I "Heart" My Slow Cooker

This is my slow cooker, it was a wedding present that sat in it's box for about five years before I decided to give it a go. I used it once or twice but didn't really get into the groove until this year.

I love being able to prepare and throw all the ingredients into the pot in the morning (or the night before!), and know that at dinner time it will be sitting there ready to eat. You can even leave the slow cooker on while you are out.

So far I have cooked: roast lamb and vegies; dhal, chilli con carne; vegetable soup; braised chicken; and spicy carrot and pumpkin soup (pictured). For most of these I haven't really followed a recipe, I usually do a google search, read a few recipes online or from my cookbooks and then combine them to end up with the finished result. This has worked most of the time. Unfortunately this means I can't always reproduce something I have made before. I think I need to start writing down what I do.

One of the advantages of using google to find recipes is being able to do a search based on the ingredients you have in the fridge or cupboard and ending up with a yummy meal at the end!

If I am organised the next time I cook something yummy in my slow cooker I will post a recipe for you to try too. And if you have any good slow cooker recipes, feel free to share!

No!

Testing the video feature on my BlogPress app...

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2011 So Far

It has been quite a while since I last blogged. Life has been pretty busy, and my laptop screen has died which has been extremely inconvenient.

I'm writing this on my iPhone using a wireless keyboard. It's rather weird because my phone is about a metre away from me charging on the kitchen bench while I am sitting typing at the kitchen table.

The main reason for my lack of blogging is our new 2011 routine, Stuart started a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning this semester which he really enjoys (yay!) and I am now working 3 days a week. I really don't know how families survive with two full time working parents, the two of us are 'working' part time and it feels like every day is an effort.

I was at Credo's Easter Conference (ETC) over the long weekend - there were some amazing talks on "the End" by Murray Smith, it was exciting to look towards the New Creation and know that we are part of it now through Jesus' death and resurrection.

ETC was followed by a few days off, mostly just hanging out at home, doing a bit of shopping and yesterday we took Aston to the Powerhouse Museum. There was lots of fun stuff for him to do and he had heaps of fun!

I'm really not looking forward to getting back into it on Monday

However it's not all bad, I am constantly amazed at how good God has been to us. After a year of being unemployed, Stuart is doing something he enjoys and that will hopefully help get a job he enjoys. I love working with Credo and an extra day a week is not painful at all - the extra money has been helpful too. We both get to see Aston when he is awake and spend one-one time with him and God has provided some amazing friends who love looking after Aston on Mondays - he loves them too!

The manic rushing around will be over soon, only two more months until the end of semester and my maternity leave. Hopefully I'll have a month of rest before baby number 2 arrives, and then a new type of craziness will begin!




Aston and Stuart at The Powerhouse museum

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Blue Drum Cake!

Fish Care Fail!

You may remember this little guy, I wrote about him here. Today I noticed he was missing and realised I haven't seen him in the tank for quite a while.

Hopefully he has been abducted by aliens who are taking good care of him.

However it is much more likely that he died, got tangled in the plant and I just didn't notice. I feel quite guilty and sad about that.

Greenkids

We use cloth nappies, at the moment only for sleep times - yay but when the new baby comes the box of nappies will be unearthed from the garage and put to good use again.

Our favourite nappies are Greenkids and they are having a sale 20% off storewide! Check them out!

Aston in his Greenkids Froggy Funtime nappy

Pottering and Prayerletters

I've been tweaking a few bits and pieces on my blog, finished labeling all my posts and added a countdown widget for the new baby.

It's been fun looking back over the things I've written in the past - feel free to do some browsing yourself.

For those of you interested in current news here is my most recent prayerletter - I would love you to read it even if you are not a praying person.

A fun picture to make this post a bit more exciting!

What I Write About

This week I have been adding labels to my blog posts. I'm not sure why I haven't been doing it until now. In the label cloud on the right you can see all the different topics I have written about over the past few years.

I haven't finished yet, I'm up to 2008... I was surprised that I have only written 151 blog posts in the last 4 years but it is taking a very long time to label them all!

Competition

I do like a good competition, here's one run by my friend Erin, check it out:

mama who mops


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Bye Bye Nappies!

Yesterday we put most of Aston's nappies in a box and now he wears Big Boy Undies!

We had talked about it for a few days, he was quite keen on the idea of getting rid of the nappies but as I placed the box on top of my wardrobe there were a few tears.

Day one wasn't too bad, there were a few accidents, lots of trips to the potty with no results and one decent wee... I think he still needs some practice but that's ok

We attempted toilet training a few weeks ago and at this stage I was quite discouraged. Since then I've read "The No Cry Potty Training Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. She says learning to go to the toilet is like any other skill, you wouldn't expect a baby to know how to walk perfectly after one day so why expect him to know how to use the potty perfectly after one or even three days?

It makes perfect sense and I don't know why I expected Aston to unlearn almost 2 years of nappy training in a just few days!

So, here we are again, there may be wet undies and wet floors but day by day Aston is learning more and more!




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Apologies to those who read the last post while it was formatted wrong. It's fixed now!

Playdough!

1.5 cups of flour and 0.5 cup salt












Mix together












Add 0.5 tablespoon of oil












Some water












Food colouring












Mix and knead to form a soft dough











Play with dough!

What do you do with Christmas leftovers?

Make turkey pies!




First, cut/pull/chew most of the turkey meat off the carcass. Put the bones, some carrots, celery, onion, garlic, salt and pepper in a big pot, cover with water, then boil with the lid on for half a day.

Strain the mixture, throw out the chunky bits and put the liquid in the fridge until you are ready to make pie.

To make pie:
Fry chopped onion in a pan, push it to one side and melt some butter, add flour and cook till light brown. Throw in some chopped turkey, ham, grated carrot, corn kernels and anything else you fancy.

Scoop the fat off the top of the cold stock from the fridge chuck it out and add the fatless stock to your mixture. Let it boil until the liquid thickens to a nice pie filling consistency. Take off the stove and cool down.

Place a sheet of pastry in a pie dish (I used frozen puff pastry). Ladle in your cooled pie filling, add a pastry lid and cook until the pastry is nice and brown!

I made 4 pies, we ate one and froze the other 3 for later. Yummy!



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Advent (Day 25) It's Christmas day!

With Nana :-)





"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

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Advent (Day 24)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the
law, so that we might receive adoption as children.
(Gal 4:4-5)




The blurry thing in Aston's hand is a My First Christmas baby dog tree ornament. Grandma gave it to Aston last year.


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Advent (Day 23)

We had trouble getting a decent photo today... Here we are with Aunty Belinda



And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. (Matt 2:12)



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Advent (Day 22)

On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
(Matt 2:11)





With Aunty Liz :-)

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Advent (Day 21)

Today we are at Grandma and Grandpa's!

When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. (Matt 2:9-10)



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Advent (Day 20)

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem,
saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." (Matt 2:7-8)




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Advent (Day 19)

They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" (Matt 2:5-1)




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