As requested, the recipe for Macaroni Casserole….. actually, it is just one that I throw together, but I’ll try writing it out! 
1 pk macaroni, boil till done
leftover meat - I use mince (ground beef) or silverside
grated cheese
one can chopped tomatoes
Mix all these ingredients together. Sprinkle some extra grated cheese on top and pop in moderate oven till the cheese is brown and bubbly. Very easy!
After yesterday’s quiet day, I woke up headache free and raring to go! The baking went well and I even managed to stay on top of the dishes and the kitchen. If you head into my kitchen right now, the dishwasher is full, benches wiped, and only a few things in the sink. Amazing! Pity it doesn’t look like that every day, lol!
I made this Banana Cake with a twist - I used my normal recipe, but added cocoa to half of the mix and poured it into the cake tin. Then I added some chocolate chips to the rest of the mix and poured it on top. It made this fun pattern and the kids just loved it.
Since the chocolate chips were out, I made chocolate chip cookies - always a hit. I only baked half of them, rolled the rest of the dough in between some foil, and put it in the freezer. Now I can just cut off enough to fill a tray if I get unexpected visitors, or when we run out of goodies in the pantry.
I also made a chocolate cake for the freezer so that later in the week when the weather hits the high 30’s (C, not F!) I don’t need to do any baking. The roast lamb I had planned for today was absolutely yummy and there is some left for cold meat - I thought for a moment there it was all going to disappear, it was so popular!
In between baking, I muddled around the house today. I did a few of those little chores that needed doing in the kitchen, like filling the salt shakers, making garlic salt, and filling the flour shaker that I use while kneading bread or other dough. Some of these things, like making the garlic salt, I had been meaning to do for so long now.
This is my simple recipe for garlic salt:
6 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon rice flour
Mix it all together….. I use this to flavor nearly everything! LOL! We love garlic! It is better when you dry the garlic yourself and make it into powder. I have some powder from the shop, so I will use that up first. Hopefully once I grow my own garlic I can dry some and keep it aside for when the store bought stuff runs out.
I also tackled the master bedroom today. Ok, I know, it wasn’t on my “must do” list. Well, I just got sick of it being such a mess. All the folded washing got put away. I dragged some shelves in from the shed and filled them with my sewing stuff - fabric, notions, & UFO’s. It is so much nicer to walk in there and have it looking tidy.
Tomorrow I will try to set up my sewing machine and do a bit of sewing. I have some ironing to do as well, but the baking and cooking is all done.
Not all my days run this smoothly, but I am certainly thankful when they do!
We’ve been here for three weeks now and until today, our gas stove & oven was not connected. I’ve been very inventive with my crockpot, electric frypan and microwave! This afternoon the gas man turned up and connected the stove for me. We don’t have mains gas here, so he needed to put a special fitting on the stove to the two gas bottles outside.
He was quite a friendly man, probably in his early 60’s, and we had a nice chat while he worked. He also has acreage and enjoys a large veggie garden and chooks. After he finished connecting the gas bottles I said,
“I’ll just go inside and see if it works.”
“No, no!” he said, “I’ll do that! I’ll check it all properly.”
So we went in and he checked all the jets to make sure they worked, and the grill as well. He showed me how to light the grill and the oven. Then he said we just had to wait a few minutes to check the temperature of the oven. I was quite surprised because I thought all he was going to do was connect the bottles and leave us to work out the rest. But here was some good old fashioned service.
He set the oven to 180C and while we waited we chatted some more. We discussed ovens and how the old ones (like the one I have now) are often better than the news ones they make now-a-days. He said a lot had changed in kitchens since he first started in the gas fitting business. He used to go into homes at this time of the day (4.30pm) and he would want to stay for dinner because it all smelled so good. Now people just heat things up in the microwave. He also said that some of these same kitchens had 70 year old women who were so good at knowing their ovens that they didn’t even need a thermostat! They just looked at the flame or put their hand in the oven and knew it was the right temperature! How times have changed!
Although the oven was set for 180C, its real temperature turned out to be only 140C! So he fiddled and futzed with it until he got it to the right temp. He said that this oven would never have cooked anything properly, but not many people knew or could be bothered with changing the settings! I am so pleased that he took the time to set it for me, because if it was left the way it was, I would have thought the oven was useless and would have gone to buy another one. I am thankful we don’t need to buy a new one, and the gas man assured me that it was a very good oven, even though it was quite old.
