Lemon and Macadamia Biscuits.

I found the above recipe in an old magazine when I was cleaning up. I finally got around to trying it.  The biscuits are rather yum and to be honest, the uncooked dough isn't too bad either.

Lemon and Macadamia Biscuits.

Combine 125 gm, soft unsalted butter ,1/2 cup caster sugar and the finely grated rind of one lemon in a bowl.  Beat until soft and creamy.

Add an egg and mix again.  I then put away the electric beater and hand mixed through 1 1/2 cups self raising flour and 1/4 cup chopped macadamia's. 

Roll teaspoon full amounts into ball, place onto baking tray and press down lightly. Bake at 180 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. In my gas oven, I have it on 160 degrees and check after 10 mins.

We tested these while still warm, actually, I tested three of them. They really are good. You can taste the lemon and the macadamia give a nice flavour too. 

2 comments Baking

A Snapshot of my week

I'm not sure where the days go and sometimes I can't even remember what I've done on each day - should I worry about that I wonder! Each day started off with some form of exercise, either at Moffat Beach Studio or Plus Fitness in Beerwah, out in the community or at the beach and three times ended up with exercise on the treadmill and rowing machine at the gym.

Monday: Fine weather, so it was in to the gardens at home for me. I started on the back garden, a narrow long one that had 5 Cordyline things and ground cover in it. The Cordyline's are in the wrong place as the washing gets caught in them. I cut them back, dug them out and they will have a new home at Ross and Bernie's. I also saved some of the ground cover for them. The rest went into the garden bin. I also weeded the front garden, put some more compost onto it and planted a capsicum out there. Three chillies and two eggplants went into the 3/4's of the back garden I got completed. I'll finish the rest another day, once my garden bin is emptied. Both it and my compost bin are full at the moment. Lawns also got a mow and I swam a kilometre in the local pool. I was very happy with my time, 32 mins and 11 seconds, the best I've ever done and I didn't have to stop - amazing. I haven't swum since the beginning of the year. I want to try and swim a couple of times a week.

Before

After

Tuesday: Looked after the grand daughter's for the day. They survived and so did I, just. Tamara did not want to sleep - little monkey, so I put them both in the double pushchair and we went for a 5 km walk. Pushing an extra 25 kg's up hills, even if they are small ones, got the sweat running off me.

Wednesday: Moffat Beach for exercise - two classes then a 3 km walk/jog along the beach. I live in a beautiful part of the world. There were lots of dogs out being exercised too. Some swam eagerly, others reluctantly and one I saw wouldn't be tempted near the water at all.

Then I spent a couple of hours with an amazing woman who I have known since high school and who is the mother of my eldest nephew. She is 'actively dying' of Metastasized Breast Cancer and now has (supposedly) weeks to live, with the "pacmen" as she calls them, taking up residence in her brain, liver and lungs as well as all through her bones. We went op shopping. If Leslee has her way, her determination, humour and strength of will, will keep her alive until next year.  She is quite inspirational. 

Then I headed up to my Aunts for the night. Each evening, a strong sea breeze gets up and the kite surfers have a ball out in the entrance to the Maroochy River. This was our view from her apartment.

I counted 13 Kite Surfers at one stage. 

Thursday I went for a bike ride, walk along the beach, swim and bike ride back home again with my Aunt and some of her very fit "young" 70 something year old friends. It was a beautiful day and the water was delightful, once in. Getting in took a little bit though. I was very pleasantly surprised at how warm the water was.

Friday: Beach session, then to the Community Gardens to give them a good watering. The hot days and drying winds have removed all the moisture from the ground that the days of rain we had deposited. Then I met up with my old Team Leader for lunch, bought some preserving jars so I can bottle some of the beetroot out of the community gardens, made another batch of mango chutney (no more mangoes in the freezer now), bottled the Kombucha and baked some Lemon and Macadamia Biscuits. I sure I have done other things as well, like vacuuming, washing floors, laundry, grocery shopping etc, but they are just the normal day to day things that occur, no matter what else I am attempting to squeeze into my days.

