Cheese for dinner

That was just last night, not every night. It was good though! Camembert.

Yep, just Camembert!


Which got me thinking... I hadn't shared my 'avoiding grain' conclusions.
(I've been avoiding grain with varying focus and commenting about it on FB for a week or so from July 23)

so... after 5 days of avoiding grains almost completely, I had a couple of wheat based biscuits... and had stomach pain within 20min. That was fascinating and unexpected. Sugar cravings also kicked in.
Then on the Sunday, I had cous cous for dinner and felt generally 'heavy' for the rest of the evening.
I ditched grain almost completely again and the higher levels of energy returned. Sugar cravings disappeared.
Mid-end of that second week, I had spelt grain in muffins for breakfast and felt okay but sugar cravings kicked back in.
Conclusion: Moving forward with the assumption that modern wheat does not agree with me. Spelt is better but still triggers sugar cravings if a main part of a meal - possibly less so when served with larger volumes of healthy fats ie butter, coconut oil etc

This next week: I'm going to be quite strict for the next 5 days (M-F) and not have grains as a main part of any meal and will adapt our family meals to suit... I need to spend some time planning and making notes of what a bunch of good meals are for this way of eating, especially as hubby is keen to give the no grain thing ago, as soon as I've got my head around higher volumes of food needing to be provided, without the grain!

To Save $100

or more!

NO shopping for the next 12 days... not till August 8th!

I've armed myself by doing essential shopping at the beginning of the fortnight and we have a regular fruit n veg order that comes each Tuesday and milk order on Thursdays. Those things I'm keeping with. Money has been put aside for chook feed which we buy every 3 months and happens to be next week. Money has also been put aside for Dd's annual birthday shopping trip which is a week away. Sounds like a lot hey! The main thing I want to avoid is buying anything from food/grocery stores that can possibly be avoided. 2-3 times a week we just pop out for 1-2 things which becomes 5-6, and it adds up. At the moment, I don't want it to add up! Must keep my eyes closed to a bargain for the next 12 days!

I know I'm well stocked on toilet paper, tissues, nappies, baby wipes...I am REALLY hoping I've not forgotten anything IMPORTANT!

What about meat - we LOVE meat... it'll have to be whatever is in the freezer! We do have 2kg mince, 1kg cooked chicken meat, 1 whole chicken, half a kilo of beef stir fry, (doing an inventory while I blog... meat had NOT been thought out before this decision!), a couple of kilo's of fish, tins of tuna & salmon, 1 meals of bolognese sauce and 1 meal of lamb stir fry. I REALLY don't want to get to the end of the bolognese sauce. 3 times in 12 days would stop it being a favourite! Hopefully only once!

I'm also keeping 2 lists... one for meals we think of that we'd like to eat but don't have the ingredients on hand for... and the other list, the next shopping list - It's going to be an important restocking one, I think!

Moving!

If you're on the House of Bogwitz Facebook page, you'll know we're moving house soon. And if not, you just found out now!

There is so much to be done. Moving out of a tiny house means packing is going to take quite a bit of effort. There's no space to easily put boxes as they're packed. So packed boxes are in walking space. There's only 2 of them so far. And already it's making everything we need to do in the house, even more difficult and time consuming to accomplish. Once we get a fair chunk of the packing done, we'll have more space, to be able to more easily finish off the rest of it. But that stage... is at least a week away.

So, this morning I've woken with a long to do list and zero motivation. *sigh*

Say a prayer for me, please? For energy and focus?

Something New for Dinner

I made bolognese pin wheels, for dinner last night. Very popular, all round.

1kg mince, thoroughly mixed with one jar of tomato pasta bake sauce and 1 cup of rolled oats
Spread to about 1cm thick on a sheet of pastry - to the edges on both sides but leaving about 1.5 inches clear, at the top, and about 2 inches clear at the bottom.
Roll it up, from top to bottom, after wetting the bottom strip with a little egg to help it stick.
Using a VERY sharp knife, and a light hand, cut through the roll with a fast moving saw-like action.
Lay each pinwheel on a baking sheet with a little space in between each. Pinch closed the join in the pastry, to help it to not unravel!
Bake 180C till golden
YUM!

I used 4 sheets of pastry, by the way. And it was enough for 2 meals - Bonus!!

...and these are my sauteed vegies... cooked in tomato passata, a little garlic and a sprinkling of Celtic sea salt. We all love them this way, even though it's a VERY new thing here, still.

Recipe By Request - Muffins

As requested... fab recipe... zucchini/fetta/pinenut variation, is at the bottom.  

Enjoy!!

Hot Weather Food Preparations

Hot weather is no good for cooking up a good old roast BUT after all these years, I am at last, finding a few things that are worth doing in the heat! I'm finding I can still keep busy in the kitchen, but without heating everything up. It's great!

