Anna Says - Cooking In A Hurry

Images care of ModCloth and Pinterest

Anna Says - Cooking In A Hurry

The clock says 5:15pm, the kids have been c.r.a.z.y. all afternoon and are now in the bath. You realise with grim dread that you have not thought of what to make for dinner at all during the busyness of the day.... Oh dear. What to do?


If you keep a well stocked fridge and pantry, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Being organised means that you can have some meals that are easy to prepare and can be made in the time it takes to cook pasta, rice or heat the oven. Here is a list of things that you should always have in your pantry, fridge and crisper and how to make FIVE quick meals for a family.

Freezer

Bacon

Peas

Pizza Bases

Bread

Fridge

Butter

Cheese

Garlic

Ginger

Olives

Eggs

Pantry

Peeled tomatoes

Pasta Sauce

Honey

Olive oil

Pasta

Rice

Crisper

Capsicum

Carrots

Onions

Spices & Condiments

Bolognese Herbs

Soy Sauce

Oyster Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce
Balsamic Vinegar

Salt & Pepper

I have not added quantities in these recipes, as I rarely take note of how much of things I use. This is meant to be a list of ideas that are not set in stone so that you can adjust them to your own preferences.

Meal Idea # 1 

Bacon & Tomato Pasta

1. Put water on in a big pot to boil. Cut up all ingredients.
2. Put pasta into the boiling water to cook.
3. Fry onion, bacon, diced carrots. Add some garlic then add pasta sauce and a tin of peeled tomatoes.
4. Add some Bolognese herbs, a splash of balsamic, a whoosh of worcestershire sauce, a smidge of honey and some salt & pepper. Simmer for a couple of minutes. 
5. Drain pasta when it is cooked. To the sauce, add peas and olives to heat through. Mix the pasta through the sauce.
6. Serve with grated cheese.

Meal #2 

Bacon Pizza

1. Preheat Oven to 220 degrees Celcius. Take pizza bases out of the freezer.
2. Cut up all ingredients. Fry the diced bacon and onion.
3. On to lined baking trays place the pizza bases. Add the following ingredients in this order:

Pasta sauce

Bolognaise Herbs

Cheese

Bacon

Onion

Capsicum

Olives

4. Pop pizzas into the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 180 degrees Celsius.
5. While they are in the oven you have time to make a simple salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot and olives. Or, you could get a head start on the dishes...

Meal # 3

Fried Rice

1. Place rice into a saucepan, then add 2 times more water. Bring to the boil.
2. Chop bacon, onion, capsicum, carrot.
3. When the rice has come to the boil, take the lid off, boil for 5 minutes. Then put the lid back on the rice and turn the stove off.
4. Fry your chopped ingredients in olive oil until they are golden. Add garlic and ginger.
5. When the rice is cooked add it to the other cooked ingredients. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, a drizzle of honey, peas and some lightly beaten eggs. 
6. It is ready to eat when the eggs are cooked.
NOTE: This will be quite a wet friend rice. To get fried rice that is not as wet, cook your rice earlier in the day and let it cool on a baking tray so that it is can dry out a bit. If you do this, dinner will be even quicker to prepare!

Meal Idea #4

Frittatas 

{or fancy scrambled eggs if it all goes bad}

1. Chop onions, bacon, capsicum. Grate cheese.
2. Lightly beat eggs, add a splash of milk and a handful of cheese.
3. Fry bacon, add onions and cook until onions are tender. Add capsicum and some frozen peas.
4. Add a small knob of butter, add eggs. Cook until the top is set.
5. Flip it anyway you can.... you could slide it onto a plate and flip it back into the pan. Or you could cook the top under the grill, or you could cut it in half and fold it... whatever works!
6. When cooked, serve with hot buttered toast or a salad.

Meal Idea # 5

Bacon & Eggs 

1. Fry bacon.
2. Make toast.
3. Fry eggs.
4. Serve.


I have a friend in London who is a dietician, she told me years ago that baked beans and eggs on wholemeal toast is one of the healthiest and most complete meals you can get. We have bacon and eggs on toast for dinner way more than I would have thought. The kids eat it, it can be made more interesting with some sauteed mushrooms, capsicum and tomatoes, is cheap, is quick and is not too unhealthy. You know when all else fails....

Anna Says - How to Get Children To Smile At The Camera

Taking photos of children can either be a simple joy or a big fat pain in the big fat butt. Trying to co-erce a smile from a grumpy baby is near impossible. Crazy six year olds don't always want to pose and do a proper smile and don't get me started on three year olds! 

