The Weekend Kitchen

This weekend saw quite a bit of action in the kitchen with preserving, baking and meal planning in action.
Our little lemon tree was loaded with lemons this year and I have made some preserved lemons and used lots in baking but there were still heaps on the tree so I picked a bucket full to make some cordial which barely made a dent.

I also made a couple of date loaves one for this week and one for the freezer.  We are heading off to New Zealand for most of September, and October looks like being a very busy month for us, so I have also been stocking the freezer with meals and baking ready to just heat and eat.

Saturday night I made dahl and kashmiri chicken curry (recipe later this week) and I had 3 portions of each for the freezer after dinner.  I now have 2 weeks worth of meals ready to call on when we get back from New Zealand.

Even after making 3 x 750 ml lemon cordial concentrate (recipe below) I still have heaps of lemons left so now I have to come up with another plan.  I think I might just throw them in a bag and freeze them.  The juice will be fine once defrosted but I am not sure about the rind.

Lemon Cordial

This recipe is very tart which is how I like it but you might want to cut back on the acids

9 Large Lemons

3 Cups Sugar

9 Cups Boiling Water

6 Tsp Tartaric Acid

6 Tsp Citric Acid

6 Tsp Epsom Salt

Zest and then juice all off your lemons into a stock pot,  Add all of you other ingredients and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Bottle in sterilised bottles and store in a dark cupboard.

How was your weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen And Using Our Christmas Gift

Over the weekend there were a few things going on in the kitchen.

One of the longer jobs I tackled was making some Camembert Cheese.  It is not a recipe that I have tried before but so far things are looking really good and as you can see from the photo below the yield from 8 litres of milk is pretty good.  I currently have the cheeses set aside ripening and once they have had time to mature and I have taste tested them I will give you an update.

I have made 2 small and one large round so I can compare the flavour.
The big one has a flat side as it got got pressed up against the side of the
container.  I am sure the flavour will be fine.

I also baked a Madeira cake which brought back so many memories of my child hood.  Madeira cake was my Grandads favourite and my granny used to bake them on a regular basis for him.  When ever we visited it was a treat to have some of 'Grandads Cake'.  I did not realise it was so easy and there are no fancy ingredients so it was done in no time at all.  In case you have never tried Madeira I have posted the recipe below.

And on Sunday we finally got to use our Christmas gift to each other of tickets to the latest Cirque Du Soleil 'Totem'  It was as usual (we have been twice before) and amazing show.  The skill of the acrobats was amazing and had us hooked from the second the show started.  If you ever get to go to one of their shows it is so worth it.

Maderia Cake

175 g Butter, Softened
3/4 Cups of Sugar
1/4 Tsp Grated Lemon Rind
1/4 Cup Milk
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder

Line a 20cm square baking tin and heat your oven to 180 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then stir in the lemon rind.  Mix in the sifted flour and baking powder and the milk until combined.  In a separate bowl beat the eggs until thick.  Add to the creamed mixture in 4 equal amounts folding each portion in so that the cake mix becomes looser and wetter.
Spoon into your cake tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched lightly.  Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 mins before turning out on a wire rack.

What did you get up to  over the weekend?
Have you ever been to a Cirque Du Soleil show?

The Weekend Kitchen

This past week was quite busy for us hence my lack of posts.  We had people inspecting the house on Saturday morning so had to make ourselves scarce but we had the rest of the weekend to tackle other jobs.
For me I had a list of things I wanted to tackle in the kitchen.

I tried a new recipe and made a Beef and Lentil curry that was very tasty.

I made a batch of Halloumi.

And I made some Mango fruit leather in my dehydrator.  The dehydrator only came with one plastic sheet for making fruit leather and drying herbs so I made a few extras from baking paper.

I just used the plastic one as a template and cut out a few extras.  I was a bit worried at first that the mango would run off the side but it didn't move at all once I had spread it.  To make the mango puree all I did was blitz some of the frozen mango cheeks in the food processor until it was a smooth paste.

The fruit leathers came out really well and they taste really strongly of mango without being too sweet.

I also made a a big batch of Chilli Beef for Sunday dinner and for the freezer.  It can be turned into a range of different meals quickly and easily.

