Little Lazy Apple Pancakes

One lonely Granny Smith apple, half a pot of forgotten plain yoghurt and a rumble-y tummy on a Sunday morning, wanting something different to our mostly usual omelette and toast, inspired what turned out to be, as I am calling them, Lazy Apple Pancakes. Not quite an Apple Dutch Baby, but delicious all the same!

Perfect for Sunday morning breakfast.

Lazy Apple Pancakes

1/2 cup white spelt flour

1/4 cup wholemeal spelt flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 small eggs

1/4 cup natural plain yoghurt

1/4 cup milk

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored and thinly sliced into rounds

2 Tablespoons brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon mixed together

butter, for frying

maple syrup (*to serve*)

1.   Sift flours and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.

2.   Whisk eggs, yoghurt and milk together in a measuring jug.

3.   Make well in centre of flours and pour in egg mixture.

4.   Mix until combined and there are no lumps in the batter. Try not to overmix!

5.   Heat skillet or frying pan over medium heat and melt a small knob of butter.

6.   Place large spoonfuls of batter into warmed skillet. (Don't overcrowd your pan.)

7.   Peek under each cooking pancake and ... 

8.   ... gently place an apple round on top when the bottom of the pancake becomes firm and             before bubbles appear on top.  

9.  Sprinkle each apple slice with brown sugar and cinnamon mix. Continue cooking and ...

Flip and cook the apple on the other side.

10.  ...  Flip pancakes when little bubbles appear on surface, around edge of the apple slice.

11.  Cook, apple-side down, until apple softens, the brown sugar and cinnamon become 

       caramel-y and the pancake is firm and springy.

12.  Serve warm with a swirl of maple syrup or some extra dollops of a thick yoghurt.

The tartness of the Granny Smith apple works well with the sweetness of caramel-y brown sugar and maple syrup too. Not quite an Apple Dutch Baby but perfect for a lazy Sunday morning breakfast all the same.

Meg

Sweet Strawberry Cloth

Folded gently and hanging over a polished wooden rack, in the far back corner of my favourite little antiques and other old-things shop, I found this most lovely afternoon tea cloth.  I imagine many a cream tea with fresh scones, fruity jam and dollop-y cream would have been laid out upon this beautiful cloth. 

Strawberries for afternoon tea!

Old, soft linen embroidered with dozens of twining strawberries. So many ruby red and pink fruits created with such tiny stitches. With its circle of berries, leaves and blossoms, it reminds me of botanical art that pays such close attention to the intricate detail of plants. 

So many tiny stitches.

I am looking forward to spreading out my strawberry cloth, over a table in the shade of our verandah, and having my very own little cream tea. I'll make sure to have strawberry jam for my scones as somehow I don't think apricot jam would be quite right. 🍓

Meg

A Lovely Lemon Meringue Pie

I couldn't remember the last time I'd had lemon meringue pie. A not-too-sweet pastry shell filled with a tangy lemon 'curd' and topped with glossy white meringue. Swoon! We used to have it on very special occasions when I was growing up but I would only have had it a handful of times since then. So, when Laura over at Grow Gather Enjoy mentioned the pie she made for her Dad recently, I decided that it had been way too long between slices! I made a lemon meringue pie that very day and it became dessert for our shared Fathers' Day dinner. My husband did notice the break in tradition from the usual cheesecake I always make him for his special days but the loveliness of tangy lemon with fluffy sweet meringue soon silenced any protest! 

A piece of oh-so-delicious pie!

My Mum made the filling for her lemon meringue pie with condensed milk, lemon juice and eggs. Lemony fillings thickened with cornflour just don't carry the same memories for me! A quick search and I discovered this simple recipe, contributed by Ruth Salecich-Brown, over at Love in a Little Black Diary, that her grandmother, Evelyn Proposch, used to make. It seems Ruth has fond memories of lemon meringue pies too!

