Sunday Baking

Apple Tea Cake made on Tuesday, the comments on the recipe said it would sink in the middle but i didn't have a sinking problem.


Sundays Biscuit dough all ready for the oven, ANZAC's, Choc Chip, Coconut Crisps & Ginger Nuts


Dessert was Macadamia Slice {new recipe} got the thumbs up.
For tea was my home made Meat Pie & Beer Bread with onions, bacon & cheese {new bread recipe}.

on ALS, July's challenge is to get things finished so thought id make a list & see how go

70s Blanket {half way through tying in ends}
Patchwork Quilt {still on the pinned stage}
Floor Rug
Advance Australia Cross-Stitch {just the wording to stitch}
Card Bases Cut
J's Formal Minni Book {Finished}

the first 3 wont get finished in July but i want to continue working on them

Saturday i spent cleaning up my craft room & bagging up a heap of supplies for a sale day in August.

Backyard Friend

a couple of posts ago i wrote about a Little bird that comes to visit me when I'm gardening, so this week i made a board canvas with some of the pics i got back from the printers last week.



the card give away in the last post hasn't been popular, i was hoping to get a couple of people comment so i could send them some handmade cards.

Card Give Away

Ive been having a clean out & i have some handmade cards to give away. leave a comment before next Monday & ill pick out a random name to send some cards to.

Getting things done

Monday last week was beautiful & sunny but very cold. i sat out on the back veranda all rugged up & started doing the tie ins on my 70s blanket squares. i call it my 70s blanket because of the colours i have used, orange, green, brown & black.




A's B'Day on Wednesday, went into town & picked up the Wii we had on order for ever, didn't even get it from where we ordered it from.


my life is going towards a greener life but A's isn't so much, he still likes all the gadgets & games, i think he just humours me most of the time but i live in hope that he will come around.

on Saturday we went into town & came home with a Mulcher, something i have wanted for a little while. its a Talon electric mulcher. had a test run on Sunday, works great. I'm a little scared of it but I'm sure after i have used it for a while i will get use to it.


i cut me out, flannelet shirt, trackies & gum boots {still only the black gum boots}



yesterday was beautiful, sunny, blue sky & warm just like a summers day. sat out on the back veranda sewing in some more ends on the 70s blanket & watching all the birds that visit us. it still surprises me how many different birds we get here. there is one particular bird that always comes for a visit when I'm gardening & isn't scared of me at all. we also have a small pair that have made a hole in the side of our dirt retaining wall, they flit in & out all day long.


for dessert yesterday i made an Almond & Apple slice, very yummy warm with a little cream

on ALS, July's challenge is to get things finished so thought id make a list & see how go

70s Blanket
Patchwork Quilt
Floor Rug
Advance Australia Cross-Stitch
Card Bases Cut
J's Formal Minni Book {Finished}

the first 3 wont get finished in July but i want to continue working on them

up early to see A & J off on their ride {Woodford to Glenbrook mountain bike track} so i cooked early this morning, i was out of the kitchen by 9.30. only made ANZAC's & an Orange & Weetbix cake.still have Choc Chip cookies in the freezer that i will get out later. made the pastry for the Turkish Gozleme {spinach & feta filling}.

Orange & Weetbix Cake, nice with or with out butter, warm or cold.

did some weeding , transplanted some Snap Dragons, spread some mulch & pulled out some flowers that were finished.





my Peas & Silverbeet are coming along, cant wait until the harvest :o)

came back in about 11.30 & not long after that the boys got back from their ride. cooked the Turkish Gozleme on the BBQ for lunch.


spent an hour or so on my knees crawling around pinning the quilt top ready to sew, not sure what I'm going to do on it yet but the hard part is done {boy do i need some knee pads}.



on Wednesday i made a casserole & this Delicious Zucchini Bread, one of the best breads i have ever tasted.

tea tonight is Pork steaks, Fettachini & Broccoli. Passion Fruit Pudding for dessert

