Some for us...Some for Huddo...A Chicken Dish

This was a chicken dish I made a few nights ago and made enough so I had some for Huddo that night and a few containers for the freezer...

It has quite similar ingredients to the lasagne I posted the other week but I didn't want to have a high carb night and I was planning to make Traditional Lasagne on the weekend. So bit of tweaking and more vegies in this one.....

Ingredients:
3/4 Butternut Pumpkin (diced)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
600g chicken breast (diced)
2 zucchinis (diced)
1 red capsicum (diced)
2 carrots (diced)
100g sliced mushrooms
3 yellow squash (diced)
2 tablespoons Barilla Pesto alla Genovese
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons grated parmesan
Olive Oil
1/2 cup baby rice (...obviously for Hudson)

Method:
1)In a fry pan cook pumpkin and carrot in a bit of olive oil with the lid on to cook until soft.
2)In a separate fry pan brown garlic in olive oil.
3)Add chicken to the garlic fry pan and cook all the way through and slightly golden on the outside.
4)Add remainder of vegies to the pan with chicken and toss around for a minute.
5)Add chicken stock, milk, flour, pesto.
6)Simmer on low-medium heat and cook until all vegies appear to have cooked or are at desired softness. About 10 minutes.
7)Serve a bed of pumpkin & carrot on plate and then top with a serve of chicken, pesto and vegies.
8)Sprinkle bit of parmesan, salt and pepper to desired taste. I add salt on serving if it's a dish that I know Hudson is going to be eating as I feel the little salt in the stock is enough for him.

The finishing touches to get ready for Huddo:
1) I put some of the pumpkin and carrot bits aside to use as finger food. (about 8 pieces)
2)Put the rest of the pumpkin & carrot and the chicken & veg mix in the food processor with a bit of parmesan and the half a cup of baby rice. (Huddo needs the carbs!)
3)Divide into containers one for that night and freeze the rest...

Keepsakes...Part 1

 We currently live in a 2 bedroom apartment so I am very much a less is more type of person and by no means am I a hoarder, but I do love the idea of keepsakes that can be forever. Hudson already has some beautiful ones that I just adore and the ones mentioned in this post are the ones that are on display in his bedroom. I thought I would do a post on these as maybe a gift idea for yourself if you know someone expecting and want to get them something a bit different.

First of all I have to mention the Inky Feet Tile that is on the door to Hudson's room. My best friend Kate got this as a birth gift for Huddo and we made a day of it and went and got it done when he was 7 weeks old...

There are so many beautiful things that you can do with hand and footprints and I loved the colours that Kate let me pick in this tile as I got it to match the colours in Huddo's room. Even the dark timber border matches the furniture in his room. Also it's a great size that as he grows and gets older and reaches an age where he will no longer want his baby footprints on his door it will be easily stored in a keepsake box and not take up too much room.

Next to mention is definitely the 2 Teddy Bears that have Hudson's name on them. These bears were also birth gifts and are really special.

The Teddy with all his birth details on it was from my grandparents on my step-mum Suz's side...My awesome Nonna & Nonno and this lives in Hudson's cot. The other creamy coloured bear was a beautiful gift from our really close friend's Justin & Erica. They actually went to the Build A Bear Workshop and made this themselves. This special Hudson bear even has 2 little hearts sewn into it...one from Erica and one from Justin! We feel the love! :) ........ Well that concludes Part 1 of Keepsakes.....

The Cabbage Test! (An Interesting Gender Test if you are Pregnant)

This afternoon once I was home from the park with Huddo, I did a bit of chatting on Huggies as I like to do and looking around on the forum. One of the mums posted a really interesting thing about The Cabbage Test...For those of you currently pregnant I just had to share....

Equipment needed:
Red cabbage
Boiling water
Urine

Method:
1)Cut the cabbage into big chunks. The smaller you cut the chunks,  apparently the better your results will indicate.
2)In a saucepan boil water and put in the chunks of cabbage.
3)Let the water and cabbage boil for about 10 minutes or so. When the ten minutes is up, remove it from the heat.
4)Grab a cup and go to the bathroom.....get yourself a urine sample.
5) In a separate cup, mix 1 part of your urine to 1 part of the water that the cabbage was boiled in. The cabbage itself is by no means tainted by this process so feel free to eat it or use it in a meal.
6) If the urine/cabbage water turns pink or red then this indicates a boy result! If the urine/cabbage water turns purple, this indicates a girl result
Natural things like this fascinate me and 'Laydee10' on Huggies...Thanks for sharing.

Huddo Foodies..Some Fish...Some Beef.

Yesterday I cooked up two different meals to replenish some containers for Hudson. In follow-up from my meal planning post the other day... I did a Fish dish and a Meat dish. (Later today I'm doing a Legume dish and a Poultry dish)

For the 'Fish dish' I cooked: Salmon Mornay w/broccoli & cauliflower
Ingredients:
1 medium piece of Atlantic Salmon
1 head of broccoli
1/4 head of cauliflower
40g leek (the white part)
150mL milk (can use b/milk, formula or regular full cream cow's milk from 6 months) I had some b/milk expressed in the freezer.
2 teaspoons of butter
3 teaspoons flour
50g finely grated parmesan
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup of baby rice

Method:
1)Prepare vegies. Break up broccoli & cauliflower into small florets, include some stems. Slice leek finely. Put the three veg into a steamer pot and steam until soft.
2)Whilst veg are steaming, pan fry piece of salmon until cooked all the way through. Set aside.
3)In a small saucepan melt 2 teaspoons of butter until frothing. Take off heat and add flour and whisk until smooth. Put back on low heat, continually whisking until mix is bubbling. Take off heat and whisk in milk. Put back on heat and continually stir with wooden spoon until sauce thickens (only 1-2 minutes) Take off heat and stir in grated parmesan (it will melt in quickly) and pinch of nutmeg.
4)Put vegies, baby rice and white sauce into food processor or mixed together.
5)Can add salmon to the food processor or simply break up salmon with a fork and stir in to provide some lumpier bits.

