My "Every kid in the World will eat this" Spaghetti Bol (and only $10 for 3 meals for 4+)

If there is one meal that bores more homemakers than any other it is Spag Bol. So boring, so tedious but yet somehow the kids love it. Like most Australian families who have adopted the modified-Italian method of cooking spag bol, mine has evolved over the years. A bit of my Mum's old Leggo's cookbook that was splashed with so much tomato sauce that you could barely read it, a bit of Maeve O'Meara from back in the good ol'days of Better Homes and Gardens and a bit of Masterchef all rolled into one Aussie staple.

This is my version. It is, like my Chicken Soup, a slapdash, give it a go, not exact ingredients then throw in whatever you have and give it a stir recipe. It is designed however for those days when you are running after kids and are completely sleep deprived.

I love the slow cooker but I do find that when I have the time to brown everything off in the pan and get some bewdiful colour on the meat, creating a jus from the pan juices blah blah blah I can make some superb dishes. But everyday in my house is not Masterchef and I really need things that I can throw in and if I don't have time for all the mucking around I can still get something delicious on the table and most importantly something that I don't have everyone whinging about!

The secret to this spag bol is getting the slow cooker nice and hot before you add the onions, then leaving it for a while before adding the meat. I recommend putting a few loads of washing on the line or grabbing a nanna nap or even having a dig in the sandpit in between steps... don't worry about it - this baby is gonna cook all day long!

The other secret ingredients (we all have a few don't we?!?!) is cinnamon and milk. Gives it a nice spice without heat, and the milk makes it creamy. And you an use any wine that's leftover in the fridge.... although I hear you ask, "What is leftover wine?".... good point!

The other important thing about this Spag Bol is that it could put the family budget back into surplus in no time. It is super budget friendly (I buy my fruit and vege from a budget shop so for me, I think, it works out to around $10 for the pot) and it serves my family as Spag Bol twice, then I chuck it in a lasagne and freeze it for later. So that is pretty much three meals (for 4 -6 depending on appetite) for $10!!!! It's also really, really healthy. And I think it is quite delicious, and so do my kids......

So give it a go next time you need a incredibly simple dinner, and let me know if it beats yours!

Felicity xx

Nom nom... get it here

Medicine: Chart that is 3am, exhausted and crying baby on the hip proof... well, almost!

Hello, Freckle followers. Another exhausting week of highs and lows in the Freckle household.

There have been tantrums, vomits, ridiculous nappies (YOU KNOW THE ONES.... EEWWW!), late for schools, birthday parties and trips to the ER. All just another week really!

No, seriously, Baby Freckle has been quite sick, in fact she is the one that has had two trips to the ER where the beautiful hospital doctors take one look at my singing, playing delight of a child and tell me that she is fine! But, she wastn't like that 2 hours ago, I say calmly. But, she has hardly eaten in two weeks, I tell them slightly agitated. But, her nappies smell like there is a dead animal inside her. Doesn't this warrant exploratory surgery, a helicopter trip to the capital, a team of gastroenterologists???? They smile, nod and tell me she will be fine. She has gastro. Could take another week or two or three before she is back to normal. Anyway, enough of my sleep deprived ramblings. We have been sent home with anti-nausea medication and been told to use Panadol and Nurofen for the pain. Poor little Freckle!

So, in the minutes that I have between ANOTHER load of washing and changing another sloppy nappy I have devised this little beauty! Sanity saver for me... I have been using something similar for year that I would scratch on a piece of paper but here it is looking all pretty!

Get it here!

I have designed it with space at the top for your Child's name... may seem silly but if you have more than one child and you have ever had them sick at the same time you will know how confusing it can be to remember who has had what, when! Then there is a space for you to write the dosage that you give the child, save having to remember how much they weigh and look up the back of the box when they are crying. I have done the chart with four spaces for Panadol and 3 for Nurofen. I am no pharmacist but I know that this is the maximum in 24 hours that a child can have. Once again, saves having to remember how much of which medicine you have given them. Most of the time, of course, you wouldn't be doubling up the Panadol and Nurofen but I have had to many times as my boys seem to have fevers that don't budge just with Panadol. 

Here is how it has looked for Baby Freckle over the last little bit:

I am hoping that this week brings an end to the sickness in our household, and I hope no dreaded bug have made their way into yours.

Felicity x

Another Birthday....

And so it goes in household Freckle, another month, another birthday (not quite). This one was actually meant to be in April. Well, of course the birthday still was in April but due to the school holidays, school fete, school camp... basically all things school, we have not been able to have the Freckle #9 party until this weekend. Let's just call it a festival.... (that's my line and I'm sticking to it!).

