Category Archives: Homemaking

A Blast from the Past

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Last week I had lunch at a local cafe and I chose a salmon and dill tart which was listed as gluten-free.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the base was actually rice!  I remembered a long-forgotten recipe which I used to make that was exactly the same except mine used tuna rather than salmon.

You could use any variation of a quiche filling that you wish but this is the idea for the base which is simple and gluten-free.

A quantity of cooked rice – about 1 – 1.5 cups and 1 well-beaten egg.  Stir the egg into the hot rice and press into a pie/flan dish.  Chill until firm then fill and bake as per any quiche recipe.

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No Visible Change

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I have finally made it to my sewing room and done a small project.

This is one of 4 dresses that I own which are all the same style.

They are perfect in every way – except one.  The do not have any pockets.

001I have another dress that I bought recently and to my delight it has 2 large set-in pockets which are really handy but totally invisible.  This made me realise that it would be a simple project to add pockets to the existing dresses.

The first pocket is done and I am very happy with the result.

002Here is a view looking into the pocket.

003Finally, this is the inside of the dress.

004While this may not be feasible in a tight, fitted dress it is certainly easy in a dress with some fullness below the waistline.

I wear these dresses to work and as I am in an open office I tend to listen to music with earphones on my iPod.  I can leave the iPod on the desk but it is much easier to have it in my pocket so that it comes with me whenever I jump up from the desk to go to the printer/photocopier etc.  Handy to pop a handkerchief in, too.

Do you look for pockets in garments?

Bulk Cooking

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Since there are only 2 of us to cook for, I do not prepare huge quantities of food but it is nice to have a few meals planned and prepared.  The other factor that influences my decision is that I prefer to use the oven efficiently when it is turned on.

Yesterday I sorted out what was lurking in the freezer and decided that this week we would eat what I could make using freezer and pantry ingredients.  I should really only need to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables.

I started by making gluten-free pizza bases.  I par-cook these in the oven then freeze them for later use.

Here they are ready to freeze.  I have some old cereal packets which I use to separate the bases when they go in the freezer.

002It is simply a matter of adding the toppings and cooking in the bench-top pizza-maker.

005Next, I decided to make some gluten-free muffins which turned out to quite acceptable using a standard recipe and simply substituting gluten-free flour.  I made 2 batches – orange, walnut and sultanas in one and the other were banana, walnut and mixed spice.  The catalyst for these were the sad looking banana that I rescued from the fridge at work on Friday and some orange pulp I found in my freezer.

004At the same time I made some gluten-free wraps for lunches.

003These are cooked in a hot, dry frying pan and can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

A pack of sausages which had been left in the freezer by our house-sitters were grilled and sliced then made into a sausage casserole which made 4 serves.

005I usually cook a bulk amount of dried red kidney beans in the slowcooker and freeze them in portions ready to use.  I found a pack in the freezer as well as a pack of diced beef so I put them in the slowcooker with frozen cherry tomatoes from last season, frozen diced onion and some spices to make 4 serves of chilli beef.  That bubbled along all day while I was doing the other cooking.

So, I have the basis of 15 serves of dinners, 6 serves of lunches and 20 muffins.

Do you cook more than one meal at a time?  A big occasional cook-up, perhaps?

Red, Recycled & Revamped

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It is definitely spring-cleaning time and it seems that many of us are taking a long, hard look at what is in the wardrobe.

i 001This is a gorgeous, lightweight trenchcoat that my sister retrieved from her wardrobe recently.  She offered it to me as she admitted that it was really a bit too big for her and she had never felt entirely comfortable with it.  The coat fits me perfectly and being the perfect shade of red made it doubly attractive.

She did point out that the buttons on one sleeve had been damaged with one completely missing and the other one broken in half.

i 002I went to Lincraft in the city today and found some buttons to replace them with.

i 003They are the same size and style as the originals but are plain red rather than a variegated red/black as the others are.  I am going to replace all 4 buttons on the sleeves and while they will be slightly different to the ones on the front opening, I don’t think that is going to matter.

