Outside #52weeksofmemories

Well it's my second day of total bliss. I can get on with what I need to do during the day without the distractions, fighting or constant requests from my two lovely girls. Izzy's back at school, and Summers has kindergarten a few days a week. Have I told you it's bliss?!

Although I got side-tracked from what I was originally going to do, I still got stuff done. Like clean the dunny and bathroom, and make jam. I faffed on Facebook, and went outside and took photos, picked peaches and brought in the wheelie bins.

There may come a time when I become bored as hell, but at the moment I am savouring the time to myself.

Apple puff dumplings in cinnamon syrup

Apple trees all over the country are bursting with fruit at the moment. As I type this, I can see the neighbour's tree across the road, it's limbs sagging under the weight of juicy ripe apples.

Monday while I was on a walk after dinner, I passed a tree next to the old tennis courts. There were apples hanging off it, and the smell was delicious. I was amazed I'd never noticed it before. The tree was growing right through the tennis court fence, where probably, a discarded core had been tossed.

Apple trees dot the sides of the road about the place. I can imagine these too have grown from an apple tossed out the window of passing cars. There are free apples to be picked everywhere if you keep your eyes open.

On they way to Mount Gambier, on the grounds where the old forestry headquarters used to be, the houses are long gone, but the fruit trees remain. Apples, peaches, walnut and lemon trees still bear fruit, and unless you knew they were there, driving past, you'd have no idea. Just a tip, if you're not sure whether an apple is ripe or not, cut it in half, the seeds should be dark.

An older couple from our cul-de-sac brought over a box of apples in the last week from their trees. It was so nice of them. We've lived here for over 10 years, and it's the first time we've really interacted besides a smile and the odd wave.


Morning tea a few days later were a couple of these apple dumplings. Crunchy on the top and soggy on the bottom. Perfect for the cooler weather we are having. The afternoons and mornings have been a bit nippy. I do hope there are a few more warmer days coming though. I was so not ready to say goodbye to Summer. Not yet.

Apple puff dumplings

Dough: 
1 cup self raising flour
10 grams butter
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk

3 apples, peeled, cored and quartered
1 tablespoon white sugar

Syrup:
2 cups boiling water
1 cup brown sugar
60 grams butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
White sugar

For the dough, rub butter into flour, until there are no more lumps of butter.
Mix egg and milk. Add to flour and combine to a soft dough.
Roll out into a rectangle on a floured surface, and cut into 12 long strips.

Wrap a strip of dough around each apple quarter and place in the fridge.

For the syrup, melt butter and cinnamon in a saucepan. Add sugar, vanilla essence and boiled water. Stir until sugar is melted. 

Pour the syrup in a casserole dish big enough to hold the 12 apple dumplings.

Drop the wrapped apple quarters into the syrup and sprinkle over with white sugar. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve the dumplings with cream or icecream.

Grilled peaches with rosemary

I have so many peaches right now. The tree is loaded and they all seem to ripen at once.

I made these grilled peaches. They are OH SO good!  

The recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe from a magazine from a few years ago. Our local library has magazines of all sorts to borrow, so I have been taking advantage of that, I can't get enough of looking through food mags. This way I can do it for free!

The original recipe used a vanilla bean and a dash of brandy. You could use them if you have them. He suggested you serve them with crumbled biscotti and creme fraiche, which would be awesome. I think some toasted almond slivers would be nice too :)

Grilled peaches with rosemary
6 peaches, halved and stones removed
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 rosemary sprigs

Arrange the peaches in a baking dish, cut side up.

Mix the vanilla essence with the juice of an orange and pour over the peaches.

Scatter the zest and the sugar over. Lay the rosemary over the top.

Place the dish under a hot grill for 5-6 minutes or until fruit is golden and the juices are bubbling.

An InLinkz Link-up

Cinnamon poached pears with a cream sauce

 ’This post is an entry into the Nuffnang ‘Fresh Recipe’ Network Competition, thanks to BRITA. Check out betterwithbrita.com for inspiration and exclusive recipes by Gary Mehigan’.

I am a filtered water convert. Up until a few months ago, I was always a tap water girl.

Brett would be forever complaining about the taste of the kettle water, and now, being a black tea drinker, I have to agree with him and finally get it.

I no longer use the town tap water to fill my water bottle, or the kettle, something I thought I'd never do. I use the water from the filtered rain water tap that he installed, right at the kitchen sink. Just secretly, I am loving it.

Here's a recipe that I use my filtered water for, using delicious, in season, Beurre Bosc pears. It's easy, you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry.

Using filtered water in this recipe ensures that the you get the most out of the flavours in your dish, without the added, tainted taste, of unfiltered water.

Cinnamon poached pears

2 beurre bosc pears
400 ml filtered water
200 grams sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon lemon juice
100 mls cream

Place water, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla essence and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Turn down the heat to a simmer.

Peel the pears and lower into the saucepan. If they are not submerged in the liquid, lay them down and occasionally turn so they cook evenly. Cook for 10-15 minutes. 

Take the pears out and drain on a wire rack.

Reserve 100 mls of the poaching liquid. 

