Finding joy in the everyday

What job/task/activity do you do that you do for your husband because it makes him happy ? Mine is making Harissa.  I don't like making it, it makes my eyes hurt, I start to cough and even though I wear gloves I can still taste chilli on my hands. And, I do not like hot chillies and I don't eat Harissa. I can't even eat what I make. However, dear husband loves my homemade Harissa so I make it for him and it makes him happy. I think one of the problems with modern marriages is that many wives no longer do special things for their husbands just to make them happy.  Sadly, we live in a very selfish world where we no longer think its important to " think " of others, in particular our spouses.  The recipe I used was similar to this one, however I used many more chillies than the recipe recommends:  http://www.coffeeandcrumpets.com/harissaa-most-versatile-hot-sauce/ And like any cooking - the dishes need to be done, but at least with Haris...

2# A morning walk in Autumn Reading in the sunshine Home-cooked meal Kale and feta parcels based on spinach and thyme pastries from River Cottage Where have you found joy this week? ******

This is the easiest bread to make at home, and even I, who works full time outside the home, can make this once or twice a week for my husband and I.  This is a no-knead bread recipe and requires very little effort, in fact, probably no more than 5 to 10 minutes!  It is cheap to make, smells wonderful and tastes so good to eat + it only contains 3 ingredients (no sugar which makes it far better than anything you can buy in the bakery).  3 cups bakers flour 1 teaspoon of dried yeast (this loaf is made from fresh yeast) 1.5 cups of lukewarm water Mix by hand and cover.  I usually cover mine with plastic wrap and drape a tea-towel over top. Leave for as little as 8 hours or up to 20 hours on kitchen shelf. How hard it that. Check out the full recipe HERE at Streamykitchen.com Once you have made this, you will never want to go back to shop brought bread again. We had the freshly baked bread with Kale, sausage, chorizo and bean soup (a slight modi...

Do you make coleslaw? What do you put in yours? I love coleslaw in summer and we eat it quite often. However I only recently discovered that the recipe I make is not the same as anyone else. Like many people, I make some dishes just the way my mum made them and one of these is  coleslaw. My coleslaw is made from: cabbage (either  only   green  or a mix of red and green) grated carrot grated cheese mayonnaise plus (and this does stray from mum's recipe) I add maple syrup (just a dash to the mayonnaise), diced red onion and sometimes pine nuts.  I discovered that no one adds cheese to their coleslaw.  Why not? It makes it so good. It adds protein to the dish, it makes it cheesy and it makes it much more filling for hungry mouths.  However I recommend a good quality cheese with a bit of bite - not processed cheese if you can avoid it.  Are you willing to give this a go and add cheese the ...

Every morning I heat a 1/2 a glass of milk (40 seconds in the microwave) and add one tablespoon of Chai Seed and I drink it (by the time I am near the end of the drink it has become quite thick). Chia seed is full and overflowing with goodness (one of those superfoods) and includes my daily dose of fibre plus many other good things. If you have never eaten chia seed, its very similar to tapioca and the longer it is in liquid the softer it becomes and it starts to thick the liquid. The tiny seeds expand more than 4 times their size. One of my favourite summer desserts is chocolate chia seed pudding, which looks just like the photo above. It is both healthy and yummy which is always a great combination. There are many recipes on the web for chia seed pudding and I have attached a few of them. Most recipes tend to use coconut milk, however you can use cows milk (as I do) or any of the non-dairy varieties, it doesn't really matter. To sweeten the dessert you can use honey, ma...

Dear blogging friends,  I decided to make my husband some biscuits (cookies or crackers for those who are American) using oatmeal/bran. But I didn't want to buy oat bran (to be truthful, I was too lazy to walk to the shops), so I made my own using rolled oats (the stuff I eat for breakfast). Out came my trusty food processor and zap - I had  bran.  It it much courser that what you buy in the shops, but to be honest I like the texture. It "feels" healthier - more fibre!!! Oatmeal and cheddar biscuits These were simple to make and quite healthy when you look at the amount of butter in the recipe.  Mine don't look anything like the photo in the recipe as I didn't roll them out as thin and the oat bran is not as fine. It doesn't matter as they taste yummy and hubby loved them, and really that is all that matters!! 100g (3/4 cup) natural oat bran 150g (1 cup) plain flour 55g (1 cup) finely shredded cheddar 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/4 tsp...

