News from the Square Foot Garden

The girls and I went for a walk to our plots today at the Community Garden and for the first time we found someone there who was visiting at the same time as us. We usually go out of hours just because it suits us better but we often wonder who owns all the other plots. Today a lovely older gentlemen riding his bike followed us in and Chloe started asking him questions straight away (of course!) and asked him which plot was his. He showed her both of his plots and exlained all the different things he had growing. By the time Chloe came back to me she was holding her hat and it was full of broad beans and dill. What a lovely fellow! So for dinner tonight we had broadbeans with our Apricot Chicken curry. Chloe had fun podding them with Ben. We also picked some Spinach for dinner tomorrow night and heaps of Rhubarb as it was starting to take over the garden bed. I offered some to our new friend but he refused. I think he just liked the idea of little kids eating the food he had grown.

 

Podding the Broad Beans

A little bowl of goodness

Rhubarb

I haven't decided what to do with the Rhubarb yet. I might make some Jam and then cook up the rest and freeze it.

Other than the rhubarb and Spinach though, some of my vegies are definitly not thriving. My tomato plants are doing ok but my celery is going yellow and my peas have died. My Rocket has gone to flower but they were a dodgy looking plant from the beginning, I got them for $1 reduced to clear. My lettuce is finally growing but my Beetroot hasn't grown at all. Im about to do a google search to see what is going wrong. I wonder if I have over fertilised or if they just aren't getting enough water....

Chloes New Party Dress

Chloe has out grown her favourite red party dress. I am going to miss it because it is just gorgeous. The best part about having another girl though is that it will get worn again in a couple of years. I bought some fabric from Crafty Mammas recently and decided it would make the perfect party dress. I just needed to find a pattern. I came across this tutorial over at From an Igloo and decided it would be perfect. A little bit special with a big skirt for lots of twirl.

I was also up for a bit of a challenge with this project and liked that the tutorial included shirring, which I had never done before. It also had a button hole in the back, which is never easy..



She NEVER stands still



Check out the Shirring :) it was really easy

Overall it turned out really well, in fact better than I expected. It was a good use of some special fabric and I like that the dress should fit for at least a couple of years. It has a big hem on it and the shirring makes it a bit stretchy so there is room to grow. It has long straps too so it can grow with her.

Robot dancing

The hard part is convincing her to take the 'special' dress off. She was so excited when she first saw it she went and gave it a hug and a kiss!

10 Minute Butter Chicken

Copied from the Simple Savings Website

I make it up in a large jar now, to save time. This Christmas I am going to make up gift boxes with a babyfood sized jar of the spices, a pottle of tomato paste and a carton of longlife cream.

25g butter

1 onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed (or 3 tsp of crushed garlic)

1/2 tsp each of; ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, turmeric

1/4 tsp garam masala

Pinch - 1/2 tsp of chilli, depending on taste (1/2 tsp is hot)

400g cubed chicken meat

100g tomato paste (approx 2/3 of a yoghurt pot)

3/4 cup of cream

Mix the spices together and add chicken meat and set aside. Melt butter and saute onion and garlic for 2 mins. Add chicken and saute for about 5 mins. Add tomato paste and cream and simmer gently for 5 mins.
This recipe is very flexible - you can use more cream or less cream and top up with water. You can cut down on the tomato paste or boost it to your taste. I keep a longlife cream 250ml and use this plus 1/2 cup of water because we like a lot of sauce.

You can use evap milk mixed with a couple of tsp of cornflour in place of cream, but it has to be absolutely last minute or it will 'curdle' and to extend it is to use less meat and cube pumpkin or potato very small, plus frozen peas and simmer until they are soft.'

Kill Anything Chicken Soup

8-9 chicken lovely legs, skinless

8-10 chopped cloves of garlic

1 chopped onion

2-3 small red chillies (Remove the seeds if you don't like it too hot as they're the hottest part, or just use one chilli. But you must use small chillis because they loosen mucus.)

2 teaspoons grated ginger

Oil

2 litres Continental chicken stock

2 finely chopped carrots

1-2 handfuls corn

1 cup macaroni pasta

2-3 handfuls baby spinich



Heat the oil in a stock pot and brown the chicken, garlic, onion, chilli and ginger.

Add the chicken stock, carrots and corn.

Bring to the boil, and if needed add water. Simmer for 15-30 minutes. Take out the chicken, pull the meat off the bone, break meat into small pieces and put back in the pot. Add macaroni and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Add baby spinach, taste, add salt and pepper if needed, then serve.

From the Simple Savings website

My Wrap Around Ruffle Skirt

Last weekend I went to Port Fairy with some girl friends for the night. In the morning we did a bit of shopping and I came across a skirt I fell in love with at a little boutique. It was a long, purple, lined wrap around ruffle skirt. I loved it and was going to buy it but thought I could probably have a go at making one myself. When I was next at Spotlight I bought some pink material that looks a bit like cheese cloth. I chose it because it was really light whereas the one at the store had been quite heavy and I think it would have been too hot in summer.

Over the past week I have been running in and out of the sewing room making the skirt. If I had sat down and done it all in one go it would have taken about two hours but I just couldnt seem to string that much time together. Little Elyssa has turned from a placid baby into a full on toddler who is on the go so I dont have as much free time as I used to.

I love this skirt, it was easy enough to make, which is pretty good considering I was making it up as I went. It was just a bit boring doing all of the gathering. Im definitly going to make a few more though. Im also going to add a bit of trim or something to this skirt, I just have to find something I like in the exact same colour.

Im thinking of having a go at putting together a tutorial for this skirt. I have never done one before. Maybe Ill take some pics when I make the next one and go from there...