But having photographs of your children at different stages is important {here is where I could share that there are very few photos of me as a child, as I am the youngest of four etc etc, but I won't...}. I did a bit of surfing and came up with some great tips on how to take nice photos of your kids. Oh, and you will get a peak at how the 'Cool Kids' are shaping up.

Photopoly is a great website for all sorts of photography things. I gleaned these 6 tips from their site, they made a lot of sense to me....

1) Make the camera an everyday device

I have to say that I have noticed our children are much happier to have photos taken since my camera has been out and used more and more. We also take photos on our iPhones and with my compact Fuji all the time, so it is something that is just a natural part of our family life.

2) Bend Down, Stoop, Crouch, Kneel

Get down on their level. It just makes sense to make the experience as natural and organic as you can make it. You want relaxed happy faces, not fake, threatened ones. Clearly, I need to get better at this - no photographic evidence! Ha ha!

3) Take Advantage of Good Light

We have taken some stunning photos in the late afternoon/early evening when the light comes in at a low angle. It makes for photos full of halycon moments. The light at the beach is amazing too!

4) Tweak Your Composition

Instead of thinking that you need to have a head and shoulder shot against a white wall - try to fill the frame with your child - close ups and super close ups can be truly cute! Also, take note of what is in the background, if it is too busy, you lose your child in it. Photopoly suggest grass or trees as a background. If you can use a wide aperture and get a blurry background, you will also get the same effect.

5) Don't Make Them Pose For You

Keep it natural. I like to think of taking photos of my kids like a trip to the zoo - I take photos of them in their natural environment and doing their own thing.

6) Take Age Into Consideration

Taking photos of crawling babies is hard. You have to take lots of photos to get that one decent picture. We have lots of photos like the one below, BabyCool doesn't always smile nicely for the camera! But, he was enjoying his first birthday cake! With digital technology, we can afford to take twenty photos to get one good one. 

More Ideas....

Some other great ideas could be to get your kids to act out emotions. I got this idea from the fabulous blog - Be A Fun Mum.... Try - happy, sad, scared, thoughtful, princess etc... There are some more great photography tips on this blog. Click HERE to read more....

I then used the program 'Picasa' to make them into these collages. Picasa is a free download and allows you to edit and do cool things with your photos.

And finally, to wrap up... 

Here are some more B style tips...

1) Take your photos OUTSIDE - get some colour and life into those backgrounds! Try photos in the rain, on a windy day, with leaves etc etc.

2) Don't always take photos of your kids when they are looking at you. Photos of your children looking at something or enjoying life are wonderful. This is one of my very favourite shots of BabyCool - it is his first experience of sand {this was taken seconds before his first TASTE of sand ;0) }

3) Use your phone to take photos and then get some good apps.... I love Instagram, Bokeh Booth and Diptic. There are hundreds of them. Such a great way to add filters and fun to your pictures. The photo below is of Miss Z at a wedding, filtered through Bokeh Booth for iPhone.

Go out today and take some photos of your little cherubs. There will never be another today and....

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.

Eudora Welty

Anna Says - Home Hair Dye

Home Hair Dye

So... what do you think Anna means by, 'Home Hair Dye'? I should have checked. I am pretty sure she did not want recipes for making hair dye, she is not that kind of gal. So, she must mean tips for doing hair dye at home. This could possibly be the shortest blog post in history if that is the case. Because Anna, I have three words for you.....

Don't do it!

Oh my goodness. The trials and tribulations I have had with using hair dyes at home. In high school I used a spray on bleach that was activated by the sun - it was called 'Sun In'. To have a better effect, I used to blow dry my hair. My hair was seriously blonde! 


Six months before marrying Mr Cool, I decided to dye my hair red. Not really red red, more of a strawberry blonde red kind of colour. I picked out a box with a colour I liked and my best friend and Mr Cool helped to put it on my hair. However, I had shoulder length bleached blonde hair, the colour really grabbed. It turned out I also needed more than one box. When we rinsed the colour off, I had dark red zebra stripes. Not at all good. 


So, we went out and tried to find another box of the same colour to cover up the bits we missed. Back then, all the stores closed at 12 o'clock on a Saturday, so there were not many places to buy hair colour. We decided on another shade of red to cover all my hair again, two boxes this time. The colour was chosen was definitely not a lovely strawberry red colour, it was more of a tomato sauce red. Not at all good.


