Easy and economical weekend food.

Every weekend we have a pizza night or a toastie night. It is easy, yummy and uses up left overs. So, as I do it I go through the fridge so come Monday I know what we have, what needs using, and then do my grocery shop from there.

A really good way to make very easy pizza bases is the method where you use a cup of yoghurt and mix into plain flour. If I am doing this I allow 2 cups flour per pizza and then add some yoghurt and milk to make a dough. I find I need to press this dough into pans as I can never get it to roll. But it is cheap, delicious and works amazingly!

I keep all kinds of things suitable for pizza bases in the freezer. Since they are going to be cooked and covered in toppings I look every time I go to the supermarket in the area with the bread mark downs. Last week I got a packet of Lebanese Bread, six large rounds, for $2.30. So that will make 6 pizzas. Now 6 pizza bases here are about $12!  Other breads I buy for this are actual pizza bases marked way down, turkish bread (I would cut in half to be long thins) Lebanese bread, focaccia bread... anything kind of flat really!

When the kids were little I found muffins split made great bases for lunch box pizzas. Or even just bread, crisped up a bit and then covered in pizza topping and baked. A tray of these then cut in half gave me a few days lunch box/after school snacks etc. 

Also I would put out the ingredients and get kids to assemble their own pizzas and say ok do one for tomorrow and put them in the oven...

A supply in the freezer means pizzas are only ever a few minutes away. I cannot see the pint of making one pizza. Saturday I made five with my Lebanese Bread bases. So it goes like this... I did not have any tomato paste so I used a jar of spaghetti bolognese sauce and that worked fine. I had some frozen bacon so that was the meat. I had a couple of brown onions so I sliced them thinly. Left over camembert from Valentines Day. I had no tomatoes but I had some left over sun dried ones so I used them. Grated cheese. Sprinkle of oregano from back garden pot. 

Now other candidates could have been pineapple, left over roast pumpkin, onions or sweet potato, left over roast chicken, lamb, beef... capsicum, mushrooms, tomatoes, any cheeses and really just so many things! 

Then I did have left over rocket from Valentines Day also. So that was my topping. 

They were yum!

What -ever's -laying -around -pizza is not really a good name but that is what it is. 

This gave me pizzas to send on Sundays fishing trip so that was done. I gave Chloe a pizza as a gift, that is probably a dinner and two lunches for her. Andy has one today for lunch box and I froze one. I know they were around $3 each or under.

Now the lovely pizza place near us makes good healthy pizza and they are divine and around $20 each. So my haul was worth $100!

If I had little kids I would have done a tray of mini ones for lunch boxes so Monday and Tues would be half ready to go to school. 

These nights are really good! I have had a letter from Lisa and like many of us she has a meat loving husband. Keeping the budget under control and feeding meat lovers is a big subject. But if your meat loving man has some likes ie pizza, hamburgers, even pasta dishes or possibly mornay, steak sandwiches.... anything else he likes other than just a slab of meat then make the most of those loves. Because in all of them a little bit of meat can go a really long way. If you become a star at these "take away" type dishes you will save a fortune! (and he will think you are amazing!)

Other nights we will have a toastie and in winter/autumn we might do jaffles in the fire. It is the same deal, use up what we have and use massively marked down bread I keep in the freezer to do it. I usually pay 40c a loaf for bread for this and get a heap of these nights from one loaf. Again if I am doing this I will make a couple of extra. The next morning I will heat up the extra one and wrap it in foil and that will be hot breakfast on the road for Andy. He loves that. 

Every family would have favourite combinations. When I was little Mum did cheese, bacon and pineapple. I thought this was positively gourmet. (Still love it!)

Last night we did them... I had turkey, cranberry, camembert (those left overs) and rocket. (also leftovers and needing using up) it was so yummy. 

Well, we had a wonderful weekend, the left overs are used up, I know what's in the fridge and today I go shopping. I see what the best buys are then plan my meals from those. 

I got my garden bed all re done yesterday and it is great, all the rain we had everything is growing like in the tropics. This is my basil from a couple of weeks ago and I have been picking it!

In my menu planning I will make sure we have salads with basil over these next few weeks! (note to self) and give away some as I know if I trim it that it will keep growing and it is perfect right now. Haloumi cheese needs to go on the list or some soft mozzarella and some ripe tomatoes.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and gets off to a wonderful start to the new week! xxx

Launch Pad.

My personal clutter magnet is the corner of my island bench. It attracts paper, lists, bills, vitamins, cards, and random stuff. If I don't know where to put something I apparently put it there. It drives me crazy as it is ME who does it and it looks terrible!

Across from the island there is a walk way then a wall and on that wall I have my fridge and my bakers stand. 

So I have made this area into my "Launch Pad" where my lists, cards and mail, bills to pay and so on are organised. Now I have to implement it and not allow the bench to be the spot!

I think most of us have places that are clutter magnets. FlyLady calls them hot spots. I love FlyLady she makes it part of your daily routine to put out the fires in your hot spots. She is smart. If you are in a mess, let FlyLady help. It works.

Yesterday I finished this little make over to cure my problem, hopefully!

I have a box for receipts, boxes for vitamins to sit in, a place for pens, and plenty of spots for the things of daily life.

The side of the fridge has emergency contact numbers, a pocket for bills to pay, birthday cards for the next birthdays, appointments and my shopping list.  

I love the magnetic pocket. Thats Martha Stewart from Officeworks. I thought this is pretty handy!

Now I know I can do all this and not change the habit of sitting stuff on the bench! So this week I will be trying to re train myself!

This spot is not my only magnetic area either. I am trying to come up with solutions for the others. But this is progress. Last year I did a lot of organising, mostly following A Bowl Full of Lemons Blog. I conquered heaps! It was wonderful. But this year I have more to go and this is a start.

Whatever it is though that bugs you, creating a solution is just wonderful. It's like a wardrobe clean out when suddenly you have ten new out fits just from re arranging and re thinking. Or the dining room table looking beautiful and set for a meal instead of covered with sewing! Next time we see them our hearts leap from joy and relief! 

Easy Valentines Day dinner.

Sometimes just a little effort pays off big time! 

Last night I combined easy and cheating to make a sweet and yummy Valentines Day dinner. It had been a long week of extreme heat followed by extreme rain... ie seven inches in 48 hours. Seriously it has been a shocker. But I know in the UK and US they are having a terrible time and I appreciate even our weather isn't as bad as that.

I made Baked Camembert, which is delicious, and a little salad. For anyone who loves cheese this is a winner! 

I just used puff pastry. All you do is set your camembert on pastry and cover the top with cranberry sauce or a few dried cranberries then sprinkle over chopped walnuts...

Being Valentines Day I cut the camembert into heart shapes with a large biscuit cutter. The left over bits will go on a pizza this weekend!

Then wrap your cheese in pastry. Now you want no joins around the bottom or your camembert will leak out when it's runny. Don't ask me how I know this.

Have a pre heated oven and bake them until just golden. Then you want to let them cool for half an hour at least to firm up. If you serve straight away they are just runny. Being warm here mine took about an hour to cool. You want them JUST warm. 

My salad was pear and rocket. Pear goes so nicely with cheese, this just works. 

It was delicious! You could make these ahead and just microwave warm them for 30 seconds. Also they would be beautiful on a picnic. You could also bake a huge camembert and slice it for a dinner party.

For desert I cheated even more. I bought a small mud cake and cut it into hearts. It was a good gooey cake too. Then I used strawberries to make it look like an arrow had pierced the heart... maybe if you squint!

Well, it was all a success and seemed special. I followed my own advice and wrote Andy a card that he just thought was beautiful and read repeatedly. 

I want everyone to believe you don't have to spend big for things to be special. You don't have to spend hours in the kitchen either. Sometimes you can and might want to but normally who has surplus money or time!?

Have a lovely weekend that includes some rest and restore time! xxx

Happy Valentines Day!

Everyday is a good day to show extra love and care. But Valentines Day is also a good reminder. 

I think it's a good day to take risks too. Pluck up the courage and tell someone how you feel about them! 

You know Andy assumed for thirty years that I had forgotten him and there is no way I would be interested. It was his secretary Ruth who shoved him into contacting me! The thing is most of those 30 years I would have been pleased to hear from him and see him... and when contact was made we were engaged in a few months and married in a year! 

So I wonder how many people dream of someone for years and if they had the courage they would be together! Nothing ventured nothing gained!

There are also lonely people on Valenine's Day. Andy took heart shaped tins of chocolates in to the old ladies today. I mean it doesn't have to be a romantic gesture it can be a sweet one. Unless Andy runs away with one of these ladies, in which case I'll change my tune.

