No Meal Plan Monday

Unfortunately the Random Recipe of lamb biryani got pushed aside last week as we had one night of takeaway (shock horror!) and then last night was supposed to be Carols in the Park, but we skipped it cause of the weather. Not that it actually rained, but I just didn't feel like packing up a picnic and all the other paraphernalia to potentially have to leave after a bit due to a downpour. So we spent our Sunday afternoon and evening putting up the Christmas Tree and decorating the verandah with twinkly lights. Lovely.

I'm not planning any meals this week because it's going to be a short week as we are travelling down to Brisbane so that I can attend the graduation of some of my old students. They are moving on up to high school and are such a lovely group of kids I just couldn't miss it. I'm sure I will cry. I'll blame the pregnancy hormones but really I'm just a big sook, tearing up at the drop of a hat.

Have a lovely week everyone!

Pineapple and Cherry Upside Down Cake

Made by Elliot. Inspired by Playschool

This was Elliot's idea so I just provided the ingredients and he led the way after watching them make this cake on an episode of Playschool.

This is one of his favourite episodes so Elliot has dictated the recipe for you, I've just typed his words.

1. Put brown sugar and melted butter in the cake tin. Then the pineapple and cherries. Make it look pretty with the cherries in the middle of the pineapple circles.

2. Get Mummy's big mixer and mix normal sugar and butter for ages and ages. Put the eggs in (but not the shells) and mix for ages longer.

3. Put in a bit of flour and a bit of milk and a bit of flour and a bit of milk and then some 'wanilla' and keep on mixing and mixing.

4. When the mixing is finished put it on top of the pineapple and cherry and put it in the oven. It's very hot!

5. We can't open it straight from the oven so you've got to wait. When Mummy says it's ok, flip it onto a plate and eat it!

 

My Creative Space

Along with my on-going creation, this week I've been working on a beanie for our 4 year old niece for Christmas. I think it's going to be a bit big, I'll have to get El to model it once it's finished. She can always grow into it! I wanted something girly, just cause I don't get much excuse for girly, but not too girly. So a lovely creamy colour with a couple of soft purple stripes and trim is perfect!

It's a really simple pattern from a Lincraft pattern book. Knitted flat and then sewn up, with a simple knit edging and pom pom and braid details. Easy peasy and pretty quick too!

Head over here for other creations!

New Experiences

Check out the other pics at Faith, Hope & a Whole Lotta Love. Happy Wordless Wednesday!

I'm Working on Something Special

I am so blessed to be creating something unique and wonderful and amazing for the third time.

I'm working on Baby Number Three!

I love being pregnant and I have relatively easy pregnancies, although having two full-on toddlers at home full-time has been tiring to say the least. Over the past couple of months, the TV has definitely been my friend. Because Elliot isn't a day sleeper I'd put on  Playschool for him when Archie went to sleep because it'd be the only chance I'd get to put my feet up and on more than one occasion Elliot has woken me up after a quick kip on the lounge to let me know that Playschool has finished and he's turned the tele off, can we please go and play now? Now that I'm past the first trimester I'm hoping that the fatigue has run its course and I'll be back to my usual self.

I'm so excited to meet this new bubba and introduce the boys to their new baby brother or sister (for the record, Elliot thinks sister).

I'm (to be perfectly honest) daunted by the idea of parenting three young children, two can be hard work some days! Elliot will have just turned 4 a couple of weeks before the new arrival arrives and Archie will be 2yrs and 2 months, so they'll still be young.

I'm so excited to have started another journey with another new person. A journey that will contain joy, tears, hope, fears, frustration, elation and just about every emotion in between.

This journey of motherhood sure is an interesting one!

Monday Meal Plan

Well, this space has been really interesting over the past couple of weeks hasn't it! Hopefully I'll get back into my blogging groove this week and have some interesting (or not so interesting) things for you to read. But, because I'm a creature of habit and routine (when I get into one) I'm not going to explain my absence today. Today is Monday, Meal Plan Monday!

Everyone knows how my weekly meal plan is my saviour so I'm not going to bang on about it anymore. I'll just get on with sharing what will be on our table this week, including Matt's meals and our Random Recipe.

Monday
Pasta Primavera

Tuesday
Pork sausages with mashed sweet potato and steamed veg (Matt)

Wednesday
Chilli Con Carne (Matt)

Thursday
Stirfry veg and noodles with boiled egg

Friday
Lamb and spinach curry (slow cooker)

Saturday
Whatever takes our fancy!

Sunday
Lamb Biryani (Random Recipe)

Meal Plan Monday

We're back again from a long weekend away and we planned our week's meals last night over dinner. I realised last night that since our move Matt's dinners have become somewhat non-existent, so he is cooking two meals this week.

The Random Recipe this week is from Darina Allen's Irish Traditional Cooking, another one of my many cookbooks I've never actually cooked from! The recipe that I'll be cooking is Pot Roasted Beef (p 107) so nothing overly new or exciting but we haven't had a roast for a while so carnivores Matt and Archie will be pleased! I've also planned to use some of the leftovers in a risotto for another dinner and also for sandwiches for Matt's lunches.

So this week the plan is:

Monday
Curried sausages with brown rice and steamed veg (Matt)

Tuesday
veg and rice noodle stir fry with boiled eggs

Wednesday
pot roasted beef with roasted root veg and steamed veg (Random Recipe Darina Allen's Irish Traditional Cooking p107)

Thursday
pasta primavera

Friday
risotto (with left over pot roast)

Saturday
BBQ (Matt)

Sunday
No idea, we'll see how the day takes us