Juicing

A New Year...a New You.  Isn't that what they say?

Time to get healthy.  Time to get JUICING!

Wow!  Five kilos of carrots for only FIVE BUCKS!  What a bargain.

Apples...good for the digestive system.

All that Vitamin C and Potassium.  Soooo good for the body.

Now just add in a bit of kale and spinach for those 'healthy leafy greens'.

Eewwww!

What was I thinking?

OMG.

Major Vegie Patch Haul.

I went out into the garden this morning with my little red riding hood basket to forage through our half acre garden for morsels of nourishing yumminess.  

Sing, sing, skip, skip, skipitty-doo-da.  (You can imagine can't you!)  

  

Three tomatoes from a tomato bush we didn't even plant....it just grew out of the side of the compost bin all by it's own little self.

A Glut of oranges.

We have such a glut of oranges at the moment. Despite arguing with the pesky fruit fly all season, we have still managed to get a huge amount of healthy fruit.

So I had a big 'orange weekend' this weekend.

I peeled the rind off all the fruit fly affected oranges to make a citrus cleaner.  It's easy to make.  Just fill a jar with orange peel (the thinner the better as the essential oils are in the orange part of the peel, not the white part), and top up the jar with white vinegar.  The peel needs to steep in white vinegar for a couple of weeks before it's ready. When the vinegar has taken on some of the orange colour, strain off the peel and put the vinegar solution into a spray bottle.  It can be diluted 50/50 with water and used to clean as you would use a shop bought bathroom or kitchen spray cleaner.  I don't use this on wooden furniture though.  I think it could be a bit too strong for good quality wood (not that ours is!)

I also made some orange chutney with the good oranges.  I can't wait to try this.....I just love anything orange flavoured.  Especially Cointreau on the rocks!

The following recipe made these five jars above plus one more medium sized jar which is already in the fridge waiting to be sampled.

FRAN'S GENERIC CHUTNEY RECIPE

1 kilo fruit (see note)

1 onion

1 cup sugar

2 cups vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt
A handful of sultanas
Spices to suit fruit (see note)

Method:  Chop fruit and onions.  Simmer all the ingredients together until nicely thickened to a good consistency. Depending on how much liquid is in the fruit, this usually takes about an hour.  Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.  

Note :  Any type of fruit can be used.  For this orange chutney the 1 kilo of fruit consisted of four large oranges (with peel) and one pear. The spices I used were 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, 2 teaspoons minced chilli and 2 teaspoons minced garlic.

Of course larger batches can be made, but I prefer to make smaller frequent batches as the extra fruit becomes available.  Then I don't end up with a great big all day episode in the kitchen.  Plus it gives me a chance to experiment with the spices and flavours.

And there's still more beautifully home grown oranges in the fruit bowl.  Checked, double checked and just perfectly ready to eat!

Making things from scratch.

I've been making lots of things from scratch lately.  You know, home cooked meals, cakes, bread, chutney & jam, along with my new adventure into soap making.  I'm really enjoying it all too.  Our meals are a lot tastier, more nutritious and I'm saving heaps of money.

I am however, about to take this theory to a whole new level.

Just feast your eyes on this little number............

.........and my interesting collection of glassware.

Distil my own alcohol?  Who me?

Fast Moving Silverside.

I finished working a year ago and although I'm just loving being at home, I have been suffering 'the guilts' for most of that time because I'm not bringing in an income.  So I've thrown myself into studying, de-cluttering, growing a vegie patch, cooking wholesome meals, and anything else I can think of to prove my usefulness.  But since reading 'Down to Earth' by Rhonda Hetzel and discovering her blog at Down to Earth a few weeks back, I'm slowly realising that it's actually okay to not be working for an income.  To work in the home is healing, calming, nurturing to the family and very productive. 

I'm actually really enjoying finding my groove in the home.  My appliances however have never seen so much activity.....almost a frenzy in fact.  In the past week my u-beaut Dyson vacuum cleaner has conked out necessitating three trips to Bunnings to find a suitable box to send it away for repairs.  I've also managed to snap the head off my mop with my vigour and enthusiasm (no, I didn't hit an air pocket while riding it thank you very much).

I've once again started cooking from scratch, mostly because it's economical but also because I enjoy it.  I'd forgotten how much pleasure I get from cooking when I've actually got the time (and the energy to stay awake!)

