Name::Big Mama From::
Welcome to my ever-changing blog. My first 9 months of posts were rather witty; but I don't seem to have time to be funny anymore, or maybe I have lost my funny bone.
Who knows how I got to be this way! But God created me for His purpose. And I am still having fun, even if it not really translating to the written word! I still laugh daily at the crazy stuff that happens to our family. The real stars of this blog are ROLY (ROLLERCOASTER- 11), SPINDLES (9), MAYBE-A-DIVA (DIVA-7) and TOPSY (14 months). HUBBY is too but SSSHHHH, don't tell him (he is from a very sound gene pool)! :) View my complete profile
Yes this is another of my inventions! I never craved pizza till I was told I couldn’t have it. Now, this Pizza salad is my best friend…. I will post a photo if I can ever manage to remember to take one before I scoff the thing down.
*½ red onion finely chopped *1 capsicum finely chopped-fry these first two ingredients together till transluscent *½ chorizo sausage- fry till done, then chop up finely (or use a handful of bacon or ham, whatever your favourite meat is for pizza) *handful of chopped mushrooms- fry on high heat till just done *handful of sliced olives *handful of favourite grated pizza cheese ( I use goat cheese with a sprinkle of parmesan, because it is low fat) *½ a lettuce chopped *garlic yoghurt sauce to taste (mayonnaise if you are not on low fat options)
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, then eat with relish!
Just had to jot this one down for posterity. I can’t really claim to have ‘invented’ it, but when all my favorite ingredients popped into my head in the form of a casserole, I quickly got my oldest minion (Roly) to be my apprentice before the vision vanished. Roly was apprehensive about baking a ‘made up’ casserole (specially when I said it would be called Roly’s Rustic 5 Cheese Chicken Casserole, as he is not fond of cheese in any form) but when he smelt it in the oven, and later when he tasted its exquisite creaminess, the sweet basil and potato, and the gentle spice of the chorizo, he was sold. It is a firm new family favourite, except for poor old Spindles who has a mental thing against basil, and honestly must have toyed rather sadly with his dinner for a couple of hours! Even though I had taken any basil out of it.
Michelle’s Rustic 5 Cheese Chicken Casserole
Casserole 1 kg cooked chopped chicken 3 chorizo sausages fried and chopped up fine 1-1 and 1/2 cups of your favourite grated cheeses (we used feta, tasty, Parmesan, Mozzarella and Jarlsberg) 4 cups of chopped and roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes 6 cloves of garlic, crushed 2 onions, chopped and fried till transluscent 1 600ml carton of cream 1 300ml carton of sour cream 2 tbsp chicken stock powder a handful of basil torn into smaller pieces Breadcrumb Topping 1 large Turkish bread Or enough to comfortably cover the top of your casserole dish when chopped! 4 tbsp olive oil 4 tbsp chopped chives
Casserole Instructions Mix up the cream and sour cream and chicken stock powder in a large casserole dish. Throw in the rest of the ingredients and mix it all together gently so as not to break up the potatoes.
Breadcrumb Topping instructions
Chop the bread up and gently toss with the olive oil and chives in a saucepan over low heat for a couple of minutes. Then sprinkle over the casserole.Bake at 180 for about 30 minutes or till hot through and topping is golden and crunchy looking.
-well mine scream for this cake at least! The pic above is the piece I longed for but resisted.
Diva made it today only because we were out of butter. Here is the recipe for you my dear sis!
Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
1 3/4 cups flour 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup cocoa 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 cup boiling water
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine dry ingredients. Mix together eggs,milk,oil,vanilla. Stir into boiling water. Add to dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 40 minutes.
About 2 weeks ago our family went on Summer Camp. It is week long program run by the Anglican Mission organisation, CMS, for people to come and hear a fantastic Christian speaker and to meet and interact with missionaries who are home for a few months. So for 7 days (less for us this time, because Topsy got sick and wasn't able to get into the doctors at the mountain town) we bunked up in a one room unit, ( yes we all lived in that one room, with an ensuite) though we were fully catered for. The unit is part of the CMS accomodation complex right next to the auditorium which is super hard to get into! It is just so convenient everyone wants to gt a place. What happens at Summer Camp? Well thousands of people from all over come. There is a kids' program that is very well planned and executed. It is exellent at each age level, that runs from 9 - 12pm. The missionaries we hear from visit each age group and interact at their level in a really hands on way culturally. And in that time frame for the adults, the theme this year was The Cross and Eternity. We would sing maybe hear an interview, then listen to an absolutely fantastic speaker talking on part of the Bible linked to the theme. After morning tea, we could go to one of 6 different seminars each day for an hour, where missionaries from all over would talk on all different topics: eg Googling God, Taking Kids With You,Upsides and Downsides, and Do We Still Need To Send Missionaries? I lapped it all up, I must say. Then after lunch we could do whatever. Our family went to the pool a few times, and caught up with friends at a variety of different places. There was always a fun informal program at night with interesting and often funny items put on by the visiting missionaries. Where we were staying, someone would set up a video for the kids, and the adults could watch the night prgram live on a TV link in the dining hall instead of going all the way back up to the auditorium. I would put Topsy to bed , see the kids off to their movie and go to watch the talk in the dining hall. Hubby always crashed by that stage. Then there would be a supper ( late night snack to the Amnericans) served in the dining hall to all the people coming back to hear a specific missionary or couple or family share about their experiences. I loved going to that as well! LOL! One of my highlights of the week had to be a conversation I had witha 13 year old boy one afternoon at our accomodation. He was also a missionary kid in Kenya. Left at the age of ten. And for the first time in many years I had a real reminisce about favorite old haunts and very similar experiences. We really connected. The age gap disappeared! Next year though, I think we will rent a house with another family. Our little unit got incredibly hot, and I think that rather than the video at night, the kids can start coming up to the night stuff. They would find it really fun and interesting. Hope you are still awake after all that! Heehee! Just leave you with some pics I have taken lately.
