We Haz Goatz!

Well, we took delivery of two goats - both boys - last Saturday.
They are settling in nicely and slowly but surely getting used to us and all the other critters.
We have a 2 year old black/brown named Lucifer - yeah, it suits him!
Plus, a 6 month old white named Crowley. Ok, way too much Supernatural for us! LOL!
Here's the handsome lads:

Chickens.....

Finally!
Back to my blog after a long break and the upheaval of moving house one more time - that's 5 moves in 3 years. I don't want to see another moving box for a VERY, VERY long time!
Unfortunately, it was all a necessary evil due to the circumstances, but lessons learned, and onward and upward to bigger and better things.
Like chickens!
Now that we're on acreage - nearly 900 acres to be exact - we have free ranging chickens! I do love my chookies, they are such characters!
We have Roscoe P. Chicken, the Silkie Rooster - he's a rescue from the soup pot, now living the high life on the farm. Then there's Wesker the other Bantam Rooster and his two 'wives' Alice and Margaret (two little Pekin hens) and the 'kids'. Each little hen has 4 chicks at the moment, about 2 weeks apart in age, so the older batch is at the 'ratty' stage and starting to get feathers. They're all very cute and are great at doing bug patrol in the lawn and gardens.

Roscoe P. Chicken

Wesker and Family

What fun these guys have been to watch over the last few weeks! Now we're just hoping for more hens than roosters in the batch of chicks! :-)

Cobbler for a Crowd

Well, I love a good bargain, and food is no exception!
I picked up two daggy looking packages of nectarines on the clearance stand at the local fruit market for $2.50. Out of those I got a 2 liter bowl full of sliced fruit - not bad!
Now what to do with the fruit.....
Cobbler! A BIG Cobbler!

Oven to 180c
In a 9" x 13" x 2" cake/roasting pan place 250g or 2 sticks of butter - put in the oven to melt
Meanwhile...
Get a large mixing bowl and mix together the following:
2c sugar
2c plain flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1-1/2c milk
Remove your pan with the melted butter from the oven, let cool for a minute or two, then pour your batter over the top of the butter - DO NOT STIR!
Scatter the sliced fruit over the top of the batter evenly
Take 1 cup of Brown Sugar - sprinkle over the fruit
Bake for at least an hour, or until a knife comes out clean and the batter has cooked and turned a lovely golden colour.
Now, my cobbler took closer to an hour and a half to completely cook as my pan was FULL, so it was quite thick. I just kept checking it once I'd passed the hour mark.
Serve hot with ice cream or custard.
Enjoy!
We did! It was yummy!

Crumpets! And more Crumpets!

Well, in an effort to remove another processed item from our meals - I decided to try making my own crumpets.
They turned out pretty darn good! The resident crumpet addict, otherwise known as the husband, said they were a great improvement on the rubbery store bought ones!
Needless to say, I'll be making more of these on a regular basis.

The recipe.....
150ml milk
150ml water
200g plain flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
Warm the milk and water to 'finger warm' - too warm and you'll kill the yeast - so make sure you can comfortably put your finger into the pan.
Combine the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, make a well in the center and pour in the milk/water mixture. Stir until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Cover and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.

When the mixture is ready, heat butter, or oil, or a combination of the two (my personal favourite) in a flat bottomed fry pan. Grease egg rings - making sure the rings are well covered, you don't want your crumpets to stick! Place the egg rings in your pan, and spoon in the mixture - filling your egg rings about 3/4 full.
Cook on medium heat until the tops no longer look 'wet' and bubbles are forming.
Carefully remove the egg rings and flip the crumpets over to cook the top.
How many you will get out of this recipe will depend on how big your egg rings are - I got 6 really good sized crumpets.

The results.....

Hubby's favourite - butter and creamed honey!
Enjoy!

Afternoon Tea

Quick and easy basic muffin recipe....

1 cup Self-Raising Flour, sifted
1 cup thickened cream
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Makes 6 normal, or 12 mini muffins. Bake at 180c until golden brown.

The results.....

What we did with the prawns.....

From this.....

To these.....

Pineapple Prawns

2 Tbsp oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 large stalks of celery, chopped finely
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped finely
1 cup catsup
1 cup crushed pineapple
1-1 1/2kg or 2-3 lb cooked prawns (shrimp), peeled

Heat oil in large pan, add onion and cook until tender, being careful not to burn the oil. Add the salt and pepper, celery, bell pepper, catsup, and pineapple, stir well. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the shrimp, mix well, and heat through, remembering that the shrimp are already cooked.
Serve with rice or pasta.

Garlic Prawns

4 cloves of garlic (at least)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp coarsely crushed black peppercorns
2 tsp lemon juice
Olive oil
Chopped parsley
1/2 cup cream
500g or 1 lb prawns (shrimp), shelled

Crush garlic with salt; add crushed peppercorns and lemon juice. Mix well. Place prawns in saucepan, add garlic mixture and enough olive oil to just cover and cook quickly until the prawns just change colour. Stir in cream.
Serve garnished with chopped parsley.


Honestly, my husband is just the best cook!

Homemade Olive Oil Spread

One small thing in the quest to cut food costs:

Homemade Olive Oil Spread
500g block of butter
Equal amount of Olive Oil

Allow the butter to come to room temperature. Place in a mixing bowl and add your olive oil.
Mix together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
Pour into container.
Store in the fridge.

On My Mind.....

Utilising the local bounty.....

Last night's catch, thanks to my husband!

Looks like it's definitely 'fish on Friday'!

In our effort to simplify our lifestyle and rein in our finances, we will be taking advantage of the benefits of living on the coast with readily available fishing. Seafood is one of our favourite foods, however, it's expensive to buy. My husband is a keen fisherman and is doing a great job of keeping our freezer full of the various types of fish (and prawns) from our local area. It makes a huge difference to our food budget!

Even our pets benefit as the dogs get a regular supply of fish frames and heads - sounds awful, but they love it, and it's a nutritious addition to their diets.