A lovely Saturday

Last Saturday some of the ladies from our now closed down Simple Living Toowoomba group met for a catchup as several of them want to keep in touch and what a lovely morning it was chatting, sharing ideas and recipes as well as enjoying the bounty of the swap table.  

Mulberry Cobbler with no added sugar

As we still have heaps of mulberries on our tree I have tried out a couple more recipes by replacing the sugar with dextrose and doing a bit of experimenting. I was very happy with the taste of the Mulberry and Yoghurt Dessert I made last week and we actually had it again tonight. May as well make good use of the mulberries while we have them. Another similar recipe I found was for a Mulberry Cobbler so I changed a few ingredients around and was quite happy with the result as well.

Mulberry and Yoghurt Dessert

While I was decluttering old magazines this week I came across some recipes I must have pulled out of magazines the last time I decluttered and which I had completely forgotten about so obviously they had never been trialled. As our mulberry tree is heavy laden with fruit at the moment, I was excited to see a berry dessert recipe from a 2004 copy of Super Food Ideas called Lucy and Mollie's Very Berry Dessert. So I changed the ingredients around to use the berries we had available and also substituted the sugar with Dextrose and ended up with a very tasty dessert.

Whole Mandarin Muffins with Mandarin Curd

As anyone who knows me would be aware...I am not a very adventurous or terribly successful cook. I have no idea why but I seemed to have missed out on cooking lessons while I was growing up despite my mother being an excellent cook. Perhaps I was too busy or wasn't interested or perhaps because I was the youngest child and there was 11 years difference between myself and the eldest she just thought it was quicker and easier do all the cooking herself. I didn't really learn any of the 'keeping a home' tips from either of my grandmothers either who were both fairly elderly when I was born or at least it seemed that way to me as a child. However, I have been trying out a few new recipes lately and this week I made a version of Rhonda's Whole Orange Muffins without the sugar.

Nasturtium Vinegar with Rosemary and Peppercorns

A few weeks ago one of the Down to Earth Forum members posted a link to Nasturtium Vinegar 
which looked very nice and, as we have lots of nasturtiums growing, I thought I would make up a bottle and see how it tasted.

Whole Orange Cake (with no added sugar)

On the Down to Earth Forums we have been chatting about Rhonda's Whole Orange Cake recipe which has been around for a while but new forum members often find the recipe and decide to give it a try so while I was thinking about it I thought I would see if I could make the cake without added sugar as I hadn't made it for a couple of years as I don't bake all that often.

Cooking without sugar

As some of my readers might remember, I had a cholesterol test a few months ago which showed that the level was much too high and the doc wanted me to start taking statins to bring it down. I very nicely refused and said that I would like to try and bring it down to an acceptable level another way and heard from a friend that her doctor told her she had a number of patients who had been able to do that by quitting sugar. My friend had also brought down her own cholesterol level dramatically after six months of giving up sugar. 

Drizzle drizzle drizzle

It has been a drizzly few days when the sun peeks out to say hello for a short while before the clouds move in, the wind picks up and the light rain starts.

The new bird on the block

I was walking around the garden today and enjoying the winter sun when I heard a noise in the trees above and saw what I thought were Rainbow Lorikeets chirping away. I raced to get my new camera to see if I could take a half decent photo of them but when I came back they were nowhere to be seen. I had been looking up at the mulberry tree where they had been moments before and I suddenly lowered my eyes and there was one sitting on a branch right in front of me. Duh! A bit of the case of not seeing the wood for the trees. :-)

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Cooking Information and Demonstration ~Simple Living Toowoomba

On the 23rd May our Simple Living Toowoomba group will be holding a Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Cooking Information and Demonstration. The presenter, Janelle, is very knowledgeable in this field as she has had first hand experience with several family members.

Sage Mustard

Recently one of the Down to Earth Simple Living Forum members mentioned that she had just made Sage Mustard. I was intrigued so asked for the recipe which looked quite simple and easy to make so I thought I would give it a try.

The Big Wait

We braved the shops during the week hoping that my daughter wouldn't go into labour while we were there and as we were walking down the aisle in one of the shops I passed by an elderly lady who had a Woolworths hessian bag in her trolley. It was decorated with yo-yos also known as Suffolk Puffs and was very colourful.

Old fashioned recipe: Mock Chicken in Tulip Bread Cups

I have been looking through the recipe book I had when my children were growing up and thought that it was about time I wrote out the recipes I wanted to pass on to my daughter and perhaps make up a recipe book for her before throwing the old one out. It is tatty and stained and in need of a revamp well and truly. I have been meaning to make up the recipe for Mock Chicken in Tulip Bread Cups as it was given to me by a lovely lady who is now in heaven and I have very fond memories of her. These would be great to take along to a Christmas outing when you have to 'bring a plate'.

Mango Ice Cream

I was browsing on the Simple Living Toowoomba blog this week and came across the recipe for Mango Ice Cream that Margy our co-ordinator had made at one of our morning teas/swaps. I remember that it tasted very yummy but had completely forgotten about it until I saw the recipe on the blog. 

Frozen Fruit Salad Yoghurt - For Heatwave Relief

Like many other regions in Australia we are experiencing above average temperatures this spring. We have had a number of days in the mid thirties and have found ourselves gravitating to the fridge and freezer for cool drinks to quench our thirst and to find something cold and refreshing to eat. I remembered a frozen dessert I used to make when we had visitors years ago which was quick and easy to make.

What a difference a week makes!

It never ceases to amaze me how much a garden changes in just over a week. When looking at the plants each day it seems as if they aren't growing much but you really notice the growth after being away for a while.

Mandarin and Date Slice

Like many other Aussie backyards we have a massive mandarin tree down there which produces far more fruit than we can eat during winter. We have given a lot away and could have listed the mandarins on Ripe Near Me for people to come and pick them but the tree is quite high and it would be too risky to have them climbing ladders and perhaps falling and hurting themselves so I asked the CEO to pick as many as he could for juicing.

Curried Quinoa Burgers with Coriander Red Pepper Sauce

I had my first experience of cooking with quinoa recently and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to work with. I was given the recipe for Curried Quinoa Burgers with Coriander Red Pepper Sauce as part of our current Down to Earth Forums Kitchen Towel and Recipe Swap.

Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup

 A friend gave me the recipe for Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup recently so I tried it out this week and it certainly has a bit of zing in it! I think I was a tad heavy handed with the fresh ginger so will use a little less next time but it certainly is a different taste from the usual soups we have been having in this cold weather and I quite like it. 

Gluten Free Jam Surprise Muffins

At our Simple Living Toowoomba morning tea last month, Margy brought along some Gluten Free Jam Surprise Muffins so I made up a batch this week and thought I would share the recipe with you.