Healthy Bites : Zesty Lemon and Oat Slice

The more we cut processed ingredients out of our diet the better (and slimmer) we are feeling.

We've always eaten pretty well really, nearly everything is homemade so additives and other nasties are very low, and we eat loads of fruit and vegies fresh from the garden.  Now we are trying to eat more whole foods (un-refined) and organic where we can afford it.  Slowing swapping things white flour for wholemeal, fruit juice, dates and honey for refined sugar and eating vegetarian most nights of the week.  Our waist lines, energy levels and health are starting to be a lot better off for it.

This recipe was inspired by my love of citrus slice.  I tried a slice from a café a few months ago.  I enjoyed it enough but felt really gross afterwards, too much sugar and fat.  This version is clean and pretty healthy.  Refined sugar is replaced with naturally sweet dates, honey and fruit juice.  Flour is replaced with oats and ground almonds.  This is still a treat food - our first option for snacks is fruit and vege (mostly...) but when we feel like a treat these will really hit the spot.

Zesty Lemon and Oat Slice Recipe

Base
1C Dates
¾C Coconut
Juice of an Orange
½C Water
1½C Organic Rolled Oats
½C Raw Almonds

Put dates, coconut, juice and water in a small pot.  Heat gently for about 10 minutes until the dates mash easily with a fork.  Set a aside to cool.  Meanwhile, whizz oats and almonds to a crumble (not super fine).  When dates are cooled add to oat mix and whizz on medium until combined well (1 to 2 minutes), adding a little more water if needed to help it bind.  Line a brownie tin with baking paper.  Press oat mixture firmly into tin.  Spread over then press down topping and leave to set in the fridge

Topping
1/3C Coconut Oil (I have organic, cold pressed, unrefined)
¼C Firm Honey (use agave or maple syrup for vegan)
Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 2 Lemons

Gently warm coconut oil and honey till just soft - like room temperature butter.  Beat all ingredients together till well combined.

Perfected : No-Knead Vogels Style Bread

I was very excited a few months ago to be given a no-knead homemade 'Vogels' style bread recipe.  If you don't know what Vogels bread is, it is moist, slightly dense, grainy bread.  It makes wonderful sandwich bread but is best toasted with a slathering of peanut butter, honey or butter and marmite.

After several attempts with my new recipe I was always disappointed, the bread would rise well but half way though baking would sink in the middle and then was impossible to prise from the tin.  My best guess was that the mix was always too wet.

I have made quite a few modifications since first trying to make this bread, and twice I have started with a completely new recipe.  Now finally I have got it right - so here it is.

No-Knead Vogels Style Bread Recipe
Makes 2 Loaves

500ml Boiling Water
1T Honey or Brown Sugar
500ml Cold Water
20g Active Yeast (4 teaspoons)
3¼ Cups / 400g Wholemeal Flour
3¼ Cups / 400g High Grade Bread Flour
2t Salt
½ to 1½ Cups Mixed Grains (We like golden linseed, sesame and sunflower)
¾ Cup Rolled or Quick Cooks Oats

Turn oven on to 50°C Bake (you don't want the fan on for this stage if you can help it - so the tops of your loaves don't dry out).  Line 2 loaf tins with baking paper, or grease generously with cooking oil.

Mix the hot water and honey/sugar to dissolve.  Add in cold water then yeast, stir well and allow to activate for 10 minutes.  Add in flour, salt, grains, seeds and oats and mix well.  The mixture will look like thick porridge.
Divide mixture between your 2 loaf tins (sprinkle with some seeds/oats if you like) and put into the oven on middle rack.  Leave to rise for 25-35 minutes until the dough reaches the top of the loaf tin (even better if it looks like it's just about to over flow).  Turn oven up to 200°C and switch to Fan Bake if you've got it.  Bake for 45 minutes.
Leave in the tins for 15 minutes after cooking then turn out onto cooling rack (you may need to gently ease sides from tin).  Cool completely before slicing - it's kind of like a cake - it will stick to your knife and make a big mess if cut too early.

Digging for Treasure

My 2 baby bears and I took advantage of the nice weather this weekend and went potato hunting in the garden.  They were amazed how with a turn of the garden fork potatoes would magically appear from underground.  There was fierce competition to gather them up.

