Khoresh Bademjan or Spicy Eggplant in the Slow-cooker!

This was so very good that I didn't remember to take a photo until later on in the evening!

Khoresh Bademjan

Rinku at the Spice Chronicles had made Alu Gobi(spicy cauli and spuds) in her slow cooker and mentioned cooking this eggplant dish in it as well...so I tried it on Saturday and was thrilled with the result and the other bonus is that eggplant are in season now and quite inexpensive...here is my adaptation of her recipe

One large eggplant/aubergine peeled and chopped into 2 cm squares, it weighed about a kilo
1 tablespoon of oil
1 finely chopped onion
4 crushed cloves of garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste and a large cup of boiling water
1 teaspoon each of cumin and turmeric
3/4 teaspoon of salt(there is no need to salt the eggplant beforehand)
1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, paprika and pepper

I put the hot water, tomato paste and spices in the cooker first and blended them together with a spoon
Add the vegetables and stir well.
Cook until tender which was about 2 1/2 hours on High/Auto and stir 2-3 times to coat the eggplant in the sauce.
Add some frozen peas/corn/beans after an hour if you like.

That's it...sooooo easy! Served with a dollop of plain yoghurt, rice or naan bread and some Indian style pickles it was wonderful.

Today I am going to try the Alu Gobi recipe and my other recent success in the kitchen was Jamie Oliver's Happy Fish Pie without the fish tail. I used shark fillets and had sour cream instead of the cream and lemon juice...another very easy recipe as it's made without a white sauce...the three photos I took were spectacularly bad even for me...sorry :/

Yesterday I made 3 big jars of mandarin orange marmalade for the pantry, it's much tastier than using regular oranges.

On Sunday we had some fun news...my photo of Twitch won a prize in a local pet photo competition run by KiraJay at Phone a Mum The pic was taken when he was quite unwell recently so is extra special to me; not surprisingly he was the only rabbit entered with lots of cats and dogs and one lion(I think they were pulling our legs!)

We had a rather wild storm 2 nights ago with several planters being knocked over by the wind...it was refreshingly cold enough for woollies yesterday, I need to go and get some kale and silverbeet seedlings later today. Terry next door has planted lots of turnips, parsnips and carrots so we'll have a good variety....he's 80 yrs old and was joking about growing enough in his tiny garden to sell to Woolworths!

Hope you are keeping warm or enjoying Spring days where-ever you might be,
Love from Sue
xxx

Friday Round-up

Hallo every-one and thank you for all the good wishes for dear Twitch. I've had a much more productive week, I do love the cooler weather.

I've made ANZAC biscuits, here is my ANZAC slice recipe and I always use Sue Webber's biscuit recipe which you can find here , I always double Sue's recipe and freeze some. There are lots of ripe chillies on the habanero bush so I thought 'chilli jam'...oh heck, the fumes nearly killed us and it's more sauce than jam but lovely tasting...

I used 5 habaneros with their seeds, thinly sliced...would only use 3 next time!
1300gms tomatoes
500 gms sugar
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 teaspoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce

simmered until thick but it didn't reach a jam setting point...still will be very useful, the colour is beautiful...

I've also made 3 jars of plum jam and will make some mandarin orange marmalade next week.

I finished the little jumper I was making for a friend's new baby...she loved it, I do enjoy knitting baby clothes...

Yesterday I popped into a new local candle shop and bought some wicks for $4...I melted down all the stubs of the candles we've used and produced all these for next to nothing...I bought a small saucepan from the op-shop for $2 and keep that for candle melting, because it's small it's easy to pour into the jars...the one at the back is a 300gm salsa jar so you can see they are quite large. I also added some sweet orange essential oil...

Tomorrow is ANZAC day and we'll be going again to Medina to watch Dad march, Caleb and David are looking forward to that very much and Caleb is going to borrow Dad's medals for 'news' at school next week...

I wish you all a wonderful weekend where-ever you may be
Love from Sue
xxx

Up Close and Personal With Brer Rabbit

We've been indulging in lots of cuddles and bunny massages the last few weeks as Twitch continues his recovery from EC as reported earlier this month. Now I'm going to indulge myself again and share these close pics of the sweetest face there is!

 Finally, what Twitch would look like if he wasn't a lop-eared rabbit lol

Hope you're having a happy weekend,
Love from Sue. Joe and Twitch!

Cooler Days and Warm Dinners

This is warm and thrifty soup born of the need to use up all the celery stalks we have left after feeding Twitch Rabbit the leaves lol

It could be cooked in the 

slow cooker/crockpot 6-7 hours, 4 cups of stock
pressure cooker 7 minutes, 3 cups of stock
stove-top 1 hour, 3-4 cups of stock

a whole bunch of celery, sliced
2-3 large potatoes, chopped or sliced
1 white onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3-4 cups of chicken stock
half a cup of cream or sour cream

Usual way, fry off onions, celery then garlic
Add potato and stock, season well.
Cook as above
Blend or puree the soup and stir in cream

Serve with croutons/grated cheese/fried crispy bacon

We've also had a thick minestrone soup this week as well as lots of chicken based meals all from one half of a rather chubby free range chicken that was slow-cooked with lemon juice and peri peri sauce. I want to make my own sauce for the next time and will try this recipe. I love the look of the Chickpea recipe too!

