Playing with food..............

Hey there! Not much to report from this end today. I'm just having a catch up day at home....which has inevitably somehow turned into a baking day at home................

                                                                                   

We have cupcakes and ginger biscuits cooling on their racks.........

                                                                                 

And the kitchen is smelling mighty fine........................

                                                                                   

If a tad messy......................

                                                                                     

 

Self-indulgent pics over.......let the clean up begin.................

                                                                                 

 

I hope you're enjoying a lovely Tuesday wherever you are and whatever you are doing.............

Be seeing you soon.............



                                                     Janelle  xx                                                                      

Savoury Muffins

Hello there!! Did we all survive the weekend?? We managed kids' activities, outside play, gardening, a good clean up and, of course, baking!!!!..................

                                                                                     

                                                                                   

I was going to share this recipe with you guys last week but got a little side-tracked as usual so I figured what better way to start off a fresh new week than with a simple, easy, no fuss recipe......

Enter...................

                                                                                       

                                                     

The humble muffin. A humble savoury muffin to be exact. This is a really really basic savoury muffin recipe and I do recommend, indeed insist, that you experiment and throw in any ingredients you think may work, be eaten by your children or have lying lost and neglected in the bottom of your fridge. I know I will certainly be testing a few different ways to add to this recipe and will make sure I bore the pants off you  share any successes with you.....

Right then....on with business...............

                                                                                 

                                                              Savoury Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups self raising flour (I sift, probably not essential though)

1/2 - 3/4 cup grated cheddar (or whatever is sitting in your fridge) cheese (I honestly don't measure....I reckon a large-ish handful!?!)

1/2 cup (again...large handful??) chopped, diced, ripped-as-you-go ham

150gm butter, melted (try and do this first to allow it time to cool off a tad)

1 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

salt and pepper

Italian dry herbs (or whatever tickles your fancy), a few good shakes

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees

In a large-ish (that really should be a "proper" word yes?!) bowl sift your flour and add the cheese, ham, herbs and salt/pepper

Now in a jug stir together the milk, egg and butter

Add the milk etc to the dry ingredients and give a quick stir until everything is nicely combined.

Scoop your mixture into a greased and lined muffin tin. This batch will make 12 decent sized muffins.

Bake for approx 20 minutes

Eat and enjoy!!!

                                                                                   

                                                           

We have been finding these perfect for school lunches, after school snacks, any time of the day snacks and I think with enough ingredients added these could make a really easy light dinner............

                                                                                 

Or breakfast.......or lunch...............and they freeze really well too................

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

So there we have it.......delicious, healthy and super easy food.....just the way I like to keep things around here!!

                                                                                 
                                                                                   

 

Have a great week......

And Happy Baking!!.....................



                                         Janelle  xx                                                                                                                                                            

A spot of gardening......of sorts............

Hello to you on this fine FRIDAY!!!!!

                                                                                   

                                                                                 

Today I was all set to share a weekend recipe with you but after a trip to town, which resulted in a few purchases of the plant variety, I am now in major gardening mode.............

                                                                                 

And I have learnt over the past few years that when the gardening bug (not literal....one would hope...) strikes I need to pretty much drop everything else and run with it as I never know how long it may last or when it may strike again. Just call me a sporadic gardener?!?....................

                                                                                 

Mr WF is more the gardener around here. Though I am quite good at guiding and directing instructions.........

                                                                                 

An escapee..................

                                                                               

Ok.....I'm off to dig...or pot....or some such thing....

And hopefully be back soon with that recipe......

                                                                                   

                                                                                   

                                                                                   

Have a fab weekend.....................


                                           Janelle  xx


                                                                                                                                         

W.I.P's

Well hello there!
 Somewhere along the way we seem to have hit a Thursday.....not quite sure how that happened.....

                                                                                   

Wanna see a few of my W.I.P's?? Between the kids and me there is always something half-made, half-finished, half-started laying about this place. We choose to call it 'creativeness'........

So, first up, I have a small old wall cabinet I picked up from a junk shop a few years ago and am fiiiiiiinally getting around to sprucing up. Here it is with it's undercoat on.....I have a yummy pretty pale-ish mint green for the top coat....which I will hopefully get on in the next few days.......

                                                                                 

We have just painted our ensuite, white....of course, and I am hoping think the mint will add a lovely little pop of colour in there. That's the plan anyway...........

Next up.....knitting.
There is always some sort of half knitted object/garment lying about....at the moment I have bunting on the brain.......obviously.............

