from all over the world come and join me. It's not like this. This blog is about something else. Stuff I like to do and how I do it.

No one knew I wrote stories, I didn't want to rely on the people around me, to force them into something they wouldn't like. I can honestly say that I gain my readers one at a time, page by page.

I have some that help with my editing, some that make my covers because they love my stories, and some that help run my new book club. ALL are my friends, it's a wonderful web I've created for myself. And it wasn't easy! And there is still a long way to go.

This was one of my secret desires. I've always written, I love it. I was invited to speak at the Society of Women Writers of Tasmania a few weeks ago. I did it, and it was fun. I felt very inadequate though, until Mary Hawkins, an author there told me this "don't conform Mel. Stay true to how you want to write"

There are a lot of people telling us how to do stuff out there. And I get very scarred sometimes to post chapters, proof read, seek advice. But the point is, is that I do it. I uploaded the front cover to the first book I want to publish today. Wow! It's happening. I feel like I'm on the edge of something. How far shall I take this. Well I don't know! Lets just see how far I can get :)

"I think it, I write it, and hope it makes sense"
Melanie Corona

PS- no house work has been done for a year! Something had to give lol

http://mcorona7.weebly.com/index.html

http://www.wattpad.com/user/mcorona7

http://www.nanowrimo.org/fr/participants/mcorona7

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/12758932-mcorona7

http://m.pinterest.com/mcorona7/

http://www.facebook.com/mcorona70


I threw in the Pinterest one just so you know I'm not changed, just doing something new *giggles*

Free Money!

What? Free money? Now I know that Americans have the coupon thing down, but here in Australia we are lacking some what. BUT, when you do recieve something in the mail that you know you can spend money on use it.

I got a $40 gift voucher from spot light this week, it came with a spend $100 and get $40 off string attached but $40 is $40. Now it might be the ideal place to buy presents for kids i.e. not many Lego toys there. But...Dean is making some picture frames this year for certain members of the family and our bosses (as they are female). So we got some supplies for him.

I had on my gift ideas list new beach tows for the kids. So guess here I got those. Funny enough all kids beach towels were heavily reduced. For example we got Spider-Man hooded towels for $9 and a camp rock towel for $5 and so on. We got some chains for necklaces dean is making for the boys and to get it up to $100 we got wrapping paper. It all added up to just a few dollars over $100 but when the am swiped my VIP card he said we had to go back and and spend $20!!! Cool hey. So we got a beach mat and more wrapping which was $2 a roll because of my card. Grand total spent $60.67 who's smiling now. I got a press any for all the kids plus some! So message of the day, think outside the box and take advantage of those vouchers.

Let you light so shine

The next step I suppose is to decorate your house. Clean it fort and make everything smell nice. Then dig out the tree. Dean and I bought ours ten years ago, and every year we say we will get a new flashy fandangled one, but then very year we use the $12.50 Kmart one.

So once the house is looking good and smelling sweet. Gather the kids and tell them what a good job they did and then have the chat. You know, the chat telling them what the true spirit of Christmas is and that even though they can expect Santa on Christmas Eve send them to bed with a preyer in their heart that we can find someone else to give Christmas to so on Christmas morning their light will so shine.

Starting with a list

Ok so I think it's important to start with a list. I write lists for everything I started writing lists for everything when I was a little girl and they work. So trough out the year I hve been jotting down what the kid safe into, well their getting very little of that now and what I get for my kids another family will get also. So here we go this is my list of people I HAVE to buy for, why, because I love them and society demands it. Alright here we go


My mum
My dad
Foster brother 1
Foster brother 2
My sister
My brother In law
My nephew
My husband
Jackson
Charna
Kealin
Tyren
Baydan
My nana
My cousin
My boss
Deans boss
The eight single elderly people in my ward

Yep that about does it. I have a rule, I you don't live here you don't get and it goes both ways we don't receive from those not here. And you can throw in the family Going to unwillingly target.

