Deb's Daily Journal

I'm not really liking 2013 a lot at this point in time. Money seems to be very tight everywhere, jobs are scarce, and changes are being forced upon us whether we like it or not. Damian's paid employment finished up on Monday which leaves both of us not currently in paid employment. We have been trying to re-establish our own business again since moving here, and we will be pushing that fairly heavily now. He has a few jobs in the pipeline which should come to fruition, but I think things will be a bit tough over the next little while. The positive though is that he has so much to do here at the farm, that he may now have the time to do them, and I am well and truly over being a single parent for the last 3 years while he has been working away. I have been busy in the kitchen today so far. I still have a lot of lemons to use up, so this morning I made a batch of lemon cordial, I drink way too much coke zero, so I want to change over to something else. There is a lot of sugar in cordial though, but it is very refreshing.

I have also made up a batch of anzac style meusli bars for lunchboxes, much cheaper and better for you than the bought ones. The recipe had a lot of sugar in it, so I cut back on that by about 1/2 and they are still quite sweet, so will cut it back a bit more next time.

And I also finished off a big jar of nutella on Kasey's sandwich this morning, and I have had recipes in my files for ages on how to make it, so I finally bit the bullet and made some....oh my goodness....YUM!! I used this recipe.

It is so decadent, and just delicious. It cost about $10 to make about 1.2 kilos of nutella, but I think if I can source the hazelnuts at a better price, I could do it much cheaper, as I had to buy them in small packets at the local supa IGA. I only used home brand dark cooking chocolate, but I find if I add a tablespoon of good quality cocoa to this, that it improves the taste of the cheaper chocolate into something really yummy. I will definitely make it again. I also used home made condensed milk, I don't buy that anymore either, and I use this recipe.
I purchased a cheap little greenhouse at the Reject shop a couple of weeks back, so I am going to put that together and get some seedlings up and running and get my vegie garden going a bit more seriously to save some more money. We are heading down to Brisbane tomorrow for an 80th birthday celebration for Damian's dad on the weekend, so I am hoping to pick up some point of lay hens while I am down there, so that my egg supplies don't dwindle too much with no layers left. Damian and I have been discussing ways to ensure that a fox does not get in the pen again, so we are going to secure their current pen even more and we will look at a more professional setup for my different breeds over the coming months, once I start to get them re-established again, but that will take time.Anyway, got some work to do, so I had better go and do it.