Week 1: Dinner fit for a Queen

To only see my challenges on treating yourself as a Queen/Princess you can visit my blog: In Ashleigh’s Palace

You are the queen of your household, unless you live with a parent/guardian, in which case you are a princess of your household.  And as a Queen or Princess you deserve to sit down to a meal as though you were one. 

So for this week.  I want you to set the table as though you are preparing for a royal guest, yourself.  You don’t have to go out and buy fancy things, use what you have got.

Here is my royal table setting:

Please take not of a few items (clockwise from 12 o’clock).

• A bottle of wine – If you don’t feel like alcohol with the meal or you don’t drink alcohol then some cranberry juice in a wine shaped bottle is great to pretend with!  I don’t know if anybody else played restaurant as a child, but I did.  A bottle of wine (make-believe of course) was always at the table from the time I was 10-12 years old.
• A pitcher of fresh water – add some lemons and fresh mint leaves for a little something extra special.
• The water goblet
• The wine goblet
• A soup spoon
• A bread / butter knife
• A dinner knife
• A soup bowl (which I used for pasta on this occasion)
• A dinner plate underneath (which I didn’t use on this occasion)
• A placemat – notice how it is just one of those cheap plastic placemats, I don’t have better than that so I make do with what I have.
• A dinner fork
• A linen napkin
• A bread plate
• Salt
• Pepper (I don’t have salt and pepper shakers, I use the ones I bought salt and pepper in from the shop)
• A butter bowl (with butter in it)

I was only feeding myself on this occasion, so I only set the table for 1 person, but I recommend doing this for yourself and your family.  If you are the Queen of your household, then your husband is the King and your children are Princes and Princesses.  It is a treat to you and them to dine like royalty.

Some extra notes:

• If you are single:  Do not do this for a man until you have been exclusive with him for some time.  He is not the king of your household until you have said the wedding vows, however that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat him as though he is a royal guest… just don’t give pearls to pigs.  And don’t treat him like a King, he is only the royal guest (like a duke, knight or a lord) you are the Queen.
• If you have a husband who won’t appreciate this:  Then don’t expect him to do it with you, but do it for yourself and the children.  I am sure that over time he will realise what he is missing out on and join you at the table… do not try and force him, just go ahead and do it for yourself, even if it is just once a week.  The Queen does not force the King’s hand.
• Haven’t seen the surface of your table in months? I recommend that you set a timer and spend 15 minutes a day clearing the table.  Then on the day that the table is clear celebrate by doing this, and doing it every meal from there on.

Craft: A Single Bed Blanket

You can take a look at all my craft projects at my blog In Ashleigh’s Craft Basket

Hello crafters.  I’m not here to advertise specific yarns, so when you make this for yourself, just use whichever yarn, whichever stitch and whichever size needle suits you.

I am knitting with Garter Stitch, with 5mm bamboo knitting needles.  I am using whichever wool I can get from the farmers market (because it is cheaper than in the shop).

Here is the rough idea for the single bed blanket.  I was going to make a queen size blanket, but decided maybe that was a little too ambitious for my very first knitting project.

I am busy working on my first rectangle, and for this one I am using a pink wool.

You can see the colour I am using in the picture below.  At the time of writing this, the strip measured 79cm.

This is going to be a long project.  I’d love to know if anyone would be willing to do it with me.  My aim from now on is to do 1 rectangle a week.

Recipe: Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate soda)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted margarine
• 3 tablespoons golden or maple syrup
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (the yellow skin part of the lemon)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF)
2. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or margarine
3. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, syrup and eggs.
5. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients, mix until combined.
6. Fold in carrots and lemon zest.
7. Divide batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups.
8. Bake 20min or until golden brown.
9. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
10. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely before serving.  The muffins continue to cook for a while after leaving the oven.