Filling, delicious and nutritious.
Have a great weekend every-one
Love from Sue

Noumea Photos

So Twitch is a million times better now but still wobbly and will need the panacur for another 2 weeks...it's a miracle to us as we were sure he was not going to recover...he's been out of his box and is able to sit up to groom himself which is great. Thanks for all the love and support this last fortnight xxx

Now here are the few pics I took from the ship of Nouméa in New Caledonia. The reason there are no photos from off the ship is that on the first night I stood up in the dark at 2am to go to the bathroom, my knee gave way and slammed into the hard beading around a full length mirror. The pain was appalling and I spent much of the next two weeks in bed...more anon.
Joe went ashore as he was keen to buy a bottle of French wine, Gaillac, which we first had in Paris in 2007. Mission accomplished he also came back with a large square of beautiful fabric for me...it was called a coupon in French! Next to the docks is a large nickel mining plant which doesn't enhance the view but provides work for the local people.

My photos...


the first is my curry and chips...obviously comfort eating that lunchtime..

view from the table at the back of the ship

the nickel plant is a blot on the landscape, I would have loved to get up into those mountains on a tour...

Now this is Joe queuing to get back on board taken from Deck 12...it really is a massive ship...he's in the middle about level with the back of the right-hand bus...

Our steward was most attentive and enjoyed surprising us with animal created from the towels...this bunny was our favourite of course...

  Monkey was cute too lol

The next stop was Fiji and the photos are pretty similar but will share one or two, then we visited 3 ports in New Zealand.

Love from Sue
xx

PS have recently bought this book about our ancestor Jennet Cragg, most enchanting story telling from 1877!

When Life Gets In The Way.....

...despite my best intentions to get back into writing this blog last week we have instead been caring for a very poorly bunny. It started last Tuesday(8 days) with him losing control of his hind legs, off to the local vet who treated him for GI again.
 He was worse the next day and losing now control of his front legs so back we went but this vet suggested firmly that we take him up to Murdoch Unusual Pet Vet as it was a job for specialists. Fortunately we still had Ma and Pa's air-conditioned car as it was quite warm so off we went(70kms round trip) Came home with $375 lighter but with meds for E. cuniculi  and GI .
 Twitch did not have one of the main symptoms of head tilt but he is responding slowly. He also had meds to help his blocked gut and some special feed called Critical Care to feed by syringe. Back again the next day as he seemed worse but Dr Nic was pleased with his overall condition but gave him a shave around his bottom and some fluids by injection.

After 5 days he was eating sufficient greens and pellets for us to stop the syringe feeding but he is still having lots of boiled water via a 2ml syringe. Rabbits have a special digestive system that requires them to eat a soft poop (cecal) which has good bacteria in it to aid digestion...Twitch cannot do this at the moment so I have given him 1.5 mls of plain yoghurt for the past 3 days....I am really in the dark about this but have to try it.  He can now move himself around a bit but not really stand up or walk, it is more a flipping around almost like a seal, poor lad! His front legs are splayed out to the side as you can see here...

We've had great support from other bunny friends at the Australian Rabbit Network on Facebook and this could go on for as long as 3 weeks so please keep our baby close to your heart...he's never been one for cuddles but now he loves it and I can support him well enough for him to groom his front paws and face etc He grooms me back by vigorously licking/nibbling my hands. Joe works the late shift so Twitch is getting lots attention...

I will get those cruise pics up soon!

Coo-eeee!

Lovely old warehouses on Sydney Harbour, see the bridge in the background?

Time to get back to this sad neglected blog I think!

Hopefully every-one had a safe and blessed Christmas? We had a lovely dinner with Mum and Dad, Paul, Gordon and Bree and Jessica and Olivia but didn't take any decent photos :/

In February, with Mum and Dad, we left home and flew to Sydney to join our much anticipated cruise on the Voyager of the Seas with an overnight stay in Sydney first. I had a window seat on the plane and was saddened by the dryness of this big brown land at the end of summer...soon the rains will be here and the greenery will sprout very, very quickly. What did fascinate me was once we'd flown over the Great Australian Bite I could see the Murray River wending it's way west across South Australia...it is huge and I could almost hear the stories of early settlers as they settled on it's banks.

We took lots of photos as usual so I'll post a few of Sydney and the ship today and then show some more in a day or two...Pitt St sign in the first photo...

This building is similar to one in Montreal, probably built around the same time (Joe looks a bit serious)

Queen Victoria sure gets around...

Another building very similar to one we saw in Canada...this is on the dock and perhaps housed the Harbour Master and his family at one time...

Add caption

I would love to go back to Sydney to explore it's historical aspects..and for the first time ever I saw big wild bats flying in a park at dusk!  I was thrilled to spot Luna Park under the Sydney Harbour Bridge...

