Around here - Sustainability

What a month it's been with Brisbane in a 4 day lock down, Sydney in lockdown for what I'm sure may be a couple of months and Melbourne have gone into a 5 day lockdown which sadly I think will be longer.  This is all due to the Covid delta variant which can be transmitted in 5-15 seconds by simply walking past someone.  The Melbourne outbreak is a result of removalists from Sydney transporting someone's belongings and then not wearing masks for 5 hours going up and down in a residential building lift.  This Delta outbreak is way worse than when Covid hit Australia early last year.

All of this reminds us that health is at the forefront and is very important.  I've mentioned that I get my spray free veggies delivered from "Spray Free Farmacy" and today I received my second order of grass fed and free range beef, lamb, pork and organic chicken from "Our Cow".

Last week I enrolled into a 2 hour "Homesteading Course" with Carrie in her home at Riverbell Cottage.  I saw on Instagram she had places available for the next day and I was free so booked in.  She covered making sourdough bread [which I've done before], Brewing Kombucha, Fermenting & Pickling Vegetables and Sprouting.  There was myself and another gentleman [his wife sent him along] as she will be doing Carrie's soap making course, so she got her husband along to the Homesteading Class to learn a few things.  It was a lovely morning and when I came home I boiled up my beetroot that I had in the cupboard and pickled a jar and a half.  Here's a few photos of Carrie in her kitchen.

Recently I also come across Micropods to grow your Micro Greens so I looked them up online and the kits were $59 plus postage which I'm guessing would be at least $10-$12.  I really liked the idea of getting more "Micro Greens" into my system however $80 was a bit steep.  Lots of these types of things people may give them a go and decide they don't want to use it again so I thought I would look on FB Market Place to see if anyone was getting rid of one.  Low and behold there was only one kit for sale and it was in the next suburb over [that's putting it out into the universe for you] so I went and collected the kit - never used.  I said to her "you're not into them" and she said "her hippy sister gave it to her for Christmas" which made me laugh.  I was so pleased that I got a brand new kit for $15 and a 10 minute drive away.  

The kits comes with the little seed mats which you can also buy separately.

Continuing on with the sustainable theme I put a request on the "Buy Nothing New" FB group to see if someone had a spare worm farm.  Again sometimes people get them, decide they are not for them or move and don't need them however no one had one so that was that.  Then I was on IG again and local gardener said that the Brisbane City Council have a $70 rebate for Rate Payers towards a compost bin or worm farm to stop food scraps going into landfill.  Awesome [another put it out into the universe].  It's a simple process of watching the two videos working out what system you want.  You then load up the PDF form which says you have watched the videos and answered the questions and then you are registered.  You get a unique code, then purchase your system and then go on line and claim $70 towards your system.  The payment should be made into my bank account within 4 weeks.

I purchased the $75.00 Maze Worm Farm from Bunnings which I'll receive $70 back from the Brisbane City Council.  I also purchased a pack of 1,000 worms for $50 and a worm blanket.  The Maze Worm Farm came with a small block of coconut peat which you soak in water for 30 minutes which is the bedding for the worms.   I purchased this block which I'll be returning for a refund as the Maze Worm Farm came with the coconut peat block.

First a few pages of newspaper soaked in water goes down.

Then on top the coconut peat.

 

Then the packet of 1000 worms.

This is with one layer of the worm farm, there is another layer to add to it later on.  I love the fact that this system is so compact too.  

The instructions say to leave the worms to settle for a week without feeding them and then start with small scraps every couple of days.

We did have worms many years ago however a neighbor's kid left the lid off them unbeknown to me and they died.  So it will be good to get back into this for our kitchen scraps.

Around here - Waffles & Ice Cream

It's school holidays around here and we have just had a 4 day lockdown in Brisbane along with 10 other local government areas.  Lots of cooking and relaxing and given it's winter and it rained all week it wasn't too bad having to stay inside rugged up.  We had our friends dog here for five days and he is always good company.

I've written about making the 10 minute no churn ice cream before however the kids think it's too rich [I don't] so I made a similar recipe which had added evaporated milk in it.  I also made a new to me waffle recipe which was great so I'll be sticking with this one also.

EASY THERMOMIX WAFFLES [MAKES 12 WAFFLES]

INGREDIENTS

350gms Milk

50gms honey [or sugar]

40gms light tasting oil [I used sunflower oil]

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

270gms whole wheat plain flour [or plain flour]

30gms cornflour

1 tablespoon baking powder

METHOD

Place milk, honey [or sugar], oil, eggs and vanilla in a mixer bowl.

Mix for 10 seconds / speed 4 / MC lid on.

Add flour, corn flour and baking powder.

Mix for 10 seconds / speed 4 / MC lid on.

Heat Waffle Maker up, when ready add batter and cook until golden brown.

We ate some of them and the rest went into the freezer for another time.

