Sweet treats

I thought I'd share with you today a yummy protein bar recipe that I've rediscovered.  It's one of those gems you find in the weekend paper, cut it out, make it once, then stick the recipe in with all the others and forget about it.

The recipe originally came from Teresa Cutter , do check out her web site it has some wonderful recipes.

Protein power bars

1 cup rolled organic oats
1 cup slivered almonds (I used a combination of chopped up cashews, macadamia nuts, pecans, pepitas and sunflower seeds)
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (I used almond meal instead)
2 dried bananas, chopped (not banana chips)
200g dried figs, sliced (I used 100g and made up the rest with dates)
200g dried fruit medley (today I used sultanas, raisins, dried apricots, dried cranberries and dates)
1/2 cup apple juice to combine (I juiced some mandarins instead)
Optional extra topping
1/2 cup of good quality, fair trade dark chocolate
1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk (you could use almond or coconut milk instead)

Preheat the oven to 200C
Spread the oats, nuts and coconut on a baking tray lined with foil or baking paper and place in the oven to lightly toast until golden, check and stir it frequently. Remove and allow to cool.

Melt the chocolate pieces and 1 tablespoon of the milk, either in the microwave or over a bain-marie, add the rest of the milk and mix till glossy.  Spread the chocolate in a thin layer over the base of a lined slice tin approx. 7" x 9", place in the fridge till set.

Once cool process the nuts till ground in a food processor or blender, set aside. Prepare your dried fruit, chop it into smaller pieces, process about a third of the amount at a time till finely chopped.

Teresa suggests putting everything together in your food processor. From past experience and unless you have a Vita mix or Thermomix I would recommend doing it in batches, nothing like burning out the motor mid way through ;-/

In a large bowl combine the nuts, dried fruit, protein powder and apple juice. Mix well, it needs to be completely combined and a bit like a thick paste add more juice if the mix is too dry.
Pat the mixture out over the chocolate layer, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. 

Remove the slice from the tin, cut into small bite-sized pieces and store in the fridge in an airtight container for about 3 weeks, if it lasts that long! Or you could wrap the pieces in greaseproof and freeze.

Be warned it's very moorish but rather filling, which is a good thing.

Another sweet treat for me

It was my birthday yesterday and these are the beautiful flowers my lovely Tony dropped off at work for me.  Isn't he sweet.....love ya baby!!

Till next time
Lisa

Christmas has landed at my place

We don't usually have a tree or really celebrate Christmas. When it comes to Christmas Tony is scrooge in disguise. Nothing would please him more than to have Bah Humbug in lights across our house and have a display of Santa being stuffed head first down a chimney. Do you get the picture. He likes the gifts, the festivities i.e. food and drinks just not the christian ideal.

Growing up as a Catholic, Christmas and other holy days were important to our family (Mum, me and my sister) and always observed. My Dad, well that's a different story he was an atheist and held other spiritual beliefs. After my Mum passed away Christmas was never really the same and I do struggle with this time of the year. Friends use to invite us to their Christmas breakfast every year, as we were the orphans. It was lovely, but I eventually stopped going cause it just made me more sad that I have no immediate family near by, my lives sister is 2000kms away. Anyway enough of the sob story, there are many much worse off than me.

To my surprise, this year Tony suggested I put up a tree. I think he must be feeling a bit guilty. What to do, we don't have a Christmas tree any more. It was donated to charity after sitting untouched for years. Then I remembered seeing a few blogs with fallen branches used as Christmas trees. I love Brydie's Cityhippyfarmgirl as well as Veggiegobblers Festive Fallen Branch Friday.

After a bit of searching around the backyard and the local parks I gathered enough sticks to make my tree. Tony's comment when I first started was 'Why don't you just buy one'. No no no I want to make it!!!



Here it is, my bundle of sticks. I must say I rather like it, some of the ornaments have come from swaps and some are older than me. Due to a large black dog who shall remain nameless a few decorations had to be moved, he thought they looked like nice toys.

I hope you're enjoying the festive season and not feeling too overwhelmed.

Cheers Lisa

Look what I won!

In October I purchased a few raffle tickets to help support a wonderful charity that rescues and rehabilitates neglected and abused horses. Charlie's Angels Horse Rescue
On Monday afternoon I received a phone call telling me that I'd won the raffle. To be honest I'd forgotten about it and couldn't remember what the prize was. To my delight I've won a overnight stay at a beautiful B&B, with a 2 course dinner, wine, full breakfast and late checkout. How good is that!!

Wiikirri Bed and Breakfast Retreat is in a town called Blackbutt in the South Burnett region of South East Qld. Famous for its beautiful scenery, wineries, cheese makers and of course peanuts.