So, I gathered all the basic ingredients and set about the baking of this lovely pie. It is quite easy to make and the recipe includes instructions for the easiest pastry I've ever made. No rubbing butter into flour! Here's how it came together in my kitchen:

Lemon Meringue Pie

For the Pastry:  Warm 60g butter, 2 Tablespoons sugar and 1/4 cup milk until butter just melted. Remove from heat and whisk in 1 beaten egg. Add 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour until a soft dough forms. Roll out dough on a floured surface or sheet of baking paper and then line your pie plate with it. Neaten the edge of your pie by trimming off any excess pastry. Prick carefully with a fork and then bake in a slow oven for 10-15mins until lightly browned. Cool before adding the filling.

 A quick & easy homemade pastry...

...forms a lovely little pie crust.

For the filling:  Beat 1 tin of condensed milk, 1/2cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 2 eggs yolk together until blended. Add to the baked pie shell.

Egg yolks, condensed milk & lemon juice ...

... make a luscious, tangy filling. 

For the meringue:  Beat two eggs whites until stiff peaks form. Very gradually add 4 Tablespoons of caster sugar and whisk until meringue is white and glossy. Spread meringue over the top of the pie's lemony filling. Bake in a slow oven (150C) until meringue is just beginning to brown. (My pie was ready after just 15mins in my oven.) 

Egg whites whipped with a little sugar for the glossy meringue ... 

 ... that tops off this sweet & citrus-y pie.

Ready to be sliced and shared.

With that lovely lemony filling waiting underneath that fluffy meringue, a layer of creamy yellow and glossy white, this is a pie that combines tangy with sweet in a mouth-watering way. I couldn't wait to try it! One bite and I remembered how wonderful a homemade lemon meringue pie tastes! Unfortunately though, there were no second helpings (probably just as well;) so I think I will have to make another again soon. Xx

Do you bake homemade pies?  What's your favourite?

Meg

Ripe Raspberries

I know that it should naturally follow, in my first post after our return from holiday, that I share with you all tales and photos of our travels BUT something far more exciting happened here while we were away. Amid the tangles of our passionfruit vine, some very special little fruits have turned a beautiful and edible ruby red.  This gardener's discovery, of ripe native raspberries, saw me shouting out to hubby for the camera with a lot more urgency than I had for any holiday snap. For, the sooner I photographed them, the sooner I could savour them again.

A ruby red & ripe native raspberry. Mmm... 

There is something so special about these little fruity gems.  They have formed and ripened on the two native raspberry bushes I planted quite a while ago now because I wanted to grow raspberries. Raspberries like the ones I remembered picking with my aunt and uncle when I was small. The ones that I could still taste in that memory from long ago.  

Homegrown native raspberries.

Each little berry may be only a tiny morsel but with a power to bring forth memories that took me back to a time and a place I loved. I could see again the edge of the forest from where I had picked native raspberries like these long ago. I could smell the damp, musty leaf litter of that forest too. They tasted just the same as they do in my memory, sweet and tart at the same time! I savoured each little one, sitting right there on the grass next to where I'd picked them. Raspberries and nostalgia growing in my garden. What a treat!

Harvesting memories!

Do you have something growing in your garden that takes you back to a time and a place from long ago? Perhaps, something that sets you to remembering when you first see it bloom or when you catch its scent on the wind or when you taste it again after waiting for what seems an eternity for it to be ready? 

Meg

p.s. I will share some photos from our trip to Melbourne soon. There was so much to see!

Falling Fruit

Our mandarin tree, laden with the promise of juicy Autumn fruit just a few months ago, is systematically dropping several under-ripe mandarins to the ground every. single. day. 😦 There aren't many left now and I'm not holding out any hope that they'll stay on the tree!

Several fruit are falling from our mandarin tree every day.

Our tree looks lush and healthy. There's no obvious damage to the tree, no signs of insect attack on the leaves or the fruit. But, we have had a LOT of rain and both a google search and staff at the local nursery concurred that this was most likely the tree's response to too much of "liquid gold".  An example of unseasonal weather affecting a plant. Sigh!

Our usually very happy mandarin tree.