Anyhow when it comes to his own design style Mr 9 is rather picky. I did what I though was a bit of a  too-cool for school invite that looked a little something like this:

                   but was told that this was "just not his thing".

So when I asked him what he wanted his reply was zigzags, geometrics, circles. Should have guessed from the kid who considers maths to be a hobby (bless him, can't believe I gave birth to him, really!!!).

So here it is:

BTW it was originally red but orange is the new black I am told! Actually I like this one much better.

So, if you would like to download an A5 blank version for free (yippee!!! freebie!!!) hope on over to my website and you can download it and fill in all your detail either by hand or using Word or if you are lucky like me and have the new Adobe Acrobat 11 it makes it easy peasy. Just a tip though - print it on a laser printer for it to look the best (bubble jet looks ok but fancy paper makes all the difference here).... Or you could be extra cheeky and take it to Officeworks and ask them to print it multiple times onto the one A3 sheet and save your self a small fortune. 

If you would like a customised version that has a different number (not everyone is turning 9 of course), colour and the details of your party then I can organise it all for you ready for downloading and taking to the photo shop to print yourself, voila, easy peasy. Just head on over to my little Etsy shop and I can take the worry away.....

So Mr Freckles 9th birthday party is this Friday night. Game on peoples!

Felicity xx

Brrrr .... Baby it's cold outside!

After more than a decade of the gypsy wandering lifestyle the Freckles have settled down (we hope!). We wanted to make our resting point a place that was big enough, but small enough, near enough but far enough and warm enough but cool enough.... And this morning we got the cool enough! In fact it was our first frosty morning ever!!!!

Getting out of bed this morning was hard enough as the dreaded lurgy hit me two nights ago, and whilst I am loads better another 38 hours sleep wouldn't go astray. But after Mr Freckle and I played the wordless heater on/off game (I turn it on cause I am freezing/he turns it off because I swear that man has the Sahara inside him/I turn it on because I can't feel my fingertips/he turns it off because cold is refreshing etc etc) he went outside to take a couple of Freckles to school and this is what he discovered:

All freckles were then called out to view the wonder that coastal dwellers like us had never seen before! And he even got a sneaky photo of me. I believe I was saying "this justifies my heater usage for time immemorial" ... Or something like that....

(Note: Grandma slipper. I am not ashamed of my grandma slippers).

So, to my neighbours, I apologise for the loud excited squeals of children running on the front lawn at 7:45 this morning screaming something along the lines of "i need my slippers on" and "wow, it's like a slushy on my feet". I can't guarantee it won't happen again but I assure you next time they will have their slippers on!

My famous (well now it is!) Emergency "Everyone in the house is sick and I still have to cook dinner" Chicken Soup

Oh man, I hate it when the kids get sick. Colds and flus are one thing but when it is a vomiting bug it sends shivers down my spine. When there are so many of us it is like we are just waiting for the next victim to fall.. and hoping and praying that it won't be all of us at once!

This time the Freckles managed to get away with it quite well... although the little Freckles would not agree with me on that one. Only two out of seven is not a bad statistic! So while it was still a 36 hour marathon of next to no sleep, bleach, buckets, washing and vomit  - it could have been much, much worse.

So with one Freckle calling out to me every few minutes and another hanging from me needing "cuddles, Mummy, cuddles" and with about 3 hours sleep under my belt it was time to bring out the emergency chicken soup.

It must be bad when Chicken Soup is called for.....

In my wisdom I thought that you may all like to know my recipe for the chicken soup that everyone will eat, is good for recovering tummies and takes all of about 15 minutes to make enough to serve about 6-8 depending on appetites. When we have sickies in the house this can last us a couple of days.

My trick to getting it still to taste yum is in the onions. Most slow cooker recipes require you to brown off the onions and the meat in the pan but I didn't have time for this and if someone starts vomiting I knew I would need to go to them and not leave the hot pan on the stove burning the house down! So I heat the slow cooker first with a lug of olive oil in it and then add the onions when I remember... then leave them there till they smell good... then add the rest of the ingredients.

 I also do the veges in really big chunky bits... it doesn't matter because they get blended down later.

and voila! Dinner is served.

Check it out on my website to download the recipe here.

And update... all Freckles are back at school today! Hooray! Must have been the healing powers of the soup ;)

Felicity xx

Dog Duty (and pet chart!)

So following from my foster fail with the RSPCA and my fast growing family that now consists of Mr & Mrs Freckle, 5 little Freckles and now 2 dog Freckles (as well as Budgie Freckle and Frecklefish) it was well and truly time to take the dog by the proverbial collar and create a dog-management system.

