Home grown Alpine Strawberry and Raspberry Jam

The big Bowerbird went outside to pick our first summer raspberries from the garden yesterday, they are so delicious!.  She also collected a heap of Alpine/Wild strawberries.  After eating quite a few she thought she'd like to make a jam. Our kids love jam.  I told her she could do it in the microwave.Off she went and found this recipe http://www.commonchefs.com/2009/05/microwave-jam/

She also read a couple of others. Her adjusted recipe was as follows

• 250g mix of alpine strawberries and raspberries
• 200g sugar
• 2 slices of lemon
• Place in glass bowl and cook for around 15 mins, stirring after 5 minute intervals
• Created 1 jar of jam and took 15mins to cook.

Remove lemon and place jam in sterilised jar

 Perfectly set delicious jam

 Not even much washing up

She's just so independent and clever, how proud am I of this 10 year old who makes jam at the end of a busy day with extended family?

My first sour dough - yummy, if a little stodgy, date loaf

Slow Living Essentials very kindly gave me a jar of creamy coloured liquid last week and I have been nurturing it ever since.  The 'mother' is such a strange thing and I am a bit nervous when handling it.  It's quite demanding, wanting only cooled boiled water and flour preferably organic and rye.  Fortunately it is quite forgiving and has still bubbled peacefully when given  a half a cup of el cheapo  non-organic white flower and wholemeal plain.  It has grown, and grown, and grown, and I decided that I'd better start using it not just feeding it or I'd soon have a mountain of goo taking over the kitchen. So with much trepidation I followed Christine's recipe for Date and Nut Sourdough Loaves.

The mother - bubbling.  My little one likes to add the flour and water to this and give it a stir, she also swiped a taste, that might teach my ever present helper to ask before licking.

Mixing the bread - eventually got my hands in that sticky mess

did some of this watching Gardening Australia.  Yes a little late in the day to start making sour dough but I figured better late than never.  I folded the dough a couple of times as instructed but at midnight decided I'd leave the dough to deal with in the morning

 What I woke up to, that mother had been doing her job!

 Fashioned it into two big loaves, waited about an hour (hmmm on re-reading this might have been a bit quick).  Perhaps the leaving overnight also not a great idea?

 Attempted to score, and then put fat looking loaves in the oven.  Next mistake, my nasty el cheapo oven runs hotter than it says and is hotter on one side but I didn't make any allowances for this.  Think this may have prematurely darkened the loaves as I followed all the times Christine suggested - checking at lower time intervals to be on the safe side.

 The end result was overly dark loaves that are very moist in the middle. We and the neighbours kids didn't mind and gave it a good munching hot from the oven. Still very edible and has made a lovely treat as toast the last couple of days.  Twas lunch for three today with snotty one home sick.  looking forward to finishing it off tomorrow, toasted with lashings of butter as Christine recommended.

Datey pecan goodness.

15 min Banana Bread, chewy biscuits, gingerbread cake

Had a big baking day yesterday, I was bringing cake to a meeting in the hope of luring volunteers to help out with Junior Landcare. I thought I might as well add a few more things to the oven while it was on.  Not a huge turn up so I had cake to bring home - the poor banana bread didn't look too fancy after the kids attacked it and chewy biscuits on the way home from school.  I walked out of the school with an open plate and was mauled by children as I left the grounds - was pretty cute but had to call a halt before it all disappeared.  Made about 50 chewy biscuits (much like anzacs only chewier) and a huge gingerbread cake that tastes more like golden syrup.

After all that baking I didn't feel much like cooking so it was cheese toasties for dinner, no one minded.

The banana bread was by far my favourite and the kids really loved it which was surprising as they don't normally like banana cake.  Bought organic bananas for $10 kilo today and the little one ate 4 in a row, we're really missing having them but hard to justify the expense.  I have finally used the last of my frozen banana supply from the days before cyclones and bananas were cheap.  Might not be making this recipe again soon.

Easy Banana Bread Recipe (without using a mixer) from Easy Banana Recipes

Servings: 1 loaf
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 1 hour

Comments: You can also add a little orange, lemon or lime juice for a nice tangy flavor, or ground cinnamon and nutmeg for a spicy twist to this easy banana bread recipe.

Ingredients
4 medium over-ripe (1 1/3 cup) bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine mashed bananas with butter.
3. Add in eggs and vanilla, and mix.
4. Add in sugar, baking soda, salt, and mix.
5. Add flour last and mix until just combined.
6. Pour mixture into a greased and floured bread loaf pan.
7. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool before removing from pan. 

Lemon Butter, rain and winter sun. Lazy Monday.

Stayed up too late reading Harry Potter last night (yes I know I'm a bit old for it) started the day slow and hazy.

 Proudly sent the kids to school with leftover sushi which looks like a very fancy, healthy, lunch - nice to pull one of those off now and then.

Sorted washing, did the dishes, organised the DVD collection. Cold and drizzly most of the day.

 The sun finally made a show and lit up this Gods Eye dream catcher thingy.

Sparkled on stars and wet leaves

 A gentle breeze drifted the smoke from our neighbours chimney. The camelias (or Chameleons as my 2 year old likes to call them) begun to open their buds and drew birds to their nectar.

 I looked at my bargain 50 cent seedlings that needed planting but shivered and left them on the BBQ.  I did weed the carrots while the littlest picked flowers and scented leaves.  Went back inside, fingers frozen, needing cup of tea to defrost them.

Breastfed the little one to sleep, left her on the couch where she wakes happiest, in the hub of family life.

 Gazed out the window at the native Hibiscus, first of its winter flowers unfurling.

Looked at the lemon bowl filled with lovely free lemons, donated by colleague at partner's work. It whispered lemon butter, which made me think of mum and nanna and childhood treats. remembered that mum had said you can make it in the microwave so went hunting for a recipe.

Grated 3 lemons rapidly with my microplane thingy that I am seriously besotted with, I have been a slow adopter of this wonderful kitchen tool.

Also baked the left over frozen rolls of Mexican wedding Cakes (in tin in background) already nearly gone.

the end result - two jars of delicious lemon butter.

follow link for recipe http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Microwaved-Lemon-Butter-L6487.html

I actually used the quantities below

4 eggs

3 smallish yet very juicy lemons

3/4 cup sugar

125g butter

Think I'll try the old fashioned way again as I felt like I didn't have much control when the bowl was in the microwave, so easy though - think I had a bad batch a decade ago (little eggy) and hadn't made it since - forgotten how much I love it.

 Kids took to licking the bowl with relish, "too sour" said the littlest, the bowl hardly needed washing when they were done.  Lemon butter sandwiches  for lunch tomorrow!

Fatigue made me absent-minded so the oldest one didn't have dinner (the unusual mix of pita bread falafel and fish) ready in time to go to Cubs.  Neither her nor I were too fazed, she did get her overdue homework done and enjoyed the slower start to the week.