awol and far too busy

I'm not quite sure what I've been doing with myself over the last couple of weeks, it seems to have gotten away from me rather rapidly....that and I decided not to turn my computer on for a week....


Lets see .....  


DS16 is home from Germany, now its feels like he never left, 

DS4 and I made special cookies that he got for Christmas,

They never turn out quite like the picture do they .... we had fun though!

We found some fig trees on the side of the road, had a 'picking session' and made jam,

Do you see that red splash right in the middle of the photo .... that's DH climbing the tree!

Went crabbing in the Swan River in Perth,

DD19 had her last procedure (hopefully) and has been pain free - the first time in months,

Did some more fishing and camping on the beach,

This time with good friends,

Hubby quit his job, took a pay cut and went back to his old company .... in his words ' family comes first and working 60 - 70 hours a week is detrimental to our family life', 

At last I got some tomatoes,

Today we finally get a break in the heatwave, 

Why does it take nothing to feel exhausted these days??

zucchini invasion .... help!!

I've been invaded by zucchini ....  big ones, little ones, skinny ones, fat ones,they're everywhere!

I've been searching for different zucchini recipes, you can only eat so much zucchini slice, right?


There are several that I've found, here's one that I did today.

Zucchini Pie (Kolokithopita)

1kg zucchini, grated
250g rice
500mls water
4 potatoes, grated
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tin condensed milk
100ml olive oil

300g flour
1tbs salt
4tbs olive oil
water

Method

1. Mix the 300g flour, salt and olive oil together. Add enough lukewarm water to make a dough. Set aside.

2. Grate the zucchini and potato and place in a strainer with a teaspoon of salt. Mix until coated.
3. Cook the rice with the 500mls water and cook until tender. Pour out any excess water.
4. Press out the zucchini and potato out and drain out as much liquid as possible. Mix the rest of the ingredients together. (Onion, parsley, s&p, garlic, condensed milk and oil.)

5. Flour the bench and roll out your pastry. Roll out larger than your pie shell.
6. Brush your oven dish with oil and place the dough into the dish. Do not cut off the overhang pastry. Make sure you get out all the air pockets between the dish and the pastry.
7. Place the mixture into the middle of the dish and wrap the over hanging pastry into the middle until covered. Brush with oil.

8. Cook in the oven on 160 degrees Celsius for approximately 1 hour or until golden pastry.

Either eat warm or cold with a salad!

Friday night is 'pizza night' so I'm not sure if we'll get to it tonight, DS4 would never let pizza night slide by!

As we'll probably be working on the stairs tomorrow I might save it anyway.  The last thing I'll feel like doing after working in the shed all day is whipping up a gourmet meal.  I also baked enough bread and rolls for the weekend to make it easier!

What zucchini recipes do you love?

Have a fantastic weekend :)

christmas pudding

Usually I have my Christmas Pudding up and hanging in the first week of October.  With the hectic time we've been having lately, I just got it done in the last couple of weeks.

This recipe is from a very good friend of mine, Leanne.  It's her mums recipe and I guess someones before that.  I really like recipes that are handed down or 'come from somewhere'.  I love knowing the history of them.

It goes like this.

MRS MACS FAMILY CHRISTMAS PUDDING

250g butter (not margarine)

250g brown sugar

250g sultanas

250g dates

250g currants

250g raisins

375g mixed fruit

2 packets cherries

2 small packets walnuts, chopped

375g plain flour

1/2 cup milk

5 eggs

2 tbsp brandy

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp lemon essence

1 tsp almond essence

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp extra brandy

You will also need a piece of calico, 1m x 1m.  Wash well in cold water (no detergent) leave to dry.  Some strong string.

THE NIGHT BEFORE:  In a large bowl place all fruit, nuts, cherries, sugar, spices, bicarb soda and mix well.  Pour over brandy.  cover with alfoil and leave overnight.

NEXT DAY:  Place butter and milk in a pan.  Heat till butter is melted.  Pour over fruit mixture and mix well.  Add flour and well beaten eggs and essences.  Have everyone in the family take a turn to stir the mix with a wooden spoon and make a wish.

Matthew was having a sad because it was so hard to stir!!

