Chicken and leek pie

last night for Dinner I decided to use left over chicken to make a chicken and leek pie, which was a change for me as I usually don't use left overs they always end up in the bin. it was delicious and another bonus was there was left overs from the pie so I froze a serve and my DH can take it to work for lunch. and with the bones I put them in a small bag and in the freezer to stock pile enough to make chicken stock.

eating from your pantry challenge

today I am joing in on the 'eat from your pantry' challenge. from life as a mom.
the idea is to try and survive on making meals from your pantry, freezer and fridge without going to the supermarket all the time. trying to buy only milk, eggs cheese, and fresh fruits and vegies. and to cut down on your grocery bill.

Hear is what I can do.

Breakfast:
homemade crumpets
pancakes
porridge
taost
english muffins ( if I find a recipe might start making them myself)
scrambled eggs
of course fruit and milk to top it of for a healthy meal

Lunch
bread rolls with
      ham and cheese
      chicken and cheese
      corned beef
      roast pork ( if any left over)
fruit salad.
tuna and corn salad
 ok so I need more inspiration on lunches

Dinner
1.  hamburgers and wedges
2.  sausages and mash
3.  roast pork and vegies
4.  garlic and chilli chiken with hassle back potatoes
5.  spaghetti bolognese x 2 meals
6.  gnocchi and bolognese with left overs for lunches for my husband to take to work
7.  chicken enchiladas x 2 ( if I add more vegies can make 2 meals instead of the one)
8.  honey chicken wings with vegies
9.  homemade pizzas (we all like different toppings so will see how we go).
10. quiche and salad
11. mac and cheese
12. seafood salad x 3 meals
13. beef stir fry and rice
14. chow mein
15. curried sausages and rice
16. corned beef and mash potatoes
17. breakfast dinner.

22 main meals.

dessert

apple crumble
self saucing chocolate pudding
stick date pudding
sponge roll
lemon meringue pie
golden syrup dumplings
sago pudding
rice custard
canned fruit
homemade jam doughnuts
the list could go on forever.....

Snacks
muesli bars
biscuits: anzacs, shortbread, jam drops, chocolate chip......
popcorn
brownies
cupcakes
banana bread
again the list could go forever......

by the list I just made you would think I could do this so fingers crossed .
I will be making a list of everything my family eats and likes and maybe start buying the things on the list to stop over buying and throwing away alot of it. oh and remember the shopping list.

Mac and Cheese ( cheese burger flavour)

this tastes exactly like a MacDonalds Cheese burger

Cheese and Mac

1 cup white sauce

2 cups grated cheese

4 cups cooked pasta

500g mince beef, browned

2 tbl american mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

1 onion diced, (cook if your family don't like raw onion)

mix all  ingredients together, leaving 1 cup grated cheese. place in baking dish and top with leftover cheese bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes

Dessert flopped,

yesterday I decided that after out steak meal we would have a new dessert and made a lemon and meringue cake all was good I even made the lemon curd, ( I made this for the first time without a recipe as most of my cooking is so I don't have a recipe to add). that tasted good anyway the Ida is to make a thin sponge and then put the meringue on top and cook well I forgot the butter for the sponge and it need to be really soft so I got the butter out of the fridge and put it in a bowl and in the microwave for 30 seconds, it came out melted so I scrape the batter that I had put in the tin already and add the butter. it was to runny so I put in the freezer for 5 min to thicken a little but not hard top it with halve the meringue mix add put in the oven. Everything was going well until time to put together, the meringue sunk, I whipped the cream a fraction to much and the top meringue sunk too. my husband asked so you made this instead of lemon meringue pie? end result it tasted good kids ate it up and Ian went back for seconds. ( sigh of releif).

Mushroom Gravy

this is the proper creamy mushroom gravy unlike the ones with tomato based sauces

mushroom gravy

1 tbl buttet or margarine

400g muhrooms, sliced

1/2 medium onion diced

3/4 cup cream

3/4 cup cold water

1/4 piece of beef stock

1 1/2 tbl cornflour

melt butter in small sauce pan and add onion, cook until onion is soft but not brown, ad sliced onion and cook until soft add cream and beef stock and boil for 5 mins, careful that it doesn't spill over as it boils. mix water and cornflour together, take mushroom mix of heat and stir in cornflour water if it doesn't thicken stir over low heat until it is the thickness you want. serve over your choice of meat

note: if served with Chicken add chicken stock not beef

03/01/2010.