It may be also a good time to be grateful for our relationships and think about nurturing them a bit. My effort is planning a special dinner. I think it is going to look and taste lovely, I just have a few things to do. I don't think it has to be spectacular to make someone fee loved and appreciated and a bit special.

I made a wreath for the door which I really like and can use in everyday decor as well. It would be a good table centre with candles as well.

After so much heat now we are having pouring rain, it hasn't stopped in 36 hours so far. The garden is soaking it up but it is causing chaos on the roads. As it's set to continue I'm popping some replacement plants in and moving a few things. After heat waves there are repairs to do. So the sound of rain to me is a glorious one. Water is expensive here, I know people who let their gardens die because of it and I know others who pay $1000 a quarter to keep their gardens watered. My friend Helen says she thinks when it is raining it is raining money as then they don't have to buy water for their tank. That is so true, plenty of water is a huge money saver and everything looks clean and washed, happy and perky!

Have a lovely day and do something to make it special for someone.xxx

Picture your dreams.

When I was about fourteen Mum started me on scrap booking things I loved into old business diaries with homemade glue. I think originally I was home sick from school.

It was a great start to a good thing and helped me so much over the years. I started Chloe and Lucy on theirs. By then I could see it is good to collect ideas and pictures of your hopes and dreams and have it to look at in times when you need a little inspiration. 

All these years later I am still scrap booking and still using the old business diaries. I just stick right over the writing, calendars and numbers! Also I still have them all from the first day. It is a bit of a treat looking at what my dreams were when I was fourteen!

Anyway aside of inspiration and loveliness they have saved me so much clutter in my home! If I had kept magazines and craft books things would be grim around here. These days I don't buy magazines, but before the internet, blogs and pinterest they were my life blood! Now, it's all free and more than you can keep up with which is so wonderful. 

When I need an idea or inspiration I browse my books. They are concentrated joy! Usually once a year or so, on a dreary rainy day, I will stick in any new pictures I have collected. 

When we go away on holidays I do buy magazines in op shops as they are 20 and 50 cents, this usually gives me a heap of new pictures!

Cookbooks are the same. If I had kept every recipe magazine and cook book I would have no kitchen space. Also I don't like keeping things I don't use or like. Many times there is one recipe in a book I really want and that's about it! I don't like clutter and despite efforts still have some! But this is one thing that has saved me so many piles and cupboards of magazines etc.

So my cook books have become so wonderful. All my favourite tested and loved recipes in a few books. I love looking through them too. As the seasons change I have a look at what I can be starting to cook again and planning a bit of a list, otherwise I would forget and eat the same things all year. 

Scrap booking is a little like having an inspiration board. Your ideas, dreams just seem to have more life and more hope if you have visual reminders, they are like a plan. 

By collecting things you love, that make your heart leap, you soon discover your own taste. I come across ladies who say they don't know what they like, they have just pleased others in their decorating and style. When your heart bursts over the beauty of something there are your clues! Collecting them sort of refines it for you and makes it clear. Not to mention the sheer joy of having all these images in one place. My books are so treasured and really have cost nothing. 

The fun I have had over the years with these is amazing. Now that I have them out I will have a browse for some ideas I have loved but havn't used yet. There are always plenty of them!

Busy hands make happy hearts.

Yesterday I had a go at recreating something lovely I saw. I had been fooled by a beautiful bowl of orchids, they were so lovely, and turned out to be silk. Seriously beautiful!

Well, they were almost $300. I looked around and saw more and was amazed how lovely they looked. Plus orchids seem very elegant to me. I also looked online and found a UK company making the most amazing arrangements that would fool anyone, all kinds. Glorious. Some of the best hotels in the world use them in their displays.

On studying I found it is quite easy to get orchids that look very realistic. And they are inexpensive. They come loose or in dreadful nasty pots that make them look awful. The super expensive ones come in low, elegant, vintage looking urns, tureens, silverware.... ahh! this is the difference! 

Well, I have a low beautifully shaped casserole dish (op shop $2) which I bought for the lovely shape but it had orange flowers which I hated. So I spray painted it white and used this. I got a pot of orchids from Target $25. I ignored the pot and looked for really good flowers.

When I got home I put my glasses on and smashed the hideous pot over the bricks which revealed a foam inner and I used Andy's saw to saw this to be thin enough to sit in a low casserole dish. I just glued it in and filled the pot with moss.