Wet cloth and lightly flour.  Pour mixture into the middle of the cloth.  Pour over extra brandy, bring corners of cloth together and gather up the rest of the cloth.  Tie tightly with the string leaving a little room between mixture and string.  You will need help to do this so make sure all your 'stirrers' are still around!

Place in a large pot, cover with water and bring to the boil.  Boil for approximately 3 1/2 hours.  Keep an eye on the water level.  You need to keep the kettle on the boil so you can refill the pot as necessary.  Always make sure it is at least three quarters full and the water should never go off the boil.

Take out and drain.  Make sure you squeeze as much water out of the calico corners as possible.  Before hanging it, I  always tie these bits up together out of the way so they don't touch the pudding.  Hang in a cool place with nothing touching it.  Enjoy on Christmas Day with either brandy custard, cream or ice-cream.

I hung it on the clothes rack until DH got home because it was too heavy for me to lift to the hook in the pantry ceiling.

*Before filling your pot with water, place an upturned saucer on the bottom of the pot so the pudding doesn't come in contact with the bottom of the pot - this may cause it to burn.

*For best results make in early October and allow to hang till Christmas.  On Christmas day, put into large pot of water and boil till heated through.

*Although it doesn't say so, I always have my water on the boil before I put the pudding in!

 According to very old tradition, everyone in the family has to stir the Christmas pudding mixture.  This brings good health and luck to each member of the family in the coming year.  The day reserved for the stirring was "Stir-Up Sunday".

A Christmas pudding is traditionally made with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and His Disciples.

A proper Christmas pudding is always stirred from East to West in honour of the three Wise Men who visited baby Jesus.

One more thing ticked off!  As I'm slowly getting through everything that's on 'the list' I'm feeling better.  I was starting to feel like I wouldn't get it all done.  

I wouldn't ever hear the end of it if they had to have a shop bought pudding, I think its happened just once.

Hope you're all having a great week :)

pickled onions and beets

Every year a few months before Christmas, I pickle and pickle many jars of onions.  Everyone loves them but this year DH gave strict instructions that I was to give away NONE.  We seem to run out earlier and earlier and I know that if I didn't give them away, this would not be the case.  I can't help myself!  

I always soak them in salted water overnight, its supposed to keep them crunchy.  Does anyone know why the middle pops out??  It drives me nuts.

About six weeks should do it!

PICKLED ONIONS

1 kg pickling onions

750ml vinegar

240gm sugar

30gm peppercorns

12 cloves

1 dessertspoon salt

30gm whole spice

1 level teaspoon ground ginger

Peel onions, wash and dry well.  Pack tightly in jars.  Boil vinegar, spices, salt and sugar gently for 10 minutes, allow to cool.  Pour vinegar etc, over onions, covering well.  Cover jars.  Keep for 4 - 6 weeks before using.

Next on the agenda was the beetroot.  I'd been looking at it for a while thinking 'I must pull and pickle that'.  It was so nice to be out in the garden again.  I'd really missed doing the things that make me ME.

 

I always leave a few centimetres of the stalk and also the roots of the beetroot to stop the colour from bleeding.

 I didn't get as much up as I thought I would so planted a heap more seeds and have just transplanted them all out.  Beetroot is one of Matthews favourite!

BEETROOT (PICKLED)

Beetroot

1 dessertspoon salt

30gm whole pepper

1 dozen cloves

1/2 cup sugar

1 litre of vinegar

Cook the beetroot.  When cool enough to handle, rub off the skin, chop or slice, and fill sterilised jars.  Prepare sufficient vinegar to cover, by boiling with spices and sugar.  Boil 10 minutes slowly, strain, and pour while hot over the beetroot.  When cold, seal.  Wait 4 - 6 weeks before eating. 

Its good being back into the swing of things.

While I'm sharing recipes, I'll sneak in what we had for lunch.  Its a Mushroom Nut Loaf.  It came from a lovely young couple who used to live next door in their shed.   Absolutely scrumptious.  I like it just warmed on a nice stack of lettuce. 