I am looking forward to doing the necessary repairs so that this coat is ready to be a really useful addition to my wardrobe.

This is the sort of positive story that is happening every day when you choose to let go of things that are not quite right and languishing in the cupboard.  There is someone out there for whom it will be perfect.  They may be a family member, an op shopper or someone looking on eBay or even a Facebook Buy, Swap, Sell page.

The Cupboard was Bare – Not Really

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We arrived home early this morning after an overnight flight from Singapore.  I had pretty well cleared out the refrigerator before we left and shopping was the last thing on my mind this morning.  The house-sitters had bought fresh milk for us and GMan made a loaf of bread.

This afternoon I began to think about what we might have for dinner and I really was not in the right frame of mind to go grocery shopping shopping so I decided to make do with what we had on hand.  There were sausages in the freezer as well as some pre-cooked rice and diced raw onion.

I grilled the sausages and then sliced them up. Next, I fried the onion in the pan, added 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder, sliced celery (from the garden) and a broccoli stalk which was also lurking in the freezer.  A can of tomatoes and 5 olives which was all that was left from a jar in the frig completed the sauce.  I added the thawed rice and sliced sausages and heated the mixture before putting it in a Pyrex dish.

2015-09-13 01I topped it with a mixture of grated cheddar and parmesan cheese mixed with flaxseed meal and ground pepitas and popped it under the grill for a few minutes.

2015-09-13 02Since we had not bought any fruit and vegetables today,  I served it with a generous helping of kale from the garden which I chopped and stir-fried with a sprinkle of chilli powder and squeeze of lime juice.

GMan and I ate one half of this tonight and the other half has been divided into 3 serves for my lunches this week.

Tracking 2015 – August

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Another month has flown by and time to review what we spent.

BudgetingJanuary – $5,144.53
February – $1,783.49
March – $4,350.56
April – $2,385.31
May – $5,961.54
June – $2,939.07
July – $3,537.09
August – $3,601.19

I was a little surprised at how much we spent this month but when I examined the categories it was interesting to note that ‘House & Garden’ which is often a substantial amount was only $24.50 in August.  However, we made up for it in other ways – routine service for the car, major dental work for GMan, new sandals for Gman, a couple of items of clothing for me and a bulk purchase of dog food.  We also had visitors and so naturally we spent more on entertaining and also petrol but I would not have it any other way.

The average monthly discretionary spending for the first 8 months of the year is $3712.

September will be an interesting month for spending as we are heading to Singapore for a week during the month.  Airfares, accommodation and travel insurance have all been accounted for earlier in the year so our spending will be limited to transport, food, admission costs and anything that we buy while we are there.  More on that at the end of the month.

A New Recipe

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It is not very often that I come across a recipe that is not just a simple variation of something I already make.  However, here is one I came across from ‘Christine’ on Simple Savings.  I don’t know what the origin of the recipe is.

007It was so good that I did not even have a chance to photograph it before we served up our dinner.

This is exactly as Christine presented the recipe.  I made a few minor adjustments and will continue to do so but more of that in another post.

BEAN & BROCCOLI LASAGNE
Lasagne sheets
Bean Sauce (see below)
Cheese Sauce (see below)
250g frozen broccoli or equivalent fresh (I use fresh & steam it a little)
90g matured cheddar cheese, grated
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
½ cup light sour cream

Lightly butter a 20cm square casserole dish
Lay sheets of pasta on base and cover with half bean sauce
Spread half cheese sauce evenly over bean sauce
Chop broccoli into pieces and place on top of cheese sauce
Cover with another layer of lasagne
Spread with remaining bean sauce then cheese sauce
Top with final layer of pasta
Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese, then with parmesan cheese
Bake, uncovered 180 deg C for 20 minutes
Drizzle sour cream over top and bake a further 10-15 mins or until golden brown
Stand 10 minutes before cutting & serving

