Fruit Mince

The kitchen smells divine - the very essence of Christmas.

As part of my Christmas preparation this year, I have made some fruit mince. I love Fruit Mince Pies but I think I am the only one in the family who does. But store bought pies? No Thanks. So I am taking matters into my own hands and am going to make my own. I also have plans to try a light fruit cake recipe I found that uses fruit mince.


The fruit mince recipe is from a Women's Weekly Christmas Cook Book and makes 7 cups.

375g sultanas
375g raisins, chopped
225g dried currants
250g seeded dates, chopped
250g seeded prunes, chopped
1 large green apple, peeled and grated
100g brown sugar
1 tbsp finely grated orange rind
1/2 tbsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup plum jam
3/4 cup brandy (I used sweet sherry because I have this on hand for the trifle)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 3 days before using. Will keep for up to 6 months, covered and refrigerated.

My Little Cook

Miss Berry loves to cook and for the past few months she has told me when she grows up she wants to be a chef and bake cakes. (And no, this is not because of MasterChef).

Personally, I am encouraging her cooking. I figure by the time she is 5, I can get her cooking most of our meals. A five year old can use an oven and cook top unsupervised right? Imagine all the spare time I would have to catch up on my web-surfing if I didn't have to cook dinner each night.

The cleaning of the kitchen may be another matter. Once we have done the cooking, Miss Berry suddenly finds the whole thing very boring and moves on to something else, only to return in time for the taste testing.

Here is Miss Berry being totally absorbed in Play School whilst I cleaned up the flour she managed to sift everywhere but into the bowl this afternoon.


But even though I have been demoted to kitchen hand, I am really enjoying the time we spend together in the kitchen. And so far, she seems to be a good cook. Here is the (little) cake she made today:

A carrot, zucchini and pineapple cake.

I made one too, although mine is a more grown up size. Miss Berry's is sitting on a saucer to give you the idea of the size. Mine is also iced in an equally grown up lemon cream cheese icing. Yum.

Thankfully this cake is a weight watchers recipe because we also made caramel slice. I think I have put on 5kgs just by inhaling the smell of the cooking caramel and the chocolate topping.

I am sure the two will balance each other out. Or perhaps they cancel each other out.

Lemon Iced Tea

I have been experimenting with iced tea lately. I love the Lipton Lemon Iced Tea but I don't want to be drinking so many unnecessary ingredients. (Mainly too much sugar!)

Here is the recipe I am using at the moment:

4 tea bags
1 cup of boiling water
3 and a bit cups of room temperature water
1/2 tbsp honey
3 or 4 tsp lemon juice

1. Steep the teabags in the boiling water for about 4 mins.
2. Remove tea bags and stir in honey til dissolved.
3. Add tea mixture to a 1L jug and add remaining water and lemon juice
4. Chill tea and serve with lots of ice, a slice of lemon and some mint.

Easy! And a lot cheaper than the bottles I have been buying.

A New Oven

So, it turns out our oven is broken and cannot be repaired. The exact phrase was:

"It's over 10 years old so the parts aren't made anymore".

What?

It is stainless steel - it can't be that old. But no, apparently 10 years is over the hill in oven years (perhaps they age similar to dogs).

The current oven is gas, but I think I want an electric one. I have checked out CHOICE and read their reports on ovens and apparently gas is no longer all it's cracked up to be. Electric ovens have improved over the years and an electric oven can have so many cooking options that they can be much more versatile than a gas oven.

