New year, new things

Changed from one health provider to another the other day (same deal but cheaper) and in the process discovered a rather funky app called 'Food Switch'.

It makes life easy in the shopping aisles - scan the item you're thinking of purchasing and it will then give you other options that are the same or healthier (salt, sugar etc.). I've scanned a few items in my cupboard already and found that I make some pretty healthy choices already without hitting the hip pocket. If you've got cash to splash on pricier items, then you can be healthier still.
Having said that, don't discount the supermarket branded stuff. I noticed that some of that was 'healthier' than the supposedly fancier and healthier stuff.
Of course, nothing beats eating just fruit and veg!

I think I forgot to mention the Moroccan chicken and fruity couscous from the other night. It was a success, but I'll skip out on the couscous for now as it's expensive and comes in very small packets! Brown rice might make a nice substitute if I make it again. I was too hungry to take a photo.

My little girl is anxious to start moving. She seems to want to stand up all the time and sitting is really only an option for a short period of time. Once she works out how to pull herself up, we're screwed.

So, back to food. I thought I'd post a photo of a home made pizza with fresh basil (pre-oven!). Tonight's dinner is kebabs with rice and salad so that won't be photo worthy!

Domestic bliss

Yesterday was the perfect day. My daughter did everything by the book and was practically regimental in her routine. Poor thing was a little tired I think from the previous days - possibly her teeth were making things uncomfortable for her.

She's still loving her food and I'm loving giving it to her. Because she was so 'organised' yesterday, I was able to bake some 'Brown Betty' (search older posts for recipe) slice for a friend coming around that day and for Thursday for another friend. It's a social week this week!

I was also able to cook a Jamie 30 minute meal and get to the gym. Plus I got to sleep all night through until 5:15am. I then gave my daughter a feed, put her back to bed and had a sleep in till 7:15am. Then we all had breakfast together. She's really enjoying the high chair and I'm enjoying keeping good posture feeding her in a chair instead of her propped on my lap!

So, the 30 minute meal was the Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca with crunchy salad.
 http://hotcooking.co.uk/recipes/35/jamie-oliver-30-minute-meals-spaghetti-alla-puttanesca
I didn't do the dessert as I didn't have the ingredients and we try to steer away from desserts in our house. Especially when I bake every now and then.

It's a delicious recipe, and it really is super quick. Personally I wouldn't have attempted melting the chocolate while doing everything else as that sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I don't see why you couldn't do it later and still make it all in roughly 30 minutes.
I'd never had radishes or fennel before, and definitely not raw, so this salad was a wonderful surprise. My husband thought it was a little bland, but I thought it really worked well with the spaghetti and complemented it perfectly.


Tonight's dinner will be Morroccan chicken with fruity couscous...stay tuned!

Food, food and friends

Had a catch up with the ladies from high school the other day and as per usual we all ran out of time. So we're re-convening on the Monday holiday to toast Australia day and friendship again.

One of my friends currently lives in Melbourne and we were joking about our mutual ability to get drunk on one glass of wine. We then decided that when she comes back to Perth again (probably August) that I'll have most likely weaned my daughter by then and so we can share that 'glass of wine' and get semi-drunk together!

So, next Monday is going to be an afternoon to enable our host (who is an awesome cook herself!) to recover from the weekend festivities that make up Australia Day. I am going to commandeer her oven and cook some snack foods that are so good they're gone before you put them on a serving plate! 

I made 'pinwheel pastries' back in high school, and I continue to make them whenever entertaining as they are so quick and easy and smell AMAZING. 
So, here is the recipe:

Puff Pastry x 2 sheets
"Philly" Cream cheese x 1 block
French Onion packet soup x 1
little hot water

Mix the cream cheese and packet soup together with a little hot water to make it spreadable. 
Then (duh!) spread it onto the puff pastry sheets. 
Roll up the sheets, then cut them up into roughly 3-4 cm segments. 
Whack them on an oven tray and put into the oven at approximately 180C for 10 minutes or thereabouts. 
Just keep an eye on them depending on your oven - we don't want them burnt.

The other I'm going to make is here: http://www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/2013/01/puff-pastry-garlic-knots.html 
I've not made them before, but I just know they're going to be yummy.
I might just be lazy and make them the same way as the pinwheels, but I'll use the excuse of continuity instead.

These high school friends are definitely worth cooking for and catching up with. I never thought I'd really keep up with them, but it seems that even a once a year catch up is great fun and enough to keep the ball rolling with our friendship.

So, a toast to you ladies! You know who you are.