Bean Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
125g mushrooms, sliced
1 x 440g can red kidney beans, drained
Salt & pepper to taste
½ tsp oregano
1 x 425g tomato puree

Melt butter, add onion, garlic and sliced mushrooms.
Saute gently for 3-4 mins
Add beans, salt & pepper, oregano & tomato puree
Bring to boil the simmer 10 mins or until slightly thickened

Cheese Sauce:
2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp plain flour
Salt & pepper
Pinch nutmeg
500ml skim milk
100g matured cheddar cheese, grated

Melt butter, add flour, salt, pepper & nutmeg and blend until smooth
Allow to cook 2 mins
Remove from heat and blend in milk
Return to heat, stirring constantly until sauce boils & thickens
Reduce heat and cook 1 minute
Remove from heat and stir in cheese

Have you ever seen this or a similar recipe?  What do you think?

Some Sewing

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You may remember that earlier this year I ran a series of posts titled “Sew My Stash Sunday”.  Well I have finally got back to my sewing room and continuing to sort and cull.  Of course, I did not get too far as I was inspired to actually sew.  I have made 2 little t-shirts (Size 1) from a piece of fabric that I found last week when helping my mother sort through some excess fabric.  I just have to put the ribbed neckbands on and they will be complete.  There was some blue ribbing that was with the fabric so that is what I will use.

008Next, I found a couple of pieces of fleece and have cut out some tracksuit pants.

009The black ones are a size 2 and the red spotted ones are a size 6.  The spotted fabric would not be my first choice for tracksuit pants but it was a piece leftover from a dressing gown I made for my grand-daughter a few years ago.  They might make a snug pair of pyjama bottoms that will keep someone warm.

That is a couple more pieces of material gone from my pile and hopefully will be of use to someone.

Never-Ending

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Even though I have consistently decluttered for several years there are always random things that elude several attempts.

031These 3 little bottles of food colouring were in my pantry until tonight.  I have overlooked them each time I have cleaned out my pantry.  Tonight I opened the wire drawer to get out black pepper to season our dinner and saw these bottles of food colouring with fresh eyes.  I do not use it in any baking and it is a long time since I have made play dough or anything else that I may wish to colour so they went straight in the bin.  The fact that all of the “ingredients” are numbers made me even more certain that there is no way that I would ever use them again.

What have you decluttered lately?  Anything that should have been binned a long time previously?

Home-made Hummus

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I was recently reading a discussion about home-made hummus and what constituted the perfect result.  I realised that I was unable to contribute very little to the discussion as I do not usually measure any of the ingredients as it is all done by taste.

When I made another batch I was careful to measure the ingredients and write down the method and here it is.

HUMMUS

1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas
3 cloves garlic (roasted)
1 large lemon (zest and juice)
60ml olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 heaped tablespoon peanut paste

Cover the chickpeas with 4 cups boiling water and soak for 4 hours.  Drain chickpeas, place in saucepan and add fresh water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours or until tender.  Drain chickpeas and place in blender/food processor with garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest and oil and blend until smooth.  Add spices and peanut paste and blend.  If mixture is too thick add a little water or more oil/lemon juice if you prefer.

NOTES:  I always roast the garlic as I found the flavour is sweeter and more subtle.  I use about 1/4 cup lemon juice which is the yield from 1 of our lemons.  The peanut paste is used instead of tahini which I do not particularly like.  I use one made from freshly ground peanuts with no additives.  The salt is important to release the other flavours.  I use pink Himalayan salt.  Although I make my hummus using dried chickpeas you could also use canned chickpeas.  You would probably need 2 cans for the quantity in the recipe.

There is no right or wrong way to make hummus – it really is a matter of personal taste.

Dried chickpeas

001Chickpeas soaking

002Chickpeas ready to cook

005The final result

009This recipe makes a substantial quantity.  It keeps quite well in the fridge for a week or can be frozen.

Do you make hummus?  Any personal tips or tricks?