All the fun of the fair

The Junior Crafter's little school held their biennial Village Fair yesterday, and it was a wonderful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there was an air of festivity all about the place. The Fair also incorporated the *ahem* Grand Opening of our (not quite finished and not really how we wanted it but shh don't mention the war, it's not at all PC and we may seem ungrateful) new Junior Learning Centre which was overpriced   massively behind schedule  bungled  built as part of the Federal Government's Building Education Revolution. Our local federal MP put in an appearance and cut the ribbon. I'm hoping it will be completed by the time the Boy Genius commences school next February.

Anyway, back to the fair. The Bloke Who Lives At My Place organised races and games for the kiddies on the school oval, including the egg and spoon race, sack race and three legged races; some good old fashioned fun. I held the fort on the Cake Stall for the day, along with 2 other mums, and we simply couldn't keep up with demand! We had two trestle tables, which were completely covered and sold twice over, thanks to the generosity of our school community who baked and donated all the goodies which we sold.

My contribution this year was 4 dozen Anzac Cookies and two batches of my famous Chocolate Slice, a family recipe passed on to me by my cousin, who got it from our Great Auntie Jess, who I believe had it handed down from her mother (my Great Grandmother).
I'd love to share it with you of course, but I think that publishing a recipe like that on the internet would amount to some kind of sacrilege!
Hope you had a lovely cake filled weekend too :)

Choose Your Own Adventure Cooking - Fig & Rocket Salad

I needed to use up some beautiful figs before they spoiled, and also had to take something to my Mum's place for a last minute get together, so did a spot of Choose Your Own Adventure cooking.

What I found in the Fridge and Pantry:

Fresh figs

Rocket

Danish Fetta

Olive oil
Honey
Cashews

Method (snicker, making it up as I go along):

Quarter the figs, toss them for about 2 minutes in a frypan with a splash of olive oil and a drizzle of honey. Turn off the pan and leave the figs in the warm honey mix.

Throw the Rocket in a bowl, place figs on the Rocket.

Break the Danish Fetta into small chunks and sprinkle over the Figs.

Sprinkle a handful of unsalted cashews over.

Pour the olive oil and honey mix from the pan over the salad.

I thought it would need a dressing (which I didn't have, eek!) but actually it was really nice without one. The nutty/peppery flavour of the Rocket was a beautiful contrast to the sweet Figs and honey, the Danish Fetta added some creaminess and the cashews gve it a little bit of crunch!

It was really delicious, I'll be making this one again next time I can get Fresh Figs!

Fruit Cobbler

Made with fresh nectarines from a dear friend's tree (thanks J.B.!)

This is a recipe of mine originally created from a Choose Your Own Adventure Cooking session, now I use it often, you can use any fresh stone fruit, or use tinned fruit if that's what you have on hand!

Cream 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar.
Add alternately 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup plain wholemeal flour, 1/2 cup plain flour & 3/4 teaspoon bicarb sifted in with the flour.
Add a small dash of vanilla extract.
Spread the mixture into a greased pie dish:

Next, add your fruit. I used nectarines. Just place them on top of the base mixture. The flesh of the nectarines looked a little green but they tasted lovely and sweet, definitely ripe. Maybe it's the type of nectarine?

Sprinkle some brown sugar and some shredded coconut on top (sorry, I'm a bit vague about the quantities...not very much, okay? Like in the pic! It's probably a heaped tablespoon or so of brown sugar, and about the same of coconut. I think. Lol. I'm clearly not qualified to hand out recipe advice!)

Bake it at 200 degrees C for about 20-25 minutes. If the middle is still gooey, it's not ready. If the crust is burnt, you cooked it too long!

I was planning to take a lovely shot of it when it came out of the oven looking all golden delicious, but I was too slow. It's the quick and the dead around here after dinner! I managed to shove some kiddies out of the way and take this pic for you:

It's delicious served warm with ice cream. Yum!