For the 'Meat Dish' I made 'Beef Mince w/Vegie & Semolina'
Ingredients:
200g Premium Beef Mince
1 zucchini (diced)
1/2 a medium eggplant (peeled and diced)
1 tomato (diced)
1/2 cup of mushrooms
1 squash (diced)
1 carrot (peeled & diced)
1 clove of garlic
handful of basil leaves
1.5 cups of beef stock
1 cup of Vetta Semolina Pasta Teddies

Method:
1)In a large saucepan brown garlic and cook mince.
2)Once cooked, add all the vegies, the stock, basil and pasta teddies into the pot and simmer until everything is soft. Stirring occasionally. (It took about 25 minutes)
3)Put in food processor and blend until desired consistency.

Once meals were cooked they were divided and put into containers...

The Growth Spurts Keep on Coming....

When I was pregnant. I thought I was so organised. Not only that I thought my organisation efforts would last me a couple of years. I was so lucky when I was pregnant, apart from the few things Troy & I purchased, we got given soooo many amazing hand-me-downs from family, friends and beautiful bubba clothes as gifts...and I didn't even have a Baby Shower! I put everything in containers according to size that at 28 weeks pregnant Hudson's soon-to-be cupboard looked like this:

Then the amazing day of Hudson's birth arrived, the 0000 size clothes and newborn nappies I took to the hospital were too small for my 11lb 6oz beautiful bubba. So there was one size skipped. He was nothing but 00's before he was 2 months old, size 0 before he was 4 months and nothing but size 1's by 6 and a half months. Then I thought "Hey, size 1 is suppose to last a while, and according to the growth charts curve, he should slow down a bit and size 1 should get us through winter..."...Well as I think I mentioned in a previous post when Huddo was sick the other week I got him some Winter fleece suits to put over his pjs on warm nights, I got size 1. This week I put one on him....it wont do up....it's too short. Then the next day I put one of the size 1 t-shirts on him for the day...it's starting to look like a crop top. I'm not writing off all of size 1 yet, but the fact that Huddo is turning 9 months old tomorrow...that last tub of clothes I have is going to get a run A LOT sooner that I thought.

'Our Shoes' .....Have to recommend them...They are AMAZING!

Something that I have to share are the shoes I use for Hudson. They are designed by a Sunshine Coast Mum and even though Huddo already has a couple of pairs...I just want them in all the colours! It feels like Hudson has always been a 'Stage 5 Wriggler' and so hard to get shoes on....and keeping them on is another story. Not these shoe-bies. They are easy to slip on. Look great with all his outfits whether we off to the shops, the park or an event and he's happy to keep them on for extended periods of time. This week I give you a product of the week......Our Shoes

Hudson's Meal Plan Checklist

When planning Hudson's meals for the week, I think I need to share the checklist I have for myself when looking at most meals for him whether it's a specific dish I make for him or something he is going to share in with Troy and I.
First I would like to talk about Lunch and Dinners, 14 meals that I like to consist of a protein, a carbohydrate and anywhere from 2-5 vegies (whether these are all in a puree together or some parts separate as finger food). There are many proteins and they all hold different benefits so from when I introduced these into Huddo's diet a few month back I added this theory as part of my checklist to ensure the most variety of flavours and nutrients. The protein groups are (keep in mind milk is excluded from this list):
1)Meat- eg: beef, lamb, liver
2)Poultry
3)Fish- eg: salmon, tuna,
4)Legumes eg: lentils, kidney beans

and recently introduced into the equation
5)Eggs.....but I serve them as part of breakfast 2 days a week.

So therefore with these first 4 in mind and 14 meals, each protein group is represented 3 times a week with a different 2 each week represented 4 times to total 14. (I really hope that sentence made sense!)
I like to keep variation with the carbs (eg: pasta, baby rice, cous cous) and vegies also. If once I've finished the meal plan for the week and can tick of 10 different vegies in the various meals for the week....I'm pretty happy.

As for breakfast this is the meal I like to ensure has 1-2 fruits represented, a carb and the protein is either in the form of my b/milk being mixed in the cereal or 2 times a week in the form of the scrambled egg fingers mentioned in the first post.

As I've said previously I love going to all this effort and planning since Huddo is just like his Mum & Dad....A FOODIE LOVER!

Recovering from The Flu...

This week, to put it lightly I have felt RUBBISH! Thank goodness for being organised and having a large supply of bubba meals I had made and frozen. Because I struggled to get dinner on the table this week, little though cook brekky and lunch. So this weekend definitely is going to entail going to the Farmer's Market tomorrow and getting a heap of fresh goodies to do a cook up and replenish the containers I used this week!