Granny and Topsy baking. Topsy puts on his yellow chef's outfit ad become Greg (Wiggle) the Chef.
My big boy: Roly
Early morning reflections
Great Mates
Learning the ropes of the water pistol
My princess. The reason there are more shots of her and Topsy than the others? They are much more willing victims!
My most uncooperative victim!!! Such a waste of such handsomeness!
A cockatoo at CMS Summercamp
A something bird at our bird feeder. It is up high where the cats have no hope!!!
Cousins trying to barter at the $5 silly gift exchange! Not great pics, but I love the expressions!!!
Santa is not something we really utilise at Christmas. Growing up, I had the funnest Christmases possible for a child, but Santa wasn't a part of them, so it doesn't come naturally. We see him a lot in the shops and sings carols about him, but that is about the extent of it; till this year!
Topsy really took to Santa this Christmas season. Every time we saw Santa at a shopping mall, he wanted to go talk to him. But the lines were so long, I never stopped.
But on Christmas Eve, I could not endure his wistful face going past yet another Santa. We got in line, and Topsy's excitement was evident as he hopped from one foot to the other.
Finally it was his turn. He gave me one backward glance before cautiously approaching Santa's soft red lap. There was some conversation exhanged, then the photo was taken. And one happy boy left Santa's presence.
Later I asked him what Santa had talked to him about. 'Did I be a good boy this year?' began Topsy.
I taped the rest:
The interpretation for those who need it: 'What do you want for Christmas and I said 'A Yellow plug for my kitchen.'
My practical boy, getting something useful that is his favorite color.
Surefire Ways to Embarrass Your Teenager for Dummies: A tutorial
I thought I should sound like an expert at it, as apparantly I am quite adept; at embarrassing my teenager, that is.
And today's method of embarrassment? Take your teenager and his siblings on a fieldtrip to get rid of all the surplus garbage from Christmas that won't fit into our own garbage bins.
Here is how I did it:
Piled all the kids into the car. Loaded each lap with a large green bag full of garbage. Then drove around looking for half empty public bins in which to put one bag. Please don't email me about this. I only put one garbage bag in each public bin.
Well ,this field trip was apparantly the ultimate embarrassment and very 'hobo' ( not the dicitionary meaning of the word, rather, slang for 'not cultured')
I thought the car smelled OK, but you wouldn't have gathered that from all the gagging going on around me. I thought it was a fun little adventure, a quest to rid our neighbourhood of a smell that would only worsen and linger for several days till next Wednesday. But apparantly I have not got my finger on the pulse of what constitutes fun and adventure. And apparantly no teen has ever had to endure what I put my child through on our little jaunt.
Till next time!
Next week's tutorial: public shows of affection with your teen!!!
We have moved! It was a strange feeling actually. I was very surprised and felt rather guilty at not feeling euphoric about the move. After all, loads of people would give anything to be in their own home. All I felt for several days was flat...... I think it was a minor grieving process, having left a place that held a year of family memories,and moved into a strange place, a blank slate. But that numb feeling is gone now and all I feel is grateful and blessed. We intend to fill the blank slate up with lots of beautiful doodles!!!
I will have to get inside shots at some stage once I have totally unpacked, but I thought you might like to check out some pics of our new backyard. We have a yard that meanders nearly all the way around the house but probably the front yard is bigger than the back and once we are finished all our final unpacking jobs, I will probably make it a habit to sit out there of a morning with a book while the kids play and explore. Such a fun place for inquisitive minds! :) (sugar ants to feed and observe, trees to climb and areas to hide in. ) Sorry about the photo overload!And I have to preface this with saying that the photos more than do the place justice, in fact the reality is almost a let down. It photos well! Heehee!
Picture these following two pictures stuck together, with the first one being on the left hand side and the next being on the right.
'Sploring
One of our 13 trees! :) There are more, but they are small and I am not counting them, yet...
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