Day 27 - Leftovers

I always feel like the animated cartoon mom off of The Incredibles on leftover night.  What do you want me have......  

Day 26 - Order Pizza Mom.....

Dad is working til 8pm.  So we are being bad today and ordering a take  away pizza. 

Day 25 - Vegetable Soup

A vegetable soup.  Vegetable broth, water, whatever veggies I have around.  Some Italian spices and let it simmer till all the vegetables are tender.  I have to bribe the kids and husband usually to eat this with fresh buttermilk biscuits which I didn't do this time. 

Day 24- Mexican Haystacks

Mexican Haystacks is a meal that my husbands family has come up with when he was a child.  It involved a layer of rice,  sprinkle cheese on top, top with chili, then veggies of your liking, olives, and crushed tortilla chips.   Yummy dish. 

Day 23 - Chili

American/Canadian style chili.  Now I have three recipes I bounce around between.  Today I felt like combining all three.  I use either a recipe my husband came up with to woo the women he dated.  My mom's recipe we ate as kids.  Lastly a Vegetarian recipe that I got out of the Looneyspoons cookbook.
My mom's is tinned tomatoes, hamburger (mince) and brown beans with chili powder (mexican powder here in Australia)
My husbands is: tinned tomatoes,onion,  green peppers, mushrooms, chili powder (mexican powder), hamburger (mince) , and kidney beans.
Chili Chili Bang Bang from Looneyspoons is onions, green and red pepper, celery, carrots, garlic , chili powder (mexican powder) mushrooms, tinned tomatoes, zucchini, corn, chickpeas, black beans, cumin, oregano,basil and cayenne pepper.

I just took all of these above and mixed them together with a lot of what I had in the house.   My family doesn't care.  If it is the original of all three or a mixture.   They just like it. 

Day 22 - Ribs

Day 21 - Tacos

Day 20 - Seafood Pasta

Seafood and woodfire pizza by the waterfront.   Was a lovely lunch out on our second last day of our trip.  Seafood pasta for me,  woodfire pizza for the kids,  mussels for the hubby.  Bliss. 

Day 19 - Out for East Indian

Found an East Indian restaurant in Bateman's Bay on our holiday.   We couldn't pass it up.   Butter chicken and very hot vindaloo which is so hard to find a good vindaloo in Australia.  Eric was happy because he got a good sweat on. 

Day 18 - San Chow Bow

Now I cheated with this and just got a package mix from the store because we were on holidays.  I don't know if I have seen the packages in Canada but???  I usually made it at home from scratch with is pretty easy. 

  iceberg lettuce leaves or butter lettuce leaves 
  beef mince or ground beef
  1 garlic clove, crushed 
  chilli, finely chopped  (you can skip this depending on how much heat your family likes)
  can water chestnuts, rinsed and finely chopped
  3 tablespoons hoisin sauce 
  1 tablespoon soy sauce  
  1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce 
  1 tablespoon dry sherry
  some cooked rice noodles

Just brown the beef add all the 8 ingredients below the beef.   Cook for a bit to let all ingredients marinate together well and then serve by putting mixture in a lettuce leaf.  Like tacos so the kids like it. 

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Day 17 - Leftovers

More like mommy doesn't want to cook day.  I think the kids had grilled cheese sandwich made by daddy and I had leftover salad.  It works. 

Day 16 - Hamburgers

Day 15 - Dragon Fruit, Fruit Salad

Saw a Dragonfruit in the grocery.  So I picked it up and said we are all going to try something new in the house today.  You have to love the eye rolls and the gasps.  But after saying mom and dad had never had this before they were willing.  On it's own dragonfruit is ok but with raspberries it is lovely.   (later on mom with this and some oranges and a bottle of Four Sisters Sauvignon Blanc sitting on the beach front was bliss)

Day 14 - Dad's Eggs Everything

Dad's Eggs Everything.   Well take eggs and whatever leftovers you have and throw it together.  Then cook.   We usually put leftover cooked potatoes,  some ham or chicken lunch meat,  then veggies.  Today we just had yellow peppers but sometimes it is green or red and mushrooms.  Have fun and make your own.   Then we do sprinkle some cheese on it at the end. 

Day 13 - Spaghetti Camping Style

Camping style spaghetti.   Cook spaghetti and pour a jar of spaghetti sauce over it.   Yeah very university but the kids love it!!!

Day 12 - Posh Camping Food

We just realized we have never had steak camping.   So we felt a little posh on our holiday.   We are in Bateman's Bay enjoying some lovely beaches and cooler weather.  

Day 11 - Egg McMuffin's (home made)

Fry an egg,  top with cheese and put in a toasted english muffin.   I have a trick I learned from my sister in law.   If you take a fork and pierce  all around the english muffin it will just pop open.  Cool trick thanks Shannon!

Day 10 - Pool Party Food

Kids had friends over for a swim.   So out came the easy finger foods for all the kids.

