retromummy

Power of Moms Sydney retreat giveaway

2012-01-27T09:21:00.000+11:00

I first found out about Power of Moms when I started reading the gorgeous blog, 71 toes. A few of you told me that I had to start reading 71 toes since I love large family blogs so much. And I did. And it quickly became one of my favourites. And I discovered Power of Moms along the way and wished that they would come down to Australia. And then I heard rumours. And then it was true. They were coming. So I booked myself as soon as tickets went on sale.

image source

Power of Moms is a retreat for mums (well we're aussies here so we're mums!). Some time out for yourself (don't I need some of that), to learn how to strengthen your family and get together with lots of other like minded mums and learn from them over the weekend. Now I'm sure that everyone goes for a different reason. Me? Well I'm a full time mummy and plan to be for life. And I want to get organised. I feel like I went from 1 to 4 children in no time and have no household organisation at all. I'd like to start a few more family traditions, be a better mummy, teach my children about money and that they can't have everything they see (I give in way too easily to my little ones to keep the peace) and of course I would like a little time out for myself. I think of it like personal development for this mummy.

image source

The Sydney retreat is being run from Friday 16th March to Saturday 17th March in Glenhaven (north - west Sydney). On Friday the sessions will run from 1pm - 6pm and be followed by dinner and on Saturday the sessions will run from 9am - 5pm and include small group discussions. I like that I can go home after each day and you have the choice of attending Friday or Saturday or both. I'm doing both! The lot! Everything!

And I'm so very excited to be giving away a free pass to attend either Friday or Saturday of the retreat to one of my lucky readers. Woo hoo! All you need to do is spread the word by sharing a link to the retreat on your blog, facebook or twitter page and leave a comment here telling me that you've done it. Too easy. The link is here. And if you're already going then let me know too. I know about 2 people attending so wouldn't it be nice to know a few familiar faces before we go. And if you don't win then be sure to buy a ticket. I know it's going to be a great weekend.

image source

Now you can find more information on the retreat here (including the schedule) and there is also a Gold Coast retreat too (9th + 10th March) if that's a little closer to home. Naomi of seven cherubs will be giving away a pass to attend one day of the Gold Coast retreat so keep an eye out on her blog next week.

And let the countdown begin.............................I'm so excited.

happy australia day

2012-01-26T08:52:00.000+11:00

Well it's Australia day here today. A day off work for most, but not retro daddy who is up working in Brisbane. So we are having a home day, George the renderer is working some magic where the old kitchen was pulled out, we are going to bake a cake, have some sausages in bread and some lamingtons (well the 4 that are left from yesterday) and hopefully I'll get some time to clean too.

So Happy Australia Day everyone..................I hope you enjoy this very australian knit as much as I do. So very 80's. It comes from a big woman's weekly craft book that I picked up at an op shop. The sad thing is that I remember in primary school when this style of jumper was very fashionable.

dream houses

2012-01-25T15:00:00.000+11:00

Warning! These houses are all seriously over budget but I could spend all day looking at luxury estates. They are however in the area where I'd like to move the family.

Well I can't believe that this time next week our house will be on the market. People still can't get over the fact that we are selling just after renovating. I know. I hear you. But really it's the best time to sell while everything is all sparkly new and not trashed by 4 little people. And trust me they are expert trashers.

And the one question everyone asks is where are you going? We've been a little hush hush on our search area because we might have to move to get the space we want. And then when I have said where I'd love to go, some people have turned up their noses at us, some don't want us to move anywhere from here but most agree that it's lovely out there. And you know what, it's our little family that comes first and we are growing at a fast rate and just need more space and lots of it. And if we can do it in Sydney in a lovely big house then why not move. I've found 2 amazing schools for my little ones too.........

But of course I love to go way over budget and pick pretty houses out there and dream about living in them. So these houses are all semi rural and in my dreams. Way out of budget (you'll need at least $3m for these babies) but dreamy and perfect for a large family. Just not perfect on the budget.

And so retro daddy asks me at the end of the day - were any of those houses you sent me on budget. Most days I answer yes, some days no. I was so carried away with the huge estates.

come dream with me....and would you like Pimm's with that? Have you seen a more beautiful tennis court setting?

All of these lovelies came from realestate.com.au. I spend a lot of time on there searching for retro daddy.

cinnamon roll city

2012-01-24T22:33:00.000+11:00

If you were on facebook today then you'd know I made cinnamon rolls. Man, they are good. Too good. I use PW's famous recipe which is available on her website here or from her book. I have to say that making these the second time was so much easier and faster than the first time and I've taken a picture of each step in my new kitchen (it was certainly a lovely baking experience) and put some helpful tips!

First up, get all the ingredients out and ready. Pick up some bbq/alfoil trays to bake your rolls in. It makes it easier to store in the freezer and give away. Yes we use homebrand products here. I never realised how many until I looked at this pic.

Find your largest saucepan. I had to upsize twice when I first made the rolls but this time around went for my largest pan and did all my mixing in it and proving too.

I took some time to admire my subway tiles. I will definitely be putting these exact tiles in my next kitchen. I just adore them.

