Menu Plan 26th January 2015

Happy Australia Day! Busy day weeding, going to work tomorrow for a rest!

Menu plan 19th January 2015

Better late than never!

Peach Wine #3

The wine has sat for a week and it's looking a bit clearer with a fair bit of sediment at the bottom, time to siphon it into a clean and sterilised demijohn, leaving the muck at the bottom behind.

I'll leave it for another week and see if it's clearer.

Menu Plan 12th January

This week's quote is more by way of a piece of good advice, I read it on someone else's blog recently and I wish I could remember who's so I could give them the credit, if it was yours please let me know. I love it though, so simple but so important.

The weather has been so changeable lately that it's very hard to know what sort of meals to plan, we had Tomato Soup for lunch one day on the weekend! Not something we would usually do in Summer but the weather was cool and the tomatoes were ripe!

Peach Wine #2

The Peach Wine has sat on our dining room table for a week now, I've given it the occasional poke with the wooden spoon, it certainly looks smells and sounds like it's fermenting.

I strained it today and poured it into a sterilised demijohn with an airlock on top.it smells quite vinegary but that's pretty normal at this stage, I'll leave it for another week and I might siphon into another demijohn to leave behind some of the sediment if it has settled by then.

Quinoa Salad

I don't usually get excited about salad, I'm just not a fan of raw leaves, having said that, we had this salad with some barbequed chicken last night and I loved it!

It was relatively quick and easy too as it needs to be on a weeknight.
 I started by laying down a bed of Baby Kale, we've grown a lot of Kale lately and it was great to find a new way to use it, I usually cook it.

Next, I peeled and chopped a Mango and a Cucumber,added them to a cup of cooked Quinoa along with a handful of flaked Almonds.

The dressing was simply a glut of EV Olive Oil, the juice and finely grated rind of a Lime and some Salt and Pepper.

I mixed the dressing through the Quinoa mixture and piled it on top of the Kale, topped with a few Basil Leaves. Done!

Menu Plan 5th January

This week's menu is up and as I'm back at work this week, it's a fairly non-demanding meal plan. During my time off from work I had a couple of major power cooking sessions with my daughter who has inherited our small freezer when we upgraded to a larger one, well, when I say upgraded, it cost $60 on Gumtree and it's an oldie, but I hope, a goodie! I'm loving having the extra room and being able to stock up when I see a bargain.

We cooked up a storm with 2 slow-cookers on the go as well as things baking in the oven and bubbling on the stove-top, As a result We both now have ready cooked meals that we can heat up when we get home from a long day at work. Much as I love to cook, it's so nice to have a night off sometimes.

In My Kitchen

There's a lot less in my kitchen than there was a couple of weeks ago, I've had some time off work and have been on a major decluttering mission!

 

There's a batch of White Peach and Vanilla Jam made with peaches from a tree that we dug up and brought with us when we moved here 5 years ago, last year was our first crop and this year we have had around 9 kilos of wonderful peaches.

 There's a Panettone, bought half price after Christmas and just the thing to enjoy toasted for a special " on holidays" breakfast. Hop over to see Celia at figjamandlimecordial.com to see what's happening in kitchens around the world.

There are a growing number of lovely zucchinis, I do love the challenge of keeping up with them and not wasting a single one.

Peach Wine #1

Way too hot to cook anything today, the last of the white peaches from our tree, however, were sitting on the kitchen bench beginning to look decidedly overripe. After a quick internet search I decided that Peach Wine would be a good solution, no cooking, just a bit of chopping and mixing. A kilo of peaches and a kilo of raw sugar, 4 litres of boiling water all went into a sterilised bucket.

After the mixture cooled down (as much as it could on a 40 degree day) 1 tablespoon of bakers yeast a teaspoon of citric acid and a cold cup of black tea were added. It needs to sit with a lid on for a week before straining and siphoning into a glass demijohn. It,s a bit of an experiment but I have high hopes, I'll let you know how it goes!

Meal Planning

I have been doing a weekly plan for our meals for a couple of years now, I like to put it up on our Menu board so that everyone can see what I have in mind to eat for the week. Sometimes things change, for instance tomorrow will be a day of Total Fire Ban and I had planned to cook sausages over a fire in our chiminea. We've still got some ham left from Christmas so I think we'll have that with some salad. 

A fresh start...

The first day of a new year seemed like a good time to start a new blog but after much consideration , breathing life back into an old blog that I haven't posted on for over 2 years seemed like a better option. I just knew that if I had to start from scratch it might just never happen, so welcome to 2015 and welcome back to My Garden Feast!

An Easy Dinner...

This recipe is one I've adapted from an issue of Good Food some time ago, it has evolved into a super easy but elegant meal that I have been known to serve at a dinner party but also for a quick dinner after work.