New Truck

so last week we got our new recycle bins {just a small otto bin}, our collection day changed from Wednesday to Friday, so today was our first day. not only did we have a new bin we also had a new truck {a lot bigger truck} & a new driver. all trucks that want to come up our lane have to reverse up, that went to plan, but what the driver didn't know is you have to turn left up Glossop RD & turn around further up to get out of L..... As the guy was new he didn't know that & tried to turn right & he found out very quickly that you just cant make a right turn out of our lane in a truck. for 2 hours no one could get in or out of L..... unless you wanted to squeeze past on foot. for over an hour they tried to get the truck moved, until the hero in the orange overalls arrived from Blacktown. the problem was the front of the truck was hard up against the guard rail & the white car bar at the back was jammed on the sloping road. to move it the air bags were inflated & lots of timber placed under the back tires & eventually they were able to reverse it up so it could be turned. it was quite funny, but i feel sorry for the driver cause i don't think he will ever live it down.








as some may know our gas fire broke down on Wednesday morning & today was the day that the technician could get here & i was worried that he might have turned up & couldn't get in so left, but luckily five mins after the truck was moved he showed up. it took him all of 5 mins to fix it, now we have a nice warm house again.

last week we also had the roof on the back veranda break in the high winds, some of the timber was rotted & snapped. a builder came & had a look & said he would be back this week to fix it but haven't heard from him since. in the mean time one of the alsanite sheets was flapping around for a couple of days, kept us awake for 2 of nights until it finally blew off on Wednesday.
it was so windy i couldn't get up there to get it off, so we just had to leave it.

footwear

.

Gumboots, wellingtons, rainboots they are all the same thing & i need a new pair or 2.
if we lived in England or the US there is such a huge variety of colour & styles to choose from but we live in Australia & all we get are black & maybe dark green. there is one designer store that make them but $90 to &120 a pair is just outrageous & the colours/patterns were hideous.
in the US you can get a pair for about $20 {if only}
here are some pics for me to drool over & live in hope of finding something just as cute.

these have to be my favs, how cute are those cherries & the tie. these i found on an English site.

Recipes

had a request for a couple of recipes, sorry about the keylime pie {secret recipe}



Orange Lamingtons
pre heat 180
185g butter 3 eggs
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/4 cup cornflour
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 tsp grated orange rind
1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Sauce
2 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa or drinking choc
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup boiling water
3 tsp grated orange rind
1/2 cup coconut

combine butter & eggs. sift in flour & cornflour, add sugar, orange rind & vanilla. beat for about 3 mins. pour mix into baking tray or lamington tin. middle shelf 30 mins or until cooked. cool on a wire rack. cut into bits size pieces. on a plate mix coconut & orange peel together- set aside. mix all other choc sauce ingredients together, should be runny. roll each piece of cake in sauce using 2 forks, drain off sauce & roll in coconut. set on wire rack until sauce sets.



Orange Raisin Cake

pre heat 180
1 orange
1 cup raisins chopped
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans chopped
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk {add 1 tbl vinegar to fresh milk}
1 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar extra

grate the orange rind & squeeze 1/3 cup juice set aside
make buttermilk set aside
in a mixing bowl mix butter, sugar & eggs. add sifter flour & salt.
in a jug stir together buttermilk & bi-carb until dissolved add to flour.
mix in vanilla, orange rind, raisins & nuts.
spoon into slab or lamington tin. bake 30 mins or until cooked.
mix together extra cup sugar & orange juice, pour over cake & bake for another 8 to 10 mins until bubbly on top. cool in pan.





Passionfruit Pudding

pre heat 180

1 cup SR flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut
2/3 cup coconut cream or coconut milk
1 egg
80g melted & cooled butter

Sauce
1 cup sugar
6 tsp cornflour
1 cup milk
2/3 cup lemon juice
5 passionfruits

grease a 19x25 oven dish, place on a baking tray lined with baking paper
mix together flour, sugar & coconut. in a jug whisk coconut milk, egg & butter
pour into flour mix, stir until combined. spoon into dish.
Sauce:
combine sugar & cornflour, then sprinkle over pudding.
in a pot combine milk & lemon juice & bring to the boil. remove from heat & mix in passionfruit. gently pour mix over a large metal soon onto the pudding, covering the top.
bake 50 mins. serve hot with ice cream or pouring cream
should be gooey under the top layer of cake.