the weekend {& cake}

Oh the weekend is here...Hooray!  I love the approach of Friday afternoon, the cheerfulness that only Friday afternoon school pick up in imminent rain cannot diminish because it's that time that the weekend truely begins.  Two little days that bring so much joy, and the night before that is even considered part of the weekend for the hair gets let down, the kids are allowed to stay up a little later having learnt the term "not a school night"....

...Not much is planned for the weekend, we'll do a lazy Saturday breakfast, head out and about! Oh we have tickets for Jesus Christ Superstar Spectacular and I'm kinda excited about a night out sans kids with my man.  Sunday is free as a bird and that's how I like it.

What are you up to this weekend?

Oh here's a fabulous cake recipe...I never thought of mixing carrots with lime.  Turns out to be quite the surprise combination!  It's a winner in my book.

What you need....


200 g butter, softened
240 g caster sugar
4 eggs
180 g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
200 g carrot, grated (that’s 2 medium carrots)
60 g coconut, shredded
60 g walnuts, crushed
zest and juice of one orange (or lemon)

Icing:
200g cream cheese
100g icing sugar
juice one lime (more if your icing needs more liquid)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Sift in flour and baking powder then mix to combine. Add carrots, coconut, zest, walnuts and orange juice. Mix to combine and pour into cake pan. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes then move to a rack. Let the cake cool completely

To make the icing combine the softened cream cheese, icing sugar and lime juice and spread over cake.

Enjoy
xx

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simplicity {potatoes}

A lazy afternoon soaking up some glorious Autumn sun, the kids giggling and running around in the backyard.  The cool chill making us all peckish for the perfect snack.

I conjured up a plan to turn a humble household vegetable into something to be enjoyed by all.  In four easy steps you can make your own crunchy crispy chips. Here's how....

1. Wash a couple of potatoes, how many is up to you.  Leave the skin on.
2. Using a madolin or slice attachment on your food processor slice them up nice and fine.
3. Put in a bowl and add a small amount of good quality olive oil.  You just want to coat them, not have them swimming in oil..so add a little bit at a time.
4. Place the potatoes on a lined tray and place in a hot oven for about 20 minutes, but it's a good idea to check them every ten minutes.  Taken them out when they are nice and golden and curling up at the sides.   If you like, you can season them now, when they are still hot and you can season them with anything you like.  I did a simple rosemary salt, but you could do lime & pepper, salt & vinegar or chilli & lemon.  the choices are endless.

Then sit back and watch your loved ones devour them up. Yes, it's easy to purchase a packet of chips at the supermarket, but these are so easy to make and taste delicious!

Oh and I'm over at Rohans talking more veg if you want to check it out.

Do you like to make a classic loved snack yourself? 

xx

fig frangipane

With all the delicous fresh figs I'm picking off our tree on a daily basis, I knew it was only a matter of time before I whipped up a fig inspired dessert.  With a little nudging from my pal down the road, I set about making a fig frangipane...which in essence is like an almond tart, with figs.  This pastry...is just the bees knees...so buttery and tasty and although it takes a bit of time is well worth the effort.  Do refrigerate for the recommended times or it won't bake well.  Oh and if figs are readily available to you..you could easily substitute this with pears, apricots, plums or peaches! 

Here is what you need. 

For the pastry;
150g cold butter
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
For the frangipane filling;
100g butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar (although caster sugar will work too)
1 cup almond meal
1 egg 
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
5-6 fresh figs 

Place the flour and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and blitz for a moment. Add the butter and blitz until you have a coarse sand-like texture. Tip this out onto a work surface and bring together with the palm of your hand and work until you have a lovely, smooth disc of dough. Wrap this in plastic and pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Roll out between two sheets of baking paper until about 5mm thick and drape into a loose-bottomed tart tin. Return to the fridge for another half an hour.  When your ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180 degrees and then blind bake the pastry for about 15 minutes. 

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy and add the almond meal, flour, vanilla and egg. Mix until smooth. Spoon in the frangipane mix and smooth out. Half the figs and place skin side down into the mixture and bake for 25 minutes or until the frangipane is golden brown and cooked through.

Serve with ice-cream or cream 

xx

homegrown

It's not "our" homegrown, but it is homegrown - by a farmer not far from here, packaged just hours before we receive it - the dirt still evident and the imperfections signally what I often cringed about when I bought perfectly modified veg from the major conglomerates...

Seasonal vegetables and a quick chat with the man behind the idea and delivery of this organic produce saw me putting out some lovely veg dishes for our guests over the weekend.

What seasonal dishes are you making at your house?

Beetroot & Fetta salad - poach beetroot for about 30 minutes or until you can insert a knife...allow to cool.  Peel skin and cut into small cubes.  Add some finely sliced red onion and mix together some good quality olive oil, balsamic vinegar, s + p to your taste and drizzle over the beets.  Add some chopped spring onions and then crumble some feta on top. 

