Good Olde Chicken Soup

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Jacinta

Jairah and I have been feeling a bit under the weather the last couple of days.  I always crave chicken soup when unwell.  This is a really basic recipe that tastes SO good.  The delicious flavour comes from the homemade stock and the cumin adds a nice edge.  It is made in two stages.  Of course you don’t have to feel unwell to enjoy the goodness.

Chicken Stock

1 whole chicken
1 onion – peeled and roughly chopped into 4
Enough water to cover chicken
1 tbsp oil

In a large pot fry the onion with the oil for a couple of minutes then add the whole chicken.  Lightly brown on both sides (this is what will add the colour to your soup). Be careful not to burn the onion or chicken.  Pour in enough water to cover the chicken.  Place lid ajar on pot and gently boil for a couple of hours.  Turn off heat and when cool enough, place in fridge.  Leave overnight for better flavour.
The next day remove from fridge and skim off any reside on the surface and disgard.  Remove the chicken and strip the meat off the bone.  Chop up the meat and discard the skin and bones.  Drain off stock liquid through a sieve into a bowl and put aside.   Discard the cooked onion.

To make soup

1 onion, chopped finely
1 1/2  tsp cumin powder
Chicken stock liquid
Chopped chicken meat – use as much or little as desired
Flavour to taste (I personally prefer Massels brand of chicken stock powder or Celtic salt)
Cream optional

In a large pot add oil and chopped onion.  Cook onion until transparent.  Add cumin and stir for a minute.  Add chicken meat and stock liquid.  Heat until gently simmering.  Season to taste. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes.  Serve into bowls and add a dollop of cream if desired.  Enjoy!

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Ahhh…. Spring?

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Jacinta

I really hope I’m not going to jinx the sunshine today posting this??  This past winter has felt long and draw out.  It is always cooler here in the Dandenong Ranges, generally by up to 5 degrees (Celcius) compared to the likes of Melbourne.  We are often in fog, when 5 minutes down the road it can be bright, blue sunny skies, other times we are looking down upon the clouds in the valleys.  Ah, magical!  The weather here is quite unique.

What I love about spring is all the green that is budding, bursting and unfurling around here.  It feels like a promise of good things to come.  The kiss goodbye to winter and the hello to warmer days.

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For the Love of Smocking

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Jacinta

I have always loved smocked outfits. They really are a piece of art.  It took until a couple of months before Scarlett turned 1 for me to finally try my hand at it.  I took one class to get me started and I haven’t looked back since.  I had always put it in the too hard basket, although, of course, it wasn’t as hard as I had believed it to be!

I must admit that I haven’t made many outfits in the last couple of years.  I seem to get part way through an outfit, get interrupted (like having to cook dinner, house work, go to bed etc., etc.), put the outfit away (because of course I craft at the dining table) only to find that the recipient is too big for the outfit when I finally get back to trying to finish it.  So back it goes into my unfinished projects stash, potentially never seeing the light of day again.

Here is a sample of what I have made and actually finished!  I have more, but will have to sift through our photo’s that were pre-digital to find them.  Now if only I knew where I have stored them??

Tenneille wearing "Party Time" Aust. Embroidery & Smocking Issue No.63

Scarlett wearing an adaption of "First Love" Aust Smocking & Embroidery

Tenneille wearing an adaption of "Evangeline" Aust Smocking & Embroidery Issue No. 50

Jairah wearing an adaption of "Little Prince" from Australian Smocking & Embroidery Issue No.76

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Winter knitting 2010

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Jacinta

In honour of the fact it has taken me 5 years, yes, 5 years to get to the point of actually getting this blog up and running, I thought I could do a bit of ‘back-blogging’, that is, stuff I have completed in the past.  What better place to start than with knitting.

Jairah is wearing a version of ‘Pebble Vest’.  I found the pattern via Ravelry, my version can be found here.  I have made numerous versions of it over the last couple of years, although this is my favourite so far…..

Tenneille is wearing a vest made from a free pattern sheet titled ‘Crazy Print Vest’.  I got the pattern sheet from Spotlight.  You can find the pattern here.  I couldn’t get the yarn the pattern called for, so substituted it for another.   Here is a link to my version.

