inner pickle

Giving up sugar. No, really.

 

Hello, my name is Fiona and I have a bit of a sugar problem.

It's no so big or obvious. I'm not enormous, or even that unhealthy. But I do eat sugar every day, and I crave it. 

I've kidded myself for a long time that because most of the sugar I consume is in from-scratch food, homemade icecream, bikkies, slices - that it's not unhealthy. 

I don't drink soft drink, or even fruit juice, I don't eat sweets or any processed sweet food. 

I've got a positive and, I think, healthy body image.

But all this is smoke and mirrors. 

I eat too much sugar. And if I don't stop, I'll be heavier in three months time than I am now. 

And so I'm stopping.

Cold turkey. From tomorrow. For two weeks: ZERO sugar.

We'll still do Slice of Wednesday but we might mix it up and make it savoury? 

I was going to post the recipe for this fabulous cookies and cream icecream tonight. But how about we keep that one up our sleeve and make it again in a months time, as a special treat, when my sister arrives on a visit from Hong Kong? 

Maybe this is disappointing because you tune in here for the lucious sweet things.

Or maybe you'll be interested in following along with the sugar-free revolution in this house?

I've heard that after you crack through the first week that you can find yourself feeling wonderful, and you won't know yourself without the sugar cravings. Hope that's true. 

If you have any tips I'd love to hear them. I'm not known for my excellent self discipline and I'm going to be very honest here, you can hold me accountable!

In your eye, apple pie. 

xxx

Make your own UNBELIEVABLE icecream

HA!

Did you think it was safe to drop by here on a Tuesday?!

It's not a slice of Wednesday day. It's not even Friday night dessert night! It'll be OK. She might just post a photo of a goose. 

 

HUZZAH!!!

Now let's talk for just a minute. We are all about healthy eating over here. Truly. Truly rooly. 

It's all homemade organic meusli and healthy light sandwiches and lean protein salads. Mostly.

'Cept on Wednesdays, but I have explained I give the slices away. And you could too, I'm not intending to torture you here. 

But after the week I've had (did you really say it's only Tuesday?) WHAT is a girl to do except have half a minute after dinner, after bathtime storytime teethtime bedtime, to sit and enjoy a small scoop of something awesome. 

You can buy icecream. Yeah I know. But THIS STUFF ROCKS.

I am deeply COMPELLED to blog it because it is so totally fabulous. If you'll please excuse all the capitals. 

It's not my recipe. It came from the lovely wife of this lovely dude. She gave it to me from memory as she stood in my kitchen and Adam and I ate spoonfuls of the vanilla version that she'd brought for us. 

I've reduced the sugar a tad after I made it the first time and I reckon this is my perfect icecream. 

Please make it. It makes the world a better place.

 

Chocolate Icecream to change the world

INGREDIENTS

½ cup hard packed brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

1 cup cocoa (the unsweetened kind)

1½ cups milk

600ml cream

METHOD

The easiest and best way to make this is to whizz it all up well in a blender. Wait till it's thick and creamy then put in fridge for at least 20 minutes.

I've found that if you thoroughly chill your icecream mix before you process it, it's lighter and fluffier and processes up easier. 

Once chilled, put into an icecream maker if you have one, and churn for at least half an hour. If you don't have one I reckon put one on your Christmas list if you can. Or just partially freeze in a container, then scrape into a big bowl and whizz with a hand blender. Put back into freezer to fully freeze.

Note 1: I have triple checked this recipe.

Note 2: I can't vouch for non-icecream-maker icecream texture I'm afraid.

Note 3: When you are lying on your deathbed in many years time, you will not remember the virtuous sultana muffin you gave yourself as a treat today. Or the righteous omission of treats altogether. THIS, though, this you will remember. 

Note 4: You're very welcome.

xxx

Friday night dessert night

I know it might seem that there is just endless sweets and treats around these parts, but it's not entirely the case. The slices are always, always given away. Caramel appears once in a blue moon. (OK, maybe twice in a blue moon if they occur in fifteen out of twenty years.)