Clear out and wipe down a big space while your dough is proving. This is where it was so much easier using my island.

melt a 250g stick of butter before you get your dough out to roll it. It just means once your dough is ready that your butter, cinnamon and sugar are all ready to go.

I just use regular sugar in my rolls and they were great. The recipe doesn't specify caster or regular sugar so I'm happy with my finished result.

get out some clean tea towels to cover over your rolls when they are in trays as they will prove for another 20 minutes in their trays while the oven preheats.

to make the icing you will need 5 cups of icing sugar. I made my own in the thermomix but do it in 3 batches as it's a lot of sugar in the bowl and the bowl starts to warm up if you take too long on the high speed. I left out the coffee today without even noticing so don't feel it's essential. I didn't do the recipe in the thermomix because the quantities are so huge and I knew they wouldn't fit but there is nothing stopping you from reducing all the quantities.

Now I ended up with over 60 rolls from 6 trays. That's a lot of cinnamon rolls. We ate 2 trays today. What? Are you judging me? Don't judge when it comes to cinnamon rolls. There are 6 of us and 1 growing in my tummy. I also gave one tray to a friend up the street and popped 3 in my freezer.

Now to freeze them I bake them, glaze them, leave them to cool for 20 to 30 minutes, cover tightly in foil and pop in a plastic shopping bag and freeze. They stack up nicely in the freezer and make the best breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. You'll also be the best guest ever if you go to someone's house armed with these. Put them in your friend's oven and wait for the compliments.

I know the recipe looks like a lot of work but if you're having a home day they really are worth it. I baked these surrounded by most of our furniture as our new floors are going down and I had a few tradespeople here so it was a great way to beat the noise and chaos. And I used just over 1 stick of butter today and I think spread over 60 rolls is ok. But don't make these if you're on a diet, you'll never be able to stop at one..........or two.

the slow way to knit a baby cardigan

2012-01-23T13:40:00.000+11:00

I've come to the realisation that I am definitely an all in one knitting fan. Don't ask me to knit anything in 5 pieces like my current baby knit! I started this in march and it's still going. It's been dragging on. Some nights I knit a couple of rows and then realise I still have the other side to do or the other sleeve and my eyes get tired so I put it away. But it has special memories as I knit the entire back piece while my mum was in hospital for the last time.

Thankfully I'm now in the home stretch now that I'm up to the last sleeve but it's been a struggle to get this finished. And let's hope I'm having a girl because this was supposed to be for Elodie as a size 6 months but it won't fit my delicate little flower now. And if you're a patient or fast knitter then the pattern is from Patons Book 1306 Retro Babes (Australian Patons btw).

But to keep my spirits up I've already picked my next project, an all in one raglan cardigan from a cute little book 60 Quick Baby Knits. It's a great book if you love knitting in 10 ply for babies. Quick. The ravelry details on that cardigan are here.

progress on the house

2012-01-22T16:13:00.001+11:00

Well you might have noticed that things have been a little quiet here on retro mummy but that's only because behind the scenes we are madly emptying rooms, packing up stuff and cleaning. I can't believe that the house goes on the market in 2 weeks and we still have bits and pieces that require painting, new floors to be laid, the old kitchen to be rendered, a gardener to tidy up the gardens and a house to be cleaned top to bottom.

But there is nothing like a tight deadline to get us working. And by us I mean retro daddy and myself because trust me my little darlings are nothing but mess makers. The girls room was looking amazing but at least the toys have been culled so there isn't too much they can pull out. And this would be homeboy Finn who has decided he is a rapper and breakdancer today.

To add to the work, half of the downstairs is receiving new timber floors which means everything has to come out for the new floors to go down. And of course retro daddy will be in Brisbane when the floors go in. But I'm feeling more positive that we are going to pull it off. The craft room has never looked cleaner.....or emptier.

And even our bedroom is looking lovely. This is the Sheridan bed set that retro daddy wanted for Christmas. When we first put it on the bed I wasn't in love with it as much as I thought it would be but we went back to the shops for more pillowcases and now I love it.

And so do the kids. Since someone always ends up in our bed each night.

And even my chest of drawers got a big makeover. Gone are the teddies and jewellery boxes (yes I keep my favourite teddy bears on my dresser, don't all grown women?) to the kids room and replaced by some perfume and beauty products (and the baby monitor, of course).

And even under the stairs which normally collects junk and dust got a total makeover to store wine and spirits. I have to laugh when I look at this because neither of us are really big drinkers and the spirits are all used for my baking and cooking.

And I look forward to showing you photos in 2 weeks of an immaculately clean show home of a house!

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

2012-01-20T17:36:00.000+11:00

Well it all started here.....................when I found this quilt on pinterest. I remember Kristine had been talking about the farmer's wife sampler quilt on her blog but I obviously thought it was a project too big for me. But I'd been thinking I'd like a big project for 2012 now that I'd finished all the paper piecing of my hexagons.

found on my beloved pinterest here, original source here. Oh the picture with her grandma, adorable!