I will post the recipes for the Chilli and Curry during the week as I think they are worth sharing.

What did you get up to on the weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen And Preparing For Selling

It has been another busy weekend at our place with lots going on both inside and out.

I made a batch of BBQ Sauce which I use as a marinade and as a sauce during the year.  Because it is a little labour intensive I make a big batch and then preserve most of it in my Fowlers Preserving Jars which means I can get away with making it only once  a year and store it in the pantry until it is needed.  It makes divine spare ribs and chicken drumsticks and has been really well received when given as a gift which can be bottled up at the drop of a hat since it is already made.

A while a go I picked up 4 x 500 g packets of kidney beans for just $1 each and I have been meaning to make a batch of refried beans for ages.  
Refried beans make a great substitute for the usual meat based sauce for nachos, can form part of a range of toppings for Mexican foods, is great served with salad and on sandwhiches and makes a great dip for corn chips.
Tonight we enjoyed it along with guacamole, salsa and corn chips.

Out side we tackled two fairly big jobs, water blasting the house and cleaning out the farm shed.

We try and water blast the outside of our house twice a year as being a timber weather board home the spiders like to spin their webs in all the little corners. The front veranda also provides the perfect home for spiders and other assorted bugs.

The other big job was to clean out the farm shed. When we first moved in this is where the tractor lived but it was barely running so we sold it.  Since then the shed has housed all the bits and pieces that we have used for farm projects (fence wire, post, roofing iron, pipes, ag pipe, garden stakes, paint and painting supplies) as well as bales of hay, sugar cane mulch and other bits and pieces.

The were lots of things that we had held onto in case we needed them in future farm projects but now that we are putting the house on the market and getting ready to move there will be no more farm projects.  So it was time to get rid of all the stuff that we were not going to need.  It feels strange to get rid of things that might be useful in the future but it will not be useful to us so we had to let it go.

We gave away some of the fence wire to a neighbour and all of the roofing iron went to the dump for recycling, which is where most of it came from originally (we took heaps from the dump when building our woodshed as we were not sure how much we would need) and we also had a great big throw out of other things.  
In total it cost us $10 for a full trailer at the dump and I am glad we have got this done as it it is another big de-cluttering job done and we will not be worried about it when it finally comes time to move.

All Tidy after the big throw out.  The timber is going to a friends place in a few weeks.

The next big job is clearing out the garage which is another place things are stored that we "might" need one day.  All going well we will tackle that next weekend.

Do you have a whole lot of stuff you are keeping for a possible future project?

The Weekend Kitchen

This weekend Hubby was working and I had a chance to take on a few kitchen projects without being interrupted.

I used up some Filo that had been in the freezer for way too long, and turned it into a kale and feta pie.

Then I tackled a job I knew that would take me a bit longer, home made pasta.  I do not make pasta that often but I forget that it really does not take that long, and is so worth the effort.
The recipe I like to use is this one by Jamie Oliver since we always have heaps of eggs and this one uses a whole dozen.
This time I made a double batch as we had 5 dozen eggs on hand and it means I do not have to make pasta again for a while.

You do need a pasta machine for this but even a cheap one will do the job.

I start the mix in a bowl before turning it out on the bench and kneading the mix until it all comes together in a smooth ball.  To be honest this is the hardest part as you need to knead what is quite a firm dough.

Once you have your kneaded dough you cover it and let it rest for at least 1/2 and hour.  After resting the dough you are ready to pass it through the pasta machine to make a sheet of pasta whic you can then turn into the pasta of your choice.

This time I opted for a fettuccini.  The main thing you need to do is keep your pasta machine well floured, the sheets dusted with flour before cutting them and have a floured tea towel to place the cut pasta on.  Do you get the picture?  Flour liberally so you do not end up with pasta lumps.

I then kept some for dinner, placed a few twisted nests in the freezer and dried the rest in my dehydrator.  I am not sure I would dry it this way again as the pasta ended up more broken up than I would have liked.  But that is a minor issue compared to the fact that I now have heaps of home made pasta on hand.

I also made a banana cake to use up some of the 30 odd bananas that are lurking in the freezer. However so that we do not eat too much cake at once the frozen bananas I used have now been replace by the half a cake that I set aside for later. Oh well the thought was there.

