Oranges

The oranges are here.

The first year we lived in this house I thought we had a dud tree, but I just started eating them too early- it turns out that oranges turn orange long before they are edible. Now I just wait for them to fall off the tree and pick them up off the grass.

This tree is amazing, the oranges are sweet, juicy and have just the right amount of tang at the back of your teeth. It's also nice that it was planted long before we bought the house so it is established (albiet in the middle of the front lawn) and needs no watering in the middle of summer- at least it seems to do just fine without any anyway.

Look at what I picked up this evening!

There's nothing quite like picking up your fruit for lunch as you head out the front door.

Tonight I'm making our yummy kumara and orange salad for tea. I'm also boiling a little brown rice to add and will sprinkle it with sunflower seeds. Yum!

Have you got any favourite orange recipes? Because by the looks of our tree I'll be needing some fresh inspiration before too long.

What's ready to be eaten at your house?

There's something living in my hot water cupboard!

This week I accidently made a larger-than-normal batch of bread...luckily I caught it in time!

Hot Cross Buns!

Yum!! I've got my 3rd batch in 5 days of these rising in the hot water cupboard. It's o.k., I didn't eat them all myself! These ones are coming with me to spinning- I hope you've got your oven ready Sue!

I'll let the pictures do the talking.....

I used the recipe from here, except I changed up the spices a little, and glazed them with watered down apricot jam. I also used sultanas and raisins instead of mixed peel. This made them a little different and super delicious. (I put it down to the really good apricots I used, those almost tart ones, not the Turkish ones.)

So go on, give homemade hot cross buns a go this Easter. I promise you won't be able to stop at one batch!

Epic Fail of the Edible Kind (so it's o.k.)

I've made this brownie (just the brownie, not the heart attack) with success a couple of times. Yum! So why wouldn't I try and make this super cute one to take to a birthday BBQ? (which we didn't end up going to....)

I followed the instructions about chilling the brownies and everything, the dark chocolate one just didn't want to hold together. I would highly reccomend this recipe however- especially the white chocolate one which ends up kind of caramelly, mmmmm.

The hearts are super cute anyway! (And we didn't eat them all- some went to a friend, others are going to a colleague to say thanks for some eggs, and some went into the freezer for another day....there is a container of offcuts in the fridge though!)

Next up? Gotta be these ones, sweet and salty wins always! (Oh who am I kidding, just the brownie section will keep me busy for a while!)

Pasta Sauce

I made a simple batch of pasta sauce using some of those tomatoes......

I cut the tomatoes in half and laid them with their skins on the pan and the cut side facing up. This helped them to roast, which intensifies the flavour, instead of stewing in their juices. I added some red onion, basil, laid rosemary on top and drizzled with olive oil. I roasted them for about an hour at 180 C.

When they cooled down I whizzed them up in my blender cup. This incorporates air which makes the sauce look kinda pink, but I think if I used my mouli the sauce would be more red.

I just poured this into 250mL jars, and froze it, ready to pull out during the winter. Simple!

Mt Tomato

If I don't pick the tomatoes early, the birds get them, so I've got a big pile of tomatoes in various stages of ripeness chilling out in my kitchen.

Is it a tomato...is it a pumpkin..... The pumpkins have invaded the tomatoes' personal space!

(Loving my white walls as a backdrop. And a progress report on the bedroom- Martha's is having a sale and we decided to use the same colour on the walls throughout the house- the aformentioned white. Aniwaniwa. I dare you to say it out load and not laugh. Ha!)

Apricot Jam

Apparently Apricot Jam is my Mum's second most favourite jam. Go figure.

I made this jam in the sticky early evening sunlight on a couple of days when it was far too hot for stirring molten sugar at the stovetop. Isn't this always the way?

The apricots were on special at Fruit World but were no means 'jam quality' - making this not super economical. We're going to hit up the market in Pukekohe next weekend to see if we can find some cheaper fruit for preserving with.

Like my new spoon? I L.O.V.E wooden spoons. They are my guilty pleasure in kitchen shops.

Question time- where you you get your preserving fruit from?

Looking for a Tomato Relish Recipe?

Nana Dorothy's Tomato Relish is currently bubbling away on my stovetop....

...I'm off to sterilise some jars!

Dinner's in the oven.

I totally stole Clare's dinner tonight. Except hers looks a little more professional.

Unrelated photos of the pre-Christmas strawberry jam affair, because if I don't post them, let's face it, it's likely I never will.

Eat your veges!

The Garlic is in!

I know a few people around the country who didn't have a good year with garlic. My harvest isn't spectacular, plenty of the bulbs are just little, but there's enough there to see us through the year.

Next year I probably need to water them a little more in November.

I cleaned them up and plaited one bunch, then just tied the other bunch with string. Once they've dried out a little more I'll bring them into the kitchen.

Smoooth

::banana::frozen berries::kiwifruit::yoghurt::milk::honey::



::buzzzzzzz::





It took me all morning to get through the longest drink in this town!



(thanks to my sister for the cool reusable cups she gave us last Christmas!)

Hottest Baker - Fig and Aniseed Quickbread, and Almond and Walnut Tartlet

I skipped posting last week, as I waited to be able to bake the judges recipes. You can find the recipe for the quickbread here, and the tartlet here.

I wasn't sure about the fig and aniseed flavours, and when I got to the supermarket I couldn't find any aniseed! So that was out and I went with my instincts.

I plucked the two apples from our tree (you can take it out now hun!) and cooked them off in 2T butter with 1/2 c raisins, 1/4 c chopped walnuts and a couple of tablespoons of raw sugar.

I made the scone dough and rolled and chopped it like on the show, but because my filling was a little chunky, it didn't stay together quite so well.

And when it came out of the oven...um..we ate it before I photographed it!! Which makes me a bad blogger, but anyways, it just looked like the above picture, only uglier! I will definately be making the dough again, it was a scone dough, but included an egg, which gave it a slightly more cakey texture.

As for the tartlet, it was yum, but basically just very sweet. I thought it had too much going on flavour wise, with the chocolate, the almond, the walnuts and all.that.toffee!! The almond was completely lost. So it was nice, but probably wouldn't make again. Wait and make my chocolate dessert from the next episode instead.

It looked good though!

Next week: Judges Orange Mousse, and a chocolate dessert.

Are you playing along? What did you think of last week's recipes?