If I had my child to raise over again.....

If I had my child to raise over again

If I had my child to raise over again,

I'd finger-paint more and point the finger less.

I'd do less correcting and more connecting.

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes,

I would care to know less and know to care more.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious and seriously play.

I'd run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

I would be firm less often and affirm much more.

I'd build self esteem first and the house later.

I'd teach less about the love of power and more about the power of love.

                                                                    By Diana Loomans

Such a profound poem isn't it? Easy words, hard to live. I'm printing it out as a reminder of living in each moment.

Ciao, Jan

Break up with the supermarket ~ week 3 down!

Phew, its been a busy few days, after a lovely weekend with friends which involved lots of eating, talking and drinking and eating some more, I then headed to the big smoke for an appointment, so I apologise for the tardiness of this weeks wrap up of the supermarket break up.

Guess what.......I'm afraid to say I failed! But I have a very good excuse.  One was hubby was home doing the groceries as I was away and he went to Coles (for the record Coles are the only store that stock his beloved daily addiction to Hoyts hot chillies, he did go to IGA looking for them too so at least he tried!!) But he also went to Woolies,  traiter but I still love him.  My fail was I couldn't stand the thought of eating from the train food kiosk for my 3 hour journey and wanting to save a buck so I went into the Woolies at Southern Cross Station.  Seriously this store is a supermarketers marketing wet dream.  Just the ticket for travellers.  Lots of salads, tubs of great yoghurts, hot soup urns, fruit, free plastic cutlery. So after a foodie heaven few days and my jeans reminding me of it, I settled on a tub of greek yoghurt, a banana and a packet of cheese and bikkies for my train dinner all for a tidy $5.80.  So am I forgiven....I thought so.

Due to visitors and not being home for a days, meals out and the like, this weeks shopping dollars aren't a real summary but I'll tell you anyway,  $270  which was from hubbies trips, Aldi and the fruiterer where he got me in a box of organic apples that I'm splitting with 3 other familys.  It worked out to be $18.50 for roughly 2.75kg's which is, if you do the math, only $6.70 a kilo, very reasonable I think considering last week I paid $4.99 a kilo for 'normal' pink lady apples.  So if you are in my neck of the woods and want to do the same, either hook up with me via email or my facebook page and I'll split them with you or even better, call Materias and ask for Mario, he'll sort you out, just be prepared to get it by the box.  And let me tell you, they are fantastic, sweet, crisp, juicy and appley, like straight off a tree.

How did you go this week? One week to go!

Ciao, Jan

homemade green cleaners

A few weeks ago, I swear I did serious harm to my lungs cleaning the shower.  The fumes I was ingesting as I was trying to holding my breath, counting to ten then leaving for 5 minutes so the chemical smell was gone to start the ritual all over again, its disgusting and I've had enough. I've been thinking about making some of my own cleaners as all this reading about a simpler life has lead me to read some really easy recipes.  Just put lemon cleaner or green cleaner into pinterest and see for yourself.  I tossed my bathroom mould cleaner as I'd had enough of coughing up a lung, and seeing as my orange anti-bacteria spray is almost all gone,  there's no time like the present.  

So to clean my shower now I'm using bi-carb soda mixed with water to a paste consistency and use either an old toothbrush or scrubbing brush and put in some elbow grease and rinse well.  I couldn't believe how wonderful this worked on my silver shower taps especially, you could see your self in them.  Although it wasnt a pretty sight, I have been doing this before my shower, and it doesn't take too long.

Some of you will be thinking the next time you see me I will be wearing tie dyed hippy pants and will have grown underarm hair, but I assure you its still the old me, I'm just on a steep learning curve and I'm an avid student!

I was given a gorgeous haul of lemons, oh how I'm blessed with true friends, so started the process straight away.  This recipe is the for a lemon all purpose spray however you can use any citrus peels like orange or grapefruit.  Great to use on your benches and stove tops, to wipe over the toilet, bathroom handbasin but don't use in on marble bench tops  if you are lucky enough to have them!

All you needed is some lemon peel (off around 3 good sized lemons), white vinegar, a jar or bottle with a lid and time.  Really? Thats it? Yep too easy campezy.  For the meagerly price of around $1 you can probably make around 500mls of spray, that's a win right there.  Try $4-$7 for the supermarket variety.  Don't forget to keep your original supermarket branded spray bottle, you may as well use it rather than toss it out saving you buying a new spray bottle, just give it a good hot wash.  You can also put aside a jar for orange peels you may collect over the week, then at the end of the week do the same.  I was too impatient and peeled the lemons straight away, but I have saved the juice to use as the week goes by, in a recipe or two, or I could freeze the juice in iceblocks to use later down the frugile road.

Let the peel and vinegar infuse for 2-3 weeks, so you do need to be a bit ahead of the game, then strain into a spray bottle and dilute it 50-50 with either water or vinegar and away you go!! Great for bench tops, stove tops or any general cleaning really.  N.B. I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago and since then I've also made a citrus blend, using orange peel and lemon peel.  The first batch should be ready next week!!

Do any of you use your own cleaners?

Ciao, Jan

A prayer for the kitchen...Amen

Thanks Marse for allowing me to reproduce your kitchen prayer, I love it!