I planted 12 each of Rua and Summer Delight potatoes in early August.  The tops were slowly starting to look brown so I figured it was time to harvest.  It is nice having fresh potatoes from the garden but I will do a little more research into varieties next year.   I was hoping these would be firm and waxy, but both are quite fluffy.  The Summer Delight are the better of the 2, slightly yellow flesh and nice earthy flavour.  The Rua is white and quite bland, I'll need to be a little more creative when cooking these.

Spicy Thai Pork Salad Recipe

Tonight dinner was meant to be my favourite way to use pork mince - Chinese Potsticker Pork Dumplings - a recipe which I promise to blog next time I make them.  However, when little boys have had a big day of walks, day care, playing at the park and having friends come and play, time for making dumplings was not a luxury I had this evening.  Mouths needed filling - and fast!

With a fridge full of lettuce, a garden packed with goodies and some prime home-kill pork mince I set about making a tasty dinner in less than half an hour.  Wraps and some kind of Mexican pork concoction came to mind but I always love Asian flavours with my pork, so this Thai inspired dish was created.  This was devoured with bowls scrapped clean and cost about $6 to make - a winner!

Spicy Thai Pork Salad Recipe
Serves 4

1T Oil (I use Rice Bran)
2-3 Cloves Garlic, Crushed/Grated
1cm Ginger, Grated
½t Chilli Flakes (or to taste)
2t Sesame Oil
1t Chinese 5 Spice Powder
500g Pork Mince
1 Tomato, Diced
½C Water
1T Fish Sauce
3 Spring Onions, Sliced
½ Large Iceberg Lettuce, washed and roughly chopped
1 Large Carrot, Grated
Steamed Rice and Coriander to Serve

Put rice on to cook (I used 1½ cups)
Heat oil in a large fry pan over medium heat.  When hot add garlic, ginger and chilli flakes and cook till fragrant and beginning to brown.  Add in sesame oil and 5 spice powder and cook for 30 seconds longer till very fragrant.  Add in mince and turn heat up to medium-high.  Sauté till mince is browned.  Add in tomato, water and fish sauce and bring down to a simmer for 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, till sauce has reduce by half.  Add in most of the spring onion, keeping a little to garnish.  Stir and cook for another minute or so.
Pile lettuce, carrot and pork on top of steamed rice with a sprinkle of spring onion and coriander to finish then watch it disappear.

Poor old blog

Oh dear...

My poor old blog has been a bit neglected lately.  Life hasn't been the same since my youngest stopped having day time sleeps.  I used to use that time to blog a little and do a few of those fiddly jobs you just can't do with a toddler at your feet.

Life if good though, I happily toil in the garden while my boys play in the garden and continually muck aboutin the kitchen.  I'm currently having a smoothie each morning with a wheat grass shot and growing sprouts -  and feeling fantastic.  My boys are playing together a lot better (we've had a lot of push-and-shove the past few months), the other day they spent 4 solid hours together playing 'batman' after watching the 1966 movie.  Amazing how my sofa cushions can be turned into a bat copter, then bat boat, then bat car or bat bike!

I am still slowly transforming our old office into a scullery, learning how to plaster and paint as I go.  I'm looking forward to making this house feel more like home.  After moving 19 times in my nearly 32 years I seem to have made it a habit.  But I think it's time to put roots down - for a good few years at least (there I go again).  Painting this house to make it our own will help me feel more settled I'm sure.

Planning and the Unplanable: Paper Pots

As winter was coming to an end I could see my garden beginning to green, blossoms opening and the days slowly getting longer.  I had things all planned out - the first week of spring was going to be a flurry of seed sowing, weeding, mulching and turning of soil with my homemade compost.  None of it happened of coarse.  My first set back was strep throat, my youngest got it then I came down with it myself.  It's the sickest I've been since I got the flu when I was 15.  Then there was a trip to see my family which was meant to be a well deserved break after all my gardening, but, after a week of strep it was bliss.  Then there was a week of the kids vomiting followed closely by another cold virus that passed from the kids to both Mamma and Pappa Bear.  Not the start to spring I had planned.

One thing I did manage to sneak in here and there was stripping back our old office that will soon become my scullery.  I'm so excited.  I love bright colours and being a space I can play around with I'm thinking turquoise.

