Gifted pasta sauce...

 

There really is nothing nicer than to be given some beautiful food and in this case it was a big tub of Italian pasta sauce from Bri's friend, Maddy and her Mum, Dina.

It was purely a tomato based sauce so I decided to make some chicken meatballs to go into it.

I had seen a recipe for Italian Wedding Chicken Soup on Estelle's blog so I thought I'd use the meatball part of the recipe. Good move! The soup recipe will be made over winter, it sounds so good!

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http://themainehouse.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/italian-wedding-soupperfect-for-cold.html

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I used dried herbs in the meatballs but fresh would be fantastic too. I just lightly fried them off in a pan...

...then I added in this tub of goodness!

Bubble and boil it while your choice of pasta is cooking....

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Tah dah! Authentic Italian at it's best!

Are you still eating Christmas treats? I still have a little stash of some of the goodies I made.....

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This morning, Not Quite Nigella, had these featured on her blog. Oh, my goodness!

(Beautiful photo from Not Quite Nigella)

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2015/01/20/iced-vovo-cupcakes/

I really think I need to make these cupcakes for Australia Day! Do you like Iced Vovo biscuits? I do!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iced_VoVo

They are an Aussie icon, I reckon...

What about these other wonderful recipes?

Lamington Tiramisu

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2010/01/25/lamington-tiramisu-aka-lamingtonmisufor-australia-day/

Tim Tam Bombe

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2013/01/22/tim-tam-bombe-diy-ice-magic/

Beer can chicken - we've cooked this several times - so good!

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2008/11/25/a-dinky-di-ridgy-didge-australian-chook/

We will be busy on the Australia Day Long Weekend as we have bought a house for our girls to live in and will be moving them into that. Its a 3 bedroom house, much bigger than the 2 bed unit they have been in. They need their space a bit more now as Bri will be doing shift work with nursing. Their bedrooms are separated by the living area so neither will have to tiptoe around if the other is sleeping. It also means we have the 3rd bedroom for when we visit so we dont have to kick them out of their beds.

It's all very exciting!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Our Australia Day weekend ...

We had friends come over from Melbourne to stay with us and Kirby came home for the weekend too.

First stop, dinner Friday night at The Tasting Room, Mayura Station - a little gem in our part of the world.

This wowed our guests and they all declared it a delicious meal.

Saturday morning, I got up and made lamingtons. I had made the cake a day earlier and froze it. It was much easier to work with (last year I was juggling fresh crumbling squares).

A messy business but worth it! Then I set about making the salads for lunch.

Tah dah!

Then we went down to Southend to the beach and spent the afternoon...

Kelvin was our flag pole!

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Lamb cutlets marinated in oil, garlic, rosemary and cracked pepper...

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Tangy tomato noodles and risoni with corn, capsicum, red onion and cucumber with french dressing.

Tossed salad...

Glass of chardonnay ...

Kelvin thinking life is pretty good!

The men played petanque...

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The women chatted and drank wine ...

We ate those lamingtons!

These two kept us entertained on the way home!

On Sunday, we headed over to Penola in the Coonawarra wine district...

We did some tasting at a couple of wineries before heading to Balnaves Wines to have a picnic lunch...

There was a beautiful shaded area with picnic tables and 'no one else there' so we set up...

Kirby and me...

Lyn & Denise ...

We had pre-ordered meat and salad baguettes from a local deli ...

They were yummy...

...and I picked a selection of tarts from the local bakery for us to share.

This is the rose garden at Balnaves, so many beautiful roses, most named. Then we did a bit more wine tasting before heading to our accomodation. Kirby and I had a look at the local shops while the others hit the pub for a cold one. I was getting a bit weary by then!

Last hurrah was dinner at Penola Station restaurant, another lovely meal together.

A very busy weekend with beautiful friends and family. We enjoyed a lot of local produce and wine on the weekend which made us truly grateful for our wonderful country. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi,Oi!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy