In my kitchen ~ May 2015

There has been lots going on in my kitchen this past month, the usual cooking adventures but I'm thrilled to share a little kitchen reno we did (cough, cough ok Mr. GW needs all the credit but I am the ideas person and he then is the practical follow through person :)) and some very exciting purchases I've been waiting years to get which makes for one happy Jan.  
I'm tagging along with other devotees of the "In my kitchen" series hook up with the lovely Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.  Pop over for a look at others kitchens from all over the globe, it's really quite something!

I've tried to be as frugal as I can just to try and push myself to create something tasty and delicious out of nothing - saving money is also a motivation but I really wanted to get back out of the supermarket every few days habit, so I thought I'd share some of my tight arse treats.  And, if I'm really honest, I've been feeling really poo due to a change in medication which again isn't working or helping my cause but the one thing that gets me up is the thought of cooking something for my hungry family.  It also helps me pay for the extravagant additions to my kitchen this month ;) 

In my kitchen where these bastardised Anzac biscuits.  I used the normal recipe you can find here but I added some of my own spins.  I used chia, flaxseeds, currants and peppitas, some peach leather I needed to use up and a few pieces of chocolate rougly chopped.  I added only half the amount of oats, used agave syrup instead of golden syrup and lastly  used melted coconut oil instead of butter.  I added a few tablespoons more of flour and coconut oil to made a moist 'dough' due to the extra dry ingredients.  So maybe they aren't really an Anzac but a modern spin on one!!  Either way they were scrummy.

In my kitchen has been these heavenly gluten free thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies.  I initially made these for a friend of my daughters who is coeliac but I've now been making them just for us as they are the perfect cookie in my book ~ danger!

In my kitchen was my first ever spaghetti squash that I was gifted.  On expert advice, I sliced it in half and popped it into a baking tray that had water in it and baked/steamed it for 40 minutes.  It was really tasty with a lashing of butter and lots of salt and pepper.

The seeds I washed and roasted to have as an afternoon snack - tossed in sea salt and a hint of cayenne pepper made them lip smackingly morish.  I'll be doing this to my pumpkin seeds from now on too.

In my kitchen I've been making lots of my tomato and onion pie as luck would have it we still have loads of tomatoes coming in.  We have a back room that gets all the sun that has been a dream for rippening the green buggers that just won't on the vine.  I've also made 3 pie dishes worth and frozen them to have on a rainy day.

I got the round enamel dishes from the Salvo's for 20 cents a pop - love them and love a bargain!

In my kitchen are freshly dug spuddies and we've been having them in lots of things - there's hardly a day we don't eat potatoes come to think of it.  I saw this post here that made me think differently about the peelings that the worms usually get.  They have now become our little tid bit of an entree - tossed in some extra virgin olive oil and a good lash of salt and pepper they are make great crispy potato skins.

In my kitchen has been these kohlrabi leaves I've been pinching from the plant before the bulb is ready.  My fav way to use them boil them quickly in water, drain well and toss in coconut oil, a touch of chilli and salt and pepper.  I do the same with beetroot leaves too.

In my kitchen has been lots of bread baking - above a plaited white loaf and below my trusty no knead bread

I've tried my hand at my first ever focaccia using this recipe from 

Silvia Colloca's blog with fantastic success I'm very pleased to say and I'll be making it again as soon as I can trust myself not to inhale it.

In my kitchen has been lots of soup for the freezer.  With the colder weather I usually have soup for lunch each day.  This is the beginning of vegetable soup cooked with chicken stock, a parmesan rind and the left over corn cob that is taken out once the vegies are tender.  I added some pasta, rice and homemade tomato passata.  It made 10 serves for a few $$'s.

Not making it into my kitchen has been these radish's.  Mr. GW and I eat as garden snacks and give the spoils to our girls greedy girls below.

In my kitchen has been the most amazing eggs.  Set your eyes on the 90 gram baby below!!! It was a double yolker.