Isn't it stunning? I tracked the book down and knew I had to have it and it comes with a CD that has the piecing templates. All 106 of them. But what I realised is that I don't have to make all of them and that I could turn individual ones into different things if I wanted. But when the book arrived I realised the real joy lies in reading the letters. The letters from 1920's farmers wives (from the US by the way). Here is a little excerpt from one of them:

My daughter, married to a farmer, would be the real centre of her home, the real partner of her husband - and each would be so happily busy in their little world that love triangles and divorce mills would have small chance at them..............

The letters are so sweet and traditional and I'm itching to take the book up to bed tonight and read it cover to cover. Definitely one for the craft shelf (or bookcase if you're like me). You can find more details on the author's website here and the flickr group here is full of inspiration too. I picked up my copy on fishpond for $20 something but I see it's on amazon here. You won't be disappointed. Trust me. A lovely book that I've instantly fallen for.

my days

2012-01-19T15:07:00.000+11:00

The worst part of selling a house has to be the decluttering. Going through every room emptying it of 'stuff'', sorting said 'stuff' and making the room look pretty. This task is made even harder when 4 little people surround you all day, everyday.

Just when I think a room is looking good the kids come in and undo the good work. And I learnt the hard way that once I've packed a box of toys - GET IT OUT OF THE ROOM AND DO IT QUICK! Many a box has been emptied after me. So far, my craft room is my biggest challenge purely because the amount of stuff is so big and because I had 2 interconnecting rooms and now have 1. But progress is being made. And this girl just gave up waiting for me to cook her lunch today and fell asleep next to the stove.

But at least I know how to cheer myself up when the decluttering and cleaning gets to me. 5 trays of choc chip cookies straight out of the oven. Obviously I mean baking them all not eating them all. Because 5 trays would be a bit excessive now wouldn't it.

This is the Thermomix choc chip cookie recipe. So good. So much butter. But I figure 250g butter spread out over 5 trays of cookies can't be all that bad.

3 hour meatballs

2012-01-18T09:48:00.000+11:00

Ok, last recipe for the week. Promise. Now technically the name for this recipe is Italian meatballs. But I'm calling these 3 hours meatballs because that is how long you need to set aside to make these babies. Definitely a weekend meal but so worth it. I can honestly say that this was the best pasta sauce I've ever had and if I had an italian nonna (and I don't! I have a scottish grandma and an australian nana) then I'm sure she'd be proud. All the kids including elodie loved these, retro daddy just liked them and I adored them and couldn't stop eating them. The other great thing about this recipe is that I got 2 dinners out of it. We ate ours with salad and crusty bread and the next night I reheated the sauce, added some grated cheese and mixed in spaghetti. So good.

This recipe comes from Monday Morning Cooking Club but I made some changes because I thought 5 onions in one dish was a bit too much!!!!!

meatballs

1kg mince

1 onion, finely chopped

2 eggs, beaten

2 slices bread made into breadcrumbs

1/4 cup water

1 bunch flat leaf parsley (or use whatever herb you have going, basil would be delicious)

sauce

about 17 roma/plum tomatoes (make sure they're ripe)
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 1/2 cups white wine (optional, replace with stock if you prefer)
3 cups stock ( I used chicken)

OK, first we're going to make the sauce. Wash and halve the tomatoes and lay cut side up in a roasting dish, add in the peeled garlic cloves, pour over 1/4 cup olive oil, season well with salt and pepper and roast in 160 degree oven for 1 hours. I moved my tomatoes around a couple of times during the hour to make sure they were all cooking.

Now in a large bowl combine your mince, parsley, onion and eggs. Make the breadcrumbs from bread and soak in the water for a few minutes. Add into mince mixture, season well and set aside while you make the sauce.

In a large saucepan cook the coarsely chopped onion in olive oil until soft. Add in the raoasted tomatoes and garlic. Add in wine and bring to boil for about 5 minutes. Add in the stock then simmer for 1 hour. Now puree your sauce with a hand stick blender or food processor. I did mine in 2 batches in the thermomix on speed 5 until completely pureed. Return the pureed sauce back to the saucepan, bring to the boil again and then simmer for 10 minutes. You want to stir it a few times. Season really well (trust me you can't stop eating the sauce by this time).

Now your sauce is ready for meatballs. So wet your hands and roll your mince into little meatballs about the size of a walnut. You don't want them too big. Drop them into the tomato sauce (carefully!) and bring the sauce back to the boil. Now cover the saucepan and simmer for about 30 minutes. Check that the meatballs are cooked through and serve with salad and crusty bread or spaghetti with lots of cheese.

And this is what you end up. Very delicious homemade meatballs in a rich tomato sauce. I loved it with a simple salad and the crusty bread. The bread soaking up all that delicious sauce is to die for and is my preferred way to eat it whereas the kids preferred theirs with pasta. Either way I promise that you will not be disappointed and I'll definitely be making this again soon.

red chicken

2012-01-17T00:26:00.001+11:00

One benefit of the school holidays is that I'm not rushing around doing school pick up in the afternoon. So I'm spending a little longer in the kitchen on dinner. And everyone is enjoying the benefits since it means trying new things. And if is there is one thing my little ones love for dinner - it's chicken. I found this recipe in Monday Morning Cooking Club and knew I had to give it a go. I had no idea how popular it would be. Finn had 3 bowls - yes 3! It's economical, easy to make and super tasty. And once you've got all the condiments in your fridge and pantry then you can make it again and again.