Here is my wish list for my oven:

• Non marking stainless steel (for grubby little finger marks)
• External Grill (or super duper internal grill that won't splash fat through the entire oven)
• At least three shelf positions
• Cooking options like fan or different elements on or off
• Self cleaning - but will heating the oven to high temps damage my timber kitchen?
• A side opening door sounds really nice but not at the expense of other things on my list
• A door with a large window so I can see the food without having to open the door during cooking
• Shelves that won't tip when they are half pulled out and have safety stoppers so they won't come all the way out by accident.
• A smokeless grill tray (especially if we go for an internal grill)
• A non-tilting grill tray with stoppers like the oven shelves as well as a grill tray that comes out far enough to reach food at the back of the tray.
• A shield on the front of the grill element to stop burnt fingers

Other things to check:

• The inside dimensions
• Energy Efficiency
• How easy it is to get to the bulb
• Ease of removing shelves for cleaning plus lack of nooks and crannies on the inside of the oven.
• The warranty length
• Service times etc.

So that's my check list for today. Hopefully by the weekend we will have purchased one. I had no idea how much I rely on using an oven.

Perfect Rice

I have been searching for the perfect rice recipe and I think I have found it. It is from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food Cookbook.

Serves 4 (I think it is more like 6 serves)

• 350g basmati rice
• sea salt

Put a large saucepan of salted water on a high heat and bring to the boil.
Rinse rice in a colander under running water til water runs clear (this takes about 1 min).
Add rice to saucepan and wait til the grains start dancing around.
From that point boil for 5 minutes.
Drain rice in colander
Pour 2.5cm of water into the saucepan and bring it to the boil then turn down to a simmer.
Cover the rice in the colander with foil or a lid
Place colander on top of the saucepan of simmering water and let the rice steam for 8-10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and serve.
The rice will stay warm for about 20 minutes with the foil left on the colander.

Reducing Our Food Miles

One of the ways we are trying to reduce our carbon footprint is by buying locally produced food. We do not seem to have a farmers market in our area where the stall holders are actually farmers so until I can find a really local source for our food, I am aiming for Australian Produce.

The term ‘food miles’ refers to the distance a food has travelled from the time of production to your plate. Obviously, the further your food travels, the more energy is consumed and the higher the carbon output. Food miles does not take into account the amount of energy needed to produce the food which can vary widely, but I think that is an issue for another day.

In Australia, we have two labels to look out for and they each mean slightly different things - Australian Made and Product of Australia.
Australian Made means that a product is ‘made’ in Australia and at least 50% of the cost of production occurs in Australia. This can mean that a lot of the raw materials may be sourced from overseas and made into the product you will buy in Australia. Of course it can also mean that the majority of the raw materials are from Australia.
Product of Australia means that the main ingredients are made in Australia and the manufacturing or processing is also done in Australia. This label signifies that the majority, if not the entire product comes from Australia.
There is another label you sometimes see that is Australian Grown (I also see Produce of Australia). This one is pretty self explanatory and means that the major ingredients have been grown in Australia. If this label is on a product with more than one ingredient, be aware that there can be some imported ingredients but they won’t be the main ones. If you are looking at a product that only has a single ingredient such as fruit and veg then you will know that they have been grown in Australia.

When you look at the definitions of these three labels, it seems that the Australian Made label is a bit of a joke. They may have put the bits together in Australia, but if the bits come from all over the world then I think it really defeats the point. I am looking out for Products of Australia or Grown in Australia and am looking for alternatives when I can only find products from overseas.

We are starting our local buying in the supermarket and will move to other areas from there. Just adjusting your supermarket purchases is a big task and it is one that will make a huge difference. So far I have found about half of our grocery items are already products of Australia and 99% of our fruit , veg and meat is from Australia.

I go to a number of different supermarkets to do the grocery shopping including Coles, Aldi, Franklins, IGA as well as my local butcher and grocer. My butcher only sells Australian meat and the grocer clearly labels the origin of their produce.

I was surprised that Aldi had a lot of Australian products, as do the other supermarkets, but there are some things across all shops that I am having trouble with - the main ones being canned vegetables and beans. I haven’t checked Coles yet, but I am yet to find canned tomatoes, beans or legumes that are from Australia. The majority of them come from Italy. I am not sure what to do if I can’t find Australian canned tomatoes as I use so many, especially in winter. I haven’t needed to buy dried legumes yet so I am not sure if I can use them as an alternative to canned beans and lentils.