So what did you get up to on the weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen

It is going to sound like I was joined at the hip to the stove over the weekend but strangely I actually found time to do a whole lot of other things as well.  Now that I look back at how much I got done this weekend I am quite surprised since I was fighting off a migraine all weekend and had an afternoon nap on Saturday for a few hours.

I started this relish on Friday night as the vegetables need to be salted and drained overnight.  It is a new recipe to me that I found to try and use up some of the zucchini glut we still have.  I will post the recipe once I have tried it an I am happy with the result.

I used some lovely meaty bones from our recently killed cow to make some beef stock.

I made a test batch of Orange and Almond Biscotti which I will be giving to a few people as gifts this Christmas.  I was pretty happy with the recipe, which I adapted from my original one, and it is really easy so I will share it later this week.

I also had a go at making a Christmas cake.  I normally make a Very Boozy Christmas Pudding but this year I decided to have a go at a Christmas Cake.  I should have phoned my mum for her recipe as she makes a great Christmas Cake but I decided was too impatient and used one online.  It made a very very tall cake and it took ages to cook.  As I am still dousing it in alcohol I can't give you the verdict yet but I am hoping it will be ok.  I used the dried fruit I had on hand rather than go out and buy more because that was what the recipe indicated.  This allowed me to use up some dried fruit that I had on hand that was a bit dry and crystallised but I figured since the fruit was going to be soaked in alcohol it would plump up just the same and it did.

Mixed dried fruit that was a bit chrystallised.

The dried fruit I had on hand sultanas, currents, apricots, mixed fruit and cranberries

The cake ready to go into the oven

I also cooked up some very tasty sticky chicken wings for dinner.  These are so easy and very tasty.  I just marinade them for an hour in 1 1/2 cups of the BBQ sauce I make each year and added a table spoon of fennel seeds, 2 table spoons of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.  Then I tipped the whole lot into a baking tray and covered with foil and baked at 200 degrees for 35 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes (or until sticky) basting with the sauce and turning after 10 minutes (or every 10 minutes until done).

And finally just for Lynda who I have been promising a low carb recipe, I made some baked egg cups.

I do not follow a recipe for this as I use what ever I have on hand but the basic idea is the same.

Baked Egg Cups

Grease some muffin tins and line with a ring of streaky bacon (the thin end) and then add a filling of beaten egg, salt and pepper, grated cheese. diced asparagus, finely chopped parsley and spring onions and pour into the lined muffing tins.  Bake at 180 degrees until set in the middle.

This weekend I also lined some of the muffing tins with thin strips (about 3mm thick) of zucchini and I added the bacon diced up in the middle along with a mix of creamed corn, egg, grated onion, grated cheese and parsley.

You can modify this recipe to include what ever you have on hand including diced cooked veggies and cooked meat.

What did you get up to in the kitchen this weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen

It was a long weekend here and boy did we pack it full.  We caught up and went walking with one friend on Saturday morning then went out for lunch and did some shopping (something that we have been putting off for ages since we are not fans of shopping).  Then we went out for a farewell dinner with my youngest brother and his girlfriend who are off to Korea for the next 2 years.
Sunday morning we caught up with Hubby's best friend and his wife and kids for brunch then it was back to Hubby's parents for lunch with them his brother.  We got home at about 4pm and had a early night.  Monday morning was spent doing jobs around the farm and finally in the afternoon I did some baking,  All in all it was a busy weekend.

I did make a carrot cake using my recipe that is super easy.  This time I topped it with a cream cheese icing flavoured with orange rind and it was a very tasty combination,

I have also been making a lot of juices lately with all the beetroot and oranges we have.  I like to include all the beetroot leaves plus ginger, mint, parsley, carrots and cucumber with a bit of orange juice.  It makes a great mid morning pick me up.

What did you get up to in the kitchen on the weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen - Marmalade and Sausage Rolls

We had the most glorious weather over the weekend so most of my time was spent out doors.
Hubby had to work on Saturday but when he came home he brought with him a box full of oranges and a bag of avocados that the client had given him.  The client also gave him a bag of oranges last week too so we have been juicing them and enjoying them fresh every day.  I am not sure what kind of orange they are but they are really juicy and sweet but also a bit tart which is just how I like oranges.

