Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized pumpkin
• 2 carrots
• 1 medium sized potato
• 1 onion
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp chicken stock powder
• 2 cups boiling water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup cream

Method

1. peel pumpkin and cut into even chunks
2. peel potato and cut into even chunks
3. peel carrots and cut into even pieces
4. dice onion and place vegetables in slow cooker
5. in a mug mix stock and spices, fill mug with 1 cup water and mix
6. add liquid to slow cooker and cook on low 4hrs or high 2hrs
7. blend with a electric mixer and add cream

Cottage Pie

(serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 450g beef mince

• 1 large onion, chopped finely

• 2 medium carrots, chopped finely

• the leaves of 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme

• 2 bay leaves

• 400g tin of tomatoes

• 1-2 tbsp tomato paste

• 290ml beef stock

• dash Worcestershire sauce

• mashed potato topping

Method

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees
• add olive oil over medium heat, add mince, onion and carrot, stir until beef is browned and vegetables are soft.
• Add herbs and stir for a minute, stir in Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and stock, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. season to taste.
• Boil and mash potatoes. Pour mince into casserole dish and cover with potato and cook for 30 minutes.

Apricot Chicken

Ingredients

8 Chicken Pieces

500g apricot nectar

1pkt french onion soup

1 brown onion, diced

Method

Place chicken pieces in casserole dish with soup and onion, season with salt and pepper and add nectar and stir. Cover and bake at 180 degrees for 1 hr and 30 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday- Apricot Chicken

Tuesday- Cottage Pie

Wednesday- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Soup

Thursday- Slow Cooker Tuna Casserole

Friday- Homemade KFC

Saturday- Leftovers

Sunday- Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

SYL wk 23 & How I organise my wardrobe

Week 23! I still can't believe I'm all caught up! Such a great feeling :D

This week is all about our wardrobes :/ ugggh!

I'm going to try and do this for the change of season, so every six months or so. The thing that drove me absolutely bonkers though was my UNDIES! And I finally sorted them once and for all! And it was so easy I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. And you can do this for any item that you have alot of, not just undies.

I had a drawer FULL to the brim with undies, it was so full I couldn't shut the drawer.

First, what I did was folded them and stack them, they made four piles in the drawer to fit them all in. Then when I would get dressed in the morning I would make a effort to actually think about what I was putting on, did they have any holes? Stains? I found a pair that, I think got bleach on them! Has the elastic gone? Were they too tight? If it was a yes in the bin they went!

When I did the laundry and went to put my clean clothes away I put the undies, I also did my socks, for a month till I got through them all, in my dresser. It can be anywhere you don't usually go for your undies, even a storage container under the bed! Now, I'm really ashamed to say this but it took three whole months to reach the last of my undies and I tossed half of what was in my drawer.

With my other clothes I turned my hangers facing the opposite way to how I usually have them, then every time I wore a item and washed it I turned the hanger back the 'right' way, so I could easily see what I had worn and what still needed to be worn and If I wasn't wearing it, why not? And should I donate it?

I kept a donate box in the bottom of my wardrobe to easily put items I wanted to donate then when the box was full in to the car it went! Nice and easy :)

What are your tips for a tidy wardrobe? Would love to hear them :)

SYL Week 22- Declutter

Week 22 is about de cluttering. If you had to move what would you take with you? When I finally organised my photos a few weeks ago I couldn't believe the amount of STUFF that was crammed into my little house, it felt claustrophobic and I thought moving would fix it. But of course I needed all this STUFF and hubby had a room crammed full of STUFF so why should I try?
Then we did move and we turned it into a game who could get rid of the most STUFF, two giant glass cabinets family gave us were left at our father in laws big house where they fitted in much better and looked like they belonged rather than jammed into our little house, looking out of place.

Moving back to our little house, I have used plastic storage tubs to contain things we're not using or don't have room for just yet to keep the house looking tidy and its so easy to do, I don't know why I didn't do this before. And I also have another plastic tub for donations to the Salvos in the lounge room.

But this has been a work in progress I have been getting the emails from Flylady for years but ignored them thinking "I don't need them, I don't have a problem, I NEED all this STUFF" It has helped having a clear vision for each room to slowly work through all my stuff.

And i've been thinking of having a regular 27 fling boogie on my FB page

SYL wk 14-21 - Time Management & Home Audit

Week 14 is all about Planning Time Management, perfect timing once again! I've been meaning to get a diary and planner for a few weeks now but have been procrastinating, so first thing tomorrow I will be heading down to the news agency to have a look at what's on offer

This week was my office, bathroom and laundry zone, I mostly spent my week in the office and neglected the others, not that they were terrible to begin with, luckily. So I have culled two laundry baskets worth of paper into one folder- yipeee! it looks so much nicer now I know not as exciting as re-organising the lounge room, its nothing you can bring your friends round to ooh and aaah over.

Trying to organise the office was a nightmare with a toddler wanting to help and inspect every bit of paper that's around and mess up my nice piles. And babysitting a friends cat that wants to catch the mouse cursor and letters as I type them and walk on the keyboard as I'm trying to type.  

Week 15  is about conducting a time audit. Have a look at how you are spending your time and making sure the way you spend your time is helping you reach your goals.

I've written out my 5 year plan and 2012 plan and worked backwards for monthly goals, to at least try and move towards my goals and make sure I hit them by NYE

Week 16 is about slowing down, making sure you fit in things for yourself and only choosing 2-3 important tasks for each day instead of piling on the pressure. I love the sound of that, I think it will help when I get to the weekly to-do list.

Week 17 is about decision making, being decisive i love the line, "Focus on what next action you need to take and do it" That really jumped out at me for some reason.

Week 18 Was all about stopping procrastination, I have a procrastination list I try to tackle one thing every week. Still a few things left on it though.

Week 19 We are talking about routines, I love routines they make me feel so organised and calm knowing what comes next and being able to tick things off and look back at the end of the day and see I actually did things.

I have a morning and afternoon routine, a weekly routine, a monthly routine, I have a cleaning routine and set day routines, for example, dumping everything and organising everything off my phone is on the 7th of every month. or washing my poodle on a monday.

What areas cause you stress in your life? Would a routine help?

Week 21  Had to laugh when Deb mentioned being more intentional about what we buy, I have just started cutting out things of catalogues and sticking them to my cork board instead of stuffing the catalogue away for later. Much neater and its on display, much more motivation for saving those coins at the end of