But Friday night? Friday night is dessert night. The only dessert night, and much heralded. If you're in the area on a Friday, Henry and Tilly will suggest that you stay. Dessert is exciting. Orders are taken, requests are usually granted. There is long-winded discussion and planning. 

Henry has been asking for a blackberry pie for weeks. Friday night dessert night has consisted of a scoop of homemade icecream for the last few weeks, and as I wanted to make pastry anyway.... well here it is. 

 

I wish I could say they were seasonal, local handpicked blackberries. 

They're not. It's damn hard to find a blackberry around here that hasn't been sprayed to death by frustrated farmers. In fact I think it might even be illegal to grow blackberries here. They are thought of a bit like lantana. Voracious and hard to dig out. Maybe that's what I love about them. They're just like some of my favourite people. 

No, for blackberry pie I have to resort to frozen berries. And they're OK for this. 

 

 

Right. PASTRY!!!

If you've never bothered making pastry before and tend to peel it apart in frozen sheets, you HAVE to try this. It is quicker than defrosting bought pastry, I promise!!! And completely fail safe. 

MY RECIPE FOR SHORTCRUST PASTRY

125g cold butter

300g plain flour

2 tbsp pure icing sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp cold water

Method:

Blend all the above ingredients in a food processor (I know it's a gadget but it's the most used bit of kit in my kitchen) until they come together in a claggy fashion like this:

Pull it out and give it a little knead and it's ready to use. 

I split it about 60% and 40% and use the bigger ball for the base. Roll it out on a floured board and chuck it into a greased pie dish.

 

 

Put your berries in, sprinkle with a little sugar.

Roll out the pie lid and plonk it on. 

Crimp edges. 

*Put pie in fridge for an hour or two while you run errands.

This bit, above, is not necessary, you can bake it immediately. I tend to make pies earlier in the day (not at 5pm!) and I like to bake them and pull them out to eat hot. 

I like cooking cold pastry. It gives it a better 'short' texture. If you sit this pie on a bench for a few hours the pastry will go very soft and won't have a lovely crisp snap when you cut it. 

 

Bake pie on 180°C for half an hour or until golden. I think it's ready when a little bubble of burning fruit liquid seeps out of the pie lid. 

Oh, blackberry pie. 

We use to 'blackberry' (the verb! You don't strawberry, really, do you? You certainly don't watermelon) as a kid before the brambles were all sprayed. Mrs Buckman used to make blackberry pie for us. My Grandma did too. It's old school. Tart and zingy and perfect served with this custard. 

Thanks, Henry Bean. Excellent idea. 

xxx

 

how to not buy a lemon

Even though one of Buena Vista Farm's biscuits is a lemon and orange shortbread, and I've made hundreds of them in the past month, I'm yet to buy a lemon. 

Thanks to this tree.

Unfortunately it's not actually my tree. 

Which means this involves quite a bit of thievery. 

LOTS of lemons, see?

 

The tree is actually on Buena Vista Farm (Mum and Dad's place) while we are on an acre out the other side of town. So this citrus kinda belongs in the bikkies, right? And it's OK to sneak the odd sack outta there, you reckon? 

What, Dad? Oh THIS laundry basket full of lemons? I have no idea how that got into the back of my car. It's truly amazing. 

When we moved onto our place, I was thrilled to find two gnarly old lemon trees down the back in what I now call Fox Hollow (where the foxes first slink out of). 

 

The trees aren't laden like the Buena Vista tree though, and as this property was virtually uninhabited for about twenty years, most of the fruit is now on branches about 15 feet off the ground. 

Eek. There's a Leghorn in Fox Hollow. AWAY, chookie! Back up the hill!

 

I love lemon trees. I have an old and very dear friend who once bought a little house with a lemon tree and I think the tree was the highlight of the sale. We talked a lot about that tree and very little about the house. 

I grow one at every house I live in. Our last house, rented, I lobbied to keep our lemon tree in a pot so I wouldn't leave it behind like so many other trees, but Adam insisted it would grow better in the ground. As always, he was dead right. It was blooming as we left it. 

Other than Lemon Sago Pudding, one of my favourite desserts is Lemon Pie. 

We had visitors on Saturday night. The perfect excuse. 