5 Minute a Day Bread

Im posting this because everyone needs to give this a go. We just finished eating the last of our first batch of bread and it is to die for! The yummiest bread I have had in years. EVEN better than bread in the breadmaker. I have just whipped up a second batch of dough and I am waiting for it to rise before I put it in the fridge. It has taken about ten minutes to make the dough. Thats it! It lasts in the fridge for two weeks. You just pull off a chunk, let it rise for 40 minutes (I put it on a baking tray in a big lump, then fill a sink with boiling water, then put the tray over the sink) then stick it in the oven for 40 minutes. SOOOO GOOOD!!

Tonight I am going to pull off a chunk, spread it out thin, and make a Tandoori Chicken Pizza. Yum!! Ill add a pic later.

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1616

ETA: OK after some issues with the above link I am copying the info here. It is a direct copy from the original website though so I can't take any credit for it! If you want to see pics of the process go to the above site.

Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day:


3 cups lukewarm water (you can use cold water, but it will take the dough longer to rise. Just don’t use hot water or you may kill the yeast)

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast ( you can use any kind of yeast including: instant, rapid rise, bread machine, active dry or cake yeast*. I buy the 2-pound bulk package of Red Star Yeast to drive down the cost. You can also decrease the amount of yeast in the recipe by following the directions here. Or you can bake with a sour dough starter, see instructions here.)

1 1/2 tablespoons  Salt (use less salt to suit your taste or eliminate it all together. Find more information here.)

6 1/2 cups (2-pounds) unbleached all-purpose flour (we tested the recipes with Gold Medal and Pillsbury flour. If you use King Arthur or other high protein flour check here.)

Mixing the dough:


In a 5 or 6 quart bowl or lidded Food Storage Container, dump in the water and add the yeast and salt. Because we are mixing in the flour so quickly it doesn’t matter that the salt and yeast are thrown in together.


Dump in the flour all at once and stir with a long handled wooden spoon or a Danish Dough Whisk, which is one of the tools that makes the job so much easier!


Stir it until all of the flour is incorporated into the dough, as you can see it will be a wet rough dough.


Put the lid on the container, but do not snap it shut. You want the gases from the yeast to escape. (I had my husband put a little hole in the top of the lids so that I could close the lids and still allow the gases to get out.
Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 2 hours to rise. When you first mix the dough it will not occupy much of the container.

But, after the initial 2 hour rise it will pretty much fill it.

The dough will be flat on the top and some of the bubbles may even appear to be popping. (If you intend to refrigerate the dough after this stage it can be placed in the refrigerator even if the dough is not perfectly flat. The yeast will continue to work even in the refrigerator.) The dough can be used right after the initial 2 hour rise, but it is much easier to handle when it is chilled.


The next day when you pull the dough out of the refrigerator you will notice that it has collapsed and this is totally normal for our dough. It will never rise up again in the container.

Dust the surface of the dough with a little flour, just enough to prevent it from sticking to your hands when you reach in to pull a piece out.

You should notice that the dough has a lot of stretch once it has rested. (If your dough breaks off instead of stretching like this your dough is probably too dry and you can just add a few tablespoons of water and let it sit again until the dough absorbs the additional water.)


Cut off a 1-pound piece of dough using kitchen shears* and form it into a ball. For instructions on how to form the ball watch one of our videos. Place the ball on a sheet of parchment paper… (or rest it on a generous layer of corn meal on top of a pizza peel.)

*I actually use a pair of Sewing Shears because I like the long blade. I just dedicated a pair to the kitchen.

Let the dough rest for at least 40 minutes, (although letting it go 60 or even 90 minutes will give you a more open hole structure in the interior of the loaf. This may also improve the look of your loaf and prevent it from splitting on the bottom. ) You will notice that the loaf does not rise much during this rest, in fact it may just spread sideways, this is normal for our dough.

preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a Baking Stone* (or a tray)on the center rack, with a broiler tray (I used a cake tin filled with water) on the bottom, which will be used to produce steam. (The tray needs to be at least 4 or 5 inches away from your stone to prevent it from cracking.)

Cut the loaf with 1/4-inch slashes using a serrated knife. (If your slashes are too shallow you will end up with an oddly shaped loaf and also prevent it from splitting on the bottom.)

Slide the loaf into the oven onto the preheated stone (the one I’m using is the cast iron) and add a cup of hot water to the broiler tray. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes or until a deep brown color. As the bread bakes you should notice a nice oven spring in the dough. This is where the dough rises. To insure that you get the best results it is crucial to have an Oven Thermometer to make sure your oven is accurate.

If you used parchment paper you will want to remove it after about 20-25 minutes to crisp up the bottom crust. Continue baking the loaf directly on the stone for the last 5-10 minutes.

Allow the loaf to cool on a rack until it is room temperature. If you cut into a loaf before it is cooled you will have a tough crust and a gummy interior. It is hard to wait, but you will be happy you did! Make sure you have a nice sharp Bread Knife that will not crush the bread as you cut. Or you can tear it apart as they do in most of Europe.


If you have any leftover bread just let it sit, uncovered on the cutting board or counter with the cut side down. If you cover a bread that has a crust it will get soggy.

Enjoy and have fun baking. Bread that is made with love and joy tastes better!

Ely's first Reversible Pop Over Pinafore

Yep. Its my fav Grain and Gusset Pattern again! I bought some material on a shopping spree the other day and wanted to make something quick and easy with it so I pulled out the pattern. I wish I had made it one size bigger though, I don't know how long it will fit for. Ill get an action shot and add it later. Next I am going to make some ruffle pants to go with it. Too cute!!

I have no idea why this pic keeps coming up sideways lol