Previous to this looking after the dog(s) was a job that I tried my best to share around but it usually ended up being mainly myself and the oldest Freckle (who is the most dog-enthused) doing all the dog care. So here is what we did:

1. Family meeting: The Freckles sat down and had a frank chat about who was shouldering most of the doggy duty and who was getting away with very little. We all decided that we love our dogs and want them to have a happy life and that none of us like it when the baby Freckle picks up dog poo and squishes it between her fingers running delightedly to the others squealing "Doggy Play-Doh", "Ooo, stinky Play-Doh!".... yes, not one of my finest parenting moments, that one!

2. We needed a system so that we could all share the responsibility of the dogs.

3. We could all be involved but some of the jobs were more suited to older Freckles i.e. baby Freckle was not so good at walking over-excited Beagle.

So first, I developed this chart ("Pet Roster" so you can use it too):

It has a space for playing with the dogs (help the littlest Freckles feel a bit of ownership and learn some responsibility), walking the dogs (we do this in teams of 2, one of the older Freckles with a middle sized Freckle), poo duty and feeding (also involves putting on the coats - usually I help with this as it is a bit tricky for the kids).

You can download the chart for free here.

I went to my newly re-designed K-Mart for the coolest shopping experience around found this bargain:

Isn't it cool? And only $12... bargain.... I can feel a laundry makeover coming on (watch this space)!!! Also bought this mat, have since discovered that the mat is useless as it moves around all over the place, but hey... it looks good!

And look, magic! The Bits and Bobs is gone and it becomes, Dog Stuff. Thank you Pinterest!

Complete with all the bits and bobs (hmmm....) that the little Freckles need to look after their Furry Freckly Friends:

Also added a container (previous Tupperware Host Gift that I have never used for it's intended purpose) for Poo Duty, containing nappy sacks (what an amazing invention!) and  baby wipes for accidents (inevitable). So now our little Dog Station looks like this:

So what do the little Freckles think?

One is so happy that she can share the burden and joys of pet ownership.... One not so happy as he was first up on Poo Duty.

For other organisational ideas and inspiration check out felicityjd.com/footstepsandfreckles and have a look... keep coming back as I am adding a little more every week.

Until next time,

Felicity x

Foster Fail!

Meet Ginger. A 5 year old beagle. I consider Ginger to be the biggest bait and switch in animal history. We got her from a person who was re-homing dogs. Her family had abandoned her. When I first met her she was sweet, sedate and obedient. She was also 8 kilos overweight. Which for you and me, an extra 8 kilos may be a dress size up or down - it may be looking a bit lumpy around the middle instead of svelte and sleek. For a female beagle she was actually twice her recommended body weight.

So we bought Ginger home. We loved her. We walked her. In fact, all the older Freckles would run her up and down the park every afternoon. We loved her and put her on a weight loss regime. Little did I know that Ginger, like anyone who is carrying around twice her body weight. Had a true beagle inside her, just waiting for the kilos to come off and the real beagle to come out.

She began to act like all beagles. Inquisitive, overly friendly and with a sense of smell that means that if she gets a whiff of something she was off...... the first time she escaped she was picked up about 6 km's from our house. So myself and Miss Freckle set about fixing the fence again, and again, and again. Every time we patched up one hole, she found another. One time we were even at church when Miss Freckle and I saw a brown and tan lightning bolt dash past the window, sure enough another hole in the fence and another scent to follow.

She was eventually picked up and taken to the RSPCA. There she endured what for most dogs would be a sad and sorry overnight listening to the howls of other dogs. But for a beagle trying to re-live the adolescence she had never enjoyed, it was her version of heaven. So when the lovely ladies from the RSPCA suggested a companion for her, and in fact it just so happens they had a little pedigreed dog with grief issues. when I hesitated they said, just try him for the weekend and bring him back.

So I left the RSPCA with a hyperactive beagle, a fence to be fixed at home, torrential rain and a cavalier king charles spaniel on Prozac (I kid you not!).

We now have two dogs.....

We have officially failed as foster dog parents......

And now Ginger and JJ are huddled up contentedly in their kennel. JJ is being weaned off his Prozac and his anxiety only surfaces when he leaves Ginger's side by more that 30cm. And Ginger is happy because JJ still smells like RSPCA.

For the Freckle Family animal management chart:

http://www.felicityjd.com/#!footsteps--freckles/c207w

Watch this space and later in the week I'll go through how we organise the organisation of our fur babies!