Mama's Place: Mama's Kitchen

Showing posts with label Mama's Kitchen. Show all posts

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Yummiest and SUPER easy Caramel Popcorn Recipe

So I kind of stumbled across a recipe for caramel popcorn and then tweaked it. This is a once-in-a-while-kind of treat!

Thought I'd share it here.

Make yourself some popcorn and put it all into a big bowl. We airpop ours in an airpopper that we got about 10 years ago and STILL love and use all the time. They cost about $15 from KMart or similar.

Once you have your popcorn (about a cups worth) then in a saucepan on the stove, you want to cook up the following on high heat:

5 tablespoons of nuttelex (or butter or marg)

1 cup of brown sugar

1 pinch salt

1 tablespoon water

Once that is mixed together well, take it off the heat and add a half teaspoon (or even less) of bicarb soda. Stir well and constantly for about a minute or so.

Pour over your pre-popped pocorn and mix through well.

Let it sit for a couple of minutes so you don't burn your tongue or pop it all onto a tray (with baking paper) and put it into the freezer and you'll get cooled candied caramel popcorn.

Whether you like it warm or cool, I still reckon you'll love this recipe!

Let me know if you make it, ok?

Lus x

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Homemade Paint

Yesterday for our crafternoon rhythm we made paint :)
I'd seen the recipe on Pinterest somewhere and had jotted it down.
I'd bought a yoghurt maker from Aldi that we tried to get to work several times....unsuccessfully! So instead we used the base to try and sprout beans and the lovely glass jars...well they were begging to be used to something a little pretty ;)

So doubling the original recipe, we came up the recipe above.

In went the cornflour, salt and sugar before the boys measured out the 4 cups of water...

...in goes the water...

...reading books while waiting is optional lol....

Liji getting in and having a stir...
{um love his little flour hand print on his behind! too cute!}

...it wasn't hot enough so we changed hot plates, increased the heat, kept stirring and all of a sudden it started to thicken!

Gooey!

We found and cleaned the jars...

...the kiddos added food colouring to their liking....

...and then whacked it into a jar...

Baby Zeeki who had refused to sleep most of the day, sat for about 2 mins happily eating his rusk before getting grumpy while we finished up putting them in jars!

Zippi decided she just couldn't wait to use some and made a lovely painting using left over paint that wouldn't fit into the jars...

Ah lovely thick globules of paint like this take me back to my own childhood preschool days!

Final step? Get as much of the paint as you can in your mouth, on your hands and your princess costume with white shirt... :-D

...and think pensively about how lovely your artwork looks.... lol!

So there you have it!
Our verdict? A great fun and creative activity that doesn't cost the earth.
Gotta love that ;)

More to come another time,
Lus x

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Another House Update and Some Perspective

Our computer is so super dodgy at the moment. Just shuts down at a moment's notice and basically is set on a course of meltdown in the not too distant future. This has put me off blogging along with the fact that our SD card reader is busted. My sil's camera takes a different type of card and that's why I can still update the house reno. Anyway, all that said, I miss being able to share pics of our fam as they happen but this season shall soon pass too! lol
In the meantime how about a quick house update?
Ok so since I last blogged here, Brett had to delay heading out to the house because I had a wisdom tooth pulled, that then turned into a bacterial infection, Ezekiel had an ear infection (his first one poor sausage) . We got through all of those things and so Brett went out to do more on the house and the second day he was gone...my back went.
Fully packed it in.
Praise God for His amazing provisions!
Neighbours and family from near and far came to help out; bringing meals, offers of help, wiping up, bathing kids, getting Zeeki in and out of his cot since I couldn't even do that. I fely completely helpless on my own, but with others around, we still got through a successful homeschooling week (our first one back for the year!)

So you'll remember our main bedroom originally looked like this...

...then last time I showed you it looked like this...

...and now it looks like this!
No joists or bearers at all, fireplace completely removed, all the dirt and debris shovelled out and taken away and most of the piers gone too.
The piers that are there need to be fixed and more need to be added so we bought a second hand (but in BRILLIANT condition) cement mixer this week!

This was repeated in most of the rooms. The other major job that Brett wanted to tackle this past week was to install a new damp course into the mortar to help combat the rising damp issue. Brett's dad is helping him learn so much about all this kind of stuff! They had to buy a special type of silicone and drill into the mortar every 10cm and then inject this silicone into the holes. It spreads to form a new damp course. It's expensive but was our best option in preventing the same damage from happening again...

And last time the fireplace in the learning room was uncovered...

Now it has been completely removed and again all the floor below the joists has been cleared and cleaned out properly now too!
Way to go my beautiful Brett, Poppy and Sulley as well!
You guys are doing amazing things!

