Q: Can you still eat a cupcake if a skink has run across it?

Or perhaps it ought to be should you still eat the cupcake...

The girls did a bit of make-up-our-own-recipe-as-we-go-along. Imogen’s version turned into ‘crumble slice’ [messy but yummy] and Alannah produced vanilla cupcakes.

A small member of the lizard family visited our warm kitchen on that rainy afternoon as they were cooling on the bench and I guess he thought a nice warm cupcake made a tolerable alternative to a sunwarmed pebble...

And so back to the original question - we did anyway and they were delicious!

p.s. That’s Ed’s hand in the back ground behind Alannah’s head threatening the classic dingo-family-patented ‘smell-the-cream-and-I’ll-push-your-head-into-it’ move... he didn't though - good daddy!

red bridge cafe

We stopped off in Campbell Town yesterday on the way home from an overnighter to Coles Bay. LOVE this place! We'll defintely be back. And it's only half an hour from our house.

easy peasy cheesy scones

THE easiest and quickest recipe ever! It only takes 5 minutes to prepare

1½ cups self raising flour – we use wholemeal
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)
½ tsp paprika (optional)
400ml cream

Preheat oven to 220°c. Mix together dry ingredients, add enough cream and mix to form a very soft dough [you might not need all of it] place spoonfuls of mixture on trays and bake for 10 minutes or till lightly browned. Eat hot from the oven – YUM! [makes 24]

One of THOSE days...

Yesterday was one of THOSE days! You know the ones, when things happen.

Getting up at 7:15 instead of 7 on the dot; rushing about the house clothing children, assembling breakfasts, filling lunchboxes, searching for school books, packing bags, showering, chasing kittens, layering family members against the frozen outdoors, using a loud, impatient voice* at children, scooping in mouthfuls of muesli between all of the above; having the small attached semi-permanently to leg while helping middle kid express her creativity at playgroup; strapping in and unloading of children countless times while running errands; providing a continuous supply of mobile nourishment to ravenous kid; arriving home after 1 in the afternoon to the impenetrable fog; frantic relocation from carseat to cot of exhausted, irritable kid; opening the back of the car only to see my box of beautiful hilbarn vegies tumble onto the gravel and roll down the hill.

Then the sun came out [albeit for only an hour and ¼], my darling came home early and brought me a bunch of gorgeous flowers – just because.

At least THOSE days don't last forever...

 * aka yelling – bad mummy :(

An Apple and Blueberry Pie cooling on the window sill

This is just for you Sarah-Jane xx

I just love that we grew oh ok, picked our own apples for these pies. And the blueberries we picked from a local producer in the summer.

Here's my recipe:

Apple and Blueberry Pie (makes 2) - because you might as well go all out while you're at it!

Shortbread crust:

3 cups plain flour

1 cup white sugar

250g soft butter

1 big egg or 2 little ones

about 1 dozen apples - mixture of sweet and tart

4 big handfuls of blueberries

2 sheets ready-made shortcrust pastry

Plonk all the crust ingredients into a bowl and get your hands in! Squish and squeeze till the mixture comes together into a ball. Divide the dough between 2 pie/tart/cake tins and press onto base and sides of tin. Set aside.

Slice up enough apples fill tins - maybe a dozen? [depends on the size of your apples] I usually use a few different varieties - sweet and tart ones. I don't even bother peeling them - more fibre, interesting texture and usually I just can't be bothered peeling a stack of apples - though in saying that I should just get out the twirly apple peeler - I think I'll do that next time.

Divide half the apples between the 2 tins, scatter over a good handful of blueberries, repeat with the remaining apples and blueberries.

Cut shortcrust pastry into strips, and lay over the filling in a lattice pattern - you can do tricky pastry weaving for the top if you want to be fancy.

Bake 180oc for 30-40 minutes or till pastry is golden brown and apples are soft.

Mmmm... delicious! It would be even better with a good dollop of whipped cream - though not so good for the thighs...

look at what landed on my lap on sunday morning...

delicious blueberry pancakes

heart shaped shortbreads

lots of lovely handmade pressies and cards from my darlings

alannah and imogen both wanted to "do stitching" for mother's day crafting - the results: a bag and embroidered rabbit picture from alannah and a pink and purple stitches embroidery from imogen [who at 3 can already thread her own needle!]

what darling girls they are x

hope you all had a lovely mother's day too xx

yes i know i haven't blogged for ages and you all are hanging out to know what's been going on...

being helpful...

being unhelpful...

renovating...

checking out reno progress...

playing with new toys...

getting towed around...

mowing the front lawn...

picking apples...

planting mama some woods...

watering baby trees...

going for big kaboomies onto sweet faces...

firing up the oven in the bakehouse...

baking our first batch of bread...

admiring our first rustic loaves...

piano playing...

hanging out in the schoolhouse...

eating freshly picked apples in your undies...

making fairy gardens...

making more fairy gardens...

mooing at the cows...

looking out the front door...

growing huge pumpkins*...

eating brekkie in bed...

more piano playing...

admiring our gorgeous new view...

*note: our pumpkin is actually the little yellow one in the background.

the huge one was grown by my uncle chris and was the winner of our pumpkin growing contest.

check out more pumpkin news on our other blog pimp your pumpkin

Yummy Vegemite (or Bacon) Scrolls

Yesterday the girls made scrolls for lunch. Alannah and Imogen had a bowl each to make their own batch. Imogen decided on Vegemite scrolls but Alannah was adamant about bacon in hers.

It's basically a scone dough rolled out flat, smeared with vegemite [or sprinkled with chopped cooked bacon], loads of cheese dumped on top, rolled, sliced and plonked in the oven.

Here's my recipe [I did a batch each for the girls]

Vegemite Scrolls (makes about 12)

~ 1 1/2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
~ 2 tbsp butter
~ 3/4 cup milk
~ vegemite
~ grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 200`c. Rub butter into flour with fingertips till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Gently mix milk into flour mixture with a butter knife till the mixture comes together in a ball. Turn out onto floured surface and roll out into a rough rectangle about half inch thick. Spread vegemite all over - thickness of this layer is personal preference. Sprinkle with cheese - also personal preference - the more the better. Roll up starting on long side. Cut into slices about an inch thick. Lay sliced side up on tray. Bake 10 - 15 minutes. Eat as soon as possible - YUM!     *variation* substitute vegemite for a couple of bacon rashers sliced and browned

I'm a bit 'whatever' when it comes to accurate measurements so Alannah's dough was a little bit too moist. Fixed it with tonnes of flour on the bench to soak into the wetness. Actually didn't really help much except to make concrete-like residue to scrape off bench!*

Also was a bit tricky to roll up nicely and squished around as we were trying to slice it up. Immy's batch was heaps better - a bit less milk in hers.

Finn decided that half way through scroll making session was the perfect time to wake from his morning nap. Consequently scrolls were hurried into the oven amidst loud protests from down the hall and promptly forgotten about. They turned out a tad dry [similar texture to eating a mouthful of beach]. No complaints from the taste testers!

* best way I've found to clean scone dough off the bench =
scrape off as much as you can with a wooden or plastic spatula [so you don't scratch your bench] then using COLD water only [warm or hot will turn it into glue] wipe with with paper towel - you may need to repeat this a couple of times depending on how much you scraped off previously - lots of water helps and a bit of dishwashing liquid too if you have some super-stuck-on bits. DO NOT use your sponge / wiping cloth for this job unless you want permanent gluey gobs stuck in it. Yes, that means you my Mr!