Broccoli with anchovies and parmesan - slice up your broccoli heads and a few cloves of garlic.  With a pan on high heat and a dash of oil, start frying them up.  Add a few chopped up anchovies and then about half a cup of water.  Pop the lid on and let the broccoli cook to your liking.  transfer to a serving dish and drizzle some oil (I used a lovely white truffle oil I splurged on a while back that I use very sparingly) and a shaving of parmesan or pana gradano cheese.  

linking up with Lou 

preserving {tomatoes}

  

A new book was all it took
I high tailed down to the local market in search of inspiration.
With our nana trolley wheeled behind us and eager eyes on the lookout
It didn't take long to make a selection
Beautiful sweet smelling roma tomatos
And at a price that meant some loose change was handed over
Humble time spent washing, slicing and measuring
Before hours and hours, and then some more of slow roasting

          1.8kg of roma tomatoes, washed and halved or quartered if they are large || add 2 tablespoons of caster sugar,  salt and pepper and 2 teaspoons of oregano and get your hands in there and mix it all about  ||  On a large baking plate, set out the tomatoes so as they are spaced out, not touching ||   In a warm oven set at 50 degrees bake for 7 - 12 hours, yes you read that right....bake all day long  and then when you done, just turn off the oven and leave them in there...you can jimmy the oven door open if you like your tomatoes more semi dried...me I like still a little juicy || Once they're done, in a saucepan add 200ml olive oil with 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar and another teaspoon of oregano || you could also add a diced up small chilli too...you know...to add a little kick.  Bring to the boil - then allow to cool ||  Place your tomatoes in sterilised jars, squishing them in real good || Pour over your cooled oil mix, right to the top....top up with more oil if you require || seal the jars and your done || Oh and then open that night to devour with fresh crusty bread and good vino.

what preserves do like to make in the Summer time?

giveaway over here 

in the kitchen

This week it's no surprise my images reflect food, cooking and time spent in the Kitchen.  The kids and I really bunkered down this week and enjoyed preparing meals together, trying new foods and making loads of things from scratch...

::  Making bread rolls
::  Chopping up veggies for lunch
::  Fresh bread rolls straight from the oven
::  Wholemeal apple and sultana muffins
::  The fruit market - admiring all the colours, textures and having fun picking what we want
::  We came home with a great purchase of roma tomatoes for a spot of preserving*
::  Busy making our own laundry powder
::  A trip to Queen Vic Market
::  Pastry section always our first stop to fill empty tummies whilst we fill our trolley with fresh seafood.

what have you been up to this week?  And what's been cooking in your kitchen of late?

Joining in with Em at the Shack. 

xx

*which was a success so will no doubt require it's own blog post.

berries for jam..

Summer holidays have been spent in glorious sunshiney ways.  Berry picking was so much fun that we indulged in the delight on more than one occasion.  The first time the raspberries and blueberries were bursting off their vines and bushes.  The cherries were so plump, that we first filled our bellies and then our buckets.

We went again this week however, after the crowds had come and the warm weather Mother Nature had delivered the berries were not so easily harvested.  So we wandered down paths labelled with names not so familiar.  Waldo, Bramble and Boysenberries were discovered with eager delight.

Their deep intense colours of purple-y blues, and red and the sharp tangy sweetness were enjoyed by all.

We picked and tried, with only a little selection but still enough for some jam.  This recipe has become my favourite.  Use it for berries, it will not disappoint.  Of course you can use less or more lemon and you don't have to add the hull during cooking if you don't want to, but it does add a delightful acidic tang.  Cook in small batches to retain all that goodness, flavour and superior colour!

:: 1 kilo of mixed berries
:: 750gm of caster sugar
::  Juice of one lemon, keep the juiced hull

Over a medium heat with a heavy saucepan, place the cleaned berries and sugar and stir till dissolved.  Add the juice and the cut lemon pieces and bring to a rolling boil.  Remove any foam if you like and continue to simmer until it becomes sticky (about 15 minutes).  Test by dropping a tea spoon of jam on a plate that has been in the freezer.  If it sets, then your done...otherwise cook for another five minutes.  Remove the lemon pieces and pour hot jam into freshly sterilised jars.

Enjoy on toast, scones or dollop liberally on greek yoghurt and fresh apple!

xx

creative wonderland here 

this week

Well this week saw the end of November, the end of Spring and the start of Summer.  Hello countdown till Christmas!!

We also got up to some normal activities during the week, although that thunderstorm of Tuesday morning was a cracker!


:: Baked foccacia bread thanks to an easy recipe from Tania.  It's so simple.  I halved the recipe as it makes enough for four of us for a day (3.5 cups flour, 1.5 cups water, 2tsps yeast, pinch of salt and sugar, and 1/4 oil - mix wait till it doubles and bake for 30 mintues till golden).
:: Enjoying time in my daughters room.  Her room is the only room with a west window and on a glorious sunny day it just has the most amazing glow.
:: The children excited by the thunderstorm and rain we encountered on Tuesday morning before school.
:: Art work framed and adored by all

What did you get up to this week?  More goodness at Em's Shack! 
xx