So, I will keep searching and hopefully, over the next month or two my trolley will only contain Products of Australia and our carbon footprint will be reduced even further. I must admit, it is not an easy task as it requires a complete rethink of the way we do our shopping but I definitely believe the effort is worth it.

Biggest Kitchen Table – Preserving in a Water Bath

This month’s topic at the biggest kitchen table is preserving using a water bath. Preserving is something that most people put into the “oh how cute, you make your own instead of buying one from the shops” category. I find a lot of people think preserving is now a waste of time and is old fashioned.

Now, I completely disagree with this. Firstly, have you ever read the ingredients list on a store bought jar of relish or chutney? There is usually a long list of ingredients that are added to preserve, flavor and colour the product. I like to know exactly what is in the food I am giving to my family. A lot of preserves are also imported and one of our goals is to reduce our food miles so that is another strike against the store option.

I also get an immense satisfaction when I make my own preserves. I enjoy seeing the delight on people’s faces when I give away extra jars as well as the enjoyment people get from eating my preserves. I suppose homemade preserves are reasonably rare and they are treated as something special (as compared to a store bought jar).

When I researched preserving I was concerned about the risk of botulism contamination. To minimize the risk, I decided to buy a Fowlers Valcola Preserving Kit (actually, it was a birthday gift – thanks again Mum). This ensures an even temperature of the water and so far I haven’t had a failed seal. It's very easy to use, comes with really easy instructions and recipes and I would recommend them to anyone thinking of preserving. Here is the link to a site that sells them.

I also have some FV jars but when I made my first chutney, I had too much for the jars and ended up using some jam jars I had in the cupboard (never throw out glass jars, they can be used for so many things). I actually found the jam jars to be just as good – better than FV because you use the same screw top lid when the jars are opened. I now prefer to use glass jars that I have saved. The lids do need to be checked to make sure there isn’t any damage done to the underside rubbery bit. You can buy new lids here and here.
I store my jars in my storage pantry which is under the house. It was once a dark room and is, of course, dark as well as having an even temperature and is dry. Each jar is also labeled with the date, the contents, and which recipe I used. Storing them on an open shelf in the kitchen may look fantastic but it will quickly ruin your hard work. Perhaps a recipe is needed that will look good on the shelf but isn’t for eating? Note to self: google.

There are heaps of recipes on the web for all sorts of preserves. I started with a recipe from the web for my mango chutney and tweaked it here and there until I was happy with it. I also borrowed a few books from the library on preserving, but my favourite is A Year in a Bottle by Sally Wise.
Sally has heaps of recipes that are easy to follow and I think it makes a great book if you are just starting out or are unsure about adjusting recipes – there are so many different recipes in this book you don’t need to adjust anything.

I tend to be a bit of a sucker for homemade preserves from markets. I also like to support cottage industries. When we were down at the Sapphire Coast in January, I picked up some tomato pickles at the Bega markets. The man selling them was either old enough to be my grandfather or he spent way too much time in the sun. He said it was his mother-in-law that does the cooking and preserving and he travels to the local markets to sell them. Now that I think about it, he must have just spent too much time in the sun, otherwise his mother in law would be 110. As you can see the jar is almost empty – Mr Berry puts it on just about everything.

My favourite though, is beetroot relish. I haven’t been able to find a recipe I am happy with yet but I did find a yummy jar at the same markets at Bega. I am the only one in the house that likes it so it should last me long enough to continue tweaking my recipe. Beetroot relish is great on homemade burgers.

I know I haven’t really talked much about the technique of preserving. If you are after clear instructions please visit Down to Earth. There really isn’t any point in re-inventing the wheel and Rhonda’s instructions are fantastic (as always). Here is also the link to my mango chutney recipes.

