fourhappyviolets

Friday, July 27, 2012

Basic Kid Pants.

I'm a lil bit chuffed with my sewing this week. The middle two have their first school disco to attend this week and thus, the necessary disco attire has been fashioned!
I've made quite a few pairs of pants now but it wasn't until I was directed to 'made' that I found a pattern that really worked for me. Different front and back pieces has made the world of difference to the fit. These pants are awesome...(and FREE!!) and I have made them for kids 2, 3 and 4 just by altering the same pattern. Brilliant!

oh and did I mention, I lined them with flannelette? He's a tactile guy, and appreciates the extra softness. That's mummy love stitched right in there <3

...and before y'all point it out, I know now that I was meant to turn the lining seams out...seems so obvious now. oh well...

Thursday, July 26, 2012

(Project: Food Budget) Week 42

Here's what we are eating this week...

Thursday - Scrambled Eggs & Baked Beans
Friday - Syrian Chicken
Saturday - Eating out:)
Sunday - Homemade Pizza
Monday - Tuna Mornay
Tuesday - Curried Red Lentil Soup
Wednesday - Easy Vegetable Rice

$200 budget, 6 grumbly tummies!
Oh...and it's my birthday this week and THIS is what I'm hoping DH will cook for me...I subtly e-mailed it to him last week, i'll let you know;)

Quinoa Cakes Avocado Smoked Salmon Poached Egg

Pop in on the others...

Friday, July 20, 2012

(Project: Food Budget) Week 41

This week I have switched to shopping twice a week, Sunday and Thursday. I have also been cooking during the day and reheating at night. It makes for a cleaner kitchen and less to do at witching hour! Obviously not everything can be prepared this way, but a lot can especially in Winter with slow cooked meals, soups, casseroles, curries and the like.
...I also plan to join the gym and hope to attend a couple of evenings...
There, I said it out loud...well almost. I think we can chalk that up as commitment!
The first shop this week came to $150 which left me wondering how I would survive the later part of the week with only $50 but turns out it was fine, just as long as I stick to my list and buy seasonal.
Something else new for this week...I have been trialing Plan to Eat. It's pretty easy and useful. You can import recipes, although that only works now and again it seems, or cut and paste them into a 'bulk' upload. It is pretty quick either way and I like that I get a shopping list ordered into categories. I even sent DH to the shop with a Plan to Eat list and it went pretty well:P

This weeks menu:
Thursday - Lentils with white wine, herb & tomatoes
Friday - Roast vegetables with couscous
Saturday - Layered Enchilada Casserole
Sunday - Home made pizza
Monday - Avocado Wraps
Tuesday - Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup
Wednesday - leftovers:D

Pay a visit to the other bloggers this week...

Friday, July 13, 2012

(Project: Food Budget) Week 40

The winter illness got worse this week... hospitalized and all! blurgh!

For this reason, some of last weeks meals are still to be cooked as I'm sure DH and kids survived on take out and the kindness of others:D
...and yes, chicken was on a super special this week, $6.49kg breast fillets. What do you pay for meat in your part of the world?
Budget is $200. 3 adults / 3 kids - check out last weeks food requirement break down here.

This week we are eating:

Thursday - Chicken & Cashews
Friday - Aloo Gobi
Saturday - Apricot Chicken (risotto style)
Sunday - Homemade pizza
Monday - Butter Chicken
Tuesday - Chickpea & Leek Soup
Wednesday - leftovers...

Don't forget to check out the other awesome bloggers this week:

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Stitched Cuff Bracelet Swap

THIS SWAP IS CLOSED NOW. THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST.
I like sewing a little something for someone. Nothing too complicated but with loads of aesthetic choices to make...
I'm thinking a Stitched Cuff Bracelet Swap. It would go something like this: a little back and forth with your allocated swap partner...you know, style likes / dislikes, colour favs, genre preferences and the like, nothing too fussy because well, you get what your given and all...
Make 1 or a few and post them to 1 person who will in return post theirs to you. This would be an international swap so please do not join unless you are willing to post internationally. e-mail addy's would be exchanged, so your correspondence would be primarily with your swap partner, with the odd reminder e-mail from yours truly. Cuffs postal by 01 October.
If you would like to join, please leave a comment with your e-mail. Swap sign up open until 31 July after which time, I will delete the comments and correspond via e-mail.
Here is some inspiration! Yay!

From Team EcoEtsy This one has a tutorial.

From Karla M Curry

...and here is the free PDF pattern from JCasa *handmade

What a beauty from Altered Bits Blog.

What about an Edwardian inspired cuff? From Chic Steals with tutorial!

...and I could go on...

anywho, sign up?

Thursday, July 5, 2012

(Project: Food Budget) Week 39

...have been a bit absent. winter sickness got the better of us all! so here's to better health.