This shot of my beautifully cooked silverside and salad  is certainly not how things started out today though.
I decided to take my time and cook the silverside properly.  You know, use a good old fashioned recipe, let it cool in it's own liquid and then take my time slicing and vacuum packing it so we'd have beautiful moist home cooked cold meat for lunches.......not to mention the dollars saved.  I was certainly a woman with a mission this morning. Everything was going along very nicely until the slippery thing shot off the chopping board at breakneck speed and skidded across the kitchen floor picking up dog hairs and bits of fluff on it's journey (thank you broken Dyson).  The poor old kitchen lino is so shiny, thanks to my new-found enthusiasm for cleaning which knows no boundaries let me tell you.  What started as an almost ethereal, meditative, feel-good cooking session suddenly became a frantic squealing race between me and the dog, which I only won because she did so many wheelies on my shiny lino she became quite disoriented. 

World's best carrot cake.

Carribean Carrot Cake........................

I've died and gone to heaven.

I'm just going to put a photo up here, no explanation or description is needed.

Except.....maybe I need to explain why I still can't focus the camera.  Why is that?  I should know what I'm doing by now.

I'm the world's best cook and the world's worst photographer!

Fig Jam

From tree to table.....................

Yum.....

Here's the Recipe.

1 Kilo figs washed and quartered.

500 grams raw sugar.

1 tablespoon lemon juice.

Simmer gently together until jam gels when tested.  Mine took not quite an hour.  Blend out larger lumps with a stick blender if desired and bottle into hot sterilised jars.

I sterilise my jars by washing in hot soapy water, rinsing in really hot water, and then placing upright onto a tea towell placed into the baking dish in the oven.  Heat for approx 20 mins at 100c.  The jars are then hot, upright and ready to fill (like me!)

Mending Party

Yesterday we had a 'mending party' at our house.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  Me either.

I always thought mending was a chore, which is why it seems to keep building up untill I get a pile of it somewhat similar to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Yesterday my two beautiful daughters came over, armed with smoothies from Macca's, (and their mending) and we proceeded to chat, mend, sew, measure, decide on shapes, draft patterns, remodel an apron, drink smoothies, design pyjamas, spray spiders *squeal!* alter bathers, match colours, try on clothes, make coffee, photograph roses........and it was just the best afternoon.

Who would have thought that a pile of mending could provide company, laughter, nourishment and fun?  Me either.

Sunday Lunch

My beautiful family got together for lunch at our house on Sunday.  It was so lovely to just 'hang out' with them and enjoy a leisurely and amazing lunch...all prepared by the expert culinary officianado Megan - luncheon provider extraordinaire.  (I may or may not have made some of those words up).

Thank you family....I'm so glad you're mine!

Green Smoothie in the Thermomix

Sunday morning.  Time to get healthy.  

My super healthy green smoothie had a few 'crunchy bits' in it this morning.   Honestly, it was just dreadful, completely undrinkable.  I couldn't figure it out.  Finally I decided that the new container of Super Greens I bought from the health food shop was to blame.  Brand new container this morning too....."Hmmph....that's what you get for supporting a local business" I thought to myself.  Well I'm going to sort this out.  I'll take it back first thing Monday. Off I went to the wheelie bin to find my receipt, which took quite a bit of doing (I also salvaged a cool pair of shoes I was going to throw out).  While I was packing up the smoothie with it's crumpled receipt, it occurred to me that maybe I had inadvertently 'thermomixed' the little white plastic thingy that keeps the powder fresh, and that's what all the crunchy bits were?  Oh how embarrassing.  But on further investigation, the little white thingy was still in the container.  Oh well....just a thought.

Before I take the powder back, might as well make one more smoothie out of it.  After all, the rest of the powder looked quite alright.  Go figure.  Besides I decided I needed the super greens since I had worked myself into such a frenzy looking for that one little receipt.  So into the Thermomix went a banana, a peeled mandarin, handful of strawberries, (oh yummy) green powder, egg.....then I realised.......OMG......where is the plastic tablespoon I measured the honey with???????  

The last time I saw it, it was resting on the blade of the thermo to drain off the honey.......  

What an amazing machine, it can make a smoothie out of ANYTHING.  

What fabulous colour!

What is the most sensible thing to do when you are just embarking on a new budgeting adventure?

Spend what's left of the 'housekeeping' on a tray of mangoes of course.

(How could I help it?....look at that colour).