I can still see the look on my mother's face when she returned from a weekend away and saw what I had done to my hair. I hated it. So did she. It looked horrid. I went to the pharmacy and asked for a colour stripper, but all they could suggest was bi-car soda and anti-dandruff shampoo to literally strip the colour out of my hair. I went home and did this over and over and over again. And again the next day. It changed the colour to a kind of pinky splotchy red colour. Again, not at all good.


The only solution was to get a hairdresser to look at it. The remainder of the time I had before the wedding was spent pretty much at the hairdresser getting the colour streaked out of my hair over and over again.  When I look at my wedding photos, all I see is my over processed bleached hair... 


But, I did not fully learn my lesson. While living in London, I would buy those boxes of colour that you could put foils/streaks in your own hair. It was painstaking. I am not a perfectionist. I would start off well and then get sick of it and get sloppy. I probably spent most of my time in London with splotchy, weirdly coloured hair.


I then went through an Ash Blonde hair phase. Why, I do not know. I actually had green hair a lot of the time. Khaki green hair. Not at all good. Not. At. All. Good.


Then a ray of light entered my life.


I asked a friend who had dead cool hair, who did her hair. She gave me the number of a lady who cut and coloured hair from a studio at the back of her house. Her prices were good and she was into doing cool styles. When I turned up with green hair, she was very kind. She toned up the blonde and gave me some very funky foils. I had entered the world of cool hair.


I have been going to this same hairdresser for 6 years now. She does amazing work. Her prices are great and after going there for so long, she knows my hair and knows what hairstyles I can handle.


My sister {the one who sews} was between hairdressers so she asked for my hairdresser's number. Now she goes to her too. Then my other sister {soon to be librarian} was between hairdressers and asked for my hairdresser's number. Now she goes to her too. My mum {from whence I came} was between hairdressers, so I offered her the number of my hairdresser - she declined. She said she didn't want to turn up somewhere with her three daughters and find we all had the same hair cut! 


I have toyed with the idea of colouring my own hair again to save a bit of money. But... oi... I just don't know if I can go back to the gloves and the timers and the stains in the bathroom and the chance that it won't take evenly.


So, if you were hoping for advice, sorry. Just go to a professional. Trust me.  

Anna Says - Things To Do While Watching Television

Anna's original question was about what to do while watching 'Masterchef', but these lists could cover all manner of hour long television shows.


I find this concept interesting. When I was a kid, we just watched television. We sat. We watched. We sang to the theme songs. We dashed to the loo during the ads. We got up to turn the dial on the television to change the channel. We did not do anything else.


But, all these years later, we try to fit so many things into our lives, that we do multiple things at once. So... here I sit, watching television and writing a blog post about what to do while watching television!


I have broken the ideas I have had (with the help of an intensive think tank with some peeps over lunch) into categories...

Things to do while watching television.....

BORING

Ironing

Folding

Mending

Balance cheque book

Write up a weekly menu

Write up a weekly shopping list

PAMPERING

Paint your nails

Put on a facemask

Soak feet ready for a mini pedicure

Use the time to allow your home dye to soak in

Get your spouse/partner/minion to give you a massage

FUN

Knitting

Crochet

Beading

Sudoku/Crossword

Make some birthday/Christmas/birthday invitations

Cut pattern pieces for a sewing project

Jigsaw Puzzle

TECHY

Facebook/Twitter

Write blog posts

Organise photos

Ebay shopping

Make a Pinterest board

Read some blogs

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS

Pyjamas or pants with an elastic waist

Tea

Chocolate

I would also recommend just enjoying the show! Just sit and take the time to be still and be entertained. Life is too busy. It is hard enough finding wind down time. As a little friend of ours would say, "Chillax". 

B's Favourite TV Shows of the Mo....

1. The No 1 Ladies Detective 
2. The Mentalist
3. Bones
4. Castle
5. Grand Designs

Anna Says - Children's Movies That Are Not Scary

Finding Children's Movies That Are Not Scary

When language was first conjured from grunts and signals, stories were told. The good stories were elaborated. These elaborated stories were then told and re-told and changed and merged and retold again. Back in the days before Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm Brothers, people would sit around fires at night and listen to these stories. Those good at telling these tales would go from village to village sharing them. These were both informative and entertaining, with information about royalty and war progress. There were no televisions, computers, iPhones or egad, even BOOKS to keep one entertained.