So now that I have the list, I can see it, I can start to work through it. My kids and husband will be last though, mean yes, maybe, I'll tell you this now though. When you give you receive much much more! My kids are going to get the biggest gift that no money can buy!

Gifts for Christmas

So here we go again its Christmas time again, and I have the same internal argument about what to do.

So I'm Christian, and with the holiday season comes with it, for me, the joy of celebrating the birth of Christ. I find it an awkward balance to have the kids be excited about receiving presents, but maintaining the humble beginnings of where the tradition comes from.

So a few years ago we did hand made gifts for everyone and although I believe the gifts had more meaning, because we didn't give out half hearted, thrown together whatever's. we thought and we planned, but, in the back of my mind I still felt as though we were cheating our kids . Last year wasn't so bad. We bought TOMS shoes for the whole family, that actually didn't arrive before Christmas so we rocked up with nothing for everyone. Yes we were embarrassed and were scrambling around to get at least something and ended up paying twice.

With my husband going back to school this year it's been even tighter in this house. I missed the markets for my bags, twice, and now we have nothing.

Whatcha this space though because I am resilient and I am going to show myself and the whoever wants to read this blog how I'm going to make this Christmas work on a shoe string and teach my children a life lesson they can take with them forever. And you know how I'm going to do it...I'm going to give what I have away!! Yep you heard me. I'm going to find a family that has NOTHING!! And I'm going to give them something.

I Can't Believe it!!

So I just realized that there is a blogging app! The thought that there might be one came to me when I was thinking how much I can do from apps. So I searched for it and voila! Behind in time much!

17 Day Diet

Well Where do i start.......i have never had to seriously diet before. Not saying this to brag or anything i was just always of the slender build. And very active. I used to be a Camping safari tour guide in the outback of Australia, so that kept me quite fit. As ive mentioned before i have 5 children. Loosing the weight after number 1 wasnt even an issue, i just slipped right back into my old self after a few months. It wasnt untill 5 years later that i had number 2 and a size 8-10 was easy enough again, but number 2 and 3 came close on the heals of each other. So it wasnt until after number 3 that it got to be a little tricky. I suppose i wasnt as active, and i was one of those women that craved alot of food whilst i was breast feeding . So there you go i got to a size 12 and stayed there. It wasn't until i had my 4th and 5th child that i realized that, i had to do something different.
Ok ok so im not that huge and i know alot of people would like to be this size. And (drum roll please) im going to say it..............I am currently now a 12-14 sometimes 16 in my clothing sizes and i thought i weighed, using my $10 scales about 75kgs. And life is good, were not broke, i have a happy family, live in a wonderful country, but i just dont feel myself. So i watch a show here called A Current Affair and a while ago they featured a new diet called the 17 day diet. I looked it up and over the past month or so ive been really thinking hard about it. But as we know thinking about exercize and diet doesnt really equate to anything does it? So on Tueasday this past week i conned my husband into doing this diet with me (because he could loose a  too), and it wasnt until today that i decided to blog about it. So here we go


17 Day Diet by Dr mike Moreno

Day 1

Easy peasy just followed the plan. I didnt crave for anything and didnt want for anything. I was a bit hungry right before it was time to eat the next meal but then i could eat and it was ok. I had lunch mind you at about 11am i just couldnt wait any longer and i had the snack at 2 and then just loaded up on water until dinner, (which i served at 5 instead of 5:30). I actually had breakfast and lunch ingredients already at home so when Dean came home from work we went for the weekly shop together. And truthfully there wasnt alot of difference bewtwee shopping for this diet and my normal shop. I just had to get more fresh veg and more chicken! Turkey mince was on sale for half price this week so we loaded up on that too. Dean had to go away on Wednesday for overnight and so i made up all of his things and packed it up for him. As far as i know he didnt cheat, but who really knows!!!

