Dairy Free Zucchini Cake

The boys are going to their grandparents tomorrow while I work. The grandparents are going to be very busy as they also have my other 1&3 year old nephew and niece with them.

So to try and be of some assistance I decided to have the boys take a cake. My nephew and niece have been very dairy intolerant and although they are getting better I still omit dairy when I can.

The zucchini's are starting to really produce so instead of using apples I used zucchini. My spiced apple cake recipe is here - just replace the grated apple with 3-4 grated normal size zucchini.

Needless to say it is not going to the grandparents in one piece as everyone here has already had a slice!!!

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My favourite anytime snack

This is great for breakfast, gorgeous for morning tea, makes a good lunch and if you are peckish at three.... well....

Walk to the glasshouse, take a deep breath and smell the earthy growing scent. Look at the glorious produce, pick the biggest ripest beefsteak tomato that you can then walk back to the kitchen.

Toast a piece of wheatmeal or wholemeal fresh bread. Put a 1cm slice in the middle and use as much cracked pepper and salt as you like. Eat, Savour and Enjoy. (In my aim to be a bit healthier I did not use any butter on the toast and it is still awesomely delicious).

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Scrappy Triangle Cushions - Done

 Before Christmas I posted my slow but steady progress on some cushion covers. I had made heaps of scrappy triangles and it was time to use them.

Last night I got the chance to finish them. Aaron and his brother went for a run and then watched a movie, so I got stuck into getting the backing of the cushions and zips inserted etc. Poor wee Jakob had problems sleeping so in between tending to him these got slowly completed. I managed to pack my machine up at about 11.15pm. (We all ended up sleeping in this morning - it made me over an hour late for work - but that was my schedule not one set by my every forgiving boss - aka brother in law).

The quilting on the smaller cushion

I am pleased with these cushions - Jakob being awake still at 10.30pm took the small finished one back to his room. I think I will keep the big one for my bed as I am seriously into sitting up in bed reading, relaxing and drinking coffee in the morning.

The bigger cushion I quilted as diamonds. I prefer this.

So I still have triangles left to use AND I have created another project for myself as I think some of our big European pillows on our bed need nice quilted covers etc etc etc!!!

The back of the cushions.

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Dansey's Pass

Kyeburg diggings at Danseys Pass

 One of the day trips that we did was to go over the Danseys Pass and back. We left the campground (Danseys Pass Holiday Park) and headed into the blue yonder (or rather grey and misty yonder). Over the Pass we went in our two wheel drive vehicle only to find that it is a four wheel drive road only. But we made it OK. It is not a road for the fainthearted and we did consider going the long way back (172km via Oamaru) rather than do the road again. But going back was OK as the day had been dry so it was easier than when damp in the morning. 

The boys graffiti on the car

The New Hotel (rather old actually but newer than the ruins!

Ruins of an old hotel by the "new" hotel

An old mining hotel

 Once we got to Nasby the weather improved and we did an 8km walk along an old goldmining water race. We played Poo Sticks most of the way and I won!!!

Th goldmining water race

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Lots of time to stitch

We have come home from 9 days in Central Otago on holiday over the New Year. Now that is one place where heat and sunshine are guaranteed right. Well you would be wrong. We did get some warm days and some sun but we also had a lot of rain. Which meant the river kept going up and then making it either too cold or too swift for swimming.

 So I got quite a lot of time to stitch. I have been working on these stitcheries which are some of the memory verses that the boys had to learn at school this year. I decided to stitch some of the ones that struck a cord with me and then turn them into a quilt. Not sure yet whether I will use the quilt for fundraising if the school has something that the kids need to raise money for, or whether to give it to the boys. As it is no where near finished it is not something I need to dwell on at the moment.

The boys and Aaron did a lot of this.

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Barry's Brilliant Beetroot

Today I have made my cousin-in-law beetroot recipe. It is so quick and easy and tastes yummy. I don't seem to be able to grow beetroot - I try every year and just don't get roots - sigh. So resorted to buying some. So beetroot with a roast vege and feta salad. (Yet another cousins recipe - Yes I have stacks of cousins which makes sense as my mother was from a family of 10!!).

Pickled Beetroot

Preparation time: more than 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 large beetroot

¾ cup water

1½ cups white vinegar or ¾ cup apple cider vinegar with ¾ cup malt vinigar

¾ cup sugar

½ teaspoon peppercorns

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ cinnamon stick

¼ teaspoon salt

Method

1. Wash beetroot thoroughly and cook in water until tender.

2. Cool and remove skin. (either by hand or use a knife)

3. Cut beetroot into slices or julienne strips.

4. Place all other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil.

5. Simmer for 5 minutes and then strain.

6. Pack beetroot into hot sterilised jars and top up with vinegar mixture.

7. Seal and store in a cool place.

This can be eaten on the day you make it, unlike some recipes that are better if left to mature. So no bottling for me - straight into my tupperware drain and serve!!!