These stories usually involved a valuable lesson. Naughty children got lost (Hansel and Gretel). Naughty children didn't listen to their parents (Sleeping Beauty). Naughty children wandered far from home (Goldilocks). True love can be found wearing the right shoes (Cinderella). The stories were meant to frighten children into doing the right things. These stories also involved elements of magic like fairies and elves, witches and talking animals. They had to be exciting after all!


Over time these stories were written down and shared. Then enhanced with pictures. Then inventors and creators like Walt Disney stepped in and added cute characters and animation, which changed the world of entertainment forever.  From there Pixar and Big Idea swept through using computer animation to add crazy and loveable characters to films for a whole new generation.


But, the premise of valuable lessons is still there. Lessons can be learnt from all the movies that are currently on the market. No-one goes alone (Toy Story). Remember your friends (Madagascar). Don't trust anyone (Tangled). Love conquers all (Gnomeo & Juliet). But, there is still that element of scariness.


Try as I might, I did not come up with one children's film that did not have at least one scary or sad part in it. Unless you want to watch Maisy and Peppa Pig all day long, I think that there needs to be a better solution. I mean, really, even bible stories can be scary, lion's dens, boats in storms, enormous people-swallowing fish and the crucifixion to boot - all scary as heck!


I think that the solution to surviving scary parts in movies is to watch the movies with your kids (at least the first time). Talk to them about the scary parts. We have a 'rule' at our place: if part of a movie or show is scary, tell a grown up, who will then sit down and watch it with you. This may seem strange, but what is worse - seeing the scary ending or letting a child's imagination go crazy wondering what happened? 


I chatted with two gorgeous movie critics this week about some of their favourite movies... Here they are in all their glory....

The Princessly Miss Z and the Groovy Miss A

What is your favourite movie?

Miss Z: Tangled, Marry Poppins, Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses

Miss A: Gnomeo and Juliet, Toy Story 3, Madagascar 2

My girls have VERY different tastes in everything from movies to shoes to dress-ups....

What do you like about these movies?

Miss Z: I like when Rupunzel has the big pony tail and when she has the flowers in her hair. I like when Mary Poppins has the white dress on. I like ummm... when the Queen and the King Dance together and they step one each other’s toes *lots of giggles*.

Miss A: I like that they have nice endings and that have lots of adventure. I like the funny parts. I like the music and the characters.

See? Very different!

What is more important for a movie to be funny or to be scary?

Miss Z: I think a movie should be funny and scary.

Miss A: I think a movie needs both. The sad parts have to be in it, but movies usually have a happy ending.

When a movie has scary parts what do you do?

Miss Z: I sometimes I start to cuddle someone but no crying. And then I get better.

Miss A: Sometimes I am sad and sometimes I am happy. Sometimes I cry and sometimes I can hold it in. I like to hug somebody. 

Miss A cries in pretty much EVERY movie! She has such a soft heart! Miss Z just waits for the dancing and singing at the end.

When mummy and daddy say you HAVE to watch the scary bit and see how the movie ends, how does this make you feel?

Miss Z:  It makes me feel happy, because I think it is a little bit funny.

Miss A: I feel a bit worried. And I don’t know what is going to happen next.

Miss Z does get the giggles when things get a bit too sad or scary - it is a bit disconcerting...

When you have watched the scary bit, do you think it is better to have seen it or not?

Miss Z: I think it is better to see the scary bit, because I think it is sad. It is a little bit good to see a hard bit and it is a little bit good to see the happy, angry and everything else bits.

Miss A: Sometimes I wish I hadn’t seen it and sometimes I am glad I did. I think that if I didn’t see it, my mind would work it out to be scarier than it was.

Aren't they clever poppets? They have obviously listened to me after all!

Do you think movies need to have scary bits in them?

Miss Z: Yes, because that is part of all of the parts. Because. 

Miss A: Yes, because they need to have a happy ending. Life is not always happy so that goes with the movies.

Very wise children - they were not coached much at all!

Do you think movies need to have happy endings?

Miss Z: Yeah, because sometimes at the end they are happy and love each other.

Miss A: Yes, because it makes it more nice to watch the movie.

So, Anna - I am hoping you were not waiting for a long list of movies to hunt for at Blockbuster that didn't leave your kids quivering under the couch on movie night! I just see that any opportunity to talk to your kids about life is a good thing. Movies can be a good way to talk to your kids about how to be safe, how to be a good friend, how to cope when you are on your own. Good life lessons to learn at someone else's expense!

In case you were hoping for a list: 

Here is a list of good movies to watch with your kids....