 

 

The filling is Stephanie Alexander's recipe from The Cook's Companion.

For the pastry I use Nigella's theory of half the volume of fat to flour. (Although I use butter, not lard.) Bind with egg yolks and cold water. 

 

LEMON TART

For the pastry:

300g all purpose flour

150g cold butter

2 egg yolks

cold water

 

Whizz the flour and butter in a food processor until it's crumbs. Add the yolks and whizz. Very gradually add the cold water until it binds together. Roll out and blind bake for approx 20 mins at 200°C, the last 5 mins without the baking beads/rice/beans (whatever you use.)

 

For the middle: (This is Stephanie Alexander's recipe)

3 large lemons

6 eggs

250g castor sugar

200ml cream

icing sugar to dust

 

Reset oven to 160°C. Zest and juice lemons. Combine eggs and sugar until well amalgamated then add zest and juice and stir well. Add cream and mix using a balloon whisk. Pour into pastry case and bake to 35-40 mins until just set. Cool in tin for at least 30 mins before serving. Serve dusted with icing sugar (and a new homemade vanilla icecream, recipe later this week.)

 

Yum.

xxx

buttermilk icecream

Had enough of the dairy yet?

No, me either. 

 

My first caveat would have to be that the kids did not like this. They're a bit spoilt with homemade vanilla icecream and I thought this would be similar just with a higher fat content, but it does taste different, a bit tarter, and freezes really solid so isn't as pliable. 

I invented this because I had fresh buttermilk in the fridge and after making buttermilk pancakes I thought, what's next? How 'bout icecream? 

The kids really didn't like it. Have you ever even seen a child spit out icecream?

Adam and I however thought it was totally delicious! So if you're not six or four and are prepared to wait to let it soften on the bench after freezing I reckon this is a starter!

 

Buttermilk Icecream

INGREDIENTS

1.5 cups cream

1.5 cups buttermilk

3 egg yolks

half cup castor sugar

pinch salt

 

METHOD

Heat the cream and milk in a saucepan until it almost boils. In a seperate bowl beat up the yolks with the sugar and salt. Stir into teh milk /cream mix and keep stirring until it thickens. 

Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours (this bit is important not to skip or it won't whip up) and then either process in an icecream maker until the desired consistency, and freeze, or, whip with hand beaters or food processor, partially freeze, then whip again with hand beater or food processor, and completely freeze. 

Normal icecream whips up really quickly but the fat content in this means it doesn't really froth. Just like using raw full fat milk in the coffee machine, it doesn't froth well either, but skim milk froths up like a dream. 

It means this icecream freezes hard, and you'll need to soften it before serving. 

Awesome flavour though. 

Goes nicely with this:

 

Apple pie (uncooked), recipe over here (from the days I still bought tinned apple! Not any more. Sometimes I wonder if I set out to make things hard for myself...)

Hope there was something bright and tart and apple-y in your day today. 

We are getting our heads blown off in high winds down here. SO windy! Am worried I'm going to find the trampoline on the farm next door tomorrow morning. Holding tight. Wearing a knitted cowl discarded by Henry as too itchy and smelling sourdough just out of the oven.

Did you get a chance to make anything today?

xxx

 

recipe for frozen yoghurt

So we have a bit of yoghurt here - I've kinda gotten into making it in a big way. Once you get the hang of it it's dead easy and makes itself, mostly. Culture and all that.

Anyway, we were out of icecream so I thought - wonder what happens if you churn yoghurt? 

I have an icecream maker (wedding present) but you could do it with beaters just as easily. 

This is the first one I made:

Strawberry Frozen Yoghurt

500g strawberries (2 x Australian punnets)

half cup sugar

2 cups yoghurt

 

Stir the sugar through the strawberries and leave for an hour to soften the fruit.

Then stir through yoghurt and put into icecream maker and churn for half an hour or so. 

Alternatively, whizz up with handbeaters (or a whisk if you are totally insane and have stronger arms than me) and semi freeze then whizz again. 

The yoghurt I use is my homemade stuff but any nice thick yoghurt would work. I'd go greek-style rather than natural and steer clear of low fat. (Too icicle-y I'd guess.)

