from the blue shed

suburban farm update - mini key lime tarts

A little update on our suburban farm  The lovely ladies out the back are struggling a bit with this sweltering summer. They are off the lay a little and one hen is a bit broody, just waiting for a non existent chick to hatch. The poor thing is off food and looking rather pathetic. I wasn't really prepared for this aspect of "farm" life. The watermelon patch that threatens to swallow up our back garden is producing melons at an amazing rate. If you sit very still, I swear you can watch them growing. Homemade pesto is a new favorite. Slathering the made from scratch variety onto a bag of pasta just really makes it feel like you cared about dinner instead of screamed in the door frantically at 5:30 in a oh no what's for dinner kind of panic and just whacked it together. The limes are falling off the tree. We are concocting all sort of lime recipes. mini key lime tarts, dressings, salsas and I am on a mission to perfect the Mojito.

We are ready for our third round of seeds to be planted. As I have said before, I never thought our veggie patch would amount to too much, not being much of a green thumb. We have however enjoyed watching it grow from seed to seedling to edible veg this summer. The best tomato I have ever tasted in my ENTIRE life was a few weeks ago straight from the garden. I didn't realize they could taste like that! If you don't have a little green patch of your own; a bed, a bathtub or a pot you really really must. Really.

holidays end (and mashed potato bread!)

It's the last day of the school holidays. It's grey and gloomy outside ensuring we don't do too much on our last day. We spent last week down south. We were lucky to receive that "Hey, we are away for the holidays, why not use our house" call and headed to my SIL's by the beach. Once again that country air and beautiful scenery created the perfect landscape for a relaxing holiday and the inspiration to get in that kitchen. It's like you are making Vegemite sandwiches and doing dishes for the first time when you can see the ocean.

We walked;

Collected;

Seriously relaxed;

And baked;

The winning recipe of the holiday was Annabel Langbein's Crusty Flat bread. Other bread recipes I have tried always seem to resemble dense cakes rather than fluffy loaves. This recipe however is a winner. Beautiful beautiful bread. What can't you do with a potato??

Crusty Flat Bread 1 1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 packed cup of mashed potato
1/4 cup olive oil
4 1/2 cup plain flour
2 tsp salt

Topping 

2 tbl olive oil
2 tsp fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp sea salt

Place warm water and yeast in a mixing bowl and let stand for 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients starting with the potato, stirring in between each one.  Once combined, work dough on a floured surface for approximately 4-5 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and covered in a warm spot for 3-4 hours. 

When ready to bake, place baking tray/pizza stone in oven at 220 degrees to pre heat. Punch down dough and cut in half to make 2 loaves. Roughly shape dough to fit on tray. Press dimples into the dough, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh rosemary and sea salt. Place on lined baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

key lime pie

The suburban farm is showering us with a bountiful harvest at the moment. Our first 3 eggs from our chickens and an "orchard" teeming with fruit. I use the term orchard loosely as there are 5 citrus trees randomly plated about the place, but it all works with the goal of creating our suburban farm right? We have more limes than we know what to do with. We are juicing them, freezing them, and baking them. One of our all time favorite treats is the key lime pie out of the Dinosaur Bar B Que cookbook.

Crust

18 graham crackers (granitas are fine)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbl melted butter

Process crackers into a fine crumb. Mix in the remaining ingredients and press evenly into a pie plate. Put aside.

Filling

4 egg yolks lightly beaten
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Whisk together the above ingredients and pour into crust. Bake at 350/170 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the centre has just set. 

My husbands is up to his jarring tricks again with the grapefruits. Will share his marmalade when he's done. I do love a man who preserves.

 

How cute are those 2 little blondies.

cinnamon buns

Our suburb could keep the dairy farmers in business at the moment with the mass amounts of butter that has been purchased in the last couple days alone. It all started with a recipe. Quite possible the single greatest discovery in the world of baked goods, the cinnamon bun. I have always been a big fan of the cinnamon bun or sticky bun as we like to call it. They remind me of home, my mum and the cottage and I have always wanted to have a crack at making them. When the Pioneer Woman's recipe came my way, the time was right. Ree's cinnamon roll recipe makes an obscene number of trays. Everyone has had a taste; friends, neighbours, my children's teachers... That's how it all began. Well, the butter purchasing anyway.

