The Weekend was....well....fun....

Went to bed friday night, got up saturday morning, put the kettle on for the all important cuppa, had breakfast, then went out to do some running around before we had to start getting ready to go see Mrs Browns Boy in the city, so bought the dog food and decided to call into a 4WD shop that one of our club member owns and say Hi, his wife was doing some work out the back and I was looking at some lovely hoodies she has for sale, these look good so handed over the money and was very happy with our purchases :) then got talking about juices and was pointed to shop so off we headed for a look and plan to go back come pay day to buy one, Thanks Tina =D

Ok its almost time to start getting ready so go yell at Bronze and Silver to start getting ready, especially Bronze she takes ages to get ready, then I decide better to have a shower and start getting ready myself lol first couple are late, and I yell to Bronze "we are leaving, lets go", meant to leave at 5, its now 5:45, and we are meeting the second couple in the city at 6:30, yeah not going to happen! so finally we are in the car and off, then get into the city and cant find the cheaper parking we were told about, so pull over just around the corner from the venue and jump out car to talk to first couple thats following us (they wish they hadn't I bet) ok hubby walks off to find prices to this parking area while Bronze points out to the rest of us that we actually parked 'beside' the sign with the prices, so after he trots back Bronze proudly shows him the sign, with a quick "shut up you" from dad hahahaha, then we say lets just park at the venue, which turns out to not cost as much as we first thought, so we all agree and take off around the corner (or 20) to get to the show, then hubby takes off from the lights and points to the street as we are sailing past to say "is that where I'm meant to turn"? Ahhhh yes comes a yell from everyone in the car, so he drops the 'F' bomb and continues until we can find somewhere to do a U turn, in the heart of the city, not easy, couple following behind are looking very confused in the mirror, so hubby finds somewhere safe to turn around and promptly drives past the turn again..... now the 'F' word is being dropped several times, so I decide we should call the second couple waiting to meet us at McDonalds and follow us in the venue as we have everyones tickets, so I tell them can they please meet us there, meanwhile hubby finally has the correct street to turn after saying "I've done everything possible to avoid the place" hahahahaha and we are sitting at a red light while Im on the phone to second couple, he tells us to not turn but keep going straight ahead to meet them, light changes to green, have to make the turn to chuck ANOTHER U TURN at the entrance of the venue to go meet the others (as I said we have the tickets so they wanted to walk in together) ahhhhgggg, so we did 200 u turns in the city, meet up with everyone, got in and had a ball at Mrs Browns Boys, then after the show we went back to McDonalds for a coffee and then said goodbye to everyone and all went our own way home and yes you guessed it.....turning out of McDonalds we turned the wrong way....OMG hahahahaha but got home safely and Bronze had fun teasing her dad about getting lost, he told her "your cruising for a bruising" and she quickly come back with "do you need directions" hahahaha so ended up with alot of laughing, get home, Im buggered Im going to bed night all.

Sunday was our naughty day we went out to play in the local tracks to see how the rental preformed...shhhhh was a fun day but we both glad we got Tiny who should be going in tomorrow for her operation and HOPEFULLY home wednesday, she better be home as we are developing a twitch from withdrawals :/ and nothing exciting to report for today (Monday) so I'll leave it here, if anyone is out there reading this please leave a comment so I know you are there :) and hope you are enjoying reading our life and recipes.

Cheers Lisa.
 

Cook with me - Spaghetti Bolognese

What's for dinner? the kids are screaming and I got big kids lol Spaghetti Bol I yell back, and I get a 'yay', yep you cant beat a classic dish like good old wog spaghetti bolognese hahaha
I want to firstly tell you that I'm married to a Italian, so I had to learn to cook alot of Italian food, and over the year's I've gotten pretty good at it, and this one is what I cooked tonight, and I'm going to share it with you, now you probably already know this one or have your own way to cook it, so please feel free to share with us in the comments, also remember you can add different ingredients or leave something I have added out, no worries at all,  this meal is soooo easy, and as I said a real classic, hope you enjoy......

Here is what you need...

