August in the Garden

How did we get to August already?  And how did we get to nearly the end of August already?  I would like February back please!

I thought I'd better get my garden back into some sort of order after the hibernating I did all Winter.  Here are some hidden delights I found:-

Some pots with random things in them - mini strawberries, petunias, a rose bush and the seeds planted are rocket, possibly Zucchini, marigolds and a 'surprise' seed.  I have since learned to label what I plant straight away, rather than wait a few days.

My Spinach - protected from the sparrows that love to munch on it. 

I'm not sure how this butter lettuce survived the onslaught of Sparrows, but it did.  Now the slugs are trying their hardest.  I must have planted a gazillion lettuces and the rest were all attacked :(

Yes, there IS a rubber snake in that pot too.  The sparrows don't like it very much but it hasn't stopped them trying to snack away.

Parsley, growing back after a struggle with a herb-munching-bunny.



Basil growing without me planting anything!  Hooray!!  There are some Spring Onions planted in this pot too.  Somebunny decided to eat the last lot.  I don't think Spring Onions are really all that good for bunnies!

A passionfruit vine that has a mind of its own.  A very SLOW mind!  It has been slowly growing for well over a year.  I guess at least it is growing!

Pretty sure this is Rhubarb.  Mine is weird though.  It doesn't turn very red i.e. the stalks stay mainly green, but get tinges of red.  I haven't been game enough to pick any and eat it yet, although it has been growing happily for about 3 years now.  Rhubarb dies off in Winter, then green shoots start to come out of the 'cone' about July.  Soon is is going to be HUGE (hopefully).  I also have flat leaf parsley growing wild in my garden.  Free food for the bunnies!

Marinated Chicken

I can't even remember how long I have been making this, but is a an easy, fail-proof recipe that my family loves!

Here's what you need:-

1. Some olive oil (not the extra virgin type, just the 'normal' kind)
2. Chicken salt and/or chicken seasoning.  I usually add in a little salt you buy from chicken shops for chips as well, but I decided to be good today and go easy on the salt.
3. Sage.  Either fresh or dried is fine.
4. Chicken. Breast or thigh fillets.

Splosh some olive oil, chicken seasoning and the sage into a bowl.  Mix away.

Add in your chicken.  Depending on how you want the end result to be, you can either cut the chicken into strips, or have it in bite-sized chunks.  I want to eat ours with veggies on the side, so I did strips.  Put it in the fridge until you need to use it.  I leave mine in for 3-4 hours to get the marinade going all the way through.

When you cook it, put the flavoured oil in as well.  Obviously don't save the oil because it has raw chicken juice in it!

Pan fry it until it is golden brown.  It cooks in its own oils and ends up YUMMY.  On to absorbent paper and you're done.

You can put the marinated chicken on sandwiches or burgers.  It can be BBQ'd. I put it in an Italian Pasta Salad I make.  You can probably even marinate wings or drumsticks and pop them in the oven with foil over the baking tray to avoid oil splattering everywhere.

Enjoy! 

SMOKEY

Smokey is the daughter of Pepper and Charcoal.  She is one very pretty grey bunny, with a very docile temperament.

I'm not sure if she is going to a new home soon, but she has been offered to a gentleman who would like another female bunny, and because of her gentle nature, and the fact that she isn't bonded, I thought she would be perfect.  I know she will be going to a good home as well, and be as loved there as she is here.  I will find out over the next few weeks whether she will be relocated.

She has these amazing blue eyes.  She is a bit of a mix.  Charcoal was a Seal Point French Lop, and Pepper is a Havanna (but looks like a Himalayan). I'm not sure - would this make her a Seal Point Blue?

I love these friendly bunnies of mine!  They love to come up and put their noses just under my hand and beg to be patted.  All except Midnight that is.  She is a bit broody at the moment and although isn't agressive (none of them are), she is certainly grunting at everything that moves and doesn't want to be cuddled.  Fair enough!

Week 34 of the 2011 Food Storage Challenge

$10 Plan
Store 2 large cans fruit

$20 Plan
Store 4 large cans fruit

You can store:-

• Peaches
• Nectarines
• Apricots
• Plums
• Pineapple
• Cherries
• Lychees
• Two Fruits
• Fruit Salad
• Apple pie filling
• Mixed Berries
• Pears

Etc.

I love having canned fruit on hand.  It is really yummy with egg custard made in the Thermomix, or with ice cream in Summer.  You can make fruit crumble with it, turn it into pies if that particular fruit is out of season.  I guess the whole point is that if for some bizarre reason our fruit supply went downhill, we could still get some of those nutrients out of our tinned fruit.

I dehydrate fruit as well.  I still have some fruit-leather bananas from before Cyclone Yasi hit.  Unfortunately we're not so big on bananas as my place, but my son will happily munch on these, or snip some up and put them in his porridge.

Week 33 of the 2011 Food Storage Challenge

$10 Challenge
Store 4 cans peas and 1 packet Instant Mashed Potato 

$20 Challenge
Store 4 cans peas, 1 packet Instant Mashed Potato and 4 cans fruit

I think the fruit and the peas are fairly self explanatory, but the Instant Mashed Potato could be an odd choice.

Use Instant Mashed Potato when you don't want to eat rice...or pasta.  I recently purchased and used a packet of  Aldi Instant Mashed Potato and was expecting to taste as gross as the stuff my parents use to buy.  I was pleasantly surprised though.  It was actually edible, and I would happily use it if I didn't have fresh potatoes in my cupboard.

Uses for Instant Mashed Potato:-

• Tuna Pie
• Shepherd's Pie
• Potato Pancakes
• Bubble and Squeak
• In a chocolate cake (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/potato-chocolate-cake/detail.aspx)
• Croquettes
• Gnocchi
• Potato Soup (http://www.grouprecipes.com/18126/near-instant-potato-soup.html)

Herb and Parmesan Cheese Toast

This is fresh out of my garden, and what I like to blitz into near oblivion to serve up in my Parmesan Cheese and Herb Toast (if you count spinach as a herb!  I grabbed whatever the bunnies hadn't gotten to.)

I had a craving for the stuff they serve you at Sizzler.  It is golden and crunchy on top, but super soft inside...you get the picture.

So this is what I decided to do:-

- Baked my own loaf of bread (LOVE my bread maker!)
- Picked some greens from the garden - see above.  You can also use sage, oregano or chives.
- Throw the above greenery into my Thermomix (use a food processor if you have one, or chop chop chop away!
- Once the greens are pulverised blitzed, add 125 grams of butter and grated Parmesan cheese - I threw in the entire contents of a snack sized sandwich bag of frozen grated Parmesan cheese.

Note: If your food processor can handle butter cold and hard, go ahead and throw it in.  Most like the butter at room temperature though.  My Thermomix crushes ice easily, so no dramas there.

- Blitz until it looks like greenish butter and smells cheesy.
- Layer on thickly on fresh bread and grill until golden and crunchy.

YUM!

The verdict?  It is WAY better than what they serve at Sizzler!!

And sorry, I couldn't take pictures of the finished product.  It got eaten way too fast.

Week 32 of the 2011 Food Storage Challenge

$10 Challenge
Store 3 tins corn and 2 tins peas

$20 Challenge
Store 4 tins corn and 2 tins peas

Or you can store other canned veggies of your choosing such as carrots, beetroot, beans, capsicum, champignons, asparagus etc.