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I thought I would share with everyone how to make Vanilla Slice, you know that fancy stuff you get from coffee shops that costs a $5 a slice... Well lets just say you can make it at home for the cost of 1 slice from the bakery / coffee shop.
I usually just make one layer but its easier enough to make it double layered.
What ya need....
2 sheets of puff pastry (if you want to do a double layer you will need 3 sheets)
1.5 litres of milk (skim or full fat) you will need to double the quantity for 2 layers
Custard Powder (about 10 tablespoons, double the quantity for 2 layers)
Icing sugar
Lemon Juice
With a fork prick the puff pastry several times.
Cook the puff pastry sheets in a pre-heated oven of 180 deg cel for around 10-15 mins (when sheets are slightly golden)
Make the custard as per instructions on the packet but add more custard powder (i used about 10 tblsp per 1.5 litres) Allow to cool but not fully cool...
You need the custard to go really thick so it stands on it own.
Once the puff pastry has cooled put one on a plate with browned side facing you.
Spoon on top of puff pastry the custard and spread out evenly.
Place the second puff pastry sheet on top of the custard brown side down.
Make enough lemon icing to cover the top of the puff pastry.
Apply lemon icing to top puff pastry sheet.
Well I finally sat down and did a budget for the up coming year. I even factored in the increased cost of insurances and rates etc... We can certainly manage to keep under $500 but there is not alot left after the bills.... This does not however include our mortgage, not sure anyone at the moment could include the mortgage and all the bills and keep it to $500 a week...
I have broken down the budget weekly as my hubby is paid weekly.. all the figures are calculated weekly.
Car Insurance 1 12.50
Car Insurance 2 6.25
Car Rego 1 15.00
Car Rego 2 18.75
Boat Rego 2.00
Trailer Rego 2.00
House Insurance 17.00
Health Insurance 55.00
Council Rates 52.00
Electricity 34.00
Gas 4.25
Internet 20.00
Phone 10.00
Mobile 4.00
Groceries 125.00
Petrol 50.00
Train Fare 60.00
Total $488.00
The above figures does not account for entertainment which looks like it will be a cheap meal out once a month if we are lucky. If we didn't have 2 cars and a boat I could save even more money. This is a good way of working out exactly what we need in our lives and what we can live without.
I am going to stick to this budget for 6 months and may continue with it.
Well the last month has been really busy..
My precious little man arrived on Friday 8th January weighing 8lb 15.5oz (4.07kg). I never realised you could love someone so much..... You definitly need to be organised being a new mum. I have been trying to follow a routine from a book called "The New Contented Little Baby Book" written by Gina Ford. I am following the feed times & sleep times when my little man plays nice. I decided the feeding guidelines weren't working so now I fill the bottles to the top and fill my man up.... The book has some great advice and is a great start to all new mothers...
Well I'd like to introduce you all to Marcus...
On the Aussies Living Simply forum someone asked “Could you live on $400 a week?” The idea was that you had no mortgage or rent and there was just 2 of you. So you would have your usual bills of electricity, gas, phone, insurances, rego, fuel etc etc. Some people thought there was no way they could live on $400 a week. I think it is one of these things you could do if you set out a budget and regimentally stuck to it.
We are currently a family of 3 soon to be 4 with my mother coming to live with us to look after the baby when I go back to work in March.
I am going to set myself a challenge for the start of March for all 5 of us to live on $500 a week, that will of course not include my mortgage but will include the food, electricity, gas etc etc . While I have some spare time over Xmas and New Years I will go over our budget to see how much all the basics do really cost us and see if we can manage a $500 a week challenge.
Our most challenging thing will be trying to get our veggie garden in order so we can cut back on store bought vegies. Hubby and I cannot seem to get our timings right. This will be another challenge for me to be able to supply at least 50% of our veggies from the garden.
If only I could get my hubby to eat at least two vegetarian meals a week that would save us another few dollars. I also have a rather fussy 19 year old step son who doesn’t eat any of the good veggies either so this will be challenging. I think meal planning will definitely be the way to go.
If anyone has any frugal recipes they would like to share with me please leave a comment. If anyone else wants to join the challenge please let me know also.
This weekend I thought I would make some simple xmas cookies. Mind I did have to make 2 batches, one for home and one for work lol I should stop telling people at work I'm going to do some cooking over the weekend it has some how become a tradition to cook enough for home and for work....
Recipe:
Cookie Dough
120gm Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Caster Sugar
1 Egg
2 Cups SR Flour, Sifted
3-4 Drops Vanilla Essence
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170 deg cel, Gas Mark 3, and lightly grease 2 oven trays
2. Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and castor sugrar until light and fluffy
3. Add the egg and mix until combined
4. Add the sifted flour and vanilla essence
5. Knead mixture to form a ball. Wrap dough in plastic film and place in fridge to rest for approx 20 mins
6. Use 2 sheets of baking paper and put one sheet down and place the dough on. Put the 2nd sheet of baking paper on top and with a rolling pin, roll the dough evenly until it is 4-5mm thick.
7. User cookie cutters to stamp out your shapes and place on prepared oven trays
8. Place in the oven and cook for approx 5 mins or until lighly golden.
9. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Icing:
I just made a basic icing using lemon juice.
I am not great at icing, but as long as it tastes good thas all that matters...
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