The Jungle Book

Mary Poppins

Robots
Cars
The Incredibles

Gnomeo & Juliet

Madagascar 1 & 2

Toy Story 1, 2 & 3

Tinkerbell

The Little Mermaid

Tangled

Garfield

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Space Chimps
The Smurfs

Note:  I don't like animal movies - so you will not see anything like 'Milo and Otis', 'Black Beauty' or any other sad animal movies - they are too much even for me!

Anna Says - Hints For Keeping The Home Office/Study Tidy

Hints For Keeping the Home Office/Study Tidy

I am going to preface this post by saying this is not my thing. I am not very organised with bits of paper. I hate mail, I hate bills, I hate filing. I rely on Mr Cool to keep track of receipts, tax stuff, bill filing and all that mind numbing stuff. I am glad he does. Or I would not be faring well.


Paper organisation is just not a gift I possess. Not at all one of my strengths. Mr Cool and I  have very clearly defined jobs. He mows: I cook. He files: I plan menus. He puts air in the tires: I clean out the fridge. We are both happy with this arrangement (unless I misplace a very important piece of paper that we needed yesterday that I know I saw on the piano stool but one of the children must have used it to make a collage because I really really don't know where the heck it is now so shut up already).


But, over the past few weeks I have realised I need to take on some more of these kinds of things. Stuff gets lost if there is no system (in case you didn't know). Also, I am feeling swallowed up by all the stuff in my house. Now, I am not a hoarder, in fact, I am pretty good at getting rid of things. I am also particular about how clean my house is. I am not necessarily neat, but I am far from messy, ask my friends, they will back me up (hopefully). 


And I know that this may sound like an excuse, but we are growing out of our cute chamfer on brick. There is just not enough places to put stuff. I am about to go through my house and purge it of stuff I just don't use or need anymore, in the hope of finding more peace and less stress trying to find places to put all the stuff. 


I really like Peter Walsh. He has become a bit of an organisation guru of world renown. I like that he is an Aussie who has done good in the U.S. I like that Oprah likes him. I like that he is straight talking and gets good results. I also have a weird fascination about looking into other people's houses. Especially if they are messy houses. It makes me feel better. I want him to come and sort out my house, but it is not bad enough for that. Sigh. 


Anyway - back to the tidy desk thing...

Peter Walsh writes a blog. It is good. I follow it through my bbeingcool blog facebook page. He does make being organised look cool. In April this year, he wrote a post called, 'Five Ways To Keep The Office Stress Free'. Five things... I can do that...


Here is the basics of the post..


1) Label, Label, Label
Obvious - if things are labelled, you are going to save time when you need an item again. Peter is big on labelling things everywhere; the garage, the filing cabinet, the kitchen.
2) Invest in a good filing system
Ensure that the filing system gets a clean out at least once a year. I have a friend who gets excited about doing this. I would rather scrape the accumulated gunk from inside the fridge using my finger nails than do this.
3) Divide your office into zones
Have areas for mail, research topics, filing. Peter says you should have a clear space on your desk for working on one thing at a time. At the moment, we don't have a desk. I am not good with a desk, I just make piles and then they get left and then.... oh, it is not good. Instead, we have a cupboard. I am doing better with the cupboard.
4) Avoid Paper Clutter
This is my down fall. I make piles. Piles. Piles. Piles. I am not so good at dealing with paper once it crosses the threshold into the house. Sigh. 
5) Keep It Together
Peter recommends having folders with plastic sleeves inside to store things like warranties, menus and tourist attractions. I am good at this(phew).


For the full version of Peter's post .... Click . Just scroll right down to the bottom of the post, the original post is all about how to use a Dymo Labeller.


These five steps sound good. But I need a bit more structure than this... 


Daily

• Open mail, sort, then put into our inbox
• Throw out junk mail and envelopes

Weekly

• Sort through inbox
• Pay/sort bills

Monthly

• Filing
• Go through one file in the filing cabinet and remove old and/or unnecessary paper. (Shred before discarding)

It has been encouraging writing this post and realising that there are some things I am doing better than I used to. I think that having children means one has to that little bit more organised in every way. Which is a good thing, although I still manage to lose permission slips and forget shared lunches - sigh.

I now find myself in a new position where my children, being creative, have paper, paper and more paper 'mess' in their rooms. I need to start teaching them about how to avoid making piles and how to sort their stuff out. Thankfully they draw so many pictures that they don't really miss the dozens of pictures that I have to purge when they go to school.

Images from my Pinterest Board - Home Office