Day 2

Ok today im hungry. We had yogurt and berries for breakfast, which i used my happy chopper to break down the frozen berries to put through the yogurt. BTW greek yogurt needs a sweeter fruit! I had left over berries and so for the kids afternoon snack i made berry scones. AND MAN it was so hard not to just have one they smelled SOOOO good!! The kids have been great though they were saying "NO mum" alot today. Actually the only thing that got me through was this little mantra i kept repeating to myself "you can make them again" and so yeah i didnt have one!! Not sick of veggies yet either!

Day 3

Today was hard. I dont know what is happening to my body but it feels sluggish. The diet says you can have as much chicken and veg from the free list for dinner and so i have been really loading our plates with mounds of veg just to keep the hunger at bay. But today my body wont work! I made a chocolate cake for Kealin because he likes them, and i needed a sweet to send to school with the kids. And yes i know what your thinking.....Im torturing myself. And yes in a way i am. But my chidren are far from fat and they are all really healthy and im not going to make them diet. I figure this is about self disapline aswell. Ok bend down i am going to tell you a secret. I have tried diets before! Atkins, the soup one, The CSIRO one. And i always give up on day 3. And there have been repeat attempts of these so i know my pattern. Day threee i am always justifying the end. Actually Atkins i stayed with for 5 days but again too restrictive. Dont know how i did it but tthere was no chocolate cake that passed these lips, and to be honest i wasnt really that hungry today!

Day 4

Today i feel wired!  i feel like i have a clear head, but every move i make i can feel it. Not saying that i feel sore or tierd, i can just feel it! I will describe it as this....i feel like my body is actually using something different besides Sugar and carbs from bread, potatoes, rice and pasta, to fuel itself! and you know my mind is feeling alittle more set. I mean, why give up today when i gave up fresh berry scones and chocolate cake right? But i will say when i did my 17 minute workout i got off the stepper and my legs were very wobbly and i felt a little sick. Ok, so Dean went to the shop and got us some $30 scales as my $10 ones broke about 3 weeks ago. I wighed myself........And after 3 1/2 days on this diet and to be truthful i feel like ive lost weight i was dicouraged to find out that i was 76.9 Kilos! which means i was heavier than thought when i started this : ( determind much to keep going YES!!

Day 5

Wow! Today i slept till 9am The Dr says that you should be able to sleep better. And i normally wake at 2am every night. Why? don't know just always have. But last night nothing! Being a Saturday my husband was up making eggs for the kids and was patently waiting for me to fix his breakfast. I don't normally do this but that was the trade off, you do this diet with me and ill fix ALL your meals. He normally can fend for his own breaky and lunch. I had it in my mind that i would go for a walk outside today and so after breakfast Dean and i went for a 20min walk. On our way back we stopped by the farmers market (which is literally across the road) and got the kids some kiss biscuits (which are commonly made in Tasmania and i will post a recipe later as i am going to make some today) and jelly cakes. Yep was tempting but im ok. Tonight is hamburger night (homemade of course) and dean and i will just have turkey burgers and no bread. That is how ive done this actually, the kids eat a similar variation of what we have. But like ive said before we don't actually eat that badly anyway. I needed to do this diet to get over this hump! Weight today 75.6 kilos yep!!!

So if anyone is actully reading this....you may have noticed that i havnt updated it in a few days. so you may be thinking ive cheated or stopped. But alas to my own amzment i have not!.

Day 5

One word to decribe today ENERGY! its really wierd but i feel really energetic! I had to make some cakes for our luncheon today at church, and i wasnt even tempted until................it came time to set everthing out at the chaple to eat. That is when i really started to doubt myself. But i got throught the afternoon with the support of my husband. I packed some left over chicken soup that i made from the night before and so i ate that, and all was well. What did i make for the lunchoen that got me all worked up well..i made pizza, white chocolate and passion fruit muffins, passion fruit cake, choc chip cookies and chocolate cake. now you see the problem?