 My kitchen went from this to.....

to this! Ta-dah!  We weren't planning a kitchen reno quite yet, but on our weekly trip to Bunnings, I found this stainless -anti-fingerproof(!!!) cabinet for a bargain price.  It's for a man cave (hence the anti-fingerproof stainless I think) but it's perfect for my kitchen.  Mr. GW changed the wheels though as the original ones were very large (they are to be repurposed onto my wine barrels for the courtyard ;) waste not want not).It's not a perfect fit but it will be once the whole kitchen is re-done sometime in the next few years...or if I see the right thing it could be next week!

In my kitchen is my new baby.  I've been waiting years for her.  My very own KitchenAid!! (squeel!!)  I haven't named her yet - any ideas?  Kitchenaid have a deal on at the moment for Mothers day, giving you a free $300 food processor so that sealed it's fate.

and finally, in my kitchen is my new second hand camera!!  I'm thrilled with it too but I just have to work out how to use it so my photos will benefit.

That's enough excitement for one month!
Thanks for stopping by, I love getting your comments and visiting as many of the fellow In my kitchen contributors as possible.

Ciao, Jan x

Coconut, chia and strawberry bread

When I was growing up, my mum (bless her) wasn't a great cook nor did I come home to cookies or cakes straight from the oven with a glass of milk.  I instead usually was home alone until Mum came home from work or I was with my mama (our maternal grandmothers name for us grandies thanks to the first cousin in a long line that couldn't wrap his lips around 'nana') along with a gazillion cousins.  Mama raised 11 children on her own in the 40's, 50's and 60's.  Could you even imagine?  Yep, on...her...own...11 under 11 ~ a set of twins came late down the line just to throw a spanner in the works!  She is a modern day saint that woman.  She has also had a wonderful hand at helping raise all of their offspring.  So you can understand when I say my cousins and I after school at Mama's place was like feeding time at the zoo.  She had a way of whipping up something out of nothing for us all - either her family famous scones, pancakes, spaghetti and potato soup (I must share that frugal recipe), grated potato cakes or she would just put out a loaf of white bread, butter, jam and let us devour the whole loaf before we went outside and left a trail of destruction for her to clean up.

Now that I'm a Mum, and a stay at home Mum, I do make most things from scratch for her lunchbox and a cooked evening meal yes I nearly always have on at the ready, but I don't always have sweet treats just out of the oven for my girl when she arrives home from school,  but I try and do it at least once a week as the pleasure it brings her is worth it :)  

I do try and be a bit sneaky and get in as much fruit or healthy items as possible so when I found this recipe here for coconut bread that also contains no egg, I thought I'd give it a try.   I thought I'd give it a whirl, with my own twists of course. I couldn't not use some of my home clucked chook eggs though so I just added one.  I'm thinking I will have this toasted for breakfast this week too with some slices of banana....ok probably not as I don't think it will last that long.

Coconut, chia and strawberry bread
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup agave syrup or sugar
1/3 cup chia seeds 
1 cup frozen or fresh strawberries (you could use any berries or banana even)
1/cup frozen or fresh strawberries to decorate the top
into your 1 cup measure, crack 1 egg-whisk well- then top up with soy milk or a milk of your choice - coconut milk would be sublime

1.  Pre-heat oven to 170c and line a loaf/bread tin with baking paper.

2.  Sift flour and add all ingredients and mix thoroughly just with a spoon will do, but don't over work it.

3.  Pour batter into the tin and smooth the top - use a spatula to get all of the batter out of your bowl.  Top with 1/2 cup of remaining berries.

4.  Bake for approx. 35 minutes.  Leave to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a baking tray.

5.  Devour with hot cups of tea and conversation.

Truth be known, I'd happily bake something every day for after school but unfortunately between me and my darling heart we would devour it as we both love food so that is why I show some restraint!  Another bonus about this recipe as it seriously took me 2 minutes to whip it together and was ready by the time I'd walked up to the school gate....and there really is nothing like cups of tea or hot chocolate, a warm slice of somethin' somethi'nto get your kids to talking about their day - bribery all the way!!  Although we did fight over another slice...

What do you like to bake that's in the oven in minutes?