I have started making a dent in the box of oranges

So I decided it was time to make an Orange and Almond Cake and some marmalade for my father in law for fathers day.

Gluten Free Orange and Almond Cake

Orange Marmalade (I am waiting on a verdict from my father in law)

Then I made some beef sausage rolls which made for an easy dinner with salad and will give Hubby something different to have in his lunch box this coming week.

I will post the recipes over the next few days in case you too are lucky enough to have a glut of oranges or want to try making your own sausage rolls.
What did you get up to in the kitchen over the weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen

I am a list maker and it helps me to be very productive.  This weekend I managed to get through a huge list of jobs both inside and out, it was a really really productive weekend.

I made Yoyo's (also know as melting moments) and other than the one each that we taste tested they have been put in the freezer for eating a a later date when I need something for guests in a hurry.

I found a block of cream cheese lurking in the back of the freezer which according to the label should have been used up last November. Yep you read that right.  I knew it had been in there a while but I did not know it was that long.  When I opened it there was nothing wrong with it at all so I made a baked Lemon Cheese Cake.

I also made a Spinach, Smoked Salmon and Sour Cream Tart which was so delicious.

I made a yummy Black Bean Salad,

And some Sweet Chilli Scrolls for Hubby's lunch box this coming week.

I won't share all the recipes here but will include in posts over the next week so pop back if something caught your eye.  For now though here is the recipe for the Yoyos which are a biscuit I learnt to cook when I was in primary school.  They are very rich shortbread like biscuits that I am sure are not good for your waist line so enjoy as a treat.

Yoyos

175g Softened Butter
1/4 Cup Icing Sugar
1/4 Tsp Vanilla Essence
1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
1/4 Cup Custard Powder

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla essence and then sift the flour and custard powder before adding to the creamed butter mix.
Roll teaspoons of the mix into balls and place on a greased baking tray.  Flatten with a fork and bake at 180 degrees for 15  20 minutes or until the edges just start to colour.
when cold sandwich together in twos with the butter filling below or eat as they are.

Filling

50g Softened Butter
1/2 Cup Icing Sugar
2 Tbsp Custard Powder

Beat all ingredients together until well combined.

The Weekend Kitchen

Even though I have been trying to take it easy I find it really hard to just chill out.  I like to have things on the go so I feel like I am being productive.

So this weekend I made a batch of Halloumi.  I checked in the supermarket the other day to see how much I was saving to make my own.  The supermarket price was $37.95 per kilo.  I purchased 4 x 2 litre bottles of good pasteurised only milk that came to $18.36 and added a 1/4 teaspoon of rennet (20 cents).  When the cheese was ready I added dried mint and salt.  From my 8 litres of milk I got 1.2 kg of cheese and 6 litres of whey.  So it is clearly much cheaper to make your own.

We are still collecting a few cherry tomatoes every day, lots of eggs and kaffir limes.  I also picked the last of my climbing beans that I had let get fat and swollen in their pods so I can use them as dried beans.  The beans are now drying in front of the fire and I will shell them in a week or so.

Drying beans in front of the fire

I also made a chocolate beetroot cake which Hubby loves.  It is rich and moist and so easy to make.
You can find the recipe here.

What took place in your kitchen over the weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen

This weekend we took a friend of ours and his kids (aged 4 and 6) camping.  It was the first time camping for the kids so we kept it to just the one night in case things went pear shaped.

We had a great time sitting around the campfire cooking marshmallows on sticks, playing with our dog Jessie and spending time outdoors.  For us camping and living outdoors is nothing new but for a couple of city slicker, gadget addicted kids it was a bit of a learning curve.
No matter how long you go camping for whether 1 night or 10 nights you still need almost the same amount of stuff with the exception of food.  So after coming home we still had to unpack everything and put it all away.  So by the time we had checked on all the animals and had some lunch it was mid afternoon.

I used the afternoon to turn my compost pile, make a batch of washing liquid, do a couple of loads of washing, prepare our menu for the week ahead, organise an easy dinner and bake a double batch of Chocolate Curnchies.  The Chocolate Crunchies are a favourite in our house.  I make them with half the amount of sugar of the original recipe and I still think they are plenty sweet enough.