Ciao, Jan

Break up with the supermarket ~ week 2 down!!

Well, well well....I'm here to tell you that this week has been a breeze.  Not a big boy in sight, hooray!!! I'm feeling very smug and quietly satisfied.  If you want to read about the start of the challenge you can do that here, and a bit more about it here and about the results of week one here. Its not too late to start, join me and see for yourself. 

So, how did my shopping experience and dollars fair this week? I'm actually shocked with the outcome. I've in the past fallen victim to the regime of doing the shopping on a certain day, so when that day rolls round I, thoughtlessly, would just go and shop.  Wasting money along the way.  I'm not sure why with this challenge that desire has ceased.  But it has.  I shopped at IGA and the fruit shop on Sunday this week.  Not only is the parking free (tight arse aren't I) but it was quiet.  IGA I noticed has soothing music piped in while you shop, Norah Jones and Hooty and the Blowfish got me in a zen like trance.  I also found at the entrance, a local smart saver newspaper for our area advertising coupons and deals from local retailers, this would NEVER have been at the big boys front door, that's probably why I've never seen it, but I used a coupon at Bakers Delight and saved $4 on what should have been a $10 purchase.  At the local fruit shop, Materias, I asked about the chance of getting organic fruit in.  The owner and I had a great discussion about it and I mention the blog, my facebook page and this challenge.  If I can get a hold of some others in my community that want the organic produce, he will source it for me, by the box only and I'd happily split it. So I've put the call out, will see if anyone out there wants to walk the talk with me.  I only spent $225 this week, thats $120 down from last week, and I even added to my stockpile and some more organice products.

A sign my mum gave me this week,
she must be reading my blog!

I've also cut up my rewards card from Woolies, I don't need it any more and after reading this thought provoking post from Jo at down to earth mother, their fate was sealed.  Such a shame as I'd just seen yet another email from them, telling me to shop up to get $40 cash to spend at Christmas ...what was the catch? Well I only had to spend $200 every week for 3 weeks, so $600, to get it. Let me do a comparison for you.  If I use the bakers delight coupon as an example, I will save $40 by only spending $100 over 10 weeks at Bakers Delight using the coupon I used there today.  I just saved myself $500!! They ended by telling me it was just another way that Woolworths is helping Aussie families save every day...may I just add there is never a mention of the poor Aussie farmers they are ripping off every day.  Clever marketing you may think, I think its a disgrace.

It's looking like the break up is serious now and there's a song that keeps creeping into my mind...Now you're just some body that I use to know.  

Ciao, Jan

melt in your mouth whole roasted beef scotch fillet

It was our wedding anniversary over the weekend, we its actually today but thats a work day and thats no fun!  Instead of going out we decided on  roasting a whole piece of scotch fillet. I grabbed as many of the herbs in the garden that stand up to cooking, like rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano and roughly chopped them up along with a few crushed cloves of garlic, a good glug of evoo, salt and plenty of black pepper.  Into a bowl it all went for a good half an hour, sitting on the bench.  Large pieces of meat like this really benefit from sitting out of the fridge but only for 30 minutes, think food hygeine/danger zone here.

I whacked the oven up to 240c for 20 minutes, then turned it down to 200c and put the meat in.  It was 1.6kgs and took around 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach 70 degrees on my meat thermometre.  It was cooked med-wellish, I'd prefer it a bit pinker, say 65 degrees, but you have to compromise with your loved ones!

I did it like I roast all my meat, over a wire rack with water underneath, it collects all the juices and you are left with a lovely stock you can use for gravy to serve with it or for another day.  Just make sure you drain it into a jug, put in the freezer for an hour or so and then skimm off the fat that will rise to the top.  You can throw this fat out, or keep it for your next batch of roasted vegies.

We had freshly dug spuds from the garden made into chippies cooked with some fresh rosemary.

Teamed with a simple garden salad of rocket, chickpeas, garden peas, fetta and walnuts, a delicious bottle of red wine, it was a wonderful anniversary dinner that I'll remember for years to come.  I will be making this again, I have an uncle who would die for beef, I think I might become the golden niece with this recipe!

We didn't exchange any gifts this year either, I asked hubby to humour me, and we exchanged an 'appreciation' letter to each other, and let me tell you it was a wonderful gift to receive and it didn't cost a cent.  

Ciao, Jan

The generosity of strangers

Last week I was reading a blog called through my kitchen window which is a lovely food/life blog if you want to check it out, filled with some lovely recipes and gorgeous photography....Anyway, Mariana was offering some books as a give away to anyone who wanted them.  I looked, and then looked again and quickly typed excitedly which books I'd love. I really wanted all of them but that was just plain greedy.  And look what arrived today, with a little card with some lovely words. I was truly thrilled, and touched by the generosity of a perfect stranger, thank you Mariana!

So my dear readers, that's my feel good tale.

Now what I'd like to do is to pay that forward....I've got a pile of Delicious magazines sitting here gathering dust that are a wonderful foodie read with beautiful articles and recipes that I'm offering up to someone, anyone who would like them.  I don't want money for postage, there is no catch, the only stipulation is its for Australian readers only, sorry!  Leave me a message and they are yours, first in best dressed!! Although, I've probably got enough for 2 bundles.....

Ciao, Jan