Back to the Hustle and Bustle

What a week!!!!! this week was going back to school week although we only had two weeks off I quickly got used to not running around like a headless chook herding sheep also known as my children yes that's us I am the cattle dog and well the munchkins are the sheep not exactly sure how many times I have ask in the mornings for them do simple tasks like brush your teeth, eat your weetbix, have you put your water in your bag don't forget your show and tell is that too much to ask from a 5 year and 3.5 years old :)  

The holiday oh yes the Holidays it was great we potted around we ate our breakfast even though sometimes it took an hour I even managed to read a book who would thought!!!

Well that was last week that was the past, now to this week where for the next 11 weeks I will be a headless chook running to school and taking the munchkins to the numerous activities.

In saying this a couple of weeks ago I made Chorizo and Cannellini Bean soup it was delicious I had to tweak it a bit to give it more flavour and its the easiest QUICK most delicious dish we have tried in a long time and it's perfect for days like any day this week where time is limited.

Here is Iris's Recipe

CHORIZO AND CANELLINI SOUP

 
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, 
• 1/2 kg fresh chorizo
• 1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 sprig thyme
• 2 x 400g cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed
• 2 cups chicken stock
• ground pepper
• 150g baby spinach 
• Smoked paprika to garnish soup

 Method

 

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add chopped chorizo and cook, stir occasionally, until browned and cooked through transfer Chorizo to a plate.

2. Reduce heat to medium. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in same pot. Add onion, garlic, and thyme sprig. Cook stirring occasionally until onion is softened add beans and chicken stock and cook crushing a few beans to thicken sauce.

 

3. Place Chorizo back onto the pot add water to thin if necessary, season with salt and pepper if needed

 

4. Add spinach and cook for a couple of minutes or until wilted. 

 

5. sprinkle with Paprika, serve with toasted Sourdough Bread

 

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

 

with love from Iris

New Projects

The Restoration Lady is back it's been a long time coming I finally started restoring a couple of pieces

BEFORE

AFTER

This gorgeous dressing table is now on our baby's room it looks absolutely adorable.

Our first Garage Sale

It's been quiet around the White Cottage lately my eldest munchkin had a tumble last week we went on an ambulance ride to the hospital all is good but let me tell you its super hard to keep two boys from running around and being boys during our week of bed rest we did loads of arts and crafts and book readings. 

Over the weekend we did our very first Garage Sale it was loads of hard work trying to sort out things we wanted to sell, we spent all day outside, we had a cupcake and coffee stand I must say we didn't do too bad on our cupcake sales maybe next time we will have a cupcake sale only instead but maybe next time I wont eat so many cupcakes while waiting for people I ate too much of my profits. We had so much fun we got to meet so many interesting people I could not believe how much personal information a person divulges to a stranger I loved it,  it was definitely entertaining and now I have plenty of dinner party stories. 

Last week started with a bump on the road and we finished on a high with our Garage Sale or maybe I felt so high thanks to the 3 cupcakes I ate at once in any case we finished the week happy. 

I hope you had a great weekend too

 

A day at the WhiteCottage

Today we decided to stay home and pot around the grounds Farmer Joe and the Munchkins spend the morning planting the winter crop in the vegie patch and me well I was a Domestic Goddess yes that was me I like to embellish on the name because in reality who wants to say "yes I cleaned, I moped, I cooked I Blah blah blah" I enjoyed of course. 

We let the chickens run around the grounds and it made me think these chickens are living the life they get fed organic food I tell them every morning how much I love them in the hope they will lay an egg in return, so today when I was busily being a Domestic Goddess I saw them and thought these chickens are onto something " a nice Saturday morning sun bathing in the warm sun" If only....

 

I love spending time at home I love the chaos of the children exploring (or making a mess as mothers call it ) while the boys were working hard on the vegie patch  I enjoyed a cup of coffee a homemade chocolate truffle and a read of the latest Australian Country Magazine in between loads of washing.

and that was today a good day a sunny a day with the family and nothing beats that!

I hope you also had a great day

An instant picnic at the park

The other day I decided to take the munchkins to the park after school it was getting close to the time to pick them up from school and kindy so what is a woman to do but to rustle up things from the pantry and who knew I felt like that cooking show where the chef stops you at the supermarket and invites himself to your house and cooks a 3 course meal out of a spud a carrot and mince meat, that was me I was the Mcgiver of the pantry a can of this a dash of that a lot of prayers and VOILA!!!!!!!!

I present you Iris's homemade Hummus 

Ingredients  

600g canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed 
3 garlic cloves, crushed 
100ml olive oil 
2 tbs tahini paste
1 tsp ground cumin 
Juice of 1 lemon                                                                                                                                         
Method

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until combined. Add some water and process again until quite smooth.

We had carrots, cucumbers and crackers, the boys loved it.

While at the park we met some friends we made new friends and before I knew it we were having an instant picnic

Enjoy!!!! as much as we did x0x0x

PS. I also made the jam drops and raspberry cordial in the picture.

New Discoverings

Today was the first day in a little while where we have seen the sun. A friend of mine told me a while ago that she regularly takes her children for a walk through a path towards the Community Garden, the same garden depicted on the children's mural.



This afternoon we all make our way to find the walkway and to spend sometime at the community garden, who knew we had such wonders at our doorstep. we have been living at the cottage for 3 years and never been to the walkway we have visited the community garden several times but have never walked there.


On our journey we met many people walking their dogs I love how friendly people are they greeted us , they smiled, they googled over the children who looked adorable riding their bikes

 

We could not believe it there was a creek and ducks and the amazing noise of the water running downstream we finally reached our destination the community garden when we  saw the most spectacular thing in the middle of nowhere there was a huge marquee Oxfam is having a trailwalk for 48 hours we stumble on check point 6 I loved  seeing these people coming from the middle of the bush and the Oxfam people cheering and giving words of encouragement as they still have a long way to get to the finishing line.

We had a wander in the garden each plot looked incredible the different variety of vegetables and edible flowers, the munchkins had a play in the sandpit and then it was time to get back home.

What a great end to a sunny day. 

Our Vege Patch on a Winter's Day

It is winter at the moment at the white cottage and of late all I want to do is sing " I am singing in the rain" for the last couples of weeks it has been raining which has prevented us to attend to all things garden and green thumb, this afternoon I put on my gumboots had my cup of coffee in hand  and wandered around the garden to see the new things that have grown and to check the things that need attending to, I was pleasantly surprised to find some of the plants have thrived really well  in this weather and as expected some have not.
I found some new shoots of basil plants and some ripe cherry tomatoes I think a homemade Margarita pizza with  basil  and cherry tomatoes  might be in the cards for this weekend I think....

 I was sitting in the vegie patch and I was thinking that only 30 minutes before I was in the middle of the CBD and now I was enjoying a cuppa before dinner, enjoying looking at the green lush plants and vegies I was enjoying the serenity if only for a moment.... and then the chit chatter from the munchkins yelling out "where is dinner mum we are ready"

With that I knew that was my cue to get back inside

What's your garden or Vegie patch like on a winter's day?