Forage

Gifted by one of Zan's clients

One of the nicest and most unexpected things about living in the countryside, is the abundance of locally harvested food that we are so frequently gifted.  Whether it's fresh eggs, fruit, seafood, a leg of goat (yes!), or a gigantic basket of home-grown vegetables, we are utterly spoilt by our amazing friends and neighbours.

 A jar of  honey from a dear friend's hives

So I might not have a green thumb (this has been proven quite definitively), but I was certain there was a way for me to join the food swapping spirit of our local community, and my clever sister found the solution for me.  It just happens that there are one or two huge Stone Pines decorating our driveway, and today I had my first successful attempt at harvesting pine nuts.

Turns out it's actually quite easy, despite all the horror stories you read on the interwebs.  Easy.  But time-consuming.  After about half an hour I'd already decided that maybe pesto rather than pine nuts would be my thing.  After an hour, and this many pine nuts, it was confirmed.  Pesto.

I did learn a thing or two in the process, and have figured out how to be quicker next time.  For starters, I didn't cotton on until somewhere towards the end that Eleanor was amping to help, and actually was, so helpful.  Plus, bonding.

Following our harvest, we collected a bunch of nuts to shell next time, and Eleanor very graciously thanked me for helping her.  I guess this is her thing now.

Christmas Dinner

Scenes from another Christmas Party...

Only a few days left until Christmas!  Eeee!  How're you guys getting on?  Finished shopping?  Wrapping?  Making?

Gold Spotted Bottle from Pop Roc Parties (back in stock), Wreath from Pop Roc Parties (sadly no longer available), vintage serving dishes and wine glasses - opshopped from around New Zealand.

Thanksgiving, paper crafts & plans for some sweet Summer salads...

Don't worry about my dirty windows.  They're fine.

On a recent Group Friend Date to see Catching Fire, we managed to convince some friends (who just happen to be American) to host a Thanksgiving dinner for all of us.  It was so lovely celebrating a new (to us) holiday with some of our favourite peops, and the food was *amaze* (singing).  Including some garlic cauliflower mash, that might be my new favourite dish everrrr.

It was a super relaxed affair, lots of eating and talking - yanno.  But we did also fit in some Thanksgiving crafting ^top of post.  Ya.  We are that cool!  

Anyway, with Christmas approaching, and the possibility of MUCH more delicious eating ahead, I'm thinking that Jeremy Dixon's Revive Cafe Cookbook might be my go-to this summer.  The book couldn't have arrived at a more timely moment, as I simultaneously attempt to eat well, and come up with fun recipes to take along to Pot Luck dinners (tis the season).  I kinda wish I'd had a good look through here before we made Loaded Mac and Cheese for Thanksgiving (sooo not healthy eating!), but there's always Christmas!  Salads are in, y'all!

We will shortly host the same little group for a Christmas dinner at our house, and so stayed tuned for some pics of delicious Revive salads... 

Pick up a copy of this cookbook here, find out more about Revive (including where to visit them) here.

A review copy of this book was sent to me, but all opinions expressed remain my own x

Christmas Advent Ideas: Day 24 - Festive Ice-blocks

We've reached the end of this advent!  Must be nearly Christmas *gasp*.  We have an obsession with homemade ice-blocks in this household.  Recently I tried a couple of new recipes - and - yum.  Perfect for a sunny-side Christmas :-)

a)  Hot Chocolate Popsicle.  We made up a mixture of our favourite hot chocolate drink and froze it.  Very simple, and very yum.  The chocolate sank to the tip, which was an unexpected, delightful side effect.  Ours were mainly sugar-free, other than the sugar in the hot chocolate mix, and it still tasted good.

b)  Christmas Tree Popsicle.  We just made a banana-yoghurt-honey smoothie and added some green food colouring.  When it was all mixed up, we added some red berries and froze it.  Also yum.  We have a new batch in the fridge.  Woop!

Christmas Advent Ideas: Day 22 - Reindeer Snacks

R is for Reindeer snacks...