If you have been thinking about preserving then the best way to start is to jump right in. It can be a bit daunting at first but once you get going it really isn’t any different to making a bolognaise sauce.

Mango Chutney

image by visualdensity

I love mangoes. I mean I really, really love mangoes. I could live on them throughout the entire season and not get sick of eating them.

But, a box of mangoes will only keep for so long and when you have two boxes...

I decided to try my hand at some mango chutney and since I had so many mangoes I made two different chutneys.

Mango Chutney 1

1 ½ kg mango flesh – diced
600g sugar
500ml white vinegar (2 cups)
1 ½ cups sultanas
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp fresh ginger – grated
1 tsp mixed spice
Scant ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
6 peppercorns
6 cloves
6 lge cloves garlic, finely chopped

Boil mangoes and sultanas in vinegar for 15mins. Add other ingredients, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 45 mins or until thick. Stir all the time to prevent the bottom burning. Pour into sterilised jars and seal.


Mango Chutney 2

1 ½ kg mango flesh, diced
500g onion, chopped
1 ½ cups sultanas
500g sugar
500ml vinegar
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cloves, ground
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp curry powder
1 scant tsp nutmeg
2 scant dessert spoons salt

I was a bit lazier with this lot and threw everything into the pot and brought to the boil. I then reduced it to a simmer for about an hour or until it was thick. You will still need to keep stirring. Pour into sterilized jars and seal

Chutney 1 is probably the nicer of the two but chutney 2 is a lot sweeter – possibly because of the onions. I liked the idea of a sweet mango chutney and I think the heat of the garlic and ginger in the first recipe also affected the sweetness. The spices, ginger and garlic in the first one would be good for a tomato chutney though.

I think next year I will combine the two recipes and make my chutney something like this:

Next Year’s Chutney

1.5kg mango flesh, diced
500g onions, chopped
1 ½ cups of sultanas or raisins (raisins may be sweeter)
500g sugar
500ml vinegar
1 tsp mixed spice
6 cloves or so
1 tsp mustard seed
1 scant tsp nutmeg
Scant ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp salt


I have a Fowlers Vacola preserving kit which was given to me as a birthday present last year and it has worked really well in sealing the jars – all of them ended up sealing properly. I will definitely be preserving excess produce from now on. I usually freeze my home grown veggies but I think I will also keep an eye out for fruit specials too and buy bulk lots when they are in season.

1 Day Til Christmas

Hopefully, today should be calm. I am making progress with my list of things to do and only have a few things I haven’t crossed off. I do have to make a trip to the supermarket today. We have a major supermarket that is tucked away under apartments here and it is usually pretty quiet. Hopefully today won’t be too bad.

I have decided to try and buy some supermarket salads rather than try and make 4 different salads on Christmas Day. I can then spend more time with Mr Berry and Miss Berry on Christmas morning. I will still do a garden salad (imagine a pre-made garden salad, can someone say soggy?) and there will be a homemade potato and cabbage salad.

Angela, here is the Chilled Mulled Wine recipe. I found it on the Taste website and this will be the first year I have made it. I made the syrup yesterday and it made the house smell divine. It tastes nice too (although very sweet on its own).

Chilled Mulled Wine

250ml (1 cup) fresh orange juice, strained
55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
2 x 7cm cinnamon sticks
8 whole cloves
2 x 750ml bottles chilled sparkling shiraz

Stir orange juice, sugar, cinnamon and cloves in a saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes or until syrup thickens. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.
Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 3 hours to infuse.
Remove and discard the cinnamon sticks and cloves. Pour syrup among serving glasses. Top with sparkling wine and serve immediately.

Serves 12.

Australian Good Taste - December 2005, Page 62 Recipe by Sarah Hobbs

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/2013/chilled+mulled+wine

Still Pursuing the Perfect Loaf

I have made bread twice this week. The first loaf that I mentioned here still wasn’t right. I think the problem is the kneading. The bread is turning out similar to what it did when I first started making bread by hand – I don’t think the machine is kneading the dough for long enough. I made another loaf yesterday but used some bread improver that I purchased at the supermarket and the bread turned out really well.


