Super Simple Pasta! Healthy and Filling!

Ok so i have done "some" cooking here in Australia but not really that much...more so just taking a break and taking it easy! But when i have cooked its usually been some sort of pasta dish or chicken dish in the oven :) This meal is really simple and extremely tasty! To cut down on time shop/gather all your ingredients and even prepare them a couple of days in advanced! That way when its time to cook this meal you wont have any chopping to do!

This makes ALOT if you follow it to a tee! This fed 5 adults 1 child and we had a good amount of left overs!

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil 

2 pounds of ground lean Hamburger/Mince

1 Can of diced tomatoes

7 large mushrooms(sliced and diced to prevent picking out! mwahaha!)

2 large carrots(grated)

3 Tablespoons of minced/crushed garlic

2 large onions(sliced thinly)

1 can of blended tomatoes or a can of plain tomato sauce

1 small tub of Greek yogurt

1/4 of a cup of pitted olives(diced up small)

2 Boxes of Pasta i used the spiral ones 

herbs to taste as listed:

Rosemary

Ground Black pepper

Sweet Basil

Chili Pepper Flakes

Marjoram

Thyme

and Ground Fennel

I used about a Tablespoon and a half of each dried herb and some ground sea salt to taste!

I used an electric skillet to cook the meat sauce, i didn't cook the pasta until i was almost done with the sauce and i cooked the pasta al dente style so that it wasn't mushy and goopy!

Heat the oil in the skillet and add your onions and garlic, cook for 5-10mins then add your meat. Now everyones different but i like to add my dried herbs a few mins after the meat has cooked a little. Stir the herbs around and let simmer for a few mins then add your grated carrots, diced mushrooms and diced olives. Let it cook then add your canned tomatoes and tomato sauce place the lid on the skillet and let sit for 10-15mins stirring once in a while. At this point i start cooking the pasta when the pasta is almost done cooking i add the yogurt to the meat and mix it threw turning the temp up a lil. Mix it all up well then place the lid back on and turn the skillet off. Strain the pasta and place straight into a large serving dish, pour the meat sauce over the top and mix threw and place it on the table! :) And have at it family style!

This dish is great you can ALWAYS add all sorts of veggies to it the sauce really packs flavour so you can really get the kids or fussy hubby to eat anything with this sauce! I have added alsorts of summer squash to this and green beans even shredded cabbage! Also it can be served with Quinoa or couscous if your watching your carbs :)

Today i am linked up for Tuesday Night Supper Club link up! At one of my fav foodie blogs Fudge Ripple! Head on over and see what everyones been up to!

Christmas Australian Style and a recap of 2010!

 Couple days before Christmas my parents street had their Christmas party down on the water front :) very nice day for it, my mum made up curry puffs and jimput jimput a huge success as perusual :)

As most of you can see the traditional aussie christmas is much different then what most of you are use to :) No snow for us this year instead it was t shirts shorts and summer dresses tank tops and caprees! Santa was kind enough to drop on by the water front with presents and goodie bags for the kids :) (and a couple goodie bags for the 2 pregnant women at the party as well lol) After good eats and present opening the kids all headed for the water where they dug up crabs and other things built sand castles and dug trenches! Ending in them all swimming in the tidal pool :)

Christmas morning was fun and extremely busy for the most part :) everyone was told 11:30 and we would start eating around 1ish. The menu for our Christmas day consisted of:

Traditional Baked dinner with all the fixings as follows:

Baked legs of Lamb

Baked Pieces of Beef

Turkey

Roasted Vegetables

(carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, potatoes)

Gravy

Cold Leg of Ham

Strawberry Spinach Balsamic vinegar salad (most definitely one of my new favs!)

Chinese Cabbage Almond Soy salad of some sort

Oysters on the hlf shell

Oysters Kilpatrick

Local school prawns 

Tiger prawns 

Dips and crackers

and Nathan cooked up a heap of his Grampa's Bbq Chicken which was a hit :)

Desert was rocky road and pavlova with bananas and passion fruit and fresh whipped cream and a chocolate cheese cake of some sort.

It was all set up buffet style so everyone was able to have at it :) Most definitely be a few years before my hubby will get use to it if at all :) he couldn't get over the fact that we were eating outside, it was warm and for the most part we ate some of the food cold lol like ham :) his use to eating it hot back home :)

Now with 2010 being over id like to share some of the ups and downs of 2010 here's the downs...