Day 6

So today i woke up as normal and went to go have my greek yogurt and pear breakfast. I was half way through it when i realalized that i didnt even taste the bitterness of the yogurt this time. Weird!!!! today went on without a problem really and not much worth writing about. Oh except it was the last day of the week and i only had iceburg lettuce left and, well, yuck! but i ate it still with the only tomatoe i had left and a grated carrot. Yes poor me, 75.8 kilos today whoop whoop!

Day 7

Well due to my husbands job i have a box full (25 bags) of jersey caramels. I know right!! so i was forced to serch the net for some recipes.I settled for something called Butterscotch caramel brownies. I know right!!! yummo! I dont know how i managed to get throught the night really. I did find myself taking really long sniffs of the childrens slices. As to how im feeling? Well to be honest today i feel sluggish and unmotivated. I did go for a walk to pick up the kids though and before i started i really thought i was going to feel more weighed down than i did i was quite rejuvonationg : )

Day 8

So today i feel like ive fallen into a nice pattern. I actually came up with a recipe on my own using the list of foods we can have for mine and deans dinner, it was turkey meatballs with fresh basil rolled in them, cooked in passata with some veggies. It was so lovely. Anyway it wasnt until i finished eating that i realazed that i made the recipe up and did it quite natuarally. But it is alarming you want to know why? well it scary because it seems this diet is actually working in more ways than weight loss!

Day 9

So today i think is a flow on from yesterday my wieght is 75 kilos yeah me!! and although i am loosing weight and at a nice pace i suppose, I actually feel normal. No more wierd i feel like im on energy pill moments, or sluggishness. And whilst i was preparing my food today it actually didnt feel like i was preparing diet food. Although i am, i havnt cheated or anything not even a lick of cake batter for me. So what does that mean? I actually felt Like i wasnt doing myself any good by eating the normal amount of food i have been because it felt too natural. Anyway im going to bed tonight dicaouraged.

Day 10

74.6 kilos. Discouraged? i think not. Wow how can i actually be loosing weight and still feel as though im not dieting? You know there have been plenty of times in my life where things that are being taught to me i put into practice. I do not know what is wrong with me but i just am simply not tempted to cheat on this diet. I always thought i was quite good and changing bad qualities in my life. Im quite stubborn when it comes to that sort of thing. But this is weird. Last night i made chocolate brownie loaded with caramels and it wasn't even a challenge. The 17 day Diet does say that i will start to crave other kinds of sweet tings, and today i sat down to a bowl of yogurt and, you will not believe it, BERRIES!! yes i am tamed and the berries were really quite sweet!. Ive had a hankering to make beef meat pies for the kids for a few days and today i made up the filling and even had my mother taste the mixture!! oh AND!!!! i got out of bed at 6am today and went for a jog to the beach! yep if i do say so myself something is changing in me. OH and by the way Dean is down to 99 kilos he has lost about 6-8 kilos or more, we will never be sure due to the no scale to start with thing. But he is stopping now and going straight to the 4th stage of the diet. My hubby is well over 6 foot and doesn't want to loose mass, but he has lost his muffin lol

(BTW i always do some sort of work out but only up until day 10, for 17 minutes just like the diet suggests)

Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17

Ok Ok so its been a awhile! but this is how i roll really, im a bit scatty with everything. So if anyone out there is reading this besides Anna : ) you probably think i dropped out of my self inflicted strict diet regime. But you will be surprised to hear this i think.......But i actually stayed on track. I didnt waver once from the diet for 34 days. See you do the 17 days in groups of 17. so i was on day 15 of the second round of 17 days and i broke my diet! WAIT there is a good explanation : ) On day 15 i caught a plane to Sydney for the Australian leg of the international tour of A Time Out For Women. Which by the way was excellent. But alas, as per my goal for that weekend i ate whatever i wanted for the weekend. Leaving the shores of Tassi as a 71kilo weighing women and returning as a ....................... ha ha ha lets just say i have to start all over again : )

