What a magic way to begin the day. When he stood up he was taller than me. I backed off and he was happy to stay.
About an hour later he ambled off!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
Kangaroos in the garden
Went to put the rubbish out. Not sure who got the bigger surprise!
What a magic way to begin the day. When he stood up he was taller than me. I backed off and he was happy to stay.
About an hour later he ambled off!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
What a magic way to begin the day. When he stood up he was taller than me. I backed off and he was happy to stay.
About an hour later he ambled off!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, 17 December 2012
Healthy biscuits not for the faint hearted
My daughter wanted a biscuit to take the place of breakfast when she is racing out the door for uni. The criteria was reasonably healthy, very filling and easy to eat in the car and travels well, for example doesn't break up in a bag.
This is what I came up with, using organic where possible and trying to use some of the "ancient" grains. You can also use your favorite grains.
Put
100gm of kibbled rye
100gm of quinoa
50 grams of black or red chia seeds
In a bowl and cover with boiling water.
Give it a good stir and if still dry in parts add some
more boiling water. Wait until all the water is absorbed.(about 10 minutes)
In another bowl put 1/2 cup of olive oil and add 1 cup of sugar and a capful of vanilla essence. Beat well. Add the seed mixture and
1/2 cup of almond meal or ground hazelnuts
1/2 cup of LSA
1/2 cup of psyllium husks
1/2 cup of oat bran
1/2 cup of plain flour
Mix well. I find it is best to do this by hand, gradually adding 1/2 cup of milk. If it is too wet add some more flour. It should look like this...
Grease your trays well. Take a piece of mixture about the size of a walnut, roll it into a ball and then flatten between your hands and place on the tray.
Oven at 200 degrees Celsius. After 10 minutes take the biscuits out and with a fork press them all as flat as possible. Return them to the oven for a further 15 minutes then take them out again and turn all the biscuits over and return to the oven again. Leave for a further 20 minutes then take them out and place on a cake cooler. Place in an airtight jar once they are completely cold.
(Depending how hot your oven is the biscuits can start to crisp up. So keep an eye on them towards the end of the cooking time)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This is what I came up with, using organic where possible and trying to use some of the "ancient" grains. You can also use your favorite grains.
Put
100gm of kibbled rye
100gm of quinoa
50 grams of black or red chia seeds
In a bowl and cover with boiling water.
Give it a good stir and if still dry in parts add some
more boiling water. Wait until all the water is absorbed.(about 10 minutes)
In another bowl put 1/2 cup of olive oil and add 1 cup of sugar and a capful of vanilla essence. Beat well. Add the seed mixture and
1/2 cup of almond meal or ground hazelnuts
1/2 cup of LSA
1/2 cup of psyllium husks
1/2 cup of oat bran
1/2 cup of plain flour
Mix well. I find it is best to do this by hand, gradually adding 1/2 cup of milk. If it is too wet add some more flour. It should look like this...
Grease your trays well. Take a piece of mixture about the size of a walnut, roll it into a ball and then flatten between your hands and place on the tray.
Oven at 200 degrees Celsius. After 10 minutes take the biscuits out and with a fork press them all as flat as possible. Return them to the oven for a further 15 minutes then take them out again and turn all the biscuits over and return to the oven again. Leave for a further 20 minutes then take them out and place on a cake cooler. Place in an airtight jar once they are completely cold.
(Depending how hot your oven is the biscuits can start to crisp up. So keep an eye on them towards the end of the cooking time)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Moroccan beet root dip
I had never realized how easy beet root is to grow. It adds a lovely earthy taste grated into salads, but I love beet root dip.
Remove the tops and the roots but not the skin. Wash them thoroughly then cut up and place in baking tray.
Toss them in oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake in a slow oven till cooked. To save on electricity I usually bake something else at the same time.
When cool I put the beet root in a food processor, add about 100 gm of cream cheese, just a splash of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of runny honey, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin. Adjust the spices to your taste. Process till smooth.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Remove the tops and the roots but not the skin. Wash them thoroughly then cut up and place in baking tray.
