The Christmas Challenge. Show and Tell for October. 2017.

Show and Tell is running late due to me being away!  But lots of you sent in your photos thank you so much!  It really lists my heart to see what you all do.  There is so much talent, effort, thriftiness, beauty and generosity!  This all is very happy to me.  We can do a lot with very little and give generously when making things ourselves.  And each time we do we increase our skills!

I am a bit unorganised this month!  I hope I haven't missed anyone out, if I have it is not intentional.  Thank you all so much for all your emails, letters, photos and sharing of information.

First of all we have Joy.
Joy made just the most beautiful quilts...

One for her Grand daughter...

This was backed with gorgeous bird fabric!

And one for her Grandson...

She won a purple ribbon at her local fair (and rightly so!)  These are heirlooms!

Lorraine made lots!  Some things were gift packs of hand made cards. I love this as everyone uses cards and they are expensive!

Beautiful baby gifts...

This fabric is so sweet.
And relish!

You have been so productive Lorraine I love everything.

Jen in NS has been so busy!

She made a floor rug which I just LOVE...

An adorable baby hat..

A knitted vest...

And an outfit for her daughters birthday....

Jen both your sewing and knitting amaze me. I really want to make a mat like that also!

Tanya makes the most gorgeous wash cloths/ cleaning cloths. I think too good for cleaning cloths! 

They are fabric on one side and towelling on the other. I am lucky enough to have one of these...

They make wonderful gifts and I love your label.

Jane made lots. She completed two blankets as gifts for her parents...

She has been working on a mermaid doll and I saw the practice run which was going very well!

Also  kitchen towels, pot holders...

Bunting, coasters, bowl covers and more! 

I can report big improvements in Bluey and he is going back to the local hospital today and Jane wont have to travel and hour and a half each way! 

Cookie made an Afghan from odds and ends of yarn she had...

Nothing is wasted! I love this. She also made little ribbon flowers into hair ties...

And also made more of her gorgeous jars with roses on them. Always creative Cookie! 

Sewingcreations sent me photos of some of her hard work coming to fruition! 

She makes up Granola.  This would be beautiful as gifts in a big jar with a scoop.

Sewingcreations uses the recipe from A Prudent Homemaker. 

She also harvested garlic...

Sweet potato...

And silver beet...

I love seeing produce and cooking too.  You are always productive Sewingcreations well done and thank you!

Well I hope you feel inspired and here we are in NOVEMBER.  There is still time for Christmas makings and baking!  Since I have so many eggs on hand I am going to make more fruitcakes provided Aldi still has the mixed fruit today.  I figure because these cakes keep so long making some extra will just be handy and give me extra gifts.  

I hope your week is going well! 

What are you working on?  How is your Christmas cupboard looking?

Mine is stuffed full and at this point I have forgotten half of what is in there.  In a couple of weeks I will get it all out and start grouping things into gifts. This is the really exciting bit!  I love it!  

All things going well I will also be able to cover the birthdays coming up as well.  

We reap what we sow.  We have sown a year of making and creating.  Now we get to do some reaping!  

See you on Friday!  xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. Our biggest asset.

All year we have covered topics on pantry building, preparedness and getting ahead.  And it has been a good year to for this in my household. Over the last three years I have come so far!  From that first inkling that I should turn my empty cellar into food storage to now... what a journey!  We added a rain water tank, generators, first aid and so many things, too many to list! 

This is all very good for our family but there is something else.... one of the biggest things we can do is be as healthy as we can be. 

Currently I am taking a class with A Working Pantry.  We are only on day one as I am writing and already I can see that the unfit are going to have a lot of trouble in this scenario.  (Patsy has a scenario she runs and so you can imagine for yourself the things that happen along the way!) In a crisis there is a lot of work. Even if the power is out suddenly there is an enormous amount of things to do!   

Whatever it is... growing our own veggies, a day of canning and preserving.... it all takes energy! 

Many of us have our own health issues.  Some things we can do something about and some things not. Sometimes also we think we can't do anything about things but maybe we can!

