Stuffed Mushrooms - A Frugal Dinner Option

This week we have been having some easy frugal meals with a focus on using up bit and pieces and last night it was stuffed mushrooms.

I started with large mushrooms, one for me two for hubby.

I removed the stalks and chopped them finely.

Then I added the last few pieces of goats feta and used the oil to dress the insides of the mushrooms before adding the stuffing.

I added a few steamed and chopped spinach leaves, some chopped garlic chives as well as some diced walnuts then mixed it all up.

After stuffing the mushrooms I topped them off with sliced cherry tomatoes and some Parmesan before baking.  A very tasty and frugal dinner.

Rosella Cordial

In the anticipation of filling or freezer with beef I have been using up as much as I can.  On the hit list last week was a large container of frozen Rosellas.

I decided on cordial as it is something that would last a while.  I boiled the calyx's in water before straining off the pulp which I have re frozen to mix with apples and make pie filling.

Then I added sugar and reduced the liquid to a cordial consistency and since it is concentrated you only need a small amount.

We have been enjoying it ever since.

Doggy Happenings

On Saturday afternoon when we called Jessie for dinner she was limping and seemed to have hurt one of her back legs.  She did not want to put any weight on it, but when I felt up and down her leg and her foot and pad she did not give me any indication that any particular area was sore and there were no visible wounds.  This led me to believe that it was probably her hip joint if anything.

I could not think of anything that she could have done, but we had been throwing the ball (with one of these throwing sticks) for her for and she had been running around like crazy in the paddock.  When she chases the ball she goes flat out and darts around as the ball bounces sometimes sliding and skidding so I guessed she had twisted her leg some how.

We were on our way out for dinner so we left her tied up with her dinner (which she was gobbling up no worries at all - a good sign) and headed out for a few hours.

When we got back she struggled to get up off her bed and since it was so cold, and I didn't think that would help an injury, I decided she could sleep inside on her dog bed where it was warm.

The next day she still didn't want to put weight on her leg when she got up but after a few minutes she started to hobble around and gradually used her leg more and more during the day.  Since she is such an active dog we tried to get her to rest as much as we could but we did not want to stop her getting around too much as she just seemed to get stiff again.

On Monday Jessie was still a bit stiff in the morning but it was clear she was on the mend when she kept bring us a ball to throw for her (which we declined) and then proceeded to run around the yard throwing her toy around.

We will keep an eye on her over the next week and limit the amount of running around (if we can) but hopefully it was nothing more than a sprain.

She really want to get out there and round up those cows

She kept standing up then sitting down over and over displaying her impatience

" I really really want to herd those cows"

"I guess I will just have to imagine herding them..."

 In the end she settled for playing pipe wrestling...

Make it move make it move!!

And just because I think it is the cutest photo of her ever... check out how cute she was as a puppy!

Wild Visitors

We had some visitors in the garden last week taking advantage of a winter food source.  A couple of Blue Faced Honey Eaters.

I was quite happy to share these flowers with them.

Who have you seen in your garden lately?

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?