I really really don’t want to use bread improver though. Here are the ingredients: Sugar, Mineral Salts (170, 516), Emulsifiers (472E Soy), Wheat Flour, Soy Flour, Malt Flour, Anticaking Agent (504) Flour Treatment Agents (223, 300), Enzyme (Amylase 1100).


I have no idea what the numbers mean but I assume they are artificial (please correct me if I am wrong) and I think it defeats the whole point of making your own bread if you are going to put all this into your loaf.


The other thing I will try is to add gluten flour to the mix and see if that makes any difference. I haven’t been able to find any locally yet but I can get it online. I could also try using different types of flour. I am using a bakers flour at the moment which I think is a stronger flour. Not sure if that makes it easier or harder to make a good loaf though.


The machine also has a dough setting. Perhaps I can use that setting first so the dough will get a double knead? I will try that too.


Haven’t had much time for Christmas sewing so over the next couple of weeks I will post pics of my other Christmas things that I made in previous years.

In Pursuit of the Perfect Loaf

My bread-maker bread did not work. I am not sure exactly why it didn’t work but wasn’t as good as my normal loaf and definitely needs improvement.


Rather than place the blame solely on the machine, I have decided to take my share. So, I have purchased a bread mix packet and I am baking up a loaf now. Hopefully, this will work and I can see what I can expect from my bread maker. I have also bought a packet of bread improver to try with my usual recipe. I am really not keen on using it on a regular basis though – it has so many ingredients and most of them are numbers. I may as well buy my bread!

I will track my ‘tweaking’ of the recipe here so I at least have a record of my trials and errors. I have a tendency to not write these things down.

I have just finished a Christmas cushion:


The plan is to make three cushions for Christmas. This one, a stitchery one and one using Suffolk Puffs. I have started the Suffolk Puff one and will try to get it done within the week.

The Dilemma of Bread Making

I know it has been a while since I have posted but I think Christmas is catching up with me – I have been so busy. I will try my hardest to keep posting regularly this month.

Our family loves homemade bread – Miss Berry will only eat homemade bread. The problem with spending all that time kneading and leaving it to rise and kneading again is that it takes up a good portion of the morning. And when I do make bread, it gets eaten within a day or two and I have to repeat the process whereas store bought bread ends up in the freezer for almost a week.

The fact is that although I am trying to lead a simple life, our lives are still busy and lots of things need to be done on a daily basis and my gorgeous girl needs to entertained almost constantly (you can imagine how it is half way through the first knead and she suddenly goes quiet – that tends to be a concern).


So, I have taken the plunge and sourced a second hand bread maker (thanks Robyn). I wanted to find a second hand one to prevent it going to land fill and also to save some dosh.

The thing is, a bit of me feels like I have sold out – I am like an independent grunge band that has just signed to a major label. I have lost my roots and forgotten about the fans that made my success possible and am now writing songs to be played on a commercial radio station that is usually reserved for Top 40 songs.

So, will I now be shunned by the hard working, hand kneading bread makers of the world? I hope not. Using the bread maker is the best way for my family to have regular homemade bread and I can spend that time with Miss Berry; she is growing so quickly I don’t want to miss a moment. It will relieve some stress from me as it will be one less thing I need to do during the day and hopefully it will be a lot easier and quicker to clean.

I suppose I am saying that everyone’s situation is different and we all have to do things in the best way for our lifestyle and family. Perhaps when Miss Berry is older I can go back to hand making bread or perhaps I will have perfected my recipe in the bread maker and will use my time for something else.

For the time being though, this old grunger is going Top 40 all the way.

Bread and Biscuits

I have had a really slack week on the housework front and so yesterday I did all the housework. I usually like to spread the jobs over the week to keep the house looking somewhat respectable.

