Thursday, June 28, 2012

New Job!

It feels like the last month or so has gone by in a blur. I've been dealing with the transition of moving from a that job I love to an exciting job that I hope to love just as much; particularly sleepless children and everything else! Meanwhile poor Stuart has been trying to finish his 20,000 word dissertation.

Saying goodbye to Credo has been sad, I had a fun lunch with staff and a goodbye 'moment' at the Credo Partners jazz night. It was awesome to see 'old' grads from when I was a student to recent grads from the last few years. Thanks everyone who came and said goodbye and thank you!

Working for Barneys has been hectic, after 3 weeks of only working one day a week there is a backlog of stuff that I feel like I haven't caught up on because there's always new stuff to do! Add to that the general challenge of learning new things and moving our services to a brand new building, it's no wonder I collapse in a heap after the boys are put to bed.

If only they would stay in bed...

Aston and Stuart rehearsing with the band in the new Barneys building

Zachariah exploring mummy's new office

 

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks

We celebrated the Queen's birthday public holiday by doing lots of cooking. Aston and I made "pink cupcakes with hundreds and thousands on them" (by request) and I took advantage of a day at home to do some slow cooking. 

I was going to use the slow cooker but Stuart suggested using the oven in an effort to heat up the house on a cold and rainy day.

The original inspiration for this recipe comes from my friend Jodi at Little Foodie Steps. I didn't have all the ingredients so made some substitutions, I wasn't sure it would work but it did and it was yummy! Aston ate it all up without stopping for breath and Zachariah enjoyed munching on the soft vegies and lamb. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo so you'll just have to imagine what it looked like.

Ingredients:

  • 2 lamb shanks (these were almost 1kg in weight and not trimmed or trendily cut in anyway)
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 tsps minced garlic
  • Cumin (ground)
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 2 tins water (I used the tomato tin)
  • A swede chopped into 2cm cubes
  • 4 small potatoes chopped in quarters (I left the skin on)
  • 2 carrots sliced
  • a couple of handfuls of red lentils
  • Salt & pepper
Preheat the oven to 125C

Coat the lamb shanks in cumin, rub and let rest while you fry the onions and garlic. I used a pot that can go on the stove as well as in the oven, if I was using the slow cooker I would fry on the stove and then shove everything into the pot.

Add the lamb shanks, turn to brown all sides and then add the tomatoes and water. Throw in the vegies and lentils, season to taste and let it simmer for a little bit and then put in the oven.

I cooked it for about 4 hours and stirred it twice in that time. You can leave it for as long as you like once the meat and vegies are tender (just make sure it doesn't dry out). If using a slow cooker I would put it on auto for 4-6 hours or high for 2 hours and then low for 2-4 hours.