Caramel Popcorn

Probably ticks lots of the wrong boxes but it's home made and I wanted to make something sweet and something different as an afternoon treat.  Yes, I know about the 'why do treats have to be things that are 'bad' for you' but hey, I think a treat is something you have rarely, and that's ok.

So since I've never made caramel popcorn before, I reckon that's something I make rarely.  I used this recipe from taste.com.  It was a winner for the kids.  I even had a little bit and didn't mind it.  It makes the popcorn kinda chewy and airy at the same time - soft but not?  Anyway, it wasn't too bad and maybe I might make it again one day.  Have you tried any new recipes lately?

Localising Breakfast

Special breakfast one morning, after a sleepover movie night.  In attempts to localise our food a little bit more, this is what we ended up with for breakfast.

local milk - Bannister Downs and Sunnydale in glass
local honey - Swan Valley
local flour - WA owned (and made, I think, from the description on the pack - need to check further)
(very) local lemons
local eggs + one of ours -

Still working on the butter and the other stuff, never perfect!  I also want to increase my confidence in the products - so they might be local but I also want to know their ethics and their ingredients, eco responsibility etc.  Slowly slowly.  Some I already know and some I'm slowly finding info on.  Also trying to strike the balance between budget, ethics, and quantities.  ie we like to buy flour in 22kg bags so I can get organic in that quantity but not sure if I can get local at that amount, that kind of thing.

And don't worry, no one had Vege-Spread on their pancakes! lol but it was on the table for some reason.  Vege spread is our alternative to Vegemite which has ingredients that I've been told aren't permitted in some European countries, has numbers in it that I don't want my guys to eat and is made by Kraft.  So the next step is to try and find local butter and local yoghurt.  I have seen them but I just haven't tried them yet.  The other thing is we go through a LOT of butter with baking... so I need to do the 'balance' - cost, quality and ethics/local.  How do you make those choices?

oh and the 'Barn Brack/Barm Brack/Bairgin Brack' will be up tomorrow (from the Celtic Soda Bread/Currant Cake/Gingerbread post).

Celtic Gingerbread

Previously, I tried making 'Celtic Soda Bread' and 'Celtic Currant Cake'.  They turned out okay.  So this time, I'm trying my hand at Celtic Gingerbread.  This time I used the recipe from Irish Spike-Jamie, found here (scroll down until you reach the gingerbread recipe)

There were two main types of recipes – those with Guiness and those without. I chose the latter. This recipe produces a cake rather than a biscuit and is baked in a 20cmx30cm tin or dish. It's moist and filling, a little like fruit cake, but much softer in texture, and with more 'warmth' at the back of the throat.

Celtic Currant Cake (Bairgin Brack or Barm/Barn Brack)

Previously, I tried making 'Celtic Soda Bread'.  It turned out okay and no one complained, there may have even been the odd compliment (gee, who would have thought that?!) as we had two guests - Brooke's lovely friends A and J who have lovely manners and are very kind!  So this time, I'm trying my hand at Celtic Currant Cake.  A little harder to find direct links, but it seems to be along these lines, as a recipe.  Again, credit linkbacks if you click on the title of the recipe.

Recipe #1

Recipe #2

Red, White & Green Bows - Maria Anna Handmade Pasta

I saw these on the Mr Fresh Facebook page and when I went there to get our Bannister Downs and Sunnydale milk in glass, I saw some and decided to add them to my purchases.  You can read why I was rapt to find Mr Fresh here.  So this is what I saw and what came home with me - Maria Anna handmade pasta.  Admittedly, there's so much at Mr Fresh that I like that it's an exercise in restraint, but I figured I could stretch these out as a main with plan pasta, or serve as a side dish.

Celtic Currant Cake, Soda Bread and Gingerbread.

Task this weekend - find and test recipes for Celtic Currant Cake, Celtic Soda Bread and Celtic Gingerbread.  Since I am very not Celtic (or at all, probably!), I had to rely on Mr Google for information.  If you reading are Celtic or of Celtic origin and know the below better than me please feel free to correct me!
For today's post, I'm trying out Celtic Soda Bread.  Currant Cake and Gingerbread to come in the next few posts.