If I get everything done by Friday then nothing has to be done over the weekend and we can spend it as a family and do things we enjoy without having chores hanging over our head.

It wasn’t all hard work though, I did some baking in the morning so when Miss Berry went down for her nap I made myself a pot of tea and sampled my efforts.

Home baked bread with jam and oat and apricot biscuits

Both Mr Berry and Miss Berry have pretty much polished off all the bread I made yesterday so it looks like I will have to make some more. That’s the problem with taking the time to bake things – they get eaten!

Rain has been forecast all weekend but the sun is out at the moment and I am getting ready to venture into the garden and do some much needed weeding. I also have some winter vegies that are well and truly gone to seed and need to be pulled up.

When I am out the back my fingers just itch to pull up some of the many overgrown weeds we have. The back garden near the vegies is really overgrown and I don’t think it is safe for Miss Berry to go down there with me, so the weekends are the only time I can get stuck into it. Here is a picture of the area I am talking about.

Electricity and Water Update:

For the past 2 days our electricity usage has averaged 6.5kw and our hot water 8kw. This is down from 9kw each from the previous day. Our water usage has gone from 330L to 280L.
I thought we have been pretty good with our energy and water conservation but it just goes to show you that you can always do more if you try.

The big change we have made with our electricity use is to turn off the computer and any other appliances we can at the power point. Now the lady at the electricity company told me not to bother as it doesn’t save you much money over the year and maybe it won’t, but it has reduced our usage by 18%. We may have been a tad more diligent in turning off lights as well but it is still a huge reduction.

After reading the comments on my last water and electricity posting here, I had a look at the todae site that Sarah recommended – thanks Sarah!

Our toilet is very old and has a lever on the side rather than a button so I need to check that I can use a cistern weight but I have filled 2 soft drink bottles with water and placed them in the cistern (the cistern is so big that they are well away from any parts). This means that we are saving 3L every time we flush our toilet. It is making small changes like this that will add up to make the bigger savings.

Thank you to everyone for your comments and suggestions.

Chicken Stock and Ginger Beer

Sunday night I cooked a roast chicken and since then we have been eating the leftovers. Monday night was toasted sandwiches and last night I cooked a chicken risotto. In true simple living fashion, I picked the bones clean but rather than throw them out, I made chicken stock.

Homemade chicken stock is so much nicer than the bought stuff, and it makes the kitchen smell divine. Put it on as you are cooking dinner.

Homemade Chicken Stock

Throw the bones of 1 chicken into a large pot with vegies – usually I use a leek, onion, a couple of carrots, some celery stalks and 2 cloves of garlic. I also add whatever herbs I have on hand but always add 2 bay leaves. Last night I added sage, lemon thyme, parsley and rosemary.

Add enough water to well and truly cover everything and put the pan on the stove with a lid. It needs to simmer for at least 2.5 hours. The bones should basically crumble away.

I then take it off the stove, strain and reserve the liquid. The bits can then get thrown away.

Refrigerate the stock overnight and in the morning skim off as much as the fat from the top as you want and either use the stock or freeze. I freeze the stock into various portions – 1tbs fits into ice cubes and half cups and full cups go into sweet n sour sauce containers and baby jars.

Easy!

I am just waiting for the stock cubes to freeze so I can freeze the rest of the stock. Once that is done I can use the pot to finish off my ginger beer. This is the second plant I have made.

It hasn’t foamed as much as the first one I did and there isn’t as many bubbles but I will see what happens after it is bottled. I am also going to adjust the sugar syrup. The last batch was too sweet for me. The recipe I used called for 4 cups of sugar to 22 cups of water but this time I might reduce the sugar to 3 cups and see what happens. I will also start a new plant so I have lots of bottles to give away over Christmas.

My New Gardening Tip

Just a quick post today as we are heading off to the art gallery to see Monet.