in 3 days we have Ians parents bringing Fabio And Jennifer over on thier way home from picking them up from the airport. They met them over 7 years ago when they went on holidays overseas and have remained friends since visiting each other when ever they get the chance, Bill, Ian's dad loves to show of his grandkids Our son Ethan being his favourite of all. I know but the bond between them is amazing when Ethan 4th birthday came around he was rushed to ballarat after waking up with no energy and got worse, when notified that Ian was in an ambulance with Ethan on the way to Ballarat ( where Ian parents Live) they were there waiting. when Bill had to have a by-pass done the first person second to his wife was his boy. So anyway because they are bringing them over, so the house needs to be kept in order and I am still trying to get on top o my washing 2 loadsa to go fingers crossed but we do have a family of 5 and if the clothes are on the floor then they go in the wash, As a couple of rules, I don't empty pockets so if you put it in the wash then you really didn't need it. i don't sniff clothes to see if they are clean YUK! so here is my routine for the next couple of days

mornings
make all beds
open blinds permitting that it isn't hot outside
do a load of washing and hang washing out
15 mins tidying up my sewing/craft room
dust
make snacks and lunch for kids
keep a 3 year old dressed and entertained as she really is not a kids person and won't sit still for anything, cries constantly and has very selective hearing and is so loud

Afternoon to evening
cook dinner
retidy house (kids are on school holidays)
put dishes away
set table (eat dinner at the table) ( I can't sit on the chairs for very long as my ribs start to hurt)
do dishes
bath kids
vuccum floor
also have a dessert for Ian ready because he expects it every night.
try to get the kids to bed by 8:30pm (ians choice) 7:30pm (my choice, as I have been home all day with them). hem my aunties 10 pairs of pants up for her and fix the seam rips in my brother inlaws work pants.

sweet and sour meatballs with rice

02/01/2010
a success Ian loved them and asked for seconds.

meatballs

250g minced beef

500g sausage mince

1 carrot, grated

1/2 curry powder

2 tbl tomato sauce

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 egg

mix ingredients by hand and shape into 1 tsp size balls place on oven tray lined with baking paper and cook in a moderate oven for 15 minutes. place in saucepan with a 600g jar of sweet and sour sauce and cook until sauce just boils serve over a bedd of rice.

note: I added half a jar of water to the sauce as it was quite thick.

pancakes and bread starter

02/01/2010
we had pancake for lunch using my homemade instant pancake mix always fluffy and you have it stored in your cupboad for when ever you want quick pancakes and better still you know what is in them.

Instant Pancake Mix

2 tbl and 1tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbl castor sugar

4 cups Plain flour

1 cup powder milk

method

mix all ingredients together in an air tight container. label  and you have pancake mix for when you want.

to make up

1 1/4 cups pancake mix

3/4 cup water

1 egg

3 tsp melted butter

combine all ingredients until smooth

cook in an greased frying pan over medium heat until bubbles appear and edges have lost the wet look turn and cook fo a further 3 minutes and serve with maple syrup and bacon, or your choice of topping.

I have also started my own sour dough starter. this hopefully going well can last for years and has even been known to last centries all I have to do is remember to feed it and it should work

Sourdough starter

1 cup flour

1 cup of water

Day 1. mix together put in container and cover with a dump cloth.

Day 2. remove 1 cup and stir in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. cover again.

do this every 24 hours until the mix become bubbly after this place in the fridge and feed the same way once a week. a layer of dark liquid may appear on the surface and smell like beer ( do not drink) either pour of or stir back in depending on how wet the starter is.

will post recipe for sour dough bread when I make it.

01/01/2010
being the first day of the year we started it of with a clean house I always like it that way. I had awoken to the need to make some bread so this i what did I made. the bread ended up being a very sweet bread but it rose very well so next time I make it I will add less sugar overwise it was perfect. I tripled the ingredients and made 1 sandwhich loaf, 1 cob loaf and 12 samll bread rolls. I used the cob to make steak sandwiches for tea. this was really yummy too.

Amish White read

Ingredients

1 cup warm water

1/3 1/4 cup sugar

1 tbl dried yeast

2 tbl oil

3 cups bread flour

method

dissolve sugar in water ad mix in yeast, set in warm place for 15 mins or until frothy. add oil to yast mixture and add to flour in a large bowl. mix until combine and turn out onto floured board and knead for ten minutes place back in bowl and cover with oil cling wrap set in warm place for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size. punch back down and knead for a further 5 minutes. shape into loaf tin cover again and set in warm place for 20 minutes bake in a moderate oven for 35 minutes or until when tapped on bottom the loaf sounds hollow. cover with foil if loaf looks to be getting to brown on top. Remove fom loaf pan and cool on wire rack for 1 hour before slicing store plastic bag.

Welcome to my new blog. I am a mother of 3 adorable children, Chelsea 11yrs, Ethan 7yrs, and Jessicca 3 yrs. And I am a wife to Ian my very supporting husband. I live in Melbourne, Australia. I am 29yrs old turning 30 in April. I love being able to stay at home and take care of my family and my husband loves it too.

this my diary and I hope you find my blog both enjoyable and helpful and if you have any tips for me please feel free to share.

Thank you

Chantal