Summer Delights 2010

Some more memories of my girls during the summer holidays 2010.... 

Enjoying a yummy berry smoothie!!

Only sisters know....

My little vegemite girl...

Diamond Bay, Sorrento Victoria..... so serene....we enjoyed a day of shell hunting and exploration, Jan 2010.

Christmas 2009

Summer Berry Pudding

YUM!!

I heard Karen Inge on Melbourne radio 3AW. This is one of her recipes and a delightful one at that!

Ingredients:

3 cups of mixed berries
1/2 cup (or less) of castor sugar
8 slices of bread, crusts removed - you can use panettone (Italian Christmas bread) or raisin bread
Vanilla Yoghurt (Jalna is great)


Method:

1. Remove the stalks from the fruit. Wash the fruit and put it with the sugar in a pan.
2. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes or until fruit is tender.  Drain off the juice, reserving 6 tablespoons.
3 Line a 1 litre pudding basin with some of the bread slices, cutting them to fit the basin exactly.

 Remove the crusts from the bread.

4. Spoon the fruit, packing it in well. Pour in the reserved juice.  Place the remaining bread on top of the fruit.

5. Cover with a plate, small enough to rest on the pudding itself and inside of the bowl,  place a heavy can or other weight onto the plate.
6. Leave the pudding overnight in the refrigerator.
7. Turn out.
8. Serve with Vanilla Yoghurt or low fat custard.
9. Enjoy!!!

I Promised!!

I have kept my promise, and I'm here!! Here goes the task of uploading the past 4 months worth of photos and comments... oh, and while I'm here I forgot to mention that we have had computer problems with viruses and changed internet providers - so there are 2 more reasons why I haven't been blogging!!!

 Giant Russian Sunflower and our Scarecrow!!

Me amongst the sunflower and scarecrow!!

A clsoe up of the Giant Russian Sunflower!!

Zucchini Flower

We were provided with a huge amount of zuchini's from this one plant- yum - they were delightful!! I LOVE HOMEGROWN ZUCHINI"S!! Pick them when they are small to enjoy the best they can offer!

The Giant Russian Sunflowers provided much pleasure to me each time I ventured out to the vege patch, their beautiful faces made me smile everytime I looked at them. Hopefully they attracted the bees to pollenate the other veges that needed nature's help! 

Golly Gosh - as my Gran would say!

Golly Gosh alright!! Wow, it has been too long since I have written a posting.... so much to do, so little time! Between two girls, Christmas and school holidays, back to school, and everything else in between, I can honestly say that I have had no time to sit here and share my thoughts, my gardening & cooking & sewing & anything else!!! AAARRRGGGHHHHH...... I must make the effort to post more often, after all this is for my daughters to have as a record and history... I have plenty of photos to upload of the vege garden and its' produce!! And it had been yummy, although frustration has set in over the past few weeks with an invasion of some type of beetle that has decided it quite likes my broccoli, beans, and tomatoes!! I have spent some time hand picking and squashing these creatures but they just don't want to leave my patch!!!

More tomorrow! That's a promise!

Sentimental Sunday!

 Amid my pottering on Sunday morning, I placed two ceramic snails in the front garden. Miss 8 ventured outside during the day and hollered with amazement -  "MUM, there's snails in the garden! And they're huge! Where did they come from?"

The snails were made by me as a gift to my now late Grandmother. I collected them from her garden after her passing, they have some sentimental value and have placed these old snails near the front door as a little reminder of our dear Golly Gosh (a nick-name given to her by myself and Miss 8 to avoid the confusion of 2 grandma's and 1 great grandma).

Golly Gosh loved gardening and her favourite plant was the Rose - one day I am going to plant some roses in her memory and I think the snails wil be placed nearby!

  

Golly Gosh Snails in my garden!

Miss 8 seemed to be feeling quite sentimental after this conversation as a short time later she appeared from her bedroom with a card that she had made for me! I held back the tears and bravely smiled as I thanked her for her kind and loving words, it's definetly these precious little moments that make being a mum so rewarding! And I am very lucky to have a daughter who expresses her thoughts and feelings through her art & craft!

The front and back of the card. Miss 8 found one of her baby photos!

I love you so so so so so so much too!

Apple Tree

Miss 8 came home from school with this lovely apple tree collage! Miss 8 is very creative with her artwork and I am blessed to receive such wonderful creations on almost a daily basis. I have a large storage box full of her creations from her pre-school years that I just cannot find myself parting with. Thank goodness for the digital era - storage space can now be reduced with the click of the camera and the pc used for storage!!

Best Ever Scone Recipe!- YUM

This recipe was given to me by a friend several years ago and is so simple and quick, you are guaranteed to produce the "best ever scones" !!

Ingredients:

3 cups Self Raising Flour

pinch of salt

1 cup of  thickened cream

1 cup of lemonade

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 220'C

1. sift flour & salt, make a well in the centre of mixture.

2. pour in cream and lemonade.

3. mix with a butter knife until mixture comes together.

4. turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth and pliable.

5. roll mixture with rolling pin and cut into scone rounds using scone/cookie cutter.

6. arrange closely together on lightly greased tray.

7. bake in a very hot oven - 220'C for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.

*can be frozen if desired*