First attempt

Yesterday I tried my first attempt at making soap, following the recipe from Rhonda Hetzel in her lovely book down to earth and scented with some beautiful oils sent to me from a friend in Brisbane. It took longer than expected, though I loved the time and effort I put in. There is something quite joyous about making things yourself and knowing what is in it and that it is completely safe for my growing family. Then this morning I removed the soap from the moulds and cut them up into 16 gloriously imperfect cakes of soap. Now to wait 4-6 weeks to enjoy.

After I gave the wee ones breaky, I whipped up the bread in my bread machine gratefully given to me by my grandparents. There is no bread more tasty than one you make yourself at home. Real ingredients baked up right in front of you, I could eat the whole loaf with a good smear of butter and local raw honey sourced from the farmers markets once a month.

My weekly visit to the local fruit and veg shoppe is on Mondays. They tell me that's the best day to go as they have the most marked down items after the weekend. Some days a luckier than others. I love to use food that others would otherwise think past its best - waste not, want not - my nana and mum used to say. Though hopefully soon I will be able to supply our family with yummy wholesome goods from our own vege garden, which we are in the process of constructing. 

I put 3 kg of tomatoes diced into the slow cooker and then will pop into jars to freeze. One day I will have a go at canning, but at the moment I don't have a pot big enough to cover the jars I have.

Onto dinner, good ol' curried sausages packed with lots of veges. The carrots are a little nibbled at various levels from each bambino, but they still have plenty of goodness left for dinner. I save all the carrot and onion tops and pop them in a container and into the freezer to use when I next make stock after making my fave slow cooked roast chicken or lamb.

Then its onto writing my first blog attempt with a cup of chai tea made by my ever delightful hubby.