Mum.. Whats the green stuff?

Another one of Mr 25's little cooking projects.

Chicken and Veggies (Lolly) meat balls!

And Oh.. my.. goodness.. NOM NOM!

AND i have not note- Mr 25 was blubbering like a little baby while chopping this onion!

The secret mixture... Shhhhhh...


The line up!

Mixture, flour, egg, bread crumbs...

Even ball hand rolled with L.O.V.E ... Hey Mr 25?

And the final product, Cooked in the oven on a chip tray. No oil.

We just had to do a taste test of before serving to the prince..

Delicious!

After making the home made chicken breast nuggets, Mr 25 was on a mission on to make another dish.

This time choc full on veggies.

We used Chicken mince, zucchini, carrot, onion and spinach. All chopped finely, rolled in to balls and crumbed.

The nuggets went down a treat, even Miss .14 demolished some! And 4.5 finished his dinner, her left overs and even scavenged for some more! We were hoping the chicken balls were going to be a hit too.

We quickly mentioned to 4.5 what he was having for dinner, but didn't fuss to much over it. Just simply said they was 'Chicken nugget balls' And left it at that.

We served them up with a side of BBQ sauce, dimmed the lights so he couldn't see the mix of coloured veggies and held our breath. I pottered around the kitchen trying to peer over to the dining room table and Mr 25 sat close by. He poked and prodded for a bit, then finally took a bite.

"Mummmmm...Whats the green stuff?" He asked.. Trying to beat Mr 25 to it, and him doing the same with both said "Crushed lollies, But don't tell any one!"

Phew!

And away he chomped.

So we may have said a teeny weeny little fib, But did dinner get finished?

Yep. *Two thumbs up*

x N

Ive never like tomato soup.. Yuck!

Until one night i had a dish at a friends which had been made in (unknowing to me) Tomato Soup!

Today, I still couldn't possibly eat a bowl of it, but i have a new found love of cooking meals with it.

The dish i made a few nights ago with the meat in gravy, i also use for this one too. Just swap the chicken for meat. Lamb shanks work extremely well for this one!


But tonight, Baby and I want chicken!


This is my first attempt at making this, and the recipe is coming straight from my cravings.. so ill do my best at explaining it.



I'm using a cup and a bit of frozen veggies. I'm not a huge fan of the frozen stuff, but at the moment.. its all we have in the freezer!


Ive thickly sliced some Capsicum and onion and the reason Ive done them think is because they cook very well when in the mixture like that.



Pour half a tin of soup in to a oven proof dish and lay the chicken breast down. sprinkle veggies over the chicken and soup, then tip the rest of the can in.


Lay the onion and capsicum down and pour the other tin. (I use 2 tins and sometime a half a can of water so i can use the sauce as a 'gravy' over my spuds)


Simply put in the oven and bake for about an hour and a half. And tonight i served it with smashed spuds (A new family fav!).

Even Miss .14 demolished her dinner!

And Mr 25 has just polished off the above...

I 'think' it was a hit!

xN

Spreading the LOVE.

While pregnant with Master 4.5 i had no concerns as to how much i could possibly love a person. I was in a long term rocky relationship and all i focused on for 9 months was how much i was going to absorb this little person and invest all my love in to him.

When i gave birth to him, even tho my photos tell a different story, I instantly loved this tiny screaming scared little boy. I wanted to wrap him in his bunny rug and run far far away from everyone. I just wanted it to him ME and HIM.

Our hospital stay was longer then expected, but it gave us all the 'alone' time we wanted. I craved the 'mother no-visit' time.

It didn't bother me the slightest that i had to rock him to sleep, walk the hallway at un-godly hours or feed for hours on end while sitting on the lounge watching Big Brother Up late. I gave him my everything. There was nothing i wouldn't do for this child.

Master 4.5 and i then spent the next 2.5 years a duo. My best friend and i living life our way.

I met Mr 25 when 4.5 was just over 2 and a half.. 4.5's bio didn't have a steady relationship with him and Mr 25 took on the fathering roll. Teaching him how to use the toilet and parting with his dummy.

Me on the other hand, I had to learn to spread the love. I'd 'seen' other people before, but this was my first 'serious' relationship since 4.5's father.

I struggles for months. Trying to kick off a new relationship, while trying to make sure i didn't miss a minute of my baby boy growing up.

Ill admit, i found it very very hard to make it an even balance. At times i felt like i was passing 4.5 off to my parents to spend more time with Mr 25 or i was neglecting 25 to spend more quality time with 4.5 .. It wasn't easy.