1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
2 medium chickens
oil for frying

sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar (2Tbsp if using canned tomatoes)
1tsp tabasco
200ml tomato sauce (or 300g canned diced tomatoes)
2 tsps worcestersire sauce
1 cup water (use slightly less if using canned tomatoes)
2 tsp dijon mustard
1Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar (I used apple cidar vinegar)
1 onion finely sliced

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut each chicken into 6-8 pieces. Mix the flour, paprika, salt and pepper and pour over the chicken and coat the chicken well. You can do this in a bag. Heat oil in a large frying pan on high and fry your chicken. Mmmmmmm make sure it's crispy on each side. It starts to smell good and the kids will be asking if it's ready yet. It's not. Now you're not cooking your chicken completely just getting each side nice and brown and crispy.

Place chicken in an ovenproof dish. Make up the sauce in a small bowl and pour all over the chicken. Cover the chicken with foil or a lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil/ lid and bake a further 30 minutes. I boiled some rice during the second 30 minute cooking time. Your chicken should be cooked right through and your sauce will continue to thicken up once removed from the oven.

This makes a huge dish with 12-16 pieces of chicken so you might get some leftovers.....if you're lucky! But definitely give this a go as I know you're going to love it.

p.s sorry for the photos! Just as I went to photograph my lovely crispy chicken I realised that my camera was out of battery!

german cherry crumble cheesecake

2012-01-16T08:30:00.001+11:00

Well I just had a very relaxing weekend offline. I spent hours cooking, having afternoon naps, we went to the movies as one big happy family (the muppets - we loved it!) , watched a few movies at home (girl with the dragon tattoo, the girl who played with fire and dinner for shmucks), did a spot of knitting and retro daddy emptied the house of boxes of clutter and stuff as we continue to get the house ready for sale. It was a great weekend.

One of the delicious things that came out of my kitchen over the weekend was this delicious cheesecake. But I've added more sugar if you have a sweet tooth. Because this was not sweet enough for me. I need sweet desserts. But Grandma betty assures me the way I made it as per the recipe was the correct way. So either way choose your sweetness level and decide how much sugar to add. The recipe is from the Everday cooking book for the Thermomix

crumble ingredients
300g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
dash of salt
150g sugar
100g butter softened
1 egg

filling ingredients
rind 1/2 lemon
3 eggs
100g sugar (or 200g if you're a sweet tooth like me)
1tsp vanilla essence/extract
500g ricotta cheese
30g semolina ( I just used flour)
700g jar cherries (drained)

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. If you have a food processor then tip in flour mixture into bowl of processor, add in butter, sugar, egg and puse a food times until it makes a crumble mixture. In the thermomix process for 5-10 seconds on speed 6. Press 1/2 the mixture into a lined springform round tin and save the other 1/2 of the mixture for the crumble on top.

To make the filling, place lemon rind in your thermomix and process for 10 seconds on speed 8 or grate the rind yourself. Add in eggs, sugar, vanilla and beat for 2 minutes on speed 4. You can do the filling mixture in our kitchen aid or thermomix or food processor. Add cheese and semolina and mix for 30-40 seconds on speed 5-6. Layer cherries on top of the cheesecake base.

Pour cheese mixture evenly on top and adjust any cherries to distribute them evenly as they tend to move once the cheese mixture goes on top. Now sprinkle the top with the leftover crumble mixture and bake for about 45 minutes in the oven.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin as long as possible.

Don't worry that the top of the crumble may not be really brown. Mine wasn't but was very well cooked.

And there you have it. Serve when it's cool then store it in the fridge and you've got enough cheesecake to serve quite a crowd! And it looks fancy too which I love.

another maternity outfit

2012-01-14T08:27:00.000+11:00

Well the tummy is growing......and fast! So here is another maternity outfit that I'm loving. But can you believe this is the first time for as long as I can remember that I've worn white pants. Being big on the thighs and a pear shape means I stay away from white pants. And they aren't that practical when you have a 1 year old with biscuit fingers pulling herself up on you. The pants are Pea in a Pod and kindly given to me by a school mum who has just had her last baby. Lucky for me she's my height so they fit perfectly.

And I really like how the pants work with this top. One of my favourites when I'm pregnant. I wore this to death while pregnant with Elodie. It's a L shirt from Trenery, not a maternity shirt but I'm usually an XS/S there so went up a few sizes and it's great in winter too.

My birkenstocks matched perfectly and that is what I wore yesterday!

baby's first photo

2012-01-13T08:47:00.000+11:00

Well yesterday I saw my OB for the 1st time (well for this pregnancy since I know him, his secretaries and his offices pretty well by now) and I'm happy to report that baby number 5 is growing and doing well. I'm measuring spot on for my dates and even got a little photo of our newest addition. Awwwwww. I think little one has it's back to me.

I hate to tell any first time mothers out there but the nerves and worry don't go away the more babies you have. Sometimes I can make myself feel sick in the stomach worrying if there is a heartbeat and is the baby ok and will it be ok and has anything happened since my last appointment.

keira

But I never take anything for granted. I felt the luckiest girl in the world yesterday knowing that my baby was doing well. For those of you who haven't been on this blog for long then let me tell you that the road to having our family hasn't been easy. As a newlywed (I love that word) it was discovered that I didn't ovulate and wouldn't be able to fall pregnant on my own. For someone who wanted to fall pregnant on their honeymoon (me, not retro daddy as he wanted to wait a year) it was devastating. I took Chlomid and fell pregnant with keira on my 5th month. There were so many tests and scans in between.

the twins (tillie on the left and finn on the right)

When Keira was 6 months old we started trying again, on the 4th month we fell pregnant but a few weeks later we found out it was an ectopic pregnancy which was sadly removed with one of my tubes. Another devastating blow. I cried and cried and cried some more. The kindest words that were said to me at the time were by our priest. The gorgeous Father Jim. He said, it's ok to go to God and be angry in prayer. It's ok. It's normal. That is how I felt. Why me? Why did you do this to us. I knew I wanted a large family and after that I just thought it would never happen. My OB told me that it would happen and I could easily fall pregnant with one tube. Turns out he was right.

Back on the fertility drug again and on our 3rd month we got a positive, on new years eve 2007 we found out it was twins. Some people cry in shock when they find out they are having twins. We were both overjoyed. It was the best news we could receive. If the ectopic pregnancy hadn't happened then I wouldn't have fallen pregnant with the twins. Then when the twins were almost 2, I just knew I wanted another baby and couldn't bear to think about using contraception. I had a regular cycle and just left it to nature. We fell pregnant but miscarried a few weeks later. I was sad but realised that we could do this on our own. The next month I fell pregnant with Elodie.

dear little elodie

And then look, it happened again. I love Elodie so much and when we weren't trying or thinking about baby number 5 another little miracle came along. So you see, I don't take anything for granted. I will always feel that I have been blessed with babies. It hasn't been an easy journey and my heart always goes out to anyone trying for a baby because I know it's not easy. And my journey is nothing compared to some of you. But never give up! However it happens, whatever paths you take and however it long it will take to have a family, it will always be worth it.

apricot cake for a crowd

2012-01-12T07:28:00.001+11:00

I love this cake so much and as I was making it yesterday I realised I hadn't shared the recipe with you all. And I love baking in my new kitchen so much. I love that the oven is fan forced and has a light! I love that the island is so big I can spread out along it. I love how big the sink is to fit all the big bowls and dirty dishes till I'm done and ready to wash. And I love that I can look out and watch the little ones play. Those of you who can't believe that I'm leaving my lovely new kitchen, don't worry. I'll be recreating something very similar in the next house.

Now the reason I love this cake so much is because it makes a huge cake. I use my largest baking pan and get about 20 slices from it. But I have to admit that my apricots always sink to the bottom. Maybe one day they'll stay at the top. The recipe comes from one of my favourite cookbooks, Monday Morning Cooking Club and I share the recipe as I make it.

4 eggs

330g (1 1/2 cups sugar)

250g unsalted butter (softened)

1Tbsp vanilla extract/essence

300g (2 cups) self raising flour

large (800g) tin apricot halves

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (I do 160-170 in a fan forced oven). Line a large rectangle baking tin or laminton tin. Seperate the eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. I do this in my kitchen aid so I can do the rest of the cake mix in my Thermomix but you can always make the main cake mixture in the kitchen aid after your egg whites by washing out the bowl well and putting the egg whites in a separate clean bowl.

Now beat egg yolks, vanilla and sugar until light and creamy. I firstly place my raw sugar in the thermomix and process on speed 9 for 10 seconds. Add in butter and process for 20 seconds on speed 3. Add in the flour. I do this for 20 seconds on speed 3 and scrape down the bowl halfway if necessary. If you don't have a thermomix, you are just creaming the butter, sugar and vanilla then adding in the sifted flour. Then I place my butter cake mixture in a large bowl and add in a large spoon of the egg whites and gently mix in. Fold in the rest of the egg whites and spoon the mixture into the lined tin. Place the drained apricots cut side up on top of your cake mix. I always have some left over which the kids eat straight away

Bake for about 45 minutes or so until a skewer comes out clean in the centre. Of course don't hit an apricot or it won't come out clean. Lift out the cake by the paper and leave to cool on a cooling rack. It's also nice with icing sugar dusted on the top.

And here it is ready to serve 6 hungry little people yesterday.

It went down really well and although I say it's cake for a crowd. In our house it lasted one day. And I better get used to making cakes this size as our family grows.

green chicken sticks

2012-01-10T21:14:00.001+11:00

Well it was a sharp jolt back to reality with retro daddy heading back to work yesterday. He walked in tonight after two days in Brisbane and commented that I hadn't blogged yesterday. That would be because it's been crazy here as little people play, then fight, then play, then someone cries, toys and rocks were thrown in the pool, someone's room would be trashed and I mean cover the entire floor in toys, pull all the quilts and toys off their beds and clothes out of wardrobes. Then someone cries and so it goes on. So there has been zero quilting going on and yesterday was so noisy and traumatic that I took them all to an early movie this morning and a happy meal just to get them out of the house and keep them busy.