2 comments Baking, family, Fitness, Friends, leisure, Preserving

First Taste of Mussels

On Monday, Ross (my son) called in for lunch with Tamara. I had cooked us salmon and made a salad to go with it. Ross bought a tub of mussels, which I do not like and yes, I have tried them again recently, well if you can count about 6 years as recent.  Anyway, he gave one to Tamara. It is said a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case, I have to agree. So, here, in pictures, is Tamara's first try of mussel. Poor child.

I'll try anything once

I don't know about this

Perhaps poking my tongue out will help

Hmm, do I or don't I

I'll give it a good chomp

Getting the flavour of it

You have got to be kidding me, that's gross

The last expression was accompanied by a full body shudder, tongue out and as you can see, Tamara is trying to wipe the taste off her tongue. If only she could talk, I'm sure she would say, "Dad, how could you and Gran, why did you let him".

4 comments family, Tamara

A quick, tasty meal

After spending an hour and a half at a friends in their spa, I managed to talk myself out of going home via a takeaway shop of some description, instead, cooking a quick, tasty, simple meal.  I had a portion of mince in the freezer. When I buy mince, I divide it into five 120 gm lots - which is all I need when cooking for myself. So I took one of these out of the freeze and thawed it. While it was thawing I grated half a carrot, a small zucchini, chopped up a few mushrooms, a small red capsicum and minced up some garlic.

Garlic on my garlic grating saucer

As soon as the mince was thawed, I put it in the pan to brown off. I had bacon for lunch and hadn't washed the frypan, so cooked the mince in that.  To this I added firstly the mushrooms and capsicums then after a couple of minutes, carrot and zucchini. Once the vegetables had softened up, I added a pour of homemade tomato sauce (probably about 1/4 cup) and a 50 gm sachet of tomato paste plus a sprinkle of paprika. Stir this around to mix, and let simmer for  a couple of minutes. Add some water, or stock if you prefer, put the lid on and cook, stirring occasionally. It only takes a few minutes to be ready.

Dish up and enjoy. It really is a tasty dish, even if it doesn't look that appetising in the photo. If you want, you could have it with pasta, rice or quinoa. I'm happy with it just on its own as the vegetables add enough carbs for me. Of course, you can add any herbs you like.  

2 comments Cooking, Mince dish

Mango Chutney

Now that I'm home and have time and inclination, I took two of the bags of "cheeked" mangoes out of my deep freeze and put them in the big stock pot to thaw overnight. I sit the pot in the laundry sink, as, as the mangoes thaw, a great deal of condensation forms on the outside of the pot and if on the bench, makes rather a large puddle.

I am lucky enough that my kid's friends have a large mango tree and they don't eat mangoes - what on earth is wrong with these people! Last year, they had a massive crop so my son, who by trade is an arborist, climbed the tree and picked all the mangoes, throwing them down to us to put in bags, boxes and whatever other large containers we could find. We spent days, cutting the mango flesh off the stone and freezing it. It kept us in chutney and smoothies for ages. Unfortunately, this year, the tree had no fruit, so we have gone nearly a year without my famous chutney. When cleaning out the freezer a while ago, I discovered four bags of mango cheeks - it was like finding gold, well, nearly.

I have combined two or three mango chutney recipes to make the one I use and adjusted the amount of sugar. I figure with the sweetness of the mango's, not as much sugar is needed. The recipe is as follows:-

Mango Chutney

1.5 kgs of mango flesh
500 gm onions - chopped finely (I use the food processor)
2 chillies (optional) (increase if you want a really hot chutney)
1 red capsicum, diced
60 gm Garlic (optional)
750 gm brown sugar
500 mls vinegar (I use apple cider)
1 cup strong green tea (2 teabags)
2 tsp plain salt
2 tsp yellow mustard seed
1 handful Sultanas - optional


In a muslin/herb bag
2 bay leaves
1 lge cinnamon stick (Broken up)
8 cardamon pods
2 tsp black peppercorns
3 star anise


To a large stock pot add to the mango the chopped onion.

I then add all the other ingredients, except the vinegar, which I pour over last as I find this helps to  start the brown sugar dissolving. You may find, if you are using frozen mango that there is quite a lot of juice/liquid in the pot once they have thawed. Don't worry about this, it cooks off.