All stripped ready for a sugar soap scrub to get rid of any
wallpaper paste then a plaster, sand and prime.

Turquoise, red and white - with custom coloured mason jars.  Bright and friendly.

Now that things are back to normal I used my Sunday morning to make loads of paper pots and get a good amount of seeds sown for the season ahead.  I love these paper pots, they're easy to make, save my seedlings from the shock of transplant, and best of all, they are FREE!  Here's how I make them.

You need:
Newspaper
Scissors
Toilet Roll
Wooden Spoon
Seedraising Mix
Seeds

Step 1: Cut newspaper into about 12-15cm wide strips, horizontally.
The local paper and the Herald cut into 3 strips perfectly.

The papers are still folded in half in the picture below.

Step 2: Roll one strip around a toilet roll

with about half of the paper on the roll and half off

 

Step 3:  Twist the end like a candy wrapper

Step 4:  Push twisted end into the tube

Step 5: On a flat surface push base flat with the handle of a wooden spoon.

Step 6: Slide off the tube and repeat, repeat, repeat...

Step 7: Fill with soil and seeds then water and wait for the magic to begin

When your seedlings are ready to go into the garden you can pop the entire paper pot in the ground and the plants won't suffer from moving like they do when evicted from other types of plastic pots.  I planted just a few seeds of lots of varieties today, corn, watermelon, gherkins, cucumber, basil, beans, broccoli, celery to name a few.  So we'll have a good selection and not too much of anything over summer.

One more thing, there is one thing I paid for, I brought a huge pack of large ice block sticks some time ago to make labels.  You could use them whole but if you're cheap like me you'll want to cut them in half before labelling and pushing down the side of your pots.  Happy gardening!

Simple and Delicious : Steamed Tofu with Ginger and Soy Dressing

I recently visited family in Auckland and while I was there got a few packs of fresh tofu - one thing I really miss living rural.  Pappa Bear and I used to enjoy our weekend strolls though the Asian supermarkets in Northcote, all the seaweed, mushrooms, spices and sauces an adventurous cook could ask for.  And snacks of steamed rice with banana leaves and weird but tasty fillings.

I wanted to enjoy the simple taste and beautiful  texture of our tofu last night so I steamed it and served it with a really simple sauce.  The Binito flakes finished the dish nicely, you could add a splash of fish sauce if you don't have any.  Thinly sliced spring onion would be perfect sprinkled over the top, but since mine are only babies I used broccoli flowers from the garden.

Steamed Tofu with Ginger and Soy Dressing
Serves 4

2 Blocks of Tofu (1 large pack of about 500g standard or plain - not silken, this is too soft)

2T Vegetabe Oil
1T Grated Ginger, Heaped
4 Cloves Garlic, Crushed
2T Soy Sauce
2T Sugar
3T Water
Steamed Rice, Bonito Flakes, Spring Onion (or broccoli flowers) and Veges to Serve

Steam tofu blocks for 10 minutes if steaming them whole, or 5 minutes if you cut into serving sizes.

In a small pan gently heat the oil to medium heat with ginger and garlic.  When garlic begins to brown add remaining ingredients and adjust salt(soy sauce) and sweet to taste.

Serve tofu over steamed rice and vegetable with sauce drizzled over the top.  Scatter over bonito flakes and spring onions to finish.

Shiitake, Swede and Soba Noodle Soup

With bones saved from our roast bantams I had a big pot of fresh stock sitting on the stove.  After having left over risotto for lunch I felt like something lite for dinner so a Japanese type broth was in order.

Again, dinner came in under $5 with the help of home made stock and free self-seeded tat-soi from the garden.  Soaking the mushrooms and seaweed gives the soup a more authentic Japanese flavour.

Shiitake, Swede and Soba Noodle Soup Recipe
Serves 4-5

3L Chicken or Vegetable Stock
1 Large Swede, peeled and diced to 1cm cubes
10 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
10cm Strip of Dried Kelp (optional)
3 Bundles Soba Noodles
1T Soy Sauce
2t Sesame Oil
2 Big Bunches Tat-Soi or Pak-Choi, divided and rinsed well

At least 1 hour before meal time pour 1 litre of warm water over shiitake mushrooms and seaweed and leave to soak, weigh down mushrooms with a small plate if needed.