Yesterday I did manage to cook Pumpkin Soup with Smoked Ham & Topped with Crispy Procuitto and Mash (a recipe from the Matthew Hayden Cookbook)...shame I couldn't really taste it yet as my tastebuds still have that fluey dullness going on. Troy seemed to like it though which was good and when Hudson finished his bowl and saw it was empty started crying so I got him some more which is devoured so I think that's a big tick of approval. This was what it looked like....

Also I made Huddo a little treat for his afternoon tea....some Apple & Carrot Minimuffins. I made some changes to a recipe I found online to fit with ingredients I had and not wanting to put too much sugar in.

I gave him 2 for afternoon tea yesterday and 2 today...by the time I give them to him and walk back to the kitchen to put the container away and come back he's only got half of one left.....The kid is a little food machine!

As for what I'm doing to recover from the flu as quickly as possible....

Trying to rest whenever I can (basically when Huddo slept this week...I slept too!)

Having plenty of water, SuperGreens powder, Herbs of Gold Zinc & C Powder and a nightly cup of hot water with fresh lemon juice and honey and 2 panadol. ...I'm on the mend but Tuesday night and Wednesday...I was definitely a visitor to Struggle Street!

Reading to Hudson.....

One of the little secret excitements I had when I was pregnant was that in having a baby meant I had the opportunity to get back into kids books. I love them. I think they are so pretty and really enjoyed reading them to my siblings when they were younger.
Right from when Hudson was 2 weeks old I would read to him after a bath at night before bed. As he has gotten older and more active I have found it increasingly difficult to read to him and get him to stay still but haven't wanted to make a big deal out it and him not enjoy it. So when he was 3 months old I started reading to him when he was on his play mat. Then I went through a stage where I would read to him while he had his night time breastfeed before bed. For the last 2 months I've made a habit of reading to him while he crawls around his play area. ....hey it's got to be better than not reading to him at all.
But then for the last 2 weeks I started something different and he listens so intently and looks at the pages so interested it's just wonderful. ....I read to him when he's in the bath. I sit beside the bath and at first I was a little worried about this as he splashes...BIG TIME, but one night I just thought ok I'm going to give this a go, and what do you know? After he is washed, teeth brushed and had 5 minutes to splash around, he stands at the side of the bath and listens so quietly with a big smile while I read him a story. (Which is nice since I go to quite a bit of effort with voices and sound effects to keep it interesting) What's even cuter is after I say "And that's the end of the story" he always ALWAYS leans forward to give me a big kiss.

As for what I read to him, well the collection is getting up there now, to name some, we have good old 'Golden Books', Disney Stories, Handy Manny books, Guess How Much I Love You,  but his favourites are definitely the Trace Moroney Feelings Series and my personal favourite is Love You Forever By Robert Munsch. For those Mummys out there that haven't read or got Love You Forever, I highly highly recommend it as one to have on the shelf. Beware, you may get a tear.

One final thing I have to add while I mention bath time. My in-laws just returned from a holiday to the UK (my mother in-law ran in the London Marathon!).....check out these cute rubber duckies they bought for Hudson...

and yes they are quite the new favourites....

The Road to Walking....

Sorry to anyone following this that I haven't posted much this week. I've been disgustingly sick with the flu (I picked up from Hudson) and have been struggling to do stuff.

Anyway, had to post about out excitement here yesterday. Hudson took his first 2 and a half steps. Then did the same at 2 other times over the day. It was sooooo cute. I cried. I think my crying actually frightened him a bit but if only he knew how proud I was.
I've been doing so much reading on the Huggies Forum the last couple of weeks about what other children have done in lead up and as usual it seems like Hudson has done a little of everything to get to this point. He started army crawling just before 5 months. Then full up on knees crawling at 5 and a half months. Started pulling himself up on furniture that week. Within 2 weeks was walking around holding onto furniture. Did a couple of weeks where he would just stand on his own for a few seconds, gradually going for longer periods at each time. Then he started last week this funny walking on his knees thing. Then there was there was the big moment yesterday. I was sitting a bit behind him as he was standing at the tv unit and just for fun go "Come on buddy, walk to Mum Mum"....he gave me the world's biggest grin and proceeded to stagger towards me like a little drunk person. I was blown away and yes the tears started to flow in amongst all my flu yuckies. I kept trying to get video footage then of him doing it, but he gets so distracted by the camera and forgets what he is doing and either stops to pose for a smile, or drops to the ground and crawls over to try and grab it off me!
The wonderful moments of parenting just keep on coming.......

Park Playtime...

About 3 times a week Hudson and I love to go to the park. On the weekends it's also a great activity for all 3 of us. He loves the swings, crawling around the grass....trying to eat the grass. Playing in the sand...and once again...trying to eat the sand. I think he just generally loves getting dirty but hey, that's the fun of being a kid. Also he has started to make some little friends at the park too which is cute. Last week, he crawled up to a little girl the same age as him and gave her a great big kiss....but followed it up with pulling her hair. She just laughed at him. Sooooo cute! I just had to post some of my fav pics of recent trips to the park....

On The Menu This Week...MORE WINTER WARMERS!

I am a true Queenslander in that I can't stand  the cold. So when it comes to cooking as much as for my dieting I wish I could eat salad, there is just something so unappealing to me about nice cold salad when it's Winter. This year it has been particularly strange. I posted a status on my Facebook page the other day that I thought summed up the weather perfectly..... "Think the seasons need a lesson in how to play fair. Autumn has missed her turn completely and Winter has just pushed in. Naughty Winter." To think that a mere 2 weeks ago, Huddo, Troy & I went for a swim because we were sweaty after a play in the park.