I learnt of this trick to keep slugs and snails off seedlings:

It is a food can that the bottom has been taken off making a cylinder. This is pressed into the ground around the seedling and stops the slugs getting to the seedling. Once the seedling has grown past the stage where it is at risk of being completely eaten you can remove the can and use it on another seedling. I have used the small and larger cans and so far it is working really well. You can see in the photo the basil on right was chomped on before I put the can on. The seedling on the left is a Black Russian Tomato.

You may have also noticed that I have used a mix of sugar cane and shredded paper for my mulch. I have used equal amounts of each and mixed it together before spreading it on the bed. We have a severe weed problem and this is the only way I can stop the weeds coming through.

An update on yesterday:

I did get some cooking done.

This is the lentil hotpot I made up for Miss Berry. I always have some in the freezer and I use it as my convenience food for her. She will eat it hot or cold.

Lentil Hot Pot

1 carrot

1 stick of celery

small potato or swede or similar

1 clove garlic

2 tbsp dried red lentils

2 tbsp rice

1 tin of tomatos
1 tsp tomato paste

parsley to taste

Add everything excpet the parsley in a saucepan and add enough water or stock to cover. Simmer covered for about 30 mins or until veges and rice are soft, adding water if neccessary. You can also blend this so that little bubs can eat eat.

Once cooked, I let it cool and then put into clean baby food jars and then freeze - super easy and yummy!

Baking Day

The plan was to spend the day in the kitchen. Not only do I need to clean out the pantry and the fridge but I also need to do some baking. I like to have some snacks in the freezer so I thought I would make some corn and ham muffins for Miss Berry and some banana cake and oat and apricot biscuits for us. On the list of baking was also some bolognaise sauce which I freeze in Miss Berry sized portions and a lentil and rice hotpot that I also freeze up for Miss Berry.
I have already made up some breakfast cereal this morning.

Home-Made Muesli
1 ½ cups rolled oats
2 tblsp wheat germ
½ cup oat bran
½ cup bran
½ cup sultanas
¼ cup goji berries

I mixed this together and I served it with stewed apricots and prunes for Miss Berry and with yoghurt and some mixed nuts for Mr Berry and myself. It was very nice but I think I might try a toasted version next time.

But, that is all I have done so far because my darling Miss Berry has decided to do this ...





... and when I stop her she throws herself back and starts crying. So it looks like I am going to have a day of teaching her to sit calmly on the lounge and to get down without hurting herself.

I just had to snap the photo, how cute are those little toes?

Banana Muffins

We were off to Mother's Group today and I baked some banana muffins for the little ones and of course the not so little ones. It is my understanding that because the mini muffins fit in your mouth in one go they are 'fat free'. Please do not correct me if I am mistaken although confirmations are welcome.
Everyone loved the muffins and they were inhaled as soon as I put them on the table.

Banana Muffins

2 cups self raising flour
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
125g unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
2 mashed bananas

Sift flour and stir in the sugar. Add the butter, egg and banana and ¾ of the milk. Mix with a wooden spoon and add more milk if needed. Spoon into greased muffin trays and bake in an oven preheated to 180oC for 15-20mins or until golden.
Remove from trays and allow to cool on a wire rack. Alternatively, risk burnt fingers and break muffins open and smear with butter and eat whilst hot.

I can usually get about 36 mini muffins or 12 mini muffins and 12 normal sized muffins from this recipe. I tend to freeze most of them as soon as they are cool.

I find it so satisfying to bake something from scratch.

It's more than being frugal by not buying packet mix or using mushy bananas instead of throwing them out. It's about taking the time to prepare our food rather than mindlessly picking something with huge amounts of packaging and preservatives off the supermarket shelf. It's about having the ability to whip up afternoon tea when friends drop in with ingredients from my pantry. Its about being aware of what is in the food I give my family. It is all of these things and more; it is also a very small step towards living a simpler life.