Ciao, Jan x

In my kitchen February 2015

Lots of lovely things have been happening in my kitchen since my first instalment of In my kitchen hosted by Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.  

I thought I'd just share a little about my eating style.

I'm not vegetarian or vegan but I really love exploring healthy alternatives to processed food and minimising how much meat I eat.  I thrill at cooking from scratch and using as much of our own produce and if I can organic products, but it's not always that easy living on a budget!

So here we go....

Our home grown purple garlic 

We found this shoulder of pork which was a bit on the fatty side so I slow cooked it in the oven for 7 hours on a rack so all the fat could render out...it was absolutely fall off the bone lip smackingly delicious!

This was my first attempt at making bap rolls and they were a hit and easy as you just put everything in the mixer using a dough hook.  Perfect carrier for the pork let me tell you.

My little lady and I had some cooking fun over the school holidays.  This dough can be found here.

My spin on pesto minus any parmesan...this one is kale, spinach, mint, basil, parsley, garlic, smidge of chilli, walnuts, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice - all picked fresh from the garden - ah-mazing!

I made cauliflower bread that I used this recipe here as a base.  I changed the recipe a bit and chose to keep them flavour less, so no onion, garlic, nuts  or spinach.  I also added chia seeds, sesame seeds and poppy seeds.  They were pretty good, I toasted them in the toaster the next day and used them just like toast.

These eggplants became chips doused with salt and chilli & smeared with coconut oil.

I've been eating more fish and seafood and this medley of gummy shark, calamari, prawns, greens, herbs and chilli wrapped in foil with a smidge of coconut oil is rock'n' roll.

A visit to my favourite little nook in Melbourne's block arcade Gewurzhaus herb and spice market.  I got whole white peppercorns which can be hard to find and this gorgeous treat of vintage merlot salt which is just darling!  I've been using it on baked fish, chicken, slices of tomatoes & fresh basil - anything really!!

Thanks to Tania from the cooks pyjamas for the idea of making my own granola.  I also got inspiration from another friends recipe she found on this great website.  I made around 500g for a few dollars - a paleo muesli I saw at the health food shop the other day was $25 for 500g!!! WT...

And lastly in my kitchen are 2 chicken ornaments, 

 a milk jug and napkin holder, 

  to further celebrate getting my own real live little ladies which you can read about here.

So that's me for this month.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  There are so many of us on this little adventure to see everyone's kitchen, but if you leave me a comment I will be sure to come and take a peep into yours.

Ciao, Jan x

apricot jam with a chia twist

Those of you who read my blog regularly, know I've been keenly awaiting my apricots.  They were deliciously juicy and sweet but there was only 11 of them so they were eaten, quickly!  A friend bestowed on me a bag of unripened babies a week ago, I rubbed my hands with glee....it was jam time!  I left the fruit in a big round enamel bowl but you could use a baking tray.  The point is to not have them piled up on themselves too much.  I lined it with paper towel and popped them lovingly into the linen press.  There they stayed in the dark for around 3 days.  I did check them daily, and any that were ripening too quickly went into the fridge.

the apricots before being left in the dark

Now, I do not profess to being any sort of expert at all in the jam or preserves stakes.  I'm a very, new beginner but what I do have is an adventurous cooking spirit , which will either be ah-mazing or be my undoing.  I've been reading about and talking to my Nan lots about pectin lately thrill seekers, as it seems I need to be wary of him.  I don't want to use anything artificial if I can help it so I need him to work for me.  I've learnt that if you take the seeds and/or pips of your fruit and pop that in an old clean tea towel (cotton variety and one that is thin and not fluffy) or muslin if you aren't a tight you know what like me :), and pop that in with your brew.  I've also learnt that you shouldn't stir your jam too much nor start it on high heat as this also messes and can kill the pectin too.

3 days later

I was reading Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella's recipe of apricot and almond jam, and I did some other research which lead me to my recipe.  