Around here - Pizza

Over the years we have made many a home made pizza and tried different dough recipes.  We do have a favourite recipe however today I made "Sophia's Pizza Dough Recipe" and I think it's a good one.  Sophia just opened a beautiful Sourdough Bakery in the UK during a Pandemic and you can check out her IG account.  This is the link to her YouTube channel too which has lots of great Thermomix recipes.

Her tips are as follows:-

Oil your pizza tray with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and don't worry about the baking paper.

Heat your oven to 250 degrees and then when you put your pizza in turn it down to 230 degrees.

Brush the edges of your pizza with Extra Virgin Olive Oil before it goes in. 

Use "00" flour or "plain flour" vs we mostly have been using the bread flour however the pizza dough takes more bread like so today I just used the "00" flour.  My understanding of the "00" flour is it's a fine flour for pasta, pizza, focaccia and bread however plain flour will be fine.  The bread flour has more protein in it which is what we generally use however using the "00" flour was really nice and going forward I won't be using my normal bread flour for pizza dough.

This is the link to Sophia's Video which runs for 11.32 minutes.

Here is the Thermomix Recipe which makes 3 pizzas so if you have a Kitchen Aid with a dough hook you can use that and use warm water instead of cold water which is heated in the Thermomix.

INGREDIENTS

330gms tap water [cold tap]

1 Tablespoon of Yeast

500gms "00" Flour or Plain Flour

20gms Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt or Pink Salt

METHOD

Put 330gms water into the Thermomix Bowl

Add 1 Tablespoon of Yeast

Set to 2 Minutes / 37 degrees / Speed 2

Add 500gms plain flour

Add 20gms Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Add 2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt

Set to 2 minutes / Knead function

PROVE - Let it rise for 1 hour until it has doubled in size

DOUGH

Set oven to 250 degrees.

Flour the bench and get the dough out and divide into 3 pieces.

Oil your Pizza Trays and press out your pizza dough and place on tray.

Use your favourite tomato base passata or sauce and top with ingredients.

Brush the edge of the pizza with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Don't put your sauce or ingredients on until the last minute when the oven is ready otherwise it might get a bit soggy.

When oven is ready turn down to 230 degrees and place pizza in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

I must admit I thought this dough was really great.

Around here

It has been a cold week here, well at least for us Queenslanders that is.  Our Winter is very mild compared to down South however it's been cold for us.  Very excited to get our first delivery of our organic meat order.  Here's a few photos from our week.

A foggy morning.

 

Foggy morning with the bush turkey going for a walk.

The Trumpet Vine is starting to flower.

Pretty in pink.

Friday night home made pizza.

Our first delivery of "Our Cow" organic meat delivery.  I wrote about it in this blog post.

Delivered to my front door.

Has use by dates for both "leave in the fridge" or a "freezer" date as well.

This cute little binder comes with it so you can put your recipes in it. 

A new daily journal book I ordered for myself.

Around here - supporting our farmers

Last year just before lockdown I came across "Spray Free Farmacy" which is a family run home based business in Brisbane consisting of Kristen, her husband and two daughters.  I believe they also have quite a few family members helping out in the business now as they deliver to over 500 families a week.  The business is five years old now and when Covid took off in early 2020 and Brisbane was in lockdown for 2 months the business thrived and has continued to get better and better.

Image from Spray Free Pharmacy website about page.

Who wouldn't love to support this family business.   Before they started the business they used to spend time going to Farmers Markets, Organic shops and then the supermarkets for the extra things which was taking up a lot of their weekend time.  They tried different organic home delivery services and they thought that they were okay until they came across Kel, a farmer and they asked her to put a veggie box together for them.  They were amazed at the beautiful fresh produce and fantastic value and they mentioned it to friends who also wanted a box too.  Before long they decided to set up a partnership with Kel and start offering fantastic boxes to the wider Brisbane community.

There are two options for delivery of your boxes with the first one being the home delivery to your door for $10 which is the option I go with, or you can opt to pick your box up from a designated local location.  My box gets delivered early Saturday morning to my front door and the following delivery I leave my empty box outside so they can be reused for the next family.

This is why they provide "spray free" veggies to families and they have great articles on their blog. You can get a standard box small, medium and large and swap things out if you something or prefer a different item.  They also have lots of other things available like sourdough bread, eggs, yoghurt, rice, butter, cheese, milk, sauces, nuts, oil etc.  I can vouch that these veggies last 2-3 weeks vs the supermarket one week in the fridge.  If you are in Brisbane or surrounds I can highly recommend this service.  Below is some pictures of deliveries I have had.

A number of years ago I purchased some organic meat from a farmer who had a delivery service to Brisbane which I ordered a couple of times and then stopped.  Some 10 years later I am more in tune with where our food comes from, additives and preservatives and supporting farmers and small businesses.

Last week I watched Landline and they had an amazing story on a young couple Dave and Bianca who bought their farm 3.5 hours inland of Bryon Bat at the ages of 28 and 23 respectively.  How amazing is that having young people want to farm.  Their first two years on the farm was tough with fires, flood and drought so they had to dig deep and think of a way to survive and they came up with their business "Our Cow".  I love the name and the simple green colours and logo.  I love a good farming story and particularly for such a young couple trying to get ahead.  Their vision was to create a connection between farmers and the people who purchase their food which they have done.  They wanted to provide consistency to themselves along with their farmers knowing how much they will get for their produce.  This is the link to the 13 minute Landline story which you should watch.