Celtic Soda Bread ready to go in the oven

Easter Bunny Bread

Yeh, I know, the shops are at it early already but I saw this and just had to share it and will hopefully remember to MAKE it this Easter!  This is the photo that caught my attention on Facebook. 

The page it's linked to is Homesteading Self Sufficiency Survival's page.  I'm not so good with links on FB so I hope that works.  Anyway, brilliant simple idea that looks like it turns out well.  I thought I might use a sweet dough and see how it goes.  Or a savoury bun/bread dough.  Can't wait.  Might have to practice in the meantime!

As for 'wt?' re Easter, Eggs and Rabbits, well yes I know.  I did get passed a link to a story of Oestre, and I quite liked that explanation.  Whether or not you think it's true well, that's up to you and I'm not saying I think it is, but I just liked it for the story and some sort of explanation (mythical or not) of what the heck rabbits, eggs and Easter have to do with each other!

For information on Fairtrade chocolate for this coming Easter, here's a link to last year's Fairtrade Easter post - 'Easter This Year - Fairtrade and Homemade'.  I also note that Cadbury still seems like they will have their Fairtrade eggs this year, which is great.  Even better if they extend their Fairtrade range.

24 Hours - Baking Effort

 In the last 24hours the kitchen has produced the following:

Call-it-Watchya-Like - I Call It 'Yum'!

As a kid I never did like quiche.  Wierd icky stuff.  Now, it's a great quick and easy and yummy (and good for you) thing to make.  Except 3 of the kids don't like quiche.  Reading 'Just don't call it a quiche, mate' on Milkwood's blog this morning, reminded me of the pics I took while baking the other day.  I was doing a 'catchup'/lunch/treat bake as I hadn't done a proper bake since a couple of weeks before exams.  Ingredients were low so I didn't bake as much or the type of things I wanted to, but it was still satisfying.  One of the things I made was a quiche minus pastry - is that a frittata?  anyway...

Mine certainly didn't have home made bacon (or any bacon at all since it's not something one of us likes) or any meat at all for that matter.  A nice bit of silverside sizzled in olive oil would have been awesome in it.  

Apparently VERY GOOD Gluten-Free Choc Chip Cookies

Yes, I said 'cookies' (and gluten-free and yummy in the same sentence)!~  It's a US blog with a US recipe so that's what they're called (for all you Aussies, it's ok just call 'em biscuits).  They sure look good and if I had all the ingredients I'd be making them today!  I'm especially looking forward to these because they could be an option for when I want to 'bake n take' for a friend who's daughter also can't wheat...

Linkback here to Leigh Anne's recipe post

New Recipe from Taste.Com - Apple & Cinn Muffins

Exam was this morning so it's time to catch up on the undone domestic stuff, and get some bakin' happening to fill the freezer and the lunchboxes.  As a start, I thought I'd try a new recipe from taste.com and chose apple and cinnamon muffins.  I know, not an 'out there' recipe but one I know the flavours are approved of here and a nice one to try out.  So many apple muffin recipes but they're not all as good as the next.

Some standard muffin size and some tiny muffin size.  A size for every lunchbox.  So far so good, just coming out of the oven.  Verdict no doubt tomorrow.  If you've got a fantastic apple muffin recipe that you know works every time and tastes delicious, am keen to hear it!  Happy Baking.

Gingerbread Stars, Dudes and Stained Glass

Stars, Stained-Glass biscuits and Buttons Buttons Buttons!
These are a basic gingerbread recipe, rolled out and then variations

Festive Fruit Fun

Made these for a dessert platter for the Grad Dinner.  Very simple, actually doesn't use a massive amount of fruit so you can incorporate things that you might not otherwise buy (cherries, blueberries) while they are in season as you only need one per piece.

Chocolate Slice - Women's Weekly Beautifuul Biscuits

Mum used to make this when I was little.  The once however often bake day, all day, where the kitchen smelt amazing, we got to stand on our little white chairs and watch at the bench, and lick the odd wooden spoon or bowl.  Thanks Mum for making all those cooking smells and tastes attach themselves to good memories.

