My Raisin Family

Hey Guys! So, you have all seen on our meal plans that we have a dish regularly called savoury mince. This is my 12 year old's favourite meal and something that has been a staple in our house since I was a child. I have never seen a recipe that comes close to this, probably the closest dish to compare it with is shepherds pie without the potato on top. This is a recipe that I have tweaked a fair bit and we are finally happy with how it is now. So here it is: 1kg beef mince 4 beef stock cubes 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1/4 cup of tomato sauce 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce 3 potatoes, cubed 3 carrots roughly chopped 3 cups frozen peas 2 cups frozen corn 2 cups frozen broccoli 2 cups frozen cauliflower water gravy mix 1. Brown and drain mince, and add stock cubes, minced garlic, and both sauces. Let simmer for 10 minutes. 2. Add all veggies and water enough to cover everything in pot and cook the veggies through. Let simmer for 3 ho...

Hey Guys! Welcome back to Meal Plan Monday! This week is a little different compared to other weeks. We have 4 (yes, 4 kiddos!) going on camp from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. I am also running out of a few of the snack type stuff and cereal, so this week, I have only planned dinners. Sunday: Pies/Sausage rolls and veg Monday: Teriyaki chicken and rice Tuesday: Savoury mince Wednesday: Spring rolls and fried rice Thursday: Sausages and veg Friday: Noodles/Pasta Saturday: Chicken Chips and mac and cheese This week is a major shelf cooking challenge because I am running out of room in my chest freezer. Icy Poles have been a staple part of our diets the last few weeks and it hasn't even hit proper summer here yet. We also have our oldest daughter's school musical Monday and Tuesday so these nights have to be something that can be put in the slow cooker or be prepared in advance.  Hope you like these Meal Plan Mondays! Thanks f...

Hey guys! The other day I was scrolling through Pinterest and I came across a Pin that piqued my curiosity.  It was titled The Sanity Saving Tactic of Keeping a Bible Book Basket . I clicked on it, interested in finding out what she had in her basket. I read the accompanying article and was immediately convicted. You see, when I read my Bible, it is usually when all the kids are not around and generally it stays in my room. The reason I felt convicted is because the whole idea of keeping a Bible Book Basket is so that you can read and study the Bible wherever you are in the house. I have a lot of little eyes watching me for most of the day, but I wasn't thinking of them. Our littlest lil munchkin especially copies everything that we do. He watches as we interact with each other, as we cook dinner, and as we worship our Creator. He knows as soon as I put any worship music on, he comes running in to put his little hands up and sings his lil heart out to Jesus...

Hey Guys! You all know I am a mumma of a large family, so I kinda have to have a few favourite cookbooks, right? I do have quite a few cookbooks and websites that I pull from when I am meal planning, particularly when I get stuck with making the same meals over and over (it happens... I am far from perfect guys...).  Some of these are for thermomix recipes specifically, (my goal for the year is to use my thermomix more) while others are just general cookbooks. So lets get into it! 1. Thermomix Every Day Cookbook. This is the cookbook you get with your Thermomix and it has basic recipes and hints and tips to get used to your thermomix. My mum's favourite recipe in this is the custard.  2. Mamabake Cookbook. This is the cookbook I reach for when I have a lot of busy days where I will not have time to cook. There is a lot of slowcooker dump recipes in there that my family love and don't break the budget. 3. Once a Month Cooking by the Stay at Home...

Hey Everyone! So y'all know there are a lot of people in my house at the moment, what you don't know is that my food budget has not really changed too much. Yes, we buy more fruit, eggs, milk etc. But really that's about it. The key is to make your meals go further. And there a couple of ways I have found to make this work. #1: Add more veggies. We love to have meals like Baked Ravioli, Sticky Sausages, etc. So instead of making so much more of everything, I had (more) veggies to that meal. When I make the Baked Ravioli (also a great freezer meal), we have peas, carrots and maybe a fruit with it.  #2: Put stew type meals over rice. Meals like sausage curry, stir fry and beef stew can go a lot further if you serve it over rice. Rice is a great way to fill up little (or big) bellies and a little goes a long way.  #3: Give the kiddos a snack plate of veggies just before dinner. My kids love eating frozen peas straight from the bag, along with carrot sticks and...

Hey guys!  It's been a while so I thought I would give Meal Plan Monday another go! This time I will go through breakfasts, snacks and lunches and why we meal plan this way now. So here it is! Here is this week's meal plan (check out  Large Family Table  to find the meal planner). I don't have Morning Tea on there because it is ALWAYS fruit and everyone knows to choose a piece of fruit.  I also have for most lunches Make Your Own Sandwich. I don't make the kid's lunches, they do. There is always a variety of fillings/spreads available and quite frankly, I am not a slave. I have a LOT of other things to be doing at that time so they (with supervision) make it themselves. It also works better for them to make it, so that they take ownership and eat what they put in their lunch boxes.  It is not quite summer here (where I am we have about 3 weeks of "winter" and the rest of the year is just hot and muggy), so afternoon tea consists ...

Hey Guys! So we have had a few behaviour issues around here lately so I thought I would jump on here and share my go-to behaviour management strategies.  So when my children (or the children in my care) are misbehaving I ask them 3 things. These things are bible based because we all strive to live a life as close to the Word as possible.  So first thing: I say "Do unto others as you would have them do to you". My kids know that verse VERY well as they teach them this at school and at their Friday night activity. This is mainly said when whatever they are doing is impacting others around them, for example, say my son was saying harmful words to others. This can also come in handy when they are being picked on at school and they feel they want to retaliate. Most of the time all I have to say is the first part. Then they stop and think about what they are doing. At the moment with our little extra kiddos, they are still learning what this means, so letting them know...