Old Skool Simplicity

Yeh, I spelt it like Skool. Remember MSN? I'd like to say "those were the days" but...I'd be lying.

Tomorrow is my birthday and, for a couple of reasons, I am doing nothing special. Traditionally my husband goes all out on birthdays. Particularly while we were living in Northern Queensland, birthdays became quite an event. This year however, we have been fairly busy, what with the move from country back to city, the trip to India, me starting at a new school and having 3 different admin teams in as many terms, my husband studying and changing job locations about 5 times, buying a block of land and building a house, planning another 2 international holidays......we've got stuff goin on so it's low key this year.

Being a primary teacher means that every few weeks I'm subject to singing "Happy Birthday" and forced to stuff my face with whatever delicious treat a hardworking parent has sent along. Can't you tell how much I hate it!? In fact I hate it so much I have added "Master Chef" as a homework option making it practically compulsory to bring me food on a weekly basis. Obviously I have to have a piece of everything because I am "the judge". Naturally, everybody wins except my waist.  So I thought, being my birthday, something nice would be to bring in some cake to share with the kids.

Now, it is that time of year where report cards are looming. Piles of marking and assessment are beginning to clutter my desk, car, couch. It's becoming easier and easier to select chocolate and coffee over gym and fruit (okay, honestly this has always been a problem for me). I really wanted to make some kind of impressive cake but it's midweek and for all the reasons listed above (and a bunch more) I just needed to do something easier.

I remember when I was growing up mum would make cakes that were really simple but still delicious. They had simple icing and simple decorations and they just did the job. You could cook it, whack a few candles in, sing the song and cut the thing in an afternoon. That's the kind of cake I wanted.

Old Skool Chocolate Cake
1 cup self-raising flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar (or white if that's what you've got)
75 grams butter (cubed and softened)
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs

Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix for about 5 minutes until the mixture is fluffy, smooth and super creamy. Spoon the mixture into a prepared tin (I used a 20cm square but a 24 cm round would also work just as well). Place in the oven for about 30 minutes (check with a skewer and remove from the oven when the skewer comes out clean).

Allow the cake to cool and add chocolate icing and hundreds and thousands for that old skool touch.

October in the Garden

I took these photos last weekend and I already feel like everything has changed so much! It seems to change every single day.

Despite how quickly things are changing I still feel like, after undertaking all my planting early on the in the season, I just have a great big waiting game ahead of me.

Everything looks like it's just about to pop......but it still takes so long. Gardening is a true game of patience.

 I've harvested two more zucchinis and the corn is starting to form, what I believe to be, husks. My tomato plants have come back to life which is exciting.

Caterpillars are still wreaking havoc in some areas but frequent squishing sessions seem to be keeping them under control for the most part. The beetroot, lettuce and lemon-coriander are starting to take shape. My poor old chillies just are not coming to the party. I wonder if perhaps it is still too cold, but I've managed to kill about 8 seedlings now. I'll try again in a few weeks......it will give me something to do while I wait for everything else to happen.

Wholewheat Pikelets

Wholewheat Pikelets 

1 cup self-raising wholewheat flour

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 egg

pinch salt

almond milk

butter (for cooking)

Whisk the egg in a bowl then add the flour, sugar, egg and salt. Mix to combine, add almond milk until mixture is at desired consistency (thinner mixture = more crepe like or pancake like consistency). Heat butter in a frying pan, ensure pan is hot before adding dollops of mixture to pan. Usually, as pikelets cook bubbles form to indicate that it is time to flip, but it didn't seem to happen with this mixture! So carefully check after they have had a little time to cook. There are great to make on the weekend then freeze in preparation for delicious and quick week day breakfasts. 