Place the reserved liquid back in the saucepan with 100 mls of cream. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes.

Drizzle over the plated pears. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream(and some of my lime and poppy seed biscotti).

The aussie pear cookbook.

I was sent this lovely cookbook last week. It is the second from Australian Pears, the industry body for aussie pear growers, to motivate and inspire Aussie cooks to use more local produce. It worked with me!

I made this delicious Caramel and Pear ice cream yesterday from the cookbook. I used Beurre Bosc pears(they are the brown ones) I had bought on our big shopping day earlier last week. It's the first time I have made my own ice cream and it was more than delicious. It was ridiculously delicious!

I also poached a pear and made a cream sauce from the poaching liquid! In the name of taste testing I had this for breakfast this morning. Bloody yum! Served with my apple cake, which you could also make with pear puree. Substitute the apple and quince for pear.

You never know what could happen in the day, best to have dessert for breakfast!

As of the 7th July you can get yourself a copy for free, with any purchase of a kilo pears from Woolworths. After the 28th July, it will only be available from selected retailers for $12.95.

Within it's pages, are 66 delicious recipes along with beautiful and mouthwatering photography(and isn't that the best thing about cookbooks!). Aussie chefs and cooks including Guy Grossi, Maggie Beer, Stephanie Alexander and Fast Ed have contributed their best pear recipes ranging from breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner and desserts. 

Pears are rich in fibre, which can lower cholesterol. They are low GI, offering longer lasting energy, helping keep blood glucose levels in control.

Pears will ripen naturally in the fruit bowl(where mine go straight to) and when they are ripe, store in the fridge to keep them fresher for longer. 

To ripen a pear quickly, place them in a brown paper bag with a banana. This goes for any fruits, the banana emits a natural gas that hastens ripening. If pears become too soft, add them to soups or smoothies for extra richness.

You'll find more information and delicious recipes at the Australian Pears website or on their Facebook page.

I suggest you get yourself down to Woolies, grab a kilo and nab yourself a cookbook(while they are free!). Even for the $12.95, it is great value, a fantastic recipe book.

Passionfruit self saucing pudding

Don't think I am complaining, I secretly love it when someone comes round and plonks a bag full of fresh homegrown food on my kitchen bench. It means I get to cook something new.

A week ago my sister brought over a heap of passionfruit. My first thought was what the heck am I going to do with all those. The look on my face must have read the same, she said "You don't have to have them." I had my poker face on when my sister in law sat a bag of quinces on the bench yesterday!

It's happening more and more frequently. An uncle I have hardly anything to do with left a bag of spuds, a box of apples and a bag of peaches at my brothers place for me. Do I scream give me all your unwanted food stuffs?!

Turns out Summer is a real fan of passionfruit, could eat them all day. I'd probably let her but the resulting mess in her nappies isn't pretty! I am slowly convincing myself to start toilet training her, maybe after the school holidays. I may have psyched myself up by then. It has to happen sometime soon. Oh, the joy.....

I did drop off some passionfruit iced vanilla slice and some passionfruit pudding off at my sisters to say thanks for the fruit. I also made some passionfruit custards, baked in teacups, so good! Me and hubby ate those. They weren't going anywhere!

This is the recipe I made up for the pudding :) It's delicious :D

Passionfruit self saucing pudding

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Self Raising flour
pinch salt
1 cup low fat milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup passionfruit pulp(with seeds)
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with the half cup of sugar.
Beat in milk, flour, lemon juice, salt and passionfruit.
Beat egg white until frothy, add the tablespoon of sugar and beat until soft peaks form.
Fold the egg white mixture into passionfruit mix.
Pour into a greased dish. Stand dish in a pan of cold water, so water goes half way up the sides of the dish.
Bake for 40-50 minutes.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Picking Muntrie Berries

Muntrie berries(or munthari), are an Southern South Australian native berry. Lucky for us they grow in abundance not to far away. We drove down to Oil Rig Square, picked a container full and walked to look at the thundering sea.

I love this place.

Five things to have instead of a biscuit binge

Some of you may remember me babbling on about trying to lose weight. Well it worked somewhat. I lost 9 kilos, but put four back on. I am extremely shit at keeping it off, so I'm on the 'stop eating crap' bandwagon ....again.

So what's my downfall. It's not chocolate, I am not much of a chocoholic, I don't keep a stash in the house, but I wouldn't say no. 

I do like potato chips. And ice cream. But I don't have them much. Hubby likes to have them, it seems it's becoming a usual Friday night thing, and I try to stay away, sometimes badly.

My achilles heel of keeping the chub at bay, is the biscuit barrel. It's there, right in front of me when I open the pantry door, and awfully easy and convenient to twist off the lid and grab a quick snack. Just not 5 times in a row!

Five or six goes of the biscuit barrel, depending on the type of biscuit, could equate to a whole meal. Not good. Not good when there is no nutritional value and just about all those calories are from fat and sugar. 

Hoping I can practice what I preach, here's five alternatives to the dreaded 3 pm biscuit binge.

