The simple joy of honey joys

I did some baking for a friend who's daughter is gluten & dairy free for a few weeks to work out some possible causes to a health issue.  I made these simple honey joys, substituting the butter for olive oil.  To be honest, the olive oil didn't hit the mark I was after but they worked and were fine, so if you want a gluten free/dairy free verstion I'd use copha as I had to pour some of the oil off once they had set.  Aldi have gluten free cornflakes and many other gluten free products as well as a growing range of organic products, I love Aldi!

All you need to do is this:

Preheat oven to 150c

measure out:

4 cups of cornflakes~I used gluten free ones but you can use normal of course

1/4 cup of caster sugar

3/4 cup butter or a substitute like copha or coconut oil

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp golden syrup

Line 12 capacity muffin tray with patty pans or use these ones like these pretty pink ones on a baking tray.

Heat all ingredients apart from the cornflakes in a saucepan until bubbly.  

Put the cornflakes into a large bowl, and pour over the honey goodness and stir until all coated.

Place mix into patty pans. Some suggest this mixture fills 24 patty pans but I beg to differ.  They must have small eaters in their family!

Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

I just adore these. Not just because they can be banged together in minutes but for the crunchy sweet goodness.  I think next time I will add a pinch of salt to create a salty caramel type.  How long since you had a Honey Joy? Give them a go! 

Ciao, Jan

A recharge in the country

An invitation to a friends house in the country is too good to refuse.  A chance to catch up, recharge and eat with dear friends.

What a sandwich! My homemade bread slathered with butter, pan fried leftover stuffed chicken, avocado, herb and cos....and a wine of course....you don't have to leave home to have a wonderful foodie experience born out of whats in the fridge

I love this picture my friend snapped of me setting the scene for my blog photos....

Full to pussies bow...I just adore this dinner set, it was my friends mothers that was brought for her glory box over 50 years ago....I desperately want one!

I taught my friend to make the awesome no knead bread with great success.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, that recipe never fails! 

Moo!

Barkly

This old wheelbarrow made by my friends grandfather out spud boxes

The historic dry stone walls of the Stoney Rises in the Corangamite region, built to last.  They are over 100 years old and are a beautiful sight.  Made from volcanic basalt rocks that covered the area, the rocks were put to good use to one clear the land and two build the fences.

                                                

and there was lots of time for this.

Home now back to our routine and the day to day chores that make this life. A bit of time away always makes me happy to be home and appreciate what we have.  What do you do to recharge your batteries?

Ciao, Jan

week one done and dusted of the ditch your credit card challenge

Week one down and i haven't touched the credit cards.  I've used my visa debit card but that is using my savings account.  I didn't even need it to order the loo paper as I could use paypal so I'm sticking to the rules! 

How did you go?  You either did or you didn't, you are either scared or not scared.  If you did take the challenge up, pay some of that money onto your credit card today to help avoid paying any interest.  Interest just makes that bargain you just can't live without expensive, or that must have luxury item gold plated.  We have become so self absorbed in the belief that we are owed these items, we deserve them, we work hard for them.  Pfft, we've taken the marketing line hook line and sinker. Here's another thought for you: When was the last time you actually layby'ed something? Remember layby? It still is available you know. 

I'm aiming to have nothing on my credit card at the end of this month which is very unusual for me.  As I said last week, I always pay off my monthly balance but it often creates a vicious cycle of paying down so much and leaving us with less money to use in that pay period and so the cycle continues.  But not any more. 

Credit cards are not there to make life easier for us (although if used wisely they do). They are a wolf in sheeps clothing. They are there because the banks and credit card companies want us to use them and grab a big amount of interest off you.  It's not just the vulnerable, poor,  or ill informed that get sucked in to this trap.  Its also the educated, the middle class or just plain greedy that end up with credit card debt.  Each to there own but how are you sleeping at night?

So if you haven't taken up the challenge yet, its not too late to start.  Just START!!! 

This new book and series of Jamie Oliver's is well and truly on my radar for obvious reasons, its on my Christmas present list from a family member. Normally I'd just go and put it on credit but I can wait until then for it.

I wish with all my heart you take me up on this offer and would love to hear from you if you do.  I just want you to wake up and smell the BS really and to get out of financial trouble as every little bit helps.

Ciao, Jan

garden delights

My beloved broad beans are coming in dribs and draps.

