Category: random life & musings

That is what I call it if you take a Chicken Risotto recipe and replace the chicken with mince and the rice with pasta, etc etc. One thing that is important in my cooking is that I like to use what is already in the house, so if I cooked this next week it may have totally different vegetables in but still the same idea: To create great tasting meals with what is already in the kitchen.

I borrowed Campion & Curtis in the Kitchen (Essential Recipes for the Modern Australian Home) from the library the other day, I came across a basic chicken risotto recipe and thought mmm I like the sound of that, so that is what I planned to cook for dinner tonight but we had no chicken or risotto rice so I improvised … a lot.

Beef Mince Pasotto
1 carrot
1 onion
1/2 capsicum
600gish mince
1/2 pack pasta
1L beef stock
Tin of tomatoes
Mushrooms
Butter
Mixed herbs
Garlic

Bread to serve

Dice the carrot, onion and capsicum. Melt the butter in a large pot and add vegetables, cook for a couple of minutes, add the mince, taking time to break it up into nice small bits. Add the pasta and gradually add the beef stock. Bring to a gentle boil, leave covered for a while till pasta is partially cooked, remove lid, add tin of tomatoes and herbs, and bring to a full boil to reduce the liquid a bit. Add the mushrooms and leave to boil moderately till the pasta is cooked.

Serve with freshly made bread 🙂

It is sort of a cross between savoury mince and spaghetti bolognese. Doesn’t look like anything special but it tastes quite nice.

My camera is not liking me at the moment, or vice versa, I have not taken a “real photograph” in so many days now, we need to reconnect and go out exploring.

I was on a quest in my uni break yesterday to find some chatterbox paper, so I went to the store which is just near uni to find well maybe 10 different patterns, I then rang a store another 15mins down the road to see what they had, they told me they had the entire range, I asked if they had the rec room, “yes we do and we are also having 20% off at the moment” so I drive over, walk in and start browsing, mmm ok found the Chatterbox, so not the whole range and none of the papers I was after, so not happy jan at that point, walk round the corner and lo and behold Barb and Adele are there as well, brief chat, kept on shopping, they left, I left.

Picked up some new papers, stickers and tags, forgot to get the Heidi Grace Congii paper that I wanted to get.

And well since I was going to drive back past Ikea, I may as well stop and have a look right?

Bits Magnetic Board – The other year I recieved the magnetic poetry calender for christmas, however the board that came with it was not very strong and the magents always fell off, so when I saw this in Ikea, I had to get it 🙂 Today I screwed it too the wall and put the poetry out to play 🙂

Fniss Bin – I got this in hot pink on a previous trip but yesterday I got it in translucent white so I can have two bins in my room – one for rubbish and one for recycling 🙂 Think Green.

I also picked up two tea light lanterns and a big burken glass jar, that I am using to store my adhesvies and dyes in.

On either side of the burken jar, I have two Pamp vases with my ribbons in. So that is a peak at what I picked up.

You know where I live, you even know my name, you know what time I am normally at home.

So please tell me why are holding my parcels hostage? Have you taken up scrapbooking?

Please have them on my bed when I get home from work tonight or I can accept tomorrow.

You are always so good at getting my parcels to me, never more than 8 days from the USA, normally it is 5-6. Where are they this time?

Every time I walk past the front door, I pause to see if you have pulled up, I hear a car in the street and I look to see if it is you.

Please Mr Parcel Man, I need you to deliver my parcels as soon as you can.

Thanks
Helen