Done! Then Chloe came by and said "are they real?" and felt them... so I thought they must be ok!

I am really delighted! They are going on a coffee table I am working on... but meantime...

I can't wait to find some more old low tureens, casseroles, even silver gravy boats, that kind of thing... to do some more. I'm so happy! Not that I would have spend $300 but I saved $275 if I pretend I would have!

I am so excited. Imagine pale pink... I think I could do some as birthday presents.

The thing is if you take a little time and study things, they are often within reach. Every thing is available online including instructions and how to do things plus videos to show you. It is just amazing! It is also fun. Creating things is beautiful. It is good for the soul.

I truly believe that whether it's handiwork, craft, cooking, what ever, it makes us happy and feel good to create things. I think we were created that way. Busy hands make happy hearts.

I know my heart is happy and content when I make sure I get some time to make something. 

And you can use things you have ie if you have lots of little bits of fabric search "fat quarter projects" on pinterest and you will get thousands of suggestions or if you have old things search "up cycle projects" or specifically "uses for old shutters" etc and re use or use up your supplies towards new things for your home or all your future Christmas presents.

Turning a cupboard full of supplies into gifts is making a lot of money too, what a way to save! It is also de cluttering! If money is tight it can be hard to donate to charities. Make them something.

I have plans to give some old tureens a new life... now to find them!

Chocolate brownies and the gift of cooking.

Yesterday when I was making the macarons I also tried Adriano Zumbo's Brownie Mix. This was amazing. Quick, easy, delicious. Seriously an amazing desert or cut smaller something to go with coffee. Andy flipped over these. 

It would be a good thing to have in the pantry just in case. So I have to hand it to Adriano!

And thank you Elaine for getting me to try the Macaron mix in the first place or I never would have thought to. 

It has made me notice there are also Donna Hay mixes and I really like Doona Hay, so you never know....

Andy took a little packet of macarons and two brownies to the ladies in the nursing home. He said they were just so thrilled, both declaring they are NOT diabetics and are allowed to eat them. (we also checked to see if it was ok)

My supply of cellophane bags are so handy. Cheap shops often have them now and Spotlight does. They make little foodie gifts very easy to present and keep fresh.

I have a few sizes and they turn a lot of litlel things into gifts or just something thoughtful to send. 

In a local gourmet food store I notice the prices of ordinary home cooked food. A quiche is about $30 to $40, a small cake and I mean really small is $20 and Mimi saw a jar of biscuits for $30. Cupcakes are $4 plus each. I saw a packet of 6 gluten free biscuits for $16. 

Well, I am a fairly basic home cook. I am not interested in recipes with 20 ingredients, five ingredients will do me! When I cook I like to make double or triple so I have a meal to freeze  and something extra. But I have increasingly used cooking as gifts. People just seem to love it. Given the prices I'm seeing and how busy everyone is no wonder!

My fruit cake is a gift I often use. I can make a few ahead, make mini ones and they keep for ages. A good easy gift. Tins of shortbread or gingerbread or little packets of mixed biscuits.

A hamper made up of little jars of jam, some cake or biscuits, some herbs... or a whole birthday cake or basket of scones.... or a lasagne or meat pie, delivered, as a gift to someone unwell or busy. These seem to always go down well! I think if you cook value these things as wonderful gifts. Instead of trying to afford an expensive gift bake a wonderful cake or a tray of cupcakes. You might be surprised at the amazing reaction you get.

I have found making gifts for men and teenage boys trickier than for girls. They all seem to love food and be forever starving. A tray of brownies, or fudge or a chocolate cake would probably be a huge hit! It's good when we can get in on their secret loves and weaknesses... then we have insider knowledge! 

Funnily the gift of cooking can seem very touching and personal. It is a gift of care and love. More people than I would have imagined have never had a cake baked for them, never had a birthday cake... I found this out when I started making cakes and decorating them as birthday gifts. Now my decoration might be pink cream with a big pink rose on top (ie nothing hard to do) and still cause tears of joy. (I hope of joy...) So this can be a big thing for someone.

A pot of chicken soup when someone is unwell or a pie that is easy to heat up... really what could be nicer or more thoughtful. 

I am surprised how these things, simple and heartfelt, are loved. Like a hand written letter, cooking shows love and care, helpfulness. Don't underestimate the love your cooking shows to your family or friends. These are the things memories are made of.