After he left I tried it out and made pizza for dinner. I already had it planned and was going to cook it in the microwave convection oven, but instead I could use my “new” oven! It turned out yummy!
Then I popped some muffins in for dh’s brecky the next few days and I am sooooooo pleased with the results! Now to get my kitchen cupboards a bit more organized……!
Yesterday we went and visited our farm-to-be. We wanted to meet the owner and ask him a few things about the property. Dh wanted to know about the electricity in the shed, the water pipes, and other such important things. I wanted to know what
the fruit trees were, and how to look after the asparagus that was growing in the veggie garden!
Some of them are looking a bit sick and need attention. Also, the frost got a lot of the blossoms, so I’m not sure how much fruit we’ll get this year. The drought hasn’t been kind to the trees either. I am hoping that once we get some water tanks going, and with some TLC, one day we will reap a good harvest.I asked advice about the asparagus. I’ve always wanted to grow it, but since it takes about 5 years after planting from seed to harvest it, I’ve never bothered (because we’ve never been in one place for that long!). So this is a special gift from God - asparagus in my veggie garden, ready to eat. The previous owner told us he got so much asparagus that he got sick of it and was giving it away! Then he cut me some to take home. I was so excited! Here it is:
And I used one of the packets of white sauce mix that I froze during the week! 
fresh asparagus, boiled and cut into small pieces
one portion white sauce mix
three rashers of bacon, chopped and fried crispy
grated cheese, keep some aside to sprinkle on top
vol-au-vonts (I used small ones)
Add 1 cup of water to the portion of white sauce mix. Bring to the boil until it is thick and add the other ingredients. Spoon into vol-au-vont cases and sprinkle with some of the grated cheese. Put in a moderate oven until the cheese on top is melted and golden.
Enjoy!
Last week we went to visit Sovereign Hill, which is a wonderful historical Gold Rush village. We have a family membership so that we can go as often as we like. Of course it doesn’t fit in with the period of History that we have been studying lately - the Middle Ages. The perfectionist in me says that we can’t start studying something else until we have finished the Middle Ages. The practical in me says - the weather is beautiful, this is the time to make the most of your membership and go regularly. So, I have listened to the practical in me and we will set aside our Middle Ages study until next winter, and make the most of our spring and summer and our family membership to Sovereign Hill.
What helped me make the decision was Elizabeth reading the Little House books for the umpteenth time. Just as I did as a child, she loves them. I had a few unit studies on the Little House books sitting on the shelf that I had picked up on sale years ago. They were sitting on my shelves waiting for the right time to use them. I decided that now was the right time. With us moving out to our little homestead soon, we could do a lot of the things that the guides suggest to do that are “country-ish”, like growing things, making butter, etc. I know we don’t really need to be out in the country to do that, but it does fit in nicely. Now, to convince DH to pack all our stuff into a covered wagon for the move….????!!!!
Also, the gold rush in Australia and the pioneer days in America are around the same time period, so I can link it all together. I think it will work well, and the children will enjoy spending more time at Sovereign Hill, I know. It will also make History come more alive for them, as they can see the way people used to live in those days, while studying about it.
I have never really been that fussed about studying History chronologically. I think it does have its place, but as we have traveled a lot over the years, I have tried to fit our History in with what we were seeing. For example, when we were in the Middle East, we studied Ancient History, and we saw rock art (paintings) that were approx 4000 years old. We walked on Roman Roads that were built 2000 years ago. That is living History.
Australia is a young country. It makes sense to me to make the most of the the History we see around us. So we although we are jumping around a bit, I am hoping that by using time lines and other things, the children will be able to draw it all together.
I was thinking I’d love to share a bit about our travels in the next months. I need to get myself and my photos organized! I’ll also be sharing the History we will be learning about currently. I’m afraid we didn’t get very far with the Middle Ages timeline - that will have to be continued next year!
So those are my musings for this beautiful Monday, and here is my menu plan for the week:
Hosted by Orgjunkie
Tuesday
Taco Salad
Wednesday
Tuna Casserole and Rice
Thursday
Pasta Bake
Friday
Leftovers
Have a great week everyone!!!
Hosted by Biblical Womanhood
I am not the best at using leftovers, but I am trying hard. I usually plan for leftovers - ie, I make sure I have enough for two days. It’s the leftovers from the leftovers (if that makes sense!) that I often end up wasting. Little bits of food in little containers in the fridge that get pushed to the back and then start to grow…..