My husband LOVES cheese crackers and will buy them at the local supermarket and munch through the entire packet. Not very healthy, so I thought I would make my own. Whilst these couldn't be considered "healthy" at least I know what is in them and they do contain much less sodium when compared to the bought version. In fact they only contain 4 ingredients. These are parmesan and rosemary, but I thought I might make DH one batch with blue cheese and see what they are like (he loves blue cheese!). Simple ingredients: 100g butter, chopped 100g parmesan cheese, grated 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves, roughly chopped 3/4 cup plain flour See link for recipe: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/512/rosemary+parmesan+biscuits The best thing about these is the smell in the house whilst they cook - just yummy, cheese with a hint of rosemary.  Cooling on the rack - these were so quick and easy to make.

Below is a list of foods that nutritionists suggest you stay away from ( source ), I have to agree: White bread Soft drinks Banana bread (homemade may be much better) Cheese-flavoured snacks ( I would also include chips ) Lollies Chocolate nut spreads Fruit bars Doughnuts Rice snacks Margarine I can think of a few more to add: any processed food than contains artificial colours, flavourings or other questionable ingredients (if you can say or spell them, then avoid them!!). shop bought cakes and bisuuits - make your own, at least you know what is in each bit.  cheap chocolate - if you are going to eat chocolate, spend more for quality What else would you add to the "no" list? I am finding more and more of my friends are skipping these processed foods and cooking from scratch. As my friend said to me the other day " if granny didn't eat it, then we shouldn't ". I have to agree with her - however I don't think my granny ate feta c...

Sometimes the simplest things in life are the best. The smell of freshly cooked bread is so good.   Who has a really good bread roll recipe? This is the recipe I used however I doubled the recipe as it makes hardly any: http://www.womanandhome.com/recipes/531315/wholemeal-rolls

Source: Taste.com.au One of my favourite recipe websites is taste.com.au , the recipes are generally easy to make with ingredients that I usually have in my cupboard.  This week I came across a really great idea for a 'free-form" pie (see picture above) that was very quick and easy to make - even the children could help with this one. This particular recipe is Chicken, Chorizo and Potato Pie , however you could really do as you please. I didn't add the potatoes, instead I cooked some mushrooms. I made a cheesy béchamel sauce, which I used to covered the chicken mix with (once in the pastry dish), sprinkled fresh sourdough breadcrumbs and baked in individual pie dishes. I used individual pie dishes as it was easier and meant I could customised the pies to suit each of us -  each person can make their own pie they way they want it!! I don't make my own puff pastry - it is one thing I do buy as its so much easier - I might give it a go one day. Ingredie...

Duck red curry with rice This is a simple but tasty curry that isn't very hot but full of flavour.  Cooked duck is expensive, so this is the sort of dish for special occasions (or you could use chicken instead). Buy a cooked duck from Asian speciality stores. 1/2 cook duck is suitable for 2 people, 1 whole duck for 4 people.  For vegetarians, this tastes nice with just a heap of veggies.  All the ingredients you will need. Assortment of vegetables including onion - I used beans,  broccolini, capsicum and onion + garlic (3).  One can of coconut cream, fish sauce and cooked duck. Heat frypan, add oil and red paste (2 to 3 tablespoons, more if prefer more heat) and cook for 1-2 mins. Add onions and cook until soft. Add crushed garlic and stir Add 1 can of coconut cream and simmer for 10 mins. Add vegetables and mix through. Mix through one teaspoon brown sugar and one teaspoon fish sauce. Taste, alter if you want mor...

Dear friends, What a morning - I have been busy tweaking my study and the rest of the house, moving bits and pieces from one room to another (and sometimes back to where they came from) plus tossing things out that I no longer want (bin or to charity).  My son has just come over and I gave him a few things for his house that I no longer wanted - its good to have someone to pass things onto!  Have I got things "just right", probably not - decorating seems to be an on-going task in my house as I change my mind!!   In between the work inside the house, I was able to plant 24 snow pea seedlings and 16 English spinach seedlings in my veggie garden bed. Unfortunately the nursery didn't have any kale so I will need to pick that up during the week (probably Thursday).   Other news from garden - I am very happy that the bulbs I planted a few months a go are all popping out of the ground and will flower in late August/early September.  How was your week? ...

I really wish you could all be here to enjoy a slice of freshly baked bread as nothing beats the smell and taste of bread just out of the oven. But . . . wait, I have discovered a new bread recipe that was SO easy to make . . .  you just need a few hours (and most of that time is relaxing reading a book!). Here is the recipe:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/02/sour-cream-sandwich-bread-recipe .  For those new to bread making - 1 sachet of yeast is 7 grams. What is amazing about this recipe is the kneading or how little you need to knead! I usually make my bread in the KitchenAid as I am not very good at kneading. No need for any fancy equipment with this recipe.  In fact it would be perfect for a older child to make.  1. After blending together the cold sour cream, salt, sugar, yeast, water and flour it all looks pretty messy, but don't panic - roll the dough into a rough ball (below) - it will look like this. I did need to add ...