From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend. Â Jacinta x
I whipped these up for afternoon tea. Â A friend was dropping Scarlett off this afternoon, which means I gained an extra 1 1/2 hours of my afternoon (school is not close by). Â I put the time to good use and was able to make these muffins. Â They always go down a treat and take no time to prepare. Â This recipe is dairy free.
Ingredients:
Makes approximately 12 muffins
2 bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup plain (all purpose) flour, white, wholemeal or spelt is fine
1/2 cup oil, I use GM free Canola
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tsp Bi-carb soda (baking soda)
1 tsp Cream of tartar
1/2 tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Method:
In a bowl, whisk the eggs, add sugar and whisk until well combined. Â Then add oil and whisk until oil is mixed through. Â Stir in the mashed bananas. Â Sift the dry ingredients and add to the mix, stirring to combine. Â Spoon mix into prepared muffin tins. Â Bake for approximately 12-15 mins @ 160 degrees celsius until cooked through.
Banana Muffins
Enjoy! Â Jacinta x
From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend. Â Jacinta x
We quietly celebrated Australia Day at home, I wrangled kids while Greg finished some paintwork, all very ho-hum really. Â But dinner was a yummy ‘Australian themed’ meal including lamb and pavlova. Â The kids loved the lamb meatballs and the pav went down a treat. Â So much so, I’m sharing my recipes with you. Â I hope you enjoyed your day, however you chose to celebrate Australia Day. Â Oh, I have seen this video floating round in the cyber world, it’s so tongue in cheek, and oh so ocker, I just had to share.
Tenneille and Scarlett wishing you a happy Australia Day!
Fetta & Olive Lamb Meatballs
I am letting you in on a secret, steaming the meatballs before pan frying helps them keep their shape and they tend not to stick.
1kg lamb mince
1/2 cup olives, pitted
120gm marinated fetta
2 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion
oil for cooking
Method:
In a food processor, place the onion and garlic and process until finely chopped. Â Add olives and fetta and process until coarsely chopped. Â Add this mix to a bowl and then add mince. Â Mix thoroughly. Â Roll mixture into balls, using a little water on your hands to prevent mixture sticking. Â Using a bamboo steamer or the like, place the meatballs in and steam them for approximately 10 minutes. Â You may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your steamer. Â Remove meatballs from steamer and place on absorbent paper. Â Once they have cooled a little, pour approximately 3 tablespoons oil into a pan over a medium heat, adding the meatballs and cook until golden brown. Â Remove from pan and serve immediately. Â Serve with a nice green salad and your favourite dipping sauce if desired.
Olive & Fetta Lamb Meatballs
Pavlova
4 egg whites
3/4 cup castor sugar
300 ml cream, whipped
seasonal fruit of your choice
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, approximately 1-2 minutes. Â Gradually add sugar, making sure it is fully disolved between additions. Â Place mixture on a tray lined with baking paper and spread to a diameter of about 20-25 cm. Â Place in a very slow oven approximately 120 degrees celsius or for a fan forced oven approximately 100-110 degrees celsius for 1 – 1 1/2 hours. Â Once cooked through, turn off oven and leave the oven door ajar allowing the pavlova to fully cool before removing. Â Place on a serving dish and decorate with whipped cream and fruit of your choice. Â My preference is fresh passionfruit pulp, strawberries and blueberries.
Enjoy! Â Jacinta x
This recipe is enjoyed by all of us. Â I love a recipe that the kids don’t complain about eating. Â They take a little while to prepare, but are definitely worth it. Â The recipe, originally titled Fried Chicken Wings, comes from a favourite book of mine, Little Vietnam by Nhut Huynh. Â It has lots of tasty recipes. Â I love that it has sauce recipes too. Â They taste like the real deal and I must admit, the results put a lot of Asian takeaway to shame. Â I have altered the ingredient amounts slightly from the recipe in the book. Â The wings can also be served cold or can be reheated the next day.