For any of you who have never had the privelage to have fresh baby broad beans, you are missing out on a gem.  They aren't like their frozen big brothers with woody almost plastic like outer shells.  These little fellas are so sweet and don't need to be double podded...although when they get bigger, I'm a double pod snob!! We had these raw as a salad with fresh mint, feta, a little chilli, garlic, lemon juice and a good evoo. Simplicity at its superb finest.  A little tip for adding garlic to something like this salad is to rub a cut clove of garlic around the bowl you are putting the salad in and thats it.  That way you get the subtle garlic flavour without the rawness of it actually in the salad.

A baby eggplant...I can already taste the melanzanes (stuffed and fried eggplants)

This is a rocket plant left to go to seed.  Hubby lets 2 or 3 plants go to seed and this is our rocket seed supply for the year.  If you are interested in doing it, there will come like a pea pod grow underneath the white flower further down the stalk.  Keep on watering the plant like normal but it will naturally die off.  When it starts to die off then its time to harvest the pods.

Here you can see the little pods growing below the flower on the left above.  They are a fresh green colour at the moment, but will turn yellow and dry out when they are ready to harvest.  Another great reason to do this is it attracts bees into your garden and thats what we need to pollinate other trees or plants you might have, so its a no brainer!  The world needs more bees people!

Basil growing nicely

Tomatoes ready to be planted into larger pots or garden bed.  We love making our own chutneys and passata so we go hell for leather on the tomatoes!

This is our high tech hot house to raise our seeds into seedlings.  They are in a sunny window sill inside which works treat. Did I tell you my hubby has a fetish for chillis? We have 7 other bushes that are a few years old as well as a cherished 9 year old birds eye chilli plant still delivering the goods. 

The gorgeous garlic will be ready in another month or so.  The stem will start to fall over and then they will be harvested and left on the ground or the garden bed to cure for a day or two. Hubby then plaits them up, which is quite a skill.  We should have enough to get us almost through the year.

And last but not least some beautiful roses. The front of our house is where I can have my 'non edible' garden.  Its fairly low maintenance with seaside daisy that I've propagated easily from runners that they produce.  I love the roses to have inside to brighten up the house and their gentle scent filling the air.

How is your vegie patch going? Any of you doing it for the first time?  Or any favourites you can't live without growing too?  May you be blessed with a green thumb!

Ciao, Jan

lemony berry muffins

These little gems are rippers to whip up after dinner, whack in the oven, put the kids to bed, read a story, put the kettle on and they should be ready for you to sit back with your feet up with a cup of tea in a special cup and enjoy. If it makes you feel better, they are pretty low in fat, but if you eat more than one or two, I can't be held responsible for the repercussions.

Lemony Berry Muffins

2 Large Lemon (topped, tailed, quartered)

120g Butter

300g Gluten Free SR Flour (I happened to have some gluten free flour but it will work just as well with normal self raising flour)

60g Sugar ( I personally think it needs more to help offset the bitterness of the lemon pith, so I added 2 tbspns of agave syrup or you could make it 120g sugar or even brown sugar)

100g Milk

3 Eggs

120g Blueberries

 Preheat fan forced oven to 200c. Prepare 12 hole Muffin tin with cases, or lightly oil.

In a high speed food processor, blend the whole lemon and butter together for 10-30 seconds.

Add all other ingredients, excluding blueberries. Mix well.

Lastly, gently add Blueberries.

Spoon evenly into the 12 cases, approximately 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 mins, checking after 15 minutes. Muffins are ready when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin before devouring! 

I've kept them in the freezer and defrost them and have them with a dollop of yoghurt and some crushed walnuts, a healthy version of pudding!

Ciao, Jan

Fruit Storage

I received my first box of organic mixed fruit today from Port Fairy Organics, it was very exciting! But there was one problem ~ too much fruit to eat in a few days. I thought I'd run through easy ways to store your fruit so you can still be enjoying it for a week or more.

Apples: pick through your apples and do a rating of their individual quality. Put the best ones in the fruit bowl, enough for a few days, and the rest into the fridge.  If there are any with bruises or blemishes, put them aside to cook or bake with or what I love to do is to grate one onto my cereal.  You can store apples for a lot longer if you individually wrap them in newspaper and put in a cool place, good to know if you are lucky enough to have a tree or have a box you need to store, as they can stay this way for a month or two.