While I haven't blogged my thoughts of late, I have been jotting ideas on paper and rolling ideas around in my head during night feeds. My food budget is a numbers game in more ways than just $$$. I'm constantly reminding myself how many sandwiches, how many muffins, how many bananas etc are required for a week. Basically it goes something like this:
1 week = 42 serves breakfast, 18 sandwiches (take out) 18 muffins / bars (take out) 18 pieces fruit (take out) 42 serves dinner, 24 serves home lunches, 37 afternoon snacks, 22 morning snacks and COUNTLESS adolescent munch outs!
Phew, I'm tired even thinking about it...
Sometimes, it is just too much FOOD to get my head around. I'm wondering if I should menu plan in blocks of 3 and 4 days to see me through the week. Perhaps that might be easier??

anywho...my budget remains at $200 for 6, at least for the short term.

I have just begun a Pinterest board for 'Winter Foods'
If you clicked on that link you would have seen that I'm just getting started. The idea is to collate some recipes that are seasonally relevant to where I live. That's gotta help the budget right? ...and who doesn't want to make the most of fresh and budget friendly produce?

Here is my seasonal list:

Foods in season throughout the year.

Summer	Autumn	Winter	Spring
Apricots	Avocado (Fuerte)	Beetroots	Asparagus
Beans	Cabbage (& Brussels Sprouts)	Broccoli	Avocado (Hass)
Berries & Currants	Cauliflower	Cabbage (& Brussels Sprouts)	Beetroots
Celery	Celery	Cauliflowers	Berries & currants
Cherries	Chestnuts	Celery	Broccoli
Corn	Cumquats	Cumquats	Cabbage (& Brussels Sprouts)
Cucumber	Figs	Fennel	Corn
Eggplants	Ginger	Ginger	Cucumbers
Figs	Leeks	Jerusalem Artichokes	Fennel
Green pea	Melons	Lemons & Limes	Green, Snap & Snow pea,
Leeks	Olives	Olives	Leeks
Melon	Parsnips	Parsnips	Lemon & Lime
Pears	Pears	Rhubarb	Peppers & chillies
Peppers (& Chillies)	Quinces	Sweet Potatoes	Rhubarb
Tomatoes	Sweet Potatoes	Turnips & swedes	Zucchini & Squash
Zucchini & Squash	Tomatoes

(Southern Australian emphasis)

It is from here.

...and so to this weeks menu:
Thursday - Aubergine & Sweet Potato Stew (Thai style)
Friday - Harvest Vegetable & Lentil Casserole
Saturday - Chickpea & Leek Soup
Sunday - Home made pizza
Monday - Aloo Gobi & rice
Tuesday - Scalloped Cabbage with Fennel and Cranberries

Wednesday - leftovers:P

Be sure to check out the other Project: Food Budget blogs this week.

Participating blogs:

Rainbow cake.

{Project: Food Budget} Week 34 and my babies first birthday...

This last week was really special. My adorable number 4 turned 1. Turning one is such a milestone and so emotional for me! Glad we survived, blessed to have a healthy growing child, proud of all she can do, devo'd that I don't have a baby anymore...and so on.

Anywho, a rainbow cake was in order. This cake was so much fun to make and really easy. There were a few audible gasps when I cut it open. Win. :P

In other big news, I got my THERMOMIX on Saturday. This is HUGE! Implications all around for the way I shop and feed my family. I am so excited to get going on this. She is un-named atm...I'm working on that.

The first dish I prepared in my TM was Fennel & Almond Soup. WOW! It was so good and I will definitely make this one regularly.

So it'll be no surprise that this weeks menu is all TMable! I have some experimenting to do!

Thursday - Spiced Moroccan Tomato & Red Lentil Soup

Friday - Mushroom Risotto

Saturday - Creamy Tomato & Salami Fettuccine

Sunday - Homemade Pizza

Monday - Red Thai Chicken Curry

Tuesday - Chinese-Style Stir Fry Vegetables

Wednesday - leftovers:D

Again $200, 6 mouths. With the addition on my thermomix to the kitchen I plan to reduce my food budget (argh...nervous) I think this is achievable but is going to require some thought as to bulk purchasing and shopping habits. Those thoughts are on this weeks to do list!

Remember those muffins I mentioned last week? well I think I'm finally happy with my adjusted recipe. I call them (appropriately) Oat, Date & Chocolate Muffins...

Oat, Date & Chocolate Muffins

§ 2 cups oats

§ 1 cups soy milk

§ 200 grams chopped dates

§ 100 grams grated dark chocolate (I use 70%)

§ 2 medium eggs

§ 1/2 maple syrup

§ 2/3 cup rice bran oil

§ 2 ½ cups wholemeal flour

§ pinch salt

In a large bowl combine the oats and soy milk. Leave it for 10 minutes.. Add the eggs, maple syrup and oil. Beat well, add flour and salt. Mix again then add dates an chocolate and fold through. Spoon the batter into a dozen well oiled Texas muffin cups. Bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Here are the other bloggers this week: