My latest ReCreation

Yes I have finally finished the quilt for me for the camper. I had been sick of doing boys quilts so this time it is a girly quilt (Aaron will just have to get over sleeping under pink!). I made a matching one for Mieke (not that she is going camping!!) so we will both look wonderfull.
It is again made from scouring the second hand shops and buying any PJ's I could get. It is easy to get a bag of them when the shops only have a bottom or a top, they tend to fill a bag for $4 or something cheap and easy like that.

It was a lovely day to photograph it today but a bit of a breeze came up so the boys held  corner each.

Picnic for the Christchurch Earthquake Concert

The Christchurch free concert is today. Started at 11am but we are leaving home at 2.30pm as the boys would not be able to do 9 hours at a concert. Hopefully there will be space!!
So the first picnic for the summer (we have had winter picnics) has been done.

We have frozen bottles of apple juice (as it is 22degC), chocolate covered strawberries (covered in Whittakers Mocha 70% cocoa chocolate), Fruit cake from Annabel Langbeins new book (The Free Range Cook), Smoked salmon, cream cheese and crackers (the salmon is from the Rangiora Fresh Fish Shop) and gorgeous chicken kebabs and rice salad. Yum, I can't wait.

My Orange Peel

Every year I wait for the NZ Orange season. They are amazing, delicious, sharp and tangy. I never buy imported ones. I have made peel a couple of times using a recipe from my sister Ruth. It has often been a bit sticky and need to be stored in the freezer. This year I put a bit more sugar in and have incredible results.

As you eat oranges save the peel (I think I had about 10 oranges) remove all pith and then thinly slice. Into a pot put the peel and enough water to cover. Use equal quantities of sugar to water. Heat on low temp until sugar all dissolved. Then bring to the simmer and simmer for 15 minutes, stir occaisionally. Turn it off and leave in the pot. Next day bring to simmer for 15 mins, turn it off and leave it in the pot. Next day the same, stiring occaisionally. Next day the same but stir frequently and when the sugar starts to cristalise (Sp?) keep stiring. Once looking like being set tip it onto baking paper on the bench. As it cools start separating the strands by banging it with a wooden spoon. You end up with beautiful transuculent peel and sugar that tastes amazing. Store in a jar. It will not be soft or soggy.

Kids cooking - gingerbread men

For Jakobs 7th birthday we made small and large gingerbread men. I found icing tubes in the supermarket. Four different colours for about $4. The boys spent hours decorating individual baby, men and women biscuits. What a cheap great activity.

Still on holiday food

Yes - back to that very wet and windy, snow (I kid you not) and hail, thunderstorms and yucky weather holiday.

After experiencing all the above over 7 days we retreated to Dunedin to my sister Ruths house. Within an hour of being there I had checked out her entire edible garden. I found lots and lots and lots of potatoes. But also a plethora of strawberries, redcurrants and whitecurrants. Knowing that she loves a baked cheesecake and was due to arrive back that day, I made this......

                                                     

While the  boys did this.....they loved climbing into a tree.

What I learnt - Aaron will pick currants because they are his favourite fruit. When on holiday making a cheesecake of the top of your head can be ok but not perfect. Baked cheesecake is better the day after when it has had a bit of time to sit and set. Currants look fantastic on top and tasted great in the middle but the contrast was too much with them totally raw and the cheesecake smooth.

To make the cake:

use your favourite baked cheesecake recipe. Lightly poach the fruit in a sugar syrup. When assembling put a layer of filling into the base, add a layer of fruit, then top with remaining cheesecake mix. Cook. once cool put fruit on top and glaze (Ruth had redcurrant jelly in her pantry from previous years. It was a fantastic glaze and kept the one taste throughout).

Kids cooking and foraging day

The day started at 7.30am with Jorja arriving. Normally I had headed of for a walk with Morris but not today - I slept in!! So a quick dash out of bed to open the door and the day had begun.

While I am not working I have restarted cooking lessons with Jorja and Jakob. Last year I decided that 6year olds should be getting their way around the kitchen. As they can read they should be able to follow instructions. So today it was Pavlova day. The only thing was what to do with all the egg yolks. I did not want to do lemon honey again. By the time I got organised enough for breakfast it was 8.50am so we decided to make french toast. Jakob and Jorja now have two more recipies for their books and we had a lovely breakfast and gorgeous dessert tonight.

Recipes

French Toast

6 egg yolks
3/4 cup whole milk
Knob of butter
Your choice of topping.

Put the egg yolks and milk into a flat bottom dish or container (it needs to be large enough for a standard slice of bread to fit flat). Mix well with a fork so there are no egg lumps.

Heat the frying pan so that a bit of butter sizzles but does not burn.
Put one slice of bread into the egg mixture, push it in and turn it over to get a good coverage of egg. Put into frying pan. Cook approx 1-2 minutes and then turn over and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes. Take out and repeat until all egg is used up. It should make about 4-5 slices of bread.

Put on a plate and drizzle with maple syrup. Or grind salt and pepper. Or get extravagant and chop up banana and cooked bacon.

Alternative If you are not making pavlova then make French toast with 3 whole eggs instead.



Pavlova

6 egg whites from my chickens
2 cups castor sugar (but half the time I don’t have that and use normal and I have not noticed a difference)
1 Tablespoon cornflour
1 Tablespoon vinegar (either white or malt)

Beat the egg whites until stiff, keep beating and add the sugar continuously using a teaspoon to put it in the bowl. It should take about 7 minutes. Sometimes I get fed up and just dump the last ½ cup in and beat and it always seems ok. Add cornflour and vinegar and beat it in. Put it on a tray lined with baking paper. Any size or sizes you want.

You can make one big pavlova but I tend to make person sized pav’s. As this mixture makes about 12 individual person sizes we can have it for dessert with guests and keep the rest in an airtight container for another night later in the week.

Bake 110c for 1 hour. You can leave in the oven to cool but you don’t have to.

Foraging

Out and about with the three kids to keep them entertained, we came upon a rugby field full of mushrooms. A lot of the fungus we stomped on as it had bugs etc but there were two sections of the field where the mushrooms were gorgeous. As we had been out for lunch and a play in the park we did not have a spare bag with us. But thanks to George Weston Foods, we had two Big Ben cowboy hats that the boys had been wearing as sunhats. So we upturned them and filled them with mushrooms. There were enormous amounts of screaming as they all found mushrooms, lots of running around and exclaiming. It all took over an hour and everyone came home tired and happy. Jakob and Jorja insisted that they were going to make money from them. Here I had been thinking that we could give some away. But no - we came home and Jorja organised me. Bags, stapler, cloth scissors and then we spent 20mins bagging them up. Jorja then rang everyone she could think of trying to sell the mushrooms at $1 a bag. We sold four of the nine and she had aunties etc lined up for the rest. (I think she needs to get a sales job cold calling - no fear or trepidation there!!!).