Well, I am just sharing what I am doing which is in no way advice to anyone else.  I hope it is just taken as encouragement to look after our health, work on improvements and see looking after yourself as such an important thing. 

Learning to modify.... zoodles  instead of noodles!

A couple of weeks back I shared how I have been trying a completely different diet to try and get over the pain in my arms in particular.  I started on October the 1st.  At the time I wrote down a list of things I was unhappy with and experiencing.  Now like everyone I had to feel pretty bad before I was willing to try something really different.  I wrote down....  constant aching of legs and arms.  Pain killers to get relief so I could go to sleep.  Sometimes pain killers AM and afternoon to get through the day.  Exhaustion.  Exercise was not worth the pain levels and exhaustion that it caused.  I wrote a long and specific list.

These are good!  Andy announced he prefers them so thats easy! 

Wednesday being the fist of November I wrote down how I am feeling now.  Looking back on my old list I was horrified!  This month I only had three days with pain and aching. Three instead of thirty one!  I had energy and FELT LIKE exercising and about mid month I got to exercising half an hour a day. Swimming and evening walks...  and enjoying it and no pain!  Basically no pain medication!  Also a weird side effect... I have at least two more hours in my day as I am more energetic I am up earlier.  I wrote a long list of improvements.  

Overall I feel 200 x better in one month!  I noticed dramatic benefits from day four. Maybe one of the biggest is being free of cravings which I got badly.

I always knew I was allergic to barley and oats.  And I always knew when I eat bread I am hungry and my heart races.  Then I came across a lot of information that going grain free can help with pain and many people even with severe pain and exhaustion and suffering from everything from Fibromyalgia to Chronic Fatigue are finding diet a way to help. So I decided I had nothing at all to lose by trying it for a week!

In this time I saw the Doctor and I expected her to be doubtful but she was thrilled and said as I am in menopause and having so much pain and inflammation (from infection and bites I had) going grain free was the best thing I could do!  Really?  (so why did she never suggest it in the first place?)

Doctors appointments being brief I never got to ask her WHY does this help? How does this help? Or WHO does this help.  

But I know it has helped me.  

Several people have been very helpful to me with this.  Lynette has been hugely helpful and encouraging as she is GF.  Mimi is also GF along with her daughter and she has lovely recipes.  Glenda is GF and a wealth of information. I have been learning so much from you all. My Mum is GF and has a lot of allergies.... so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I am affected too.

My flour free cookies. 

Cookie has been wonderful and patient as I slowly get the idea!  So I am turning over to Cookie who has far greater experience and understanding about how going grain free helped her with chronic pain....

Over to Cookie...

 I have lived in pain most of my life, first with having polio as a child and then being diagnosed later in life with late effects of polio syndrome.  The pain can often times be so excruciating that I could hardly walk.  After this last awful bout with my back in March of this year my chiropractor suggested I go on a gluten free diet and that worked well for a time.  Then the tests came back and my functional medicine doctor who is now treating me for the celiac disease said  I would do best on a grain free diet.  So I have been grain free for several months now.  He also took me off the pseudo-grains ( which are actually seeds) for the time being, meaning quinoa, rice, buckwheat, chia.   However he let me keep flaxseeds.  I  have found many great recipes on Pinterest under  Paleo or Primal recipes.  All are grain free.  My favorite grain free sites are elana'spantry.com, ditchthewheat.com, whole30.com.  and sugarfreemom.com  Sugar free mom has a great recipe for a microwave grain free english muffin that rivals the Thomas brand that we get here in the states.  As a matter of fact I stopped buying Thomases for Bill because he likes the ones I make.  They're also a 1 serving recipe. They also have facebook pages.  I found that Costco has the best deal on Almond flour.  Amazon has the best deal on coconut flour.  I use arrowroot instead of cornstarch as cornstarch doesn't agree with me at all.  Come to find out that corn in my body acts like a grain not a vegetable.   Anyway, if you google "paleo blogs" you'll come up with heaps of websites with grain free recipes for just about everything.

I have never taken anything stronger than aspirin or some herbal things for pain,preferring to stay away from prescription drugs which can have myriads of side effects that I wasn't interested in experiencing.  

My doctor's opinion and my humble opinion now as well is that our food supply is not the food supply of our grandparents and even great grandparents.  Industry has grown up over genetically modifying seeds (think Monsanto), pesticides that are specifically designed to kill weeds but not the genetically modified foods.  I recently read an article that wheat had been genetically modified over 400 times since the 1940s.And so-called foods that are manufactured in the laboratory using nothing but chemicals and flavorings to make them palatable.  Just take a look at some food labels.  Natural flavors are words for MSG and artificial flavorings.  Modified-food starch means cornstarch from genetically modified corn, different food dyes, chemicals to flavor water.   And, even things that purport to be so-called "gluten free" have been processed in a shared facilities plant that also processes allergens such as wheat, milk, nuts, peanuts and soy.  Is it any wonder that a huge population of us are experiencing chronic pain?  These frankenfoods can also cause something in some of us called "leaky gut" particles of food leak through the gut and get into the blood stream causing pain as well as many other symtpoms and autoimmune disease. 

Staying within our food budget and doing what needed to be done food wise I count as one of my biggest accomplishments this year.  We are blessed with the internet and so many people who have gone before us in this field and have blogs with recipes and advice in how to make the most of things.  Even though this new way of life may at first seem a lonely lot, we are not alone.  I am so thankful to the grain-free and/or paleo/primal websites that I found that it made this transition for me like a walk in the park.  

I found where the best prices were for alternate flours.  I found recipes, and when eggs were taken out of my diet (and later I could eat them), I learned how to use beef gelatin in place of eggs.  I learned how to view breakfast as just another meal and that it didn't matter whether I was eating oatmeal (which now I can't, even gluten free oats) or having   tuna salad.  It's just a meal.  I also had to throw away all of my ground purchased ground spices a start over as the particular place where they were processed used shared facilities.  I found a brand that has a dedicated facility and buy whole spices like cumin seed, coriander, cinnamon sticks, all spice, etc. and grind them myself in a little coffee grinder that was found at a yard sale.  And wow, what a difference fresh ground spices make in cooking.  I grow most of my own herbs.  And the real kicker was that I had to change coffee brands as there's only one brand of coffee in the US that's totally grain and gluten  free because they only roast coffee and do not share facilities with anyone. It's pretty famous and there's usually a shop on every corner in the US.   I make yogurt using Cath's method and also drain it to make yogurt cheese.  When dairy was off the menu I learned how to make almond and coconut milk with no additives, giving purchases of nuts and coconut more uses.  I also learned that if the whey is saved after the yogurt cheese is made and used as part of the liquid in the next batch of yogurt that it boosts the starter from your previous batch and ferments faster. 

It took approximately a week for my chronic pain to subside and about a month for it to go away completely.  However, in order to stay pain free I have to be extremely vigilant, which means, no cheats because if I cheat within a day or two I'm in pain again.  Doesn't seem fair, but that's just the way it is. and I often bring my own food to someone elses house if we've been invited for dinner.  I have a list of "safe" places I can eat  for that very occasional resturant meal.  Some places in the US even have dedicated cooking grills and pans for gluten and grain free food.  

 I know this sounds like a lot of work but  for me it was just a shift of focus.  I have not gone over our food budget, and since employing more of Laine's advice in menu planning etc. I find myself spending even less, and that's a huge accomplishment.  I forgot to mention that I drink ginger tea that I make myself either using grated fresh ginger or 1/2 tsp per cup of dried ground ginger.  It can be mixed in with your favorite tea or just alone in hot water with a little lemon and honey.  It works just the same as turmeric.  For some reason turmeric cause inflammation in my body rather than stopping it.  I also find that apple cider vinegar in water with ice is great to as it supplies potassium.

Thank you so much to Cookie.  To have had a life of pain like that and now be pain free is amazing.  This is what encouraged me to try this!

I had to include this: Jen in NS grew these carrots!  Check out the size! 

The other person who has really influenced me to try altering my diet is Laine. She also lives with a chronic health condition with great pain.  She also like Cookie got rid of most of this pain with diet.  Her condition requires a specialist and her Doctor is the leading specialist in this area in the world.  And going grain free has had the hugest impact on her life.  I have asked Laine if she would write about this and health in general and she has agreed!

What agrees with us and what doesn't is very personal and individual.  The whole point of my post is that trying something I never considered has made a huge difference to me.  One thing for sure is if something isn't working don't keep doing that!

Everything is a learning process.  And I just had a big fail as I decided to try Chai seeds and make little Chai puddings. They were delicious!  I made three serves and had one a day.  Each day I didn't feel good.  But I thought it can't be the chai ...  the fourth day I had all my pain back and then some extra.  Aching joints, sore legs, aching arms, shoulders, elbows, headache, tired and BLAH.  YUK.   This all reminded me of how I felt before I started.
Now I know it was the chai.  For me grains or seeds is just splitting hairs.  Neither Laine nor Cookie can eat seeds either and can explain why in detail and their specialists agree.  So good bye yummy chai pudding.  It took four days to get back to feeling good again.  Another lesson learned.


I hope this helps someone.  And I hope that you will put your health number one as we cannot look after everyone and do all we hope to be able to do without it.  It is one of the best investments we can make.
We often put up with things quietly and they get worse and worse.  It can take a lot to decide to do something new.  Whatever you do please do the research, ask a lot of questions,  ask different professionals including your doctor.

I am spending November working very hard on gaining ground with my health.  It is exciting to feel I am going upwards rather than downwards!

I hope you have a good week!  See you on Wednesday for Show and Tell! This is running late due to me being away last week.  I have lots of amazing things to show you!  If you would like to send in photos of your crafts and cooking please do on the Bluebirds FB page or email me brinkzi21@hotmail.com
xxx

Prayer request for Jane and Bluey.

For everyone who follows you will know Jane and Bluey. I have had a message from Jane and she is in the hospital. She found Bluey unconscious and things are looking very serious.   If I get further news I will post updates in comments.  So this is a request for all the prayers we can get please. xxx

Feather your Nest Wednesday!

I am home from my two trips and this is an attempt to catch up like a Feather your Nest Friday but a Wednesday!   It will take a while to catch up on a few things including correspondence and if you looked around the house you would see many other things I need to get to!
But my trips were great and productive in many ways!

Going way back to before I left...   I had roses everywhere and bunches and bunches hanging around the kitchen and lounge room.

Before I left I sat all the ones that are too big to dry as buds in  baskets to dry for petals...

I am planning to use lots in bath products and make up cellophane bags of buds for the next swap party! 

My first trip was to Mum and Dads farm.  As always I called into the country op shops on the way!  I went to three. This breaks up the three hour drive for me and these are much better than the city op shops.   And I had luck!   I found piles of beautiful and mostly brand new cookbooks!  Several were ones I would have liked as gifts myself and several are potential gifts.  The most expensive ones were $1.

I got eleven all up.  When I got to the farm Chloe was there and she and Mum both pounced on these and started reading them!   Chloe lives on the farm but her house is half an hour away from Mum and Dads.  Australian stations are big!  In the US you would say Ranch where we say Station. 

I also got knives.  Some time ago I realised how expensive good kitchen knives are and when I was cutting up the bulk steak I bought that we didn't have enough good ones.  I got these for Andy to sharpen up.  The most expensive one was 50c

Then I got big old preserving jars!  At this point I was pretty happy!

In the background is a cotton hand towel that Mum knitted for me which is gorgeous.  Another thing I got was a yogurt maker for $3. 

It was lovely weather and cool at night. I slept with the window wide open and all you can hear is an orchestra of frogs!  It is lovely.  

Mum had ducklings.  They are hard to get anywhere near so this is the best I could do!