So simple. So yummy.

Here was number two:

Photo hurriedly taken before someone scooped up the last scoop!

Passionfruit frozen yoghurt

2 cups yoghurt

half cup sugar

pulp of 4 fresh passionfruit

 

Mix all ingredients and churn in icecream maker for about half an hour. Freeze. Enjoy. Hide from children and husband. 

I reckon it's better than icecream. 

xxx

If you are what you eat...

then what are you?

I am not an apple.

Although I do love a sharp crisp Granny Smith.

Better cooked, though. With a touch of sugar. And mixed with boysenberries and blackberries. And topped with crumble.

Maybe I am a crumble. That'd figure.

We do dessert one night a week: Friday-night-dessert-night we call it. One way of teaching the kids the days of the week.

Tonight we had this:

Don't be too impressed. I used up all my energy making dessert (it also took freaking ages because my darling wee 5-week-old really didn't want to be put down this afternoon and I'm not prepared to cook with her in the sling - when she's bigger I think I'll get an Ergo which I can put on my back.) Henry said, "what's bloody crumble Mum? You've said it two times."

Anyway, all energy used up and so dinner was toasted Lebanese bread sandwiched with melted cheese and baked beans. From a tin.

But dessert was awesome.

Apple and Berry Crumble

INGREDIENTS

5 medium granny smith apples

½ tblsp sugar

1 cup water

1 cup mixed frozen berries

1 cup plain flour

½ cup rolled oats

100g butter, cold, chopped

½ cup brown sugar

METHOD

Peel, core and chop apples. Put into saucepan over medium heat with the sugar and water and simmer until cooked. Put into bottom of ovenproof dish.

Sprinkle berries over the top.

To make the crumble, mix the flour, oats, brown sugar and butter in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingers until it's kinda evenly mixed. Fine if there are still butter lumps.

Spread the crumble over the top of the fruit and cook on 180 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top and bubbling.

Some people insist crumble needs to be served with custard and I respect that.

Any excuse for custard, I say.

But I believe, in an almost spiritual way, that crumble must be served with vanilla icecream. Right on top so it starts to melt into the crumble. As good quality icecream as you can justify.

Oh yum.

Yep, I'm happy to be crumble.

And you? A doughnut? A carrot? Organic rice ball? Go on!!

xxx

all in the name of research

OK so the David Lebovitz icecream was very good, but a little fiddly. 

Having a dedicated tendency to err on the simpler side of things, I remembered a friend talking about icecream made with condensed milk. Mmmmm, condensed milk. Another good reason to have it in your pantry, right!

So I tried this: 

BASIC VANILLA ICECREAM

1 x 400g tin condensed milk

1 x 600ml pot of thickened cream

1 x tsp vanilla extract

THAT'S IT!!

And oh my goodness, here it is:

Apart from being dead easy to make, it's so creamy and delicious, and you know exactly what's in it. No hidden "natural" colour 160b (careful one that little one.)

I poured the three ingredients into a big bowl and used a hand beater to whizz up well first. Then put in into an icecream maker and pulled it out after three hours or so and beat it again. You really don't need an icecream maker for this - but you do need to re-beat it once it's partially set to get that whipped up icecream texture. Handbeaters will do the job or a wooden spoon and some good elbow grease. Think about those burning calories. Or not. 

Store it in the freezer (obviously) - mine's just in a plastic container with a lid on it. You don't need anything fancy. And damn it tastes fancy. You'll LOVE this. 

xxx

Homemade Vanilla Icecream

Yuuuuuummmm. 

Ever made your own icecream? I've made it a few times, including a semifreddo phase I went through in the early nineties. THAT one was bad for my bum.

But I've never made a 'custard' based icecream. I wanted to try this because being pregnant I can't eat anything with raw eggs in it - which most homemade icecreams have.

This recipe is based on the AMAZING David Lebovitz's vanilla recipe here, with, I admit, a few steps skipped out. He's the king of the scoop, David Lebovitz, and I wonder if I'd stuck to his method, if it really could have been any more sublime. Truly. This stuff rocks. 