Kiwi fruit: pick through your kiwi fruit and any ripe ones are best kept in the fridge or a few in the fruit bowl.  Any unripened ones can be stored with a banana which will help the process along.

Bananas: any ripe bananas can be stored in the fruit bowl, or in the fridge for a few days.  Another great way to store ripe or over-ripe narna's is to peel and freeze in ziplock bags.  Slice them up and defrost as you need them, great if you use them in smoothes (no need to defrost) or for banana bread or muffins.  Any under-ripe fruit can be kept longer by keeping them in a dark, cool place and away from other fruit.  On a plate in one of your pantry shelves would be fine.  Likewise, if you want the under-ripe fruit to ripen quickly, put them in the sun or in with your other fruit.

Strawberries: these unfortunately only have a short shelf life but you can help them stay fresher longer by doing a few little things.  Take them out of their plastic containers and put them in a tupperware, or the like, container lined with paper towel.  Don't be tempted to wash them, they are like sponges, wash them before you are going to eat them.  Go through them and discard any mouldy or blemished ones.  Place in the the fridge and you should get a few extra days out of them.

I hope that helps you enjoy your fruit for a bit longer anyway.  I'm eyeing off the strawberries as we speak!

Ciao, Jan

Novembers Challenge ~ Ditch your credit card for the month

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way......Its Christmas next month, can you believe it? So I thought to help with the christmas credit card crunch that so many families go through in December and are left to swallow for a big chunk of the new year to pay off, it would be helpful to lay off the credit card for November.  

For many people, credit card debit is like an invisible noose that can be weighing you down with worry and anxiety.  I'm not try to sound like a smarty pants, but I pay off ours each month as I hate the thought of giving the banks even more money in interest.  But most months when the statement comes in I cringe at how much I've actually spent on them and it blows any chance of me saving any money.  I'd forgotten about the clothes I'd brought that are in the wardrobe untouched or the shoes I just had to have.  I'm sure I'm not alone, am I? Many families are living way beyond there incomes, and I could go on with ways and what for's but I just want a simple challenge that may just ease that burden this time of year.

It can also mean that it gives you a month to pay down any credit card debt you have already on the card and shop a little more mindfully this month.  If you really, really want an extra challenge, how about making it work even more for you by not using your eftpos card either.  I just heard someone freak out. What?! No eftpos....yep, it can be done.  All you need is some planning and you might be surprised at how much you could save.  Especially if you have a limit as to how many free transactions you have each month with your bank, and any over you are being charged for. 

A good starting point for the extra challenge and the credit card one is to think about your pay cycle ie weekly, fortnightly, or monthly (seriously though really?? Monthly?  I admire you if you get paid monthly as I would panic!!!), have a really good think about what you spend on groceries, any bills that might be due, a little pocket money and go and withdraw it on payday from the bank.  It will make you think a bit more before you spend if you have cold hard cash in your wallet that is getting lower.  If you can't bear the thought of no eftpos, then just pay your bills and anything else with it, no credit, and see where you end up or how much you really do need that extra pair of heels.

While we are talking christmas, did you know that Aussies are tipped to spend billions on christmas this year, and even scarier is we reportably receive millions of dollars of unwanted gifts.  That is alarming.  Our family always buys for everyone on my dads side.  This year I have convinced them all to break with tradition and we are doing a Kris Kingle.  Its not that I'm being a tight arse, its just a blatant waste of money when none of us really needs anything.   For me its more about the day and being together to celebrate it as a family, enjoy a meal, a few vinos and hopefully all without a fight or a visit from the crazy relations.  

Hmmm after writing this weeks ago, I think I need to create a stipulation of allowing your credit card for any monthly direct debits, and products you can only get online but that is it.  That doesn't mean christmas shopping online or ebay impulses.  It is only for items like my who gives a crap toilet paper that I have to order in the next week!! The point of the challenge is really for the items you buy on impulse or that you could just as easily pay cash for.  I know I've blurred the lines but lets see how you go.  Remember to comment as it keeps us all spurred on.  If you can't comment due to not having a google account, then get one!  Or come and visit me on my facebook page and you can comment there.  It takes minutes and will be more fun!!  I'll check in each week with a saving tip or two and some recipes for some homemade gifts that I'll be giving this year.

So, who is with me?  I'm committing to the credit card part but if you are super excited I'd love to hear from you if you decide to ditch the eftpos card too.  

Ciao, Jan