So planning the meals for this week I went with the portion theory but cook some great healthy winter warmers.
-Tonight I'm doing up a big pot of Minnestrone. It's a great Weight loss dish but for Huddo I'm going to carb it up with some pasta teddies for him. The thing I love about Minnestrone and the pot I'll make of this, not only with we continue to eat it tomorrow I'll still have enough to freeze as an emergency meal to have on hand for sometime in the next few weeks.
-Chicken Pasta Bake. I'm going to 'wing it' on a recipe for this one...I'll post later in the week.
-Smoked Ham & Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Procuitto..courtesy of the Matthew Hayden Cookbook. (Another one that will last me 2 nights)
-Beef Stir Fry.
Oh and I have to mention my delicious dinner from Sunday night....Troy cooked San Choy Bow...funnily as common as this dish is I had never had it and very much enjoyed it. I think as much as I love cooking there is always something lovely and relaxing about a home cooked meal my man makes.

No Date Night for Me....

Saturday night was going to be an overdue 'Date Night' for Troy and I. The Brisbane Lions were playing The Essendon Bombers in the AFL and we had tickets and my best mate Kate ready to babysit.
Two days earlier, Hudson started to cough a bit and started getting a runny nose. Over the 24 hours leading up to Saturday night he just got progressively worse that I didn't want to leave him and his teething was also playing up (I can see those newies so white and clear just below the gum!) So poor Troy, had to tee up a mate at the last minute and go without me.
This is only the second time that Hudson has got sick and my 'mummy' instinct goes into overdrive. Particularly with the age he is, and that the doctor confirmed it's viral so therefore not requiring antibiotics my 'natural remedies' knowledge comes in handy.
Some things I've done for my little man in the last few days to combat this cold
1) Rubbing 'Eukybear' on his chest
2)Giving him a dose of panadol before bed
3)Making sure he has the right amount of layers on the keep his chest and feet warm. I had to go out and invest in a fleece one-sie to go over his pjs as he is a SHOCKER for kicking off blankets.
4) Keeping his sippy cup with water close by (not just giving it to him with meals) to keep up his fluids
5)Giving a few extra little breastfeeds, once again to keep the fluids up.
6) Made him Chicken Soup with Lentils (made sure there was a good dose of garlic in it)
7) Some 'Apple & Cranberry Baby Juice with Vitamin C'
8)Instead of a bath, I've given him a few showers so that the steam can help his chest.
9)And lastly a as a newy for the teething I've started giving him some of the 'Brauer Teething Relief'. It's a homeopathy product....I'll let you know how it goes for him.
It just amazes me even though he's still sick he still manages to stay on-the-go all day and making strides towards learning to walk. No way of explaining to an 8 month old "You need to take it easy when you're sick matey so you can get better"......but I say it anyway.
As for Date Night with Troy, sorry babe. We'll try again in a week or so.

Chicken & Pumpkin Lasagne

Last night instead of making the spiral pasta dish I had planned earlier in the week I decided to use the ingredients slightly differently and since Huddo was having a long sleep in the morning, decided to make a lasagne instead. It worked out great and was so easy just to stick in the over at 5.30 for 50 minutes while I went about giving Huddo dinner and a bath.

It was a little bit of a self-made recipe but Troy loved it and Huddo had some of the mince bit with his pasta teddies for dinner.

The recipe is as follows:
The mince:
500g of chicken mince
250mL of chicken stock
Large handful of spinach leaves
3 tomatoes- diced.
3 heaped teaspoons of Barilla Pesto alla Genovese
1 clove garlic
bit of cracked pepper

Basic Bechamel sauce:
1 large tablespoon of butter
1/3 cup of flour
60g parmesan cheese
2 cups of milk
descent pinch of nutmeg

also half a butternut pumpkin sliced
lasagne sheet
handful of breadcrumbs
handful of freshly grated parmesan (got to love my measurements sorry if they are a bit vague)

Method:
1)Cook mince and the glove of garlic (crushed) in a large saucepan with a dash of olive oil.
2)Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, spinach leaves, pesto, pepper. Cook on high and stir until boiling. Turn stove down to low heat and allow to simmer while preparing bechamel. If you have the time just leave it for an hour or two. I left mine on low for an hour and a half.
(note: If you want to leave it on low for an hour, no need to start bechamel until about 10 minutes to go and prep pumpkin in this time too.)

3)With a different smaller saucepan melted butter until frothing/bubbling...add flour and whisk constantly until you have a smooth paste that is bubbling around the edges. Take off eat and gradually stir in milk then return to heat, add parmesan and nutmeg. Stir continuously until sauce thickens and coats the back of your wooden spoon. Take off heat.
Also mince should now be ready. Now something I find with Chicken mince is that it doesn't break up as nicely as beef mince does so you can use this mixture as it, however I put the contents of the saucepan into the food processor for 10 seconds and blended it a bit more.