•  Although i miss friends and family back in the states i most definitely didn't miss the awkwardness that was at my husbands mothers house this year due to his younger brother whom is "dating" his step sister who is 7years younger to him... Apparently its been really uncomfortable and down right awkward to see them acting in a way that they think is acceptable,which in mine and my husbands eyes it is not by a long shot acceptable. We are not the only ones who see this as disturbing and disgusting...but are the only ones who took a stand and actually said something about it due to the fact that we have a child and we are trying to be good parents and teach him right from wrong. The whole situation has changed relationships in the family which is saddening but we stand our ground just like those who think its fine for them to act that way, stand their ground. I know its hard for my husband to see his mother list this "girl" as her "daughter" when she is by no means blood related to them at all but just under that listing on her facebook is her son whom said "daughter" is dating.. its hard but neither his brother or his mother see any wrong in what it is they are doing and we were told we should "accept" it and move on.
• Another down... Loosing 2 angel babies this year.. but i know they are both in heaven being looked after by family members. As hard as this was for us as a family i think it has made me stronger and i most definitely have to say the relationship btw my husband and i has most definitely gotten stronger, he helped me threw alot and has really been one of my main support structures threw out this...
• I have to say leaving my best friends behind was a downer as well... it was so hard specially seeing my best friend fell pregnant around the same time as i did... Kevin has been one of my best friends since moving to the states i really really miss him alot..
• Saying goodbye to our pets was very hard especially Garfield our first "furr" baby it was so hard and we were late leaving the house because we couldn't pull ourselves away from kissing and hugging on him.. 
• Leaving my house and all my things behind sucked but i had to do it and i know that Kevin has it all keeping it for us till we send for it.

The Ups of 2010

• My son turned 7! We threw him the most amazing birthday/goodbye party we could afford! Everyone was invited from school/soccer and family. Hopefully creating some wonderful memories for him!
• Lochlan learnt how to ride his bike with out training wheels right off the bat no help needed! Very proud of him :) It was really exciting to watch him take off with no help at all talk about gob smacked!
• We finally made the move to Australia! Arriving to open arms and tear felt hellos! 
• Falling pregnant for the 3rd time and doing really well threw the pregnancy so far! Due at the end of May beginning of June.
• Learning about the wonders of fermented foods! And introducing some of them to my family! And i cant wait to start making some of them here in Australia.
• eaching my son to make healthy decisions when choosing what to put into his growing body. 

So i hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their friends and family! And you all had a fun and safe New Years! I will post some pictures of our New Years Celebration at a later date! And i am working on posting pictures and the recipe for the yummiest cookies EVER!

The NOT so Home Sick Aussie Part 2

So im sure some of you remember my post about having my second miscarriage this year in september, it hit me hard but not as hard as my first one.. 

Well counting my days till my next period tracking and really trying to avoid falling pregnant again i realised the following month that i still hadnt had my period i was experiencing extreme heartburn, tender breasts and my emotions were all over the place... I sumed it up to the sheer fact that maybe i didnt take the last miscarriage as well as my first one seeing it happened at home... But to be safe i needed to rule out pregnancy again.... so i pulled one out of the draw and did what u do.... walked away praying it was negative... upon returning less then 2 minutes after doing the test... I noticed right away there were 2 bright pink lines.... What was my reaction you ask? I was angry.... i was sad... i was.... NOT happy.... Happy is what your spose to feel right when your biggest desire is to have another child... I couldnt believe i was going to put myself and family threw this all again...yep my biggest fear that i have lived to see come true twice this year already.. was hovering over my head... I washed my face and headed down stairs to what i thought in my head was goin to be breaking the news to my husband calmly... once i seen him i seen red... the words blurted out of my mouth before i even thought about it... YOU GOT ME F*@KING PREGNANT AGAIN...!?!?!  I realised straight away that was not how it was suppose to come out.. I dont know how or what happened but i regretted it as soon as the words came out of my mouth... how loving of me right? Yea i deserve the wife of year award for that.. And so once again we started the process of confirming it and figuring out exactly when we could have possibly have concieved this child seeing i hadnt had a period in months techincally.. So off to the clinic to find out that i wasnt even really 3-4 weeks pregnant which didnt put my mind at ease at all.... a few days after the clinic visit i started bleeding... nightmare number 3 please.... i knew what was happening it was exactly like the first 2 cramping..bleeding... the clinic told us if i started bleeding we needed to go to the ER to be checked out..so off we went... at 10:30 on a friday night... crying my eyes out the entire time... they got me into a room took a bunch of blood put a cathiter in to take clean urine from me if that wasnt bad enough...the nurse messed up taking my blood and it all had to be taken AGAIN.. FUN! Around 1:30am they informed me the doctor wanted an ultra sound done to see exactly what was goin on with the fetus... before i knew it the most unfriendliest ultrasound tech was pushing my bed off to do the ultrasound, upon arriving into the room she asked all the same questions i had already been asked and wanted me to explain exactly how many times id been pregnant this year and kind of scoffed at the fact that this was going to be my 3rd miscariage this year... she told me well im going to see if this pregnancy is in the tube seeing uve just "had" a miscarriage last month... (told u she was a REAL winner...) Upon inserting the thingamabob (yep i so should be a ultrasound tech!) she was suprised and said well its in ur uterus and in the same breath she said IT has a heartbeat and when she said it she was shocked i think even more shocked then i was i looked at the screen finally seeing i had my eyes shut sobbing when she started... i looked at the screen and seen a pulsing tiny heartbeat... i...i was gob smacked? I then started thinking wait....how could this be? I was doing the math for how far along you have to be to see a heartbeat and i was told i wasnt even 3-4 wks along... i know its possible to see a heartbeat at 6weeks... and while im running threw the dates in my head she turned the sound on and i heard its heartbeat i burst into tears and asked her if this was really happening?? Id not gotten this far with the last 2 pregnancies to see let alone hear a heartbeat... The tech actually melted a lil and was human like to me and said yes thats your baby and your almost 7weeks along! Holly cow? No that doesnt sum up how shocked/happy and afraid i was... She said she didnt know why i had started bleeding the sack and that all looked good no tares and no signs of anything we should be worried about... She printed out a picture for me and even put "babys first picture" on it. Now just think this entire time i was gone my husband was sittin in the room waiting...wondering...worrying what the out come was going to be and preparing to comfort me for the worst.. I handed him the picture he was just blank? Shocked? I told him i heard its heartbeat! He burst into tears he was so emotional and he had every right to be! He was so happy i wanted to be as happy as him but i was afraid.. scarred.. i knew deep down that i was still not in the clear.. given the all clear and put on bed rest for a couple wks restricting me from doing anything really we headed home with our babys first picture in tote. Couple days later we had an appointment at the clinic and they didnt want to do anything to stir things up so all tests and checking was put off... I was just put on more bed rest... great huh... specially seeing we suppose to be packing for the big move! The entire move was left up to my husband and he waited until the last wk to pack... STRESSFUL :) But it got done all while i was stuck in bed watching stuff get packed away... Needless to say not everything got packed...but thanks to our wonderful best friend Kevin we were able to leave alot of our stuff behind for later shipping. Keepng this from everyone bar close family easy seeing no one really seen me and when asked where i was hubby would just say home cooking or over at Angies. BUT we made it back to Australia safe and sound... it was most definately a LONG trip and exhausting on all of us, but i was worried the entire time about the baby. Once settled and we got all our government paper work done i was able to go see a doctor, she gave me my blood test paper work and a referal for an ultra sound. That date couldnt have come around soon enough! So packed into the ultra sound room nervous as all heck i was hoping and praying i was doing the right thing by having my mum and son with myself and husband for this that when she started the ultra sound that there was a heart beat still... the tech started off lookig at the placenta which was a little worryingsome seeing i had no idea what she was looking for and being that i didnt see a heartbeating right off the bat my stomach started knotting up, and then she moved over to look at the baby and bam there it was small and tiny moving about! I burst into tears straight away, it was like a giant weight had been lifted from my shoulders knowing that the baby was doing fine! And come to find out i was even further along... :)

