KEFIR
I have finally ventured into growing my own milk kefir. These are my first “grains”, bought on e-bay. The 2 scoops of grains came packed in a zip-lock bag in a little powdered milk with a full set of instructions. This is enough to kefir about 1/2 litre of milk over 24 hours. I followed […]
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DESERT PIZZA
This is awesome – totally to die for. Don’t make too many because it is so rich that you can only eat a small amount but most decided that we could skip the pizzas and go straight to the desert pizza next time. BANANA AND CHOCOLATE DESERT PIZZA Ingredients Be totally creative here. This is […]
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PIZZA DOUGHS and PASSATA
PIZZA DOUGH We bought a wood fired pizza oven and then discovered that there is a lot more to pizza than we had ever imagined. The main thing that I learned is that there is an art to the dough and that all doughs are not created equal. To this end we have spent […]
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MUSHROOM SOUP – TWO WAYS
One more thing to do with all of my mushrooms. This one used 1 kg of mushrooms and made a fair amount of soup. It was lovely. Excess can be frozen before the cream/ricotta is added. This quantity would seem to serve about 12. The three of us will eat it over a few days, […]
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MUSHROOM PATE
My excess of mushrooms knows no bounds. I have been given a recipe for mushroom pate, which was fantastic. I changed a few things, as you do, including cooking it in the actifry to make it very easy and quick. This is so good that we should double the quantity. It can be used as […]
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NUT BUTTER
With a good blender, this is an easy and very healthy recipe. There are no peanuts in it but they could be added. With the ingredients including a variety of seeds, mixed nuts and olive oil, the nut butter, although it seems quite expensive, it makes quite a large quantity, and the health benefits, with […]
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IFIELD TOMATO RELISH
This recipe was given to me well over 30 years ago by my Auntie, as you can see from the photo of the typed original recipe. This photo gives the recipe provenance. I just made the relish for the first time in many years because I had an abundance of home grown tomatoes. What […]
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MUSHROOMS – PICKLED, DUXELLES, DRIED
This week we had a letter box drop offering spent mushroom compost, direct form the farm. 20kg bags for about $1 each. We took the ute and brought back 30 bags to top up the vegetable garden beds. We plan to go away for a month and decided the best way to deal with the […]
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PARROTFISH SIGHT WORDS GAMES APP
PARROTFISH STUDIOS Well we’ve finally done it. We have set up a company to design and develop educational kids games. Parrotfish Studios has been born! Ever since forever I have been going to write/create something educational. I have so many filing cabinets full of teaching resources that I can’t bear to throw out, yet I […]
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CHICKEN AND CORN CHOWDER
CHICKEN AND CORN CHOWDER We have been making this recipe for over thirty years, it is so easy and can easily be upscaled to feed a crowd. It is great campfire food. Ingredients Pre-cooked roast chicken, bones removed and cut into pieces 1 onion, chopped 1 clove garlic 1 litre chicken stock or equivalent made […]
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CARROT SALADS
I don’t really like carrots but they taste far better as salads than they do cooked. These recipes are both really tasty. Russian (Korean) Carrot Salad Apparently this recipe is called Russian Carrot Salad but it is really a Korean concoction that became popular in Russia. Every recipe I have looked at shows different ingredients […]
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FERMENTED CHILLI PASTE
Ingredients 250g red chillis -stems cut off and seeded if hot (wear gloves!!!!) 250g green chillis – stems cut off and seeded 4 cloves garlic, peeled 5 tbs light brown sugar 1 1/2 tbs salt 1 1/3 cup water 1 1/2 cup white vinegar Directions Place all the ingredients except vinegar into a blender and blend until smooth. […]
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RHUBARB RELISH
Another use for the rhubarb that I grow. I needed to get a lot of the plants cut back as they were getting rather large, so I had a lot of rhubarb to deal with. This relish goes really well with soft cheeses and mild meats such as chicken, ham and pork. Ingredients 6 cups […]
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HOME-MADE GARDEN REMEDIES
Whenever I have to make Chilli Jam or Chilli Sauce I need to remove the seeds from our home grown chillis because they are far too hot to use with the seeds in. Trying to have an organic vegetable garden I need some way to use all the chilli seeds and at the same time […]
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BEEF FILLET
This was my second meat to go with the traditional ham this Christmas. Many people said it was the best meat they have ever had and that this Christmas the food was even better than normal. I hate to think how we are going to better this in coming years. This is very easy, the […]
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CASHEW PESTO
This tastes better the second day, it tastes a bit “green” when freshly made. It depends on the strength of the spinach, young spinach is better. Ingredients 1/2 cup cashews for pesto 1/2 cup cashews chopped to remain chunky 250 g spinach – or combination of leaves – include basil, parsley, oregano 1 chilli – […]
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SLUSHY PUNCH
This is a really interesting punch – made with quite weak jelly, fruit juices and water, frozen overnight and then slightly defrosted and munched up and added to a sparkling drink such as ginger beer, ginger ale or lemon squash or for a more adult version it goes really well in sparkling wines (champagne). You […]
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DEFROST PRAWNS
For Christmas I bought “frozen at sea” Gulf prawns. Prawns frozen on the trawlers in ship’s blast freezers are far fresher than anything that’s been farmed and shipped fresh. So I had 3 kg of jumbo prawns needing to be defrosted on Christmas eve. This is a combination of the method I found on the […]
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PUMPKIN SALAD
This is a really easy, healthy salad that can be made in advance and assembled just before serving. If desired the roasted pumpkin can be reheated in the microwave but it tasted just fine cold and just as good the next day. Ingredients Pumpkin – sliced about 1 cm thick with enough pieces for each […]
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FETA
You can make the feta dip following the recipe below or simply use some of the marinated feta, its own oil and some extra yoghurt and ricotta. Feta Dip Ingredients 250 g feta – Danish 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1/4 cup yoghurt 1/4 cup cream cheese or low fat ricotta 2 tbs lemon juice 1/4 […]
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CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
This one I am making for Christmas to serve with desert because all deserts should be chocolate and this year my layered ice cream fruit cake concoction has only a small amount of chocolate – admittedly both white and dark, but it can’t be classed as a chocoholic desert. Enter the fudge – this has […]
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LOLLY CAKE CONES
This was designed as desert for the kids at Christmas – mainly because of the alcohol and the nuts in the adult ice cream desert. For kids it not only has to taste good but look amazing, and if you have the adults wanting to try the kids desert then you have achieved something. Ingredients […]
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CHOCOLATE BARK
What is there to say? No real reason to write out this recipe. Always a hit at Christmas and so easy. Melt some food quality chocolate, spread on silicone paper, sprinkle on crushed up candy canes for Christmas colours and peppermint flavour. Alternately use sprinkles or coconut, or whatever fits the theme of the day. […]
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CHEESE AND WALNUT SHORTBREADS
I have had mixed reactions to these biscuits. The first taste, in isolation, is a bit of a surprise, and to some, not so pleasant. The taste needs to be savoured, to allow the flavours to be released. Once you’ve had one, they become addictive, making a great accompaniment to a nice, cold white wine. […]
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