Summer garden

The madness of Christmas has subsided and my garden was in desperate need of some tlc. My tomato, zucchini, bean and cucumber seedlings were growing nicely as the weather has been warmer. However, they were slowly being taken over by weeds!

Today was a mild morning so it wasn't too hot to spend a couple of hours weeding. I dread weeding but the end result is always worth it and my plants will reward me later with summer veg:-) 

I also visited the nursery later and bought some more seedlings ( eggplant, chilli, capsicum, more herbs and beans ), and some sugar cane mulch to try and keep those weeds away!

Let's see how long it is before harvest!

Creamy basil pesto recipe

This is a recipe that I've been cooking now for about 10 years and am yet to find anyone who dislikes it. It's healthy ish, green, garlicky, filling and doesn't take long to make.

You will need.

Packet of pasta of your choice

Bunch of basil

5 cloves of garlic

300ml ish of cream of your choice...I used thickened

5 tablespoons of pine nuts 

Handful of Parmesan and extra to serve

About half a cup of olive oil

Salt to taste

Method

Start by browning your pine nuts in a frypan until lightly brown over a low to medium heat.

In a blender add a quater of a cup of oil, your basil bunch, crushed garlic cloves and pine nuts.

Start blending your mix. You may find that not much is happening. If this occurs start to add the remainder of your oil in stream from the top. I often turn it off, open it and squash it all down with a spoon to help it along. Continue to process until you get a smooth mixture.

At this stage add a handful of Parmesan and process again. Add about a teaspoon of salt or less depending on your preference. When you taste your pesto at this stage, the garlic will be very strong. Don't stress! The cream will mellow it down. If you still find after eating this dish that the garlic is too strong then reduce the cloves until you find what works. Remember though that garlic in this raw form has amazing medicinal properties!

Once you have your pesto mix, bring some water to the boil in a large pot and cook your pasta according to the cooking instructions. Today we had ricotta and spinach tortellini. If you have the skills and a great amount of time, make your own pasta. It tastes divine with gnocchi.

In the same pan that you browned your pine nuts in, over a low heat add your cream. Combine that gently with all of the pesto and slowly simmer.

Once your pasta has finished cooking, strain it and return to the pot. Add all of the cream sauce and gently combine.

Enjoy!

You could also add some browned pine nuts on top. I've also made this with some cooked chicken. If your brave, you could skip the cream and just stir through the pesto with the pasta.

New beginning

So I have been slow to write and my garden has been much the same. Times have been busy but I am now settling into a new place. Part of my settling in involves setting up my own little space in the garden so I began to do just that.

Fortunately I have a space in the backyard which pretty much has all the hard work done. Garden beds ready to plant my summer crop. We have had a pretty cold and wet spring but now I think it's starting to dry up and we are receiving more and more sunny days.

In the past I've bought a whole bunch of seedlings for summer without giving it much thought. That summer you end up with an overgrown jungle with veggies growing everywhere and you forget what you planted in the first place. I'm sure some of you are nodding your heads! So this year I held back and just thought about what I actually eat and buy and what I have space for. The seedling list consisted of green beans, Lebanese cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, basil and parsley. I also threw in watermelon just for an experiment!

Speaking of experiments, I decided to mix in mushroom compost instead of the usual manure and I've given my veggies more room, hoping it will keep them happy and in return yield a bigger harvest. No harm in trying, we'll see what happens!

I also transplanted some of my herbs from my previous property that had given me success but I think they'll just stay in pots for now. All I need now is a bit more sunshine!

Spring Garden

The sun is shining, the days are longer, our spirits are lifted and my plants are smiling. Today I marvelled at how productive my garden has been over the slow, cold winter months.

These geraniums have come a long way. I look forward to blooming red flowers reminding me of the balconies in Paris.

 

I hacked this lemon tree so hard last summer. I was beginning to wonder whether it was ever going to bear fruit again....I spotted some lovely flowers which gave me hope that I will harvest some lovely lemons again.

My dwarf apple tree was bare over winter. You sometimes wonder whether the are still alive but with a glimpse of sunshine they remind they were just having a little sleep!

I have been so happy with my herbs this year. They have all flourished and I've been able to continually  harvest all year. 

This young orange tree only gave 2 oranges last year. I have tended to it this year but improving the soil with organic matter and it looks like this year will be plentiful with oranges. There are masses of flowers and small oranges growing as the temperature rises.

I will be moving to a new property soon so unfortunately I won't be able to enjoy the citrus harvest this summer. However, i will be taking my pots with me and growing a spring crop in the new garden. Stay tuned...

