Homemade Jarred Roasted Bell Peppers

These homemade yummies are a nice touch to a salad.

You can also add to any meal for an extra flavor kick.

Ingredients:

2 Red Bell Peppers (Capsicum)

Olive Oil

Garlic/Salt/Pepper

Optional - Chilli or any other friendly herb

• Coat the capsicums in olive oil and put them onto a tray under a hot grill under skin blackens and blisters. Rotate until all done. 
• Plunk them into icy cold water to cool them down quickly. Peel all of the skin off. Slice half-ways and clean all the guts out.
• Slice into strips. They should be cool enough to jar once you are done.
• Plop the strips into a jar a handful at a time and top up with olive oil, add any type of herbs that you may enjoy infused into the strips, repeat until done. Enjoy!

Cake No More (for now)

It seems that I have enjoyed my winter baking just a little too much, so to get a kick start into summer I am working on my savory dishes and finding that these can be just as tempting... mostly thanks to Mr Oliver.

Yummo, I don't usually eat mushrooms but these stuffed mushrooms with a kick of chilli are the bomb. Accompanied by steak with some homemade jarred bell peppers.

Chocolate Brownies Round 2

It was only a few months ago that I made chocolate brownies for the 1st time. Unsuccessful and dry. This is the 2nd time I have made chocolate brownies and there is a little story to my success.

Fresh from the oven these were gooey and moreish. Chilled and served the next day the inards had a fudge like consistancy (so maybe just a little undercooked?). I added hazelnuts and used milk chocolate instead of dark. I am not 100% convinced that I have achieved the perfect brownie though.

Or am I?

There is a little story to go along with these little devines. This was a Jamie Oliver recipe. With my mixed butters* already melting, I had already committed to the recipe when I realise that I did not have all the ingrediants to complete the recipe to the 'T'. So this was a balls up and the result were uncertain, but the taste testers over the weekend were impressed; so maybe a balls up gone very well.

*The recipe required unsalted butter, which I was only able to use half unsalted, the rest regular. Caster sugar = ran out after half the quantity... so caster sugar and then topped up with white sugar. Dark chocolate - ah no, so milk chocolate this time.

Jamie Oliver Bloomin' Brilliant Brownies

Here is the link for the recipe, after reading others reviews it seems that substituting for this recipe is normal. I think I might add some cherries and chocolate chunks next time. Too much?

Spring is on the way...

I get a nice feeling of accomplishment after spending a day in the veggie garden... I was blessed with a child free day and I enjoyed my time refreshing my veggie garden for Spring.

I dug, hoed, turned, planted, and mulched. I love the smell of the sugar cane mulch and it looks great.... I planted seedlings of beetroot, beans, spring onions, yellow zucchini, beef steak tomatoes, chilli bushes, mixed lettuce and rocket lettuce. 

My lemon tree also got some TLC, as if she doesn't get enough already... A nice trim, removed any scaled lemons or gangly looking branches and a good hit of white oil all over.

Refreshed and satisfied after a day of sun and soil :-) 

Our mulberry tree feels like it is already Spring time. It started getting leaves in the middle of July, and now it is already full of mulberries ready to ripen up... I expect a RIPPER supply this year. Sadly, we made the mistake of hacking the tree back after our first summer: this is clearly a no-no as last year we were lucky to even get a bowl of mulberries. 

 A word of warning though, if we get this ripper supply that I talk about, this will not be the last time you hear about my mulberry tree, expect plenty of recipes....

Homegrown Tomatoes

I love home-grown tomatoes. You just can't beat the taste.

Although through the winter it has taken me a while to get results.

This was the first from my vines, a lovely big juicy one.

Our first season of growing tomatoes (starting in Spring) we got around 15kg of gorgeous tomatoes, I was giving them away we had so many....

... which reminds me that I really should get down to the nursery to plant some more. Spring is well and truley on its way.

Lettus - Finnish Pancakes

Lettus. I have grown up eating these thin crepe-like Finnish pancakes. I love that this is a recipe that comes from memory and I love making them when a sweet treat is required. Eaten with jam and cream, is the only way to enjoy this simple treat. Place a strip of jam and cream across the top and roll down into a roll.

Ingredients:

Plain Flour, Milk, 1 Egg, Pinch Salt, 1 Tbsp Sugar

Add 1 cup or more of milk.

Add egg, salt and sugar. Combine.

Add flour until you get a thick soup consistency.

Add more milk or flour if the consistency needs to be played with.

Cook as you would any pancake in a really hot pan.

Sprinkle each with white sugar as you stack them on the plate.

*I don't know if it is a normal practice for everyone, but I add butter/margarine to the pan each time I cook a lettu.

ENJOY!

Perfect Pancake Pursuit

I am on the pursuit for the perfect pancake recipe... Pursuit is a bit of an overkill but I couldn't come up with another P verb... [Stacking of pancakes while cooking is a must!]

Pancakes for breakfast, on the weekend, has become a bit of a family ritual of late. I am still to find the ultimate recipe though. Most times I try new ones from the net: the criteria for the recipes need to be 2 things: simple ingrediants with a simple method. Who wants to cook anything if it is too complicated?

Basic Pancake Recipe From Taste.com.au

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 25g butter, melted

Method

1. Whisk milk, egg and vanilla together in a jug. Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in centre. Add milk mixture. Whisk until just combined.
   
2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush pan with butter. Using 1/4 cup mixture per pancake, cook 2 pancakes for 3 to 4 minutes or until bubbles appear on surface. Turn and cook for 3 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining mixture, brushing pan with butter between batches. Serve.

The Lemon Tree

We have lived in our home for almost 2 years now. When we first moved in we had this beautiful big lemon tree ~ full of fruit... the visions of yummy lemon slice and homemade lemonade were on the horizon. Although much to my dismay it was full of gall wasp*, so the whole thing had to be cut down and burnt. Every single juicy lemon was burnt or with much fun (to my husband and son) 'pegged' into the damn.

Well a year and a half on and we are finally full of lemons and thriving once again. I have taken care to prune the tree regularily and remove any lemons with scale, lots of spraying and the result has been some very BIG juicy sweet lemons. It is so nice being able to give out produce from your own garden: lemons anyone?

*Citrus Gall Wasp: Lumpy growths on young leaf stems, leaf mid-ribs and fruit stalks of citrus trees are caused by a pest called the citrus gall wasp (Bruchophagus fellis). All citrus trees are attacked, but grapefruit and rough lemons are the most susceptible.    

First times a treat...

I saw a similar version of this cake on another site and thought I would love to try it. Although I had to wait to have guests over as this is too much of a treat to have all to ourselves.

"YUMMY sponge filled with a layer of lemon curd and fresh cream, topped with more fresh cream and a cluster of berries at the top."

I am a little Masterchef inspired at the moment and have been enjoying cooking; and cooking new things too. There is a first time for everything!

This is my first sponge cake and the first time I put together this cake.

.... And it worked a treat.

A few yummy things:

CREAM ~ Instead of just whipping some thickened cream I always add some white sugar and vanilla essence. Just tops it off.

BERRIES ~ Not just your ordinary berries, these were frozen, defrosted and sugar coated. 

My Lucky Shells

There is one type of shell I always look out for when on my treasure hunts. I call it 'my lucky shell'. For some reason I seem to find at least one of these on each of my hunts. And for this I feel lucky.

I know I am not satisfied with my hunt until I have found at least one of these.

I have never wondered what its real name is, but I guess it might be worth finding out. They are pretty, each shell is so unique.