Today is Friday

And Friday is cleaning day! Is everybody happy? I bet my socks they are!

Well I am anyway. I've spent the last 7 days staring at complete and utter chaos. We arrived home from holidays in the early hours of last Saturday morning and fell into bed. When I woke up around 7.30am I had an awful headache and a wretched cough, the aftermath of a particularly stressful week away from home.

All that means that I spent the weekend in bed (most of the time anyway) and have just slothed around since Monday, only doing what I absolutely had to. Thank goodness for the freezer or the kids would've revolted! As is is they managed to eat all the bread, drink all the juice and deplete the pantry of most spreads as well as finish off the fruit cake, shortbread and choc chip cookies. The joys of hungry teenagers on school holidays!

So today was cleaning day and I couldn't wait to get started. The weather is cooler too, so that helped a lot. I don't like the heat. And my Darling was working so that meant the alarm went off at 6.30am and after he brought me my morning coffee (isn't he a sweetheart?) I was up and at 'em by 7am.

A load of whites, a load of darks, run the dishwasher, wipe over the benches, marinate the chicken for dinner (tandoori, yum - recipe coming), sweep, dust, mop, vacuum, put away loads and loads of "stuff" (where does it all come from?), clean the bathrooms and then conk out around 2pm!

But our home is sparkling, fresh and just the way I like it to be for my family. It may be old fashioned but I think my job is to keep house and to keep it to the best of my ability. I think that I owe it to my Darling to show him how much I appreciate the long hours he works and the effort he puts into caring for me and our children and one of the ways I can do this is to make our home a haven for him. And I love doing it too.

Ok, here is the recipe for Cheat's Tandoori Chicken:

What you need:

500g chicken fillet, skin off
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
2 tsp tandoori seasoning

How to make it:

Dice the chicken into 2cm cubes. Mix the tandoori powder with the yoghurt. Stir in the chicken and leave to marinate at least 2 hours. Heat a non-stick wok. Add the chicken, turn the heat down. Cook 20 minutes, until chicken is done and sauce has thickened. The chicken will start to brown. Keep the heat low so the yoghurt doesn't boil and curdle. Serve over steamed rice with a tossed salad on the side (torn lettuce, diced tomato, diced cucumber, thinly sliced onion rings, drizzle of cider vinegar and sprinkle of ground black pepper).

I told you it was cheat's tandoori, but it's quick, easy, cheap and really tasty.

Sunday Musings

My Darling and Train Boy disappeared about 11.30 this morning to go to trains. It's so nice to see them go off together, there are not many 18 year olds who would voluntarily spend so much time with a bunch of old men playing trains. It's a great hobby for him to have, expensive, but at least we know where he is, who he's with and what he's doing :)

Before they left my Darling put the leg of lamb on the rotisserie, ready for me to put it into place on the bbq to cook for dinner. Yummo. It's so nice done this way. I stud the outside with slivers of garlic and fresh rosemary and baste with olive oil and lemon juice while it's cooking. It has the best taste and cooked on the rotisserie it is so tender and moist - almost falling off the bone.

I used up some wrinkly veggies - potato, carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin, parsnip and onion. Cut them up roughly, into largish chunks, drizzled with a little olive oil and put them in a foil tray on the bbq to cook along with the roast.

The big boys were home by 6 and it's a lovely evening so we ate outside. The table looked lovely with new lime green placemats and the white crockery, very fresh and summery. I hunted out some greenish coloured wine glasses I had hidden in the back of the wall unit to use and the whole scene looked great. Add in a platter piled high with golden roast vegetables and a roast waiting to be carved and the scene for a perfect meal was set.

Dinner was delicious, everyone cleaned their plates, always a good sign. And best of all no cooking inside so no pots to wash, and the plates, glasses and cutlery went straight into the dishwasher.

The leftover lamb is sliced and in a Deli Keeper in the fridge for tomorrow's lunches. I can't wait.

Add to Me Muffin Mix

This is just a basic muffin recipe. You can add anything you like to make these your own special muffins. Try fresh or frozen berries (try raspberry and white choc chip for a decadent treat), choc chips, nuts or even finely chopped vegetables for delicious savoury morsels. All muffins will be mixed together the same way, just add your additions once the batter is completely mixed. Use a wooden spoon and only mix until the ingredients are just combined and moistened, don't over beat. Bake as directed in this recipe.

What You Need:

2 c plain flour
1/3 c sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 c canola oil
2 egg whites
1 c skim milk

How to Make Them:

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Blend all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. In a separate bowl blend the oil, egg whites and milk with a balloon whisk until blended completely together. Pour into the dry mixture. Mix with that wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees (400F). Prepare a muffin tin with a non stick cooking spray OR place a muffin paper in each cup. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full of batter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a couple of muffins comes out clean.

These muffins are the best morning tea snack and they really keep the after school hungries at bay until dinner time too. You can make them low fat by substituting unsweetened applesauce (homemade or canned) for the oil, just use the same quantity. You won't notice any difference in texture, flavour or moistness I promise.

Welcome to my old fashioned kitchen

Take a seat at the table and I'll put the kettle on. I'm hoping you'll be able to visit awhile so we can have a gossip and swap recipes. And I hope you're not dieting, I have a new recipe I'd like you to try too. I made it up fresh this morning because I just knew you'd pop in.

I've been in this kitchen for almost 20 years, raising my three children and lovin' my darling. Sometimes things have been a little tight, but that's ok. My kitchen is cosy and safe and there's nothing nicer than the smell of homebaking to shoo away the burdens of the world.

I hope I can share recipes and my personal philosophy on life and even tips on caring for your home with you.

So come on and get a cuppa, sit back and relax in my old fashioned kitchen.

Let's be friends

Let's be friends

So we can be friends, you'll need to know at least a little bit about me. I'm Cass Ann, married to my Darling and the very proud mum of Train Boy (18), Tidgy (16) and Spanny Girl (13). We live in our dream house, in suburban Melbourne. Yep, I'm a mum from the 'burbs and proud of it! I'm a full time happy homemaker and I never seem to have enough hours in the day to do everything I want to.

I love to cook and bake for my family and friends and anyone else I can think of. I love our kitchen table - it's big enough for 12 and often there are more squeezed around it. Our home is filled with laughter and love (I know it sounds corny but it's true) and lots and lots of kids, especially right now. It's school holidays and there are bodies everywhere :)

I have a veggie garden and flower beds. I like to bottle, dehydrate or freeze the excess from our garden. I also sew and love crafts. My favourite busywork is creative tapestry, next in line would be counted cross-stitch and I've occasionally been known to pick up some wool and a pair of knitting needles to keep busy.

In my spare time I look after my mother and my parents-in-law, and help out with shopping and driving to appointments and so on. Oh, and sometimes actually make it to a Home and School meeting instead of sending apologies.

All in all, I live a fairly average, suburban life and I wouldn't change a thing about it.