Jammy Jammy Jam Jam.

This past week has been good, it would have been better if it hadn't rained and been overcast every day. I read, knitted, watched dvds, sewed a little, today I topped it off by making a sticky mess in my kitchen. I made Strawberry Jam using Rhonda Jean's recipe, have 5 jars processing in a water bath right now. Was left with half a jar that we sampled on toast, the way my son added jam to our toast I can see the five jars not lasting long.

It took a bit longer to cook than I thought, my fault I was worried about it burning so had it turned down too low.

I usually prefer Raspberry to Strawberry Jam but this was way up there in preferences, I doubt that any store bought jam will ever be right for me now.

Redingote

WOW I am on a roll today, 3 posts, I am inspired.

The other day a friend posted on Facebook that she was after a green velvet jacket and it got me thinking that I would love a velvet jacket or coat too. Had a definite picture in my head along with the colour either purple or burgundy. I didn't know what the style of coat was called until I came across the word Redingcote on a link, I clicked it to see what it meant and found out what I was after was just that, also known as a Riding Coat.

The next thing was to get a pattern, that was either exact or adaptable. Didn't find much in the mainstream pattern companies so I put it to the back of my mind for a while. My daughter had been sitting at my desk and had left a pile of patterns, I glanced at each as I added to another pile - the last one was a classic coat pattern that looks perfect to adapt. It's a discontinued patten.

The lower part needs a lot more flare, my image has extra fabric in the back, possibly with gathering at the waist of the centre back panel.

A quick search for Redingote images just brought up a beautiful coat with flares in each of the panels, just lovely. I found the picture at Indie Fame- the plus side of DIY.

I love this coat even though it's not what I have pictured, there's no reason not to make 2 coats.

ANZAC Biscuits.

Just after my last post I was hungry so went in search of something to eat. Trying to live out of the pantry and freezer at the moment so pulled out a tin of soup. We had Tex Mex soup and toasted bread rolls, was expecting the soup to have a bit of bite but it wasn't in the least spicy. Sharing the tin between 3 of us still left a hole, decided to make some biscuits. Had the ingredients for Anzac Biscuits, substituting quick oats for rolled. Made one tray of plain, added some choc chips to the second tray and rolling some of the dough into balls and freezing them.

These biscuits are very easy to make, they are a traditional Australian biscuit dating from wartime when eggs were hard to come by. The name ANZAC comes from the Australian New Zealand Army Corps and were baked to send to Loved Ones fighting on the fronts. They remain a favourite, baked soft and chewy, hard and crunchy or not baked at all, the dough is safe to eat because it contains no eggs.

ANZAC Biscuits (never ever Cookies)

2 cups Rolled Oats
2 cups plain Flour
2 cups desicated coconut
1 1/2 cups sugar
250g butter
4 tablespoons Golden Syrup
1 teaspoon Bicarb Soda
2 tablespoons boiling water

Preheat oven to 160 Celicus. Prepare trays with baking paper or lightly grease.

Mix oats, flour, coconut and sugar in large mixing bowl.

Melt butter and golden syrup in a saucepan. Take off heat.

Mix bicarb and boiling water in a cup and add to melted butter in the pan. Pour butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well.

Roll tablespoonful lots in to balls, about walnut sized, put onto trays 5 cm apart. Can be pressed lightly with fork.

Bake for 20 minutes.


In the past I have used muesli in place of some or all of the oats, today was the first time I have added choc chips, they are delicious. My husband just walked in and said "these are different, I've never had ANZACs with flies in them before - is that the traditional way?" I'm guessing that from now on that's what they will be called. I did wonder what they would be like with chopped apple in them or even ginger hmmmm the possibilities.

So much for the clearing out of the freezer, he came home with a craving for burgers so bought mince and rolls. The meat I have out defrosting will be for pies tomorrow and the roast I had in the fridge for tomorrow has gone back in the freezer.

Happy Australia Day

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I made Passata tonight, found the link through Towards Sustainability, a great blog that I really enjoy reading. I had a false start with the recipe a few days ago, but burnt the tomatoes because I didn't pay attention to them. Had to buy more tomatoes today. Going to make a simple pasta dish with the passata tomorrow to take on our annual Australia Day picnic at a local reserve.

Australia Day commemorates the day the First Fleet first settled in Sydney Cove, our family event isn't that old. It started several years ago when along with David's mother, brother and sister-in-law we decided that we would spend the day at Parramatta Park starting with watching hot air balloons. We got there around 6am, watched the balloons for a while then decided to set up our picnic area. Wasn't long before the Sun became relentless so we started to put up a shelter only to be told that we weren't allowed to do that in the park. There was no way we were going to subject ourselves to the possibility of sunburn so we made the decision to head home, but on the way to the cars we decided to try a nature reserve right at the end of our street. We got there about 8 but didn't have the pick of the main covered picnic areas because they had reserved signs on them so we set up our covers, put a few tables together and invited other family members to join us. About 10am we noticed the ranger removing the reserved signs and were told that if the areas aren't claimed by 10 they were anyone's. We were happy with our site so didn't worry about moving, but noticed that the park was virtually empty. We had a great day, BBQ lunch, playing cricket, watching the Blacksmith before heading home for a nap and heading off to watch a free concert and fireworks at another park. It's now a tradition, hopefully one that will go on. The park is run by local council but their lease is up and state government want to take it over, there is talk of an entry fee as well as booking fees, hopefully that won't happen. We love that it is such a low budget day.

I wanted to share a great blog Eclectic Culture Farm I discovered today, it's making for interesting reading. It's about a family who are living without electricity (by choice) in an Amish community. I wondered if I could live without power, maybe I could but I doubt my family would - whatever would they do without their games consules? But then what would I do without my laptop, sewing machine and being able to sit up at night - I know a great way to save power would be to go to bed early but I get so much done when the house cools down at night.

Happy Australia Day

From Scratch: Easy Quche and dishwasher powder.

Last week .Rhonda Jean wrote a post about the best fast from scratch meals, perfect for those days when you don't feel like cooking. Today was just one of those days for me (I have many of them). I found this recipe over at Best Recipes which fit the bill exactly. In less than 10 minutes it was in the oven. Vegies could be added to it but I only added bacon ( trimmed and chopped 4 rashers) that I fried for a few moments to melt off the remaining fat. This got a definite thumbs up from my family. Even though we had it hot, I had Thomas put together a quick salad.

Easy Quiche

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter or marg, melted
1/2 cup of Self raising flour.
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
2 cups of filling of choice.

Preheat oven to 180 oC
Whisk eggs, milk, butter, flour together until well combined. Fold in cheese and fillings.

Pour into 24 cm quiche dish and bake for 40 minutes or until set.

Can be eaten hot with vegies or cold with salad

I finally got down to my last dishwasher tablets so I tried out a recipe I found at Towards Sustainability. I've been really pleased with it and even tried firmly pushing a dose into a small medicine cup to see if it would hold together as an tablet. So far the couple I made have stayed together, this way they would be easy for the kids to put in, instead of over or under dosing.

Dishwasher Powder

1 cup Borax
1 cup bi-carb soda (baking soda)
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid
30 drops citrus essential oil (I used lemon)

Mix thoroughly and store in an airtight plastic container. Use 1 tablespoon at a time.