My Favorite Place to buy Gluten-free food!

Is definitely Il Villagio in Summer Hill. Why? Because they stock all of the specialty foods that we buy, including bread and a cafe with gluten-free cakes galore.

A close but not so close in distance is About Life in Rozelle. Again because they sell products and have a cafe which cater for different allergy needs.

From us to you!

Our Easter 2010

As Easter approaches this weekend I thought it would be fitting for me to share what we have been up to in the Llewellyn house. Because our kids are still little I find it difficult to find activities for us to do that help us as a family remember what Easter (and Christmas) is about. I tend to jump into the big ideas and get lost in the process. It doesn't help that hubby is often away leading up to these times and I am trying to keep everyone on track while he is away.

Last year leading up to Easter we followed a three week bible reading booklet "Easter Unpacked", which is fantastic, but mostly went over the kids heads because of their age (I would recommend it for 6yrs and over unless you condense it).

This year we have re-evaluated how we do this and are trying the following:

• Reading storybooks about Easter - we like

The Easter Story retold by Gwen Ellis













The Jesus Storybook Bible












My First Story of Easter

• Learning a Memory Verse "The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost" Luke 19:10, we have this on pieces of paper on our kitchen wall and have turned over a word each day.

• Making and eating Hot Cross Buns - you can see the recipe here

• School Easter Hat Parade and Scripture service.
  

• Visiting our neighbours with a card and Easter egg - we did this at Christmas with star shortbread the kids and I made and has lead to us getting to know them a little since then.

• Sharing a simple passover meal with our bible study group - kids included

• Easter egg hunt - usually on Sunday afternoon but hubby now works at a church in Nth Sydney so we are planning on doing this on Friday with family.

• Meals with family over the weekend

• Church on Friday and Sunday. The kids are really looking forward to their program on Sunday.
  

Recipe Tag

I have been tagged by Ally to share a recipe with you. Ally writes:

So, what I am asking from you this time is….

What is the meal that you make so often that you don’t need the recipe for any more?

What do you cook when you are pushed for time?

What is the meal you cook that everyone in your house enjoys?

What I want from you is one recipe that does it all. Is that asking too much? I hope not.

I have to say that I find it hard to please everyone in our house and keep it remotely nutritious. I am vegetarian (no-fat), gluten free and no seafood, hubby and the boys can't have any preservatives, all kids are gluten-free and low chemical and our uni student likes steak - at home this is what he mostly eats. Late last year we saw a dietitian who recommended that the kids still eat meat 3 times a week, meaning that I have to cook 2 meals 3 times a week because I am Vegetarian. So... what do I cook that doesn't take long and everyone will eat??

I like this recipe because it doesn't take long, I can use whatever veggies I have at home , it is very healthy, everyone will eat it and be full, I can cook ahead of time or in a rush and I can put a piece of meat to the side to satisfy all of the meat lovers.

Brown Rice Salad - serves 6 as a side dish or 3-4 as a main meal

2 Cups Brown Rice Cooked and cooled

Diced veggies: I prefer Capsicum, Red onion, corn kernels, carrot, celery, but you can use any

Tin of Chick Peas

Dressing:

2 tbs sweet chilli sauce

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp mustard

1/4 tsp crushed garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook Rice to directions on the packet, set aside to cool
   
2. Chop veggies
3. Stir through veggies and chick peas
4. combine dressing and stir through rice
   
5. Refrigerate

I would love to hear from you if you try this.

To join in the fun I have tagged Bonnie and Cathy.

Recipe of the Week

Gluten-Free Hot Cross Buns

1 pkt Basco Gluten-Free Bread Mix
3 tsp caster sugar
1 Cup milk
1 egg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Cup Sultanas

Cross's

1 Cup Pure Icing Sugar
1 tbsp Nuttelex
a dash of water

Method:

1. Grease 8 hole large muffin tin, preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Place Bread Mix, egg and milk in mix master and mix till combined.
3. Add cinnamon and sultanas and continue mixing until you get a muffin like consistency
4. Divide mix to make 8 large muffins
5. Bake for approx. 25 mins - depending on oven
6. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
7. For the Cross mix, combine icing sugar, nuttelex and enough water to make a stiff icing.
8. Place icing into a sandwich bag and cut off a small part of the corner. Pipe a cross on the top of the muffin.

6yr old exclaimed that "these are much better than last year mummy".. Don't you love kid's!

The buns are pictured above, and only lasted as long as it took 6 people to sit around the kitchen table and eat them. I wish I could press a button and have more appear on the table. This recipe is good straight from the oven, or even on the day they are baked, but in true gluten-free style deteriorate quickly. They were OK the next two days but much better eaten the day of baking.

If you wanted them to be dairy free as well you could use the dairy free Orgran bread mix instead of the Basco one that I used.

Catching Up & Holidays

The next few days I will be posting, posting , posting to finish off all of my half written posts that I did over the past 2 weeks while hubby was away. I am also heading off on a family holiday for the first week of the school break and will be taking a break next week. One thing I am learning from blogging is how my personal time is regulated by our family as a whole. So if I have sick kids, hubby is busy or we are holidaying I need to be flexible and relax my expectations on what I am able to complete. Please bear with me as I share this journey.

The Remnant Warehouse Closing and Easter Sale

Yesterday Lily and I went out for the day for a mummy date. I asked her what she would like to do on our mummy date and having a browse at a fabric shop was at the top of her list. She also likes having lunch, going to Shearers on Norton St for a book and milkshake, going swimming, washing the car at Car lovers and many more..