So here i am :) 17 weeks and 1 day down and 22 weeks and 6 days to go! The day i hit my second trimester was one of the happiest days this year! :) I am showing, the baby is moving ALOT and my hips and back have been kiling me :) BUT its all worth it :) I have not had morning sickness (touch wood!) like i had with Lochlan where i couldnt keep anything down! Which is great cuz i was miserable threw that entire pregnancy, this time around its been opisite :) that combined with the fast heart beat everyone around me is praying that its a girl :) im happy with either so long as its healthy! Lochlan though wants a baby brother which is typical for a boy :) but he is super excited every week on my ipod we sit down and read whats going on with the baby and every few days he wants to be reminded how many more weeks till his a big brother! I have my appointment with the local midwives that deliver alot of the babies here on the central coast on the 12 of jan then i will have my second trimester ultrasound and yes we will be hopefully finding out what we are having :) and as soon as we know i will let you all know as well! I have wanted to share this good news for a while now but wanted to make sure things were all right before i let you all know :) And what else is exciting is that my best friend Angie is also pregnant as well :) she isnt 100% sure how far along she is as she hasnt had an appointment confirming her due date but going off her last period she is a couple weeks behind me :) would have been awesome to of gone threw our pregnancies together! But we are keeping in contact via mac chat and facebook.

This is bubs first picture :)

If you look at the second picture down on the left side you can see the skeletal face of bubs! Kinda creepy huh :) it turned and looked as she was taking pics lol "CHEESSSEEEE" 

The NOT so Home Sick Aussie Anymore!

Hi everyone! I know i know... its been FOREVER! But as some of you know we made the BIG move back to Australia! Safe and sound it was a VERY long and emotional flight for the 3 of us... We were greeted at Sydney airport with opened arms and tears :) My mum, dad and best friend Danielle and her fiance were there to greet us which was lovely! We have officially been here now 1 month and 5 days. Our first week we were here we enrolled our son into the school up the road from my parents house, he started school the following week with only 3 weeks left in the aussie school year he really wasnt at school to long :) He is currently on school holidays till the end of January! We have settled into our apartments at the other end of my parents property :) Things are well for all of us! The weather has been up and down but we have enjoyed every minute of it specially seeing we are missing out on all the snow they have been getting back in the states! Well thats it for me right now i will have more posts coming up with some news to share with you all :) 

Is everyone ready for the holidays? I know im not!! :) Please enjoy the photos we have taken so far since arriving back home in Australia!

My hubby "trying" to blend in LOL.

Atticus my mums new cat.

My sons apartment down the back, and my husband and mine apartment on the left  :)

My parents house.

Loches first day at school!

Presentation Day at Loches school

Wild Cockatoo That flew in for a feed :)

   

Itty Bitty Spider :)

Celebrating Christmas at the Blue Tongue Stadium watching Christmas Carols and Fire Works!