Small Spring Harvest: Homemade Hamburgers

Spring is upon us and the sun is shining :) We still get the occasional shower or two but other than that it is far better than winter...for my garden anyway. My plants have been enjoying the extra sunshine. So today I have an easy recipe for hamburgers using a small harvest from my garden :)

Today's little harvest included some continental parsley, spinach and kale.

For the hamburgers you will need:
500g of regular mince beef
some greens chopped up finely...in my case, my harvest for the day
1 onion finely chopped
1 egg
teaspoon of ground cumin
teaspoon of ground coriander
1 crushed clove of garlic
1/4 cup of polenta or bread crumbs to combine, use more if you need
salt and pepper

I must add that my measurements are EXTREMELY approximate so don't feel you have to measure everything exactly.

Combine all the ingredients with your HANDS so that it is well combined and shape into 6 hamburgers. Now lately I have been cooking my hamburgers in a moderate oven, 180 degree Celsius and have found it much easier than cooking them on the fry pan. Just place them on some baking paper on a baking tray with no oil. Pop them in for about 15 minutes and check on them. When they are brown underneath, turn them over and continue to cook until the other side is brown. You will find that by using this method your hamburgers will not break apart as mine sometimes do in the fry pan when I don't have time to set them in the fridge for a while. Once they are cooked pop them into hamburger rolls and add all your favourite fillings...enjoy!

Raw Chocolate Brownies (Guilt Free!)

More and more people in today's world are realising the damaging effects of certain foods to their health. This could range from gluten to wheat to dairy to white sugar to meat or to anything else for that matter. Whether you are cutting out meat, wheat, dairy or all animal foods I have a delicious recipe that is free of all of the above! Just because we may eliminate certain foods for our own personal reasons, it does not mean that we deprive ourselves of life's pleasure. Instead, it means that you embrace life and continue to enjoy your sweet treats, in this case brownies. You will find that making changes to your diet is not a life of deprivation where you live off lettuce leaves and water. It means that you live a little more consciously to research alternative ingredients that are beneficial to your health instead of using those that are detrimental.

So today I have a recipe for Raw Chocolate Brownies

You will need....
1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of pitted dates
2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
5 tablespoons of organic cacoa powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of agave nectar

Method

1. Begin by blitzing your walnuts in a food processor until it resembles a crumb mixture.
 2. Add your dates and continue to blitz.
 3. Transfer this mixture to a mixing bowl where you add the remainder of your ingredients.

 4. Mix with a spoon to combine.
5. Press the mixture into your desired dish...not too big
6. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours minimum.
Enjoy!

Ps. next time I will try a chocolate avocado frosting to go on top...stay tuned!

Homemade Laundry Liquid

Is there anybody out there who actually enjoys paying for laundry liquid? It's one of those items that can add significant amounts to your grocery bill. There is a way to stop buying this product forever and save heaps of money in the long run. You can make your own! You make a batch of 10 litres and for a family of 4 where I do quite a lot of washing, it lasts me months and months. I made up my second batch today and it took no longer than 15 minutes. I can't even remember the last time I made it.

The only ingredients that you will need to make this is: borax, washing soda, soap flakes (you can buy Lux soap flakes or grate a bar of your own; i grate a bar of Sard soap) and water. You can buy all of these at your supermarket, no need to hunt far and wide.

As you can see you will need 10 litres of containers to put it all in. The first time I did it I didn't have any glass ones and they simply went into recyled soft drink or milk cartons. That's just fine and I still don't have enough glass bottles, still using one soft drink bottle! Over time you can start collecting recycled bottles that may come from cordial or passata. I sometimes venture down to trash and treasure markets where you can pick up some nice vintage bottles like the one below.

The liquid in these jars all looks nicely combined...that's because it is still warm from this morning. After 24 hours it will cool down and then separate. You'll be left with a jelly like substance on top and then water down the bottom. It is essential that you leave a gap at the top so that you can shake it to combine the contents before you use it. You only need to use a 1/4 cup per load.

This is a such a versatile product. You can use it for many things around the house. You could even put some in a jar in your kitchen and use it to wipe down your benches. If you mix 1/2 a cup of laundry liquid with some bicarb to make a thick paste, it makes an excellent cleaner for your sinks and baths.

Give it ago! The full recipe can be found here at Rhonda's blog. Never buy laundry liquid again!!

