I googled what I could make for them & found a chicken soup recipe. Then I added my own flare to create what Israel calls a Belinda Surprise meal. A bit of this & a bit of that thrown together with love. They all loved it (of course!) – hope you do too. And, as an added bonus, you can use the meat balls from this recipe for other meals!

Belinda Surprise Soup for uneasy tummies.

This recipe comes in 2 parts. The soup broth & the meatballs to give it a bit of a boost of something more substantial. I’ve also included at the end of the recipe some tips on how you can use the extra meatballs for other meals.

Ingredients:

Mini Chicken Meatballs

• 500g chicken mince
• 1 green apple
• 1 zucchini
• 1 carrot
• good pinch of vegeta stock
• half cup of bread crumbs
• olive oil spray

The soup broth

• 4 cups water
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• good splash of soy sauce

Directions:
Grate the apple, carrot, zucchini into a large bowl. Add the chicken mince, bread crumbs & stock. Use your hands to mix the ingredients. Take a good size teaspoon of the mixture & roll into small balls. When you have rolled all the mixture, spray a frying pan with olive oil spray & cook the meat balls.

In a separate pot, add the water, vegetables & garlic and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the meatballs (allow say 3 per person), the chicken stock & soy. Add salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Your are now ready to serve.

Other ways to use the left over meatballs:

- serve as finger food with sweet chilli sauce

- saute some mushrooms, then some baby spinach until wilted. Serve meatballs on top of the spinach & mushrooms. Drizzle with Kepap Manis.

- make a bolognese sauce & use the chicken meatballs instead of beef mince.

Jayne wrote, “I  thought you may be able to use my household tip, as all my pet loving friends have benefitted from it! As summer approaches our furry friends lose hair! I have found that a rubber kitchen glove far surpasses any vacuum or other method ever tried. I could almost build a new cat from the amount I get from Piper & Phoebe this time of year!”

Answer: He sees our kitchen bench overflowing with marshmallows, turkish delight, macadamias, rice bubbles and chocolate! It’s time for me to make my favourite treat recipe that I usually make at Christmas only.

So here my friends, I share with you the Best Ever Rocky Road recipe – it seriously rocks every house we visit.

You will need:

400g milk chocolate, chopped (I buy the 300g cadbury milk choc blocks)

300g pink & white marshmallows, chopped (I use my kitchen scissors & cut them into 3 or 4 pieces)

400g good quality turkish delight, chopped  (chop/cut as per marshmallows)

1 cup rice bubbles

1 cup natural macadamias chopped coarsley (chunky is good)

Method:

Line a lightly greased 20 x 30cm lamington tin with 2 strips of baking paper. Cross them over so they extend over the sides of tha pan (makes it easier to remove it from the pan to cut it)

Melt chocolate (seriously I do this in a saucepan over low heat. Have never had a problem doing this with cadbury milk choc). Cool slightly.

Meanwhile combine marshmallows, turkish delight, rice bubbles and macadamias in a big bowl

Work quickly, stir in the chocolate until all of above is moist & coated in chocolate

Spread into the prepared tin & refrigerate

Can be made up to 2 weeks ahead & stored in fridge.

Warning – this is so good, you’ll be expected to make it every year;-)

Easy Mushroom & Spinach Risotto
The easiest risotto ever no mixing just let the oven do the work.

1 brown onion
1 clove garlic
olive oil
2 cups arborio rice
5 cups boiling water
3 tbsp soft butter
20g chicken stock cube, diluted using 1 cup boiling water
3 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 cups baby spinach leaves
2 tbsp chopped chives
shaved parmesan for garnishing

Directions:
Saute brown onion and garlic, until brown

Combine into the large ovenproof dish, rice, sautéed brown onion and garlic and soft butter mix them all up and then add the mushrooms and mix again.

Add the 4 cups of boiled water and the 1 cup diluted chicken stock with the mixture. Cover the dish with the lid.

Bake in the hot oven, 200°C, for 30 – 40 minutes.

Check the dish and mix it if theres a lot of liquid put it back in the oven uncovered for 5 minutes.

Stir through baby spinach leaves, a bit of shaved parmesan and chives, then serve.

Variation:
Roast Pumpkin, Spinach & Goats Cheese
BBQ Chicken & Mushroom
Seafood Risotto
Roast Beetroot Risotto

We used this amazing but smelly remedy from my trusty natural remedy book – “Gentle Healing Hands for Baby & Child” when Rilien kept waking himself up with a blocked nose. It worked a treat, and we then got 6 hours straight sleep! Yeh!

So if you or your children are having trouble sleeping because of a blocked nose or a chesty cough, try this

1. Thinly slice a yellow or brown onion

2. Place the onion in the centre of a piece of cheesecloth (I used one of Israel’s hankechiefs) and then fold the sides over to make a self contained pack

3. Warm the onion in an oven for a few minutes (I heated it in the microwave for 20 seconds)

4. Place the warm onion pack on top of a singlet or t-shirt & secure it with surgical tap. Then put night clothes over the top.

In a nut shell, the medicinal properties of the onion are in the smell and inhaling them does the trick. I should warn you though, the room does not smell pretty the next morning, nor does the person who had the onion strapped to them.

After trying a few things, she had success with ordinary clothing pre-wash stain remover. Here is what she did:

1. Spray a liberal amount of clothing pre-wash stain remover all over the stain

2.  Allow spray to sit on stain for a few minutes

3.  Wipe of with a damp cloth

Please note, this worked on white laminate bench tops and make not work on other colours of laminate or other surfaces.

1. Peel half a cucumber
2. Cut it into big chunks
3. Rub 2 big chunks into salt
4. Eat the chunks of cucumber
5. Feel better!

I found this great remedy in my trusty natural remedy book – “Gentle Healing Hands for Baby & Child”.

Salty Lemon Gargle
1) Combine the juice of half a lemon with one tablespoon salt in 1/2 cup warm water
2) Gargle the mixture at least 4 times a day

If you want a faster working remedy, instead of mixing with water, you could mix it with 1/2 cup sage tea.

I hope it works for you!

1. Open windows & spray orange/citrus air freshner – aim: reduce the smell before anyone notices!
2. Use a scourer to quickly get rid of any food stuck to the bottom of the saucepan
3. Discard the burnt food – obvious I know
4. Grab some bicarb soda & coat the bottom of the saucepan so its covered in bicarb
5. Pour in a table spoon or so of white vinegar – this will cause the bicarb to bubble
6. Now use the scourer again & scrub to remove the black from the bottom – depending on how long the pan was left burning dry, you may need to do this a couple of times.

Alternatively, you could remove the handle, fill with soil, plant some seeds & voila, you have a new pot plant holder. You could even get creative and paint the outside of the pot if you wish. No-one will ever know!

Being she learnt the hard way, she thought she should share this tip with others – Don’t wear lace underwear in the bush.

To deal with the bull ant bites, she used cold compress packs.