Take that Donna Hay!

Alright, I really am showing off, but I'm just so thrilled with my (asked for) birthday present from Mum and Dad which mixed these beautiful scones today.

It's the Breville equivalent of a mixmaster. Before I got it out of its box, my little boy pointed at it and said, "What is it a?"

I said, "It's a mixmaster."

He said, "No, it's a Whizz Power Mixer!" He was right. And, yes, he can read more than I thought he could.

Anyway, by some cosmic accident on the very day I wanted to test out my new Whizz Power Mixer, I happened to have in the fridge both lemonade and cream - the secret ingredients for perfect scones.

Try this: in a Breville Whizz Power Mixer with dough hooks, mix together on a low speed 1 cup lemonade, 1 cup cream, 1 egg and 3 cups SR flour. Roll out, cut out and bake in a hot oven (200C) for 20 minutes or until golden on top.

As for once in my life I didn't burn what I put into the oven, I gave some to the neighbours and their assessment was 'delicious'.

Sausage rolls

This is to give the impression that I'm a better cook than I really am. I made an effort and pulled out the festering packet of puff pastry and the pork mince that was nearly going off in the freezer. They turned out pretty well thanks to Donna Hay's recipe. Too bad I don't like pork!

This is a brilliant cookbook! I bought it today and have been looking through at recipes like:-

-chocolate pudding with avocado in it

-muffins with pumpkin and cauliflower

-brownies with spinach!!! in them.

Jessica (yes, married to Jerry) has been learning to hide veggies in food for her fussy eaters for years, and shares her successes in this book. It's exactly what I've been looking for. None of my children eat anything healthy by choice. I'm looking forward to trying it all out.

Things I did today

Made plum jam (we have a plum tree).
Ate three strawberries, a cucumber and a yellow baby squash from the 'patch'.
Did the grocery shopping with three children. They were great helpers!
Cleaned out the fridge after seeing that nothing fitted in it when I went to put the groceries away. It was disgusting. (Next is the pantry cupboard???)
Stewed six peaches, rescued from the back of the fridge. Inedible fresh, but fine to cook.
Three loads of washing done from dirty, through to wet, hung out and then folded and put away.
Experimented making banana pancakes for Bright Eyes. He wouldn't eat them, but his sister loved them.*
Went for a swim in the neighbours pool.
Had a hot bath after the swim. (It was freezing).
Therapy with Bright Eyes.
Talked to my children.
Wiped up several litres of water from the kitchen floor. The baby loves to pour and re-pour from pot to kettle. He makes a mess, but he has fun, and it keeps the floor washed.
HAD NO NAP!
I feel normal again.

*Whizz a banana, an egg and some almond meal (or substituted flour or carbohydrate). Fry as per pikelets in a buttered pan. Apparently yummy, although I don't like bananas so I didn't partake.

Small things of life

1. I have completed a knitting project - a 'snug' - rather like a poncho but with no shaping at all. Easy for the novice knitter. My next project is a matching hat. And then.... a dog jumper!

2. My seven year old daughter has beaten me twice at chess in the last week. I really was trying too! My only concession to her has been to warn her again moves where she might lose her queen. Mind you, after the first time I was beaten, I took her queen with glee.

3. Again, I come to the conclusion that I am the worst cook I know, after burning the curry again last night. What's the point of buying beautiful Jamie Oliver cookware if I keep burning the bottoms out of the pots?

Foodie frolics

I need some help in the kitchen.

What's the trick to getting potato fries nice and crispy? Mine were SOGGY yesterday. Yuck. The dog had them for breakfast.

More burned cookies

I really need to buy myself an oven timer.

Yesterday I had two culinary disasters in the afternoon. Almond meringues, it turns out, are more difficult to make than I had thought. And too much honey in Russian custard, when you think you remember the recipe, but don't really, is quite disgusting.

By the evening, I thought I had better redeem myself, so mixed up some rice flour/almond meal bread as well as some peanut butter cookies. Popped them in the oven and then got caught up filling out some forms (such an exciting part of life). By the time I got back to it, the bread was cooked, but the cookies were dead.

My mother once made a comment about me: "You're really smart at a lot of things, but in some things you are just not!"

Alas, remembering things in the oven or on the stove is one of the 'just nots'.

Continuing the health kick

Dried fruit is healthy, right?

Not necessarily. Most commercially dried fruits use sulphites as a preservative. It keeps the fruit nice and plump and colourful.

Trouble is, in just one commercially dried apricot the sulphur exceeds the recommended daily intake for a child.

So a child munching on dried fruit for snacks will be ingesting really high levels of sulphur. And sulphites have been linked to asthma and excema amongst other things.

I've stopped buying sulphur dried fruit and only buy naturally dried now. The taste is great, the colour is less, but I'm happier inside.


And while I'm on the topic: here's a great recipe for fruit (and vegie) leather.

Use really ripe fruit, or else soften it a little in the steamer.

With a bamix or kitchen whiz thing, mix together any combination of fruit plus a little honey. In my last lot of fruit leather, I used steamed carrots, pears, apricots, sultanas and a secret ingredient - goji berries. (These are apparently a complete source of protein, and protein is what my little fella needs a lot of.)

Add water if needed to get it to a nice thick globby consistency.

Lay some cling wrap on a tray and spread the fruit mix over it - about 3-5mm thick.

Put the tray in your car, park it in the sun with the window down 1 inch and in 6-8 hours, you have beautiful fruit leather. Great for snacks.