Baking Biscuits

I woke up to a pretty miserable morning here in my part of the world. It was cold and drizzly. I had plans to go to a great second hand market that runs every Sunday as hubby offered to let me venture on my own, minus my little girls. Despite the weather, I went and it was lovely and quiet. I was able to take my time and browse through the many bargains. I was after some clothes to be able to wear to work and out and about. I bought 2 great woolen skirts; one was a very dark purple which just needs a new zip, the other was a tweed pattern and my third item was a nice cream summer dress with blue spots all over. I got all 3 for $25 and all in great condition, looking nice and vintage :)

The cookie jar was looking fairly empty so I thought I'd bake up a batch with my daughter. She loved it. The recipe is from Rhonda's blog, here. I bet you have most of the ingredients yourself....

Ingredients

500g softened butter
1 cup of sugar
1 tin of condensed milk
5 cups of self raising flour (plain or wholemeal) I've made both and are both great

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Start off by creaming the butter and sugar. You can do it by hand or with an electric mixer. I do it by hand cos I'm too lazy to get out my mixer and why not save some electricity in the process!

Once it's nice and creamed, add the condensed milk and mix it well. Then add your flour and combine well. I start off mixing it with a wooden spoon and then get my hands in to make sure it's all combined.

Line some baking trays with baking paper. Take heaped teaspoons of the batter, roll into a ball and flatten slightly with your thumb. You can add any toppings you like. We added some cinnamon sugar, hundreds and thousands, lemon curd and chocolate. You could also add nuts, jam, anything you have on hand.

Then bake in the oven for around 15-20mins and let them cool.

Lemon curd topped biscuits baking

My little helper :)

It filled my cookie jar!

There were actually too many for the jar....they won't last long :)

Growing Garlic Update

So I planted my garlic cloves as you've seen in my previous post and all was going along reasonably well. The garlic was growing and I thought I'd just keep tending to it and harvest at the end of spring.

My grand father in law was over on the weekend and he was happy with my garlic BUT they he said they needed more room for the bulbs to develop. So I took the 89 year old's advice and replanted my garlic.

My garden has these awful native shrubs. Well they aren't awful, but for someone who generally only likes to grow food I can eat, it took up my growing space! So I got the saw out and started cutting back big time! I've decided I'm going to hack them all back to the trunk and grow my veg around it. Landlord can't get cross for that...I'm keeping their plants but just not letting them grow!

His advice was to plant them directly into the soil and have about a hand spand's width between each shoot. I took those tips on board, covered it with mulch and scattered some lemon slices around to keep the cats away! No joke, it's only been a couple of days and they have increased it height. :)

The new garlic patch

Snow Pea Harvest

It's been a little while since I've posted anything. I've been busy knitting dish cloths. They're coming along really well. It's winter here and the garden is always a bit slow in the cold season but I do have some exciting news to share about my first snow pea harvest! I planted my snow peas in a pot from seed and I was beginning to wonder...would I ever harvest these things!

My snow pea pot sits on the steps of my bungalow beside the clothesline so every time I went out to hang my clothes I'd check to see if any snow peas were popping out..and one day there was a teeny tiny one :)

Their taste is far superior to anything I'd ever bought from a supermarket. They are smaller, crisp and not stringy at all. My daughter loves them too. They are yet to make it into the house!

There are still many flowers on the plant and many more snow peas for my daughter and I to enjoy :)

It really was very easy to grow. All it took was an old pot found in the garden, some potting mix, seeds and covered up with some mulch. I tried to create some sort of tee pee for the plant to climb on. This was created by finding some old, long branches or sticks in the back yard...nothing fancy at all. I wasn't even that regular with watering. When I thought about it I gave it some Seasol (maybe once a fortnight). When I plant this again I will mix the potting mix with some compost to see if the results differ..I'm sure they will. How's your snow pea harvest going ?

Knitting Dish Cloths

My dear grandmother is very unwell with lung cancer at the moment. Recently I've been reflecting on my life with her and everything she has taught me. One skill that she taught me as a young girl was knitting, such a valuable skill that has remained with me all my life.

I'm a frugal mum who is always looking for a new way to save money for my family and help the environment. Rhonda Hetzel at Down to Earth is an inspiration and has many many ideas on how we can make our lives simpler and more sustainable. One of her suggestions is to stop buying things that we throw out like sponges, chux wipes, papers towel..all the things i HATE spending money on. All those items can be replaced by knitting your own dish cloths :)They are knitted with 100% cotton and will last about 5 years. So off to Spotlight I went, bought some cotton and knitted away....If you'd read more about knitting dish cloths on Rhonda's blog, click here.