Ingredients:
2kg chicken wings
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice
2/3 cup fish sauce
2 tbspn white sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rice flour
Oil for frying (I use GM free canola oil)
Method:
Pat chicken wings with paper towel until dry. Â Cut wings into two pieces at the joint. Â If tips of wings are attached, discard them. Â Combine garlic, onion, pepper, five-spice, fish sauce and sugar. Â Coat wings with this mixture. Â Leave the wings to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Â You can leave overnight if you wish.
Just before cooking, place wings in a colander over a bowl and allow excess marinade to drain off. Â mix the plain flour and the rice flours together. Â Add approximately 1/4 cup of the flour to a bowl and add about 1/4 of the chicken wings. Â Coat evenly with flour and fry in pre-heated oil, browning on all sides, approximately 7 minutes, or until cooked through. Â Repeat this for the remaining chicken wings. Â Wings can be placed on paper towel to drain excess oil. Â If need be, place wings in the oven to keep warm.
Dipping sauce:
1 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp white pepper
Mix lemon juice, pepper and salt together. Â Pour into a small dish for dipping.
Vietnamese Chicken Wings
Enjoy! Â Jacinta x
From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend. Â Jacinta x
Greg and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary today. Â We have planned to go out to dinner tonight thanks to the generosity of a dear friend who is babysitting for us. Â It is such a rare treat for just the two of us to go out together. Â Best of all, we are heading to a restaurant that is within walking distance (kind of funny, seems we are out of town). Â It will be our first time there, so hoping it is good.
I sure do love my man and as mushy as it sounds, more so than the day we met.  Here’s hoping for many more years together my dear!  I love this song and it feels appropriate to share with you all.
Jacinta xx
Photo taken by Nerida Phelan
Some pictures from our wedding day can be seen here.
The dress Tenneille wore to dad’s wedding last week, I started over a year ago. Â It’s made from a retro cot sheet I thrifted a couple of years ago and an old pillow cover that I no longer used. Â When I originally made it, it was a little too big, kind of a given, seems I didn’t use a pattern. Â I also needed to add buttons at the back and button holes, but my old sewing machine wasn’t able to do holes as it was faulty. Â But alas, my new machine does. Â So on the day of the wedding (of course!) I whipped out the dress from it’s year long hiatus, sewed the button holes, buttons and made a couple of adjustments to the shoulder straps to complete the dress. Â Tenneille was most excited that I finally finished the dress. Â I am excited that it is now off my ‘to sew list’! Â I also made some hair clips to match with some leftover buttons, but alas I forgot to take a picture and knowing my little cherub, the clips could be anywhere now.
The picture was originally the top of a cot sheet
What have you been sewing/crafting of late? Â Jacinta x
From Soulemama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.
I love your moments too. Â So feel free to leave a link in the comment section for us all to see. Â Have a beautiful weekend. Â Jacinta x
2012 has started off rather busy for us. Â The kids and I went away before New Year to my dad’s place, so Greg could get cracking on some of the renovations (yes, they are ongoing!). Â My dad happens to live near the beach and his property boarders a river, so there were many fun moments spent outdoors including tractor rides, boat rides, fishing and swimming to name a few. Â We were meant to come home New Year’s Eve, but decided to stay away a few more days as the weather was prefect for the beach. Â New Year’s Eve was spent at the Cobden Miniature Railway, which put on a fantastic family night, full of train rides, sideshow rides and fireworks. Â I can highly recommend it. Â To top it off, the weather was a perfect summer’s evening.
Blue skies, how I love thee
Riding the trains
We came home last week ahead of my dad’s wedding which was this past weekend. Â It was a lovely evening spent in a relaxing atmosphere. Â I enjoyed catching up with family I hadn’t seen for a while and meeting some of my dad’s wife’s family. Â I now have a case of laryngitis from talking so much! Â Suffice to say, we are having a very quiet week. Â Greg has gone back to work, not that he got much of a break. Â Although he did a fantastic job of revamping our ensuite vanity and a few other jobs. Â Will hopefully share more renovation photos soon, as true to form, they are not quite finished.
All the grandchildren placed a flower in the bouquet as dad's wife walked down the aisle
Jairah and Poppy
How has your start to 2012 been? Â Jacinta x
