Apricot Jam

Last year I didn't get to make any apricot jam, we use the last of the 2008 jam a few months back.

This year so far I have turned 8 kilo of apricots from our son's tree into jam. Going back again this Wednesday evening to see if we can score more for jam. James doesn't eat the apricots, so this makes it very easy for me to acquire and convert into jam.

Sure going to miss the tree if James ever moves from his rented house.

Duck Eggs

Ducks are laying 4 to 5 eggs each day and I have been either selling them or cooking with the eggs.

These eggs are fantastic for cakes. I love cooking cakes with their eggs. I'd rather cook cakes with duck eggs all year round if they laid them all year round.

Sponge cakes are amazing and I never have a failed cake using them.





This sponge cake was taken on Monday to our sewing group. One of the ladies has a wedding this weekend when her son is married. As the wedding is in Perth, we had a cake to celebrate back here in Adelaide.






Dundee cake takes 5 eggs and what a great cake this is. Very yummy and full of dried fruits.

More and more people are returning to keeping poultry of some kind in the backyard. I've not bought eggs for 11 years now and I can't see this changing down the track.

technorati tags: cakes, eggs

Cheaper Mince

On my blog here not only do I show how to use the harvested foods from my backyard to the best value, I also show how I save money elsewhere in the kitchen.

My latest find (been after one for a while now) is a mincer.

I'm not a big fan on supermarkets and the only red meat I buy is the Coles mince as I find this is the less fattiest I can find for our food budget allowance. I only buy the mince when its on special.

Now that is changing. No more buying meat at the supermarket from now on. I can 100% support a whole sale butcher we go to. While still having mince that is 100% fat free.





Check it out. I wasn't going to pay for an electric mincer, this baby was only $40.00 brand new. As a kid I used to help my mum by mincing the lamb meat on the sheep station. Or mincing vegies for my Nanna & Grampa when they made their yummy pasties.

Now when we buy our whole rump for around $7 a kilo I can mince a large slice for Pat & I, with all the fat removed and less than half the price of the supermarkets and I don't have to wait until the mince is on special.



Chicken patties with vegies for tea that night..........

technorati tags: food savings, mince, chicken

Percy's blog

Have you ever visited Percy's blog??

He's a little toy pig I made and he's been over seas and around Australia. He's become so popular he has a baby sister to help him with visiting people who want to meet him and show him, where they live.

There is also a poll with 6 names for her and you can vote too. So if your feeling down or just want to have some fun ...please pop over and say hi to Percy and his baby sister.

Beetroot.

Love beetroot, as a hot vegie or on my plate as a salad.

Been thinking about trying my hand at preserving beetroot for a while and I have finally done this.





These lovely volunteers were picked, scrubbed and in the boiling pot before they knew what hit them. Can't get ant fresher than that.


I have used a new recipe from a dear friend, I'll ask her if I can pop the recipe up here. Easy to make and the chooks will love the left over cooked tops, tails and skins of the beets.




Very pleased with the amount I got into these 3 jars. I am also waiting on my friend to get back to me on how long I need to wait before I can start to eat this yummy vegie.

Its a very easy to preserve beetroot and a lot less messy than jam making.

technorati tags: beetroot, food savings

White Eggs

Not very often we see white eggs in the shops. People seem to want the brown eggs. I read somewhere it was to do with people thinking, brown eggs are like bread..... better for you. When really there is no difference with the eggs.

I have 3 new white chickens and its been years since I have been able to find and buy them for my backyard.

Called them the "Blonde Bombshells", seems to go well with the red chooks I call the "Blue Rinse Set". They have blue rings on their legs, so I can keep track of their ages.

Anyway this is the "first" big egg one of them has laid. I was getting little white eggs the size of a bantam.

All the best for 2010.....

Harvest Time

After giving gardening a rest due to a bad leg and ankle over the last 8 months. It feels really great harvesting from the vegie patch again.



French Breakfast radishes, oodles still out in the garden. These were topped (rabbit food) and tailed (worm bucket) and into a Tupperware fridge container. Now we have fresh organic healthy food to snack on through out the day instead of sweet foods.






Also broad beans are cropping madly. Shelled pods into the compost bin as the animal aren't that keen on them, bean peels (from the bigger beans) into the worm bucket for the farms.

Nothing is wasted here at our place.

Bean are frozen and used in casseroles, make a great extra vegie on those cold days.