My Mum is back from Serbia!!! Woo hoo!!!

Hello everyone, how are you? We are all really well and keeping busy these school holidays. Noah finishes up tomorrow so we have a full 2 weeks of kids activities which I'll keep you posted with. Many catch ups and day trips along with the arrival of my Mother from Serbia, which the kids and I are really excited about. 

How quick 3 months have gone.... I really did miss my Mother, Mira. For those of you that don't know who my Mum is, this photo was taken when I just announced I was pregnant with baby no. 4 Zali "Mirjana" which my Mum was stoked about that we named her after her!

My Mum Mirjana and I Dec 2010

Workout

Day of rest however I did go out for that run I mentioned last night, so early to bed for an early to rise run which was great fun!!! 

I did a bit of a cross country running course this morning which was very challenging, I don't typically run big hills but this morning I had a limited window to run (only ran 4.6kms AKA 2.9mi) so I thought it may as well be a challenging course. Mind you majority of the hills I had to stop and walk it a bit but better than me laying in bed thinking about running, I just did it!!!

I'm looking forward to the practise run for Run Ballarat this Saturday morning and in my mind I'm thinking of trying out the complete 12kms (7.45mi) circuit. See how I go....



Breakfast
Pineapple quinoa with milk

I added the milk after I took this photo

Morning snack
Natural greek yogurt with strawberries, sunflower, pumpkin and chia seeds

Lunch
Chickpea curry on 2 toasted (wholegrain) sandwiches with tomatoes

We went to meet with a girlfriend (impromptu) at our local park for lunch so I quickly packed this for our kids...

1. Chicken and parmesan on white rye bread
2. Laughing cow cheese
3. Apple and cinnamon with freshly squeezed lemon juice
3. Strawberries
4. Muesli bars
5. Fruit and vegetable puree's for baby Zali

Spent the late afternoon with Celeste and her gorgeous kids so when we got home I had to whip up a super quick dish.

Afternoon snack
Dip with vegetables and crackers

Celeste made a similar dish the other night and gave me her BIG bright idea!!! Meatball sausages!! Meaning, squeeze out the meat in small pieces and throw away the skin!!! I purposely bought gourmet red bell pepper and onion sausages (not a fan of the plain butchers sausages) so this dish was just that little bit tastier with the spiced up sausages!!!

Dinner

Meatball sausages and vegetable pasta

NB: I served mine on a bed of spinach while the rest of our family had wholemeal pasta 

Ingredients
1x packet of gourmet sausages
3 tomatoes or punnet of cherry tomatoes
2 mushrooms
bag of spinach
1 capsicum finely sliced
1 lemon
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1 tbs yogurt or low reduced sour cream
S&P
olive oil
wholemeal pasta (optional)

Method

1. Cut ends off sausage and gently squeeze small amounts of meat and gently fry in olive oil. Add any spices and herbs at this time, I used a Moroccan based spice with cumin and coriander.

2. Add sliced capsicums, spinach, chopped mushrooms and tomatoes
3. While pasta is cooking, use pasta water as part of your sauce and squeeze entire lemon followed by all the drained pasta

4. Add a tablespoon of yogurt (or fat reduced sour cream) to make a lovely cream based sauce
5. Taste and add S&P if required, garnish with parsley and parmesan cheese


Here's me cooking in the kitchen with our kids!!!

Mietta pulling her famous wink smile for the camera, while Zali (mini me) poses for the camera!

It's always busy in our kitchen with one or all of our 4 kids in the kitchen, I love it! I hope one day they enjoy cooking in the kitchen as much as I do!!!

Goodnight my friends and I look forward to meeting with you all again tomorrow.

Xx Dani