When ready to prepare the meal set a large pot of water to boil and throw in the soba noodles.  If the water looks like it's going to boil over add half a cup of cold water to slow it down, this is called 'Surprise Water', a Japanese trick I learned a few years ago.  When noodles are done (usually 3 'surprises') drain and rinse well under cold water.  Set aside.

Meanwhile strain stock from mushrooms and add to chicken stock with the seaweed strips.  Rub any grit off the mushrooms and cut into halves or quarters, add these to stock too along with the swede.  Put stock over a high heat and just before it begins to boil remove the seaweed and discard.  Add soy sauce and sesame oil - and maybe a little salt, mine need it because there was very little in the stock I'd made.  Boil for 5 minutes until swede is tender and then add the tat-soi and cook for another 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the soba noodles to warm and serve.  This would be nice topped with sliced spring onions too.

Risotto Verde

After having fluorescent orange corn chips in the house and feeling pretty gross a good dose of kale was in order.  This was put together really quickly and disappeared just as fast.

Using homemade stock and kale from the garden the risotto worked out to be only $3.50 and there's enough for 2 meals.  We had little bantam roasts on the side too - yum!

Risotto Verde Recipe
Serves 6 - 8

4T Olive Oil
Big Bunch Kale, stripped and stalks finely chopped
1 Large Onion, peeled and diced
3 Cloves Garlic, peeled and minced
Salt and Pepper
350g Rice, short grain or risotto rice
1 Litre Chicken or Vegetable Stock
150ml White Wine (or extra stock)
1½C Green Beans, chopped
Parmesan to serve

Pre-heat oven to 180°c Bake.
In an oven proof pan heat half of the olive oil over medium heat.  Add kale and cook till wilted.  Pour in half a cup of the stock and simmer for a minute or 2.  Remove from pan and blend to a puree (I used magic bullet).  Keep to the side.
In the same pan heat the remaining oil, add onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook till soft and clear.  Add in rice and cook for another minute.  Pour in remaining stock and white wine, turn up the heat and bring to a high simmer.  Sprinkle over green beans, cover and transfer to the oven.  Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed and rice is just tender.  Stir through the kale mixture and serve topped with parmesan flakes (use a vege peeler to make these).

Potato and Chorizo Frittata

As I sit all the lights in our house are flickering from the storm outside.  I'm hoping that we don't get a power cut!  I went the bed last night wondering if my beans and chicken would survive the storm - I will see when the sun rises.

With spring on the way my chickens are laying more reliably so quick, easy and cheap (cheep?) egg dinners are on the menu nearly twice a week.  A couple of weeks ago I snapped up our favourite chorizos at a bargain price (I usually get one for $4-5 but on special I got 6 for that price - I would have got more but that's all they had left).  Chorizo are great, if you get good quality ones they go a long way to jazz up a meal, be it a risotto, pilaf, soup, salad or frittata.

This tasty meal was a bargain, with home grown coriander and lemon, and eggs from my hens it cost about $4.  For a dinner party version swap the milk for cream and stir crumbled feta in with the chorizo.

Potato and Chorizo Frittata Recipe
Serves 6

4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced to 1cm (about 350-400g)
1 Large Onion, peeled and diced
4T Olive Oil
8 Eggs
½C Milk
1t Salt
Pinch of Pepper
Few sprigs of Thyme or Tarragon
1 or 2 Chorizo, diced (I used one because I'm cheap)
Handful of coriander
Lemon Wedges to serve

Pre-heat oven to 180°C bake.
Bring a pan of water to the boil, drop in diced potato and cook for 5 minutes or until just tender.  Drain well.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat and sauté onion till clear.  Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk eggs, salt, pepper and milk.  Add in potato, onion, herbs and chorizo.
Heat at 25cm pan oven proof pan over medium high heat (use the pan from frying the onion if it's oven proof).  Add remaining oil and when hot pour in the egg mixture.  Transfer to the oven and cook for 25-35 minutes until set in the middle.  Leave for 10 minutes before cutting.
Sprinkle with coriander and serve with generous wedges of lemon - the lemon brings the whole things together, trust me.