The fabric browsing suits me fine especially when we go to The Remnant Warehouse and find out that they have 50% off everything. The sad part was that the Marrickville store will be closing next Wednesday and moving over to Botany Rd where the other store is. If you are in need of some fabric then pop over there before next Wednesday. They still have lots to choose from, although all of their quilting fabric is sold. I managed to pick up some 99% cotton denim, some blue satin for superhero capes for an upcoming birthday and some fat quarters to make some softie dolls.

The Botany Rd store also has 25% store wide for their Easter sale. Check out their website for details.

You've done the easy part. Now What?

Is it possible to raise a baby through to being an Christian adult, keep your marriage going and not loose your mind?

Tonight I am going to an evening run by a couple who have 4 adult children from our church who will discuss what the bible says about this issue and talk about their own life experience. This has kept my mind buzzing all week. Stay tuned .........to hopefully hear some of my big questions answered.

Harrys Desk Give-away

My friend Ally from Harrys Desk is having a give away this week which ends tonight. Wonder over there to have a look.



Ally write's:

What you need to do, to be part of the give away, is either tell me how you could imagine using one of these, or come up with a name for them.

The winner of the give away will receive 2 mini journal/supercards in a colour of their choice. I can make more if these colours don’t appeal to you.

I will draw the winner on Friday 19th of March, so comment away!

A Request for more Little Man Bags

So far 6yr old and 3yr old want little man bags too....do you?

My Little Mans Bag

This week my 1 yr old has been obsessed with bags. Every time we exit the house for school or anything else he wants a bag to take. Problem is we only have PINK!!!! So I have been busy coming up with something that I though suitable for my Little Man. So here it is.... a blue over the shoulder bag with Turtle applique and adjustable shoulder strap bag. I hope he enjoys this as much as I did making it.

A Taste of things to Come.

Over the past little while I have been playing around with some different patterns and fabrics. So far, none have made it to the Lily & Me website because I haven't been sure that I can access a reliable fabric supplier. This week I have found a few that interest me!

I am also working out what sizes to offer my patterns in. I am constantly having the conversation about pre-teen to teen girls clothing being both inappropriate and unattractive. So my thoughts so far are to keep my patterns simple and offer them in a wider range of sizes to suit a bigger age range. I will possibly making small adjustments for the older girls in length and fabric choice.

Pictured is a dress/ top I have been mulling over for a while on our 3 nearly 4yr old. It is made with a purple Corduroy with contrasting fabric. (she is also holding her favorite dolly which you can read about here). I would love to hear from you of what you think... Style, Fabric, Colour etc.

From her one day of wearing this dress I have a few ideas already. Things that I love about it are: it can be worn in all kinds of weather by adding or taking away a shirt or leggings, I could also make it in a lighter fabric for summer. This is a definite plus for getting maximum wear out of a garment. I also like that it buttons on the shoulders, because I like buttons but also it holds well and is easy to get on and off. The thing I didn't like, because she is only 3 has no sense of modesty and was flashing her undies whilst climbing and playing all morning. I will definitely add some tights next time.

Recipe of the Week

Gluten-Free Vegetarian Lasagne

2 teaspoons of oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tin lentils
1 red capsicum
1 carrot
1 zuchhini
3 large mushrooms
700g chunky tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pkt san remo gluten free lasagne sheets
150g baby spinach
1/4 cup tasty cheese
300g low-fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of milk

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2. Heat oil and cook onion and garlic.
3. Add vegies and lentils cook till just soft.
4. Add tomato sauce and paste.
5. Cook for another 1-2 mins.
6.Spoon some sauce over base (28cm by 21cm). Top with lasagne sheets. Spoon mare mix, then sheets, then mix then 1/2 cheese then sheets.
7. Mix ricotta with milk and add spinach, top this mix then cheese.
8. Bake for 45mins.
9. Serve with green salad.

What my girl LOVES!

Parties









Water











Ballet and dressing up









Cooking











Climbing











Friendships are one of her most valued characteristics. She loves people and places a high importance on the people around her. She spends lots of time discussing who is doing what, when and why and often how she can be kind in all of these situations.

I need SLEEP!!!!!

For the past two and a half weeks my kids have been sick... in our house we have had one with measels that turned out not to be measels, one with head lice, all three with a very snotty virus cold thing, two trips to the Eurologist, one trip to my Gastric Surgeon, one trip to a Peadiatrician for a lazy right leg and several trips to the GP. For all the reasons above I have not been doing much blogging, sewing, house work, sleeping or catching up with freinds. On the brighter side of life I managed to get my groceries done and a haircut today all with my 1yr old in tow so I am feeling very victorious for my gigantic effort all on 4 hours sleep.

Hopefully everyone here in the Llewellyn house is on the mend and life returns to our usual fluid weekly routine over the next few days.

What my Boys LOVE and my girl HATES

I have been browsing through our photographs today remembering all of the good times we have had with the kids over our 6 1/2 yrs of being parents. Something struck me today... not that I didn't know this already...but I am a visual person....about what our 2 boys LOVE to do and our girl HATES.

So here is a list of things I saw in our pictures:


Tattoos





Lots of Bugs










Digging Holes




Soccer, Cricket, Basketball, Skate board ramps
Lego
Jumping off high walls
Getting dirty

I am sure I have missed some, but you get the picture. My boys are your stereotypical BOYs! I am exploring this issue at the moment because our little girl is growing up fast and wants to express her girly-ness. I want to be able to get to know her as she develops and be able to find activities that challenge and interest her as she grows. She is so different to the boys and I want to encourage her in these differences. Next time I will post about what my girl LOVES that my boys aren't so fond of.