Magazine excitement!!

Silly I know, but I get such a kick out of getting my fave magazine.  I live in Australia so it is the January issue from the UK of Craftseller.   I saw it, grabbed it, went home after work to read it over lunch, but...my son woke early, grrr!! So I am carrying it around instead, which is nearly as good, as the anticipation is worth the extra dollars it costs.
Still finishing the doll, got to sew on crazy boots, then attempt the hair. Need it by daughters birthday end of the week!  Only get spare time during sons middle of day nap.
Am enjoying making things for my kids, brings back memories of my mum making us toys etc.  She still makes us things, usually for the kids or gorgeous quilts.  My mum is fab!

I am addicted to craft magazines, I cannot help myself when I am near a newsagents. My favourite is Craftseller, a UK magazine.  I love it! I bought a good one the other day, Homemade living.  Another UK mag. 
I have also discovered the joy of making my children cuddley toys. Especially my 6 yr old, she loves toys. I gave her a bunny for Christmas, she was so thrilled with it. I enjoyed making it so much I made my friends daughter one too. The bunnies shared a chat & play in the garden first.

Here is a picture of them. They are from the melly & me book.
Anyhow, I am making a doll for my daughter from the magazine before mentioned, so enjoying making it. Here is a pic of her still in making.

Yummy mushroom meal

My hubby & I have decided to go healthy due to health reasons. The go have routine blood tests and be told you have high this & that tests!! So I saw this Michelle bridges recipe in a magazine & decided to try it. Not my hubbys normal thing but gave it a go....was delicious! It tasted a bit like pizza but better for you.
The official name was Grilled field mushrooms with thyme & feta, served with rocket & tomato salad.
It had a mix of ricotta, feta, garlic & fresh thyme on it with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs. Was really nice.  My baby son even tried it, he didn't spit it out!

Why I started my testing times!!

So it all began a few months ago when I bought Jamie Olivers 15 min meals.  Now I love anything that cuts our cooking time right down and delivers quality.  Before I had kids, cooking was a joy and I used to try new exotic stuff and we would eat at 8pm!  Now, I laugh at that, we eat by 5.30pm and it is a lottery whether my children will eat it or not and what reaction I get. It is hard when you spend so much time lovingly preparing a meal to have it left.  Well the dog scores but.... So I was all for 15 min healthy delicious meals.  I enjoyed the trying it out, then reporting it on my facebook and the idea of this blog was formed.
The Jamie meals were mostly delicious and I adapted them for the kids a little bit, I did not manage to cook them in 15 mins, even when I had prepared and washed everything, having all food and spices laid out.  I think that the average time was 25 mins (which is pretty impressive!) and I was mostly cooking with a baby on my hip.  What isn't mentioned in the cookbooks is how messy everything gets, mustard seeds explode out of the pan, coriander gets everywhere, the oven is always splashed!!  But the food is good, tasty and worth it.  Definately don't use the kitchen timer to time yourself, too much tick tick tick in the background and too much pressure!!
So what has been a testing time for me this week?
What comes to mind is a thermomix party I went to weds.  I want one!!  It was an all singing all dancing small kitchen machine.  The demo lasted about 2 hours and the lovely lady cooked and prepared an amazing array of food, drinks, dips, sorbets, salads, risottos, bread, custard with hardly any effort.  I want one and am working out in my head how I will ever come up with the nearly $2000 to get one!!  In my dreams but hey...one can dream!!  I will have a demo soon.
Another thing I decided to try out today was quinoa.  I have heard that it is a super grain and super healthy for you.  It actually didn't really taste of anything but I got a Jamie recipe and added a finely chopped blend of chillie, coriander, spinach and spring onions, then mixed it into the quinoa.  Squeezed over a lime and drizzled some olive oil.  Was nice with a little bite to it!  Had it with thai chicken burgers and a salad.  Way super healthy for us!!  I got great satisfaction walking round the garden and picking my lime off our tree and the chillie off the plant.  The most amazing thing was that my son who is 14 months old really enjoyed his thai chicken burger and quinoa (minus the chillie mix) and a happy son is a happy mum!!
Well I have waffled on enough for now.  More soon!