Cloth Nappies Blog: FACT OF THE DAY

Cloth Nappies Blog: FACT OF THE DAY: FACT OF THE DAY On average it takes 7 minutes a day to wash, dry and put away cloth nappies…not really much of a sacrifice

6 months and 3 days

My daughter is now 6 months old! Thank God it's gone quickly. She's still very small, but very happy and healthy. The solid food is going down a treat and now the only way to placate her is by feeding her. 

The hot weather is still a pain as it's disrupting her sleep and naturally she wants to drink more. My body seems to be keeping up with her though but I'm trying to get her to drink water. She's  still not keen on that but we're getting there. 

Thankfully today is just 26C and with a beautiful breeze. It's a nice quiet day for the two of us which is rare. 

No cooking at the moment - with all this hot weather it's a struggle to prepare anything other than a basic salad. I've had a chance to actually plan my 'menu' for next week though so my shopping should be more structured and less processed. I have noticed though that my shopping seems to me more and more veggies...just got to find a palatable way to ingest more fruit. Although that can still give my daughter tummy aches. Might wait till the grapes are good and give them a go...

6 months old and counting...

It does go fast, yes. But I can't say I'm sorry. Anyone who thinks wistfully that they really should have another child because they miss having a 'baby' is nuts. By all means plot and plan to have another child, but please don't use the 'babies are cute' excuse!

I couldn't be more stoked that my daughter is now only having to deal with teething and rolling around the floor. I would never want those first 3-4 months back again. Ever.

The teething is still going swimmingly, and much better this week now that the temperature is staying under the 35 Celsius mark.
Solid food has commenced with rice cereal and potato, both of which have been consumed with gusto. I read in an old copy of "What to Expect..." that you should put them in a seat and don't even attempt feeding them on your lap. Interesting, given that some babies (including mine) don't learn to sit up until 7-8 months and some even crawl/cruise before they sit up!
I don't think my daughter is likely to waste food by throwing it around and spilling it over herself. Too much like her mummy. She opens her mouth wide enough for a dessert spoon to get in (I've measured, but not actually tried inserting!).

Another baby story - a pregnant mum and her 2 year old daughter my mum knows is going over east to look after her sisters' baby for a little while. She's doing it to not only help her sister, but to also get the feel of what it's going to be like to look after a baby and a toddler...I reckon she's nuts (in a good way)!
I still maintain that ignorance is bliss. Worry about it when it happens.

So, the last successful Jamie meal went so fast I didn't have time to take a photo. This time I got in half way. It would have fed 4 people nicely, and that was using less amounts of the ingredients than listed. Pretty impressive recipe!
It was his 15 minute beef stroganoff.
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2210066/Super-fast-food-Jamie-Olivers-challenge-MailOnline-readers--Cook-new-15-Minute-Meals-send-video-Ill-shout-winner-dinner.html 

2013...yay. New Years resolutions?

So, another year. If you trawl around the web though, you'll note that the world's meant to end this year too. I guess it's just the paranoid's way of saying 'enjoy life while you can'.
My little girl has started teething, and man she gets grumpy sometimes! I bought her one of those amber anklets, but (of course!) it doesn't fit her yet. It will at least look cute on her later. The last week has been 40 degrees Celsius or more, so it's been so boring and absolute hell with a teething baby. At least she still slept fairly well at night. Poor thing, the timing with nature really sucked eggs for her!
At the moment I'm pretending she's asleep and she's trying her best to pretend too.

I've prepared some of dinner - made the tzatziki and some french onion dip with carrot and celery batons for nibbles. This is the second Jamie dinner I'm preparing (Greek chicken with couscous), the first was an Asian fish dish which was nice but not really something I'd cook too often as the man doesn't like fish. He does try, bless him, but he just can't get his taste buds to cooperate.
Tonight's chicken should go down a treat.

New Years resolutions? Well, I intend to make them life changing but easy. I'm going to hit up the gym several times a week with Pilates and yoga classes. I went to my first yoga class today, as Pilates is not running tonight and it was fantastic! I think the teacher said something about it being Ashtanga yoga, but I can't be sure. She was excellent because she kept coming round and checking on everyone. Thankfully she's a regular teacher so I'll be able to attend her classes again.

Hopefully my back and chest/shoulders will thank me for this resolution.

The other one would be to keep a list of everything we need/want to buy! The number of times I've though, 'damn, we need a new one' or something like that...it's been driving me crazy. I feel like I'm forever buying things, but getting nowhere. So I figure if I have a list, I can tick it off and feel some sense of accomplishment.

Debalicious: Decadent Chocolate Mousse

Debalicious: Decadent Chocolate Mousse: This is a quick and easy recipe that doesn't involve egg separating and tempering.  It makes a rich and decadent mousse that can be adjuste...

Found this...going to try it when I have some dark chocolate in the house next. Won't make it with the sugar as I prefer a more chocolate taste to a sugary taste. I'll go with 80% dark chocolate too...