Saturday, January 21, 2012

Friday night Healthy Lamb Burgers...

I made this bad boy for dinner last night...
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Start with a toasted bun and slather on some caramelised onion relish (I had Always Fresh brand)...
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I made my burgers out of lamb mince and added Masterfoods Tuscan seasoning, 1 egg, 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs, 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped, salt and pepper. Dry fry in a non-stick pan - no need to add extra oil.
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Now slap that burger on the bun and add a slurp of tomato sauce...
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... top with lettuce...
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... sliced tomato...
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... sliced lebanese cucumber...
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... slices of beetroot (it's not Aussie if you don't add beetroot!)...
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... spread avocado on the top 'lid' of the burger bun...
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... add a little bit of cheddar cheese...nearly there! ...
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Shazam! A healthy burger with basically no fat. You could also add a dry fried egg, pineapple slice, fried onions....
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Give one a whirl!
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Cheers - Joolz

Friday, January 20, 2012

A corella sitting on our roof... cheeky thing!
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Most people would turn up their nose at my breakfast - squashed sardines on toast (with worcestershire and tomato sauces). Yummy and good for you.
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(wrap from Shearers Cook Cafe)
Lunch yesterday was this yummy wrap made with Mountain Bread filled with turkey, cranberry sauce, lettuce, carrot, cucumber, red onion, cheese and a little mayo. My favourite combination.
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For dinner I made a rich bolognese sauce from scratch - diced onion, carrot & onion fried off in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, add 500gms lean beef mince and brown. Deglaze pan with a slosh of red wine (cheers!). Add in 1 teaspoon beef stock powder, 2 cloves of garlic and a big handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped. Then tip in 1 can of diced tomatoes (I try and buy the Italian ones when they are on special for .89c/can - best flavour), 1 can of tomato puree and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. Add a crack of black pepper and a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of sugar. Stir to combine all this then let it simmer for as long as you like or have time - the longer the better. I used Rigatoni pasta tubes this time. Sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese. Delish!
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Do you like my Evian water bottle - it has quite a story to it.... When we went to Paris in 2010, we went to the Moulin Rouge and we were served Evian water at our table in these Jean Paul Gaultier bottles... I couldn't resist, ahem, pocketing one of them. Into my handbag it went! I wasn't stealing it really as it was just a bottle like any other spring water bottle to them but a very decorative one to me so I had to have it! It travelled all over Europe with us in my luggage!
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For dessert, I had bought these Weight Watcher individual serve icecreams. We hadn't tried this Toffee Pecan one before. So very good! Who would want to eat real icecream when this diet stuff tastes so good. These are great to have in the freezer as a treat. Someone at our WW meeting said the other day that they buy the Double Choc Ripple ones, tip it out of the container into a bowl, chop it down the middle and add a banana and have a guilt free banana split!
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Another good idea for a diet dessert is to buy the Nestle Diet Chocolate Mousse (the whole range is yummy), tip into a nice bowl them dip strawberries in the mousse and eat. Yum! You are getting your chocolate fix and eating fruit at the same time!
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I've had a busy week of full time work so it's time for home and a glass of wine and some TV I think. I think burgers are on the menu tonight so we'll see what I can produce.
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Have a lovely weekend wherever you are, I am having a 'homey'.
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Cheers - Joolz

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Off to Uni...


Congratulations to our Brianna! She received her first preference offer to study a Bachelor of Nursing at Uni SA 2012.
She then hopes to study Midwifery after the 3 year course. Our baby girl is off to the big smoke soon! :(
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Joolz

This week at my place...

These are the corellas that roost in the gum trees near our house. Noisy buggers, they squawk and squawk and poop on our nice grey roof and leave fluffy feathers everywhere!
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Sunset on Tuesday night...
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They have completely stripped the top of this tree bare...
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This is a mob of corellas about to fly in out the back of our place then make their roosts in our trees.
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A beautiful sky after a hot day of 36C...
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Still lots of juicing going on here...
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It really does make you feel good. This lot had pink lady apples in it and it was lovely and sweet.
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Easy dinner after my Weight Watchers meeting - Chicken Phad Thai with the help of a flavour sachet (sinful!). Woohoo! I am 300gms lighter than at my last weigh in on December 21st. I came through Christmas and New Year without gaining any weight! It really has motivated me to keep going. I have lost 3.6 kgs since November 1, 2011. Slow but steady.
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CHICKEN PHAD THAI
So into a wok, 1 teaspoon olive oil and one onion - toss for 2 minutes then add mushroom, fresh corn kernels and broccolini...
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Let them cook away for 2 minutes then add 1/2 cup water and put the lid on to steam them.
Then I removed them from the wok and browned off 500gms chicken breast...
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Yum, it's looking good!
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This sachet had no artificial colouring or preservatives and I was in a hurry (really, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and a bit of honey and lime would do the trick too). Pour in the sauce and combine.
I used rice noodles so throw them in too...
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Ta dah! Dinner in under 30 minutes.
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What's happening in your part of the world?
Cheers - Joolz

Monday, January 16, 2012


My niece gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Thursday.  
Brax Thomas, 6lb 12oz
They are home from hospital today - this is Brax with his proud Dad, burping him.
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He is such a cute little fella!
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Proud second cousin Bri having a cuddle.
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(This is my prawn and fish cakes, salad and potato bake - Thursday night dinner)
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Well, I had a lovely time in Adelaide last week.  We saw A Chorus Line then dined out at an Indian restaurant - Hazara India Singapore Bistro on the Parade, Norwood.  Delicious food!
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(my San Choi Bau)
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 The flat...
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We dined at Concubine on Saturday night - the chilli Barramundi...
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We dined at Fish at the Marina Pier, Glenelg for Saturday lunch with friends... I had 6 oysters Kilpatrick then grilled King George Whiting, salad and wedges.
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We dined at Mesa Lunga on Friday night... this is Kirby's Churros with chocolate dipping sauce...
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Brianna and I had Lemon Citrus tart with blueberries and meringue...
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Mini hamburgers were amongst the mains that we ate...
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Sangria's...
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It was a busy time, lots of good food and catching up with friends with a bit of shopping thrown in...
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Cheers - Joolz

Six days in the city...

I promise I will have a blog post done by this evening! Just can't quite fit in loading up the pictures. We did lots and while we were away, my niece gave birth to a dear little baby boy - his name is Brax! I am going for a visit tonight so I will get some good photos of him. Stay tuned!

Joolz

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A Chorus Line


I am off to see this spectacular production tonight! One of the lead actors comes from our town - Euan Doidge - so it will be great to see him perform.
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My quick review: ACL provides a glimpse into the lives of 17 dancers, vying for 8 spots in the chorus line. Each character has a story to tell so we go through the motions of that. I was quite surprised and disappointed at the language (the F-bomb way too many times, tits and ass, rape etc) especially seeing there were many young children in the audience (you could tell there were lots of budding dancers there). Obviously that was in the original script but I think many would think twice about letting an 8 year old see the performance again. Maybe I'm just getting old...

Anyway, all in all, a polished performance and Euan did a fine job, he sang brilliantly in his solo.

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Cheers - Joolz