There's a deep disappointment to losing a potential harvest like this. (I can only imagine how farmers who lose entire paddocks full of produce must feel!) Those homegrown, fresh-from-the-tree mandarins are something we look forward to picking and eating every year. Instead, this year, I'll be trying to ripen them on my kitchen bench and researching mandarin marmalade to try and salvage some fruit. 

Unripe mandarins still on the tree.

(Fingers crossed!)

I guess this is just a gardener's lot sometimes, isn't it!  How are the weather conditions where you live affecting the plants in your garden?

Meg

Over the Easter Long Weekend

It was extra quiet here over the Easter extra-long weekend.  Our neighbours either side and over the back have all gone away. Many folk go camping, to the beach or travel to visit family over the four day holiday here in Australia. We stay home and enjoy the slowness of days without work or school. With nowhere pressing to be, we can settle in and relax ...

Friday:

We brought out our special Easter treasures.

(One rabbit & one hare discussing who should get the carrot!)

I finished another sailor top in a mustard-y gold.
(Can't wait to wear it!)

Little zucchini slice muffins were baked.
(Fresh from the oven with a generous dob of butter. Yum!)

Some of us "worked" hard in the garden. 

(Others simply supervised & guarded the plants.  Ahem!)

Saturday:

Cuttings for this garden-bed-in-progress were potted up. 

(Do you like my new watering can?   I do!)

A spot of reading & a little light-hearted viewing were enjoyed.
(I recommend the book:)

Gifted limes from a fellow gardener were gratefully received
(I gave him a cardamon ginger plant as a thank you.)

Sunday:

Little chocolate eggs appeared in our son's Easter basket. 
(Sunday morning's excitement!)

Fresh produce came home from a local Farmers' Market.

(... & The Big Issue to read too:)

 A simple homemade cheesecake was shared at Easter lunch.

(Our family needs very little excuse to have cheesecake.)

Monday:

A little knitting happened while curled up on the lounge.

(My shawl is growing!)

Seed potatoes were planted in grow bags.

(Two delicious varieties - Nicola & Desiree)

This delicious chicken & vegetable pie was made from this recipe.

(I used leftover chicken from Easter lunch & veggies from the Farmers' Market.)

Four days at home, without the tug of other commitments, made time for all of this simple and homely goodness. Some work in our home and garden, some time to become absorbed in our own particular interests and hobbies and unhurried days together. Plus, a little chocolate, of course!

How did you spend your weekend?

Meg

A Lovely Lemon Slice

An oaty biscuit base, a tangy filling and a crumbly topping make up the layers of this lovely Lemon Crumble Slice. 

A lovely and lemony slice.

When a beautiful and generous friend gave me a bag full of Winter citrus from her trees recently, I set about making the most of those tangy fruits. With the juice from the fragrant lemons I made this slice, a firm favourite here in our house.  The original recipe, came from Lauren and Lucy over at Thermobliss, but I tweaked it (as is my way) to cut down on the sweetness in the base and topping. Although I have a Thermomix, I don't use it to make this slice. I do it this way instead:

Lemon Crumble Slice

Base & Topping

1 1/4 cups white spelt flour (or plain flour)

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)

1/3 cup dessicated coconut

170g butter, melted

Filling

1 tin condensed milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 egg yolks

1.  Preheat oven to 180C.

2.  Line a 20cm x 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

3.  Combine dry ingredients for the base/topping in a large bowl.

4.  Make a well in the centre and pour in the melted butter.

5.  Mix thoroughly.

6.  Spoon half of this oaty mixture into the cake tin and press down gently with fingertips to cover the bottom of the tin evenly and form the biscuit base of the slice.  Set remaining mixture aside.

7.  Bake base for 10-15minutes until lightly golden.  Cool while you make the filling.

8.  Beat condensed milk, lemon juice and egg yolks together, in a clean bowl, with hand 

     mixer until smooth, thick and creamy.

9.  Pour this lemony mixture onto the cooked base of your slice.

10. Crumble the rest of the oaty mixture over the top of the lemony filling and press this 

       topping down very gently with your hands. 