• Cookie dough, to then be frozen in rolls, or even better cut up rolls. The butter and sugar cream BEAUTIFULLY in this heat!
• Pizza bases, to then freeze... whip up a batch of dough, shape them into the best shape to maximize oven space, spread them with a lovely layer of tomato paste and freeze. As soon as frozen, double wrap them and put them in the freezer. I'm liking making them to the size of my gallon ziploc bags - super easy to freeze them in!
• Soaking & dehydrating grain. Dehydrating anything actually. Just find a nice spot outside to plug in the dehydrator and off you go. We're chopping up 5kg of onions tonight, to dehydrate for future use in casseroles and the like.
• Crumble Mix... it only takes a few minutes to whip up crumble mix, for topping fruit crumbles in the cooler months. I like to make up about 2L or so, of it and keep it in a container in the freezer. Makes dessert 'easy as', as soon as this heat goes!
• Chilled cheesecake! This warm weather makes the smoooothest cheesecake blend! Bring the cream cheese to room temp before whipping it up, or sit it in the sun as I do, for a couple of hours. The end result is oh soooo smooth. Delish!

What do you do, to make the most of cooking and meal preparations, in the HOT weather?

Ta Da!

Yes! I kept sewing yesterday and made a pair of leggings for Miss C. This non-sewer is pretty pleased with herself  :)

Baby-wipes Project

Today's job, was to turn these 3 hand towels into 36 baby-wipes

And 2 hours later, I'm done

The 2 hours included supervising 5 children with morning tea and a bottle, as well of all sorts of other things going on. The actual cutting and sewing probably took an hour? Now to put them through the wash to remove all the towelling fluff!

Now the sewing machine is out... and it's hot, so I can't do much else... I think I'll see what else I can sew

On with the Wash!

Back from a lovely week away... family time in Apollo Bay, immediately followed by church family camp, in Anglesea. Well, mostly lovely. More about that later.

We've arrived back to a week that is going to be HOT HOT HOT. Alllll week *sad sigh*
So, I was up at 4.15 this morning to bake a zucchini slice, before it gets hot in here. Success. Also took advantage of the silence to read a few chapters of Acts. Without interruption!
And then on with the rest of the day.

I want to get caught up on washing by the end of tomorrow. That's all the sheets from all the beds plus all the washing from being away. Plus an extra set of sheets from our bed. Only got one load of washing done last night, once we were back!

And while I'm thinking of it... we'll be needing a new washing machine in the next 12months... Do you have a machine that you LOVE? What is it and what do you like about it?

A Few of My Favourite Things (3)

LOVE our Time Timer. Even more than I expected to. Both of them actually. We have the small (pictured) and the medium sized one, too. That link also takes you to where I ordered ours from, as the US site, doesn't ship to Australia.

Not cheap, by any means. But worth it!


How does it work?

If you look closely at my picture, the '20' has a clear 'button' on it. This is attached to the red area. To set the timer, you put your finger on this button and slide the red area around to the desired time. It then retracts until it disappears. It can either end in silence or two short beeps, to let you know it's done. Enough noise to hear it, but not so loud or ongoing that it would annoy others working nearby.


What do we use ours for?

The small one for computer use & piano practice. It's easy to see, with less than half a glance, an approximate idea of how much time is left. Concentration does not need to be broken to check how much time is left. More piano is happening in each half hour now!

Also with the small one, I'm using it to help our 4yo learn to sit still for periods of time, as needed. He was born with 'ants in his pants' but still needs to develop self control and the skill of being able to sit and be still when needed. Time means nothing to a 4 year old, so him being able to see the block of time left, and it shrinking, works wonders. A couple of practice sessions at home and he's good to go when out and about. I don't get asked every 3 minutes during the sermon at church 'are we done yet?', anymore. I set the timer for 45 minutes and know we'll be easily done by then. Bliss for me, and for those sitting around us. He then knows to just keep waiting and DO one of the things, he's allowed to do.

The BIG one - or medium as the Time Timer company calls it... but it's BIG to us...! The BIG one is used for team work and group times. Everyone cleaning the car? Timer on for 15 minutes where we can all see it and Go! Kids needing to hang washing? Timer where they can see it and GO! Silent time, in the lounge room? Put it where they can see it, and SHH!!


What else you might like to know:

The small one has a protective see through cover - making it ideal for tossing in the handbag, for heading out. It flips around to become the 'stand', and help it balance better, when needed. The medium sized one has two click out legs at the bag to stabilise it - easy to use.

They both take a single AA battery



I have not been asked to review, nor been given anything for reviewing. 
These are my own thoughts on an item I own.

Something needs to change...

Thinking of going back to Flylady routines again... it's been about 8 years since I stopped. Anyone else doing Flylady now?