I think we had mentioned once while having a general chat, that one day it would be nice to give 4.5 a sibling. And I'm 99.9% sure it was that night we conceived Miss .14

The memories of learning to spread my love around came flooding back. I felt like every time something new came in to my life, Master 4.5 to another step back. And that devastated me.

He was meant to be my #1. My everything. But now i had to not only share my everything, but i had to share myself.

I knew straight away that he was going to be an amazing brother. For some reason i knew he wouldn't be the jealous type or spiteful. And it shows how well i know my son, as there as never ever been a day where he has shown a nasty side to his sister. From the moment he met her he's loved her. He was 3.5 when i gave birth to her.

She had a very rough start to life which kept us in hospital for weeks. Again, more time away from 4.5 and him being passed around to anyone who had time on their hands. Something that i had no control over. But still, i spent many night in tears because i wasn't with him.

Master 4.5 was the first person to know i was expecting #3. I firstly asked him what he thought about having another brother or sister. And his response was 'Only if its like my sister'

About an hour later i put his hand on my stomach and told him there was a baby growing in there. We spent hours and hours that night talking about what the next 9 months was going to be like. He has followed our pregnancy step by step. From blood tests to ultrasounds. Its been an awesome age for him to understand it all.

I'm now 14 days from my expected due date. And the feelings have overcome me again.

Master 4.5 now attends Prep 5 days a week and is at his dads every other weekend, which doesn't leave a great deal of 'Mummy - Son" time.

Before he started prep every Monday when .14 was in day care we would have a day to ourselves. We would go road tripping, i would take him out for dinner, time zone, swimming. But lately things have changed. I'm tired, hes tired. Instead of late night swims and random trips to cold rock and crazy hours, we are laying in bed watching Home and Away. Which he now trades to go play in the lounge room with Mr 25. Were both moody and in probably less then 2 weeks there is going to be a brand new baby thrown in to the mix of things.

Everyone who knows 4.5, will tell you, He is extremely eager to meet this new addition.
I keep him up to date with my hospital appointments and he is always rubbing and kissing my bump. I just hope deep down he understands how much he is still my everything. As much as we argue like cat and dog, hes always going to mean the world to me.

I don't ever want to cuddles in bed to stop, i don't ever want him to lose his affectionate side, i want to hear 'I love you mum' for the rest of my life and the sound of him laughing with his sister until they are out of breath will always melt my heart.

Miss ,14 has very much turned in to a Daddy's girl. I think alot has to do with her being a boisterous little thing and Dad is able to rough around alot more with her then i can. But all in all, shes become very attached to Daddy.
As long as her slobbery kisses and hearty laughs don't stop, Ill know theres a soft spot in there for me.

Mr 25.. well i really feel for him. Ive lost all affection, it hurts to be touched, i groan every time i move, i whinge and my body is just so tired i end up in bed hours before he does.
I toss and turn all night and have no idea how he even functions at work if i wake him up every time i have to run to the toilet!

The only way i find i can show him I'm grateful is by keeping the house live able and making sure theres a great meal for him when he walks in the door. I think theres only been about 10 divided months in our whole relationship where i haven't been pregnant! I'm looking forward to having my body back and being able to attempt some 'Us' time again!

So for now, I will continue to spread my love the best i can. I know i have enough. I will stop worrying and enjoy more. Before i know it .14 will be starting Prep and there's is another 5 days less i get to see her grow up.

I wonder if every parent experiences this?

x N

There shall be no more food fights!

Well... We hope!

Mr 25 has started hand making Master 4.5's fav foods.. Plus a few newbies.

For the past few months Master 4.5 has been a shocking eater. We've tryed so many things to make him eat right. But 80% of the time he ends up gagging and goes to bed. But it makes me feel miserable sending him to bed on an empty stomach, and I'm not going to give in to letting him simply have a sandwich after Ive cooked a perfectly good meal. Yesterday was breaking point. He would stress how hungry is was, to the point he would hold his stomach and groan. So i would make him a meal and he would eat 3-4 mouthfuls and say he was full. He begged me for sausages for dinner and as my facebook friends know, he barley got through ONE then started gagging that he didn't want anymore. I was at my wits end!

Today Mr 25 went and stocked up on chicken breast and crumbed it to make what looks like nuggets.

Tested by 4.5 and .14 ... We have a winner! So for approx $6.00 probably even less we got about 50+ REAL chicken breast nuggets!