Day 9 - Yellow Thai Curry

Birthday girls request.  This is a very popular ask in our house.   So I will improve on this photo at a later date. 
Brown your chicken
Add Yellow Curry Paste ( I cheat and don't make my own paste - Valcom is the favourite in this house- Can't remember the Canadian brand we used back home though I think it was in an envelope)
Add coconut milk, 1 tbsp of brown sugar and 2 tbsp fish sauce.  ( I am a fish sauce snob I like the $8 bottle from the Asian shops in Sydney -  I usually stalk up when ever we get to the coast)
Let them all cook together well and serve over rice.  I either put vegetable in or make them and have them on the side, which my kids prefer.

Day 8 - Hubbies Waffles

Belgian Waffles
4 eggs seperated
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp butter
1 cup flour
1/2 salt
1 cup milk

Beat egg yolks until very light.  Add vanilla and butter in separate bowl, combine flour and salt.  Add to egg mixture and beat well.  Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter.
Pour batter into greased waffler and cook as directed.  Serve with your favourite toppings. 

Day 7 - Cashew Beef

The first time I made this meal the whole table was quiet and the food demolished.  I even got requests for seconds.   So this immediately became one of the staple recipes at our house.
-thin strips of beef (whatever cut you like for stir frys)
-sesame oil
-garlic and ginger
-4 tsp of cornflour in 1 cup of water
-2 tbsp soy sauce
-1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
-1 tbsp oyster sauce
-1 cup of cashews
Cook beef in sesame oil.  Add garlic and ginger.  After browned add the cornflour mixture, and remaining ingredients.  Cook until thickened.  Serve with rice of choice and fresh veggies of your liking.  

Day 6 - Quick Breakfast

Quick breakfast before I ran to photograph the Parkes Elvis Festival.   Don't know what the kids ate for breakfast probably toast.

Day 5 - Lasagna

I was busy covering the Miss Priscilla Dinner here in Parkes for the Elvis Festival.  I made a lasagna ahead of time for dad to feed kids,  while  I just had a pub dinner on the run. 
I make a meat tomato sauce.  So make yours how you like.
Layer sauce on bottom.  Layer of lasagna noodles ( fresh, ready ones in the box,  or cook package ones)
Layer more sauce,  Then I add a cottage cheese, egg and sometimes spinach mix.  Then sprinkle some cheese.  Repeat till at the top.  Finishing with meat sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.  I cook for 30 to 40 minutes and let sit so it firms up.   Add a salad.  Everyone is happy. 

Day 4 - Santa Fe Breakfast Bake

1 cup salsa
1 can black bean drained and rinsed ( in Australia you can find canned black beans in an Asian grocery or sometimes in unique grocery shops as dry- I do miss all the canned beans from Canada)
1/2 cup corn
tortillas of your preference
1 cup mexican cheese
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 egg whites

Combine salsa, beans and corn. Layer tortilla, top with some cheese and then salsa mixture.  Repeat like making a lasagne.  Whisk together the milk and eggs and pour over the layers.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Cover and chill overnight.

In morning on 350C or 180c oven bake for 20 minutes covered, after pulling dish out of fridge and allowing it to come to room temperature for about 10 minutes.   Then cook for 10 more minutes till golden.  

Mine was a little more running that I would have like but yummy all the same. 

Day 3 - Poached Eggs For Breakfast

Poached eggs with some spinach,  and fruit.   Yummy morning breakfast.   (though as much as I love my Noni's wedding plates I may have to get one or two or three single plates of another colour to shake up the photos)

Day 2 - Chicken Kebabs

Garlic herb chicken kebabs,  veggies of your choice and baked potato (or leftover rice for the kids)  I cheated and bought kebabs already done at the grocery store.   But the recipe is basically garlic, oil, salt, oregano and parsley which you could do yourself.   I would omit the salt if I made them myself. 

Day 1 - Macaroni and Cheese

Last years 365 days, 12 different colours plus 3 kids 365 days was a creative challenge.  I had a few greats ideas thrown at me for 2014.   I figured with doing a self photo of myself for 365 days maybe I had better do an easy one for my second 365 project.  Even though doing a portrait of a different person  a day was very intriguing for me.  So here it is day 1 and my mom's Macaroni and Cheese.  I hope to have you come here if you are stuck for a meal idea.  I hope to see what my family eats over a year and just maybe make myself accountable for how much I plate up for myself.
The sauce for macaroni and cheese
1/4 cup butter
6 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese
Melt butter in microwave for 1 minute.  Stir in flour and milk until smooth. Microwave 5 to 6 minutes and then stir in cheese.  Pour over cooked macaroni and then place in over for 30minutes.  350F or 180C.  (my husbands mom made a homemade tomato sauce to go with this which he misses because I just make it plan- he pours jar tomato sauce on instead)

Day 365 - Rainbow Perfume

Last day of this years 365 project.  I think I have the new one figured out but I am not sure so going to sleep on it and tell you tomorrow. 

Day 364 - Good Luck at the End of the Rainbow

Day 363 - Rainbows on their curves

“Two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves.
They flickered out saying:
"It was worth being a bubble, just to have held that rainbow thirty seconds.”
Carl Sandburg

Day 362 - Rainbow Waterdrops

Last 4 days of my 365 days of colours.  I am going to do rainbow.