Apple pie would have to be the one thing I crave the most. I'm not a chocolate girl, I prefer juicy apples wrapped in pastry. Oh! And don't forget about the cinnamon! (sorry about the picture, we demolished half of it before remembering we needed to take a picture!)

My daughter requested pancakes for dinner, to which I was willing to comply. I then had a fleeting thought midway making said pancakes, "what if I added carrot and zucchini?" I passed on my thoughts to Miss 4 and she said it was a good idea. So I had to last minute alter the recipe and pray that the vegetables didn't cause the batter to become too runny. Well, the result was amazing!! They were so yummy the kids ate them all up and asked for thirds! Even husband loved them! So I quickly wrote down the recipe to share. Please remember I was going to make normal sweet pancakes, so they do have sugar and a dash of maple syrup (subbed for the vanilla extract that's gone missing). Seeing as I was going to make them sweet, adding the veges made it healthier and OMG so much tastier! I will be doing these again! I have to make another batch though as there is nothing left!

Think of the bento opportunities with these also! A sweet but healthy snack in the lunch box. If you've packed not other sweet things than why feel guilty for the small amount of sugar in the pancakes? It looks like an odd recipe, but try it out! For bento I'd make them piklet sized to fit into the lunchbox. Because of the self raising flour they don't roll at all. If your clever and have some egg frying molds or even pancake molds you can make them in cute shapes!

Ok, so here is the recipe - http://nekomama.com.au/index.php/recipes/bento/52-vegetable-pancakes

Enjoy!!

Doesn't have to be valentines day to show your love! I love sneaking little love notes or symbols into my hubbies lunchbox. It's fun, and he doesn't mind at all!

 

It's that time of the year again, I have 3 birthdays within 2 months. My sons, then my daughters and then my husbands. My children are only 51 weeks apart so birthdays have always been joint, however, this year I decided they were old enough to have a separate birthday celebration. I put my sons a week ahead, and put my daughters a few days after her birthday so I had some breathing space! Thankfully they don't know it's early or late. Who knows what's going to happen when they are older!

Technically this is an oven-dried tomato, danish feta and pork meatloaf but Gorgeous Pork Meatloaf adequately sums it all up. It is MOIST and simply divine! A must have on your 'to try' list!

Why meatloaf? Well I have a freezer full of mince and seeing as we've done burgers and meatballs a bit lately I am looking for mince alternatives, part one of my Mince Challenge. Tonight is Meatloaf!

I have never made meatloaf, although I do remember my mother making it maybe once or twice when I was a child. I do recall not liking it very much though, so I was very hesitant to make my own meatloaf! I searched around the internet and found something that looks really tasty!

I've decided to give myself a Challenge. Something to write about! I don't know about you, but I m sick of boring Mince Meals. So I am determined to find new and exciting ways to use mince. At the moment we're stuck with Spag Bol with jar sauces and... Well... That's about it really? Only recently I've started making burgers and mini meatballs which has been great, but it's not enough variety. We need something more fun! I have AWW Mince Favourites CookBook which I can only anticipate most of the recipes will come from. Thankfully, I already have a freezer full of mince in all varieties so I can get started straight away (hooray!)

Well today is payday, which means the last day I've shopped for. Which usually means the last legs of the fridge and cupboard. I tend to only buy what we need and use everything I can get my hands on. I didn't photo hubbies lunch because I was in a mad panic to pack, we accidentally slept in and had 15 minutes before he had to leave. Thankfully I did have some leftovers.
So today it was quite woeful but I still managed to make the family breakfast and pack the man a lunch in 10 minutes.

Today's Lunch was Dino Pasta Salad completely free hand. Although I did hear from day care mum that the children didn't eat it. Strange considering they eat it at home?
Anyway, here's the 5 lunches I made. My little sister is still visiting so I wanted her to not be left out. It worked out really well as she came to work with me and we had lunch in the food court.

Last night we had another HUGE success with my newfound meatball/meat patty recipe. You can find the original recipe here, a beautiful and very simple recipe. Here is my 'version' but it is pretty close to the original!

Hi Again,
Well as I was trying to avoid this post, at least it isn't in the FIRST post right? =(^.^)=
Why am I blogging? Well, I had this wonderful idea to start up Neko Mama when I just simply couldn't get a little tune out of my head. I'm also very aware of several other blogs which made me think, "I should do that!" I think I have something to share with the world, and if this is where I start, than so be it!
I love to cook, so I want to share recipes, creations, Bento, Charaben (kyaraben) and anything else food related.
I love Lolita fashion, so I wanted to share (more specifically for Australians) my 'off-brand' loli finds and hopefully in the not-too-far-off future, maybe even tutorials and patterns to make your own things!
I love my children, so I wanted to share activities, crafts, nifty hints and tips to make being a mother more fun! Because lets face it, being a mother is very hard work!
I love my husband! But I don't know how I can translate that to helping you all out. Maybe I could share some bedroom techniques? (Oooooooops.... maybe too naughty for here!) Maybe I can share my housework and organisational techniques?
I love Japan, so lets share our learning Japanese experience. I have a few tools to help me learn the language I want to share and give a review about.
I love Technology, Games and Anime! I can share my recent anime series, what i'm playing, what we're playing (my husband and I love to game together!). You know, fun things like that.

So, I feel I have just cause to open a successful blog. Hopefully my ramblings amuse somebody, as I enjoy reading other peoples point of view and unique aspect on the world.

Again, let me know if your out there!

Nya! =(^_^)=   いってらしゃい！