Serve up with salad or greens, we enjoyed ours with a mountain of steamed broccoli with a dressing of lemon juice.

Loads of fresh broccoli spears from the garden - from garden to plate in 10 minutes, sweet and delicious

Getting Ready for Spring

August is a busy time in the garden.  We have been pruning trees and shrubs that blocked valuable sunlight last summer from the lawn and vegetable garden.  The last of the roses have been cut back and weeds are starting to appear thick and fast.

The work re-laying the vegetable garden is pretty much finished, I just need to find a use for the old garden edging that is cluttering the fence line.  Seeds are being sown to get a head on spring, today Luke and I planted spinach, silverbeet, lettuce and tomatoes.  The leafy greens have gone into our handy little grow house and the tomatoes (called Big Red) are going to get started on the sunny kitchen window sill.



Flower hut - a good use of pruning till we get time to cut them down for the wood heap

Over the weekend we cut down one of biggest camellias from about 8 metres tall to just over 1.5 metres.  It was the biggest culprit for blocking morning sun in the vege patch.  If it survives the rather brutal attack we made on it, it should bush out nicely to make a nice wind break for the lemon tree.  I made a little hut for the kids with the branches - lots of fun.


Recycled pallets make an excellent compost system

Vegetable garden coming along nicely - so happy to have more space!

I've recently planted out loads of leeks and spring onions in the new vege garden.  I used an upturned rake handle as a dibble for planting the leeks (a dibble makes a hole, around 10cm deep, to drop leeks into - the extra depth gives nice white stems).  To plant nearly 80 spring onions in just 20 minutes I used a garden fork.  I pushed the prongs about 10cm down and gently rolled the fork around till the holes we're 2cm across.  Using the fork gave me 4 evenly spaced holes at a time.  Then with the help of a pencil I pushed the seedlings and their roots into the holes.  The is no need to cover the seedlings, a good water drops enough soil in to cover the roots.  Eventually the hole is filled while watering and stems covered for soft white growth under ground.



View from the lounge door - a lot tidier than last year



My little helper in the garden -the broad beans will out grow him soon

 

Parsley happily growing in the shadow of the broad beans



I can see lots of bees in the garden at the moment - I'm sure they'll visit my broad beans - they smell amazing.

My Red Sprouting Broccoli has been going strong all winter

Pretty much zero maintenance flowers have appeared again - Euphorbia

Simple Fish Pie

It's funny how life changes.  Nowadays I find myself running by the seasons, nearly oblivious to what the date is.  The first 2 months of Winter rolled by, mornings sitting by the fire, a nearly dormant garden and the family needed nursing with coughs and colds.

Now that Spring is nearly here things are changing.  Bulbs have quietly appeared and among their long slender leaves buds are nearly ready to burst.  Blossoms are starting to appear on fruit trees and seeds need sowing in my grow house to get a head start on the season to come.  This is the kind of rhythm I never imaged living by when I left the city, but I love it.

Simple Fish Pie Recipe
Serves 6

5 Medium Potatoes, Peeled and Quartered
2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2C Milk
1C Water
2 Bay Leaves
10 Pepper Corns
750g Hoki Fillets
2T Butter
1 Large Onion, Diced
3T Flour
Small Bunch Parsley, Finely Chopped
Salt and Pepper
¼C Grated Cheese

Start by covering potatoes with cold salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes until tender.  Drain.  Meanwhile heat the milk, cup of water, bay leaves and pepper corns over medium high heat.  When the milk mixture is steaming hot poach the whole fish fillets for 4 minutes.  Gently remove fish fillets from poaching liquid and set aside.  Strain the poaching liquid.  Add about half a cup of poaching liquid to potatoes and mash with olive oil and a pinch of pepper.  Rinse the poaching pan and return to medium heat - turn oven on to 180°C Fan Bake.  Melt butter in pan and add in onion, cook till onion is soft.  Stir in flour and cook for a minute longer.  Slowly stir in 2 cups of warm poaching liquid and continue stirring over heat till thickened.  Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.  Now to construct the pie, gently flake hoki into base oven proof dish.  Cover fish with white sauce and then dollop over the mashed potatoes.  Smooth surface of potatoes and sprinkle over a little grated cheese, bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes and cheese are golden.  Serve with salad or vege.  My kids devoured this recipe.

