Happy New Year

Monday

I really want to get into the habit of blogging regularly, so I have decided to blog every day till Christmas.  They say that if you do something for a couple of weeks repeatedly it becomes a habit.  So here goes!

Today I hope to finish sewing up the cushion I have been working on over the last couple of days.  For the back I am doing plain grannie squares.

This morning I went out and picked these from the garden.  Now I will have to think what to do with them!

It is a very cool still and misty morning.  I must see if my neighbours have any washing out and if not I think I will have a bonfire of all the garden rubbish I have accumulated over the last few weeks.

Three things to be thankful for today:

1.   The cats are asleep on the bed; they look so cute cuddled up together.

2.   Managed to get my housework done very early so I will have time for lots of hooky and the fire of course.

3.   A bountiful veg garden.

Be back tomorrow!

My Week

Crochet

Cooking

Vegetable Harvest

Flower Garden

I am a firm believer just because I am living frugally; it doesn't mean that I can’t have a bit of decadence from time to time.  I don’t often have desserts, but when I do often apples or lemons feature.  One of favourite desserts involving apples is Tarte Tatin.  I had brought 2 Kilos of apples cheap last weekend and was preparing them for a crumble to freeze.  I had planned to have soup for tea last night as I had my main meal of Chili con carne at Midday.  The apples were calling out Apple Tarte Tatin, but I had no puff pastry to hand and did not feel like making pastry.  (I need to watch my fat intake!) Oh well I thought I will do an apple pancake with some of the stewed apples.  But that thought of gooey caramel wouldn't leave me.

I wonder I thought, do the apples the same way for the tart, and pour some pancake batter over.  Success one of the scummiest desserts ever!

Caramel Apple Pancakes

This is a method more than a recipe.  Serves 2.

Slice one apple and fry it in butter gently.

When starting to brown add some raisins and walnuts (opt).  Turn the heat down and add some brown sugar.

While the apples were frying make some batter from 1 cup (4oz or 125gm) s/r flour, 1 egg and enough milk to make a thickish batter.

Pour batter over apples and continue to cook till bubbles appear.  At this pont I had a problem as I tried to turn the pancake over it fell apart.  But I went with it as I thought it looked rustic.

Cook till it is puffed up and golden underneath.  Next time I might put the pancake in the oven to finish off.  But I like the look of it as it looked like real comfort food and it is quicker this way.

I treated myself to a tablespoon of whipped cream and enjoyed.  The rest was great for breakfast this morning.

The weather is disgusting today, spoilt by last week’s balmy spring days.  So, no gardening but a chance to get on with some crochet!  Maybe I should take a leaf out of my cat’s book!  Well it is an excuse not to make the bed!

Bread Day

Hi, goodness me nearly three months since I last posted and only one at that, things were a bit hectic around here but I am back on track now and aim to be a good blogger and post regularly!!!!

Don’t ask me why but Tuesday is Bread baking day for me. I usually bake it in the morning having a pizza from a piece of the dough for lunch.  However, today I didn't fancy pizza as for the last two days I have had tomato based pasta dishes.  And yes I know pizza doesn't have to have tomato sauce.  I really fancied scrambled eggs on toast, but it is sacrilege to toast freshly baked bread.

One of my favourite ways of having scrambled eggs is to stuff it into pita bread.  I had looked at the pita bread in the supermarket last week, but was not going to pay nearly $4.00 (the cheapest) for 5 or 6 breads.  I wonder I thought and got my bread making book out, yes! There was a recipe for pita.  On looking closely I saw that it was practically the same recipe for my standard bread.  That solved I would cut a portion off and make the breads.

As you see by the photo above they puffed up wonderfully, but I didn’t have the oven hot enough and they were rather pale, but they were cooked.  For the next two I raised it to 130 Celsius from 120.  This time I was not careful enough and they went rather brown, but still okay.  So next time, take them out at 5 minutes rather than 6 as the recipe states.  Also I got the shape better second time round.

So all you need to do is cut a piece of your normal bread, have the oven at 120 -130 and cook for 5 – 6 minutes or till puffed up.  When they had cooled (except for the one I had for lunch) I pushed them down and popped into a plastic bag and froze.

The moral of this story is that I saved heaps and it pays sometimes to break out of your normal routine and try something different.  These four cost me 40 cents, they were the same size as the ones in the supermarket which had 5 in.  A massive saving.

By the way the pita was far better than shop brought ones, very yummy!

My basic bread mix is

2 tsp Sure bake yeast ( as I use a bread maker to help with the kneading, I have arthritis and y hands don’t have the strength)

2 cups of strong flour

1 tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tbsp. oil

1 cup of water or a bit more depends on the flour.

Put in bread maker in the order for your particular bread maker and set at basic and dough setting.  Check to see if dough needs more water when it is in its knead cycle.  I find that the dough cycle doesn’t give it long enough for a good rise so I tend to leave it in there for another hour.  Take dough out and shape as required.

For the pita breads I broke off pieces the size of a tennis ball, could be smaller.  Left the dough to settle for 10 minutes, this makes it easier to roll dough out roll it into a round or tear shape.  I used my pizza tone to cook the pitas.  So I heated it up and cook for 5 to 8 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius.

See you soon!