My first dish cloth

Green Smoothie Recipe #2

So it's 3.30pm on a raining Wednesday afternoon in Melbourne and I have intentions of going to a yoga class later on. All you yogis out there know that it is best not eat for a few hours before your class. This often means that I don't eat dinner with my family and will eat dinner after my yoga class, usually at about 9pm. So that means that my last proper meal is usually at about 1pm. It's always best to have something nutritious as your last meal so I decided to whip up a green smoothie...and this one is actually green! :)

Recipe:
1 large celery stalk..leaves and all
2 large cos lettuce leaves
1 small apple...core and all
1 banana
juice of 1 small lemon
half a cup of water

Whizz it all up in a blender and consume straight away! This is enough for 1. If you're going to give this ago, I suggest maybe only adding the juice of half a lemon...it was a bit tangy but still delicious!

Friday's Harvest- 7-6-13

This afternoon there was a tinge of sunshine so it was time to pull out the never ending weeds that take over my garden! As I was pulling out the weeds around my beetroot, I notice a teeny tiny beetroot coming out of the soil so I decided to pull it out!

My 4 year old decided that she suddenly lovvveed beetroot and ate it raw! There's no way she would've eaten that if it came from a store!

Beautiful beetroot stained lips

Sewing the Classic Tote

It had been over 6 months since i had dusted off the sewing machine. I had the urge to sew something for a dear friend of mine for her birthday. As my sewing skills are a bit rusty i decided to go back to a trusted tutorial for a nice classic tote bag. The full tutorial can be found here. http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2008/07/classic-tote-tutorial/. It's a really great tutorial for a basic sewer. Here are some snaps of the process....

a lovely pocket on the for keys, phone and other bits and pieces...

i discovered the triple stitch function on my machine...ill be using that again

all finished for my friend :)

Green smoothie recipe

For those of you just trying out ' green smoothies' the hardest part can be figuring out how to make one that is palatable! When I started making these I was adding far too much green and was therefore forcing myself to drink it as it didn't taste great! I'm now adding more fruit with less greens and they taste much better:-) as my taste buds adjust, ill add more greens. For the beginners out there, give this ago. This serves 1.
1/2 cup water
1 large silverbeet leaf
1 lime, pith removed
1 apple
Handful of frozen blueberries.
Wizz it all around in a blender until smooth and drink straight away.

As you can see it's not really 'green'. It was before I added blue berries. My 4 year old watched all the ingredients go in and even she polished it off. Can't be that bad!

Australian College of Classical Yoga

So it'd been a couple of weeks since I had done a yoga class and both my mind and body were in desperate need of a class. Recently I've started just attending classes just casually at different studios rather than committing to one place. So tonight I headed down to the Australian College of Classical Yoga www.classicalyoga.com.au and did an amazing class. It went for 1.5 hours and was the perfect combination of savasana, asana and meditation all in one. The class even finished off with a bit of chanting! :) Thoroughly recommend the place. I'll definitely be back :) One of my lifetime goals is to get my yoga teaching qualification and teach yoga...This place I did my class at tonight actually does yoga teacher training so who knows what my practice there will lead to.....

Time to plant

As a busy Mum a had a million and one things to do today...house was a bombsite when I woke up so it wasn't a great start to the day. My to do list today were somewhere along the lines of dishes, cleaning rooms, washing, folding, take the kids to calesthenics, visit my grandparents and the list goes on. Somewhere in there i had my own to do list in the garden :) I was determined to get it done especially as I saw the sun shine after calesthenics! There is always so much to be done in the garden but just for today I really needed to replace my 3 basil plants that had reached the end of their season. Those 3 plants were being replaced with spinach and tarragon. I love to plant things that I can eat, sometimes you just need something pretty to look at in your garden. As I travelled through Paris I always admired the beautiful red geraniums lining the apartment balconies, so I thought I'd plant some of my own in hanging baskets.

Normally when I plant things from seedlings I tended to just use potting mix and top it up with sugar cane mulch. I would always water my plant in the pot first, then water the hole it was being planted into and once mulched I would give it one final watering to reduce stress to the plant. This method has worked reasonable well for me. As I've been reading other people's blogs I keep seeing people mixing their soil with organic matter. This is something I'm new to. I did it with my garlic but am yet to see the results. On the side of the road near my house were some bags of organic matter for sale, $2.50 a bag...bargain! I bought a couple and mixed in it with potting mix so we'll see what happens :)

My 3 basil plants in need of replacing

teeny tiny red geranium plants ready to bloom...hopefully!

hanging baskets

basil plants replaced with spinach x 2 and tarragon...never cooked with tarragon, any suggestions?