Plain living

The weather has been cool of lately, mostly in the mornings, we're still in Summer which means having cooler weather is always nice.  Over home Dad was showing me what is growing in his garden, the pumpkin patch is huge and there's plenty of pumpkins coming off the vine. I have one on the bench here at home. He also has a lot of cuttings in pots for me to bring here. 

We've had a few visitors over the last couple of weeks and there's been plenty of cooking and games. Everyone enjoys a game of three's which is a bit like Rummy. 

On Australia day I made up a damper. It is pretty simple:

Recipe:

3 cups of self-raising flour

pinch of salt

80 g butter, chilled, cubed

3/4 cup water

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease baking tray. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl and rub butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add water to flour mix and use a round bladed knife to mix until the mixture just comes together. Adding extra water if the mix is a little dry, use your hands to bring the mixture together. 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently. Shape and place on tray. Add a coat of egg wash or milk wash on top, dust with a little extra flour. bake for 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm or eat cold.

When I made the damper I added in some tomatoes, shallots, onions, and left over chicken. It is really nice buttered hot.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Zucchini Slice

The other day Nanna Chel of going grey and slightly green brought us over some Zucchini's and Cucumbers from her garden. We are using up the Zucchinis.

Zucchini slice:

5 eggs

1 cup self raising flour, sifted

Zucchini’s grated

1 large onion finely chopped

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

¼ cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 170 Celsius. Grease and line a lamington pain.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl until combined. Add the flour and beat until smooth, then add zucchini, onion, bacon cheese and oil and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and back in oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through. 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Sweet Bags

Here is a receipt for a sweet bag I like, the fragrance is generally light and usually lasts well. I make small bags from scraps of plain calico, pretty printed cottons, or flat calico envelopes depending on the use of the sachet. I decorate them with length of narrow satin ribbon; for gifts I add dried rosebuds, or I include embroidery or stenciling on the plain calico.

Place them in draws or among linen.

Lavender – Rosemary Sachet

This makes 1 sachet. Enlarge proportions according to the desired number of sachets

2 tablespoons lavender

2 tablespoons rosemary

10 whole cloves

½ teaspoon powdered dry orange peel

Mix ingredients and put into sachet bag.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Home passions

“Homemaking is a passion you can pass on from generation to generation.” 

-Elizabeth George

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are

Home front

It has been a while hasn't it? 

A lot of things have been happening since. I moved in with an older Aunty to help her into a new place and help out. It is almost just around the corner from mum and dad so I can still help out there too. As with most moves there is a lot that needed to be done and I didn't have time to post.

Now with boxes sorted, places found for home items it's time to settle into a new environment. 

There's not a garden to speak of and the place has that very new feeling. Eventually it'll feel more like home as we settle in.

We brought a few things from home to make a new home, like beans from the garden at mum and dad's. And left over bananas to bake up a storm.

There was a lot of unpacking and the in between of celebrating Christmas here too.  New years was much quieter. I have another month of driving and soon I'll have my driver licence's, with a little luck in passing the test. I'm also painting again too. And of course embroidering.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Speaking of Christmas I did finish up the twenty four days of a home made Christmas. I arranged all the links in one area and they can be found below the header in the links here.

I hope everyone is having  a good day or evening where ever you are.