I started by cutting a Red Onion and a Large Pear into wedges, I tossed these in a splash of Balsamic Vinegar and a splash of Olive Oil. These were spread onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and put into a hot oven for 20 minutes.

I tossed some Baby Spinach Leaves into a bit more Oil and Vinegar and divided the leaves between the serving plates.

In the meantime, I heated a griddle pan and cooked a well seasoned Pork Steak for each plate.

I piled the cooked Pear and Onion onto the Spinach, added a Steak to each plate and it looked and tasted fantastic!

Tarty Tuesday...Jam Tarts...

We had some really good Pot Pies last night for tea, I cooked the filling on the weekend in the slow- cooker and all I had to do was cut the tops out of some Sheets of Pastry and bung them in a hot oven, too easy!

The only dilemma was what to do with the left over bits of Pastry, I just hate to waste food! I cut out a few discs, put them into a pan and stuck them in the freezer for 10 minutes. After they were nice and cold, I stuck them in the hot oven and half cooked them.

I plopped a bit of Mixed Berry Jam into them and put them back in the oven until they looked ready.
They were lovely! Just the thing for Supper!

A bit of Weekend Baking...

I haven't been doing much baking lately but I visited my Grandmother on Sunday and thought it would be nice to take some Cake to share with her. This Cake recipe is the easiest one I know of but it's also one of the nicest!

I put into a mixing bowl 125gms Butter, 1-2 Tablespoons of Finely Shredded Lemon Rind, 1 cup of Castor Sugar, 2 Eggs, 1 and a half cups of Self-Raising Flour and 3 quarters of a cup of Natural Yoghurt.

I mixed it all on low speed until the ingredients are combined and then on medium speed for about 3 minutes, it should look paler and smooth.

I divided the mixture into 3 small tins, I love these tins, the 3 of them will take a full size cake mixture, they look really cute and can be very practical.

One for Saturnight Dessert with some Custard, one to take visiting on Sunday and one for the freezer for when I don't have time to bake...Perfect!

Another Tarty Tuesday...

I love Home Grown Tomatoes so much that when they're not in season I hardly bother with the shop bought ones. Yesterday, however, I had a hankering for a fresh Tomato Tart.

 I made a very simple shell using bought Puff Pastry, baked it and filled it with a mixture of Ricotta, 1 Egg and a good handful of Chopped Parsley.

I covered this with slices of Fresh Tomato and more Parsley as well as some left over Blue Brie. Popped it it the oven for a further 10 minutes and patted myself on the back! It looked amazing and tasted fabulous!

August Food Swap...

I went to Food Swap on Saturday, it was a lovely sunny morning and there was plenty of people there, it always surprises me just how much produce people have to swap at this time of year. There was loads of Citrus and also a great variety of Greens and Herbs, also a couple of different types of Pumpkin. I took;

• 1 Jar of Lime Marmalade Jelly
• 2 Jars of Grapefruit Marmalade
• 2 Thyme Plants and
• 1 Greek Oregano Plant

I came home with;

• 6 Small Red Onions
• 2Redcurrant Plants
• Silverbeet
• Tuscan Cabbage
• Pumpkin
• 3 Small Red Chillies
• 1 Lemon and
• 3 Limes

I always look forward to Food Swap, it's great to get together with other people who are passionate about growing things to eat!

In My Kitchen...

In my kitchen this month is a lovely new set of red saucepans, I'm enjoying using them so much! Don't know why it took me so long to replace the old ones!

A big bowl of Citrus, I feel like I've been using them and using them but the bowl never seems to be empty!

Yet another batch of Marmalade! Food Swap here I come!

And a postcard and some gorgeous Cupcake Papers from my fabulous friend Fleur who has recently been to the U.K.









If you'd like to share what’s been happening in your kitchen this month or to see what's happening in other kitchens all around the world, scoot over to  Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

Tarty Tuesday...

I have recently cut down from working 5 days a week to 4, one of the things I have been doing on my extra day off is "cooking ahead", cooking dishes that can be frozen and the heated up for dinner on the days when I do work. Tarts are great for this so I've been dishing them up once a week lately.

This tart was a great way to use up some odd bits and pieces that were lurking in the fridge. I cut up some Pumpkin, Eggplant and Zucchini, tossed them in some Olive Oil and sprinkled them with Morroccan Seasoning. They went into a moderate oven until they were cooked and starting to brown a little.

I set these aside to cool while I sliced up a Leek and cooked it gently until it was soft.

The Pastry was just a sheet and a half of bought Puff Pastry, I cooked this first and then spread Ricotta with Salt, Pepper, Fresh Oregano and Finely Grated Lemon Zest on top of it.

The Roasted Vegies and Leeks went on top and then a good sprinkling of Crumbled Bulgarian Fetta, back in the oven for ten minutes and it's ready!

I froze it when it had cooled down and it heated up beautifully a few days later.