Now Mr 25 is on a mission.. Hes been back down to the supermarket and butcher to buy chicken mince, beef mince and a ton of veggies to make crumbed skinless sausages, mince meat balls and sausage rolls all packed full of veggies like Carrot, Onion, Zucchini, Spinach and what ever else he can jam pack in it! And is hard at work chopping and grating (AND CRYING! Damn onion...) in the kitchen making more meals.

Were going to try the chicken meat balls in a plain tomato spaghetti sauce with pasta tomorrow night and see how that goes!

Master 4.5's eating has been a HUGE concern of mine for a long long time now. And with me having this baby in less then 2 weeks, what he would eat while I'm in hospital worried me. But now our back freezer will be loaded with healthy dinners and my mind is at ease.


If ANY one has any stress free- basic- healthy make at home child friendly recipes, we are ALL ears!

Oh, and Thanks Mr 25. xx

x N

Chicken breast cut in to nugget sized pieces.. Dipped in flour, egg and bread crumbs.

We then bagged them up in to 6 and froze them.

I really didn't want to shallow fry them, so we oven baked them on our chip tray!

DELISH!

Its beginning to look alot like EASTER!

Easter this year is more hectic then any other for many reasons!

Both Master 4.5 and Miss .14 have Easter Parades on the same day, requiring the same things.. Hats and baskets.

So today we've set out to make our Easter baskets and in between make some yummy 'White-Choc mellow eggs' ..Just for fun..
And yes, they taste as good as they sound!

I didn't think as much effort would go in to making them, the recipe looked pretty straight forward, but once you make them the first time you will get to know what you and tweak and make a little easier.

I didn't photograph our little cooking expedition purely for the fact i had marsh mallow from head to toe, Master 4.5 is not camera savvy and you would die at the state of my kitchen right now!

So here is the recipe.. and ill even add some photos of our final product.

90g Butter
200g (1 1/4 cups) Nestle white melts
150g of pink and white marsh mallow (The 'good' brand)
4 cups of rice bubbles (We used the home brand kind, and only 3 cups)
3/4 cup of shredded coconut
Pink food colouring (Optional)

1. Melt butter and 100g of melts in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add marshmallows. (I zapped the mallows for 1 minute and mix after they melts and butter had melted)
2. Combine cereal and coconut in a LARGE bowl, add mellow mixture and mix well. (do NOT mix with your hands.. Its bloody hot!)
3. Once cooled slightly, using lightly oiled hands (Not wet) mould mixture in to egg shapes and place on to a baking tray or baking paper line tray and chill until firm.
4. Melt left over White melts over pan of simmering water and tint with pink food colouring (Optional) Place in to small plastic bag, snip end and drizzle chocolate over eggs.
Refrigerate untill set.

And here the final product!

Nom Nom Nom!

Stay put a little longer baby!

I got a call Thursday from the clinic saying my Iron levels were dangerously low.. They had been low my whole pregnancy around 150-120 but they had now dropped to 92 and were concerned if id lost alot of blood in labour it wouldn't be good.. I have Farly fast labours and they may not have time to hook a transfusion up in time. So yesterday after having a chat with some friends and hearing about how great they are feeling i decided to get some advice from the midwives. I was positive i didn't want to go in to hospital and make a fuss.. I just wanted to know how to feel part normal again.

For the past 3-4 days Ive been so so sick, I'm always dizzy, i make dinner and lunches sitting down on the computer chair in the kitchen and just sleep the days away. Only to feel like utter crapola that night. I just couldn't win!

Ive tryed Multi-vitamins, pregnancy and breast feeding formula, Iron supplements like Fefol, Ferro-liquid and Fero-dix iron supplements all without any success. Ive been taking them with Vitamin C and my levels just keep dropping.

And I've noticed the past couple of weeks my breast haven't been leaking colostrum, at all. Something that i was so so proud of as i was positive i would have a decent milk supply this time round.

Last night they were going to consider doing an iron transfusion last night, so i headed in to get checked out.

First they thought bubs had turned breech, which scared the crap out of me! We couldn't find a heart beat and she felt no head in my pelvis, but i knew it was ok because it was kicking around. The midwife sighed and said 'Oh i hope the heart isn't up here' .. Under my left breast. And as she slowly put the monitor there, Wolah! There it was.. Gah!

So she called another middy in who also said it had turned and they requested an Ultrasound machine be brought up. 2 other midwives had a poke and a pull and finally found that the head was so far down they couldn't feel it, and bubs had simply flipped bub to the other side of my belly, moving the heart beat over. PHEW!