4) Preheat oven to 180 oC. In a deep tray, lightly grease the tray with some olive oil first.
5)Cover the bottom of the tray with lasagne sheets and a layer of pumpkin of top of them.
6)Pour some of the bechamel sauce over the pumpkin, use a tablespoon to work through the sauce so it covers the pumpkin.
7)Do a layer of lasagne sheets
8)Pour a layer of mince and once again spread with a separate tablespoon.
9)Do a layer of lasagne sheets.
10)Now I found that I didn't have much of the mince and bechamel left (so I put them in a pot together and stirred up), back to the tray I did a layer of pumpkin, then covered it in the mince/bechamel mix.
11)Finally sprinkled a handful of breadcrumbs and a handful of parmesan over the top.
12)Place in oven for 5o minutes.
Oh yes....yummmmmmm! ...(and I wonder why I gained a little weight this week)...loving food this much isn't d0ing me any favours.

Weight Watch Part 2.

This morning I jumped on the scales. Why? Why do we do it? Look, I haven't been exercising as much as I normally do or should for the last month. Considering I sold the car and the theory is that I get around on foot blah blah. But what did I do this morning? I asked Troy if it was possible with his meetings today that I take the car this afternoon to go to the post office. ....ummmmm I take it back now. Keep the car babe...don't let me have it! I need to walk to the post office. It is such a beautiful day and I should get out there.

But coming back to my initial question. Why do we get on the scales hoping for nice results when we haven't done a lot for the last few weeks? Of course it is going to stay the same ....or GO UP by 2 kilos. Great....let's make it 6kgs I need to lose now. I think for myself and many mums that are breastfeeding we get in the haze of how particularly in the first 6 months weight just falls off while you continuously stuff your face to keep up your milk supply and hey... it did for me. 25kgs GONE without much effort. But it's like most people and the last few are often the hardest to lose. It's funny too, because I've been expressing some extra milk the last few days to get a stockpile ready for Troy's and my 'Date Night' on Saturday night and what do I do...I go "Hmmmm I'm hungry!"

Also, I think I will add that when Huddo started crawling at 5 months I lost a little bit more because I'm constantly chasing after him but I think my body has adjusted to this level of 'on the go' over the last 3 months....."Hey Huddo, time to start walking champ and kick it up a notch so MumMum looks better!" ...Poor kid. :)

A Nice Lunch....

I haven't made a post about lunch yet so thought I would share this one. Sometimes when possible I like to make the 'dinner' meal at lunch if Troy is able to duck home for half an hour or so and then have something really light like a sandwich for dinner. It can also be a nice change mixing up the meals like this.
As mentioned in my meal planner for the week I was going to have 'Salt 'n Pepper Squid' one day. Well this was how I served it up for Troy and I for lunch this week....

Just a bit of salad and some mayo with dill mixed in. It's so yum dipping the carrot sticks in the dill mayo! (low fat mayo of course!)

Hudson did not have any of the squid. He did however have some of the salad and carrot sticks. If you are wondering about how to get a baby to eat salad. Well when we take him to the park he likes trying to munch on grass....so I think he gets a little confused with salad but he likes it. And looks at me with a smirk like he's doing something wrong as at the park I'm forever trying to stop grass and bark from going in his mouth. This particular day he also had some pasta teddies and a Lentil & Vegie puree.

The $10 A Week Rule

Budgeting is a big thing in our house as I don't work except for the bit of money I get from taking care of my friend's bubba named Dallas 2 days a week (A lot of fun for both Huddo & I). So we live on Troy's income and after a year of being extremely frugal about a couple of months ago we came up with a rule so that we could still be strict but have some 'little luxuries'. It doesn't sound like much but both Troy & I allow eachother to spend $10 a week on something that is a luxury.

The rule also states that you can save for a few weeks if you want to buy something, or if it's a sale item that one of us wants to get then and there that is over $10, for example $30 we have to mutually agree then write on the weekly tally board crossing off that person's next 2 weeks $10.

To give you an example of what Troy has spent his on, in the beginning he downloaded an online game for $10. Then the next week he wanted a set of headphones for the computer and his Ipod that was $60. So no more $10 for him for still another week or so (I'll have to check the sheet on that one.)
For me, as mentioned in my Mother's Day post I've been working on building a 'Cake Decorating Kit' so each week I've been spending my $10 on another thing for that.
In a time where families everywhere are buckling down it is nice to have a system where you can reward yourselves equally, especially after being very strict for a long time.

If you are wondering what about Hudson....well he never goes without!

My First Mother's Day...

Sunday was my very first Mother's Day and what a lovely day I had.
In regards to what I got as a present, on Saturday Troy took me to this place called 'How to Cook' as for the last month or so I've been reading alot about fondant cakes and cake decorating so that when Troy's and Hudson's birthdays click around I can make some really nice cakes for them. I have also been slowly building my 'kit' to have all the tools to do this properly. The shop section of 'How to Cook' is AMAZING! It's a cooking-lover's dream. So much stuff I wondered around for quite a while in awwwwwwww of all the wonderful bits and pieces.
The sales-lady was so helpful too. She then told me about their 4-week courses they do for cake decorating and that there was a beginners one starting in August. She gave me the brochure and I was so excited.
So after a little purchase for my kit which was my present from Troy & Hudson. On the way home Troy told me that as another part of my present I should do the course! I pretty much squealed with excitement..... so look out....many cake blogs to come in August. Also here is the link to 'How to Cook' if you want to have a look for yourself... http://www.howtocook.com.au/

An Extra Special Breakfast

On Saturday, I tried my hand at making French Toast. I simply soaked some '9 Grain' bread in a beated egg with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg mixed in it. Then cooked in the fry pan. I used honey as a topping on mine (Troy slept in and missed out! Sorry babe.) but I used some mashed banana on Hudson's and gave him also some little bits of banana with it. This plate looked like this:

Hudson was a little unsure at first and for a few minutes I thought I had come across something he didn't like. (Note: There is only one thing that I have found he truly dislikes. I have on 4 separate occassions over the last 2 months tried Hudson on Vaalia Baby Yoghurt. He hates it!)