Happy holidays

Well we got away after a delayed start. Rained everyday, at some point, but that hasn't mattered as we have still has great swimming time and a really big walk so far. Gorgeous camping ground, very spacious sites and family orientated. Just waiting for a good day to go tyre tubing down the river

Unexpected craft time

With the wet weather, that arrived about 3pm on Christmas Day, came an unexpected treat. Time to do some quilting. We were going to head out camping on Boxing Day but we woke up to rain and decided not to go today. We were not booked into our camping ground until tomorrow but had thought to get a head start on the drive.

Christmas afternoon I did a bit of preparing stitchy things to take away on our camping trip. Then I sewed borders on the cushion covers I showed you here.

Today after the caravan was packed, the chooks cleaned out, some gardening done, washing done, boys packed etc I had time to relax as instead of driving we are at home. So out came the backing material and basting spray and I put my three layers together and then quilted them this afternoon.

Normally when I quilt I use pins to keep all the layers together but I have found that with smaller items basting spray is so much easier.

Christmas Day was a lovely day for our family. We went to church on Christmas Eve so did not need to rush around on Christmas morning. So coffee and presents and relaxing before heading out to be with the family. It was a lovely family time, everyone catching up and chatting.

We had thought we would swim in the river on the way home as it had been quite hot during the day, but by the time we got to come home the weather was clouding up. We were right near the beach so we decided on a detour and took a walk along the beach. It started to rain, but that did not matter. The boys still ran in the water and swam along side us walking. I paddled the whole way and then when we returned to the car they all went for a swim in the surf between the flags.

I trust you all had a lovely Christmas Day.
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Happy Christmas... what is afoot for next year

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. I type this as I have the scent of baking ham wafting through the house for our Christmas Eve meal, before we head out to carol singing and Christmas Eve service.

I have had a lovely day doing some baking for tomorrow, visiting friends for wine and delicious Christmas cake, pruning all the roses - boysenberry and grapes, looking after some other children while their parent has some precious time out. So a busy but good day.

I trust that you have all had the same and are relaxed for a day tomorrow when we spend time with family and friends. We remember that Christ was born, a child in a manger in the middle of winter and we rejoice that he is our Saviour. 

Inspired by these two gardens - Riverstone Kitchen

The Curators House in the Christchurch Public Gardens - their potager......

....yes we are considering doing a massive overhaul of our garden area. Hmmm wait and see...

So good things to look forward to, see you all in the New Year.
Kind Regards
Karen

The best Christmas fruit mince pie pastry

Today I made my first (and probably last) batch of Christmas mince pies. They are always so successful, this pastry is short, crispy but melts in your mouth. There is a long story to how I got the recipe as it had been a closely guarded secret by one of Aaron's aunties. My MIL was very put out when I got the recipe as she had been trying to get it for about 30 years!!!

I made my Christmas fruit mince on Tuesday as it is so easy to whip up in the food processor. Today I made one lot of pastry which resulted in 3 1/2 dozen fruit mince pies. yum.

So I have decided to share the recipe:

Aunty Lorraine's Christmas fruit mince pie pastry

3 Cups flour
1 Cup icing sugar
2 Tablespoons custard powder
1 large egg yolk (today I used two yolks just because I felt like it)
375g soft butter

Put all into the food processor and process until it starts forming balls of dough. NB this dough is very soft. Do not add any more flour but flour the bench and rolling pin well.

Roll out fairly thin and cut etc. Bake 180oC for 15-18 minutes. It should be turning golden but NOT brown.

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What's on my sewing table at the moment

Well there is somehow not as much getting under the sewing machine as I plan. I just don't seem to have the steam after dinner to get things done.

BUT I have started a couple of things and have worked on them for the last few nights. This is after having some full days doing fun school holiday things. We have scooter-ed around Lake Pegasus after a lovely morning tea with friends. That time ended up with swimming in the middle (in our clothes as I did not think to bring togs), dodging the sprinklers and having a generally lovely time.

We have also been on the miniature railway out at Steam Scene, raced on the hydroslides at Jellie Park, the males all went to see the new Hobbit movie and all this in the first week of the school holidays. ( I managed to squeeze some work in today while they were at the movies).

Anyway..... I have started a refashion of this denim jacket.


And started to piece together a big pile of scrappy 60 degree triangles. These triangles have been in the making for a long time. Whenever I have sewn strips leftover from a project I cut triangles from them. Jakob is in need of a few cushion covers so I thought that was a project that killed two birds with one stone. The only things is that I have a LOT more than I realised. So I have started the top of his cushion cover, started another cushion cover for a much bigger cushion but I still have leftovers. Hmmm...

Not sure how to use them up so am thinking of putting a strip between them all, am liking this look so far. 

So still sitting on my sewing table are the cushions, the backing (black with white dot) and the patched triangles. 

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