Lemon butter - super quick and easy

I found the recipe for this on sugarfish blog by Ruth, it's a deliciously sweet and tangy lemon butter, or lemon curd as it can also be known. I remember my mum making something like this when I was a kid but it never took my fancy back then.

Now however, I can't help dipping a spoon in it whenever I go past the fridge....

Here's the recipe, as per Ruth, but make sure you drop by her blog and check out the other foodstuff offerings she has there. Very family/kid friendly recipes, just what I need.

Lemon Butter

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup lemon juice
4 eggs
125 grams butter

• Place the sugar, butter and lemon juice in a large bowl.
• Microwave on high for three minutes, stirring halfway.
• Beat the eggs well, then beat into the mixture thoroughly.
• Microwave on high for four minutes or until thickened, checking and stirring every 30 - 40 seconds.
• Beat well.
• Cool in the fridge.

Oh, and make sure you have a helper, too!

Chicken in a CAN??

This should just never happen - Chicken in a can.

Whoever thought of doing that.....and who could bring themselves to actually eat it?!

Oh my, I don't even know quite what to say about that, but do have a look, it's a bit like a car wreck fascination - you don't want to look but can't help yourself.

But don't look if you're about to eat dinner...

Close encounter of the creepy kind

I had an uncomfortably close encounter with one of these cockroaches a couple of days ago...

I've heard Melbourne has been having a plague of these critters in recent times......or was that last year? It may have been, as I distinctly remember sitting at my desk in the wee small hours feeding my newborn bub while surfing the web, and seeing one of these guys carefully make it's way up the side of my water bottle.

Well my recent encounter happened as I took a box of crackers out the cupboard. An open box. 
Recently opened, so it hadn't been mouldering there for months.
 
Reached in, pulled out the foil packet inside and Mr Roach fell onto the floor. Where I overcame my squeamishness of these creatures to apply my boot to him, crunch. 

Usually I apply lots and lots of spray, yes, awful I know but I generally can't bring myself to actually contact them, even with just the underside of my boot.

Slightly off topic, but funnily enough my sister has had a recent humanatising epiphany in regards to ridding ourselves of creatures we call pests, read what she has to say about it here.

Back to my cockroachroach experience, this is the first time I have ever found one in the pantry, usually I don't even find them in the kitchen at all. And generally never in the colder weather.

Now if you look in my pantry, you will notice many plastic tubs, labeled glass jars and ziploc bags, so unless the next roach has McGyver type talents, I won't find one leaping out of my about-t0-be-consumed-food again.

Blerk.

Apple custard tea cakes

I made some of these yesterday...

Apple custard tea cakes

Don't they look great, all round and puffy, just promising to be moist and moreish underneath. And they were, mmmmmmm. Yes, were, because there are none left now, hehehe!

I found the recipe on sugarfishblog, posted by Ruth.

I did change a couple of things just to work with what I had around and what I know my family will eat. You'll notice no apple on top? I know kids (and hubby) would more than likely just peel it off. Yes, I am embarrassed to admit that....

I used wholemeal spelt flour, no custard powder (didn't have any) so just increased the flour by that amount, I only had one egg so added an amount of pureed apple approx equivalent to an egg, and used some leftover thick custard I'd made in the thermomix.
And mixed it all in the thermomix.
And I didn't do the butter and cinnamon sugar thing at the end either.

So really, they are probably only vaguely similar to Ruth's recipe
but gee they were droolingly good nonetheless.

Have a spare 10 minutes? 

Go and whip up a batch, then call me and I'll come over to help you devour them. 
See you soon!

Steer clear of woolworths light potato chips...

World's worst ever chips, see below...

Cardboardy, sawdusty, dry and dusty...........worth eating?

Uh, no. And no. No.

Don't ever go there people, consider yourselves warned.....

Chaos, you are mine....

I remember with nostalgia back to the days when the mornings belonged to me. 
Pre-kids that is. 

I would set the alarm for 5.41am, head off to the gym, talk to no one, get home and hubby had gone to work. Have breakfast in front of the pc, a leisurely shower and off to work. 
Nice, calm and ordered, just what I like.  

Oh how things have changed. I am now regularly jolted out of sleep prior to 5.41am, which seems obscenely early if you are not arising at that time of your own free will.

Being winter, the sun will not rise for at least another two hours so it feels like the dead of night, and I have a hard time snapping out of sleep mode, unlike my two little bright sparks.

The next two hours are filled with breakfasts (everyone's but mine), clothes, missing clothes (hubby's included - I have 3 kids, not 2), bodily functions, requests for tv (denied), second breakfasts, and more things which escape me unless I'm in the midst of doing them.

My point being it's so very far from my married-with-no-kids mornings that I begin to wonder if I hallucinated those 'old days'.

Then just when I think gee it's quiet, they're playing nicely, I'll just throw together breakfast for me...........

I find this in the lounge...

And it gets ominously quiet again when I'm clearing the bomb site that is the kitchen after the troops have been fed...

And I find the older one keeping the younger one prisoner in the shower. 

I mean, why wouldn't you shut your little brother in the wet shower in his clothes?

Oiks, ya gotta laugh. Right?!