My Magazines

 Ok so im going to do a confession........I buy too many cooking magazines! When im trying to explain my cooking obsession to people its hard for me to really relay my passion. Now in saying that i am not professing to be the "BEST" cook because im not! i just really like to. I went through a stage where i wanted to find really good one bowl recipe recipes. Then a stage where i did alot of pastries, then i made alot of bagels and pretzels ect ect Really i think i do this to say "i can" or "I have made that before". So i have my actual cook book collection, i only buy the book once ive found a cook i really like or i look at the pictures and know thats what i like to cook. I get given books too which is really good. Im easy to please in this area! Then i have my  magazines which above as you can see i like to make sure their in order. I live in Australia and two magazines i like to buy are Martha Stewart and Racheal Ray. I found out that local news agencies only carry one or two copies over here in The down down under so i have the lovely ladies at the news agency reserve a copy of each every month. OK my USA readers (if in fact i have any) i pay $9.95 for each mag, i know i know that $20 a month. I actually stopped buying the Aussie ones to be able to accommodate this purchase. But in saying that i often am loured in by fancy front cover pictures in the super market. So the picture above is a a sample of the mags i "KEEP" if i dont cook 3 or recipes from them i give them away.

 This is a pic of some of my cook books. I know maany women have moany more than this but i like to only keep what i actually use, and of course i actually do use them!

 Here are some more

 And this is what i keep my Mags of the month in so i dont have to dig for them

 Some samples of what i buy and, Good Taste, recipes plus, better homes, i always take a copy of the free ones at the super markets, Martha, Raqcheal and Good Food!

these are the two current ones im concentrating on right now and i actually do bake or cook from them (so i can justify them) So ill post a Mag recipe review a little later!

A Birth Day

Hmmm So i think im supposed to feel different today!! I don't ask for much, just a cake. If i get more, than that's great, i wont say no. I find myself grumpy at the looming day every year. My dear husband even had a surprise party lined up at our favorite restaurant about 5 years ago. I had a hissy fit and stayed home, he was devastated and told me that there were people waiting. Its a joke to this day, my sister always thanks me for the party i never attended.
So what to do with myself? I find i can compartmentalize every stage of my life because its been so vast from one experience to the other.
childhood
Youngster
teenager
foreign student
out in the world on my own
fallen
broken
mother
single mother
lost
found
in love
married
religious
student
baby machine (which i loved)
wife
teacher
healer
confidant
mate
friend
support

And now what to do?.......Most of the things Ive become will stay with me forever ie mother hopefully wife! and there are alot of things that t i know, i am and i can improve on always. I met a lady once who made an impression on my life. She said that she would seek out to learn something new each week. She was a stay at home mother, and still is i presume. She said she would pick something each week and learn about it. Well ive been trying to adopt this philosophy since i met her, but with my own twist. I did have a learning buddy but between her and i we have been pregnant since we became friends. So this being my 33rd year of life i am going to either
1- learn something totally new, maybe the piano or take those singing lessons ive always wanted or
2-join a group.
i cant really say joining a group to me is all that different from learning something new, as i don't play well in a team efforts, but maybe i hiking group or something active.  or
3-go back to school, which i know in my heart im not ready, nor is my family, for yet.

Ive been sitting on my lounge for the past few days thinking of who or what i am. I am determined that i will look back at this chapter and say "hmm i think i started back when i was 33, yes 33 was the year!"
Now its just choosing something i want to make apart of my self that will hopefully improve me. I think maybe i will start by going to bed! i don't really handle sleep deprivation the way i used to : )

Free Fruit!

 

Yesterday Dean had the pleasure of driving all the way down to my mothers house and back! and she loaded him up with some lovely fruit. Well the bananas are on their way out and half the Apricots are soft and bruised. Actually to look at this photo some of you (you know the whole 3 of you that read my blog) may say WHAT! but i say hellllooo baking day!