Then he really started to get into it and ate most of it....

The Happiness Test

For a bit of fun I've attached a link for the happiness test.... http://www.thetest.com.au
I came across this on a thread on the Huggies Forum from one of the lovely mums and thought it would interesting. And it was. It took about 10 minutes and gives you a score out of 698. Also once giving you your end score there are some great tips specific to your areas of life that could use a bit of help...
I got 576 and found that a fair and spot on figure for me. Give it a try if you have the spare time.

My Football Team was making me Sad.....So I played in the kitchen instead!

This time of year I'm normally very excited on the nights on the weekend as it is football season (I prefer AFL but will watch NRL also occassionally). I am a very vocal Brisbane Lions supporter and Saturday night was their game up against the new Gold Coast Suns. Right from the first quarter it was looking like the previous Lions games this year... NOT GOOD! (My Brisbane Lions are winless this season) So I decided to just keep an eye on the game from the kitchen and give making some Fish Fingers a go. Once again thanks to Annabel's recipe book. So I marinated the fish in lemon juice and a bit of garlic for an hour. Cut the piece of white fish into diagonal strips. Coated them in flour, egg then crushed cornflakes and this was how they turned out....

I then put the pieces into little snaplock freezer bags (2 in each bag). All they need is to be pan fried on each side until golden. I took 2 with me in a cold bag to the BBQ we went to the next day and cooked them on the hot plate as fingerfood for Hudson before his 'main' my only thing I would say about these was that the coating was quite crumbly and Hudson did made quite the mess, so maybe I'll just keep these ones for home use!

PS: The Lions lost.....yet again!!!

Teething Time...YET AGAIN!

I love how having a child makes you a detective. A bubba can't tell you things by speaking and they are constantly changing so the sounds they make to indicate something can vary from one month to the next. However there is no detective work necessary for me when Hudson is teething. The signs are still the same this week as when he started when he was 7 weeks old. Many of them are extremely common but the list is:
1)The ongoing stream of drool or as I call it "droolies"
2)A bit of a boogery nose
3)Some brightish yellow poops...which are generally paired with
4)A pretty nasty nappy rash
5)His hands constantly in his mouth..where the hands are located pretty much always sends me right where the next tooth/teeth are coming from
6)And irritability.

Some remedy tips that I do to help him:
1)Giving him really cold quarters of orange to suck on.
2)Keep rotating his teething rings that as I give him one out of the fridge to suck and chew on the other goes in the fridge to get cold.
3)And in nights where he wakes frequently and moans in his sleep with pain, a good old dose of panadol.

Luckily in some respects even though he has recently turned 8 months old, Hudson has 8 fully cut teeth so far and there are another 2 on the way down. So fingers crossed for him that as much as it's painful he is getting it over and done with! ...Mummy can only hope.

A Little Friday Night Fruit Cookup...

Tonight after Hudson had gone to bed I was keen to cook the fruit that I had got today while it was fresh. Troy had downloaded a new computer game today and was very keen to give it a run. So off to playing in the kitchen I went. I just wanted to do a couple of trays to re-stock the freezer because all that was left was prune puree and I only like to give that to him once a week because.....well the laxative effect can not be fun for nappy changing if you give it to him more than once a week and as much as prunes are nutritious it isn't a great food for bubs to have too often.

So on the fruit menu this week:
1)Raspberry Puree with Rice Cereal (I use Rafferty's Garden) Note: The cereal thickens up the puree as berries can be watery and also they are quite pricey so the cereal gets you a couple more cubes worth.
2) Kiwi Fruit cooked in diluted fresh orange & passionfruit juice.
3) Mashed Apple cooked with Ground cinnamon & nutmeg (Hudson's FAVOURITE fruit!)
4) Diced Pineapple pieces. (I have cut up some bits to use as finger foods at breakfast and lunch over the next couple of days.)
A little interesting fact about Pineapple. If you incoporate a bit of the core in consumption you get the benefits of Bromelain which is an awesome natural anti-inflammatory and digestive enzyme.
and last but not least.
5) Banana. They were just short of $13/kg today so I only got one. A good finger food option.

Even though it's only bubba food...blogging about this stuff makes me hungry....Mmmmmmmmmmm......

Hudson, Cookups & Tonight's Dinner...

When talking about Hudson and food, as much as I LOVE food for myself, there is a satisfaction I get out of creating his meals that is just second to none.  Whether it be following an Annabel Karmel recipe or something I've randomly created I just get such excitement out of his enjoyment and knowing the nutrients that he is getting.  I'm a big fan of always having some food for him in the freezer and my bulk cookups have come a fair way over the last 4 and half months since he started solids. Looking back and giving you an idea....

...This was my First bulk cook-up when Hudson was 16 weeks old. Back when he was having 2-3 cubes worth 3 times a day. ... But he kept wanting more and more (plus the same amount of time breastfeeding)  that I continued (and still do) to make fruit up in trays as I like to mix a cube or 2 in with his weetbix or porridge and to be honest he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth but I like to give him a bit of fruit everyday. It was his lunch and dinners that I couldn't seem to keep up with that I just surrendered to this when I would cook and divide up...

