two little dickie birds

It was our little girls second birthday this month. We can't believe she is two already!

With lots of little kids around for her birthday party we had a sugar free party. I made a sugar free lemon and almond cake using Xylitol, a natural sweetener found in corn husks. I drizzled the cake with lemon juice and dissolved honey to keep it sticky and hold it's shape. Then cut it into bricks to make the wall. The mortar for the wall is Philadelphia cream cheese, honey and berry juice for the pink colouring.

I made the birds from scraps of felt, fabric and pieces of wire found in the shed. Peter and Paul ended up being quite feminine!

christmas apricots and cucumbers

I love being back home at the farm. This Christmas we were busy harvesting and processing mountains of food from the orchard and vegie garden. It is the most satisfying feeling seeing the pantry selves stacked with bottles of home grown food.

One late night was spent bottling apricots picked that day... something very familiar to me from my childhood. Baskets of ripening fruit, licking sticky fingers with sugary syrup, vacola bottles and the old hand made copper boiling pot.

Mum has perfected her pickled cucumber recipe...

Salt cucumber slices and allow to drain in a colander for 12 hours. Sterilise the glass jars with boiling water. Loosely fill jars with the cucumber. Make a combined mixture of:
apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, tumeric, sugar, pepper corns, mustard seeds, dried dill.
Bring the liquid mixture to the boil and pour into each jar of cucumbers. Immediately close the jars tightly and turn upside down to allow the boiling liquid to sterilize the lids. Allow to pickle for a couple of weeks.

sinterklaas

The evening of the 5th of December was the most exciting evening of my childhood. Even more so than Christmas Eve. It is the night of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas), the traditional winter holiday figure of Dutch folklore and the historical figure behind Santa Claus. He is celebrated in the Netherlands with parades, feasts and present giving.

All that is known for certain about the existence of Sinterklass, is that he was a bishop of Myra and died on the 6th of December sometime in the fourth century. But there are many legends and stories about Sinterklaas, and how he saved three children and was made a saint for his kindness.

Today the image of Sinterklaas is of a very old bishop, with a long white beard, a mitre, a red gown and a long staff. He arrives by ship to Amsterdam each year from Spain, and rides a grey horse through the city and over the roof tops. He is always accompanied by one or more mischievous helpers called Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), with black faces and wearing colourful historic Moorish dress. Sinterklaas' helper was originally believed to be an African slave who Sinterklaas brought freedom to and in gratitude stayed with him to assist with the present giving. Another considered more politically correct explanation is that Zwarte Piet's face is black from the soot from climbing through chimneys delivering gifts.

In medieval times, the feast of Sinterklaas was an occasion to help the poor, by putting money in their shoes. This gradually evolved into the tradition of putting presents, marzipan and pepernoten (small ginger biscuits) in the shoes of children who have been good, and coal in those that have been naughty.

The evening of the 5th of December is the main gift giving occasion. My Dad or sometimes my Grandad would dress up as Zwarte Pete, in the traditional Moorish dress, paint their face with shoe polish "soot" and play tricks on us. He would hide outside in the dark, tapping on the window and throwing pepernoten down the stairs, only to disappear into the night back to Spain, leaving a sack of presents by the door. The gifts were unwrapped with the family, and poems especially written to go with the gift read out. Traditional songs were sung, sweet treats eaten and hot chocolate drunk late into the evening.

Pepernoten
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbspn water
1 egg yolk
1/4 tspn each of cinnamon, nutmeg, powdered cloves and some anise seeds
a pinch of salt

Knead all ingredients into a soft ball. Butter two baking sheets. Form about ninety marble sized balls. Divide them over the sheets, so that they are placed equal distance from one another. Flatten each ball slightly. Bake for approximately 20 minutes at 180 degree C or until done. They are supposed to be very hard biscuits.

dutch pickled red cabbage

This is one of Mum's favourite recipes and something I remember eating lots of as a kid. Spiced sweet and sour. Traditionally is is served warm with fish, but also venison or other red meat.

Ingredients:
1 red cabbage
3 green apples
3 small onions
1 tspn cinnamon
3 bay leaves
3 tspn sugar
1/3 cup vinegar or to taste
pinch cloves
1 or 2 tspn salt
pinch pepper
2 tbsn corn flour
1 litre water

Slice red cabbage thinly. Chop onion. Peel, chop and core apples. Layer the cabbage, onion, apple and spices into a pot. Pour over water and steam for 1/2 hour to 3/4 hour. Stir after 20 minutes to check. Cabbage should be soft when cooked. Add more sugar/salt/vinegar to taste depending if you prefer it more sweet or more sour. Dissolve cornflour in half a cup of water and quickly stir though cabbage. Cook on stove for a couple of minutes to cook the cornflour and thicken the liquid, stiring constantly.

chocolate raspberry cupcakes

Totally decadent and not good for you at all, but so incredibly yummy. I've made these cupcakes a few times now, but only for special occasions. I don't think I could ever go past the combination of dark chocolate and raspberries.

Ingredients :
400g Dark Chocolate
400g Raspberries (or a mix of different berries if you can't get hold of enough raspberries)
240g Butter
3/4 cup or 1 cup Sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)
1 cup Plain Flour
3 Tbspn Self Raising Flour
4 Tbspn Cocoa Powder
2 Eggs

Method :
1. Melt chocolate, butter, raspberries and sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan on a very low heat. Stir constantly until just melted. Do not allow it to get too hot otherwise the chocolate will burn and become lumpy. It should become a syrupy jam.
2. Allow to cool slightly.
3. Sift flours and cocoa powder.
4. Mix eggs, and melted chocolate raspberry mix into the flour. Add a tiny bit of milk if the mix is too dry.
5. Pour into paper cupcake pans. They will only rise slightly, fill to approx 3/4 full.
6. Bake in the over at 170 deg C for 45 min. Check at around 40min, as you don't want them to become dry. They are yummiest when a bit gooey inside.
7. Serve them warm with cream or icecream and fresh berries.

vegie patch to vegie bake

The zucchini have grown prolifically and the squash have become enormous! Loads of sheep poo, blood and bone and juice from the worm farm have turned our previously struggling vegie patch into a productive green haven. There is nothing better than cooking with organic home grown vegetables. We had such a good harvest of zucchini and squash we needed to find new cooking inventions to make sure we didn't get sick of eating them and use them all up.

The lovely Ailee made this for an afternoon tea party we had in our garden in early summer. It was so delicious it disappeared before I could try any, so she gave me a copy of her recipe... The perfect recipe to use up loads of vegetables. The recipe makes one small vegetable bake, but for big families double or even triple the quantities.

Vegetable Bake
5 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups self raising wholemeal flour
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 red capsicum, chopped
nuts, chopped
2 onions, chopped
cheese, grated
mix of fresh herbs, parsley, basil, chives
salt and pepper
optionals : corn kernels, squash, green peas, tomato, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, bacon, tuna or anything really that takes your fancy.

Beat eggs with oil. Add flour and mix well. Add vegetables, nuts and seasoning, mix well. Pour into a baking dish and bake at 180 degrees C for 1 hour.