Beef Bourguignonne

At this time of the year we start to lean towards hearty warming dishes that we would not dream of serving up in a hot Queensland summer.
I make this in my slow cooker and when I but the mushrooms I find the smallest ones I can that are still fully closed and firm.

4 Tbs Flour                              1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Paprika                       1/2 Tsp Pepper
1kg Stewing Steak                   2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
300gm Mushrooms                  3 Rashers of Bacon diced
2 Carrots                                 12 Small Onions (pickling size) or 2 diced Onions
1/2 C Boiling Water                 1 Tbs Tomato Paste
1 C Red Wine                          2 Beef Stock Cubes
1/2 Tsp Dried Thyme               1 Bay Leaf
2 Tbs Butter

Combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a bowl.  Dice Beef and dredge in flour mix.
Heat oil in a heavy based pan and add beef 1/3 at a time browning well then transferring to your slow cooker.
Brown diced bacon in the same pan and then transfer to your slow cooker.
As soon as you have removed the bacon de-glaze the pan with the boiling water making sure you get all of the meat sugars on the bottom of the pan.
Then add the stock cubes and dissolve before adding the tomato paste then tip it all into the slow cooker.
Dice carrots and add to the slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients except the butter.
Cook on low.
In my slow cooker I cook it for 6 hours but as every slow cooker is different the times may differ so refer to your user guide for the time on a similar beef dish.
Just before serving stir through the butter

Huge Op Shop Haul

I have been asking around about preserving equipment at all my local op shops for a while now and had left my details with a couple of them.  The other day I got a call to say that some had come in from a deceased estate and would I still be interested as they had been in the shed gathering dust in the shed for many years.
I let them know that I was still interested and would be in the next day.

Well what a score look at what I got, a preserving unit, 2 crates of jars and accessories.

The haul
PS the kitchen Aid is mine and was not from the op shop

So here is what I got:
A small preserving unit with the front plug missing.  Well I assume that is what is missing, does anyone know?

See the little hole in the front

 There were a whole lot of rings stored in cornflour and they look to be in perfect condition.  Does anyone know why they would be stored this way?

Rubber rings stored in cornflour, well I assume that white
powder is cornflour.
If I am not back in a week you will know that it was not.

 I guess this is an indication of when they were last used.

Jars with a good layer of dust.

Sorry about the side ways picture.  But there was a stack of clips (about 30), lids (8 that were ok to keep), tongs and a thermometer.

So I did some calculations about what I got and the cost of buying new:

Jars
14 x Number 27 (800 ml) =  Not sure. I cannot find them new so perhaps this size has been deleted.
9 x Number 20 (600 ml) = $28 pack of 6
12 x Number 31 (1 litre) = $34 pack of 6

Clips = $15 pack of 12
Tongs = $16.50
Thermometer = $22
Rings = $4.50 pack of 12
Lids = $15.95 Pack of 12

Approximate cost = Over $220 new

And that is NOT including the preserving unit.

So what did I pay....

$20 for the lot!!!

I will need to pay to have the preserving unit electrically tested but there is no urgency as I have my stove top preserver which is much bigger than the op shop one.

I now have stacks of jars and just need to sort out some lids for the size 31 jars.  Then I will be preserving like a mad woman.

A Sunday Outing

On Sunday Hubby and I took out dog Jessie to a local swimming hole.  She loves to swim and even though it was far to cold for us she was not concerned at all.
The swimming hole used to be a quarry many years ago and makes a fantastic swimming hole in summer.  Plus it is surrounded by trees and national park so is a good spot to cool down when it is hot.
There are BBQ's, picnic tables and composting toilets plus a big patch of grass perfect for a picnic or to dry off after a swim.

Posing for a photo

Here I come

Fetching sticks

Swimming even though the water was freezing

We chilled out in the sunshine

And Jessie just kept on swimming

Watching her shake always makes me laugh,
 her whole body shakes like a bowl of jelly
even her legs.

In A Pickle

Oh dear I hope someone out there can help as I have got pickle problems.  Lime pickle to be exact.

I have made a batch of Lime pickle and I am about to bottle it but it is BITTER!!  I'm talking peel your lips back and make your eyes water bitter.

Does anyone know if it gets better with age?

I followed the recipe exactly and it smells like it should but it is so bitter that at the moment it is in-edible.

I really hope someone has some ideas.

Gardening Experiments

The last few years have been pretty wet for us and two of the four veggie gardens that I created are not raised so the wet conditions have made growing some things challenging.
The two non raised garden beds have timber sleepers for edging so I have been trying to raise the soil level by introducing lots of compost and organic matter but it takes a lot to raise the soil level of the 16 sq metres of each garden bed.  There was the option of buying soil but not only is that an expensive option but you can never be sure what you might be introducing to your garden.
So I am trialing another method using bales of sugar cane mulch, which is fairly cheap to purchase here in Queensland.
What I have done is dug a channel the length of two bales end to end and put the bales on their side so that they were 1/3 below the original soil level and 2/3 above.  Then I have left a gap of 50 cm and repeated the process twice more till I had 3 rows of 2 bales running parallel to each other.  Then I dug another trench across the gap of each 50cm space on the downhill side (there is not much fall at all really) and placed another bale in each of these.
So now I have a big W shape and all of the soil that I dug out of the trenches was put back in between the bales and mounded against them on the two sides and the top.  The soil was full of worms and I was not happy to have to disturb them but hopefully this little experiment of mine will benefit us all.

I am hoping that there are benefits other than the good drainage here.  I am hoping for the following:
Increased soil temperature as the bales will act as a heat source as they break down.
The above soil level height will provide some wind protection for young seedlings.
The worms setting up home and turning them into soil for me.
Being able to plant directly into them in the future.
Extra organic matter for my soil.
Better soil structure.

I further enriched the soil in and around the baled with blood and bone and dynamic lifter and have planted out some brassicas and tomato's (another experiment).  The whole lot was then watered in with seaweed solution and left to its own devices.

Because I have two garden beds side by side and only one of them has the bale structure in it I will be able to measure the soil temperature and test to see if there is any difference.  I'll possibly forget to do it but hey i can if I want to.

Do you have any experiments happening at your place?