Kids minkee shoulder bag

I happen to have a largish piece of lavender minkee sitting on the top of my fabric box, that I came across in one of my rummages through Spotlight's remnant bin. I didn't actually have a use for it in mind, but it had such a lovely feel that I was sure some use would present itself.

Well my four year old discovered it and beseeched me to make him a bag out of it.
He currently has no hang ups about pink colours being for girls only, though I'm sure that won't be long coming. Someone at daycare imparted the knowledge that purple is a girls only colour, so I counteracted that by saying it's a kings colour.

What about queens mummy, is purple a queen's colour? Um, I better look that one up.......this child has me running to the font of all knowledge, ie the internet, all too often these days...

So here's the little bag I whipped up...complete with lining even.

It's currently holding 2 dinosaurs, 5 matchbox style cars, one 4 wheeled motorcycle, a collection of small stretchy rubber animals, a container of mutating ooze that came with a ninja turtle, a spiderman figurine and the spiderman mask that goes with his spidey dress ups.

Whew, my handbag has nothing on that lot!

This cold grey weather leaves me flat sometimes...

I'm a bit uninspired at the moment so lucky you, you get the kids instead...


Two small boys and a dripping tap = endless entertainment.

Yes, we're on water restrictions, the tap was dripping sloooowly and not all day.....I can never let them run under the sprinkler but a dripping tap for a while in the backyard? 

That I will do. I'll take shorter showers to make it up...

My little gardener, isn't he angelic?
 
This was right before he threw down the trowel and went in with both hands and tried to eat it. 

Well didn't try to eat it, did eat it.

Paint and buckets of water on the driveway.
 
Can you tell I'm all for cheap entertainment? 

Even if it does take a lot more cleaning up...

The little tacker in his new beanie.

He was so proud of it, he wouldn't take it off for the whole day. 

Yes I bought it, no I didn't sew it. I know, bad mummy.

And the big fella in a rare, un-cheesey smile.



Ok, I'm done with trying to inspire myself for the evening. 

The kitchen's a mess, the dishes need doing, the nappies need to go in the washer, but I'm going to crawl into my electric blanketed bed and read.

And thaw out. 

Ahh, heaven....

Excuse me while I FREEZE

After a southerly blast and some true Melbourne winter weather last night, I dropped the kids at daycare this morning to find they had SNOW in the babies yard. 

Although I think it may actually have been hail, as I don't think it was QUITE cold enough in the city to snow. But still...

I'm sitting here right now in my scarf, long woollen coat and boots, having not had the courage to divest myself of my outer wear since coming inside. 

The heater is going full blast and it's still cold. That may have something to do with the fact we have very few internal doors, as they are still in the garage awaiting painting.......this is from our DIY reno we started about 5 years ago, so perhaps my current state is somewhat self-inflicted....

This is in the outer, outer suburbs of Melbourne, brrrrr...



Spare a thought for the homeless..

A God question

While out getting some much needed exercise today with my newly acquired twin baby jogger (see my post here all about that), my four year old continued his exploration of the material and spiritual world, by asking me how God made trees.
Well, from seeds of course.
But how does God make seeds mummy?

Um.....er......weeelllll......let me think for a minute......maybe we should ask your Dad?

What I eventually said was God probably takes a tiny bit of dirt and a tiny bit of the inside of a grown up tree and wraps it all up in seed skin, and that's a seed.

Crickey.

I think I need to do some study.

How to sterilize your toothbrush

Lets talk toothbrushes for a moment. Have you ever found yours in this position?

Hehe, no it's not mine, but I had to throw this picture up there. If I actually found mine in this position I would commit it to the big chrome bin with flip top lid, never to see the light of day again.

Actually, I might take it directly to the kerbside bin, as Mr 1 yr old has been known to go treasure hunting in aforementioned flip top chrome bin, and said brush may indeed see daylight again, as well as inside of Mr 1's mouth......

Ok, what I actually came here to say was:

A really simple way to sterilize the family's toothbrushes is to put them in the dishwasher. Yes, and then run the dishwasher, obviously.

Why sterilize them? Well when you think about it, what a perfect way to share coughs, colds and other lurgys round the family, let all the toothbrushes rub heads together in a mug, and spread the joy.

Must remember to do this......

Anzac biscuits -mmmmmm

This is another of mine and the kids favourite cookie recipes, so easy to make and very moreish. They also freeze well when cooked so you can make them in bulk. And, I have discovered I can make them in my thermomix, which I have to admit feels like the height of laziness, seeing as how they're super easy to make in the beginning.

Do you want to see my Squidoo page on thermomix? Check it out below...

Thermomix - Now you're Cooking!


As usual, I digress. Here's the recipe made the regular, stovetop way.


Anzac biscuits

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
2/3 cup sugar/rapadura
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
2 tablespoons golden syrup
125grams butter
1 teaspoon baking (bicarb) soda
2 tablespoons hot water

• Preheat your oven to 160c (320f)
• Place golden syrup and butter in largish saucepan over low heat and melt.
• Dissolve baking soda in the hot water and add to the butter mixture.
• Add all dry ingredients and mix well.
• Place tablespoons of mixture onto greased baking trays and flatten slightly. Leave a little room for spreading.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
• Cool on tray for 10 minutes then transfer to baking rack to cool completely.

Now hide them away before the kids and hubby see them!