                                                                                 

                         


Ok....over to the bedroom.....
We re-painted our bed a few weeks back, from black to white, and I am now in a whole over-haul frenzy. I am in the process of selecting new bedlinen, changing up the bedside tables and have purchased new lamps. I am also on the hunt for a couple of pieces of furniture, would prefer pre-loved, to finish off the room. And maybe a floor rug. And a few pics on the wall. It is n.e.v.e.r.e.n.d.i.n.g..............

                                                                                       

Ooooohhh!!!!.....yep, definitely a work-in-progress!!!...............

                                                                                     

How about you?? Are you the once-you-start-something-you-see-it-right-to-the-end type or more the I-have-so-many-ideas-my-brain-and-hands-cannot-keep-up sort??
I know which category I fall into.............

                                                                                 

I'm off for a snack............

Have a fun and creative Thursday guys!!!!

See you soon................



                                                         Janelle  xx                                                                                                            

Cauliflower Soup................

Well hello Tuesday!!

Today I thought I'd share with you what we ate for dinner last night..... because I'm sure that will be of the utmost interest to most people??!?

                                                                                   

                                                                                       

Actually I thought I would pop this so-called 'recipe' on here as it is super quick, super tasty and can be made earlier in the day and be sitting waiting for you and your staaaarrrrving family to eat at the end of the day.

Here on the White Farm it usually gets called Carbonara Soup (so named to steer the kids' attention away from the cauliflower factor over to the bacon/creaminess factor?!)) however I thought we would stick with the more honest name of Cauliflower Soup.

                       
                                                                                 

Has anybody else been coming across quite a number of cauliflower recipes lately? Or am I as usual just late to the party? It seems one can do an infinite amount of things with the humble cauliflower these days....pizza base......cauli mash......to name two a few.........

                                                                                 

So anyway...back to the soup 'recipe', that isn't so much a 'recipe' as a let-me-tell-you-what-I-threw-in-the-pot type thing....here we go..........

                                                                                 

                                                                 Cauliflower Soup

1 onion, chopped
bacon rashers (maybe 4? 5? 6???) cut into smallish pieces
1 potatoe, roughly chopped
1 whole cauliflower, chopped into pieces
1 teaspn minced garlic OR 1-2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
2 cups chicken stock (or veg)
Salt/pepper
Cheese to serve
And chives if you like them and have them hanging about.....

In a large pot pour a splash of olive oil and throw in the bacon and onion and cook for a few minutes.

Add the potatoe, cauliflower and garlic. I give it a stir now to make sure the garlic coats everything.

Pour over the stock. You may need to add a little extra water, we're aiming for the water to be about 3/4s of the way up the vegies.

Bring it all to a low boil then pop a lid on (I leave it slightly tilted) and let it simmer away until the cauliflower and potatoe are nice and soft.

I usually then turn off the heat, take off the lid and let it all cool down slightly.

Grab your trusty bamix (or whatever is usually used in you house to blitz things) and work it all to a puree.

If you are eating this straight away throw in a handful or so of grated cheese. (I will often use cheddar for the kids but by all means use parmesan ) and stir thru. If you are re-heating it later in the day I'd probably wait until then to add your cheese.

A sprinkle of chopped chives would be a lovely added garnish too. (note to self - buy a punnet of chives for the vegie patch)

                                                                                   

So there you have it....another slap-dash throw-in-what-you-like family recipe-that's-not-really-a-recipe from the farm. I hope you try and enjoy!!!

                                                                                 

I'm off to check on my 5 year old sickie who is home from school today....and hasn't stopped playing or eating all day....hhmmmmmmm......

                                                                                 

Have a great day!!.................


                                                       Janelle  xx





                                                             

Monday Musings...............

Hello there!!

....today it is all things light, bright and sunny around these parts.............

                                                                                     

Spring has definitely arrived here....and the essentials are being dusted off and ready to be put to work.............

                                                                                 

I even found myself walking to the clothesline in thongs earlier....of the FEET variety I will add......I may have stood smack in the middle of an in-full-swing ant party and had ants dancing all over my feet but.....my feet were warm from the sunshine so all is fine....if a little on the stinging/itchy side.............

                                                                               

So.....wishing you and yours a very happy sunny week ahead............

                                                                                 

Be seeing you again soon.................


                                               Janelle  xx                                                                                

Cake....always cake...........

Happy Father's Day......I think that definitely deserves cake yes???

                                                                                     

Enjoy!!!

                            Janelle  xx