A first attempt at Sewing Training Pants

Well my darling daughter who is coming up 2 in January, is starting to show signs of being ready to Toilet Train!!! Although with a new baby in the house we will hopefully be waiting a few months yet. Anyway there is no way she would fit the training pants I had for her big brother as she is a tiny 12kg compared to her brothers 16kg at TT, so here began my dilemma, to purchase some more, or make some.

Well the creative juices started flowing as I struggled to find some to buy that were still practical and that would fit (and of course not to costly). Now I am not the most creative person, so went looking for a pattern online, the one I decided to try was the Wee Weka - Side Snap training pants. I am not a great sewer and am really just learning, but found the pattern and instructions easy to follow.

I made a few modifications to the pattern, by only having the waterproof PUL under the absorbent pad, as opposed to the whole thing. It was also my first time using Fold over Elastic (FOE) and one leg ended up tighter than the other, but all in all not a bad result. The thing I like about these is that they are like real 'knickers' but have the advantage of snaps which make them much easier to remove in case of an accident.

The Trainers all snapped up and ready to pull on.

Inside

Outside

The only problem I found is that it was way to big for my little girl and in fact fitted my 3 1/2 year old much better. This may have just been the way I made it, as this pattern has had many great reviews. Anyway I am now feeling brave enough to attempt to create my own pattern, that will hopefully fit her petite frame and still be functional. I will post again to let you know the results.

I am also looking to create some other items as well, have been thinking bibs, blankets, wipes etc. Do you have any ideas?? What do you love to sew?

MIA

I have been MIA for the last few months..... things just got a bit crazy. So whats new.... Well my beautiful baby boy is now a month old. His big brother and sister are absolutely in love with him, constantly giving him kisses and cuddles. I am also just lovng him to bits.

We have also put our house on the market, as we have found a place we like in the country with some land. So the last few weeks have been filled with Banks, Lawyers and Real Estate Agents. We have had a major cleanout in the house. A whole truckload in fact, gone off to storage. Feeling the pressure somewhat with two toddlers and a newborn in tow, as it makes it almost impossible to keep the house tidy.

A most noteable change in my household since my last posts is the purchase of a breadmaker, so I am now making (and aiming to maintain) making at least 90% of my bread, rather than buying. I have found a 50/50 wholemeal/white loaf that the whole family is liking. But would love to branch out a bit more and try some different recipes.

Have you got any great Bread Recipes to try?


What I'm reading this week?

Penniless Parenting - A great blog from a mum, who is making the most of what she has, some great articles and recipes. A really great read.

What are you reading this week? Do you have any great sites you recommend?

Baking Day

Now I love baking, so am trying to do it at least once per week. Usually its a Monday job but I have a crazy hectic week this week so decided I would do it today instead.

There are a lot of reasons to bake your own biscuits, cakes and goodies, not only for the enjoyment and stress release (in my case anyway), but also cost (although this is often debated). My biggest reason for choosing homemade baking over store bought it the control of what ingredients are actually going into the baking. With homemade you often miss all the preservatives, and colours etc. that is commonplace in much of the store bought goods. I guess the other reason is that you just can't beat the taste of homemade baking. I think it has something to do with the 'love' that goes into every item.

Today's baking effort was nearly a disaster however as like usual I just rush in without checking I have all ingredients. Today I was missing baking soda for the gingerbread, however a quick google search let me know that you can just substitute for baking powder if necessary. Then I was missing condensed milk, so swapped that for some chocolate chips. Thankfully both came out still tasting delicious.

From Left: Chocolate Coconut Rough Slice, YoYos, and Ginger Bread

Chocolate Coconut Rough Slice

Base:
115g Butter
3/4C Coconut
1/2C Sugar
1C Flour
1 Dessertspoon Cocoa
1tsp Baking Powder

Topping:
50g Butter
1 1/2C Coconut
3 Dessertspoons Condensed Milk (I substituted for approx 1/4C Chocolate Chips)
1 1/2C Icing Sugar
3Tbsp Milk
1 Dessertspoon Cocoa
Vanilla to taste

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 175degC.
Base: Melt butter and cocoa together. Add to dry ingredients and press into a greased/lined tin. Cook for 15-20 minutes.
Topping: Melt butter (I used microwave and included choc chips) and then mix in other ingredients. Add to base while hot and allow to set.

Now I added choc chips instead of the condensed milk and then omitted the cocoa as I realised I didn't have any when I was already halfway through making it. I think it turned out fine :)

Recipe taken from "Is that a piece of Playdough in your Pavlova?" - which is a cookbook put together by Puahue Playcentre as a fundraiser in 2009.


YoYo's

175g butter
50g icing sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
175g flour
50g custard powder

Method:
Cream butter and sugar, add essence, then dry ingredients. Roll into small balls and flatten with a fork. Place on greased trays. Bake 20 minutes at 180deg C. When cold, put together with Butter Filling as follows: Melt 1Tbsp Butter, add 6Tbsp icing sugar and 1Tbsp custard powder. Add cold water drop by drop until it forms desired consistency.