With kids going back to school in about a month and banana prices going up i would be stupid not to put these beauties to work. So banana bread it is for today. There are about 30 bananas there and so that calls for alot of bread. I have a whole bunch of apple sauce that i bottled from last season that needed to be used. I remember seeing a recipe i have somewhere that called for apple sauce so there you go. But when i read the review on the bread again i noticed that people were say to substitue this and that and wow! so i just took a bit from each advice and this is what i did. Its not the fluffiest banana bread recipe i have but its definantly moist, going into school lunch boxes, and my kids will eat it. Or do what i found out Charna was doing with my muffins last year SELL them! (she didnt actually know she was selling them she said to me one day that she swapped someone $2 for my muffin i had to explain to her that that is selling!)

Banana bread the way i made it with Apple sauce

Blend 5 bananas together

add

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

mix and leave to sit for 15mins

then add

2 eggs

1/2 cup of applesauce

mix well

add

1tsp vanilla

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

1tsp cinnamon or chocolate chips

I had a block of lindt dark chocolate with pear pieces inside no one in this house was going to eat it like it was so into the bread it went. 2 loaves with cinnamon and 2 with choc for today!

Mix  till only just combined then bake in 2 loaf pans for 30-45 mins. Im going to wrap them and freeze them for school. 1 loaf =1 week. It wont last the whole week but if i haven't had the chance to bake that week or if its Monday and im not organized, thats when i whip them out. And at least they have had some sort of homemadeness for the week. : )

I also made some fried banana scones for a treat today. So in total ive used 13 bananas. I will also make muffins and a cake for the freezer for school. It just makes life alot easier on those mornings you cant be bothered. . Ill also freeze a few of them for a later date. Waste not want not!. With the apricots i made jam and the kids ate some. I actually have a recipe for a cake that i want to try using fresh apricots not dried.

Gadgets

 Gadgets gadgets everywhere!. So for christmas this year my mother was kind enough to get me this Belgian waffle maker. I already have a waffle maker, but it only makes one at a time and there are 5 hungry growing kids in my house. So i gues my mother felt sorry for me having to slave away over a one waffle at a time waffle maker. But i tell you what......I love my mother. This is waffle machine makes 4 think and luscious waffles at a time, and is up there with my most favourite things in the kitchen to use list, the only thing that is above it is my Kitchen aid. Why?,  i hear you asking there only waffles!. Well now come over and ill make yo a batch and you will know what i mean. Im going to make a waffle Machine carry bag so i can take this thing anywhere i go. Crazy no way i just love waffles!

I triple the batch every time beating the eggs whites and everything. The left overs i freeze and the kids can take them out as they please and toast them for breaky.

 So up untill Christmas day 2010 i had one of those gadgets that are a blender and processor in one kind of deal. Yes i scored again and got a flash new processor from santa. (santa must have felt sorry for me too because my old one had a crack in it and i couldnt do anything liquidy). So that left us with this big ol machine with only one thing on it that i needed (the blender). So i went out and bought a new blender. In summer time my family love making smoothies and shakes. Look at the colour of these beauties!! imagine something that vibrant in colour growing from our earth. It can only be good for you.

Corona smoothie

1/2 cup frozen berries (mixed berries in this case you could use mango we often do)
1/2 a banana (freeze those too already peeled and halved)
1/2-1 cup of low fat milk
1 heaping tbls of yogurt

serves 1

 Smoothies and waffles oh my life just couldn't get any better!