But enough of the pity party, last week I made these delicious spiced yoghurt chicken skewers. Retro daddy, the twins and I loved them but keira told me she doesn't eat green chicken sticks. But they were really tasty, easy and healthy so I had to share. The recipe comes from Donna Hay's Simple Dinners with a few modifications to make it even easier.

1/4 cup fresh coriander

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley

1 clove garlic

1 tsp smoked paprika or morroccan spice

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 cup greek yoghurt

dash of lemon juice

600g-700g chicken tenderloins

pita bread and hummus to serve

Put the coriander, parsley, peeled garlic clove, spices, lemon juice and yoghurt in your thermomix bowl and process on speed 3 or 4 for 30 seconds. Season. If you don't have a thermomix just chuck them in your food processor and blend. If you don't have a food processor just finely chop all your fresh herbs, crush your garlic and combine all the ingredients with a spoon. Put your chicken on a large plate/casserole dish and pour yoghurt mixture over the top. Rub it all over the chicken, cover with gladwrap and place in fridge for 10-30 minutes. Then thread 2 chicken tenderloins on each skewer (I soaked my bamboo skewers for 30 minutes beforehand) and line up under a hot grill until nice and brown. Turn them over and repeat on other side. Mine took about 15-20 minutes all up and a little tip is get your grill hot first as the second batch of skewers were so much moister. Serve with warm pita bread and hummus.

an almost finished quilt top

2012-01-08T16:29:00.001+11:00

Well after church this morning, the best apricot danish of my life (bakery at forest way if you're a local, wow) and taking some flowers at the cemetary, it was time for retro daddy to get back into painting more of the house. The little ones were happy to play and watch Shrek so I decided to applique the little hexagons on. I started to lose the love a little knowing I had 9 flowers to applique on with iron on webbing. They are not the easiest shape to cut out. But it wasn't too bad. Not the best part of making the quilt. I'll put it like that.

But I kept going. Determined to get them all stitched on. You'd be this happy too if you'd make all these by hand and then appliqued them on the quilt top too.

And so that means that the quilt top is almost finished. And I love it. I'm really motivated it to get it finished this week and on a bed. Tillie's bed since she has decided it's hers. And then of course Keira has decided that it's not as fancy as hers and she wants one. But I think my next hexagon project will be something a little more modest. Aka smaller.

So all I have to do is add a pink border then a white border all the way around and then I'll be ready to quilt it. I'm excited about that. And this would be me holding it on it's side. And not realising it.

And I promise to share all the little details about fabrics used, size of hexagons and everything once it's done. I'm on such a roll to finish it off......

2 down, 23 to go

2012-01-07T11:34:00.000+11:00

Oh boy. I thought making the hexagons would take time. How about taking out all those papers, pressing them and appliqueing them. I've done 2 and can see this could take a couple of days when you factor in all of the little distractions I have here.

At least clearing out my craft room this morning gave me a serious case of hayfever so I'm leaving it alone today and walking between the iron and the machine! The first hexagon I appliqued above (before I took it to the machine) I used an iron on fusible webbing which goes against the pattern but I thought would be a better way

But I actually prefer the softer, puffier (it's a word!) look of the second one I did just here. I followed the pattern and pinned it down but am using blanket stitch on my machine rather than hand stitching which the pattern calls for. If you haven't done blanket stitch yet, check out your machine stitches. It looks like a comb and is a really handy little stitch that I use a lot! Ok, well I'll just keep going.............23 to go.

p.s the pattern is from this lovely book by Rosalie Quinlan and is featured on the cover!

the hexagons are done

2012-01-06T15:13:00.001+11:00

When I was pregnant with Elodie (so we're going back almost 2 years now), I decided to start a grandmothers flower garden quilt. I needed a total of 25 hexagon flowers. It seemed like a huge job that was going to take me forever.

But I've kept a pink tub in my sewing room and every now and then I'd pull out the pink tub and do some hexagons. I almost couldn't believe it when I counted them all up and realised I'd finished. It seemed like I was going to be making hexagon flowers forever. And ever. And then some more.

But here they are. 16 large flowers and 9 small. They will be appliqued onto squares of white fabric, the squares will be joined together and then I can get quilting.