This is what I used but you can adjust the amount to suit your family size,
I have half a kg of beef mince 
(but you can use minced chicken or pork and works well if you use half and half with beef mince)
onion - chopped
Red Capsicum - chopped
can of chopped tomatoes ( I like the coles one but have shown two brands here)
Garlic - crushed
Chilli - finely chopped and optional
Oregano and Basil (can also add rosemary)
Aniseed - will be adding a photo - this is optional
One bottle of Tomatoe cooking sauce (bottle shown here is from good ol Aldi's) 
Tomatoe paste - optional and in photo below (always forget something in the pic)
And your choice of pasta or spaghetti

Now wooden spoon at the ready and let's cook dinner.....
chop up the onion and capsicum and chilli (can use dried chilli) but when you come to do the garlic here is a tip if you didn't already know...

TIP: To peel the garlic easy cut the end off the garlic clove and lay the blade of the knife flat over the top of the clove and hit down with the heel of your hand as shown in this photo... 

Not to hard as dont want to smash the clove and skin should come off very easy like so...

Now we are ready to start dinner......

I use a cast iron pot as it holds it's heat well use whatever pot you have, heat some olive oil on a medium to low heat, don't want to burn everything, and add the onion first, fry for afew minutes until onion starts to look soft.
once everyone smells the onion and garlic frying everyone will be hungry, trust me hahahah.
now add the capsicum, crushed garlic and chilli and add alittle more oil if starting to look dry, fry for a further 2 or 3 minutes and add the mince meat, making sure to break up all lumps of meat with your spoon, you dont want big (or small) lumps of meat, once the meat is cooked add the tomatoe paste, I used a small can in photo above, or about 2 tablespoons, and mix well, now put in the can tomatoe, mix and the bottle of sauce...
 another tip that I do is after you have put the whole bottle of sauce in I add alittle water to the bottle, put the lid back on and shake well and add to the pot as I like my sauce to be on the runny side.

TIP: I add sugar (white) about now to the sauce as the sugar takes the acid out of the tomatoes.

Add about one tablespoon of white sugar and the oregano and basil, salt and pepper to taste, and I like to add Aniseed.... but this is optional...

 pic added so you can see the amount and not everyone knows what Aniseed is :) 
give the sauce a good stir and leave on a low simmer.
Now I would put another pot of salted water on to boil to cook the pasta, but remember not to add salt until after the water comes to the boil, the sauce will only need the time the pasta takes to cook to be ready, meanwhile open a bottle of nice red while you are waiting and pour a glass, now once the water is boiling and you have salted it and added the pasta give it a stir to stop the pasta sticking together, once pasta is cooked to your liking drain it then quickly add to the sauce, dont shake every drop of water out of it as the pasta will absorb the sauce, this is why I prefer my sauce to be on the runny side as it wont stay that way for long, as I said I like to add my pasta straight into the sauce but you can do whatever pleases you as long as its my way hahahah
Top up your glass and serve with parmesan cheese. 

yummy and another quick and easy dish :) 

Now being Friday I not sure if I'll be blogging over the weekend, if anyone actually reads this? lol and tomorrow night we are going to see Mrs Browns Boys with our good friends so should be a good night, so lots to blog about come Monday, Oh oh and...... 

BREAKING NEWS........ Tiny is said to be coming home next wednesday, the car doctors said she has a case of a broken high pressure pump so have ordered a new one in on monday, operate tuesday and she should be allowed to come home wednesday so fingers crossed our girl will be back home....ohhh I'm sooo happy, so's the mechanic he gets to live :) 

This whole blog was all about cooking, so hope it still kept you entertained and you all (whoever you are) has a good weekend.

Cheers Lisa.

 

 

What a Drag

Well looks like I'm talking to my self here or no one liked yesterdays blog lol but it's ok I'll happily chat away to my self.
Well what a drag yesterday was, phhhfffft hope that day doesn't repeat it self in a hurry :( 
Firstly not getting any answer's about our car and them having no idea what is wrong with her is getting quite frustrating, and yesterday we were offered a hire car, BUT if our car turn's out to be the bad fuel that was the problem then it doesn't come under warranty and we have to pay for the car hire, just to rub even more salt on the wound, hoping its not bad fuel so everything is paid for *fingers crossed*


Anyway enough about that.....whats for dinner tonight? hmmm haven't even looked in the freezer yet, my bad, last night was a simple dinner beef spare ribs and salad, but you had to eat 50 ribs just for a snack as there is very little meat on them, but it helps with this diet with smaller servings, thats my current problem, I try to tell my self at dinner time, "remember Lisa smaller servings on your plate", but my hands keep ignoring me pffft but Im getting better, (yeah keep telling yourself that Lisa) 

I have a few recipes I am going to share with you in the coming weeks, and all quick and easy, and good for weight loss or keeping trim so I'll get stuck into that and take photo's.