If you don't try this recipe, you haven't lived, seriously. Every person I have watched taste these had the same reaction; they stop, their eyes close, their shoulders relax and then I witness them experience a moment of pure and utter joy.
On that note, I am going to go and grab me 8 cups of flour, crud loads of butter and go and make me another batch of joy. Thanks Ree.

rice krispie snowman

Rice Krispie Snowman

~ 450g box of rice krispies (rice bubbles)
~ 1 bag of white marshmallows
~ 2 tbl butter
~ white melting chocolate
~ candy - soft black licorice, milk/dark chocolate buttons, red sour strap, mini chocolate chips, raspberries (or other) 

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large pot till melted.
Add one bag of marshmallows and stir over a med heat until  melted.
Add 3/4 of a 450g box of cereal.
Once all the cereal is coated, pull off the heat and spread across a sheet of baking paper to cool down. 

You may need to add a bit more cereal depending on how wet your mix is. You want all the cereal to be coated but not too sticky that it won't hold shape. As it cools down, it will become easier to work with. Makes approximately 25.

Lightly grease your hands and roll cereal mix into two different sized balls. Press the mixture firmly in your hands to hold the shape. Store on baking paper until you are ready to assemble your snowman.

Scarfs ~ Cut strips of sour straps (or similar) into thirds to make the scarf. Clip the ends of the scarfs to create a fringe.

Top hats ~ Using melted white chocolate, glue a piece of soft black licorice onto top of a milk chocolate button. When warmed in your hand it is quite easy to roll. Put in the fridge to set.

Assembly ~ Use the melted white chocolate to assemble your snowman. Sandwich a little scarf between two of the rice krispie balls and refrigerate. Once set, add chocolate chip eyes and buttons and a little carrot nose. I found rolling a small piece of a raspberry jube jube works well for the nose. Finally, top with the hat and refrigerate again before serving.  

Once they are set, slice a little off the bottom so your snowman can sit up nicely. 

I won't lie, it takes a bit of time. Each step is simple though and the assembly is fun. Each snowman takes on a little personality of their own. The end result is so cute. 

Snow Princess Party

The snow has melted, the post party mess is almost cleaned up (5 days later) and I am now mother to  a 5 year old. Man. The Snow Princess party was a big hit. Piper and 15 of her friends enjoyed a wintry 35 degree, extremely humid morning playing games and eating treats. 

The pergola was hung with paper lanterns, Christmas baubles, and strands of marshmallows to create a snowy wonderland.

The children, with hands behind their backs, ate falling snowflakes (marshmallows on a string) that were suspended from the snowy ceiling.

We hid little prizes under layers of white fabric and cord for a game of pass the snowball.

And although the eskis of snow I had collected from the local ice rink the day before had formed into huge blocks of ice, the kids still had a ball on this very humid day making little snowman. Most of these Aussie kids hadn't yet experienced that. What a thrill. 

The Snow Princess castle cake was made from a layer of icecream cake topped with a pavlova, fresh cream, white chocolate dipped waffle cones and marshmallows. I get a nastolgic sugar high just thinking about it. 

As a thank you to her guests, Piper gave each of her friends a small fabric bag with a homemade snowglobe. I can see us making a whole lot more of these. 

 I was so thrilled we could give our girl the wintery birthday she wanted. 35 degrees you say? Ha! You've got to do better than that mother nature.

Happy 5th Birthday Piper. We love you. x

baked pretzels

One of the first blogs I started reading introduced me to this recipe. Unfortunately I can't give credit where credit is due. It found it's way out of my recipe box once again this week. Fun to make and delicious. Do yourself a favour.

Slathered in mustard and served with beer, or in this case champagne, it won't last. Oh so versatile. 

salt dough ornaments

Our first efforts at homemade salt dough ornaments was a lot of fun. On the tree, the finishing touch on a gift or wrapped around a jar of baked goodies, these little snowflakes are the perfect festive touch. I was found rolling and cutting long after the children had finished. I clearly need to spend a little more time with the kids when the playdough is out. 

We made (or should I say I made) a bunch of starfish for our by the beach themed Christmas table. I can wait to put these together with all of our beachy collections. Let's hope the vision comes together! 

Salt dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

mix together to make a soft dough. Cut shapes and bake for 40 min at 100/200 degrees.
note: If your oven is too hot the dough will crack.  

oatmeal cookies

I was flicking through my recipe box when I found this treasure. A well loved, grease stained beautiful page covered with my Gran's handwriting. There is something so special about holding a piece of paper and looking at the familiar handwriting of a letter or a recipe. I inherited my Gran's recipes and have never really had the chance to go through them all. I feel both of my grandmother's around during this time of year. Baking recipes they use to make is a tradition I just love.

If only they still made stationary like this. Sigh.

A simple and delicious recipe.