My Mum grew up in the town of Kingaroy not far from Blackbutt. As a child I spent many a holiday visiting my grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle's farm near Nanango. Sadly its been many years since I last visited my Aunt so this trip to Blackbutt will provide the perfect opportunity for a catch up.

Now to decide when to go on our weekend away and what to do with the animals.

Cheers for now
Lisa

Sourdough bread - 1st attempt

Inspired by some fellow bloggers I decided it was about time I tried my hand at making sourdough bread. Me being me I wanted to make my own leaven. Goodness there are so many methods out there for making a starter, it's soooo confusing. After having rave reviews on several blogs, I settled on Dan Lepard's leaven recipe (I found that at Gillthepainter's blog.) At the same time I reserved Dan's book 'The handmade Loaf' at the local library, thankfully it arrived just in time to make my first loaf.

After feeding and caring for the baby for eight days, it seemed to the untrained eye ready to use. It was doubling in size every day, there were bubbles on the surface, surely it must be ripe.

I used the White leaven bread recipe and religiously followed the instructions. What a labor of love this sourdough bread making is, a whole day to make two loaves of bread!

Actually I think it kind of worked, not the best example but it wasn't a total brick and the taste was not too bad either. By now my starter is 11 days old and last night for the first time the starter was frothy, I think it's now ready to use.



Apparently you are suppose to name your starter. As I don't want to break with tradition I've named it in honour of my Dad 'Kev'. He was a pastry cook and loved to bake and a great inspiration to me.

Kev - late 40's or early 50's. It looks like he's icing either a wedding cake or a very large Christmas cake

Have a great day


Lisa

Happy Birthday Michele

Today is my big sister's birthday. Sadly we don't see each other very often or even talk much on the phone these days. It's something I keep promising myself to rectify but before you know it, days have turned into weeks, then months. I guess we both have busy lives, Michele has her family and work and I have my life too. Living two thousand kilometers apart doesn't help either. Part of my gift to Michele is to keep in regular contact and to visit her more frequently.

I'm sure Michele won't appreciate having her picture plastered all over the net, so I'll share one of my favourites from when we were very young, 1968 I think. Mum made our dresses from Enid Gilchrist patterns. The dress Michele is wearing was made for my cousin's baptism, I had a matching one as well.

Michele and Lisa

Happy Birthday Shelly, I hope you've had a wonderful day......love Lisa

Almost forgot, I'd better let her know about my blog so she can see this for herself.

Memories of Anzac Day

When I think about Anzac Day this is what comes to mind. Members of my immediate and extended family who served in the British and Australian Armed Forces.

From the left - Harry's 3 brothers WWI, my grandfather WWI, Nana's brother WWI, Nana's father Boer War, Dad and Harry WWII. Two great uncles from my Mum's family also served in WWI

My Dad joined the RAAF in 1943, just two months after his 18th birthday. He spent time in New Guinea and was nearly shot in the head by one of the men in his unit. I seem to remember Dad saying that the bloke went crazy one day and fired a shot at him. He never joined the RSL or attended Anzac Day services and rarely spoke about the the war, preferring to forget.

Left - Dad and his step father Harry, just afer Dad joined up

I always think about my Nana, Dad's mother on Anzac Day Her first husband my grandfather, fought in France during WWI. He was injured (shell shock) and sent home, later discharged in 1916. Nana and Ernie married in 1918, he later abandoned them in 1928 when Dad was three.

Nana's second husband Harry joined the Army in 1941. I think Harry was an alcoholic before he joined or his time in the Middle East turned him into one. Alas he was dishonourably discharged for going AWOL on several occasions. He endured numerous health problems and spent periods of time in a psychiatric hospital following the war. I guess that would now be called post traumatic stress disorder.

A Christmas card and two compacts that Harry brought back from Jerusalem for Nana.

Tony and I usually attend the dawn service in Brisbane, unfortunately we didn't make it this year. War is a terrible thing but we should never forget those who have served and continue to serve to protect our freedom and way of life.

Lisa

Friendship bag

I've been wanting to make one of these cute little bags for ages. My niece is having her 14th birthday today, that gave me the perfect excuse to do some sewing.

After a quick browse around Spotlight (quick and Spotlight never go hand in hand with me), I decided on the above fabrics.

The finished bag

It was fun to make and not too difficult either. I plan on making some more, next time using some of my leftover vintage sheets and old jeans. Maybe I'll make a larger version and use it as a handbag!

This is the link from p.s. i quilt, friendship bag tutorial

Have a lovely weekend

Cheers Lisa

On my mind

My Nana's old treadle sewing machine. As you can see from the picture, the old girl has seen better days. The machine was purchased in 1935 for the grand sum of 35 pounds. The piece of paper in front is the original hire agreement.

