I only cook because they have to eat

 

The weather is just starting to get cool here .

We have the fire going and we will start having lots of

soups and stews , yummy !

One of our favourites here is (believe it or not) lentil soup .

I know it doesn't sound all that much but with some

fresh baked bread it is a great meal .

 

This recipe serves 4 easily .

 

1 tin brown or red lentils rinsed and drained .

1 tin crushed tomatoes (mash them up more)

capsicum , onion , garlic , cumin, vegetable stock.

 

Heat some oil in your soup pan and gently fry the finely chopped

onion and capsicum . Add a heap of minced garlic and a tspn of cumin.

 

Add the tomatoes , lentils and vegetable stock.  

Bring to the boil and then let it simmer at least 20 mins

but the longer you leave it the better .

An hour or more is fantastic.

 

This batch I made I also threw in some mushrooms and

a zucchini that would have been wasted.

 

The cumin helps the lentils digest and not repeat on you.

I love cumin so I add more but if you don't like it leave it out .

You can replace the cumin with curry if you like.

 

For those that think they are being tortured having no meat

I cook up some finely chopped bacon and they just sprinkle

how much they need on top.

 

I really hope you like this soup I love it .

 

Anyway I have some stitching to get done for the

Umbrella Prints Trimming Competition

so I'd better get to it .

 

See you soon xxx

 

 

 

and so it goes on

 

I first blathered on about attempting string piecing in January 2010.

Not to be put off I blathered again that month about the same thing .

Being very persistent I bored you again here . 

 

 

Here we are in May 2013 and I am putting the blocks together .

No square is square.

No block is the same size.

I am still not a quilter .

 

 

Heart Week

Did you know that this week 5th - 11th is Heart Week ?
Did you also know that heart disease kills four time more women than breast cancer?
Heart disease is the number one killer of Australian women .

                                                                         Number one !

 

In case you are wondering this is not a sponsored post.

Heart disease is something that has affected me my whole life.

When I was very young my father died at age 50 of heart disease.

It was a battle he fought for most of his life.

When he died he left behind a wife and eight young children.

image from here

 

Over the years various family members have had problems

regarding their hearts .

This might explain why I am so fiercely passionate about

the Heart Foundation and all the good work they do .

image from here

 

Do you know the warning signs of a heart attack ?

Would you like some information on heart health ?

 

I am not a doctor .

I have absolutely no connection to The Heart Foundation .

In fact I am probably not even a good role model

as I only gave up smoking last year (on the anniversary of my fathers death)

after many years of abusing my health .

But if I can get a couple of extra people to donate to ,

share or even have a look at The Heart Foundation website

I will be a very happy girl .......

image from here

 

......and happiness is very good for your heart .

not just for vegos

 

I have been a vegetarian for many years as have most of

my brothers and sisters.

My little family all eat meat but love some vegetarian meals too.

I was making spinach cannelloni and thought you might like

to have an easy vego recipe on hand too .

 

It is not necessarily healthy with the cheese but it's very , very tasty .

 

You will need about 2 cups of  shredded spinach or

 a packet of frozen spinach defrosted .

Fresh lasagne sheets

light sour cream

cottage cheese

1 egg

garlic

grated cheese

 3 cups of pasta sauce (you can use a jar of premade sauce

but home made is just as quick and delicious.)

Pour boiling water over your shredded spinach to wilt it.

Drain and let it cool.

Add to the spinach 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream

1 beaten egg , minced garlic and a handful of grated cheese .

Mix it all up .

 

Pour 1/2 cup pasta sauce into a baking dish.

 

Take a lasagne sheet and put about 2tbsp of spinach mix

along one short end and roll it up .

Place it into the baking dish on top of the sauce .

Keep rolling the mix until base is covered .

 

Pour the rest of the pasta sauce over the top of the rolls .

Sprinkle some grated cheese over the whole dish .

 

Cover the dish with a lid or foil .

 

Bake about 40 mins at 180c .

 

As with most pasta dishes this is best made the day before eating.

 

Great in Summer with a salad or with steamed vegies in Winter.

 

Or just on it's own ....

 

 

Enjoy !

who wants a lolly ?

 

Who wants a lolly ?

Go to bed and kiss your dolly .

 

These colourful lollies are fun and easy to make

so the kids can really get into the party spirit .

All you need are some plastic balls , I got mine from Big W ,

some cellophane and some curling ribbon .

 

Wrap the cellophane around and twist the ends to

make them look like lollies .

 

If you wrap the same colour cellophane around the

 same colour balls it looks really good !

 

Hang them inside or out they look so happy .

Also if you use coloured balls instead of styrofoam balls

they make a great take home gift instead of

the usual lolly bags .

 

I love mine so much they're staying up for good .

we have a winner

 

Yes that's right we do have a winner or two !

Hooray and congratulations to Sedef in Australia  

who receives the lovely book and gorgeous Cosmo threads.

 

From a land far , far away (well Canada anyway)

the winner is Sandra .

Would you both please contact me with your addresses to send your prizes to .

Thanks to everyone else for entering .

 

 

In other world news I am going to have a go at

The Umbrella Prints Fabric Trimmings Competition .

 

If you visit Amy's and Carly's  blog you will find links where you can see

entries from previous years .

 I'd better get a move on if I want to have anything made to enter .

 

Thanks for popping in , see you soon xx

 

You can find the pattern for Perky Penguin here .

chia ?

 

 This is not a sponsored post .

I'm sure you're wondering why the heck is she talking about chia.

 

 

You may already know about all this but I've only recently discovered chia.

I had heard that it was really good for you but I thought I'd do a little research .

 

 

I learned ~ from here

 

they are gluten free .

super high in dietary fibre.

eight times more omega 3 than salmon.

20%protein.

high in antioxidents (4 times higher than blueberries)

five times more calcium than milk.

seven times more vitamin C than oranges.

3 times more iron than spinach.

double the potassium content of bananas

 

They have no taste either so they don't spoil the flavour

of whatever else you have added it to .

 

 

I am NOT a health professional in any way shape or form

but if sprinkling 1 tablespoon of chia on my cereal is going

to give me all this I'm there !

 

 

As I said this is not a sponsored post although I do have a connection

with the supermarket that produces Macro foods but

they are not aware of this post and have not asked me to do it .

 

I'm just sharing some info because I'm nice like that .

 

The giveaway in the post below is still open go,go,go !