FRITTATA

I wandered down to the garden, basket dangling from my arm, in search of something for dinner.
Eggs from the chooks (chickens) were first on my list followed by, silver beet, potato, red chard, spring onion and a little bunch of parsley.

Hmm so what to cook?

I decided on frittata. It's similar to quiche but doesn't have a pastry base, and that can only be a blessing to my derriere.

In theory Frittatas are supposed to be cooked in a frypan then finished off under a grill but I just pop all the ingredients in a dish and cook it in the oven.

 You can use just about any vegetables. Just make sure heavier vegies such as potato, carrot or pumpkin are sliced thinly or steamed first to ensure they cook all the way through.
I find that brown onions are too strong for egg dishes and use the long thin stalks of spring onion instead.

 For 4 serves I used:


4 eggs
Half cup of cream
Half a cup of milk
1 cup grated cheese
About 2-3 cups diced or thinly sliced vegies
    (I used silver beet, corn kernels, sliced potato, sliced pumpkin, chard, spring onion, parsley)
Salt and pepper to taste


Mix all ingredients together and poor into a baking dish.

Cook for about 20-30 mins until there is only a slightly uncooked patch in the centre of the top. Take out of oven and let sit for 5 minutes. The little uncooked patch will cook in the heat of the dish.

Head on over toThe Praire Homestead for lots of interesting reading.

COMPOST

Oh my gosh who doesn't love making compost. I hate turning compost heaps, but man I love making them. It's like making a giant cake, or a witch bending over her cauldron making a spell.  A dash of this and a spot of that until your brew is just right.

Last summer I grew a delicious patch of potatoes in the centre of an old tractor tyre.  After a summer of continual harvesting the soil was looking depleted and had sunk half way down the tyre.  I’m sure there are lots of small potatoes still in there but I needed some where to build a compost heap and the tyre was the perfect place.

I left the remaining potatoes and soil undisturbed and on top I added alternating layers of ‘greens’ and ‘browns’ that mix to make a good hot compost pile.  Lush green weeds, paper scraps, food scraps, a cardboard carton that my Lillybet Clothing banner had come in, more weeds,  some well manured straw from the chook (hen) house, more food scraps, a thin layer of dirt, more paper, more weeds, a shredded pizza box, and a final layer of manured straw from the chickens shed.  

All this took about a week and during this time the weather was nice enough to rain off and on so each layer has been very well dampened.  Now to leave it cooking for a week or two before I turn it.

TOO BUSY TO GET ANYTHING ACHIEVED

If you have children you know how sometimes they can get over excited and rush around the house being crazy without thinking about the consequences. This, we all know, is when accidents are most likely to happen, so we tell them to calm down, go slow and look were they're going.

As adults we do the same thing. It’s called ‘Being Busy’.

We wake up and the rush is on the minute our feet hit the ground, with no time to think much beyond the next thing on our ‘To Do’ list.

There’s nothing actually wrong with being busy unless, like me, you can get so engaged in the running that you forget the bigger picture of where you’re running to.  If you’re not mindful, rushing can end up leading you around in circles or straight into a brick wall if you don’t calm down and take 5 minutes to set your direction.

So this is a little reminder to take 5 minutes to sit quietly and have a think about the bigger picture. What is it that you’re aiming for? What’s all the rushing around achieving? Are you on track and doing things that will lead you to where you want to go or have you wandered off track?

My advice is to calm down and take five minutes to think about where you're headed, so you don't run headlong into nowhere.  It's great to take 5 daily.

PHOTO SHOOT

Today we finally have sunshine after a week of cold winter rain. I ventured outside to do a photo shoot of my latest Lillybet Clothing skirt.

I love being able to work from home doing something I love. I get so excited choosing which colours to put together into the next skirt. All during the making process I get thrills of pleasure as the colours conjure up scenes in my imagination. No 9-5 office life for this little duck.


This latest skirt I've called 'Mermaid' because it fills my head with images of long waving ribbons of seaweed and mermaids decorating the underwater plant life and coral beds with strings of pearls.

Grand Opening Celebration

Today is the launch of this new blog so we're celebrating with my favourite healthy slice. Well I tell myself it's healthy as it has no obvious added artificial preservatives, flavours or colours. And I always use organic ingredients where possible.
It only takes 10 mins to throw together with just about anything you have on hand so put on your pretty 50's style apron and turn on the oven.


Here's the recipe.

CELEBRATION SLICE


1 cup toasted muesli or any cereal you happen to have in the cupboard. A mixture of more than one is also good as long as it adds up to 1 cup.


1 cup rolled oats


1 cup coconut


1/3 cup self-raising flour


1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar


2 tablespoons cocoa


1/4 cup of any dried fruit you have (Today I used cranberries)


1/4 cup of any nuts you have. (Today I used slivered toasted almonds) Seseme or poppy seeds would be nice too.


1/3 cup honey (or apple concentrate)


150g butter melted

Preheat oven to 180C


Combine all dry ingredients


Add honey and melted butter and mix well.


Press into a lined 28 x 18cm tray.


Bake for 20 minutes. Then allow to cool in the pan.




*ICING aka frosting


 2 cups icing sugar


2 tablespoons cocoa


a little hot water.


 To make the icing mix cocoa and icing sugar together and add drops of hot water until you get a spreadable consistency and spread over slice. Sprinkle with coconut, nuts or both and cut into squares.


 Now it's time to sit down with some slice and a cuppa and celebrate whatever's good about your day.


For more homesteading advice see  Homestead Barn Hop
.