There were several nests as well.  To me this is just beautiful.  Look at the cloud like nest.  This duck has been very busy this week feathering her nest!  😊

There was a lamb that is bottle fed.

And Joeys (baby Kangaroos) 

In the evening I went for walks.  Some kangaroos hopped down the hill near me. I could feel the ground under my feet shake!  It is a real thump thump thump as they go past.

I came home with a new supply of Bayleaves to get more drying,  eggs, lemons and the biggest t bone steak you ever saw for Andy! 

The next day we headed off again to stay with Chloe. 

I took this photo on the trip down.  

The artwork on these grain silos was just stunning. The children depicted go to the local school.

Chloe's house has the most beautiful view and surroundings.  This is her front yard...

Andy made her the swing! 

Chloe gave me more eggs. She has a funny collection of wildly different chooks as she rescued most of them.  

When we were feeding them I noticed the bags of grain had fantastic pictures on the front...

These are really tough thick plastic type fabric.  I asked if she would save them for me. I am going to make grocery shopping bags from them!  I came home with my first two! 

On the way home we stopped to have lunch.  We watched a tractor moving giant bales of hay.  Oh joy! He was literally making hay while the sun shines! 

Yep that is what we need to be doing!  While we have the opportunity make hay and store up!  

It was a busy week but really good.  And the long and short of all of this is we are thinking very seriously about moving back to the farm, back to the country.  There are things to work out but I know God's hand is on it all.  In fact I would really appreciate prayers on this.  My Dad is thinking of the Great Grandchildren, the generations and all our future security.  These decisions are huge ones.

I came home to beautiful parcels and gorgeous notes from the swap party! Oh my goodness! 

Next week I will get back to posting as normal.   I won't post on Friday since it would only be a two day report!  I will be glad to get back to normal as I feel something is missing when I don't write.

How did you save, get ahead and build up your nest this last week and a half?   I hope this week is going well!  xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. Everything old is new again.

This year has been really interesting from my preparedness point of view.  I didn't just work on my pantry but added a lot of new skills and practices.  Lately I have really noticed how all around me everything old is new again!
We have a store here called the Eco store which is full of things that are considered sustainable,  environmentally friendly and healthy.  Things like re useable coffee cups, shopping bags and baskets, beeswax food wraps and gals containers (so you can reduce plastic) stainless steel water bottles, water saving things like sink inserts.... and so on.  It is actually very nice and very trendy.   It is all stuff my Nans did!  They never realised how cool they were! 😊

I notice most of these things have several benefits.  They are non disposable so you save money.  They are non chemical saving your health and they are non littering.   A lot of people are talking about the war on waste.  And also there is a big trend towards home cooking,  growing your own veggies, chickens and alternative sources of power.  Homemade and handcrafted things are also the in thing.  Girls we are in fashion!

This is like my Dad. One year  khaki green and camo were in fashion. He said he always knew if he hung on long enough one day he would be fashionable! haha! He only ever wears khaki green basically!

This year Andy built me a new clothes line.  This is all I have plus an indoor drying rack for bad weather.

It runs by the latest technology of wind and solar power.  Completely free.

The lady over the road sits her clothes horse in the sun and yesterday it was on the front veranda. 

It makes me happy to see!  Another lady down the road does what I do too... she has a tree out the front and hangs her work uniform on hangers to dry in the tree. The wind irons it for her.  I have a tree in the back yard that is my hanging tree. 

Nan didn't have glad wrap/plastic wrap until later years.  She found other ways to cover food and pack Pa's lunch box.   I just made beeswax wraps over the weekend to be along the same lines...

Food on the table was covered in mesh or a netting throw.  Mimi got me back on to these! They are wonderful!

This was cooking by Chloe. 

I have been making my now kitchen towels for a few years mainly using recycled fabrics and the good ones I stitch on an edging.  

A lot of old sheets etc are turned into cleaning cloths. Beautiful soft ones are turned into handkerchiefs for times of bad colds and sickness.

