Maple syrup Banana Bread
ingredients; 2 cups self-raising flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 free range eggs, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 3 ripe bananas,1/3 cup milk, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1/4 cup melted butter, 2 tablespoon olive oil
Method; Add all dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and combine then add lightly whisked eggs and the remaining ingredients. Pour mix into a bread loaf tin lined with baking paper and cook at 180°C for 45 minutes or until cooked through.
Its taken a while, to get to this place. Where our boo is happy to play along side baby Georgie. We have been eagerly waiting and hoping that he would one day embrace and accept her existence. I’m happy to report we are there. It seems to be that all we needed was time, time for her to grow and develop into a little person that he could understand. From a very young baby Georgie has taken special interest in her littlest brother, intrigued with his every move. Even now I catch her watching him, taking him in, her love for him radiates, it is like nothing I have ever seen between siblings. She began talking very early, imitating our words, repeating everything eager to learn this skill. Quite recently Boo too has caught on to this fine art of learning language. They are at a very similar level of communication and words that he says, she says, what i say, they both say there is a constant echo of words happening all of the time. It requires you to pay particular attention to everything that is said Im calling it mindful speech. My teenagers are yet to have the patience or tolerance for such notions, they have unfortunately but successfully planted ‘shut up’ as the common phrase used for asking everyone to be quiet please, in a house hold of 7 it is now used quite frequently by our boo. They are embarrassed to say the least. When we all go for walks with the babies and we happen to pass people who are leisurely in deep conversation and our babies repeat one after the other, ‘shut up’ at the innocent by passers, they clearly see the unfortunate dilemma we are now in. Unteaching this to a child with autism and his confident 15 month old accomplice,is going to take some time and lots of patients. A positive perspective on this scenario is, at least they arn’t practicing the fine art of profanity.. just yet.
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life
― Picasso
Every now and again life can temporally turn you up side down. We are in a moment like that now. There seems to be a few things that i do during these moments, without much thought. Maybe unconsciously thats what Im needing to do. Most of the time I renovate or change something, make something new, leaving behind our world for a while. Fortunatly we have an old house with plenty of spaces to do this to. My latest creation is a kitchen wall. I painted it with chalkboard paint on a spur of the moment thing. I was only really intending to put a fresh coat on our babies chalk board and well just kept going. Surprisingly it’s turned out well. I added an old plank of wood as a shelf and filled a few wine bottles with olive oil. I feel better.
A
RICE PAPER ROLLS
Filling;1 packet rice paper,salad mix,carrot,avocado,cucumber,spring onions,dried shallots,light soy sauce,sweet chilli sauce
Method; prepare rice paper as packet directions,grate carrot,Julienne cucumber and slice avocado,gently pile ingredients into the centre of the rice paper being careful not to overfill or the rice paper will tear, add a teaspoon of sweet chilli sauce, fold in the ends, then fold over one side and roll up. Rolls can be eaten straight away or kept in the fridge for later. Dip in the soy sauce and enjoy.
‘These woods are lovely,dark
and deep,
But i have promises to keep,
And miles to go before i sleep,
And miles to go before i sleep.
ROBERT FROST
There simply isn’t any time to crawl up into bed and sleep life away for a while, children are a blessing like that, i guess. They keep you moving, focused and in the moment and always on them; if it were to be any other way, i quite possibly might not get out of bed on this day.
“And you’ll always love me
won’t you?
Yes
And the rain won’t make any
difference?
No
Ernest Hemingway
my husband and I accompanied a good friend of ours to see this fabulous band play last Thursday night. We jumped at the chance for a night out without any children in tow. The venue was at Somewhere Studios in Northcote, what can i say.. perfect. we were surrounded by creative inspiration, in this warehouse style studio/home. there was an open fire burning out the front with the musicians, their fans and like-minded music enthusiasts all sitting around enjoying each others company, sipping on mugs of mulled wine, warming their souls before the night began. Inside, a pot of vegetarian hot soup awaited with fresh sticks of lightly salted olive oil toasted bread for dipping, a pot belly stove in the middle of the room quietly burning, surrounded by candles, people gathered, talked, ate and then, listened..slowly swept away into a musical meditation with naturally beautiful imagery. You couldn’t help but be swept away within the enchantment of this sacred sound. What a great night, thank you.
RUSTIC BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDINGS
ingredients
cob of pasta dura bread unsliced,4 free range eggs,2tsp vanilla extract,250ml cream,1 tsp cinnamon,1/4cup caster sugar,whole nutmeg for grating,1/4cup sultanas
method
roughly chop loaf of bread into cubes leaving the crust on. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs,cream,vanilla and sugar with a fork. In a large bowl add the bread and sultanas and pour over the egg mixture with hands turn and coat the bread and allow to soak for 10 minutes. Grease a muffin tray well and using hands fill each pan right up to the top with the bread mix. This is a rustic look bread and butter pudding so don’t be too neat with it. Any crusts on the top will crisp well when they cook.Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for 20 minutes. Serve while still warm with maple syrup and a dollop of thickened cream. Eat at any time of the day or night. If your lucky enough to have any left overs store them in an airtight container in the fridge.