This recipe was adapted from the Edmond's Cookbook.


Gingerbread

125g butter
1C sugar
2Tbsp golden syrup
1C milk
2tsp baking soda (I have run out so just used baking powder)
2C flour
2tsp cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180degC.
Melt butter, sugar and golden syrup together(I use the microwave, but can use saucepan). Mix milk and baking soda together and pour into butter mixture. Add flour, cinnamon and ground ginger and mix well. Bake for about 1hour, insert sharp knife into centre to check if ready (if it comes out clean it is ready).

Recipe taken from "Is that a piece of Playdough in your Pavlova?" - which is a cookbook put together by Puahue Playcentre as a fundraiser in 2009.

Homemade Bread

At present I have 2 loaves of bread proving, they are almost ready to go into the oven. One wholemeal and one white. I am quite new to the whole process of bread making but am glad to say that with each loaf the final result seems to be getting better.

Thought I'd share the recipes I have been using from the good old Edmonds Cookbook, although halved and slightly modified.

Wholemeal Bread

4tsp Active Dried Yeast
1 1/2C Warm water
1 1/4tsp Sugar
2C Wholemeal Flour
2C White Flour
1tsp Salt

Method:
In a small bowl add water and dissolve sugar, add yeast and stir lightly. Leave until frothy (approx. 10min).
In a large bowl add remaining ingredients, stir to mix.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, add yeast mix.
Knead well until soft and pliable (approx 10min).
Spray a little oil around the bowl and over the dough to prevent sticking, and leave in a warm place to rise. It should double in size.
On a lightly floured surface knead lightly into desired shape and add to loaf tin (I also use my round cake tin). Leave again to double its size then bake for approx 30 min in a preheated 150 degree C fan forced oven.
Take out and enjoy!!!

White Bread

4tsp Active dried yeast
1tsp Sugar
300ml Water
4C White flour
1tsp salt

Method:
The method is the same as for the wholemeal loaf above.


At present I am only baking bread at the weekend, but hope to start doing it during the week as well. I am also looking to try/find recipes for other breads, namely a fruit bread, and possibly some pitas and tortillas etc.

Starting Point

So this is my second blog post, but should have been the first, apart from that I was so eager to share my butter making experience.

The things I/we as a family do already to save money and lead a more chemical free, sustainable life include, using MCN's (Modern cloth nappies) - well most of the time, I certainly don't claim to use them all the time, but it certainly saves us a lot of money only buying the odd packet of disposables.

I have also started making my own washing powders, and dishwasher powder, the recipes I use for these come from Simple Homekeeping which is a great blog. She is certainly one of my biggest motivators in making changes in our lifestyle. I am also just starting to wash my hair using a 'no poo' method of a baking soda solution/ vinegar rinse, which I am yet to find the perfect recipe for or convert the other members in the family :) Like I say small steps.

We also have a vege garden, and hope to continue to expand this as our aim is to grow most of our families vegetable requirements.

Well that is all that I can think of for now, but like I say this is a journey, and all journeys great and small start with a few steps.

Making Butter & Cheese

So I know this is my first post, and I promise I will come back soon and share more about us and where we are starting from etc.

But I have had a successful morning making butter and even some cheese, so decided to share.

I am lucky enough that mum and dad are dairy farmers and have kindly offered to bring me some milk twice a week. So my first 6 Litres arrived last night. Left overnight in the fridge to settle, I woke this morning to find my 3 bottles had a lovely layer of cream on top. Now getting the cream off was somewhat of a challenge, but my lovely partner decided to squeeze the bottles (ideally you would leave it in a bowl wtc. over night and then could just scoop the cream off the top).

Now I remember making butter once as a child and it involved a jar and a lot of shaking, but thought I would give it a go. And supprisingly it didn't take as long as I remember to make the butter. Although I did have two small helpers.

So basically to make the Butter, put some cream in a jar and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!!!

Alex having a turn shaking..... well ok posing for the photo :)

Hannah taking a turn.
Keep shaking until the butter forms a ball, and has separated from the buttermilk.
Drain off buttermilk and reserve for baking or making cheese. Then rinse butter well with water. I have now discovered that I didn't quite rinse well enough, but doesn't really affect the end product.

Buttermilk Cheese

So today I also decided to make some cheese using the left over buttermilk. I had approx 500ml that I heated on the stove until almost boiling. I then added 1 TBSP white vinegar and stirred until it curdled. Drain off the whey, and you are left with a cheese that is similar in texture to cottage cheese. I am thinking I will try some at lunchtime with some tomato relish.

Because I am not one to waste I am hoping to find a way to use up the whey I now have. So far ideas are to use it for making bread, or feed it to the cats or dog????