11. Bake in oven for 20-25mins until topping is lightly golden. Remove and cool in the tin.

12. Cover and refrigerate overnight before removing from the tin and cutting into small 

      squares.  Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

Oaty Base

Lemony Filling

Crumbly Topping

Although I cut this slice into quite small pieces, it still seems to disappear here at a very rapid rate. You might need a lock on the fridge if you decide to give it a try! 

Meg

Sweet & Simple Saturday

What do you have planned for your Saturday?  My plans are for a simple day here at home. I'm looking forward to pottering in the garden for there are seedlings to plant. Lettuce and baby carrot and some more broccoli. I intend on baking too using the juicy citrus that came from a generous friend's trees. I'm thinking orange cake, lemon slice and this lovely lime dessert.  There will most definitely be time for reading, to finish off a "sweet" book that I borrowed from the local library.  I'm sure I can find a sunny corner on the verandah, where the boards are warm, to read in. Perhaps I'll doze ...

 Light reading, a little posy of cottage flowers and citrus from a lovely friend's garden.

I love how days like these unfold slowly, behind the blue gates of our place, unhurried and happy just to be here at home.

I hope you have a lovely Saturday too. 

Meg

What is Sustainable Food?

There are lots of definitions of the term sustainability. Add the term to the word "food" and you get just as many definitions and arguments. Recently though, I came across a book  in my local library, which I have reread twice and renewed as much as I'm allowed, that I think sets it out pretty clearly with no fancy words or ambiguity. 

Beaut little bananas and a great book!

In his thought-provoking and practical book, Sustainable Food, Michael Mobbs argues that sustainable food is "local, homegrown and you can walk to get it". I don't think a trolley laden with supermarket fare is likely to meet those criteria! What I do think though is that his definition is "food for thought" in terms of evaluating how we currently source our food and what to work towards to make our food supply as sustainable as possible. So, when thinking about the food we eat here, at our place, in suburbia ... 

Lovely Lollo Rosso lettuce growing in our garden.

Homegrown

Our garden grows food. Just outside my back door, running the entire length of our back ramp, is a productive veggie patch. Along the back fence there's a mandarin tree that's just finished fruiting, a passionfruit vine, a new native raspberry, three half wine barrels full of colourful flowers and veg and a tank garden filled with random seedlings that I'm experimenting with. At the bottom of the back garden there's an avocado tree that's growing well and that I hope will supply us with some fruit this year (it dropped them all last year). Running rampant over part of our backyard lawn at the moment is an out-of-control volunteer pumpkin vine with, so far, two maturing pumpkins on it.  Needless to say, we are mowing a wide arc around it at the moment. In amongst all this are herbs like basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano.

Tuscan Kale & Beetroot with Calendula in our veggie patch.

Our garden doesn't supply all our food, it doesn't supply all our fruit and veggies either. I can usually include something we've grown in the main meals of the day especially in the milder seasons of our year. (It becomes a real challenge in our Summers' scorching heat.) There are no backyard chickens (much to my dismay) to provide eggs as I'm pretty sure they'd become local food for the local pythons! So, from where do we source the food we can't/don't grow?

Local

Growing food in your own garden or on your balcony is as local as it gets. After that, it's the food in your neighbourhood. Until a short while ago, we used to swap food regularly with a lovely next door neighbour and amazing gardener. Baskets of his produce would appear on our doorstep often and we responded in kind with offerings from our garden and our kitchen. This dear gardener has moved away now, down South to milder climes and more regular rainfall. I miss his generosity, his gardening knowledge and encouragement.

A bunch of bananas from a friend's garden.

A few of our nearby friends grow food too and occasionally, when we have excess, we swap. Mulberries from one dear friend's tree, bananas from another and limes from the bloke down the hill and round the corner. I always bring home fresh fruit after a visit with friends who live up in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and generously share their amazing produce.

A beautiful pumpkin from the little local market shop.