Even this though I just felt like as much as I love cooking his food I felt like he was just churning through these. By the time he was 5 and a half months he was eating one of the smaller round containers for lunch and one of the larger square ones at dinner going through the containers so quick that the last 2 cook ups I've done have looked a bit like this....



Tonight for his finger food I gave Mr Hudson something my amazing friend Dani had recommended to me this morning, the Latina Kids Ravioli with Meat & Vegies. So cute and yummy. Normally when Huddo has finger food, as much as he loves it, due to him being a bub I can generally expect a minimum of 10% waste such as little bits that may slip out of his hands and go down the side of him in the highchair. Not tonight. Not a crumb or leftover bit in site. He devoured them. Then for his main he had the Spinach & Sweet Potato Mash Troy & I had which was funnily enough from Annabel's recipe book, but instead of the sausages I mixed in some tuna. Yep, GONE!
And as a bonus there was enough left over of the mash and tuna that I got 3 large square tubs filled and 1 small one.
Here are some pics...

One more post for tonight to come....

Groceries & Upcoming Meal Plan Troy & I

Well I have done a bit food wise today so I'm going to break it up into a couple of posts. Firstly, I changed my mind not long after my first post and thought well I'm going to be out, I've planned the meals just do a good shop to take us through until Monday 16th and tee up an online order by next Thursday to get the following week's delivered on that Monday.

First up the meals that made the cut this week were: (Warning: Nothing overly exciting but some great good old Winter warmers with the colder months kicking in) Also keep in mind that some of these may not sound overly diet-friendly but it is all in the portion sizing and I like to cook up enough for two nights with some meals so that I can have a cruisy night the next one and simply heat-up left overs. Plus, some things just taste awesome after a 'sleep' in the fridge. The trick to making this work however....when dishing up the meal pull out 4 plates and split the serves there and then otherwise Troy and I are both as bad as eachother and go for a bit of seconds here and there and before I know it...we've eaten the next night's dinner!!!
Anyway:
Tonight was Sausages with Sweet Potato & Spinach Mash. The other options are:
1)Chicken & Vegetable Fried Rice (2 nights)
2)Salt & Pepper Squid with vegies.
3)Butter Chicken Curry
4) Cottage Pie (2 nights)
5) Pesto Pasta w/Pumpkin & Spinach (2 nights)
Sunday night we won't be home until late-ish so Baked Beans on Toast for Troy, and Tuna on Toast for me that night.

It is a great feeling having a fridge and pantry full of food and most of all...knowing I don't have to put much thought into meal planning until next Thursday!!!

Groceries...Shopping Instore Vs Online

Well  in the nearly 4 weeks since I have sold my car. I have ordered the groceries online twice. But this week am going to go to the shops this afternoon and do it in person. I am quite fond of doing the groceries online:
1)When you are trying to live on a budget you see the total accumulating and go over to the pantry and fridge to make sure you really need something before you go adding it to your 'cart'.
2)No trying to time the shop around the Hudson's eating and sleeping schedule and Troy's busy work schedule. I just do it while he sleeps (like all internet time really :) )
3)Delivered right to your front door (In my case no trying to get my big bubba and the groceries up from the basement to Level 3)
4)You are extremely organised for the week ahead and make sure you have all you need and prevent waste

The downsides that I have found so far:
1)Not getting the order done in time and having to wait too long for delivery that I may have an opportunity to get them myself.
2)Things being OUT OF STOCK!!! Not cool and defeating the purpose of trying to get organised and get the groceries done while Troy's at work.

Well today I'm going to go and get myself sorted to tie us over until Monday and then going to place an order for the week ahead Monday to Monday.  Going to give the 'allow substitutes' option a go this week to try and minimise things not arriving. "Hey Woolies, you better still give me good stuff!!!" Being organised is much better on the wallet and the hips!
Also have gone through my favourite Annabel Karmel Recipe Book and worked out some new cute and healthy things for Hudson to try this week. My favourite part of meal planning!!! Will post the weeks meals for both Troy & I and Hudson in my next post.

Dinner...

I know I haven't posted about Lunch yet but...another day. Tonight was like most nights, Troy worked quite late and as usual. But I started cooking early-ish anyway because I like to feed Hudson around 5.15-5.30. Tonight is one of those hard nights as I'm borrowing the car from Troy tomorrow to do the groceries and I've stretched it out a few days longer due to Troy having external meetings and it's one of those 'cook what's left' nights.
So with that in mind the creation for Troy & I is Pan-fried Chicken & Broccoli with Seeded mustard Cream sauce and rice.
I always have in the freezer at least 4 different meals in containers that I make for Hudson (I'll post about a Bubba Food cook up day soon I'm sure!) but when I can these days I like to give him what we are having with some variation of course. So with the usual for Hudson in mind I firstly made his fingerfood. Some steamed broccoli pieces and about 15 semolina pasta teddies. I love how kids can carb up! The his main was what Troy and I were have except I stuck a portion in the food processor to puree up a bit (had only put a splash of cream in the pan) and added some Farex and some expressed breast milk. These are what tonight's bowls looked like

As always Huddo did not disappoint me in his efforts. Everything eaten yet again. I laugh at myself at what excites me these days.....it's so cute to see your kid loving a bit of steamed broccoli and actually making "Mmmm" noises and as you put a spoonful of your cooking to his lips he already eagerly has his mouth open!