Bye bye Sydney...

the unique Opera House...

The empty swimming pool on the ship, it was rather cool before we left although the spa was in much use

One of the many lovely decorative features on board...

Julius Caesar came along for the ride... he was watching over the pool area and was beautifully carved.

Our first stop was Noumea but that's a tale for another day.
Hooroo!!

'Tis The Day Before Christmas

and I have a couple of last minute cheat's recipes if you're still cooking. These are definitely not made from scratch but they are quick and easy using the food processor and both are very yummy...

No Bake Cheesecake...I invented a choc-orange version of this oldie from when my children were littlies and this should easily serve 12 ;)

Base
100gms softened butter
almost a full packet of chocolate flavoured(not choc-coated) biscuits

Process the biscuits until fine and then process the butter until you have a moistened crumb that you can press into the bottom of a 10inch springform pan and put in the fridge to firm up.

Filling
Wash the processor and start again by creaming the following until smooth and then pouring onto the biscuit crumb base. Allow 5 hours to set, loosen with a knife around the edge and then release from pan...if you don't have a springform pan then line your favourite baking tin with foil so that you can lift it out when set.

250 gms softened chocolate Philadelphia cheese
500 gms softened regular Philly ^^^
one packet of orange jelly crystals dissolved in just 2/3 cup of boiling water
zest and juice of a large orange

You could decorate it with chocolate curls or candied orange slice perhaps but the best thing for me is that this freezes perfectly and is convenient to have on hand.

I had resolved not to make any mince pies this year...too fattening but my resolve wavered and I thought I'll just get a box of Mr Kipling's mince pies from the UK! Not a single box of any kind was left by Monday so I bought a jar of Robertson's fruit mince...these are the flavours of my childhood really but so strongly evoke Christmas for me.
I washed Mum's 60yr old mince pie tin and then decided to make just one large one on the tray instead...kidding myself less pastry = fewer calories!

Filling
Empty jar of fruit mince into dish and add a tablespoon or two of sherry or your favourite tipple plus a grated apple or 2 extra tablespoons of dried fruit, stir well.

Wash food processor again and make this easy
 Pastry

375gms plain flour
pinch of salt
180 gms cold butter
1 egg(I used a duck egg)

Process until it looks like breadcrumbs then trickle in very cold water until you have a nice dough. Roll it in a little flour and pop in a plastic bag to rest in the fridge until you are ready...30 minutes will do.
Roll out just over half and place it on your baking tray, spread with the fruit mince and top with remaining pastry. Press edges together, brush with beaten egg and make a few slits in the top for the steam to escape then bake it for around 40 minutes at 190C. Bewdy! It made 16 good sized squares of which 12 remain lol

My dear pumpkin is ripe so has been 'harvested'...the vine grew from kitchen scraps I buried to improve the soil...free food is good...we are picking so many beautiful tomatoes too...

In the carport a mother dove sits quietly on her eggs...the symbol of peace indeed...

A Christmas funny

  A Christmas Sweetheart

A Christmas poem

Christmas

I see a twinkle in your eye.
So this shall be my Christmas star
And I will travel to your heart:
The manger where the real things are.

And I will find a mother there
Who holds you gently to her breast;
A father to protect your peace;
And by these things you shall be blessed.

And you will always be reborn;
And I will always see the star
And make the journey to your heart:
The manger where the real things are.

Leunig

and from Joe, Twitch and I love and best wishes for a happy, joyous Christmas and may 2015 be your best year ever

thank you for all your comments and support over the year

Sue

xxxxxx

Val Laird's Free Christmas Patterns

Val Laird lives in Queensland and has a lovely blog filled with her beautifully worked stitching. Chel shared this link at the Down To Earth Forums recently and I just loved the doves...I am going to re-do the wing line on the higher dove as it is too dark. I worked the flowers etc in 3 strands of thread but only used 1 strand of a metallic gold thread to do the blanket stitch joining the two pieces together...I also lightly stuffed mine too...

As I turn 58 years of age today I've had to change the "About Me" here on my blog from mid-50s to late-50s but truthfully I don't feel a bit different :D Here I am yesterday in Perth with a very, very cheeky Father Christmas...

I'd better get on and do some housework I suppose...be back later
xxx

Easy Slow Cooker Meatballs

Very Easy Slow Cooker Meatballs

December 3rd, 2014, 09:50 AM

I modified a nice recipe yesterday and made these meatballs without having to brown them first

500gm minced pork and beef

2 sliced onions
4-5 whole cloves of garlic
1/2 red capsicum/pepper, chopped
a sprig each of rosemary and thyme or a teaspoon each of the dried herbs

2T tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups of beef stock
1 tin of chopped tomatoes OR 1 1/3 cups of passata(tomato puree)
salt and pepper to taste

Place the vegies on bottom of SC
Roll mince into golf ball sized meatballs and place on vegies
Mix the wet ingredients in a jug and pour over the meatballs

Cook on auto for around 4 hours, stir and serve as preferred. Nom!