I served it for lunchtime dessert to a bunch of friends on Sunday (with this pavlova) a pairing which conveniently uses up all the whites of the yolks you used in the icecream! 

SO good. 

Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Icecream (Recipe by David Lebovitz - with a couple of minor adjustments (*cough*, short-cuts)

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

METHOD:
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover and remove from heat.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

4. Stir the custard into the heavy cream, add the vanilla extract and remove the vanilla bean.

5. Either put into an icecream maker (which has a pre-frozen bowl and freezes the mix quickest) or a container with a lid or foil over it, in the freezer. Needs at least 8 hours to really freeze through. If you're using an icecream maker make you would usually pull it out and blend it again when semi-frozen (after 3-4 hours). I don't think this is necessary though. Still the creamiest, vanilla-y, most delicious icecream I've ever tried. 

There's about 2 small scoops left. Which I think Ad and I might polish off shortly with a small slice of this (even though it's not Friday night dessert night!!)

A new chocolate cake recipe with 4 eggs in it! (I only ever use 2.) Will try it and if it's any good, will blog it!

(All in the interest of recipe testing, of course. The things my bum and I do for you gorgeous people.)

xxx

 

strawberry shortcake

Shortcake is one of the things I don't make. 

I don't make it, because my Mum does.

And man, she makes a good shortcake.

I think in every family somebody specializes in something, right? Maybe you are the excellent birthday cake maker. Or the beloved scone bringer. Maybe you're known for your lasagne or your perfect roast. 

Mum has always made shortcake. Given that my aunts on my Dad's side also make it, I wonder whether it was my Grandma's recipe (she of the award-winning sponge, very soon to be forthcoming!!)... I'll ask Mum when they're back from galavanting around South Australia. 

Anyway, Mum makes passionfruit shortcake. Always has a passionfruit vine growing somewhere, always has frozen fruit in ziplocks in the freezer. It's the passionfruit shortcake she makes for her adored sons-in-law. And for Dad, for super special treats (when she has a house-full and can be sure he'll only get one piece, being diabetic and all that...) 

So I never make it. It's her thing. 

'Cept I have all these strawberries, and we were going to a friend's house for Sunday lunch, and I thought, why not...

I bought a couple of these cool bakers boxes at The Essential Ingredient (somewhere I should never be let loose) and boxed it up. 

 I neglected to take a 'slice-of' photo at lunch - too busy talking. And eating. And laughing. Sorry.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Ingredients:

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup sugar

125g butter

1 egg

1 cup icing sugar

60g butter

1 cup chopped strawberries

Method:

Mix flour and sugar in a large bowl then rub in the butter. Make a well in the centre and stir in the egg. It will feel really dry, keep mixing until you can knead it well into a ball. 

Push into a round 7 inch (20cm) tin, rough up the top with a fork and sprinkle with sugar. Cook at 160° for 35 mins or until golden. When cooled, split into two.

To make the filling, mix the icing sugar with the butter and fruit. (This works really well with passionfruit too - probably better than my strawberry version.) Mix well to a cream then spread onto one half of the shortcake. Put together, and enjoy! 

Perfect with perfectly-made espresso (our friends run a coffee school!)

Highlights of the week so far:

* Having my seven year old nephew Doug to stay for a few nights. Awesome little dude that he is. Henry is now at my sister's place for a short holiday, and I am loving the time just with Tilly. We are having a truly lovely little break, just us. (Although she's pretty excited about bringing him home tomorrow night.)

* It's not often you can say that something helped you be a better parent, but I think this book has. I highly recommend it. I found it via Soulemama and am now on a mission to find out more about Buddhism generally.

* I'm not particularly religious but am always inspired by faith in other people. I stumbled on this blog tonight, via Mammajoy (finally posting again! hooray!) and read the story of Audrey Caroline. It's astonishing how strong some people can be. I thought this woman, Angie Smith, was amazing and I was really inspired by her perspective.

* Learning about white balance for photos from my friend Katie who in 10 minutes gave me a crash course and helped me take better 'inside' photos!! She is the best!

Hope you are having a fab week. 

xxx