Now onto the 'perspective' part of this post.
It's funny, well not ha ha kind of funny but you know funny weird, that most families we know who have a child on the Autism Spectrum go between various phases during their child's early life.
I don't have all the energy I need to blog about it all right now but I wanted to make a few small notes.
I've greived and now I've gotten busy!
We have mental health care plans drawn up now, referrals written and specialists ready and willing to help all booked in.
Yay!
We have resumed a regular rhythm for our learning and this has helped greatly!
I'm being very deliberate and specific about who and when people come to visit only out of complete necessity so that my two little people who struggle so greatly with change are able to cope at this unpredictable time when Daddy might be away and the house plans are a bit up in the air. Again, it seems to be helping!
I've decided (having been inspired by my lovely friend Donna!) to do a rotating menu plan. We are still chemical free (5 years now), Liji is lactose free (also 5 years), I am gluten free and all the family is back on low-moderate only salicylates except for Shabbat (sabbath) where I do a meal with a couple of *extra* high fruits/vegies thrown in. This is only a temporary measure and we hope to wean back on to regular fruits and vegies again soon after we've kind of 'reset' our systems again.
I have enjoyed looking back over the years over the various stages; challenges and highlights too, of our time on diets.

So I thought, purely for my own record, I would make note of our rotating fortnight. It's a temporary measure to once again help me stay on top of things when I am here being a single-parent, homeschooling and shopping with 5 kids while Brett works on our house. He's not gone every week but for when he is away, this works FABULOUSLY for us!

So here is my Week 1 Dinner Menu:
{nb: all the food photos below are from my archives!}

Monday: Vegie & Rice Noodle Stir Fry
Main Ingredients are: Carrots, Celery, Red Cabbage, Shallots, Garlic, Water Chestnuts, Cashews (when tolerated) and Tamari

{at the moment we can't have capsicum - a high salicylate- as featured in this photo but we are hoping to be able to again sometime soon!}

Tuesday: Beef & Barley casserole in the Slow Cooker
(Old slow cooker book page 21)

Wednesday: Frozen Fish (Skinless NZ Hokki from Aldi) with homemade potato wedges/gems or mash

Thursday: Gluten Free Vegie Frittata
Main Ingredients are: Eggs, Rice Flour, Grated Carrots, peas, Zucchini (high sal), cheese, garlic
To mine I also add some cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and various herbs
(Recipe from the Gluten Free 4 Ingredients book pg 171 - the BEST frittata recipe I've ever used!)

{at present we have to have ours without the tomatoes since they are very high in salicylates; a natural chemical found present in various levels of all fruits and vegetables. Most people are not intolerant to them however, if you are and come off them, it can really help! Well that's generally been our experience. This time round I'm not 100% sure but we are still hanging in there with them.}

Friday: Slow Cooker whole chook then shredded and eaten on rice wraps
Other than the chicken and wraps, the main ingredients are homemade lacto-fermented sauerkraut, lettuce, cheese, carrots (mod salicylate) and a few slices of cucumber (again high salicylate)

Saturday is our family's day of rest and is the only day I plan to do two special meals;
Saturday (Shabbat) lunch:
Baked Rice
(Gluten Free 4 Ingredients book)

Shabbat Dinner:
Sclow cooker Roast Beef with oven roasted Safe Vegies

{delicious oven baked potatoes}
Sunday:
Baked Pumpkin and Beetroot Risotto
Main Ingredients are: Butternut pumpkin (moderate salicylate) and beetroot along with aborio rice and chicken stock

{old photo. Looks much more appetising when you have beetroot and pumpkinnd a little fresh parsley with it!}
Week 2 Dinner Menu

Monday: Italian Soup Mix in the Slow Cooker served with homemade crusty garlic bread

Tuesday: Beef Satay in the Slow Cooker with rice
(Recipe in our Family Recipe Planner)

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Rice Pasta and Vegie soup
(Newer s/c bk Page 39)

Thursday: Slow Cooker Oriental Chicken
(Old s/c bk pg 64)

Friday: Slow Cooker Autumn Bounty
(Old s/c bk pg 111)

Shabbat Lunch: Bean Nachos
(a very high salicylate meal and therefore MASSIVE treat for us all to look forward to!)

Shabbat Dinner: Slow Cooker Savoury Mince with Gluten free rice pasta/spaghetti or plain rice

Sunday: Pancakes served with 100% maple syrup, soy icecream, safe fruits
(Recipe found in our Family Recipe Planner)

Anyway, gotta fly but basically am feeling much more optimistic, hopeful and refreshed this week.