I'm hoping to get it finished and put it on a spare bed before we sell the house so I can make a pretty guest room out of what is now my craft/junk room. It's looking like a bad episode of hoarders at the moment but everyday I'm in there and clearing out and packing up. And that feels good.

donna hay's BLT spaghetti

2012-01-04T22:55:00.000+11:00

Ladies, you know how it goes. You slave over a hot stove, you're trying something different or with a few steps and you're feeling pretty proud of yourself. And then someone comes to the table and turns their nose up at it. Well that is how last night went when I made donna hay's BLT spaghetti. The recipe comes from her latest book, Simple Dinnners which I picked up at Big W for $20 (man I love a good buy). The book is really good and we've made 3 dinners from it so far in a week. I'd say that's a good cookbook.

retro daddy comes over to the island, turns his nose up ' Oh. I thought you were making a tomato sauce. Oh. it has little tomatoes in it'

me (unimpressed) ' do you know what, if you don't want to eat it then don't eat it. Simple. Make a salad but the kids don't eat salad so we're having spaghetti and I'm trying something new

And then he decides he loves it and comes back for 2nds and 3rds. so there you go. This is really really good and really easy. Not too many ingredients, super tasty, light enough for a summer meal and there were no leftovers. A sign it was a good meal. Now I've made mine more kiddy friendly but with basically the same ingredients but easier to serve and eat than Donna's very fancy (but very lovely) presentation.

400g spaghetti

4-6 slices bacon (rindless)

250g punnet/truss cherry tomatoes

250ml light pouring cream

handful basil leaves, torn

1-2 cups of baby rocket and spinach

1/4 cup parmesan, grated

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook your spaghetti. While the water is boiling place bacon and tomatoes on baking sheets lined with baking paper and roast for about 15-20 minutes in a 200 degree oven. Slice bacon thickly and place into a bowl with tomatoes. Drain spaghetti and add cream and parmesan to the saucepan with the spaghetti. Mix well and add in bacon, tomatoes, basil, rocket and spinach and combine. Season well and serve with extra parmesan. So good. And have a play around with it too. I added sauteed red onion the next night and it was delicious.

Keira's quilt

2012-01-03T08:06:00.000+11:00

Well I think making grandma betty's quilt has got me on a quilting roll because here is my 2nd single bed quilt that I've started and finished in a week. This is heading into world record territory for me.

This time I decided to make a pretty quilt for keira since she's moved into a bunk bed. I pulled out some red and pink fabrics and got cutting. 196 squares in total. 14 squares down by 14 across. Added a 9 inch border all the way around in white quilters muslin. She adores it. I think her face tells it all.

I used a real mix of fabrics. Darla and Delilah (Tanya Whelan), Cherry Fizz (Henry Glass), Hoo's in the Forest (Riley Blake), Flower Sugar (Lecien) and Colour Basics (Lecien). And I backed it in some Colour Basics too. But of course I forgot to take a pic of the back before I put it on the top bunk bed and tucked in all the edges but I'll do that soon.

I also took the opportunity to photograph each step of how I do my binding on the machine now. I used to do my binding by hand but doing it on the machine has cut down my finish time by days. Weeks. So I'll get to finishing the charm square tutorial this week. I hope you've been getting some craft done these holidays too.

p.s one of the lovely helpers for Quilts for Queensland has her own project helping out our Aussie soldiers serving overseas. Pop over here and see if you can help out. Jan-maree is a very generous quilter.

giveaway winners

2012-01-02T10:55:00.000+11:00

there have been some gentle reminders I need to draw my giveaways. I've just finished my 2nd single bed quilt in 2 weeks so that's my excuse:)

Winner of the Flower Sugar well I'm a softie so it had to go to Christie and her entry:

There is a family at our church that's having a really hard year - mom and dad both lost their jobs and they're in danger of losing their home too - so the other families at our church have been making or buying gifts for their little ones. I would use this to make dresses for their two girls.
December 17, 2011 1:42 AM

Winner of the Lecien Colour Basics is Sue who will make quilts for her 3 grand daughters

and winner of the Don't Look Now patterns (done by random.org) and entry 74 was Quilt Kitty

Phew! Well done ladies and please email me (retromummy@hotmail.com) with your addresses. I'll be back later today with photos of Keira's big quilt!

Chicken, lemon and herb risotto

2012-01-02T07:11:00.001+11:00

Well it's been a while since I've shared a recipe and that would be because I'd been feeling so nauseous and off my usual food. Baking and cooking were not high on my list of priorities. In fact I often couldn't make up my mind about what I wanted to eat so would eat toast for dinner. Nice. Well not really. But I'm feeling more normal now and actually started eating fruit again (about time). So here is the first new recipe of the year and it's a good one. Instructions are for Thermomix way and the regular way.

What you'll need

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic

50g/big splosh of olive oil

400g arborio rice

100-150g white wine

1L stock + 100ml water (or extra to replace wine)

25g butter

1-2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (I had roasted 2 chickens the day before!)

2 lemons, juiced

handful flatleaf parsley, chopped (or any fresh herb you like or have on hand)

Thermomix way

Place onion (quartered) and garlic in your TM bowl and process for 3 seconds on speed 7. Add in oil and saute 2 minutes, 100 degrees on speed 1 with the MC Off. Insert butterfly, add rice, wine (replace with stock if you don't use wine) and saute for 2 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse and speed soft. Add stock and water and cook for 17 minutes on 100 degrees, reverse and speed soft.

risotto in the thermomix is really soupy when it's done but finishes cooking in your thermoserve

Pour into thermoserve and add warmed chicken, herbs and butter. Put lid on and leave for 5 minutes. Add in juice to taste, season and serve. You won't be disappointed. I went back 3 times for another bowl.