   

Bring the mixture to the boil, stir occasionally. Turn heat down until you get a nice rolling simmer. Leave cooking until mixture has reduced. Stir frequently to ensure the mixture is not sticking to the bottom and burning. On my gas rings, it takes about 45 mins to get to the thickness I like. I have to stir continually for the last 10 to 15 minutes, otherwise it would stick and burn. The mixture darkens with cooking - this is normal, don't worry. 

Bottle into clean jars. Lid once cool. Makes about 2 litres of chutney. 

Ready to put into jars

This chutney is a hit with my family, extended family and friends. I'm going to buy (sob) a tray of mangoes while they are cheap and make a batch to take home to NZ as Christmas gifts. A few jars make there way down to Victoria to my daughter-in-laws family and also up the NT where two of her brothers live.

2 comments leisure, Preserving

Snapshot of my week

I spent the first three days of the week looking after one or the other, or both of my grand daughters. Monday I had Tamara, who has discovered she can stand up in the middle of the room and is very proud of herself. This new skill has necessitated "baby proofing" of my house. Unfortunately I can't move the microwave to a height she can't reach, so may have to get a couple of baby gates to stop her getting into the kitchen. Doesn't she look pleased with herself. Yesterday, at her home, she was pushing along a little trolley while walking. It won't be long before she is running everywhere and this Gran will have to be on her toes then and get the eyes in the back of the head in working order again.

On Tuesday I had both of the girls while my son went 'kite surfing' in the rain and wind. He had a marvellous time, I can't say I did as Tamara (the littlest) is cutting teeth and would not be put down or have a sleep. Gran's patience's was tested severely and I resorted to putting Annika in front of a animated kids movie (naughty Gran) so I could walk and rock Tamara. Tamara did love the eggy banana pancakes I made her for her lunch though. Simply mash a banana, add some cinnamon, whisk up two eggs, mix the two together and cook. She plowed through two of the three I made.

Wednesday I took Annika for the morning/early afternoon, while Bernie took Tamara for her big OT appointment. Annika was a bit distracted at swimming today - she is a real water girl and would much rather be playing than waiting for her turn and listening to Tyson.  On the way home we called in at the supermarket to get choc chips to make biscuits with and visited the bakery for a little party pie. I love the expression on Annika's face as she eats the pie, she couldn't wait for it to cool down enough. Then we did some baking, well Gran did while Annika ate the mixture. I left the room to do something for only a minute or two and when I came back I could have sworn there was more chocolate chip mixture in the bowl than what was there on my return. Sure enough, I found a little container in the study room with uncooked mixture in it - Annika and I shared this later.

Wednesday night I stayed at my Aunts, she is away in NZ, so thought I'd better go up and check on her place after all the rain and wind we have been having. Her balcony, which looks out over the estuary and out to sea has been getting a soaking, however, at least all the plants were well watered. 

Thursday, I lazed around for the morning reading a book, then had a blissfully painful massage in an attempt to loosen up all my very tight muscles, which have been causing me quite a bit of pain - I didn't even go to the gym or do any exercise all week, they've been that bad. The massage certainly helped and I woke on Friday morning feeling like a new person. 

Friday was 'get outside' day, as it actually stopped raining and the sun came out. The lawns got mown, I hand weeded all the graveled area's around the back of the house, planted seeds, dug in some compost to the vegetable garden and then could hardly move. So much for my massage, I think I undid all the good work. 

Before weeding

After weeding

Capsicums, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, chard

 Beerwah had it's annual Street Party from 4 to 9.30, so I met Bernie and the girls there and we wandered around for a couple of hours. Annika met up with a little friend of hers and they danced madly, as only children can, not caring about the crowds of people watching them, to a youngish man singing Johnny Cash. Their antics put smiles on many people's faces and a few other little girls joined them. Once I had helped Bernie load them into the car and sent them home I met up with a friend and we had a quiet drink before heading home ourselves. 

All in all, I had a good, productive week and the time flew by.

2 comments family, Gardening, leisure

ALONE

I follow flo_fitness on Instagram and they had the following post up yesterday. I really liked it and flo_fitness was generous enough to encourage people to share it if they wanted to and I do. I hope you like it too.