Choose Your Own Adventure Cooking

I discovered late this evening that there were 6 very overripe peaches and nectarines in my fruit bowl that I did not want to waste, so I decided that dessert was in order. I did think of searching online for an appropriate recipe, but then thought it's been a while since I've done some Choose Your Own Adventure Cooking! I love Choose Your Own Adventure Cooking: I start out with an ingredient (overripe stonefruit in this case) and a vague idea (dessert) and just start chopping and throwing things into pots. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a great lesson in what not to do. Tonight, it seems, it worked! The result: Fruit Tartlets.

Method (snicker, if you can call it that)

Roughly chop stone fruit and throw into pot.

Add sparkling white wine (because that's what is open in the fridge) and a small quantity of raw sugar.

Simmer.

Forage in kitchen for other suitable ingredients.

Add small handful of blueberries and sultanas, a pinch of cinnamon and a drop of vanilla extract.

Muse over what on earth could be done next with quantity of stewed fruit.

Following suggestion by The Bloke Who Lives At My Place, search for pastry.

Discover shortcrust pastry in freezer. Excellent. Line tartlet tine with pastry.

Fill pastry rounds with stewed fruit.

Rummage in pantry for suitable toppings as not enough shortcrust pastry to cut rounds for lids.
Top with a mixture of hazlenut meal and brown sugar. Inspired!

Bake at 200degrees C for about 10 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream. Mmm delicious.

All's well that ends well, thanks for sharing my cooking adventures! Do you like to cook 'on the fly'? Make it up as you go along? What daring adventures have you had in the kitchen lately?

Cooking up a storm

Today I've been cooking up a storm:

Beer bread, the easiest bread recipe I've ever made, less than 5 minutes and it was in the oven!

Sweet Potato & Chick Pea Dip, this is a really healthy snack for the kids to have with crackers and carrot sticks, and it's so yummy.

I also made these scrum-diddly-umptious Strawberry Muffins and I just couldn't wait to share this super easy recipe with you, link to recipe here.

Thanks also for all your kind messages re my last post, Poor Point 3 is now completely recovered and sleeping soundly once more :)

Pumpkin Soup Recipe - Blogtober day 9

According to Amy's list, today is the 9th of Stocktober (soup day) so I am sharing with you my own recipe for Pumpkin Soup. I have tested it with the strictest of critics and have received rave reviews, even from The Bloke Who Lives At My Place who hates soup, and the Jumping Bean aged 4 who hates pumpkin but asks for this soup at least 3 times a week.
Let me know what you think!
(Apologies for no pictures of said soup, refer to yesterday's post)

I make a huge pot of soup with these quantities then freeze my leftovers - you can vary the quantities to suit your needs.
Ingredients:
2 brown onions

4 or 5 Medium potatoes
1 big wedge of Jap Pumpkin
1 big wedge of Grey Pumpkin
1 half a Butternut Pumpkin
2 Massell Chicken Stock cubes
Water
Pouring cream
Salt and Pepper

Peel and roughly chop the onions, all the pumpkin and the potatoes. Throw into a large stockpot.
Add the stock cubes, and enough water to come up to about 2/3 of the vegies (so they are not completely covered by the water). Don't stress about this, you can add more water later if you want a thinner soup.
Bring to the boil, the simmer gently with a lid on, for about an hour. You can simmer for a couple of hours as long as you keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil dry!

Blend the soup using a blender or a stick mixer. Add the cream during the blending process. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle some freshly chopped parsley on top (optional) and serve with some crusty bread. Enjoy!

Delicious Guacamole - Blogtober day 5

Today I'm sharing my recipe for yummy guacamole.

Ingredients:
1 Ripe Avocado
1 small clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp Natural Yogurt
1 Lemon
Salt and Pepper

Mash the avocado in a small bowl.
Stir in the yogurt, crushed garlic and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.
Add Salt and Pepper to taste.
Done!

Serve with Nachos, corn chips, on crackers with fresh sliced tomato, or use as a dip, whatever you like.

Recipe Notes:
I always use Hass Avocados, they definitely have the best flavour.
You don't have to use fresh garlic, a jar of crushed garlic is fine.
I always use Jalna Natural Yogurt because it's simply the best real yogurt I know, but you can use whatever brand you like, you can even substitute sour cream if you prefer (or if you run out of yogurt!).

PS. It goes really well with one of these (just add tequila). Enjoy!