• Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site
    BOOK REVIEWS

    Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site Book Review

    ​Like alot of little boys, Master A LOVED anything to do with construction and construction machinery. It didn’t help that when he was 3 months old we moved into a new place opposite a construction site. With the big dump trucks and huge trucks with diggers on board, Master A was entertained daily, when he was 2, just by sitting at our big front window watching the trucks etc go by.  On any drive we took he was quick to point out any diggers on the roadside, making sure mum knew the difference between an excavator and a bulldozer (I’ve heard the phrase “it’s not a digger mum” ALOT! lol).…

  • Slow Cooker Dal Gosht
    SLOW COOKER MEALS

    Slow Cooker Dal Gosht Recipe

    Whilst I’m not a big fan of winter, I LOVE winter comfort foods.  Mention pasta bakes, hotpots, puddings & I’m there 😛 For me, the number one comfort food is a good old pot of dal gosht.  A South African Indian recipe that includes lamb, lentils & spices (turmeric, chilli, coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon) merged into a melting pot of warmth & comfort.  This was one of the best thing to come home to after a long day at school 🙂   This recipe I adapted from my mother’s recipe, handed down from her mother, into a slow cooker recipe.  I’ve cooked it in the Russell Hobbs Searing Slow Cooker, which…

  • Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Pasta Bake
    DINNER INSPIRATION

    Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Pasta Bake

    Like many mums I am very time poor during the week, so a lot of the time dinners can be very basic & thrown together in 15 minutes (if that!).  Sometimes it’s oven baked nuggets & chips 😛 Sometimes it’s leftovers in another form.  I try not to cook different meals for each person but sometimes it comes down to what’s easiest to feed them (feeding a toddler mash potato without an absolute mess is something I have not quite mastered yet :P). With this throw together pasta bake dinner, it always amazes me that despite hating broccoli, my kids love it.  No idea how that happened, but if it…

  • RECIPES,  THE WEEKEND BAKER

    Dairy Free, Egg Free Lemon Cake

    So if you’ve been on the internet long enough, you’ve probably come across more than a few recipes for “Crazy Cake” or “Depression Cake” – a recipe for a cake without dairy or eggs!  Originally, these recipes came about because eggs and dairy products were expensive or rationed, but these days they’re perfect for those of us with food allergies.    Usually, the recipe calls for white vinegar, but since I couldn’t find any in the house on the day I tried this cake out, I substituted with some lemon juice I had in the fridge.  I figured the vinegar was needed as an acid, so why not try it with…

  • Banana Jam Recipe
    LUNCHBOX TREATS

    Banana Jam Recipe

    I’ll be honest; before I had kids, I hated bananas. Despite having banana trees in my parent’s garden as a child, the only way I’d ever eat one was just as it turned yellow so it was still hard. And it wasn’t even the actual fruit, it was anything banana flavoured as well! Whilst I’m still not a big fan of artificial banana flavouring, ever since I had master 4 I don’t hate bananas anymore. Weird aye?  I still dislike them very soft though, so any softer bananas end up as banana bread or better yet, banana cake.  After a while though, banana cake gets a tad boring, so new…

  • Homemade Chicken Katsu
    DINNER INSPIRATION

    Homemade Chicken Katsu Recipe

    It’s hard to pick what cuisine we would rate as the family favourite in our household.  So far we’re big fans of indian (no surprises there! :P), mexican, italian, chinese, japanese to name but a few.  If you’ve had a look around the blog at the various recipes, you’ll probably find a mix of “fusion” type recipes; as I really enjoy mixing different things to make it our own. One big favourite with the kids, and is SO easy to put together, is the Chicken Katsu; served with sushi rice, edamame beans & coleslaw drizzled with kewpie mayo (ohemgee yum!).  The Katsu sauce is purchased from our local JapanMart as…