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Lemon Sponge

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Jacinta

There’s nothing like a good old family recipe is there! (I promise to list some ‘secrets’ below).  This sponge is no exception.  I have fond memories of eating it as a child.   The lemon filling has a delicious tang.  It’s gluten free and you can make it dairy free if you use a non-dairy spread in the filling.  Of course you can fill it with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.  Yum!

The ‘secrets’

  1. Make sure you beat the egg whites into a frenzy and for quite a few minutes.  I beat them for approximately 7 minutes.  If you don’t beat your egg whites enough, you will end up with one very sunken, sad looking sponge indeed.
  2. Use cornflour for a lighter textured sponge.
  3. The last tip is to use a high sided tin for getting the height into your sponge.  Hope that helps!

Sponge ingredients –

4 eggs (or 5 small)
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 cup cornflour (use actual corn cornflour if you want it gluten free)
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Lemon filling –

2 medium lemons
1/2 cup pure icing sugar
1/4 cup cornflour
1 cup water
2 tsp butter or non-dairy spread

Method:

Separate eggs.  Beat egg whites and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 7 minutes.  Add in egg yokes, one at a time, beating between additions.  Sift cornflour, bi-carb and cream of tartar twice.  Add it to the sponge mix and stir gently (you don’t want to loose all that beautiful air you just beat in) until cornflour is just mixed through.  Pour into a prepared cake tin that has been lined with baking paper and lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Cook for approximately 20 minutes @160 degrees celcius.  Once cooked, remove from oven, cool and cut in half.

In a saucepan, place the zest and juice of two lemons.  Sift in the cornflour and icing sugar.  Mix and add the water.  Place on stove and whisk until it thickens.  Place filling in the middle of the sponge and replace the top.  Dust sponge with icing sugar.  Enjoy!

Variation –

300ml whipping cream
1 punnet of strawberries

Whip cream until thick.  Spread half of the cream through the middle of the sponge.  Cut strawberries in half and place half the amount in the middle of the sponge with the cream.  Replace the top half of the sponge and spread with remaining cream and decorate with the rest of the strawberries.

One slice in never enough!

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Close encounters of the spiky kind

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Jacinta

The other day Scarlett was calling me in a very exited voice to come and look at something.  The conversation went something like this; “Mama, come quick”.  “What do you want Scarlett?”.  “Come and look at this”.  “What is this?”.  “It’s a, um, I can’t remember what they are called, just look at this” (note: the excitement in her tone of voice was extreme by this stage!).  I was now at the window with Scarlett and low and behold, there is an echidna digging in the garden outside our lounge room window.  “It’s an echidna”, I explained.  “I knew that mama, I was just so excited I couldn’t get the word out”, said Scarlett. “Of course” I replied, what else could I say!  It is a bit of a treat to see them close up.  Normally around here we see them waddling along the side of the road, not up by the house.

By the time we got the camera it had gone around the corner of the house and of course, was hiding.  We took a couple of pictures and came back inside, knowing it wouldn’t move while we were around.  The echidna proceeded to climb the steps up into the back garden.  What a sight to behold!  It sort of meandered, waddled and staggered it’s way up the steps.  Didn’t get photos of course, as I was too busy giggling to myself at the scene before me.   So this is the best I could do.

You can't see me, you can't see me, you can't see me!

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Introducing Cardamon

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Jacinta

So I though I would introduce you to the fuzzy member of our family – Cardamon, aka, Cardamon Bear, our toy poodle.  He is gorgeous, cheeky, mischievous and very much loved.  Scarlett treats him like a doll, Tenneille is, well, really cheeky with him and Jairah loves him in a very gentle way.  Cardamon follows me all over the house and when I stop he stops at my heels.  He’s one very devoted dog!

We call him the cat-dog, as he has funny little traits that are quite cat-like.  That is he plays like a cat, pouncing on toys, flies (yes, he loooves chasing flies and playing with them till they are no longer living), any bugs really and he loves to snuggle up on your lap or next to you in the evening.  Of course he is a fussy eater and the only dog food he willingly eats is, of course, made of fish and smells like typical cat food.  He even makes a funny noise sometimes which sounds so much like a meow!

I love the fact he doesn’t shed fur.  That is a big factor as he is an indoor dog.  Oh and his fur is so soft and silky.  I bet it would knit up into the softest of wool.  It would be even softer than alpaca and not at all scratchy!!