 MUSHROOM NUT LOAF

 2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

300gm mushrooms, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups brazil nuts

1 1/3 cups cashews 

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp chopped chives

1 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 180C.  Grease loaf tin (I line with baking paper for easy lifting out).  Fry onion, garlic and mushrooms, place in bowl and cool.  Bake brazil and cashew nuts.  Cool, then process.  Combine nuts, mushroom mixture, cheeses, eggs, chives and breadcrumbs.  Mix well and press firmly into tin.  Bake for 45 minutes or until firm.  Leave to cool.  Lift out (or upend onto tray if you didn't line the tin).  Cut into slices.

It's one of our favourites, although the kids aren't that keen on it.

Well, its taken me several days to get the time to finish this post.  Life is crazy at the moment, but I've got so much to tell I just might do another one later!

Have a fantastic day :)

sunday happenings

Started the day with pancakes ... mmmm.  In the summer months we cook these out on the barbie, its so much easier and QUICKER!

1 1/4 cups self raising flour

1 1/4 cups milk

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda

4 drops vanilla essence

The batch here was double the above.

Too easy!!

DD1 arrived for her Sunday visit armed with needles and wool - "Mum, can you teach me to knit again", I think she'd been inspired by the hat!  We sat, I knitted, she watched most of the time with mobile phone in hand, grrrrr, teenagers and phones, hang on, she's not a teenager anymore, she should be over it, grrrrr.

In between watching the football match that 'stopped the state', well almost, I managed to transplant some garlic and also some carrot seedlings.  The carrot seedlings have more to the point been rescued from the chook children!  They got into the vege patch and scratched up the seedling trays.  Will have to wait and see if they survive.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend :)

the fruits of labour

After a good day weeding and tending the vege patch yesterday, we harvested some fresh spinach, collected the eggs and made this yummy dinner -

CHEESY SPINACH QUICHE

2 cups plain flour

175gm soft butter

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tblspn cold water

extra 20gm butter

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 bunch English spinach, trimmed, chopped

Filling:

1 1/4 cups grated cheese

5 eggs, lightly beaten

300ml thickened cream

1/2 cup milk

Grease a deep, 25cm flan tin.

Process flour and butter until combined.  Add egg and enough water to make ingredients cling together.  Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.  cover; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll pastry out between two sheets of baking paper until large enough to line prepared tin; trim edge.  Prick lightly with a fork.  Cover with paper, fill with dried beans or rice; place on an oven tray.

Cook in a moderately hot oven, 190C, for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned; cool.

FILLING:  Combine all ingredients in a large jug; mix well.

Heat extra butter in a large pan.  Add garlic and spinach; cook, covered, until spinach is wilted.  Drain well.  Arrange spinach mixture over pastry base; pour over Filling.

Cook in a moderate oven, 180C, for about 1 hour, or until cooked, when tested.

Its certainly one of our favourites.  I love the feeling of eating what we've grown and produced!!

Its not often these days that we have dessert.  Growing up we had it every night, now its a bit of a treat, mainly because I don't think we really need it.  On the spur of the moment I decided to treat everyone to Golden Syrup Dumplings!

GOLDEN SYRUP DUMPLINGS

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 tspn baking powder

30g butter, chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup milk

Syrup:

50g butter 

1/3 cup golden syrup

1 1/2 cups boiling water

Sift flour and baking powder into medium mixing bowl; add butter.

Using fingertips, rub butter into flour until mixture is fine and crumbly.  Add combined egg and milk, mix to a soft dough using a flatbladed knife.  Press together lightly into a ball.  Divide into 12 equal portions and form into ball shapes.

Melt butter in a large pan, add golden syrup; stir over medium heat until butter melts and ingredients are combined.  Pour in water, stir to combine.

Place dumplings gently into boiling syrup, cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for 10 minutes, until a knife comes out clean when inserted into centre of one of the dumplings.  Lift dumplings onto serving plated and drizzle with remaining syrup.  Serve with cream or ice-cream.  

Best made just before serving. 

NOTE:  Thats the traditional method (usually I make like that), last night I decided to put the balls in a greased pie dish, pour over the syrup and put in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes.

 

Mister four said "you're the best cooker ever Mum"!!  Special words like that make everything so worth it!

Photo's bit dodgy today, camera batteries died so had to resort to phone!

Hope you all have a wonderful day :)