Apricot and chia jam
2.2kg's apricots
1kg sugar
4 tspns lemon juice
5 peelings of orange
a tspn or 2 of chia seeds for each jar
swatch of muslin or a clean cotton tea towel

Wash, pip (keep them babies) and cut them into bite sized chunks - around each half into 3-4 then cut them in half again, cutting off a few bad bits along the way.  

Grab yourself a saucer or a small plate and put it in the freezer, this will help you know when your jam is set.

Plop the apricots into a large saucepan.  Mix through, very gently, the sugar.  I let them macerate for an hour, but you can leave it longer or even overnight but I was too impatient for that.  Lots of liquidy sugary juice is released then.

Place your orange peel (you can of course use lemon, I just didn't have any) and apricot pips into the cloth and bind it up with kitchen twine or cotton.

Put onto a low to medium heat, with the lid on and resist the temptation to stir.  You should have a good amount of juice leeched out to avoid the sugar burning.  At this stage turn your oven on to around 150 c.

After 5-10 minutes, raise the temperature to high and once bubbling, skim off any scum that rises to the surface.  Put your washed jars into the oven and after around 10 minutes (although, keep an eye on it as you don't want apricot stew, you do want to keep some fruit chunks, so you can turn it down some what)  take the plate out of freezer and put a small spoonful on it and run your finger through and see if it stays separated.  Mine was still slightly not there so I let it bubble for a minute or 3 more.  

Now is where you need to act quickly and safely! Hot jam + hot jars remember.  Get yourself a ladle, a jug and a plate.  I don't like using oven mits personally, I like to use a dry tea towel and grab a jars out one at a time as it feels safer.  I  added chia seeds just before you get to the top and stir them through.  Ok, confession, I did add the chia seeds to some of the jars before putting the hot jam in and at the bottom they stayed...rooky mistake ;)

I don't particularly like thick stiff jam rather runny but not so much that it's coulis.  I also have to admit, I was in a flap, I wasn't sure if it was right even when I did the freezer plate check, it still seemed too runny, but I just kept thinking "well if it's too runny it will be called coulis!!".

And as for those chia seeds, they thickened the jam up naturally as they swell once wet, that was a lucky fluke!! But again, I left some just plain and the consistency is just right, not too runny but not thick.  I'm doing a happy dance!!

The only thing wrong with this picture is the lack of a batch of scones fresh from the oven........

Ciao, Jan x

Almond & chia sticky chicken and Week 7 of the money challenge

I've found the yummiest substitute for peanut butter and it happens to be 2 of my favourite foods combined ~ almond and chia spread.  I haven't been able to source it locally, it's only available so far in the big smoke so I've stocked up!  I've been having it spread on rice cakes,wraps and toast, dipping apples and banana's into it as an afternoon pick me up and smuggling it into my smoothies and muffins ~ banana with almond and chia muffins are definately rating high on the tried and tested list.  

I had a brainwave the other night and made this easy but not so traditional gorgeous sticky satay chicken using my scrummy spread that is definately worth trying.

I used free-range skin free chicken drummies for this recipe but you could use any cuts of meat you like, beef kebabs would be killer.  

I started by peeling and mincing a good amount of garlic with some sea salt, around 7 cloves.  We are still working our way through our home grown purple garlic which is super sweet.

In a bowl, mix together the garlic paste, 2 tablespoons of almond & chia spread (or peanut butter but make it crunchy), a good dollop of sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, a teaspoon of brown sugar, a few dashes of fish sauce, a squeeze of half a lemon or lime and give it a good mix up before coat your drummies with it.  I put it in a container that can be easily flipped over in the fridge and tuck them up over night or at least 3 hours before you need them, turning them over as often as you remember.

Line a baking tray with foil and place chicken on a rack, giving them a scattering of sesame seeds.  The foil just makes cleaning up a sinch as it collects all that gooey, sticky sauce that can go straight into the bin.  Place chicken into a hot oven, around 200c for around 35 minutes, turning once or twice.

Serve with plain basmati rice and steamed greens and tuck in for lip smacking deliciousness. 

Can you believe it's already week 7 of the 52 week money challenge too, so get that money into your jar :)

Ciao, Jan