Lovely, luscious lamb.....

After nearly succumbing to takeaway on the way home from work last night ( came home and made homemade pizza instead and dessert was sourdough banana bread from the freezer!), I decided that tonight I would have a meal hot & ready when I get home from work.

Of course, that means my trusty slowcooker is now on the bench, cooking me a lamb tagine-bless it's generous and reliable slowcooker heart! :)

The lamb is the scrag ends left after we bought a lamb a couple of months back. They were browned then tossed in the pot:

Then 2 diced onions were dry fried with some curry powder and a sprinkle of chilli flakes, before 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and a handful of dates were tossed in:

Then it is all left to simmer away until I'm ready to "plate up" tonight.

I have made mention of the fencing we have been doing for two reasons-firstly to keep next door's brat of a dog out of our orchard and secondly to keep our hens in!

Have you ever seen more beautiful fencing? ;)

Friday's fridge....

Groceries here are usually purchased early in the week to coincide with payday; so heading into the weekend I usually have some idea of what base meals will be on offer-the decision will be how I tweak them! This morning is free for me to get organised for the weekend, so I'll be preparing as much food as I can for the weekend!


Left in my fridge this Friday are:


 lean beef sausages
 lean beef blade roast
 bacon
 eggs
last night's home made ricotta, plus some of the resulting whey
last night's leftovers-Filipino noodles ( AKA Pedro's noodles after friend who first made them for us!)
various condiments
asorted vegetables
cheese
milk
yoghurt-small tub to make some more myself
tinned apricots
sourdough starter.

My plans today are to make:
Slow cooked Fusion beef ( based on a recipe spied at Veronica's Cornucopia  -except I've used crushed coriander seeds instead of sage and dolloped honey in the balsamic, poured it over the beef and set it to cook!)


Sausage casserole


Sourdough coffee cake ( also based on a recipe from Veronica's Cornucopia)


Apple pie ( harvested the Cox's Orange Pippins yesterday)

The leftover noodles will be lunches-they are amazingly cheap to make for the quantity they provide!

That's my Friday Fridge-what's in yours?

She who maketh mistakes....

I was making a batch of homemade yoghurt this morning, thinking about someone asking me recently if there was "anything you can't make?" and my reply-which was that yes, there is much I don't know how to do but I'll go out and learn how if I want to! Recently I have learned how to do the following for myself after finding information online:

* Make soap
*Make laundry detergent
*Make sourdough bread, cakes and pancakes
*Make yoghurt in my Thermos
*Make my own citrus cleaner


That whole process of mentally musing made me ponder why many people DON"T try new things...and I think that it just could be through fear! In our consumer driven society all advertising is centred around perfection and the atainment thereof...our human frailties are focused upon, our imperfections are highlighted and the products advertised are always presented as perfect!

Reality has blemishes- as does some of the produce coming out of our backyard! When you learn a new skill, chances are the finished product will NOT be picture perfect-it will most likely be totally adequate and will come with a sense of achievment; but will show the handcrafted nature of your work!

She who maketh mistakes will be learning so much!

Cream,cinnamon and continuity....

When I couldn't get back to sleepafter 4-30am this morning I decided to be productive instead! Last night I'd freshened some of my sourdough starter ( Edie), so as well as baking some more bread I also made a sourdough cinnamon cake...mmm...!

To a cup of the sourdough was added warm water, flour, bi-carb, sugar and cinnamon and this was mixed to a batter and place in a greased & lined square cake tin:

In another bowl I mixed some flour, butter, honey,sugar,cinnamon and rolled oats into a thick paste:

The paste was spread over the cake batter and baked for 35mins at 170c

Yumm is all I can say! :)

The two cuties below are our two elder grandsons Zane (on the right) and Angus); they are enjoying a treat my grandmother used to give me: fresh bread spread with jam and whipped cream. I love the sense of continuity this picture brings to me-my grandmother passed away 23 years ago, yet at moments like these I feel her beside me still. I hope to develop that sort of relationship with my own grandchildren.