These cleaning cloths were made up by Kelsey. I love them!  Nan also didn't have fancy cleaning products just a few basics and her house was always spotless.  She didn't have things like air freshener or scented candles either yet the house always smelled lovely! 

Another one is cloth to replace paper towels or serviettes/napkins to replace paper ones.  

She always did handiwork in the evenings and any time she sat down for a few minutes.  

I think of her when I crochet or knit.   I make cotton up into wash cloths and cleaning cloths.

We have chickens and grow some of our veggies and most of our herbs.

Baskets are used for everything from fruit picking to grocery shopping.  I have a basket in the car always!  Plastic bags are a big no no now but Nan never used them anyway!

My Nan would give me her change purse and I would walk to the corner shop with her basket and a list.  The shopkeeper knew her and I would walk back again with what she needed.  

Nan had ceramic cooking and storage dishes like corning ware,  pyrex, jars, tins...  kitchen storage jars were generally recycled jars.  Glass is back in again as everyone throws away their plastics now that it is found to leach chemicals into food.   So my op shop jars and recycled jars are in fashion too. (not that I care I have always LOVED them so much)

I recently got an old hand mixer so if the power is out I can still quickly mix up a batter or cake. 

I have sour dough bubbling and bread rising.   Roses drying and chicken marinating.  There are little domestic scenes in every direction!  The difference between my Nans and me isn't as much as I might have once thought.

More and more the simple things are beautiful to me.  I would rather be home making jam than on a jet.  I would rather a mending basket like Jane's than a fancy handbag. 

I am wondering what new things I will learn next year?  I am betting they will be old time skills.  The more of these we know the more prepared we are, the less we need from the store, the more we could manage without electricity, the more we save.   These are things worth working towards. 

This week I am going to be away at the farm.  I will post when I get back in about a week from now.  I am heading off on my own, op shopping on the way of course, and Andy will be home here working and manning the fort.  It is a very important week as there are some big decisions that affect the family.  

I hope I can make up for my lacking posts with a big one when I get home! And I hope I will hear of a lot of your nest building when I get back too!

How have you lowered costs with re useable things or by learning to make things yourself?

What skills would you really like to learn next year?   I am noticing we have so many skills here between us all.  For 2018 I am looking at having lots of tutorials on new skills.   So let me know what you would like to learn! xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 20th October, 2017.

It's Friday!  It has been a good week!
First of all thank you to everyone who participated in the swap party!  For my part all the parcels will be ready and posted on Monday.  I have been busy drying heaps of sour dough starter and that is all ready too.
I just published some more comments in the swap post so be sure to check and let me know if you need any more contacts. I think I will say Sunday it is closed down for this time and we will do it again early next year.  I hope everyone gets lovely parcels in the mail!

This week I built up our home and saved money in lots of little ways...

I added a kettle to our BBQ set up for boiling water if the power is out.  Previously we just used saucepans but this is easier for making cups of tea etc.

I got two sets of good sheets on a huge bargain!

My spray bottle was almost empty so I refilled it with miracle cleaner.  To do this I simply put in about an inch of the cleaner into the bottle then fill the rest with water.  Cost is a few cents!   The recipe is here plus how to make your own cleaning cloths etc.  This all saves a fortune and your house never smelled so good!

It was a week of roses!   Our garden is blooming just now and it seems to have come all at once.

We have yellow roses down the side and over an arbour...

Yesterday I started picking them.  Jane made me realise that I could use dried rose buds as gifts and in swaps!  So while I usually dry lots to use on food like my coconut ice and on soaps and bath bombs etc. I am going to try and dry enough over the summer to make up packages for my gift cupboard.  Jane also told me you can buy dried rose buds by the gram and they are expensive.  

This is what I picked just yesterday...

The buds will today be hung upside down to dry. The flowers I will just enjoy and then dry the petals.

Out the front we have a tree covered in palest pink blossoms.  It is now raining petals every time there is a breeze.  

I just love all of this and the scents are beautiful too.  I have honeysuckle at the front door and this is always open if the weather is ok so the whole house smells beautiful.