Leave a Comment Life

Tomato Sauce

I've made my first batch of tomato sauce from this season homegrown tomatoes.  I use a recipe out of a very old cookbook full of recipes from women who lived up the Waitotara Valley, NZ.  The cook book was produced for the Makakaho Junction (Marahema) Taumatatahi School 60th  Jubilee in 1958. It has recipes on soap making, where the mixture is boiled in a "copper" over the fire, using mutton fat, handy hints, such as "when making an apple pie try adding an ounce of grated cheese to the cooked apples. An apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a cuddle". There are even health hints - a cough cure, a "building up mixture' that contains black molasses and a cure for rheumatism.

I love flicking through the two copies I have and seeing my Aunts and Grandmothers handwriting in them, commenting on or altering the ingredients in some of the recipes and also their names at the base of some of the recipes. There is also a section on the history of the settlers of the valley, including my paternal grandfathers family - they lived a really hard life, one we cannot begin to imagine.

The Tomato Sauce recipe I use is a combination of two or three from the book, refined over time and converted to grams and kilograms instead of ounces and pounds.

I don't skin the tomatoes, instead once cooked I whizz the mixture up with my whizz stick. I also use frozen tomatoes or fresh if I have enough fresh in one go. I also cut up onions and apples in my kitchen whiz - not worrying to much if they are still a bit chunky as the whizz at the end, puree's up everything.

Tomato Sauce

3.6kg ripe tomatoes
1 kg Granny Smith (cooking) apples
6 lge onions
125 gm plain salt
1 kg brown sugar
1 litre malt vinegar
garlic (about 10 gloves)

In a muslin bag (I use a new chux cloth and tie it up)
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp whole allspice
28 gm whole cloves

Cut tomatoes, onions and apples. Put all ingredients in a large stock pot. Bring to boil and simmer for somewhere between 2 - 3 hours, stirring occasionally to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom of the pot.  Whizz and bottle - cork when cold.

Depending on the type of tomatoes used, the colour varies - this time I have a mixture of Apollo, Black Russian, Rouge de Marmade and Mortgage Lifter - the Black Russian have given the sauce a deep red colour.  Previously I have used a mix of red, black, orange and yellow tomatoes.

2 comments Preserving

Pete's birthday walk

Pete choose our walk on Thursday, up Mt Coochin, 'the Twins' as this Mountain has two summits and using your imagination, you can see them as co-joined twins.  This isn't a difficult or long walk up to the first summit, but is quite steep in places, certainly enough to make me puff and drip sweat. Deciding whether to go left or right when we came to the first fork in the track was the most difficult decision, and we went the wrong way, coming to a dead end and having to turn around, go back and try the other path, which was the right one. A small "goat" track branched off this one, to the right of the track, going up the hill, and this was the track to the summit of the first peak.

The flora on this mountain is quite different to Ngungun or Beerberrum, being more open and smaller trees. We loved the bark on what I think are a type of manuka or kanuka or maybe even melaluca. We were fascinated by the sound the bark made as it slowly rolled up on itself - a constant crackling, as though a thousand lizards were scurrying through the undergrowth around us. 

When we got to the first summit, we could see why this mountain is called "the Twins", for there across a gully was the other summit with the track visible up the rocks. It was quite a climb down to the bottom and with my sore knee, it took me a while to pick my way down. The climb up to the other summit was short, a bit of a rock scramble in places, but not too hard.

Starting down from summit 1 heading towards the next summit. You can see the track up the other side quite clearly

Picking my way down

We came down that

Up the other side. The poles where a hindrance so I collapse them down and carried them.

Mt Beerwah in the distance and the track down from summit one .

The views from the top of both summits is good, especially out towards the other Glasshouse Mountains. We decided to not go back the way we came, instead electing to follow a faint  path down the ridge and join a track that goes around the base. From there it was a short walk back to the car. It will be a good training ground for me, especially if I go one way, from base, up and over and back to base and then turn round and go back the other way.

We then went home, showered, changed, went up to my Aunts and took her out for lunch. See below.

Ginger and cranberry scone with jumble-berry jam

Lemon and key lime meringue pie

1 comment Fitness, leisure