Tree to Table

theses green beauties came from one of our plum trees down in the chook yard. thought we would give ripening them inside a go as the birds are very greedy & don't like to leave us any.

wiped them all with a damp Flannel cloth & then placed them into paper bags to ripen. about 3 weeks later they were nice & ripe, ready to eat. after 2 weeks check them every day until they are ready.

Plum Upside Down Cake


50g Butter
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
125g Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Almond meal
1 1/2 cups SR Flour
Plums [i used about 13 or 14 it will depend on the size of your pan]

Grease your pan & line with paper on the bottom [no need to do the sides]
Melt the 50g of Butter & pour over the lined bottom
Sprinkle the Brown Sugar over the melted butter set aside

Beat 125g Butter, Sugar & Vanilla until pale & creamy [or not so pale if you have fresh free range eggs]
Add Eggs & beat well
Fold in the Flour & Almond meal

Halve your plums & remove the seed, place skin side down on top of the brown sugar until the bottom is covered
Spoon mixture over the Plums & smooth with the back of your spoon
Bake 40 to 45 mins
Stand cake in tin for 10 mins before turning out
The paper should be left in the bottom of the pan when the cake comes out
Serve hot or cold with Cream or Ice Cream or on its own with a dusting of Icing Sugar

 

Green Shake Combos all with spinach

Banana & Strawberry
Banana & Rockmelon
Banana & Pineapple
Raspberry & Strawberry
Banana &; Blueberry
Orange & Pineapple

Tiramisu 


1cup Sugar
4 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1pk Cream Cheese
1 3/4 cups Cream
1 Tbl Coffee
1 1/4 cups hot water
1 pk Lady Finger Biscuits
1 cup Dark Chocolate chopped

Beat Sugar, Egg Yolks & Vanilla for about 1 min.
Add Cheese & mix until smooth.
Place in the fridge for about 1 hour

Whip your cream & then fold into your Cream Cheese
Place back into the fridge for 1 hour
Add Coffee to the Hot Water & leave to cool in a bowl

Dip Lady Fingers into the coffee one at a time [don't leave in the coffee or they will fall apart]
Place a row of fingers in the bottom of your chosen dish
Sprinkle Chocolate over the fingers then spoon a layer of Cheese mix over that
Continue until your are left with the Cheese mix at the top of the bowl add the last of the Chocolate
Place back into the fridge until needed
Best made one or two days before served

i usually make this in a glass trifle bowl but we were taking it to a BBQ so i made it in a glass dish with a lid, much easier for travelling.

This time with the left over Egg Whites i made single serve mini Pavlova's

Green Breakfast

im trying something new this year to get healthy & stay healthy.

they say you should eat green vegetables for breakfast well im not too keen on having steamed broccoli for breakfast so my solution to a green breakfast is this beautiful green shake.

Green Shake


1 frozen Banana [or fresh]
4 Strawberries
2 handfuls of spinach
1 1/2 cups water
blend until smooth, if its too thick for you add a bit more water.
it tastes great :o)

and to go with my green shake 2 organic eggs from my chooks lightly scrambled [nothing added] seasoned with pepper & celtic sea salt. you could also add parsley or chives but i didnt want to go down the back in the rain again to pick some.

this is not a diet, its a life style

it was a very big drink so i didnt have my organic green tea until about 1/2 an hour later.

Pavlova

Pavlova

4 Egg Whites {left over from the custard]
1tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/3 cup sugar

Beat eggs, vanilla & cream of tartar until soft peeks form.
slowly add in sugar, beat until stiff peaks form.

line a tray with either baking paper or brown paper, use a small dab of mix to each corner so the paper stays flat while cooking.
spoon mix onto your tray in any form you like, above it did 2 rectangles.
oven 150 Celsius [300F] for 30 minutes
turn off the oven & leave in there for a few hours [door closed]
when i make these i make them late in the afternoon & leave them in the oven over night.
i usually make two or three because i like to layer them with cream in between.
i did not have any fresh fruit so i used fruit that i froze last year.
Passionfruit, Strawberries & Raspberries
defrosted before adding to the pav, you get lots of runny juice its very delicious

Pie & Custard

a handful of this

plus a few of these

makes this

Rhubarb from the garden & few green apples from the tree makes a wonderful Apple & Rhubarb Pie with some home made Custard.
i stewed the Apples & Rhubarb separate, then mixed them together & poured it into the pie crust.