ROAST PUMPKIN AND PEARL BARLEY SALAD
ingredients
1cup pearl barley pre soaked,1/4 kent pumpkin,4 cloves garlic,olive oil,mix of baby spinach and wild rocket, handful of cherry tomatoes,1/2 sliced spanish onion,1/4tsp turmeric powder,1/2tsp Dijon mustard,1 tsp mustard seeds,4Tbl natural yoghurt,2tsp honey,sea salt and cracked pepper
method
Pre soak the pearl barley for a few hours or over night. preheat the oven to 200°C. In a baking tray add the chopped pumpkin, a splash of olive oil, generously salt and drizzle over one of the teaspoons of honey. Roast for 1/2 hour or until soft and aromatic. When pumpkin is cooked, drain the barley and heat a pan with another splash of olive oil. on a medium heat gently sauté the barley and add the garlic cloves keep stirring to avoid the barley from sticking for 10 minutes, then add the pumpkin.Lower the heat and start to prepare the dressing. In true Jamie style i like using a small jar with a lid to mix the dressing and if there happens to be left overs it can be easily stored in the fridge for later use. Add the yoghurt,2tablespoons of olive oil,turmeric,mustard and honey then replace the lid on the jar and shake, open and lightly season to taste. Then a large bowl roughly toss the salad greens together then add the pumpkin, barley mix and finish with the dressing.
This is a fabulous recipe that i have used over and over again. It is really easy, tasty and vegetarian. I like using a whole butter nut pumpkin that i just throw in the oven without any preparation and let it roast in the skin. It holds all the flavour and is really easy to slice and scoop out when cooked, defiantly a must try for anyone who loves roasted pumpkin. I used home-made fresh pasta however bought pasta sheets work just as well, if dried you will need to blanch the sheets for a couple of minutes in boiling water.
ingredients: 1 butternut pumpkin, 1 spanish onion,olive oil,500g frozen spinach,1/2tsp nutmeg,4 cloves garlic,2 can whole tomatoes,6+ fresh pasta sheets,50g feta,300g fresh ricotta,20g parmesan cheese,bunch of fresh sage, 1tsp raw sugar,sea salt,cracked pepper
method: Preheat the oven to 180°C, cook the pumpkin whole in a baking tray for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. when cooked remove and set aside. in a pan add olive oil and diced onion sauté for a few minutes then add cans of tomatoes with the juice, season generously with salt, cracked pepper and the raw sugar, turn heat to low at let sauce simmer for 20 minutes.
In a separate pan add olive oil and frozen spinach and the nut meg then season lightly, cook for 10 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated. Set aside to cool slightly, then add to the fresh ricotta and gently mix together. With a sharp knife slice the pumpkin length ways and discard seeds and skin, then scoop out flesh and roughly mash with a fork.
On a clean work surface , lay out pasta sheets facing length ways away from you. working quickly so the pasta doesn’t dry out, evenly divide and spread the pumpkin over the sheets. Then add a layer of spinach and ricotta and then crumble over the feta. Roll each sheet up and the cut evenly into four chunks and place facing up into half of the tomato sauce in a deep baking tray. Add remaining sauce over the top and place sage leaves and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the oven until golden and crisp.
recipe slightly modified from Jamie Oliver,jamie’s italy.
just another day on the on the home front.. numerous cups of tea, Vegemite toast,endless amounts of washing,home-made ice-poles with water play, nose piercings, mess and afternoon tea. And we will do it all again tomorrow.
cooking with toddlers is always going to be anything but methodical. Before pursuit it is absolutely necessary to let go of any concept that the process is going to run smoothly and without fuss or mess for that matter. It almost needs to be seen as organised chaos with the idea that anything could happen and that there may not even be any consumable produce from the event. What is important to remember is, that all of the learning lies within the experience. For us it’s all about the sensory play, our boo thrives on the touch and taste of soft dough and at the moment any activity that encourages his participation, cooperation and patients is welcomed.
BUTTER COOKIES
ingredients:125g softened butter,100g caster sugar,1 free-range egg,200 g plain flour,1tsp vanilla extract,1/4tsp baking powder,sprinkles,extra flour for dusting
method: Beat butter and sugar in a kitchen mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well, then add the flour and baking powder and mix until a ball of dough forms. At this stage is good to roll dough into a ball and wrap in cling film and put into the fridge to chill for an hour, however this step is completely unacceptable to my toddlers so we always skip it and go straight to here, on a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/2cm thick with cookie cutters cut out shapes and gently press into the sprinkles and lay onto baking tray lined with baking paper. If dough is extra soft from skipping the chilling step, you can, with lightly floured hands roll teaspoons of the mixture and then press them into the sprinkles. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 180°C or until the edges are slightly browned.
recipe adapted from JamieOliver.com Lemon Butter Biscuits
pictures captured on the beach in Cows, Phillip Island, with myself,Georgia, Boo and the rain
we headed off down the coast to Phillip Island for the easter school holidays. this is fast becoming our home away from home. We are fortunate enough to have a regular place to stay that makes it really easy to take very little with us, besides five kids packed into the car doesn’t leave very much room for too much more. So with just the necessities we make do, it’s a nice opportunity to live a little more simplified. It was a welcomed change spending our mornings on the beach, playing and forgetting our usual patterns of lunch making and school rush mornings. It was just the six of us this time, we left daddy behind to tend to the house and chickens.
St GEORGIA & Boo 