Gardening: Garden Peas

This is my “chart card” on how to grow garden peas.
Sunlight:  Full Sunlight
Sowing:  Directly into the garden, peas do not like to be moved
Season:  If you live in a frost free area, then sowing should be done half-way through winter until the end of spring.  If you live in a frost area, sowing can be done from the beginning of winter until the end of spring.  The peas take a little longer to grow in frost areas, but survive mild frost.  Don't plant in area's that will completely freeze during the winter though, and only after the snow has ended in the snow area's.
Soil:  Prepare the soil up to 30cm (1 foot) deep. Peas like a moist loam soil.
How to plant:

1. Plant seeds 5cm (2.5 inches) apart and 3cm (1.5 inch) deep in rows.
2. Plant each row of peas 60cm (23.5 inches) apart.
3. Press the soil down firmly on top of the seeds
4. Keep the soil moist, but not soaking.  I usually water well each morning.
5. When the shoots are 10cm (4 inches) tall then thin out the plants, 30cm (1 foot) apart in the rows.  Not all peas will germinate, hence why we plant them so close together and eventually thin them out.
6. When the shoots are 10cm tall, provide them with something to climb.

Harvest:  Between 90 and 120 days.

To see my Gardening Only blog please visit In Ashleigh's Garden

Recipe: Broccoli Mashed Potatoes

This is another recipe I received on the Yahoo Group: Frugal Friends in the Kitchen

Check out my dedicated Recipe's Only blog: In Ashleigh's Kitchen

Originally it was meant to be a vegetarian dish, or a side dish to be served with meat.  I tweaked it to make it into a 1 dish meal by added bacon… here is my version of the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 potatoes
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 2.5 cups broccoli florets
• 200g (about 1.5 cups) bacon, chopped into roughly square pieces and fried.
• Salt, Pepper, Parsley to taste

Method:

1. Place potatoes in a pan, add water to cover and bring to boil (covered).  Boil for about 45min or until soft.
2. In another pot add broccoli and onion, cover with water and bring to boil (covered).  Boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until broccoli and onion are tender.
3. Drain water off the potatoes and vegetables.
4. Mash the potatoes in a bowl, leaving the skins (I chop them up roughly with a knife to make mashing easier)
5. Mix Cream cheese, Margarine, Salt, Pepper and Parsley into the mashed potatoes.
6. Fold in the broccoli, onions and bacon.

Serves 2
Cooking time roughly 1 hour

Recipe: Mashed Potato and Chicken Casserole

Check out my Recipe's Only blog In Ashleigh's Kitchen for all my published recipe's.

I got the following recipe from a Yahoo Group called Frugal Friends in the Kitchen, one of the members posted it there.  She got it from a lady in another group called Mary's Recipe Exchange.  We have no idea where this recipe originated, but here I am sharing it with you. 
I did make a few tweaks to the original recipe though…

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken (My Tweak, I cooked 2 chicken fillets, cubed, in a frying pan)
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (My Tweak, I made 1 packet of mushroom soup powder, making it as the instructions on the packet directed)
1 10 oz. package frozen baby carrots (My Tweak, I used 4 medium/large fresh carrots)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 cups prepared, instant mashed potatoes (My Tweak, I made homemade Mashed potato from real potatoes … 4 medium sized potatoes work well)
Salt, pepper and parsley to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
2. In a large pot, combine chicken and soup.
3. Simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes.
4. Add carrots, peas, parsley, salt and pepper.
5. Heat thoroughly for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Spoon mixture into a casserole dish.
7. Evenly top with cheddar cheese and spoon mashed potatoes on top.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is bubbly and potatoes are lightly browned.

Serves 4
Approx. 1h to make

Planting a garden

On Sunday, 1 July, Mark helped me dig up the horrible plants that were growing in front on my spare bedroom window (the place that is my toy room).  They were some sort of succulent plant, but to the best of my knowledge they have no purpose in a garden other than beauty, and I don’t think them beautiful at all.

We dug up the whole area and prepared the soil for something more worthwhile… peas!  I love peas especially when they are fresh out the pods, so juicy and sweet.  The peas have already been planted, and we will put up something for them to climb once they sprout.

Here is the picture of the bed we prepared for them. 

There is only 1 row of peas planted, but I cannot wait until I can enjoy the delicious taste in my mouth.  I am not growing them for subsistence farming reasons, but more like a treat in my mouth come October.

I also planted some Marigold, Coriander and Rosemary seeds yesterday.  I haven’t planted too many since I only had 3 egg containers to hold the seeds, but as I have more containers I’ll plant more seeds.  Thy are sitting on the outskirts of my Lego city right now.