5 things I am thankful for today:

1. Sunshine after so much rain! Time to have together in a park :)
2. All the help we've recieved recently from SO many people! Truly thankful for each and every person.
3. A card, gift and chat with my beautiful treasure of a friend Kaz D.
4. That even after a hard day, there is always a fresh beginning each morning
5. A dose of perspective. When those around you are doing it tougher than you are in a vartiey of ways, it really makes you stop and think and helps you to count your blessings. It puts it all in perspective.

Today sweet Sebby would have been 5 months old.
My heart ached for Natti today.
Just wanted to make note of that too.

Well, more to come another time soon.
Love to you and yours, my friends in blogland!

Ps: Neen, if you are reading this, you've been on my mind heaps. Will try calling this week. xo

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Some shots from around here that I haven't posted recently but wanted to share!

Picking greens from the garden which we've been either juicing in the mornings or eating with dinner at night...

Brett *wearing* Zeeki whilst watering the garden...

the necklace we got for Hazel which spells her name in Hebrew...

Cooking Ratatouille for dinner (yummo!)...

Oh our quirky little Zippi girl *reading* in the sun. She has her dummy stuffed up against her nose like this all the time. She is obsessive about this (and many other things actually but that's a whole nother story!) and it is one way that calms her down...

My mum and dad stayed here recently. Gosh they are gorgeous.
Anyway, here they are cuddling Zeeki...

We had a celebration this week (more on this soon!) and mum and dad were here with us for it which was extra special. We had gluten free pizza (for me) and other *safe* pizza for everyone else...

And one more of Brettsky and Zeeki just because I love this shot :)

More another time,

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Some of the Things I Will Remember that Happened During this Pregnancy...

* I thankfully celebrated 6 years being in remission from having ITP- IMMUNE THROMBOCYCTOPENIA PURPURA and also 6 years since having had a splenectomy.

* We enjoyed our first Shabbat fellowship gathering in our home...

* We celebrated Family Party Day 2011 by going Go-Karting at Eastern Creek...

* We farewelled and celebrated the life of Brett's Aunt which was cut way too short by cancer.

* We went to the beach...

* We started our 3rd year of our learning-at-home journey!

* We enjoyed swimming at the local pool...

* Stass celebrated her 9th birthday...

* The kids wanted to be signed up for golf which they did for a term...

* I got to hang out lots with our wonderful midwife and precious friend Hazel...

* I went on my first Torah Ladies Retreat and LOVED it!

* I ate some weird but mostly healthy pregnancy foods including pickled ginger, stuffed chilli and garlic olives (ahem not to mention chocolate, icecream and homemade biscuits!!! lol!)...

I went on the OUTSIDE of Centrepoint Tower in Sydney with my dad when I was 15 weeks pregnant doing the glass bottom walk!

* We got a family pass to see 4 Sydney attractions...
Centrepoint Tower...

Sydney Aquarium with my folks (and Sydney Wildlife World)...

...And Manly Underwater World which we visited with Brett's lovely parents and sis...

These were all great places to visit!

* During this pregnancy we also:

Had a crack at making our own paper...

...and helped my parents pack up the last of their family home of 30 + years...

...it was very emotional saying goodbye to this house that I grew up in...

* I made my own deoderant for the first time...

* My spunky hubby celebrated his 35th birthday...

* We had a 'tree-party' and the kids discussed ways they wished to be involved in the birth...

* We found our new fave walking track...

* We set up the girls' new bunks...

* After my beautiful parents stayed with us for quite some time, we said goodbye as they moved 7 hours away from here...sniff sniff...

* We narrowly escaped damage to the house in one of the worst local storms this area has seen for many years...

* We learnt about the ANZACS for the first time on ANZAC day...

* We farwelled a dear friend of ours before she embarked on a big journey south where she desires to serve God...

* I took the kids by myself to a playland as a treat after Brett had a heap of dental work done so he could sleep all day...

* I got my mandolin!!!

* We had 3 ultrasounds; one at 6, 12 and the other at 20 weeks where we found out we would be adding another prince to our arrows!

* I made whey, cream cheese and sauerkraut for the first time thanks to my friend Channi's encouragement!

* We started getting clothes ready for our little one...

* We had some fab autumn leaf fights...

* I tried to get a little more organised with our Family Recipe Planner and our General Family Planner...

* I kissed my Grandma goodbye for the very last time before she passed away...

* My back gave me a fair bit of grief and so I became very thankful for:
1. My AWESOME chiropractor!
2. My walking cane
3. My back belt
By about week 35, the sciatic pain was beginning to shift and by week 37, was gone!
Praise Yah!

* We had a blast celebrating Yah's Set-Apart Feast Days of:
Passover & Unleavened Bread...

along with First Fruits...

and Pentecost. My parents were able to join us for all these feasts this year which was incredibly special for us and them...

* I made a couple of other things for the first time too including tangerine marmalade, a flourless chocolate cake, macaroons and green tomato chutney...