My Group Strep B results then came back as positive.. I'm not to cluey on this GSB.. so if anyone has been positive, id love to hear what your experience was like.

Next.. They spoke induction at 39 weeks so they could make sure i would get the GSP antibiotics in time and she wanted to see how soft my cervix was. I had known since Thursday they were going to consider it so i started natural ways of softening my cervix by taking Evening Primrose Capsules, as i had done with Miss .14.

The internal showed i was about 2cm dilated which wasn't uncommon as its my 3rd child, my cervix was softening, which meant if by 39 weeks they chose to induce and start antibiotics for Group Strep B, they would only have to break my waters. So I'm going to keep at the EPO caps nightly.

Last night i had a little bit of bleeding, but it seems to be easing now. Considering how rough she was, i was certain the baby would be out by this morning!

My temp was a little high 37.3 , that they didn't have an explanation for.

And they pretty much sent me home to rest, drink loads of fluids and try another iron supplement. I'm going to have a ton of iron supplement samples in my medicine cupboard!

Heard some amazing labours while i was there.. Which brings me to the point of this entry..

"Dear Baby Pink or Blue,
As long as your happy to stay put, SO AM I.
I can still hear those screams of pain and the words "I CANT DO THIS!" ...
Followed by many voices repeating 'push push push push.. sloooowly.. Ok and again.. push push push push...Nearly there!!"

I think I'm a little traumatised! I don't think I'm ready for all that pain yet!

So lets get this iron issue under control.. Have another test done Wednesday and see how we go after they hey!

(Plus daddy is going to the football tonight, hes FAV team The Raiders are playing your brothers team The Titans.. And he would be peeved if he missed it!)

Cant wait to meet you, when they time is right.. but for now.. Stay put baby!

Love Mum"

x N

Easy Peasy!

We just use any kind of meat, forequarters, rump.. Anything.. CHEAP for this dish. And the side dish idea i got off a friend about a week ago and it is DEVINE!

Ingredients-

Meat- How even much to feed your family (+ a couple more, because you WILL want seconds!)
1 onion cut in to rings
1 red capsicum (optional- Just adds colour)
Gravy- enough to cover meat in baking dish
Potato's- approx 4
salt
seasoning
oil

The best way to run you through it is with photos..

Lay meat in oven proof dish and cover with onion and capsicum.

Then cover with gravy. We just use the powder gravy and make sure its WELL covered.

Bake in oven for about 45 minutes to an hour on 180*.


Peal, halve and boil potato's for about 20 minutes until you can just stick a fork through it.
Bake on a well oiled oven proof dish for about 10 minutes until they are a little bit crisp.



SMASH with a potato masher. Not to hard, just enough to make some room to season.

Season with finely chopped onion, garlic, thyme, pepper, salt ect. And brush with oil.

Bake until crunchy!

DELISH!

Oh, and finish with a nice fresh desert.. Gelato went down well for us!

If you make this dish, leave me some feedback! Would LOVE to know what you thought.

The only issue Mr 25 had with this is that there wasn't any leftovers!

Enjoy!

x N

Our 'Pre-baby' getaway!

Last night i surprised Mr 25 with a night away.
We stayed at the lovely Crown Plaza on the Gold Coast.

Our room was on the 19th floor, overlooking the crystal clear ocean. We spent hours on the balcony watching the sea and Surfers Paradise. Mr 25 ran me a nice big bubble spa bath (That was SO hot it would have cooked the baby if id not put more cold water in it!..At least he tryed) and we ate yummy pizza from Broadbeach then relaxed for hours!

This morning we were treated to a buffet breakfast in the Revolving restaurant 26 floors up, with 360 degree views of the Gold Coast.

We then walked through the gardens and checked out the pools before heading back up to the unit to relax and meet up with Mr 25's cousin who is up for the Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships.

We checked out, picked Miss .14 up from Granny and Granpa's where she had been spoilt rotten and now were home to enjoy the rest of Sunday.

I thought id add some photos for those who are looking for a nice relaxed place to stay on the GC.

Pro's- I loved the 'package' i received.. The classed us as a 'Special Occasion' and treated us extremely well!

Con's- We were TO high! But that's just us.. I felt a bit ill this morning, i would probably ask for no higher then floor 10-12 next time.

All in all it was a great night away from home. Will be a while before we get to do it again!

x N

Our view from the Revolving restaurant.

Q1 straight ahead.