Since I had the oven on I also whipped a rice pudding. Here is the recipe I have used for years.

Rice Pudding

10 Tbs Rice
4 Cups of milk
4 Tbs Sugar
1 Tbs Butter

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius.  Place all you ingredients in a large oven proof dish.  Bake for 2 hours stirring every 20 minutes for the first hour.

What did you get up to this weekend?
Did you spend time in the kitchen?

The Weekend Kitchen

The weather was lovely over the weekend and this meant time was spent outside rather than in.
Saturday morning was spent doing a fundraising BBQ outside our local IGA and the afternoon was spend doing outside jobs.

On Sunday I did spend a little time in the kitchen putting down another batch of citrus peel in vinegar for cleaning which I will top up as I have more peel.  I also cleaned the kitchen windows both inside and out.

Now my windows are lovely and clean but it makes me think that more than just the kitchen ones need doing.

What did you get up to in the kitchen over the weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen

We have just enjoyed a long weekend here in Queensland and it was a weekend filled with visitors so there was quite a bit of action in the kitchen.

Sunday saw Hubby's family gather at our place for a BBQ lunch.  I made some deviled eggs (which is something I make often for gatherings since we have lots of eggs, even though it is quite retro it seems to be something everyone likes), a vegetarian nicoise salad and a sponge cake.

My father in law thought I had added something to the sponge cake to make it so yellow and I had to convince him that it was just the yolks of the eggs.
Monday was a quite day at home but I made a pot of vegetable and barley soup that turned out to be very thick as I over did it on the barley.  We had some for dinner but I froze the rest to have on hand for easy weekend meals over the coming weeks when I know we ave things planned during the day.

Devilled Eggs



Do not use fresh eggs for this recipe.  Your eggs need to be at least 2 weeks old or you will not be able to peel them without the white breaking up.  This recipe can be be scaled up for parties and if you are not a fan of curry flavour you can use mustard powder instead.

6 Eggs
1/4 Whole Egg Mayonnaise
1 Tsp Curry Powder
1/4 tst Salt
1/4 Tsp White Pepper

Bring your eggs to the boil and boil for 8 minutes.  Drain the eggs and cool by filling your pot with cold water and changing it every few minutes until the eggs are cool.  Peel your eggs the cut each one in half length ways.  Gently pop the yolks out into a small bowl and set the whites aside to be filled.
Add the mayonnaise, curry powder, salt and pepper to the yolks and mash them together until they are smooth.
Use a teaspoon to refill the egg white halves.  You can then sprinkle the top of each one with a dusting of paprika or some chopped chives.  Cover and chill for a few hours before serving.

Sponge Cake

This is a really easy sponge cake recipe and you can double it and split the mix between 2 tins if you want a really tall sponge cake.

3 Eggs
Pinch of Salt
3/4 Cup Castor Sugar
1 Cup Plain Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
50 gm Melted Butter

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees.  Grease line a 20 cm round spring form tin.  When lining the sides allow your baking paper to come up above the edge of the tin by 2-3 cm.
Using an electric mixer beat your eggs and salt on high speed for 2 minutes then slowly add your sugar and beat until thick.  Meanwhile sift your flour and baking powder together.  Stop your mixer and sift your flour a second time into the egg mix and fold through until just combined.  Fold in the melted butter and pour into your lined tin.
Bake for 30 minutes and when cooked remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 10 minutes before releasing and turning out onto a cooling rack.  Once cool slice and fill with jam and cream if desired.

What did you get up to in the kitchen over the weekend?

The Weekend Kitchen

We were quite busy out in the garden over the weekend so there was not much action in the kitchen but I did manage to make a batch of  chocolate crunchies.

I also processed up all of the egg shells that had dried during the week.  I like to dry them well either in an oven that has just been used or on top of our wood stove.

Than I crush them up in my morter and pestle until I have quite a fine mix.

Once they are nice and fine they are ready to be fed back to the chickens.  I like to do this by adding a few table spoons to their wet mash  once a week.  It is really just a top up as they have access to shell grit at all times as well.

What did you get up to in your kitchen over the weekend?