A God Stretched Meal

"What on earth am I going to whip up for dinner with this?"

Been there??  *sigh* You just have to laugh! That was me tonight. There were no spuds, no pasta, a piddly amount of rice and that's it as far as 'most commonly used' ingredients goes! There was one packet of rice paper wraps. Hmmm.

I looked in my freezer. 10 sausages and 1 tray of 500g free range chicken tenderloins, 4 sheets of puff pastry. I had 2 carrots and 1 zucchini left in the fridge, along with 4 little bits of bacon. I had heaps of onions and garlic though!

I had the idea of using my food processor to 'wooj' (that's French for 'wooj'!) up all the ingredients and make it in to sausage rolls and rice paper wraps. They were delicious!! The kids loved and devoured them and asked if we could have it again! Happy Mummy!

So what's the point in my sharing this? We are 'tight' financially for the time being for a few valid reasons, but I was able to cook a great dinner that filled my family, was delicious, nutritious (apart from the 4 puff pastry sheets!), minimised wastage and made the little food we did have go a long way.

I want to encourage you, if you are in financial stress, to not give up. To try and be creative, think outside the square and just do your best. I don't know the extent of the stress you may be in, but I know that we serve a God that never lets us go hungry, who provides our every need (and sometimes our wants too, because He just wants to love us like that!), who inspires us to create these kinds of meals so that our families are fed. He is amazing!

I've written out the recipes for you so that you can make them for your family too if you would like. My children have no problem eating 'whole' pieces of vegetables, but I know that some children don't enjoy that, so the processing of the ingredients 'hides' them!

So here they are ...

 

Chicken Sausage Rolls

 

 

Ingredients:

• 500g chicken tenderloins (or whatever 'cut' you prefer)
• bacon (your desired amount) *optional (it couldn't really be tasted!)
• 6 whole garlic cloves
• 1-2 onions, quartered
• 1 carrot, chopped 'chunky'
• 1 zucchini, chopped 'chunky'
• handful of fresh basil leaves (from my garden)
• 2-3 tspns chicken stock powder
• salt and cracked pepper to taste
• good splash of soy sauce
• 4-5 slices of bread, to stretch the mixture (I used sour dough, so the texture was 'fluffy', it didn't taste doughy either)
• 4 sheets of puff pastry (or however much you need)

 

I basically added all this (Except the puff pastry sheets) raw to the food processor, pressed the button and added water if needed! The end result was a 'paste' that looked like something that was less than appetising! You can just stop processing when you've got your desired texture. I fried it off in the last dribbles of my olive oil (it resembles mince, but just with more flavour!) and then rolled it up in half cut sheets of the p/pastry, put it in the pre-heated oven at 200'C until golden brown.

 

You could add or change the ingredients as suits your families diet/tastes ... I had no choice but to use what was on hand tonight!

 

 

 

Chicken Rice Paper Wraps

Why is it that photos of these little bundles never look attractive?!

Ingredients:

• chicken mince (made as above)
• spinach leaves (from my garden) thinly slithered
• lettuce (from my garden) thinly slithered
• red onion thinly sliced *optional
• rice paper wraps
• thinly 'peeled' strips of my last carrot! (done with a veggie peeler)

Prepare wraps as per packet instructions, then add fillings, wrap up and enjoy! (They are fabulous dipped in soy sauce). Once again, you can choose to add/delete anything you want, this is just what I had.

The best part? There were left-overs! God is amazing! When we are diligent in using what we've got to the best we can, He takes care of the rest!

I thought of making the meat up in a bulk batch one day and freezing it in it's 'raw state' in portions, so it could be made into things like pies (with a bit of a gravy needed I think), rissoles (probably add an egg or two), even just lightly fried and on toast for a quick meal, lightly fried and served in lettuce cups (topped with maybe fresh thinly sliced chilli and shallots with a dash of soy sauce/sweet chilli as an appetiser), pizza topping, through fried rice?, mixed through a pasta with a creamy herby kind of sauce?, spring rolls, lasagne, spaghetti, cottage/shepherds pie ... you get the idea, it's pretty versatile and best of all is that we know what's in it!

For those of you who dress your own 'home-grown' chickens (as my husband does when needed), we thought that as you can sometimes get a 'little on the lean side' bird, it would be great to remove the meat and use it in meals like this to stretch it further (skin off of course).

God is just so good! Let me know if your kids loved this too. What are other 'variations' you can think of?

I wonder what will become of the 10 sausages tomorrow night?


Happy cooking!


I'm linking up with Naomi over at 'A Wise Woman Builds Her Home' ... you are most welcome to join us!


P.S. (I won't mention the bread rolls that I made last night, strictly following the recipe that turned out a bit like ... well ... play dough! The chooks got those!)