The view from our room.

My spa!



Bump and I about to enjoy some quiet time.



The day view from our room looking North.

And looking South.

The lovely little package they left us..

Dont you hate it when..

You spot something while your shopping and are positive you should buy it.. But you slowly put it back down.. spend the next half an hour Umming and Arring about whether to get it, Then you leave the store knowing well and good you should have bought it?

I did that yesterday.

Now this is a 'special buy' and by far a 'must have' but more of a .. Love. A $4.99 bunch of twisted, mattered, straw Love.

Its very plain and simple, but would have MANY uses.. So I'm going back to buy it. It will be used in a thousand and one photos.. i should probably even buy 2! But the sentimental-ness of it wouldn't be much good as to me, there will only be one of a kind.

Can you guess what it is? I bet you cant! And i guarantee you will roll yours eyes when you see my new 'want'.

So ill leave you guessing.. Let me know what your thoughts are.. and ill be back tomorrow with my new buy!

x N

For the love of food..

Lately Ive had this uncontrollable love for food!

Any food! As long as it looks nice. Nice as in pretty.. Desigined.. As long as it looks tasty!

I wont lie, Ive always loved 'food' but recently its been like a passion.

I love taking photos of my family eating, photos of my creations, photos of us eating out.. Its become an obsession!

Not that Mr 25 is minding because he gets to eat the final creation. And for last nights dinner i pretty much received a stand ovation! Now I'm no chef!.. Far from it. And its not even the taste that drives me wild. Its just looking at it.

Maby I've just gone weird in the last few weeks of pregnancy.

Either way, the family is lapping it up. Enjoying the creations and tasting new foods.

At the moment our household faves are Grilled fish and salad or Chicken parmigiana. SO simple, yet delish! AND the bonus is the WHOLE family like both dishes. Master 4.5 thinks the chicken parmigiana is just a giant nugget and as long as i say bought the fish from the 'Fish and Chip' shop, he will demolish the whole thing.

Wish our fish i usually season it with lemon and pepper fish seasoning from Coles or Woolworths and fry it. Or if I'm eating after the family and need mine cooked longer i oven cook it. I lay it on 2 pieces of lemon with 2 pieces on top, garlic salt sprinkled over, wrap it in alfoil and pop in the oven for about half an hour-ish on 150*. Perfection!

With the chicken i either crumb my halved chicken breasts and add the toppings, or if I'm having a lazy one, ill buy the pre-crumbed breast from the deli and then add the tomato paste, shaved ham and cheese. We usually have it with fried rice or something simple like curly fries. These SO much to the parmigiana, we don't really like to pile the plate with veggies as well. We save the veggies for red meat dishes.

So I'm after YOUR house hold favourite.. What is a huge hit with your whole family?

Comment me, Let me know... I'm going to try it with our tribe!

x N

LOVE

Random Acts of Kindness..

Have you ever done something just to make some one smile? I have.

I made some toys for 'The Toy Society' http://www.thetoysociety.blogspot.com/

All The Toy Society does is basically spread the love! You hand make toys and drop them in odd places until someone finds them!

It put such a big smile on my face receiving emails from the new owners of my little friends.

Here are a few of the little creations i've dropped..

Lady- The lady beetle my good friend Bec and i dropped in the hall way of the hospital she had her 2 little girls in. Lady was placed in between the 2 rooms she stayed in when she had her 1st daughter then less then a year later had her 2nd who spent a bit of time being watched over the wonderful ladies from special care. We thought this was a very fitting place to leave a happy little beetle for a new mum!

The Twinnies- Dropped at the children's ward that looked after Miss .14 when she was a very sick baby.

Stanly- The 2 faced monster dropped at Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast and found by a very excited Teen called Ellie who now has homed him on her bed!

Bugsy- Named after a Family member of Mr 25 who had passed. Dropped at the Chapel in our local hospital.

Bishy- Named by Mr 4.5 and dropped in the mothers feeding section at our local shopping mall.

So over in the next few weeks, I'm going to ask you all to join in on a little something special I'm going to do called 'Your RAoK' .. where you will sign up to make someone smile. I will randomly pair followers up to hand make and send them something special. I will include a little random info on your buddy and leave you to do the rest! I will post a separate blog entry when we are going to go ahead with it.. So keep your eyes peeled!

But for now, do just ONE thing for someone to make them smile. Text a good friend and let them know exactly how much they mean to you. Bake a batch of cookies and give them to a neighbour.. Ill let you know my RAoK.

x N