I made peanut butter biscuits again this week.   I am making them every week as Harper likes them so much but also I am doing an experiment with going grain free.  My whole life I have suffered aching legs.  Some of my early memories are Dad rubbing my aching legs.   That has been my normal.  But since early this year when I got the spider bites and infections on my arms I have had badly aching arms.  After months of this I found I was taking tons of painkillers as aching legs plus arms makes it seem like everything aches.  I was getting fairly miserable.  I read a lot that many people go grain free to reduce pain but that sounded mad to me.  But then Laine told me she is grain free as she has a chronic condition which causes a lot of pain and by doing this she has improved her life and can still do things she couldn't otherwise do.  And I was willing to listen to Laine as she gets so much done! 

At this point I was desperate and thought I have nothing to lose!  So I got organised and on October the first I went grain free.  I thought as an experiment only.  

On the fourth day my leg ache and arm ache disappeared.  Today is the 20th day. I have had two days with mild aches rather than 20 days with major aches.  I am amazed.  I have more energy too. MUCH more energy.  Each day I am still improving.  And this week we started our summer swimming so now I added lapping the pool and still haven't ached!  

I also went to the doctor this week.  I told her what I was doing and I expected her to roll her eyes but she didn't!  She said that apart from anything else for a woman my age (menopausal) this was the best thing I could be doing!  WHAT? No one ever told me that before.  

I am not telling anyone to do this or that it would be right for them. But this has amazed me and I cant believe the benefits so far so I thought I would share it as there might be someone reading who is suffering quietly and you just never know. 

These cookies are just  1 cup peanut butter (easier to work with if it has been in the fridge) 1 egg and 1 cup of sugar rolled into balls.  (I use much less sugar though)

Press with a fork, bake in a low oven (they burn easily) for about ten minutes or until lightly browned.   They are very filling.  No flour!

I am still baking things like scrolls and cakes for the family.  If I have something for myself like these cookies I am ok and not bothered.  That is not to say I won't fall off the wagon at some point!

This week I did a big spaghetti sauce cook up. 

Chloe came home from her trip!  I sent her home with two nights worth of the sauce.  For us I made zucchini noodles and Andy likes these and so no pasta.   This all gave me four dinners to give away,  and eight batches to freeze plus two nights of dinners for us.

I made vanilla yoghurt.

At the discount chemist I got a cleaning product for one cent! 

And we have hit our safety net amount and the rest of the years prescriptions will be only the minimum amount which I think is about $5.

We started having BBQ's.  This keeps the kitchen clean, the power bill down, we eat outside in the evenings and it is lovely.  Usually this time of year we do a couple of BBQ's a week maybe three times a week in summer. 

My dried fruit is soaking for my Christmas cakes.  This year I got most of the fruit from Aldi and it is lovely.  

I have enough for four large cakes but I will make them up as 8 smaller ones.  That is part of my work today. This will take 20 eggs! 

I always make these in October as they improve with age. And they last a year so I usually hide a couple.  That recipe is here.

Coles sent me a $40 voucher and coupons to save more points.  I will sit and stick these into my diary this weekend.  Usually it is one coupon per week.   Doing it last time earned me this $40.  I will use this on half price items and turn it into $80 value (at least)  It is a great way to add to the pantry.

So that is my week!  It was pretty good! The highlight was Chloe getting home!

I hope you had a good week. How did you feather your nest, get ahead, save... build up your pantry?

I am off to get these cakes cooked and hang up my rose buds.  

Have a lovely weekend! xxx

Sorry for no post today!

Sorry I didn't get my Christmas Challenge post up today. I have been drying sour dough starter, replying to all the emails and sharing addresses etc to make sure everyone gets their swaps!
There is still at least one new swapper with a wonderful list so be sure to check that out!  I will run it to the end of the week then we can start again in the new year!
If anyone did not get the email addresses they needed please let me know.  I hope everyone has lovely parcels arriving in the next week or two!  See you on Friday! xxx