This is Dave & Bianca and these images can be found on their Instagram account.

In March, 2019 they launched the "Our Cow" website offering meat online, cut to order directly from Australian farmers to the consumer.  I of course only discovered them due to the lovely story on Landline last week and I was immediately impressed.  Having organic meat delivered to my door and I can make up my own box of what goes in it which is music to my ears.  Supporting farmers is so important as they do it tough and they should get paid a decent price.

Watch the video from their website which is half way down this page.  It runs for 5 minutes to tell you about their product and why they set up their business to give farmers a consistent fair price.

The meat is cryovaced in portions of 500gms for sausages, minced and diced products for easy storage and family meals.  Having the meat cryovaced promotes and extra fresh shelf life with some products lasting up to 42 days in the fridge so you don't need to have a big freezer to store your meat.  When we used to go camping I used to go to the butcher and get the meat cryovaced so if it was floating around in the eski there was no way any melted ice that would get into the meat.  Have a look at the simple yet beautiful packaging below.

The images are from the Our Cow Instagram and website.

You can choose from their pre-selected meat boxes or build your own box which is what I did.

Boxes can be purchased as a once off purchase or you can subscribe to boxes for a set and forget monthly meet delivery.  I have gone with a monthly subscription service and each month the box can be altered prior to delivery so I don't have to get exactly the same every month.  The monthly box is $199 and this month they had a special subscription offering that over your first 3 boxes you'll get for free $180 worth of meat thrown in.

My first meat box order I will receive for free a 1.5kg Beef Roast and 1kgs of Lamp Chops which is amazing.  My organic meat delivery of $200 a month works out to be $50 a week.  You can order more than the basic box however I'm feeding 3 people so this will be enough for our family at this stage.  I'm so excited to receive my first order and support this business and the farmers they support.  I will see how long my pack lasts as I may increase it to $60 or $70 per week depending.  Knowing I am feeding my family good quality organic meat and having it delivered to my door is amazing.

The comparison was posted on Our Cow Instagram on 11th January, 2021.

Have a look at this yummy beef burger recipe.  They have a heap of recipes on their website as well using the cuts of meat on offer.

These are the farmers they are supporting with their business and his is the offer I subscribed to which is for June 2021 at the time of this post.  So my organic meat is delivered to my door once a month which works out to be $50 a week for my family.

I am so excited about the meat delivery and I love the fruit and veggie delivery and the fact they are stocking more grocery items as well.  I get so over shopping as it's a huge time waster and the more you are at the shops the more money you spend.  Having these two amazing services to support my family's health feels so good to me.  I hope you watch get to watch the Landline story because it's great.  I LOVE Landline and watch it every week.  Landline is on the ABC and has been running for 30 years.

Slow Cooker Beef Recipe & Flat Bread

The other day I was scrolling Instagram and there was a video for a slow cooker recipe.  I had all the ingredients and just needed to buy some beef and potatoes.  I put the slow cooker on around midday on high and about half an hour before I was serving I made some flat breads to go with it instead of having it with rice.   It was so delicious and warming on the first day of winter in Australia and the flat bread was great for mopping up all the sauce.

SLOW COOKER BEEF RECIPE

500gms diced beef [recipe called for double that however I just used half - you could use 1kgs]

3-4 carrots chopped into large size chunks

4 potatoes chopped into quarters [I used the little packet of Aldi Microwave potatoes for size]

2 large onions chopped

Peas & Beans [optional - to be put in at the end of cooking]

3 cups of beef stock

1 teaspoon of dried thyme

1 teaspoon of dried rosemary

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 cloves of garlic

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup of plain flour

Salt & Pepper to taste.

METHOD

Dice beef into large cubes if not already diced.

Place in pan with some olive oil to brown the beef and then put into slow cooker.

Using the same pan, place potatoes and carrots in the pan and brown, and then put them in the slow cooker.

Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of plain flour over the beef and vegetables in the slow cooker and stir until everything is covered.

Back to the stove top; add garlic and herbs and onion to the pan and cook for a few minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir through, then pour in the beef stock and bring to the boil.

When reaching the boil place this into slow cooker.

Add the bay leaves and parsley [note I didn't use either of these].

About 15-20 minutes before you want to eat dinner, place some beans and peas into the slow cooker and stir through.  You could also add other greens at this stage like baby spinach for extra nutrition at this stage.

FLAT BREAD RECIPE

Here is a link to my flat bread post from 2017.  The ingredients for the flat bread is as follows:-

250gms Self Raising Flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt [recipe calls for 1 teaspoon however it's too salty for us so we use half]

1 teaspoon baking powder

250gms Natural Yoghurt - I used Greek Yoghurt