This is my new flashy food processor. It comes with all sorts of fancy attachments. See them all there in the back? Well Dean was watching Jamie Oliver the other night and was inspired to make this dish. Dean said that Jamie said  : ) to use a processor if you have one, because whats the point of having it if you don't use it! (in reality i use mine ALOT) but i indulged dean and pulled it out. Recipe - Smashed carrots. So i peeled my carrots and fed them trough the processor with the slice attachment. MAN it was FUN!! quick too no sore fingers. Then dean put them in a pot with only a couple of tbls of water and boiled them quite high for about 10 mins.he added butter, thyme, and pepper. Then when they were tender he smashed them quite chunky. We ate them with rice and plum sauce chicken. Yes home made plum sauce i made last year at about this time!

a gift in use is a good gift!

Well Well look what we have here! Dean called me one night to" come quick and see this". Well it was worth getting up for because this is what he wanted to show me. Baydan was playing with his bath pack kealin made for him for Christmas. And actually when i think of it those cut out sponges are always stuck on the shower window now. worth it? YES!

Holiday Fun For free

So ok,  I always get given a hard time because i loovvee having my kids home for the holidays. I love having them around, I love sleeping in and hearing them slowly get out of bed and play, i love making my own plans and i love doing fun stuff with them. The only problem is there isn't many things to do without spending a little money. Movies = money, mini golf = money, the town pool = money, a take away lunch = money, a local fair these days often  = entry fee money!.One of my New Years resolutions is to try to not spent money everyday. Yes Yes i know this sounds silly but between paying bills, groceries, petrol, stuff here things there i noticed that there isn't many days i go without spending a little money.Take a picnic for example, a picnic you would think wouldn't cost a lot of money, but it could, and most of the time i do spend money on picnics on things i can go with out, like fizzy drinks, lollies, expansive salad things (fancy kinds of veggies), maybe a bbq chicken and chips from the corner shop, paper plates, snacks,  hmmm what else, i don't know just STUFF!. On the other hand if you use your head and think outside the box a picnic really can be quite inexpensive.

A beautiful day only means one thing to me....A day outside, Yes a picnic at the beach!. My family and i just came back from our Christmas holiday with my parents a few days ago. And i don't know about you but i like to clean out the fridge and have my House sorted before i go. Oh i leave some things in the fridge, say if its only for a week and a half like i went for i left a few veggies that don't perish fast ie carrots and potatoes, i use powdered milk so its only a matter of making some up etc etc. I always save a little cash for when im home to get immediate things like bread and cheese. Although this year we came back late Saturday and we don't shop on a Sunday so i had to make bread : ( (i love making bread but not out of necessity silly i know). So my point is i didn't really have anything but mainly food storage stuff to pull together a picnic feast, and when trying to stick to a budget and pay day looming in on a few days from now,  i thought..... All the things i normally take on a picnic or variations of the same kind of menu were already at home. A day at the beach can be low cost food and all. And this is how We do it.
New Years resolution broken yes...but not by much.

New Years Day Picnic 2011

Ok So i always take a chocolate cake with me on any picnic, well a chocolate cake or a batch of brownies maybe a slice, no actually im lying i would never make a slice instead of a chocolate cake. I would make it as well as a chocolate cake!! So this would be the first thing i do, make up a chocolate cake batter and put it in the oven right away (the oven would be pre heated i turn it on before i start mixing batter) I have a multitude of chocolate cake recipes. And i use different ones for different reasons. This time i used my Perfectly chocolate choc cake recipe, its quick to whip up, everything goes into one bowl, and i didnt have much butter, this recipe calls for oil. If your wondering why my cake is on a cooling rack on a chair outside? well its because i need it to cool down, hey if it was good enough for women in the "old day" to cool their food on a ledge outside their kitchen windows....its good enogh for my cake to be on a chair outside my kitchen door!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the cake is cooking i wash out my bowl and make up a mix of cookies. Today i choose peanut butter cookies, for two reasons. 1- Dean was given a few packets of kisses from work for Christmas and i love putting them on these cookies and have been wanting to since he got them. and 2- this recipe calls for only 1/2 cup of white sugar and the rest brown. After my cake i only had just! 1/2 cup white sugar. Note to self buy some more sugar women! So there you go i call these nut kisses hehehe cute hey? but when i don't have kisses i break up squares of Cadbury and push those into the middle. There is a tray like that in the back there as i ran out of kisses. Any cookie will do, cookies are an essential picnic food as you can take one shove it in your mouth and run away and do stuff!