Pork Belly with Thai Dressing

Finally we have been able to order half a cow for the freezer - we're looking forward to having beef on the menu again.  We ordered plenty of mince, it's super versitile and Mr 2 finds it easier to eat than chewing on a roast or a steak.

To make sure we have room I cleared a box of pork chops and belly strips from the chest freezer to the smaller freezer in the kitchen.  I decided to leave the belly strips out to defrost and make another Asian inspired meal with them, since we have Tat-Soi growing in the garden in almost weed proportions.  It self seeded in the summer and is popping up everywhere.

We only needed one strip per person - a little goes a long way with belly.

Pork Belly with Thai Dressing Recipe
Serves 4

4 Pork Belly Strips
1t Salt

Dressing
1T Sesame Oil
1T Fish Sauce
1T Rice Wine Vinegar
1T White Sugar
3T Water
1 Birds Eye Chilli, Diced (Optional)

Steamed Rice and Tat-Soi to serve
Fried Shallots (optional)

 Steam belly strips over gently simmering water for 1.5 to 2 hours till tender, I find this process removes a lot of fat and makes the pork super tender.

Heat oven to 250°C Fanbake.  Sprinkle salt over the pork and place on rack (I use a cake cooling rack).  Put rack over tray with a little water (the water stops the fat smoking as it drips off the belly).  Bake for 30 or so minutes till golden.

While the belly is roasting cook rice and make dressing.  To make dressing combine all of the ingredients and stir till sugar dissolves.  When pork is nearly done steam the tat-soi.

Chop the pork into bite sized pieces and pile on top of steamed rice with vege.  Pour over generous amount of dressing and sprinkle over fried shallots.

Post 100 : Growing my Green Thumb

I've been trying to figure out what to write for my 100th post.  Nothing too inspiring came to mind till I was going through some old photos yesterday evening.  I was able to see all of the changes in my vegetable garden since I started planting just a couple of weeks after we moved in March 2013.

Sometimes I feel like I've done nothing at all in the garden between changing nappies, house work and other commitments, but these photos tell me otherwise.  Anyway, enough from me for now, I'll let my pictures do the talking.

Moving Day : March 2013

August 2013

September 2013

December 2013

January 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

Winter Warmer : Beef and Corn Casserole with Herbed Corn Dumplings

Beef meals are few a far between at the moment. Our last home kill ran out in March and once you've paid home kill prices it's hard to part with hard earned money on supermarket prices.

I did part with $11 last time I went shopping, I brought a kilo pack of gravy beef, which was turned into a big stew, with dumplings of course.  I cooked a double recipe for $17 - bargin!

With birthday party preparations to do it was good to know dinner was taken care of while I got on with the day.

If you don't have ground corn (maize flour) just use plain flour, or some wholemeal.


Beef and Corn Casserole with Herbed Corn Dumplings Recipe
Serves 4

Casserole
2T Oil or Dripping (I used bacon dripping)
500g Gravy Beef, Trimmed and Cubed

2 Onions, Sliced
1T Flour
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
400ml Stock
Bouquet Garni (or 1T mixed herbs)
1 Large Carrot, Diced
2 Medium Potatoes, Peeled and Diced
Salt and Pepper
1 Tin of Corn Kernels, Drained

Dumplings
100g Plain Flour
80g Ground Corn
2t Baking Powder
¼t Salt
½t Mixed Herbs
100g Butter
½C Milk

Casserole
In a heavy, oven proof pan heat dripping over medium high heat.  Brown the gravy beef and set aside.  Turn down heat a little and brown the onions.  Stir in flour and cook for another minute or so.  Add juice from tinned tomatoes, stock, bouquet garni, carrot, potatoes and season.  Bring to the boil and then add in the beef.  Cover and  either turn down to lowest setting, put in the oven at 130ºC or transfer to a slow-cooker - make sure you preheat the bowl and cook on low.  If you cook on the stove top you will need to stir every now and then to make sure it doesn't stick.  Cook for 6-8 hours.  45 minutes before you're ready to serve return to stove top on medium heat or turn slow-cooker onto high.  Add in drained tomatoes and corn.  Assemble dumplings and cook for another 20 minutes till dumplings are cooked through (dumplings may take up to 40 minutes to cook in slow-cooker).