Tip for the day: Don't sneeze while driving, not as easy as you think.

And yes part of this blog has been removed as I got on my high horse and have thought better of it, so sorry today's blog is alot shorter lol   




Cheers

Everything is Broken

Yes everything is broken, well maybe not 'everything' but I can have a sook, as you know 'Tiny' is still currently broken and last I heard in bits all over the mechanics floor, at least that was from yesterday's report and been busy last night researching how to sue the petrol station if it is contaminated fuel, and in most case's the repairs are paid for by the car owner and if you can prove it was the fuel you purchased that was the problem you can fight the servo to reimburse you, yeah that sounds like a shit load of fun....not! 
lucky we have all the receipts when we filled up and a sample of the fuel was being sent away to be analysed, so waiting to hear how that went, so we might have a fight on our hands, stay tuned....and once we know what the problem is I 'shell' tell you where we bought our fuel from, dont like to say just yet incase I upset any readers but I 'shell' name and shame them once we know for sure. *snigger* oh and the dish washer is also broken, looks like we are going back to the old dish washer...me!

Anyway thought I'd tell you abit more about 'me' so let's see....hmmmmm well let's start with 'likes' and 'dislikes', I like fuzzy bunnys and kittens....hahahah nuh just joking, no seriously I like good movies, the beach, a good tv series that you just cant wait for next week to see what happens, food, yes I love food *rolling eyes* Oh the list goes on....now my dislikes, top of the list is long toe nails....yuk and I dont like when you are chatting with your friends and you have to keep explaining yourself, like 'Im only joking', or times when you should be able to say something and everyone knows what you mean but there is one that you are always explaining aaagaggghhh!! and people that are always sick or got this wrong with them or that and poor me.....bugger off Im trying to be happy over here lol 
Which brings me to movies I like....my favorites would have to be Sweet Home Alabama, also like the song, and P.S. I Love You, Oh and Fast and the Furious movies, I like the car's, nothing to do with the hot guys in it...noooooo.
and TV shows well I have a few.....Love Child, really getting into that, Puberty Blues, yes I grew up in the 80's so getting into that aswell, A Place to call Home, Winners and Losers, bet you all like that one aswell, Switched at Birth and Teen Wolf. 
Now the 'pets' the love of my life is my kitty cat Willow 

Isn't she beautiful, she is my little pal and alway talks to me...awwww and the other pet is our old girl Minx..

airing out her girlie bits..... 

And hugging a teddy, now abit of a story, we go to watch Bronze and Gold play hockey and this dog can burp and fart oh and snore (the bloody thing) with the best of them, and one day I had her on the leash watching the game and the dam thing did this huge burp, and here I am standing there with a can of drink in my hand..... I just look down in disbelief that come out of her and ofcourse everyone else is looking at ME.....oh hells noooo, that was not me, it was the dog....yeah sure it was, then 'The dog did it' jokes start, guess I wore that one that day :/ 

Update with Tiny they still DONT KNOW what is wrong with her, and have offered us a hire car. 

Today's a Doozy - Teriyaki Chicken Stirfry

Hello Peeps and any followers I may have,

Well today I'm writing in blue to match my mood, as I told you yesterday our beautiful 4WD 'Tiny' come down with a illness we were hoping it was nothing more than a sore throat and the car doctors would fix it and send our big girl home, sadly that's not the case, she has a mystery illness and they cant find the problem O.o apparently there is no fuel pressure but have done all the tests and everything is coming up working ok, so the mechanics are stumped? they even called Ford head office to see if the problem has happened before to try to get some answer's, but no it hasn't so we are the first, and the waiting game goes on and we remain 4WDless meanwhile, so this story continues. 