Troy didn't disappoint me either. He went back for seconds. (Something that we both should watch but I find very satisfying as a cook!)

My Weight Watch...

Something that is going to be mentioned a bit on this blog is my weight. Sorry in advance. I have a pretty good sense of humour about it though.When I finished highschool I went to uni and studied Naturopathy for two and half years before I set my status to 'deferred' I think it still is set at that. ...hmmmmm....that was set back in 2005. Anywho, I got caught up in loving earning money and spending money but my interest in the field has never died. I'm no longer one for crazy diets to lose weight (oh I tried some crazy ones in my teen years!), coming from a family where both sides has its fair share of history of illness I am all about healthy weight loss and general health. I love natural remedies and use them whenever I can especially in relation to my cooking but hey I'm only human and a BIG lover of food....specifically carbs!

So even though many of my meals are extremely healthy and diet friendly, I find that the big bad carb monster preys on me through my need to be money savvy. Making myself a couple of vegemite sandwiches throughout the day is not helping me. I find it a constant challenge to keep myself full while breastfeeding Hudson. I love breastfeeding and have no intention of giving it up any time soon but keeping my appetite under control whilst keeping my supply up is the never ending battle.

There is the traditional line that people say when they are pregnant I find is "I'm hungry and eating for two". I didn't find that at all. Considering I did gain a whopping 25kgs when I was pregnant I really wasn't that much hungrier to usual. Then fast forward to Hudson being born and luckily breastfeeding like a champ. I had never been so hungry in my life and still get this way on days when he feeds quite heavily. However, I do feel the certain need to look back to pre-baby now that my son is 8 months old. Admittedly I am back to my pre-baby weight. The 25kgs are gone however...the remaining 62kg are distributely COMPLETELY different. The way I look now there just appears to be 3 or 4 kilos that still need to go. Oh the battle continues between keeping perspective and as much as I want to look back to 'normal' and feel great, Hudson comes first and I don't want to jeopardise my milk supply for this beautiful big little man.

                                        (Awwwwww Bubba Hudson.....so worth it!)

So the 'Weight Watch' for me is staying healthy and keeping the balance!...And yes. I am going to lose these 4kgs!

Getting Around On Foot....

About 3 weeks ago I sold my car, downgrading our family from 2 cars to 1. However, the only downgrade I see it as is a downgrade in expenses. The timing worked out awesome as May is the month where both of our regos are usually due. So this month only one to pay! Love it.

How I came to putting my car up for sale was more of a thought to help minimise costs due to me not working and trying to lighten the financial load for Troy. The way I figured was I only use my car to do the groceries and I can just do them online and anything else is pretty much in walking distance, so keeping in with my quest to lose a couple of kilos I thought the forcing myself to walk to places I might just zip in the car to would help me too. However, the week it sold many mixed emotions came up, such as "Wow, I feel like I'm losing my independance a bit." I had had a car since I was 18 and I bought this car brand new and was on some levels quite attached to it. I was also thinking as much as I'm a positive person, that it felt like a massive step back. It took me about 2 days to shake the feeling.

The only thing that has been restricting me is the weather. The weather on the Sunny Coast has been pretty rubbish and a bit hard for me to get around, but today was beautiful. This afternoon I timed taking off around the time Hudson was due for a sleep and set out on my way to run some errands. Checked the distance I did on Google Earth, 5kms. Then I stopped off at the park on the way home and gave Hudson a push on the swing....one of his favourite activities. Feeling great about selling the car today.

Bye Bye Yarry The Yaris.

Breakfast...in our house

Breakfast the best way to start the day. In our house like all meals there are many factors to consider. Let's start with Troy. My fiancee that is a devoted Civil Engineer and leaves for work around 7am and won't be home until anytime after 7pm. I love giving my man a few options, eggs, porridge, toast? What would you like today? "Porridge thanks babe". A quick thing to cook for him while he in the shower. Plus I can use the leftover for part of the makings of Hudson's breakfast.
Then there is my breakfast. I'm still breastfeeding and with Hudson being 8 months old, 12kg and 78cm tall I'm always conscious of 2 things. 1)Keeping up my milk supply. 2)Staying healthy and trying to shed a few more kilos. I'm a lover of smoothies, juices or pretty much any complex breakfast drink I can make in the food processor. So keeping in mind I've got the porridge aside for Hudson I then quickly blend up some raspberries and take a bit aside to put with Huddo's porridge. Then with the remainder, add some orange and passionfruit juice, and a teaspoon of Greenfield's SuperGreens powder. Woahhh-laaa. My power drink to start the day and a handful of almonds. The wonder nut of breastmilk.

Then there is the finishing touches to Hudson's breakfast. So I have the carbs and fruit with the porridge and raspberries. Then there is the element of a finger food. So I scramble 2 eggs and mix in a small splash of tomato sauce and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes. Cut into little easy to handle pieces. Hudson's is served....

Now I know that some may think this appears to be alot of food. Not for Hudson....within 25 minutes these bowls looked like this:

Now just for this picture I scraped up the bits of egg that were left on the highchair tray and on the seat and put them in the bowl. Definitely happy with that effort and why I love getting up and planning such nice and different breakfasts everyday.