 While the cookies and cake are either cooking or cooling i make up some sandwiches. I could have choosen to do egg sandwiches as i left 3 dozen in the fridge before i left for holidays but i also had 2 bags of carrots , why so many carrotts? who knows! so with the $20 bucks i had left from holidays i went to the shop and bought a kilo of cheese for $8, some fresh rolls for $4, $5 of Deli ham and $3 went to fruit. There are just some things that are worth there wieght in gold and cheese is one of them. I learnt this little trick from the mother of the two kids i have staying with me. 

Grate some cheese

Grate some carrot 

add some mayo

mix mix mix and then add it to any lunch meat you choose, its quick and the kids love it! i choose fresh lunch rolls and ham today

Pigs in a blanket anyone? These were the last to go in the oven. I raided my freezer and found some little hot dog sausages and two sheets of short crust pastry. Cut the pastry into 12 pieces and wrap 1 sausage in each piece of pastry. Bake in the oven you haven't turned off yet from the cookies. Let these cook till their brown. Put them in a container after they have cooled for a minute or two. They will be nice and warm still when you eat them!. I also throw in the cooler a little tub of Tomato sauce for dipping, heaven help me if i forgot that!!

The cake is finally cool and is the last thing i do before leaving. Actually it was because i wanted the cake to be nice and cool and i was waiting for the pigs in a blanket to cool off for a minute.

I also took along a couple of bags of chips. I already had these and anyone who knows us knows these are always an abundance in our house! (not that we are unhealthy or anything its just we always have them)

New Year Public holiday at the beach

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All Packed and loaded for the The day Don't forget water! from the tap of course its free and a little extra from the food storage to top up the empty bottles for the thirsty kids

 Eating the chocolate cake, the perfect start

                                                                Yep we had a nudie rudie

 Sunscreen and hats for all, But please someone out there sympathize with me here, Its real hard to keep those hats on!

 The traditional burial

The Serious fisherman only need to try!!

A rest from the day off? Yes i think so Marmaduke anyone?

And so ends a day at the beach cost?.....Petrol that we already had in the car. Might not have been all day but it will be a day to remember and a great way to start off the new year.

Guitar Strap

Ok So this would have to be my best item thus far. Last night i was getting all wound up wondering what to make jacko from me. So i went through all the things in his room and hello!!! i saw this guitar. He needs a guitar strap. So i now had my heart set. I researched firstly what the heck one looked like, then a pattern, then how to wear one, then how to attach one to a guitar. Lucky i went through each step like that because i had a few problems with some of the patterns id seen. 1- Jackos Guitar only has the bottom button, 2- i didnt know how long to make it and 3- i needed to make it adjustable but didnt have the stuff i thought i needed. So with a good nights sleep on my side. I came up with this. An adjustable strap with cords to tie under the top frets. They are also popular and i watched a demo of a man tieing one on. You could use a shoe lace if you wanted but i used some nice cord i had. I got it right the first time and i am going to make more!

Home Made Spice Rubs

This batch of beauties are for My husband and cousin. deano likes his spice rubs so these are for him and Johnathon could use a little help! Home made spice rubs mmm

Hot Chocolate M ix

This is something else for Jacko from one of the babies. I have the nice expensive hot chocolate up in the cupboard in a safe place saved for when we have quests or for a Family Home Evening treat. One day i went to go use it and oh dear!!! there is none left. JACKSON!! he has been having a hot chocolate every morning for breakfast instead of the Milo i buy for that reason. Hmmm so here is some for himself. Home made hot chocolate mix