Dumplings
Mix together dry ingredients.  Rub in butter till mixture resembles bread crumbs.  Stir in milk to form a soft dough.  Drop large spoonfuls into bubbling casserole.

Happy boys : Warm stew, bath, then bed

Loving my new life

I love our little community, our house in the country and being at home with my boys.

In just over a year I've gotten to know some wonderful people in our area and even those I don't know always smile and say hello as you pass.  So different to the stone faced city folk I used walk by in malls and lunch bars when I was in an office job.

After moving I got out and involved in a local playgroup for the benefit both myself and the kids.  I even took on the job as Treasurer in the new year which keeps me very busy sometimes, which is something I thrive on.  Especially over winter when the garden is slow, no chicks are hatching and the fruit trees are sleeping.

I am very excited about the growing season ahead.  Since rearranging my vege garden it is now about 32 square meters, a lot bigger than the old 13.  My broad beans are nearly a meter tall and flowering which should give me a good crop in spring and Papa Bear brought me some potato and garlic to plant this week.  I hope to have some new potatoes for Christmas.

The vege garden chicken tractor is working really well, the hens do a very thorough job and leave a very clean and fertilised soil to plant in.  My compost bin system has been started, made out of upright pallets.  The first is a little over half full and when I turned it this afternoon it was lovely and hot with good fungi and microbe activity.  I should have loads of compost to plant pumkins, lettuce, corn and beans in in the spring.

I planted some beetroot, carrots, parsley, chives, coriander, kale, broccoli and cauliflower a couple of months ago which have slowly established through the cold weather and all look very healthy.  I planted some rhubard too and I'm sure some have sprouted, though I'm not completly sure.  I've never grown it from seed before I don't know what it looks like as a baby.

The blog has been quiet over the last few weeks due to my boys having chicken pox, colds and ear infections.  I was lucky enough to have both my boys get a quite mild cases of chicken pox.  We got through relatively drama free by giving regular warm baths with baking soda or oats wrapped in a cloth to sooth their itchy sores.  Even taking 20 minutes to do it at midnight helped us all through the night in the long run.  Mr 4 didn't eat much for a few days until Mumma realized he had pox in his mouth so food was very soft for a few days which got him eating well again.  I'm glad we don't have to do it again though.

Today has been cold and blustery so I'm off to put on a pot of hearty pumpkin and barley soup for dinner.

Quiet - not on your nelly!

My blog may have been quiet this last 2 weeks - but our house hasn't!

I've been kept very busy with one of my boys getting chicken pox, then right after both my boys got colds and nasty ear infections.  To top it of Pappa Bear and I got a cold, and then I had some pretty painful dental work.  Fortunatly, everyone was pretty much on the mend for my eldests birthday party.

We had a fantastic week, we had Nana and Uncle come to stay for a night then a very excited Mr 3 had a Mike the Knight themed party to celebrate turning 4.  Now that he is a little older we played some games, pass the pastel, pin the tail on Galahad and treasure hunt.  We had a wonderful afternoon with friends and family.  And as a bonus, Pappa Bear brought take out after the party so I could have a night off - which ended up being 2 nights with all the left overs.

I had a go a making fondant on a large scale for covering the cake, it turned out really well I think.  All the effort was worth the look on my boys face when he blew out the candles.

The garden is slowly moving along.  All 30 of my broad bean seeds have sprouted and grown well.  Today I added another layer to the 'spider web' to support them as they grow.  The variety I have planted grows to 2 meters tall!  I think I may nip the tops off when they reach the top of the frame at about 1.5 meters.

Broad Beans in a Spider Web

I have also finished one of the paths and have the chickens doing some of the weeding for me.  I'm so glad they eat forget me nots - they are growing like a carpet in some places.  The chickens make very short work of them.  They can clear a 4m square area completely in an afternoon - that would take me nearly 2 hours of digging in the mud and even then I wouldn't be as thorough as the chickens.

I was surprised to see bees working in my garden today.  A few of my sprouting broccoli have gotten away on me and are beginning to flower - which the bees are taking full advantage of.

Water, feed and a nest box - all set for a days work

One path complete - only half a path to go

A little worker braving the cold