There are farmers' markets close by on Sundays and I visit a little organic market shop, just a ten minute drive from here, that stocks fruit & veg predominately from small farms and cottage producers. There's local honey and breads there too. I find their produce is usually of good quality so I often check their prices. I try to support this little local business because, without the community's support, it will close and then there will be less choice in our area.

Walk to Get It

In under a minute I can walk out my back door, down our back ramp and start picking from the veggie patch. I often walk around my garden munching on whatever is ripe! That's the shortest trip I make to source food. There is a small, well-stocked grocery shop and local bakery that is a twenty minute walk away along our bike path. Great for essentials like milk and bread if we run out. Besides that, and the occasional lime or passionfruit I find overhanging fences on my daily walk, I have to drive to get the rest.

Snow peas growing near the end of our back ramp.

All this matters because, as Michael Mobbs emphasises in his book, "The way we grow, transport and waste food from faraway farms, supermarkets and shops is the second highest cause of climate pollution after coal fired power stations". It's commonly accepted now (I hope) that climate pollution and climate change is a real problem for all of us. In comparison to coal fired power stations, making decisions about the food we eat feels a whole lot simpler!

Do I still buy some of our food from a supermarket? Yes, though not all of it and next to no fruit and veg. I have gradually reduced our supermarket shop over time, little by little, as I've found and made alternatives. We eat much less processed food and that has made a difference I think. Are there other things we could do? Yes, of course. We could expand what we grow here, we could garden on our verge and encourage our neighbours to do that too so that we could all share (Have you heard about Buderim's amazing Urban Food Street?). We could join a local box scheme that sources fruit/veg from farmers on the outskirts of our city. There would be no oranges from half way round the world in those boxes! When you grow some of your own and support local farmers and producers it can make a difference. 

Have you made changes to the way you source your food? If so, what prompted you to do so? 

Meg




























 

Winter's Apple Crumble

The weather is Wintery now, cold mornings followed by crisp, clear days and ending with chilly nights that are forecast by the high pink glow of evening skies.  We close the house up early, rug up in our woolly layers and warm ourselves with nourishing comfort foods.

This simple apple crumble is one of those lovely comfort foods I make regularly in Winter. It's delicious served with a big dollop of thick jersey cream or homemade custard and eaten while warming one's hands around the bowl. 

A warming homemade apple crumble.

This version of apple crumble comes from the recipe book, Australian Lifestyle Cookbook, that my mother gave me way back in 1992. I have made it more times than I can count and it remains a favourite. 

Just baked!

While the original recipe uses a 450g tin of pie apples, I make my own stewed apples for it. This time, I used some tart granny smith apples that had been discounted due to a few bumps and bruises. With a sprinkle of sugar and a pinch or three of cinnamon, they were just a good as unblemished apples.

Apple Crumble

                 For the stewed apples:                                                 For the crumble:

                5 large Granny Smith apples                                       3/4 cup plain or spelt flour

                1/4 cup filtered water                                                    3/4 cup powdered milk              

                1 Tablespoon raw sugar                                                90g softened butter

                1 teaspoon cinnamon                                                    1/2 cup coconut or brown sugar

How to make the stewed apple:

1.  Peel, core and thinly slice Granny Smith apples and put into a saucepan.

2.  Add water, sugar and cinnamon to apples and stir to combine.

3.  Place lid on saucepan and heat gently until apples are soft. Stir occasionally.

4.  Take off heat and allow to cool.

How to make the crumble:

1.  Mix flour, powdered milk and sugar together in a bowl.
2.  Cut softened butter into little cubes and put it into the bowl too.
3.  Rub the butter into the dry ingredients using the tips of your fingers until the mixture
     resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Then ...

Grease a mid-size oven proof dish. Spread stewed apples evenly over the base of the dish. Spread the crumble mixture over the top of the stewed apple. Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown. Mmm....

Sometimes, I add finely chopped walnuts to the crumble mix or coconut. You can add sultanas to the stewed apple if you wish too. However you make it though, I hope it warms your tummy and your heart on a cold Winter's night.

Meg