Old school way

Dice your onion, chop your garlic and heat your stock and water to simmering in a saucepan on your stove. In another saucepan, heat your oil and add in onion and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until soft and add in rice. Cook for 1 minute until grains are coated in oil and then add in a cup of stock. You are going to add in the stock and stir until it's been absorbed one cup at a time. This will take up to 15-20 minutes and you need to keep watching it so that when the stock is all absorbed you add more. If you run out of stock and your rice isn't properly cooked then just add in some boiling water. You might not need all your stock. You want the rice to have a little bite to it but be soft and have a nice risotto consistency. Not too soupy and not too dry.

When it's done and you're happy with it then add in your chicken (warmed slightly), butter and herbs. Put lid on and leave for a couple of minutes until butter has melted. Add in lemon juice to taste, season and serve.

Thank me later. This is so good. My kids (and retro daddy) didn't like too much lemon on it but I loved plenty of lemon juice on mine. To make it vegetarian just leave out the chicken. Too easy.

happy new year and a look back

2012-01-01T12:33:00.001+11:00

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had a great night. For the first time in a very long time (i.e. before children) we braved the fireworks last night. And it was lovely. We parked the car and walked down to Forty Baskets beach which looks onto Manly. With chips and lollies to keep little people entertained we had a lovely time. And I think we'll do it again

And I always like to look back on the year that was. But 2011 was always going to be a bad year. I was kind of avoiding doing a year in review post because it brings back all the bad memories of how the year started and my mum deteriorating so fast and then passing away. I don't think anything comes close to the loss of a close loved one. You just can't bring them back or make everything better. But we have all of our memories and I have a strong faith that she is in a better place looking down on us.

And somehow we have made it through the year and so many things happened! Keira started school and turned out to be quite the star student that I hoped she would be.

Elodie turned 1

the twins turned 3

and Keira turned 5.

I got a makeover! You can watch it here

we finally got a new car

and we finally renovated our kitchen (and yes it was an expensive year around here)

I did some knitting and actually finished a few things....more than two!

I did some quilting (not as much as I would like to)

and with help of so many of my gorgeous readers I co-ordinated quilts for queensland and actually got them out of my house!

I did a few markets

I got a thermomix

I baked

and I baked some more (and I joined the gym)

And to finish out the year, I got pregnant. The best gift of all. And I have to thank you all for being a part of the journey! All of your comments, emails and visits always make my day. I look forward to sharing 2012 with you all.....................................................wishing you a safe, happy and enjoyable year ahead too.

last quilt top of the year

2011-12-31T08:10:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, retro daddy went to the hardware store whilst the girls and I went to Spotlight. I was there for more cotton reels and lots of batting. When I got back in the car with a huge bag from Spotlight I got in trouble - What did you buy????? Which is code for you don't you have enough craft 'stuff' and aren't you supposed to be clearing out your craft room. But it's hard to finish off projects if you've run out of batting. I know you all understand.

don't they look excited waiting in the queue

And so if it's new year's eve then this is my last quilt top of the year. I doubt I'll get it finished to make it the last quilt of the year though. But this quilt top was easy. I cut all the squares with my go baby in a morning and then pieced together over a couple of mornings. 196 squares in total. 14 squares across by 14 squares down and a nice white crisp border of 10 inches all around.

Have a safe new years eve if you're up to anything exciting. We are going with a couple of families to watch the fireworks near home. I hope I don't regret it as we don't really take the little ones out at night time. But I'll be back tomorrow for a wrap up of the year and a few goals for 2012. Yawn. I know. Same old, same old goals from me that I never achieve.

maternity outfit 1

2011-12-30T09:42:00.000+11:00

I thought it would be fun to share some maternity outfits this pregnancy. Baby number 5 means I was out of my regular jeans and into maternity jeans much earlier than usual. Thank goodness that my favourite mavi maternity jeans were the only thing I saved when I had a huge clearout of my wardrobe a few months ago. Well retro daddy did say no more babies.

I am not a fan of maternity clothes. I find they are not my style, not my colour and not my usual brands. So instead I like to go up a size or two in my favourite brands where necessary so I still get to shop at my favourite shops.

Today we're heading off shopping, doing a bit of sewing and cleaning the house. So I have my mavi maternity jeans. About $150 from David Jones but this will be the 2nd pregnancy in them and I wear them all the time from the start to finish of my pregnancy so I consider them very good value. I've bought cheaper maternity jeans before that I've grown out of mid pregnancy, have fallen down as my tummy has grown, haven't been a good fit and just didn't last well. This pair don't need yanking up, have adjustable tabs on either side, are a great dark denim and are super comfy to wear. I feel like I'm wearing my regular mavi jeans and are the best maternity jeans I've found.

The top is a bargain buy from Country Road this week. $22 reduced from $59. This is an XS and it's a very roomy tee with plenty of room to grow. At that price I bought two. Of course. And for a bit of colour..........red saltwaters. Comfortable and cool.

And that is today's outfit. Hope you enjoyed that.