Toss them in oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake in a slow oven till cooked. To save on electricity I usually bake something else at the same time.
When cool I put the beet root in a food processor, add about 100 gm of cream cheese, just a splash of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of runny honey, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin. Adjust the spices to your taste. Process till smooth.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Zucchini Madness
Freezing raw, grated zucchini. Is this something else that everyone knew except me?
When I am overwhelmed with zucchinis I freeze them. It's so easy.
Just grate them and pack them into freezer bags in the amounts to suit recipes for zucchini slices and cakes. Great in winter, handy for soups too!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
When I am overwhelmed with zucchinis I freeze them. It's so easy.
Just grate them and pack them into freezer bags in the amounts to suit recipes for zucchini slices and cakes. Great in winter, handy for soups too!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, 10 December 2012
Cream cheese stuffed apricots
I was just given some apricots and couldn't wait to make my favorite fresh apricot recipe!
It is so easy and if you take a plate of these to a party or barbecue then stand back to avoid being trampled.
Wash the apricots then cut them in half and remove the stone.
Because I keep my honey in the fridge to beat the ants I have to soften it in the microwave. To 80gm of cream cheese( I use the light one pretending to be virtuous) I add 1 tablespoon of runny honey, a capful of natural vanilla essence and a handful of slivered almonds. You can adjust this to suit your own taste preferences.
Mix it up then spoon it onto the apricots.
It is the sort of thing you can pretend is healthy, well the fruit is!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
It is so easy and if you take a plate of these to a party or barbecue then stand back to avoid being trampled.
Wash the apricots then cut them in half and remove the stone.
Because I keep my honey in the fridge to beat the ants I have to soften it in the microwave. To 80gm of cream cheese( I use the light one pretending to be virtuous) I add 1 tablespoon of runny honey, a capful of natural vanilla essence and a handful of slivered almonds. You can adjust this to suit your own taste preferences.
Mix it up then spoon it onto the apricots.
It is the sort of thing you can pretend is healthy, well the fruit is!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, 9 December 2012
Spiced apple and zucchini cake with maple syrup icing
It's that time of year when the zucchini crop begins to overwhelm you. In the beginning you anxiously watch the tiny ones begin, then suddenly they reach a point where over night they appear to have been injected with steroids!
In order to use up zucchini I decided to use it for the birthday cake. So not wanting to make the same boring recipe that I feel like I have made forever, I decided to invent a new one!
This is so easy because it all goes in one bowl. Saves washing up time. Into a big bowl tip three cups of SR flour, two cups of sugar, 3 eggs, 400 gram of grated zucchini, 200 grams of grated apple, 1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder, 2 heaped teaspoons of ground ginger, 2 heaped teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 heaped teaspoons of mixed spice, 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda, pinch of salt, 1 cup of good quality light vegetable oil and approximately 1/4 cup of milk. Mix this all together very well. It is a quite heavy mixture to mix, so possibly a good arm exercise as well.
It makes a big cake, my tin was 26cm. I always take the time to grease and line the tin now because it's better than finishing up with half a cake on the cake cooler!
You could always make it in two smaller tins. Freeze one without icing and ice it when you need it.
The mixture is quite wet but if it looks too wet add a little more flour. Here it is in the tin. Bang the tin down on the countertop to get rid of any airspaces.
All ovens are different mine is fan forced electric and I put the cake in the middle shelf at 180 degrees Celsius. It took about 45 minutes. But just test it and as long as the cake is firm in the middle and is coming away from the sides of the tin and when tested with a skewer, the skewer is free of any sticky residue it is cooked. If in doubt leave it in longer. Better to make sure it is cooked and it won't hurt the cake.
Leave it to cool in the tin for bout 30 minutes then tip it out onto a cake cooler. Let it get completely cold before icing it. Icing was really simple. I melted 60 gms of butter and about 1/2 cup of maple syrup in a saucepan. You will really need to watch this as it will burn and you only want the butter to melt. I never measure icing mixture just go by consistency but put about 2 cups of the powdered icing mixture into a bowl and add the butter maple syrup liquid. Stir this, I find using a knife the easiest. Then add thickened cream till the icing is the correct consistency. Firm enough to spread but not runny enough that it finishes up on the serving plate and not the cake. The beauty of making icing is you can't go wrong. If it is too thick add more cream. Too runny add more icing mix. If you make too much there will always be a candidate to lick the bowl. At least there is at our place.