I love cutting fruit & vegies into shapes, definitely makes them more fun to eat!  We thought the reindeer might like some fun snacks too, they are so often overlooked - while Santa gets it all laid out...

Christmas Advent Ideas: Day 20 - Snowmen Sandwiches

Snowmen, snowglobes and snowflakes are the motifs of our Christmas this year.  A friend gave me the idea for this, and I have since seen them elsewhere on the net... Oh well, these are the ones I made...

I used soft, dark rye bread (signature Range) and spread it with cream cheese.  Little pieces of carrot (I cut them differently for the actual party, so they didn't look quite so much like beaks), raisins and little twigs.  I considered whether I felt like 'painting' hats on them with melted chocolate, but the baby at my feet decided me against.  Instead I cut strawberries in half, gave them icing 'pompoms', and plonked little santa hats the snowgents.  Lastly, some candy 'canes'.  Done.  Soooooo easy, so sweet.  Eleanor loved hers, even if the other kids were fairly ambivalent.

On the same friend's suggestion, I made these little Christmas puddings.  I loved these, and might make them again for Christmas.  On the morning of the party I woke up to an eery silence downstairs.  Eleanor is usually banging around down there for 1/4 hour before Zan gets up, and things were suspiciously quiet.  I found her with the remnants of one Christmas pudding, and a delighted/guilty expression on her face.  Hmm.

Christmas Advent Ideas: Day 18 - Mini Chocolate Wreaths

Um, okay bear with me.  You know those cute cookies-used-as-bottle-toppers-that-straws-fit-through?  I have no idea what to call them.  They're all over Pinterest (and I used them here).  I love the look, and I was anxious to recreate something like this for a recent little gathering, but with a Christmassy theme instead.  I was sent these stunning Birch Straws c/o Pop Roc Parties, and a Christmas Wreath seemed like the perfect substitute for the flower cookies.  I could've just made cookies for these too, I suppose, but this seemed more fun.

So they don't look exactly like wreaths, but I thought they looked quite sweet still.  I made Chocolate Crackle using this recipe, pressing them into cupcake wrappers and making holes in centers before they set.  I also added some extra cocoa to cover over the rice bubbles better.  Then sprinkled with green hundreds and thousands, and some little sweets.  And I still have heeeeeaps of Crackle left in my fridge, which I am trying very hard to resist eating.

I will show you more scenes from this little party in another advent post... soon...

Christmas Advent Ideas: Day 12 - Snow Globe Cookies

Even though I had fun decorating these cookies, they definitely didn't turn out how I hoped they would ;-)  It was one of those Expectation vs. Reality moments, fo' sho'.  

Alice made the cookie cutter, and the gingerbread.  I simply cut the shapes and decorated, much like your own child might.  

And they were super yum.  Don't mind that one that I smudged.  It still tasted GOOD!

So today, all things going well, I will be setting up a little stall at the Christmas Carnival.  Cross your fingers that we make lots of sales!  I am a little sad to say that these past few weeks have been hard on my little family, and while I started this Advent project with all the best intentions, I may take some time out soon - once I have a few important jobs out of the way - which may mean I don't reach the end of this.  I have a few more completed projects to share, and you never know - I may find the energy to continue... I'll let you know.  x

B is for Baking

So, before I get going with this post - I just wanted to let you know (in case those one or two of you expecting certain posts were wondering), I've decided to show all my advent gifts (read more here) and elf shenanigans in one post at the end of each week.  It was just getting a little too busy round here, especially since I signed up for this fun creative challenge, via Pip Lincolne and JustB... 

Today's letter is B, and having recently spent an afternoon baking and decorating cookies, it was super obvious what I'd be posting about.

Alice had some pre-made dough in her fridge, so on a recent playdate we were able to get straight into some rolling out and cookie cutting.  We are actually having a sugar-free month in our household, but none of us could resist trying these gingerbread cookies once they were cooked and decorated.  So good!

The kids weren't the only ones decorating cookies, I made some too.  Show you soon x

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