Our main reason for getting a dog was to help Scarlett get over her fear of dogs.  Whenever she saw a dog, even across the other side of the road, she would leap into your arms.  I often I had Jairah in a sling so she would basically land on top of him and a couple of times she actually knocked me over.  Yes, it was an extreme fear!  Albiet to say, she is now great with dogs and keeps saying she wants another (sorry love, but no!).

We have been really firm with him when it comes to jumping up on people.  He knows he isn’t allowed to do it, especially with us, but it only takes one person who lets him jump up on them and then he makes a complete fool out of himself.  But to his credit, last week when I took him to Scarlett’s school he didn’t jump on any of the kids, but there was a parent there who, you guessed it, let him jump all over her. As soon as I asked her to tell him to sit, he did.  Now all I have to do is train the adults!!

The love of a dog

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Vegan Nut Pie

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Jacinta

Every time I make this, I am asked for the recipe.  I therefore deem it worthy of posting here.  Inspiration for this recipe came from the recipe book called RAWvolution, written by Matt Amsden.  I didn’t have all the ingredients called for, so in my tradition, altered the recipe to the ingredients I did have.

A word of warning – it is very hard to stop at one piece!

For pie crust-

2 cups raw almonds

1/3-1/2 cup maple syrup

For pie filling –

1/2 cup saltanas or 1/2 cup pitted prunes

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup pecan nuts

1/3-1/2 cup water

Method –

Process almonds and maple syrup on food processor until they resemble bread crumbs. Press into shallow dish (approximately 20cm). Place ingredients for filling into food processor and mix until well combined.  Adjust water quantity if need be.  Spread over base. Refrigerate until serving.

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Two Years Ago

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Jacinta

Now that I have posted Jairah’s birthday, I feel I want to share his actual birth day.  He was born into his mama’s arms at home in water at approximately 7.08am on Thursday 9th October 2008.  It was a very quick labour, only about 2 1/2 hours from first contraction to arriving earth side.  He was 9lb 9oz and just scrumptious.  I had the support of my family and two midwives and a very special friend was chosen to be part of my birthing support team.   I felt so very honoured and held throughout Jairah’s birth.  Couldn’t have done it any other way.

I really struggled with boy names and in the last couple of weeks I got very serious about trying to find something I really loved.  We didn’t know the sex of the baby, but towards the end of the pregnancy I had an inkling it could be a boy.  In the end we had three boy names, Jarrah, Jairah and Jonah (apparently I had a thing for J’s!).  His middle name was always going to be Finley.  On the morning of his birth, as we layed snuggled up in bed with a new babe in arms, Greg and I discussed what our son was to be called.  Greg was leaning towards Jonah and I, Jairah.  After a bit of persuasive talk, Greg agreed with me that we didn’t know in person, anyone called Jairah, so that was it – Jairah Finley it was.  I am still in love with his name and it suites him oh so well.  We have had people ask if we made up the name Jairah, but no, we didn’t.  Apparently it is an old biblical name but originally spelt Jireh.  It means “God provides”.  Finley means “fair-haired courageous one”, which is very fitting indeed!

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A Birthday Celebration

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Jacinta

What better way to start a blog than with a birthday celebration.   Our sweet boy, Jairah turned two on the weekend.  Now you would think, with a whole year between each and every birthday, a mama would have gotten something special crafted for her son.  But no, of course on the eve of his birthday, I was still making his birthday crown.

Due to commitments to another party on his actual birthday (Saturday), we celebrated on Sunday instead.  The day was glorious and the sun shone all day.  Such a welcome relief from all the cold and wet weather of winter!

With two very excited sister’s pouring over birthday cake ideas all week, it was a very industrious caking making session indeed.  I love to decorate birthday cakes for my family and of course Jairah’s cake was no exception.  Scarlett chose out her most special fairies and unicorns to adorn the cake.  Now if only you could see the cake for all the paraphernalia!  Jairah embraced his special day and of course the gigantic strawberry off his cake.

A BBQ was in order and we spent our afternoon basking in the warm sun and sweet scented air while listening to the sounds of happy children playing.  It was an unforgettable day for us all.  Hoping your weekend was sunny too.

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