1. Get out of the kitchen, away from the pantry and take a bottle of water. Drink it.
2. Grab some fruit. Apple, orange, pear, watermelon. Keep the fruit bowl stocked.
3. Eat a carrot, or cut it up with celery, cucumber, capsicum. Use cottage cheese for a dip, if plain vegies are too boring.
4. A tub of yogurt. Try some chia seeds mixed through. (Try it, you'll like it). 
5. Nibble on a healthy handful of nuts and seeds, like almonds and pepitas.

Take your time. Chew. Appreciate the flavour, texture. Sit, let it settle. 

What do you do when your 3pm cravings set in? What is your diet undoing?

Feijoa and Apple crumble cake

My sister in law stood in my kitchen, smelling the feijoas sitting in a bowl on the bench. As I picked up toys in the lounge I called over "They're feijoas". She knew what they were, taking in the beautiful scent, she told me she had a tree in the yard of their old house.

I thought it was only in New Zealand where just about every yard had a feijoa tree, and if they didn't they knew someone who did have, probably the next door neighbour! 

Mum had some given to her by a friend. It happens every year, and I don't say no when she in turn, palms some off on to me. 

If you're a My Kitchen Rules fan, you may remember when New Zealand couple Simon and Meg, made apple and feijoa crumble. I took it one step further and made this delicious cake. It is something special and sure to impress.

Fruit layer

4 apples and 4 feijoas, peeled cubed and stewed with 1 dessert spoon of sugar for about 5 minutes.

Cake ingredients

110g margarine

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups SR Flour

3/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon milk

1/4 cup custard powder

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Crumble

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

50 grams margarine

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Line and grease a spring form cake tin.

Make crumble by rubbing all ingredients together until it resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Melt margarine, mix in all other cake ingredients for about three minutes until light and fluffy.

Pour into tin, place apple and feijoa on top in even layer and press down slightly.

Sprinkle crumble layer on top.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold, with cream, custard or ice cream.

It really is delicious.

Papaya Salsa

Half a papaya, diced

1/4 medium red onion, finely diced

1/4 green capsicum, finely diced

2 vietnamese mint leaves, finely shredded

2 Tablespoons parsley, chopped

2 Tablespoons lime juice

Mix all together. 

Serve with seafood, chicken or pork.
It would be equally as awesome with a bit of pineapple added to it, or whatever else you fancy, tomato, cucumber. 

You could use coriander and a little chilli in the place of the vietnamese mint. I used the mint because that's what I have growing right now.  It has a corianderish flavour with a hot bite to it.

I found a plant in the bargain bin for $1 because it was on it's last legs at the nursery. It was sold under the name of 'laksa leaf'. Make sure if you buy some you put it in a pot, it will run rampant in the ground!

I never have a lemon or lime for that matter when I need one. What I do have is citric acid in the pantry. Brett once decided to make lemonade and it's been sitting there ever since. I drop the smallest pinch in a couple of tablespoons of water and voila, lemon juice! It's workin out for me at the moment anyway....

If you have any left over papaya, puree about half a cup and mix together with a tablespoon of honey for a refreshing face mask.

Papaya contains natural enzymes that remove dead skin cells and honey will moisturise. 

Leave on for 15 minutes, preferably in hot bath with a glass of your favourite bubbly, garnished with a chunk of papaya. Mmmm, bubbly......

Competition entry linked at Mummyhood101 and CRAP mumma

Cumquat and Kaffir Lime Marmalade

Mum offered me some cumquats. Along with the deal were a few kaffir limes and leaves. People are always giving her stuff. 

I am always up for a challenge and love learning and trying new things. After much deliberation and surfing of the gastronomic net, I opted for marmalade. Never made that before, now I have five jars of toast tantalising gold. 

I am enjoying a tea spoon of it in my black tea as I type, delish. 

Cumquat and Kaffir Lime Marmalade

1 kg cumquats

5 kaffir limes 

3 kaffir lime leaves

1 litre of water

900 grams sugar

Slice cumquats and limes very thinly into a large pot, collecting and keeping the seeds in a cup. Finely slice the leaves and chuck them in the pot too.

Tip the litre of water over cumquats, cover and leave to soak overnight. Fill the cup of seeds with boiling water and leave overnight too.

Strain the liquid from the seeds into the pot, it will be like jelly. Bring the pot to a gentle simmer and leave until the skins are soft, about 30-45 minutes, depending on how thick your slices are.

Add the sugar and stir to dissolve, turn up the heat a little and gently boil for about 30-45 minutes, stirring often. Place jars in the oven at 150 degrees to sterilise them now.

To test if the jam is ready, place a small amount on a cold saucer(I put it in the freezer beforehand), if it is gelling(like jam) then it is ready. You should be able to run your finger through it without it running back into one blob, if not keep boiling and test again after 10 minutes. It should be ready now, the marmalade will thicken up when it is cold.

When it is ready pour into hot jars and seal. Be careful, I use a dry tea towel to hold the jar and a ladle to pour the jam in. 

Ways I will be enjoying my marmalade

• on toast(no brainer)
• in black tea
• in marinades for pork and chicken
• in sauces for fish
• salad dressings
• swirled in yogurt
• in cakes and puddings
• glazes for cakes
• with cream cheese