I am collecting recipes so that I can deal with some of those leftovers as we go. Here is one that I had at a friend’s house years ago. She had this beautiful cake for our morning tea, with such a pretty bright color. I was surprised to learn that it had pumpkin in it, because I couldn’t taste it. But of course it explained the color. It is quick and easy to make, and oh so yummy!! It’s also a great way to use up a little bit of leftover pumpkin.
1 cup mashed pumpkin
8 oz margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sultanas
1 cup Self Raising Flour
1 cup Plain Flour
lemon essence
Cream margarine, sugar and essence.
Using leftovers wisely can stretch the grocery budget little bit by little bit. Do you have any great recipes for leftovers? If you do, I’ll love to hear about them!
Hosted by Biblical Womanhood
Don’t you just hate it when you have a little bit of dough left after you’ve made a pie, or cookies, or biscuits? I don’t like to throw it away… but sometimes I just don’t know what to do with it!
I was making Baking Powder Biscuits the other day, and as I put the last biscuit on the tray I looked at the leftover dough. Now I could have made about three more biscuits from it, but I didn’t want to just have a tray with three biscuits on it, and my oven doesn’t take more than one tray at a time.
So I decided to make two small pizza bases from the leftover dough and freeze them for later use.
I wrapped each “pizza base” in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. One day when I want a quick and easy lunch, I can take them out, put some tomatoes and cheese on them, and pop them in the oven! Yum!
Yesterday we had a great day together. School flowed just nicely, and we all did some work in the kitchen.
We had been given a huge jar of chocolate mousse mix a while ago, and I decided to ask Daniel to work out how to make it. He looked at the instructions on the back and managed to make a HUGE batch of it! LOL! That’s what I get for letting him make it independently Still, it was good because we have enough for a few days of desserts and gave a few servings away too! The kids all decided it was absolutely yummy!
Elizabeth made sugar cookies. She is getting quite good at that. She does it all except put them in and out of the oven. She also taught Matthew how to make Hot Chocolate Mix. Matt’s been asking when he gets to be in charge of a recipe, so I thought this was a good one to start him with. He has to learn to measure, mix and sift ingredients. No chopping or cooking involved He decided it was really hard work! LOL! Wait till he learns a harder recipe!
The boys have been unloading the dishwasher for years now, as on of their daily morning chores. Yesterday I started teaching Elizabeth to load it. I rinsed and showed her where to put the dishes. She was pleased that she was helping me out in the kitchen.
Our children often like to help us out, especially the younger ones. When they get older they might be less willing to help out. Little ones love to follow us around and copy us. We need to take advantage of this eagerness! I know I haven’t taken advantage of it enough in the past. Often it was just much quicker for me to do something than to train one of my children. And yet now I can see the training is paying off as the children are able to do more and more things on their own. I want to build on that training slowly, because I know there are way more things they can do to help around the house.
I don’t just want to train them for my sake, but also for their own. It is part of their education. They need to have practical skills as well as academic ones.
I’d love to hear about how you train your children in your home. If you have any blog entries or articles you have written, please leave a comment and a link to them. I’d love to read them and I’m sure others would too
The local gospel radio was playing this song yesterday Here are a few photos of our little bit of snow.
The photos didn’t work out real well at all. They didn’t really show the snow falling! I wanted to make the kids stand still while the snow collected on their clothes, but I felt sorry for them - they looked so cold!
As I said, to those of you who have heaps of snow, our little bit must be quite funny! It was lovely for us though to be able to look out the window and watch large flakes fall steadily from the sky - it’s only a pity they melted as soon as they hit the ground! LOL!
While the kids had their snow free day, I did a small bulk cook, so that I can concentrate on having fun with our visitors over the next few days and not worry about what I will feed them! Here is what I made:
I made a beef and pasta casserole and put it in a bigger dish and also some in a small dish for the freezer. That can be for hubby one day when he comes home late. The front right casserole is a tuna casserole, a family favorite! The front left casserole is macaroni cheese which we ate for dinner last night. The big pot is full of Mince Meat (Ground Beef) Pasta sauce. I will divide that up into portions and freeze them. This is the way I usually cook mince - it is my master recipe which I then use for Spaghetti Bolognaise, Tacos, Nachos, Taco Salad, and many more recipes. I will put these recipes up on my recipe page soon
So I felt like I had quite a productive day yesterday, despite the disruption of snow!
