Homemade Biscuits

Just a reminder for those who want to bake a variety of biscuits with one recipe.  This is the 4 ingredient recipe and then add whatever topping you want, jam, M&M's, sprinkles, sultanas.  Because they are made with wholemeal self raising flour they must be good for you right! 

Actually the thing I like about this recipe is it makes lots of biscuits with the one recipe so you can make a variety of things and I usually divide the mixture into two and freeze one half with the cooking instructions on the front of the plastic bag (ie 180c degrees for 10 mins) so there is no washing up for the next batch of biscuits.  You could however make all the biscuits in one batch and freeze them but I divide the dough into two, make the biscuits and put them in a container in the freezer and then put the remaining dough in a plastic bag but first I wrap the dough in cling wrap.  You can make jam drops, mix sultanas into some, choc chips on top anything.

The ingredients are:-

500gms butter (approx 1.1 lbs)

1 can of condensed milk (400gms)

1 cup of sugar

5 cups of wholemeal self raising flour

** assorted toppings, jam, sprinkes, choc etc.

Just bake for 10 minutes on 180c degrees.....I confess that the mixture by itself uncooked is very moreish and I find myself eating a little too much of it...yum.  Since I can't find my biscuit pictures I'll post a picture of my backyard flowering Jasmine instead and you can see the biscuit photos in my previous post here.

Around Here

Around here we are have been camping in the school holidays.  We went to the Toowoomba Flowers with my family and have been generally hanging around the house.

 Our camp set up at Thunderbird Park and you can see some cooking we did here.

Sitting around the campfire.

Toasting marshmallows for breakfast, yes this is considered breakfast food when camping.

My twist on the Bacon & Egg McMuffin for breaky.

 The kids did the fabulous 3 hour Tree Top Adventure and paid for it with their pocket money.

James set up with all the gear.

Sienna on the high ropes.

Making toasted sandwiches for lunch together while making up silly songs and singing them.

Sienna added some funny glasses to the mix.

Evening sunset at the side of our house, love the reflection in the garage window.

Daisy & Diamond free ranging.

Cobb & Co Museum in Toowoomba at dusk.

Queens Park in Toowoomba with the beautiful show of flowers.

More flowers from Queens Park, looks like a monet art work.

A view from above Queens Park, Toowoomba.  The history of the Carnival of Flowers is here.

Camping Activities

Last week I took the kids camping to Thunderbird Park at Mt Tamborine and due to our late booking everywhere was booked out due to the school holidays and the long weekend so we could only stay Thursday and Friday night and come home Saturday morning however it was great to get away for a couple of nights.

As we went on our own this time I had to invest in a smaller tent to fit in my car as the larger one has two big bags and I don't have the room for it unless we go with other people who have a trailer for the extra gear.  I ended up buying this little tent from Kmart which seriously takes 5 minutes to erect as you just pull it up in the middle and the side frame clicks into place and then it's just a matter of putting in your tent pegs.... I was really happy with it although I would consider it an "over nighter" since it's enough for 3 camp mattresses but I couldn't put much else in there.  The kids both had their backpacks at the end of their camp mattresses but since I was in the middle which effectively is the walk way I just left my bag of clothes in the car.  This is considered a 4 man tent however I will never know how they work these out really but it worked for us.

 On previous camping trips I have made "scones" in the camp oven and a few years ago another mother had made the "damper on a stick" for the kids so I googled a recipe before we went and I made up zip lock bags with the mixture in it.  I have to say the recipe was delicious and nice and light too.

CAMP FIRE BREAD/SCONE RECIPE

1 Cup of Plain Flour                       )
1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder       )     I mixed the dry ingredients together and put
1/4 Teaspoon Salt                           )     in a zip lock bag
2 Tablespoons Powered Milk         )

1 Tablespoon of Oil or butter (I used Olive Oil)
Water

At camp, mix the dry ingredients in a bowl with the 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil (or butter) and then add water slowly until you create dough the consistency of play-doh.  You want a firm dough that isn't sticky.  If you use baking power, set the dough aside to let it rise.  (we waited 10 mins).

Split the dough into 2 or 3 and make into a thin sausage and then flatten the dough.  Once you have this you can stretch it lengthwise and then wrap it around a stick at the top and then wrap it around the stick.  There is a video in the above link to the recipe you can watch if you are unsure.

Hold it over the hot coals (not flames) and turn until it browns slightly and then when it's done slide it off and fill it with butter and golden syrup.  As they are hot on the stick I used some paper towels to hold onto it to slide it off.

NOTES:  Try and get a thick round fairly straight stick...Sienna managed to get a really good one and James stick had a bit of a bend in it so getting it off once cooked was a bit harder.  Hunting for the perfect stick is considered another time consuming kids activity before you even begin.

Wipe your stick down and spray it with olive oil or flour or both.

I made up zip lock bags with the dry ingredients in it and at camp just added the tablespoon of oil and then mixed around then started added the water.

And in true form of the internet only displaying happy times....there was some fighting going on due to he/she has more dough than me which resulted in me telling them I was going for a walk to the toilets because I was over the fighting.......so basically this is real life but the recipe will be one I use over and over again.  I would say that the above quantity would really do 2 people so just make a double or triple batch depending upon how many you want to make.  I just did one batch per zip lock bag so had to add the 1 tablespoon of oil oil and water to each batch we made.  ENJOY....as they are delicious.