My sister and I learnt to sew on this machine when we were about 5 and 6. We used pieces of brown paper with no thread in the needle. Hows that for being frugal. Nana would take the needle out of the machine when she wasn't there to supervise us, for fear that we would hurt ourselves. Truth be told, I spent more time seeing how fast I could make the treadle go than practicing straight line stitching.

My plan is to restore the machine to its former glory. The cabinet needs stripping back and there are some areas where the veneer is damaged, all fixable. I found a link on Farmama's site about refurbishing old Singer machines. I'm hoping it will provide all the information I need.

I would love to be able to make clothes and quilts on the machine. Nana would be so pleased.

Thanks to Rhonda for this great idea, pop over to her blog and see what others have on their mind.

Have a lovely weekend

Cheers Lisa

My family

Tonight my thoughts and prayers are with all those in North Queensland as they brace themselves for the onslaught of Cyclone Yasi.

My sister, her husband and their three children live in the town of Gordonvale, which is about a 1/2 hour drive south of Cairns. My Aunt and Uncle live in Cairns, as do their adult children, my cousins and their families. There are also other extended family members spread all around the region.

I can't imagine what it must be like having to wait for the cyclone to hit, terrifying I'm sure.

Whilst people living in the north are usually prepared for the cyclone season, I don't think anyone can anticipate how big this will be.

Please keep them in your thoughts.

Lisa

Ferment Hotcakes

Following on from my last post where I tried my hand at sourdough hotcakes, I wanted to give one of my Dad's recipes a try. So here is my version of Dad's Wholemeal Rolled Oat Hotcakes (ferment) circa 1974.

Ingredients

1 cup meal (not sure what he actually meant, I used 1/2 cornmeal & 1/2 almond meal)
1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cups wholemeal SR flour
2 tbsp wheatgerm (I left that out)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
Milk (how much Dad?) I used about 1 1/4 cups
1 tsp compressed yeast (I used 1/2 tsp dried yeast)
1/2 cup rolled oats

50g ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) I didn't have any, so not used




Method

Soak rolled oats and ascorbic acid in 1 cup of boiling water for 30 minutes
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, make a bay and add beaten eggs, milk and yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup water, then add rolled oats in water.
At this point I mixed the lot together, Dad didn't mention doing that but I'm sure he meant to
Cover with a cloth and stand for 45 minutes
Stir mix again and stand for 10 minutes
Cook on hot plate

All ingredients combined

After 45 minutes resting

The finished product

Dad made a comment on his recipe 'very good' and they were good.
Perhaps a little on the heavy side, next time I will use half wholemeal and half plain flour and the ascorbic acid to see if that lightens the mix.

Hope you have a great day
Cheers Lisa

Family fun

Oh I feel terrible, I've really been neglecting my blog these past few weeks. My boss has been on holidays so I've had to cover two extra shifts a week, not leaving much time to spare.

To keep things ticking over till I have more time next week and to give you a bit of a giggle, I decided to post one of my favourite family photos. This would be circa 1974 judging by my lovely hairstyle. The photo was taken for an article in our local newspaper, advertising the yoga class that my family attended. Thankfully the photo didn't make the paper, my sister and I would have died from embarrassment!

As you can see we didn't do the normal run of the mill family activities.

My sister, Dad and Me

The family that contorts together...............?

Free for the picking

Look at these lovely lemons

My dear Tony found a lemon tree in a park whilst walking the dogs, I tried one and it tasted wonderful. This morning Tony and the two dogs returned to the park to collect some more.

Picture this, a 40 plus year old bloke with two dogs in tow, carrying a fishing rod to the park (he needed something to dislodge the bounty). Thankfully he changed his mind and decided to find a branch in another park to do the job.

These lovely lemons are destined to become lemon curd and to be used in a cheesecake, that Tony has volunteered me to make. I'm thinking white chocolate and lemon curd. I had hoped to make my own quark for the cheesecake but I've just run out of time. Next time!

Don't you just love finding these little freebies

Hope you have a lovely day
Cheers Lisa

Dear Mum

I've never done anything like this before, so I apologise in advance if anyone reads this as it might be a bit soppy. It's hard to believe that 23 years have gone by since you passed away, nearly half my life time. I often wonder how different our lives would have been if you were still with us. Over the years I've noticed that the older I get the more I miss you, is that is normal? It saddens me that we never really got to spend time together as adults. Never did the normal mother daughter things, catching a movie, going to an art exhibition or a craft show, browsing antique shops, shopping for fabric. Even just spending time together having a chat and enjoying each others company. I also lament that you never meet your grandchildren or your great nieces and nephews. I know how important your family was to you. I miss your laugh, your warm and generous heart and most of all your loving embrace.

Mary Anderson 17th September 1941 to 29th June 1987