Winter Warmers

 I don't like winter, those of you who know me personally know just how true this is but I don't. I try to embrace the cold weather see the positives of being able to be curled up in front of the heater stitching while the soup cooks but always comes the time that I have to leave go out into the cold for the school run, try to get the washing dry, the kids can't go outside to play and frankly the whole thing just gets me down. It has been know by August that I have a little cry begging my husband to tell me when it will all be over.

 

Over the long weekend I had my niece come and stay she is 5 days younger than my boy and for a while now she has wanted me to teach her to sew.

 

I am very passionate about getting the youngies into sewing. I have been sewing since I was small. I also think that while it is important to teach the basic its important to give them plenty of room to explore with the needle and thread. When it comes to hand sew there isn't much that can go wrong other then knots.

 

My niece wanted to make fairy dresses my boy wanted to make ninja turtles. We all used felt as it so easy to work with and we all had fun.

Fairy dresses

Ninja turtle finger puppets

Beef Casserole with Dumplings

One thing that helps ease my winter blues is a hearty meal. I am a big fan of a casserole, I love that oven is on during the afternoon and the house is filling with yummy smells. But I am also a busy muma so this is pretty easy. For the best results I think its best to use a cast iron pot that can be used on the stove then put in the oven it saves washing up but it also helps get a great flavour.

1 onion
2 0r 3 carrots
4 or so sticks of celery
A handful or pearl barley
800gr approx. chuck steak
400gr tin chopped tomatoes
2 cups veggie stock

Step 1: Cube chuck steak
Step 2: Brown onions and meat.
Step 3: Peal and chop carrots, chop celery and add to the pot.
Step 4: Toss on pearl barley, chopped toms and veggie stock.
Step 5: Put in a slow oven for a couple of hours.

About  30min before you want to eat make the dumplings. I like to use the food processor as it makes thinks a bit quicker and easier.
1 cup SR flour
125 gr cold butter
pinch of salt
2 tablespoon milk.

Step 1: Put flour, salt and cubed butter in the processor. Pule until mixed and looks like wet sand.
Step 2: Add milk pulse again and will start to come together.
Step 3: Squish mixture into small balls.
Step 4: Make sure the casserole has enough liquid the dumpling suck up a lot.
Step 5: Poke the dumpling in so that they are half sticking in the casserole
Step 6: Bake in moderate oven for 30min or until golden brown.

Super yummy and will warm your tummy :)