Anyway, these are a favourite.  If you can get hold of the book Women's Weekly Beautiful Biscuits, that's where you'll find the recipe.  Or Google.  Good ol' Google!

Tuesday... bake day...

Tuesday is always a big baking day but this week was especially so.  It actually starts on Monday night with two different biscuit doughs being prepared (by the eldest child) and usually all the chopping and grating.  I also usually get most of the biscuits through late Monday night and they stay in their airtight container for Tuesday.  The latter didn't happen this week so Tuesday was fuller than usual:

• grated 2 kilos of cheese and chopped lots of capsicum

and baked:

• 4 large oven trays of cinnamon scrolls
• 4 large oven trays of gingerbread
• 4 large oven trays of ANZAC biscuits
• 32 mini pizzas (about 8-10 trays)
• 3 large lasagnes, 1 half lasagne (one for meal roster for family in our class with parent in hospital, one for a friend, one for us and not sure what to do with the half one yet!)
• and a salad to accompany one of the lasagnes for the meal roster.

There's a real system going for the baking in the day, which starts when the preset dough makers go off at about 9am.   Immediately take those two lots of dough (pizza) out and put the cinnamon scroll dough in.  Get all the pizza through the oven and hopefully a batch of biscuits (although this time instead of biscuits was the bechamel sauce for the pizzas - the meat mix/sauce was thankfully cooked the night before),

1 x reserved verdict, 1 x YUM!

Today I made x3 batch of standard pancakes for the 1 adult, 5 kids (1 extra sleeping over) and I attempted some buckwheat pancakes for me to try.  Now, two things.  I reserve judgement on them because (a) I didn't have buckwheat flour and couldn't find it at the shop, so substituted and ditto had to use Orgran Egg sub instead of egg (bit early for the girls to have laid this morning), and (b) they looked great (seen below, folded over, 2 on the plate).

But still a little dense and squishy for my liking.  So I will redo them another time using all the proper ingredients and then make the call.  I did for the first time ever, buy cottage cheese (as the recipe called for it) so hey, points in that dept for being adventurous, right?

Yum... (but shh it's good for you too)

This was breakfast this morning.  Really only a slight variation on how I normally do my poached eggs (omitting the butter, adding the silverbeet from the garden), so not noticeable really and it tasted great.  Bit of salt n pepper and mmm.  Oh, and how cool will it be when all the green tomatoes on the plants are red and ready to rock the kitchen... yeh, I'll be adding those to breakfast you can count on that!

Guys... why is Obi-Wan in the fridge? (and other things)

Things always look more productive from your day when they're grouped together in pics don't you think? lol



So today. Roast (free range) chicken in the oven. Nope, not one of our girls. Thankfully and unfortunately all at the same time...

Cooked Yoda and raw Evil One - oh and shake your minifigs

Results from the Star Wars 'Cookie' Cutters for a certain boy's 10th Birthday Party. I didn't think they would really turn out, you know, not quite like on the box or how I've seen in blogs but they did!

pizza, muffins, biscuits, gingerbread...

Just a random little bit of 'satisfaction' kinda post... The last 24hrs effort in the kitchen is

• 4 dozen large banana muffins
• 32 mini pizzas
• 30 ANZAC biscuits
• 20 Gingerbread
• one organic lamb shank casserole in the slow cooker
• one bulk pasta sauce w veges on the stove.
• plus dinner last night of course!
• and we may yet have home made focaccia and salad for dinner tonight... will see. Perhaps focaccia with the lamb shank casserole... will see...
  

I dream of our Solar Oven so that I can do all the above without using any grid-based power... *happy sigh* how cool would that be!

In the meantime, it smells soooo nice in here! I enjoy baking and cooking and doing it in bulk really helps - the dinners for us and the baking for Market Day/teachers and us. Brooke does the dough for Market Day (Jake sometimes does shortbread) for the biscuits, the breadmaker does the pizza dough. The children 'man' the stall in the afternoons, then they receive a share in the takings, after expenses - so that's their pocket money. I like it because it means they have to do things apart from Family/team work at home, which is generally regarded as 'because it's how it works/right thing to do/contributing', rather than pocket money.

Happy baking!