These are totally delicious with berry compote 

3/4 cup of berries (I used raspberry, blackberry, strawberry)

5 tablespoons lemon juice

1/8 cup castor sugar 

Place the berries and lemon juice into a small saucepan over a low heat. Heat, stirring until berries have released some of their juice then add sugar and mix until dissolved. Allow to simmer until sauce has thickened slightly. This is also easy to freeze in small portions to be defrosted and tipped over the pikelets. 

Zucchini Bake

My first zucchini was ready last week. I was practically bursting to cut it off about 2 weeks ago, but I have been very patient and it was totally worth the wait.

Check out the size of this lovely thing!

Look at those beautiful colours!! Is it wrong to be so in love with zucchini?!

It was so fresh, all the moisture started to ooze out in droplets. The whole thing was sparkling. Damn my poor camera skills, this photo doesn't even begin to show how gorgeous it was.

Zucchini Parmesan Bake
1 egg
Zucchini
Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon paprika
Cheddar cheese, grated


Whisk the egg in a small bowl. Slice the zucchini in wedges and coat in the egg.

In a small bowl combine the parmesan, breadcrumbs and paprkia. Place the egg coated zucchini into an oven dish. Sprinkle over the breadcrumb mixture and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until tender. Then top with the cheddar and allow to melt in the oven for a further 5 to 10 minutes.

October in the Garden

This is my favourite time of year. The sun comes up around 5:30am, my dogs see it and immediately want to be outside. They wake me up and we all head down stairs. It is cool, slightly damp, lightly lit, quiet. Perfect.

Lots of things are happening in my garden at the moment.  We've put in another little passionfruit. Maybe in like 3 years I'll have something to show for this. Note the bricks are a perfect doggy deterrent. 

My zucchini is coming along nicely. I used up one to make an awesome parmesan zucchini bake. There are 3 more that will be ready soon.

The beans are going crazy. They have an awesome nutty flavour and just keep producing. The carrots have been thinned out and I can't wait to pull them out and see what they've been up to!

The corn is coming along steadily. It is starting to develop husks which is super exciting.

The chilli is still going slowly......like really slowly.

White Chocolate & Macadamia Brownies with Warm Caramel Sauce

Woooaahhhh.  I need some serious stretchy pants. Two weeks of holidays has seen me drink many coffees, eat copious slices of banana bread and stuff anything remotely delicious into my mouth at a rapid pace.

This holiday has been great. Time in the garden. Time at the gym (shocking!). Time in front of the television. Time with friends. Lots of time eating, however, not much time spent in the kitchen.

For the final weekend of the break I figured I should make something epic. These have been in the pipeline for some time and I am so happy they happened in my kitchen tonight. Think chewy, chocolatey goodness.

White Chocolate & Macadamia Brownies
2 x 3/4 cups white chocolate bits
70 grams butter
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup macadamia nuts chopped

Melt one lot of the the white chocolate and the butter in a small bowl over a saucepan of boiling water until smooth.

In a large bowl mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the white chocolate and butter mixture to the egg mixture and beat until well combined then add the flour, baking powder, salt, nuts and extra white chocolate. Mix until just combined. Cook in a 180 degree oven for approx 23 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.

Warm Caramel Sauce
125ml thickened cream
95 grams brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
10 grams butter

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to the boil then let simmer for around 10 minutes until thickened. Caramel will continue to thicken while cooling.

Serve warm brownies drizzled in caramel sauce with ice cream.

Diet starts...................Tuesday.

October in the Garden: Zucchini

Perhaps everyone in my neighbourhood woke this morning to the screams of "IT'S OPEN! IT'S OPEN!" I was, of course, referring to the gigantic flower of my zucchini plant. This thing has just been growing and growing. Every morning for the past week I have been going down stairs, bringing as many family members along with me as possible, saying "I wonder how big it is now!?" Seriously, this picture does not do it justice, the bud was HUGE.

Finally, this morning it has popped open...aaaand I'm losing my mind.  I just can't contain my excitement when things actually grow in my garden. My little Zucchini is about 8cm long and there are three more on the way.