Butterflies in the Lavender

I have been thinking again on the little things in life. The little things that are actually the big things. Every afternoon for the past few weeks in between two and four o'clock, our lavender has been in the company of a very large amount of lovely butterflies. It is simply stunning. To watch and observe the way they go about their work, and to think of the fact that our God made them with everything they need all wrapped up in a teeny tiny fragile little package.

What makes it even more enjoyable is watching my children chase the butterflies and gently cup them in their hands, admiring the colours and the beauty of them. Seeing the smiles on their faces. Such wonderful small moments that God had brought into our humble little garden. It's the little things that are the big things. Oh, I could have been busy with all sorts of household chores, but what I would have missed.

Let me encourage you to grab hold of the moments to watch God's creation at work, to watch your children admiring His masterpieces too. Take time to stop and breathe, to slow down and take in the moments that you could otherwise miss; for they are the moments that make up your life.

I have written a poem below about the butterflies and took a photo to share with you. I hope you enjoy the beautiful little moments in your life this week!

 

The Butterfly

 

On wings resplendent it makes graceful ascent,

along the soundless breath it journeys.

How agreeable to watch its flaunt,

of grand hue and refinement.

 

Unwavering on its fashioned calling,

it dances over bloom and posy.

Indulges in ambrosial essence,

completes its quests without delaying.

 

How intricate its stunning framework,

how exquisitely it has been formed.

Causing tongue and soul to worship

the wonder of Your work.

 

 Linking up with A Cultivated Nest for more inspiration!

 

All photography and poetry is the property of Sufficient Grace, please ask permission before usage, thank you!

Some Vintage Goodies

 

Have I ever mentioned that I adore all things vintage?! I thought so! Lately I have been finding some beautiful vintage goodies to create that 'lived in touch' in our home. It's funny actually because I've only just begun the hunt for pre-loved items, and already I'm completely hooked! There are a number of reasons that I love vintage, pre-loved pieces; firstly, they allow me to be creative and decorate our home without using large amounts of my husbands hard earned money; secondly it teaches my children that you don't need extravagance to create beauty; thirdly I think I was born in entirely the wrong era because old-fashioned everything suits me just fine!

 

I thought I'd share some photos of my finds lately. I know that vintage, pre-loved is not for everyone, but for me, it's relaxing and enjoyable to go to a garage sale, second-hand shop, second-hand bookshop or charity store to pick up a little bit of vintage goodness here and there.

 

 

These are ABC/123 wooden blocks that I found for my little man, Mr R. (But Little
Miss J enjoys them too!)
They were $5 from Vinnie's and he uses them all the time, we are working on
his numbers for now. Such a great little find for his early learning years!

 

At a second hand bookstore near my parents house, I found these 'Verse Time'

books. They are the sweetest little poetry/verse books for children and were only $1 each!

They are over 50 years old and the illustrations are just lovely!

 

Some old hymnals I found at a garage sale that were 'thrown in' for free

with the rest of my purchases! I'm not familiar with many of these hymns, they are

way before my time, but the words are still so precious and encouraging just to read as poems.

 

A collection of poetry books from the same bookstore near my parents house;

some children's, some adults. They are great! My favourite is 'A Child's Garden of Verses'

by Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

I have a love of birds, they are just so beautiful! The illustrations in these

books are stunning! Two of my favourite vintage finds!

 

These two tapestries were only $3 each! Bargains!

 

These two plaques were $1.50 and $2! 

 

A cute little lantern from an Antique Market held at our children's school.

I love what it says, 'Happiness is found in little things'.

 

A gorgeous plate found at Vinnie's for just $4! Reminds me that

all our blessings come straight from His hand.

 

These are little 'post-cards' from a second hand shop a bit up the road!

$1 each ... absolutely gorgeous and such beautiful illustrations and words.

I'm Looking for some frames for them to go in.

 

A hand-painted plate for $3 ... it's birds, I couldn't resist!

 

The rose sugar pot and milk jug were $2 for the pair from a garage sale!

The vintage spoon with a bird on it was $5 from the Antique Fair.

 

These three bird pictures were only $1.50 each. 

 

This little fairy wren (my favourite bird) rock I found at a garage

sale that my hubbie stopped to check out on the way to

a garden festival, $2! He was just sitting there waiting for me!

 

 

It's so nice knowing that, while these things are just completely temporal, I can still express my creativity and old-fashioned style to create a beautiful, wonderfully warm and cosy home for my family without breaking the budget.

 

Do you enjoy vintage thrifted finds too?!

 

Would you like some more beautiful and inspiring home making ideas? Link here to 'The Creative HomeAcre Blog Hop'.