Home-made Custard

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup thickened cream
• 1 vanilla bean or 1tsp Vanilla 
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 
  
• Combine milk and cream in a small pot & add vanilla [if using vanilla bean split bean lengthways & scrape seeds into milk & drop in the bean] 
• 
  
• Cook slowly on medium heat until hot but not boiling.
• 
  
• Whisk egg yolks, cornflour and sugar in a glass bowl.
• 
  
• Remove vanilla beans from milk mixture. 
• 
  
• Pour hot milk mixture over egg yolk mixture & whisk 
• 
  
• Pour into a medium pot & cook on low, stirring constantly for about 10 mins or until thick & will coat the back of a spoon. 
• Do not allow custard to boil, as it might curdle.

i hate it when you have a recipe that calls for either just the whites or just the yolks. when this happens i always have a companion recipe to use the left over egg. in this case it is Meringue/ Pavlova. i will post that recipe tomorrow. 

Fruit & Visitors

we have four orange trees, the oranges here are from the orange tree at the top of the orchid, they have thin skin that is easy to peel & oh so sweet. lots of tiny seeds but you don't really notice them when you eat them. the colour is not a trick of the camera they really are this dark orange colour, i have never seen a bought orange this colour [not including blood oranges].

for anyone who does not know what this is, its a Blue Tongue Lizard.

when frightened they hiss & puff themselves up big to scare off who ever comes near.
we have 3 of these, two that live down the side & the other one lives out the front.

Miss Sally Girl does not like them in her yard & will bark at them until they go where she cant see them.
the only reason she is lying down here is because i told her too, but as soon as i go inside she will be at the barking again.

we have tried putting them over the fence next door but they just climb back over again. this one is the small one the other is quite a bit bigger. when Sally Girl fist found it we didnt know what it was at first cause it was in the bushes & when it kind of jumped up & out i first thought it was a snake but thank goodness it wasn't or it would have bitten my Sally Girl. snakes are the only thing i am frightened of & im always on the look out. for anyone who does not live in Australia we have the most poisonous snakes in the word oh & spiders.

Garden Notes

Start to finish pictorial of our veggie garden

6.6 x 10.8 metres = [ 71.28 sqm ]

the 2 corner posts

chicken wire

the gate

concreting the wire

the gate post

sandstone entry

beds & mulch

netting on the top

finally finished

steel posts = 0
star pickets = 0
chicken wire = 0
gate = 0
timber gate post = 0
fencing wire = $40
fencing clips = $6.95
bird netting = $75.88
concrete = $50
wire tension =  $23.60

total = $ 196.43

Garden Notes

2011 is gone & 2012 is upon us who new the year would go so darn fast.

on the last day of 2011 we spent it down the back in the veggie garden.

all spring/ summer we have been plagued with butterflies & some may say how lovely, but it has not been lovely. when ever anything new has emerged from the ground they have been eaten to within an inch of their lives. we made a hoop net over 3 of the garden beds as a quick solution & it worked great but it didnt solve the problem for the rest of the garden. money has been really tight with me still out of work & A is on holidays for two more weeks, so we have been working on how to solve the problem without spending a lot of money. a while ago we purchased 2 bird net rolls for $16 each, we have managed to cover most of the roof area, we were a metre shot on one length. in just two days it has made quite a difference with lots of butterflies flying about above the netting.

for christmas A & i received a few hardware gift cards so today we will be off down the mountain to purchase two more bird nets to hopefully finish off this afternoon.