 You can put any caption you like to this photo...... Hubby:  I'm not giving you my keys...noooooo .... Driver: Give em to me! lol  And as you can see 'Tiny' only just fits on the tray hahahah

OK moving on.......  well last night I was abit lazy when it come time to cook dinner (and not to mention was hoping to be going to pick Tiny up) and with us all trying to lose some weight and eat better, should firstly say we have the health police living with us, Bronze child is doing a personal trainers course and is now in the know whats good and whats not to eat......so we now watch our serving size and what we cook, so keeping in with that and looking what to cook that was both....quick and easy....wasn't as bad as I first thought so I decided to share this one with you all, as Im sure we are all in the same boat at some point, want something yummy, quick and easy.....so with pictures here it is.... 

 Teriyaki Chicken Stirfry 

But you can do any sauce you like, I cooked for 5 but had enough left over for lunch today...yum lol 

I will tell you what I had but you can use any meat or vegies you like, will still work, and add extra (veg or spices) but you have to let me know how it turned out please :) 

I had 2 large Chicken breast's that I sliced 

1 packet of Oriental stirfry vegies .... as thats what I had in my freezer

2 packets of Thick Hokkien noodles

Half a bottle of Teriyaki sauce 

Garlic - crushed

1 onion (not in pic sorry) cut in half and sliced

Chicken stock powder or cube, about 1 1/2 teaspoons or one stock cube

and I put 1 red chilli chopped fine...(up to you if you dare)  

And all from Aldi's so cheap meal to boot.

Grab your wok or fry pan and put abit of olive oil to heat and I cooked the chicken first, then removed it once it was 'almost' cooked so it doesn't dry out, and put in a bowl and set aside.

Now add abit more oil to wok and add the onion, chilli and garlic and cook for only afew minutes, then add your frozen or fresh vegies, at this stage I add alittle water to the wok, but I do mean a 'little' water so the vegies can cook and your not adding more oil, then I put the lid on for roughly 5 minutes to half cook the veg, but dont have the heat on to high or it will burn, you should be able to judge the heat, no right or wrong here =D and dont forget to give it a toss from time to time, once you are happy with how the vegies are cooking add the chicken stock powder and about 1/4 of the bottle of Teriyaki sauce (or your choice of sauce) and mix well.

Then add the chicken back into the wok and mix.

Meanwhile boil the kettle and soak the noodles in a bowl of boiling water as the packet instructions.

Here is the stirfry at this stage (without the noodles yet) 

Now once the noodles are ready, normally only takes afew minutes to separate I just used a pair of tongs to drain them and add straight into the wok then I added more sauce to taste and mixed well and serve....

Ready to eat...yummy and yes I used chop sticks, but you can fork it if you must lol so as for tonight dinner...well maybe left overs hahaha but I will post more recipes for you from time to time but please do let me know what you think :) 

I wasn't going to add this but bugger it I will....lucky I re-read this before I published it because I told you to drain the noodles with a pair of 'thongs' hahaha yes go get your best pair of thongs, not the ones you wear to the beach and drain the noodles, watch the noodles dont get caught in the toe bit lololol 

Oh and just a last thought for the day before I go...... I know what happened to the missing Malaysia Airline a UFO took it, I'm telling you it was beamed up by a UFO. 

Cheers Lisa.

First Blog

Hello Everyone, Well this is my first post so a big welcome to anyone that maybe out there reading this, tho I'm guessing I am alone at the moment so I will continue on.
Today is Monday and if you read my profile you will know I love going 4 Wheel Driving and Saturday we had a trip up in the Victorian high country with our club, and we have a new Ford Ranger and am loving this car, but this trip something just wasn't right with her, all morning she didn't miss a beat (as per normal) but then just before lunch she was sounding abit 'off' but we all scratched our heads and moved on, then we stopped for lunch and soon realised something was definitely not right with her, she didn't like to idle but under power she was running just fine, so we think it may be bad fuel (diesel) or one of our club members said it could be a electric problem? so we are hoping its the latter as bad fuel is not under warranty so will be big $$$$ so we are all waiting all day today to hear from Ford to see what illness she has, and to top it off, our girl was taken to the nearest town which is just over a hours drive from home, so hoping we can pick her up tonight, but time is not looking good :( I keep telling myself "No news is good news right?", so I will keep you posted what the out come was.... And NO Ford jokes!

Anyway I will leave it here for now as I'm still learning what to do in here and will be back later if we have any news if not will be back tomorrow.

Cheers Lisa.