Funnily enough, I have just been thinking much the same thing myself the last couple of days.  My husband has slightly elevated cholesterol levels and we are both overweight.  All those lovely sweet things on this forum have been fabulous, and I've loved experimenting with them, but not so good for us and I love my husband more than sweet things, so I've got to reform.

I'm a vegetarian and my husband calls himself a "vegetarian by marriage" so I would really love to see some great, healthy heart type vegetarian recipes or suggestions.

Thanks for all your suggestions everyone, and for following up with a PM Kim, I'll have a go with puff pastry when I get a break next week on Australia Day.  I hadn't realised there was a puff pastry recipe in the EDC, but as I am a vegetarian the lard would have made it a bgt "NO NO" for me.  Would butter be a suitable substitute for the lard?

Many recipes on the forum call for the use of puff pastry – my impression is that most, or maybe all, commercially produced pastry contains dangerous trans fats (I think with the exception of filo pastry).  I am very leery of purchasing pastry because of this and thank goodness that there are so many great pastry recipes on this forum to make instead of having to rely on the supermarket varieties.

Does anyone have a recipe for puff pastry made on the TMX – or is it just a short pastry rolled and re-rolled lots of times with knobs of butter in between?  I’ve never made puff pastry, and only started making TMX pastry a couple of weeks ago, so I’m a complete novice at this.

Also, the recipes that have puff pastry in them ask for “1 sheet”.  If I feel brave enough to make my own puff pastry, can you give me an idea of just how big one sheet is?

Thanks.

You're right, Cookie1 - especially when they ask such inane questions as ".. and how do you feel about what has happened to you / your house?" etc. etc.  It is so facile!!

I got an email this morning from my sister who lives in Queensland and she wrote this:

" .... there was some panic buying with bread, milk and petrol, but the roads are open now. 1 lady went to buy 6 loaves of bread when there was a limit of 3, when they stopped her at the checkout she tore open 3 of them, threw on the floor and stamped on them so no-one else could have them."

What a %&^*#@! person - I hope they made her pay for those three loaves and confiscated the other three.  Like the looters, there are very few like her, but they somehow seem to overshadow all the good folks.  I heard on the news that there were 12,000 volunteer helpers in Brisbane on Saturday and they were expecting the same on Sunday. 

We had some minor flooding in my husband's workshop (in Central Victoria) and we were so lucky to have wonderful neighbours who turned out to help us as well.  We were very lucky compared to so many others.  I suspect the really hard part for them will start now, once they can actually get back to their homes and come to terms with their own personal situation.

That's an amazing list, Sue, your children are very lucky to have a mum like you.

I'm afraid I can only just manage my good old favourite, porridge, of a morning.  When we lived in Asia I used to love a mixture of fresh fruit for breakfast, but I had more time then to prepare this each morning.  These days, eggs florentine is my favourite treat.

I Just got my kindle this week as well - an Xmas present from my wonderful husband - but had to wait until now for it as it wasn't ordered until late November and there was obviously a backlog of orders to fill at that time of year.  I also got the cover with the in-built light, which I think is a great idea.

I hadn't heard of a kindle until I first read this thread last year but it just seemed like a wonderful and very sensible idea to me.  I love reading - sci fi / fantasy mainly, but I have to admit my secret - I am also a romance fan - they are very formulaic but I am a sucker for a happy ending and they are such light reading and I don't really have to concentrate too hard on them so I find they are a great escape at the end of a busy day but have made a list of books recommended on this thread so am looking forward to checking them out.  I spend so many hours going to a fro between home and the library and often find it very difficult to get back by return dates (even when I renew) that I was becoming very annoyed with myself and was looking for a solution.

I'll be doing a lot of travelling this year and that was the clincher to make the decision to get the kindle - I am assuming that they are OK to read on planes - I hope so otherwise I am going to be so lost - travelling from Australia to Scotland to Czech Republic to Romania and back to Australia - the thought of so many hours on a plane without a book is overwhelming - I am sure the kindle will keep me occupied during all my flights.