Veggie Garden Covers

I feel like in the last 12 months we haven't had many veggies growing but particularly when I planted seedlings and within a few days the garden was empty and I can only assume the possums had their dinner every night in my garden.   I knew I needed some sort of cover however I didn't want to spend a lot of money so off we went to Bunnings and found the perfect system.  I system I bought comes with poles, clips and a big net called the "Crop Cage".  There are two different sizes in terms of netting and how many poles you get.  I bought the $49 one which did 2 square veggie gardens (8 poles in each...4 upright and 4 across the top) and I just cut my net into thirds.  My net was 3.6mt but there is also a 2.4m so make sure you read which one you pick up as some people can put them back on the shelf in the wrong spot.  The net stretches easily so what may look like the net is only half way to the ground can be pulled really easily.  I have one pole left out of this lot so I just need to get a few more for my 3rd veggie box.  I'm so pleased with this system because I just didn't know what to do about the seedlings being eaten and this way it also keeps the chickens out as well and with a hot summer around the corner they might have a little bit of diffused light so won't burn.

Some interesting internet reads

Here are some internet reads for you so grab a cuppa.  Below is a picture I took of Sienna on the weekend.

How to make yoghurt in the slow cooker.

How to make puff pastry in 10 minutes again by "Erin Made This".

A beautiful e-book "Weekend with the Daily's".

Rhonda from "Down to Earth" bread recipe tips.

Chicken Pot Pie recipe from 3191 Miles Apart and the history of this friendship and blog which I first heard about back in 2008.

Another blog I have been reading since about 2008 and Elise's latest "Rainbow Quilt Picnic Blanket".

Again from Elise "Tips for everyday photo taking" and one of her photography projects to document her child's 2nd year called the "E and e" project being her and her daughter's initials and what they were into.  I wish I had been able to do something like this years ago.

If you are into knitting here's a lovely scarf pattern for you.

A post on having experiences not stuff.

Love this story from "A Plot in Common" personally I find the website a little bit busy but I love their story.

For little kiddies some footprint artwork to do at home.

A woman downsizes to a tiny cottage this house is so cute.

Heather from Beauty that Moves interviews Ben about his book "The Nourishing Homestead".

Baking on a Sunday

Our two main staples in our house are Anzac Biscuits and Chocolate Slice however this week I saw a recipe by Sophie Asher (formerly known as Her Library Adventures) for a "Happy Pantry Slice" so Sienna and I made this yesterday and it's a winner.  I didn't have any real chocolate for the topping so I just mixed up 1.5 cups of icing mixture, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder, 20 gms of butter and add to that 2 tablespoons of hot water and mix together.

HAPPY PANTRY SLICE

INGREDIENTS
1 Cup Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup of desiccated coconut
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of wholemeal spelt flour
1/2 cup brown sugar [or dark muscovado sugar]
1/4 cup of caster sugar
125gms butter
1 tablespoon of good local honey
2 tablespoons of boiling water
1/2 teaspoon of bi-carb soda
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
2 tablespoons of linseeds

CHOCOLATE OR ICING ON TOP [use one or the other]
100gms of good quality dark chocolate

 *** or icing mixture below***
1.5 cups of icing mixture
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
20gms of butter
2 tablespoons of boiling water

METHOD
Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a slice tin.
Combine oats, coconut, flours and sugars in a large mixing bowl.
Melt butter and honey in a saucepan on low heat [or in microwave].
Mix bi-car soda and boiling water, then add to the butter and honey mix and stir well.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine.
Add in the chia and linseeds and mix well.
Press into lined slice tin.
Bake for 20 minutes.  You want it to be golden but still a little bit soft in the middle.  This will give your slice a nice fudge texture.

I used the icing recipe from our Chocolate Slice and it's best to pour it over the slice while it's still hot.  I just tip the icing in the middle along the slice, pick up the tin and tilt it towards me until the icing runs to one edge and then tilt it back so that it runs to the other edge and once cooled I put it in the fridge to set.  Later that afternoon I was cleaning up the bench near the stove and discovered we left out the 1/2 cup of spelt flour so only 1/2 cup of plain flour went into the slice.  Considering we had especially driven to the bulk food store on Saturday to get the spelt flour it was disappointing however the slice was perfect and stayed together so will be making this again and again.  The kids loved it and is much quicker than making a whole lot of biscuits.  I wanted to put sultanas in it however Sienna doesn't like them and considered making half of it with the sultanas but in the end we made this one without them this time.  It's delicious and it's all cut up in the freezer now.

Around Here

Around here we are in the middle of an annual photography project called "Week in the Life" where you photograph your life for 7 days from morning till evening and record a snapshot of your life in 2015.  I've done this project for the past 6 years and it's such a great project to do and I've written about it here.  The project is done at a different time each year and Ali Edwards fits this in with her schedule of work and travel commitments and seasons.

It is pretty full on and by the end of the week you just want it to end however when you look back on your days and the week I'm always glad I've participated again.  Imagine if your Mum gave you a photo book of your life when you were 7, what would the furniture look like, they probably had wallpaper, what did the TV look like, huge and chunky, what food were you eating, the car you were driving, the school you went to.  All of these things seem ordinary in the week you are in however in 5, 10, 15 years this will seem different to your current life.  Here's just a few pics from our week.

This girl is just adorable.

My weekly batch of Anzac Biscuits cooling down for afternoon tea.

A trip to the nursery on the way home to get some veggie seedlings.

James took this of Sienna and I (note to self...explain to him that we need to have hands in picture next time)

Had to pump up the bike tyres at the servo so he could ride to school the next day.

James trying out some new scooter tricks.

Sienna doing some Powerwing-ing with one hand!

Home made pumpkin soup for lunch.

Time to feed the chickens.

Having fun with the self timer and camera remote.

Homework at the bench next to "Bluey" who was waiting to go to bed.

My favourite snack, fantastic chilli and sour cream rice crackers and Laughing Cow cheese.

This week's menu plan.