Homemade Takeaway

Upfront apologies to any vegetarians out there.  You may not wish to read any further.  Mr Provincial and I were musing the other week about how we miss having the occasional takeaway.  It is not really since we left Sydney (three moves ago) that we have had takeaway on a semi-regular basis.  There, we were lucky to live near a really good pizza shop (mmm, greek lamb pizza), a mexican restaurant, indian takeaway and nice fish and chips shop.  Nowhere else have we found a pizza shop with a 'gourmet' pizza worth its $15-20 pricetag; we make our own now.

Anyway, in another pregnancy fog moment the other week I bought the wrong kind of mince (a half price markdown where I got carried away, and brought home four packets).  Generally, I buy the leanest of the minces - Heartsmart at Woolworths - but this time I bought premium which seems to be quite a bit fattier.  I used two packets up in bolognaise (four containers stowed in the freezer for post baby) and homemade taco mix.  But, I was a little distressed at seeing the fat rise to the surface once they were in the freezer, so I concluded the other packets should be used in something where the excess fat would cook off.  Homemade burgers seemed the order of the day, because we could cook them on the BBQ and the fat would drain.

So, homemade patties were made.  I just blitzed a couple of old bread crusts in the food processer with an onion.  Tipped that and an egg into my mince, mixed together and formed patties.

Yes, we have a lot of cooked patties in the freezer now!

Bread rolls were prepped in the breadmaker and finished in the oven.

Mr Provincial's homegrown and personally preserved beetroot was opened.  I still can't believe he took it upon himself to preserve them the night before we packed the house in Toowoomba!  It is very Australian to have beetroot on your burger.

I was planning to make oven fries but Mr Provincial requested smashed potatoes.  If you haven't tried The Pioneer Woman's recipe yet - you should.  Mr Provincial, who doesn't particularly like potatoes, loves this and has been requesting them about once a week.

Served with tomato, cheese, relish and lettuce we call this the miniature Provincial burger:) 

Nappy Mending

The last two weeks I have been finishing off my pre-baby-arrival tasks.  One of those was to re-elasticate about three-quarters of our one-size-fits-all nappies which were definitely not going to fit a young baby at all.  In fact the elastic had given way so badly that they didn't really fit Ginger very well either.

I have actually had this on my to-do list for a long time as about Ginger's first birthday many nappies started to give way, but as with most tasks which I am not sure how I will go about doing, I put it off indefinitely.  Anyway, a new baby is a good motivator to finally tackle those jobs.

It actually turned out to be pretty easy.  However, so that you avoid an entire evening of frustration and countless wasted hours of unpicking - I give you my top tip up front.  You want good strong elastic and good strong thread.  I was trying to use up elastic from my stash, most of which was handed down from my Nanna.  So, some elastic was obviously older than others.  All the nappies done with one batch had to be unpicked and redone - consquently, I am adament that you make sure you have good elastic.  I also ended up using quilting thread which is just that much stronger, normal (admittedly cheap) thread kept breaking when I pulled the elastic taut.

Anyway, I took a few pictures along the way so thought I would share my method.

First, I used a quick unpick to score a small entry and exit point at each end of the existing elastic casing.  There is no need to remove the perished elastic, just insert your fresh piece.  I secured mine at one end with a safety pin.  I pulled taut and then sewed with a wide zig-zag stitch, back stitching at start and end for security.  Repeat for the other side.  I then trimmed the elastic even with the entry and exit points and covered the snipped area with a tangential small zig-zag stitch.

A whole basket of re-elasticated nappies!

Ah, that makes an expectant mother happy.

Washing Fruit and Vegetables

There is a Chinese expression along the lines of "you never know how many hands have touched your food".

For this very reason I am a little obsessive about washing our fruit and vegetables.

Soursops and fujis (or possibly fejoas drying - neither of us could work out what the vendor was saying)

Certainly, we shop at the markets where most sellers are the growers, and sell only a handful of items.  But, even there you never know what growing or hygiene practices your produce has met with along the way.

So, I wash everything when I get it home from the markets.

Kang-kong, local mandarins and papaya.

Generally, I use a single sink of water for two washes.  The first wash will be for a food you eat whole.  The second for something, say like Papaya, where you will cut the skin off before eating but I don't want contamination from the outside getting on inside when I cut and peel it.

Longons, bok-choy and custard apples.

Then I set it all out on clean tea-towels on the benches to get thoroughly dry before it goes into bowls and the crisper in the fridge.  Ensuring your produce is fully dry is essential if you want it to last through the week.

White mangosteens and dragon fruits.

I can then breath easy knowing that when anyone grabs a piece of fruit out of the fridge it has been washed!

Time for Centering

This early morning was a time for centering.

Time to take a break from the ever-present nappy buckets and washing pile.

Time to enjoy the crisp Autumn weather.

Time to hit the dirt track for a walk with baby girl and the dogs.

Time to take in the breath-taking scenery of the distant ranges.

Time to spot a kangaroo or two off in the distance.

Time to enjoy the butterflies dancing over the track.

(It is that yellow splotch in the middle of the picture!)

And now refreshed, perhaps, time to sneak a cup of tea before baby girl wakes again.

Calender Cards

I had a calender lying about which I had been unable to get rid of because I loved the pictures. It was an old Kew Gardens one Mum had passed on to me. Then on Angry Chicken's blog I saw instructions on how to make cards out of an old calender. So that's just what I did. 5 sheets of pictures (because that is all I had saved) made 10 cards.

It was a quick and easy project; less than 1/2 an hour's work start to finish and very little mess. My two criterias for undertaking any project! Though, as I say that, the kitchen table is covered in cut fabric and has been for the last two days:) I haven't wanted to disturb my arrangement of patchwork squares so we have been eating around it!

Frugal Friday: I make a commitment

I have really been getting into budgeting and frugality blogs of late. I started off at Trent's The Simple Dollar and following the blogging highways and byways have ended up with quite a list of interesting blogs on money. Anyway I have decided to take this opportunity of an extra day in February to commit to not buying anything that is not a 'need' during March - that means no books (I have 3 shelves of unread books), no clothing (man, some of those autumn outfits are cute)...... I think this will be quite a hard challenge for me as, since I began working professionally, I have become used to buying things as I want them. When we married my husband and I allocated ourselves a generous amount of pocket money for our whims - so marriage didn't even curtail my spending:).

I have read that writing something down makes you more accountable for it, so that is the purpose of this post. If anyone is interested.

Anyway tomorrow in line with my new budgetery outlook, I am off to do a non-perishable shop at ALDI - wish me luck!