I served it with cream it was so good!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
In order to use up zucchini I decided to use it for the birthday cake. So not wanting to make the same boring recipe that I feel like I have made forever, I decided to invent a new one!
This is so easy because it all goes in one bowl. Saves washing up time. Into a big bowl tip three cups of SR flour, two cups of sugar, 3 eggs, 400 gram of grated zucchini, 200 grams of grated apple, 1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder, 2 heaped teaspoons of ground ginger, 2 heaped teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 heaped teaspoons of mixed spice, 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda, pinch of salt, 1 cup of good quality light vegetable oil and approximately 1/4 cup of milk. Mix this all together very well. It is a quite heavy mixture to mix, so possibly a good arm exercise as well.
It makes a big cake, my tin was 26cm. I always take the time to grease and line the tin now because it's better than finishing up with half a cake on the cake cooler!
You could always make it in two smaller tins. Freeze one without icing and ice it when you need it.
The mixture is quite wet but if it looks too wet add a little more flour. Here it is in the tin. Bang the tin down on the countertop to get rid of any airspaces.
All ovens are different mine is fan forced electric and I put the cake in the middle shelf at 180 degrees Celsius. It took about 45 minutes. But just test it and as long as the cake is firm in the middle and is coming away from the sides of the tin and when tested with a skewer, the skewer is free of any sticky residue it is cooked. If in doubt leave it in longer. Better to make sure it is cooked and it won't hurt the cake.
Leave it to cool in the tin for bout 30 minutes then tip it out onto a cake cooler. Let it get completely cold before icing it. Icing was really simple. I melted 60 gms of butter and about 1/2 cup of maple syrup in a saucepan. You will really need to watch this as it will burn and you only want the butter to melt. I never measure icing mixture just go by consistency but put about 2 cups of the powdered icing mixture into a bowl and add the butter maple syrup liquid. Stir this, I find using a knife the easiest. Then add thickened cream till the icing is the correct consistency. Firm enough to spread but not runny enough that it finishes up on the serving plate and not the cake. The beauty of making icing is you can't go wrong. If it is too thick add more cream. Too runny add more icing mix. If you make too much there will always be a candidate to lick the bowl. At least there is at our place.
I served it with cream it was so good!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Mexican nibbles
This was another invention to serve with drinks. So easy too!
I put a can of drained red kidney beans in the food processor and made it it into a mash. Heated some oil in a non stick pan and then fried the bean mash, added some more oil as needed. Then I just added a sachet of the Old Peso taco spice mix and continued to fry it to release all the flavours. Mix it all in well. I kept that mixture warm and made guacamole, just the usual sour cream garlic, lemon juice and avocado.
Take a bag of plain Doritos, now this was the challenging bit. if you are like me and always manage to buy the bag that someone appears to have stood on, then finding unbroken ones will be a time consuming exercise. Once I had done this, I spread the whole Doritos on a large plate, and put a small amount of the beans topped with guacamole on each one. They were delicious. The trick was to get them to the table before the person carrying them ate them. Enjoy, we did!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I put a can of drained red kidney beans in the food processor and made it it into a mash. Heated some oil in a non stick pan and then fried the bean mash, added some more oil as needed. Then I just added a sachet of the Old Peso taco spice mix and continued to fry it to release all the flavours. Mix it all in well. I kept that mixture warm and made guacamole, just the usual sour cream garlic, lemon juice and avocado.
Take a bag of plain Doritos, now this was the challenging bit. if you are like me and always manage to buy the bag that someone appears to have stood on, then finding unbroken ones will be a time consuming exercise. Once I had done this, I spread the whole Doritos on a large plate, and put a small amount of the beans topped with guacamole on each one. They were delicious. The trick was to get them to the table before the person carrying them ate them. Enjoy, we did!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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