Home Baking Day

Ok not baking but it is one of our garden sunflowers in the kitchen.

Gingerbread biscuits

Shortbread biscuits

Filled up one container with biscuits today. Was my first time making shortbread, and found it very easy. Made the shortbread in the food processor with 3 ingredients. 250g Butter, 1 cup icing sugar and 3 cups flour, mix together. Then roll out and cut into shapes and bake for about 15mins. They taste good, but maybe I need to work on the cutting out shapes for them. Made alot of biscuits. The gingerbread is not to hard to make too. Next will be making chocolate cupcakes with nutty fudge icing.

Poormans Meal - Thank you Clara

Yummy this is what we are having for dinner tonight. It's easy, filling and cheap, and goes great with freshly picked green salad from the garden.

$100 online shop

For this weeks $100 food shop decided to try online shop. Last week was so busy, so want to take this week easy and mostly at home. So for the food shop gave the online grocery shop a try.

Menu Plan Week Three
Breakfast - Weet-bix, Honey Puffs and Porridge. Maybe in weekend pancakes. Lunch is sandwiches, and 1 sweet thing and 1 fruit
Dinner
MONDAY - Pumpkin and Chickpea Curry on rice
TUESDAY - Poorman's meal from Clara's Kitchen book
WEDNESDAY - Bacon and Sliverbeet quiche with salad
THURSDAY - Homemade burgers
FRIDAY - Bean and sausage casserole
SATURDAY - Roast Chicken and vegetables
SUNDAY - Leftover chicken and salad

Shopping List
12 frankfurters sausages $6.00
4 3L milk $21.96
200g bacon $3.00
500g butter $3.79
1.5kg bag of apples $4.98
half pumpkin $4.75
1kg bag of kumara $3.98
1kg bag of potatoes $2.48
1kg bag of carrots $2.49
1 nz garlic $1.32
1kg mince $12.00
6pk of beef sausages $3.95
can of baked beans $0.74
size 18 whole chicken $12.99
Total = $84.43
delivery = $15.25
So real total is $99.68

So under budget, but not liking that $15.25 delivery fee. I think it cheaper in petrol to go to the supermarket myself and get my food shop. Will do that next week for food shop.

Christmas Decorating

Our Christmas Wreath up at the front door.

 Brought out the Christmas boxes today, and let the decorating begin. We have 3 large plastic boxes for storing our Christmas decorations, dvd's, books etc. Anything we get on sale after Christmas goes into these boxes for the next Christmas. It has saved us alot of money and time. I find it helps me to not stress at this time of year, but have fun.

One of our Christmas boxes, with books and dvd's.

Our Christmas bear which reads the Christmas story, and a book of Christmas dvd's

The children made this Nativity scene 2 years ago.

While I'm typing this my children are outside decorating the orange tree. It's our Christmas tree this year. Loving the joyful noise. Will share photo of our tree another time.
Now need to go pick lettuce from our garden for our homemade burgers, yum!

Spring Evening Walk in my Garden

Our veggie garden is growing well, lots of yummy greens.

Peas please, yummy to eat freshly picked.

Our sheep need to work on keeping that grass down. These 2 are in our kids garden.

Pretty flowers, that I didn't know we had.

Photo doesn't really catch it but the flowers look hand painted.

Our sparrow guard.

baby peaches, our tree blessing us with lots.

Love going for a walk through our garden and counting our blessings. And snacking on homegrown goodness.

Did Our $100 Weekly Shop

28th Nov 2011 half of the food shop (packed milk and frozen items away)

Menu Plan Week Two
Breakfast - Weet-bix, Honey Puffs and Porridge. Maybe in weekend pancakes. Lunch is sandwiches, and 1 sweet thing and 1 fruit
Dinner
MONDAY- Turkey Soup and buttered bread
TUESDAY- Cheese toasties (some with onion and baked beans too)
WEDNESDAY- Homemade Hamburgers and chips
THURSDAY- Taekwon-do Christmas Party bringing a salad
FRIDAY- Casserole and buttered bread
SATURDAY- BBQ sausages and salad
SUNDAY- Corned beef pasta

Shopping list
Bag of apples 1.5kg $4.98
4 Oranges $1.73
Bag of carrots 1.5kg $2.79
Bag of onions 1.5kg $3.98
Bag of kumara 1.5kg $4.48
Weet-bix 1.2kg $6.59
Honey Puffs 425g $3.89
Rice bran oil 2L $14.99
Tomato sauce 2L $4.86
Baked bean can $0.74
Diced tomato can x2 $1.90
Sweet condensed milk can $2.55
Milk 3L x4 $21.96
Cheese 250g $4.29
Butter 500g $3.79
Frozen chips 1kg $2.49
Frozen mixed veggies 500g $1.99
TOTAL = $88.00

Still keeping under budget YAY! Coming to the end of year, with end of year breakups and Christmas party's, etc. If we can keep this challenge going through these times, we can do it through the rest of next year too.

Cluck Cluck Clucky

Mummy hen and her chicks

We have our chickens now. Well our mummy hen with her 9 chicks.So our pet population has exploded. They are in their temporary accommodation, until they section of the garden where new home will be is cleaned up. We also won't be keeping them all as they grow. Because if any are roosters, we can't have them in the city. And there is a limit to how many you can have in the city. If we build our own coup/run for them we can keep 6-8. If we buy one then only 4.

Whats this mum?

But already they are getting use to us, and are so much fun to watch.
Now to fix up gate into our backyard. Windy day blew it half off it's hinges, and I want to be able to have it closed for safety.