Cumquat marmalade

Cumquat marmalade is my favourite, so I usually try to make a few jars each year. Can you even buy cumquat marmalade from the supermarket? I've certainly never seen a cumquat in the produce section of the supermarket - you have grow them yourself or know someone who grows them - so it somehow makes this marmalade all the more special I think.

As usual, making the marmalade involved consulting numerous cookbooks for a recipe. So, based on the combined wisdom of Cookery the Australian Way, The PWMU (Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union) Cookbook, Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion and In The Kitchen by Allan Campion & Michele Curtis (if I could only have one cookbook, this would be the one), this is the method I used. (Which has resulted in near perfect marmalade in my personal opinion.)

Cumquat Marmalade

Start with a large bowl of cumquats.

Slice the skin off 4 sides and the top and bottom of each cumquat leaving the centre pith and pips behind (I decided this was easier than halving or quartering them and then cutting out the pith and pips as most of the recipes seem to suggest).

Weigh the skins and note this down (I had 800g). Place in a large saucepan and add cold water until just covered. Leave to soak overnight.
Place the cubes of leftover flesh & pips in a separate bowl and also cover with water (this is to extract the pectin from the pips so the marmalade will set). Leave to soak overnight.

The next day, strain the liquid from the flesh & pips and add this liquid to the skins. For good measure (to really make sure I had maximum pectin!), I then put the flesh & pips in a sieve and placed it in the saucepan so it was just sitting in the liquid but not spilling out.

Simmer the skins for 30 mins until soft and translucent (then remove the sieve). Add an amount of sugar equal to the weight of the skins (in my case, 800g). Simmer for approx 20-30 mins until the marmalade reaches setting point (testing a small blob on a cold saucer).

Pour into sterilised jars. (Makes about 4 jars.)

Making healthy tasty

My good friend Lien mentioned something really important the other day. She told me that she didn't want her girls to grow up thinking that healthy food wasn't delicious. So true!

We're both keen for our kids to eat mainly fresh, wholesome food. But I think we're also both pretty good cooks and make some rather fine and tasty dishes! So I reckon we're doing okay in promoting good lifetime habits... and no doubt a love of food like ourselves!

Happily my kids think a plate of raw veggies, a bit of cheese and a gerkin is the perfect lunch. However, I do still get a never-ending stream of requests for icecream, lollies (especially at the supermarket checkout) and other sugary treats.

So I'm gradually building my repertoire of baked goodies that the kids love but are still up there on my good-for-you scale. Happy kids, happy mum!

Lien has shared her recipe for these dairy-free, sugar-free rhubarb muffins, which are absolutely delicious! I love the tartness of the rhubarb in these muffins but almost any fruit can be substituted depending on what is in season... try apple and cinnamon, pear and ginger, mashed banana or stonefruit. Lien's tip for light and fluffy muffins is to combine the wet and dry ingredients just before baking and not to over-mix the batter.

Lien's Honey & Rhubarb Muffins

230g wholemeal flour (spelt flour or wheat flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
¾ cup light-flavoured oil
¾ cup milk
200g thinly sliced rhubarb

Preheat oven to 180C.
Sift flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients. Combine the wet and dry mixtures just before baking – do not over mix.
Spoon the mixture into greased muffin tins and bake for approximately 20 mins until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Toasted muesli :: a recipe

My family seems to have a genetic trait for loving breakfast cereal. It's great at anytime of the day as far as we're concerned! The kids often request cereal as afternoon snack (and I'm happy to join them!) and my Dad was always known to have a bowl before bed.

However, I've been re-assessing some of our food choices lately and I was slightly horrified when I realised that even the reasonably 'healthy' commercial breakfast cereal options have around 2 teaspoons of sugar in a standard serve. Eeep!

So I've had a bit of a crackdown on breakfast options. The choices in our household are now homemade toasted muesli (none of us have ever been especially keen on natural muesli), porridge sweetened with some mashed banana or grated apple & cinnamon, VitaBrits or toasted homemade bread with peanut butter or vegemite. (Other more decadent options such as pancakes or eggs & bacon may still occasionally happen on weekends but weekdays require something quick!)

I only made toasted muesli for the first time last year - for some reason I thought it would be tricky but it's actually super easy... and super yummy! I've experimented with a few different recipes and settled on a combination of ingredients that I really like and that is also low in sugar, which I now make once a week.

 Low-sugar Toasted Muesli

Mix together in a large bowl:
4 cups of organic rolled outs
1 heaped cup of seeds & chopped nuts (I generally use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, ground flax seeds and almonds)
1/2 cup of any mix of wholemeal flour, oat bran, wheat germ or quinoa flakes
1 heaped teaspoon of cinnamon

Then gently combine and warm until runny:
1/4 cup of oil (I use coconut oil or a mild-flavoured olive oil)
1/4 cup of brown rice syrup (rice syrup doesn't contain fructose - however you can substitute honey if you prefer your muesli sweeter)
2 teaspoons of honey

Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients and combine well.
Spread over a baking tray and bake in a slow oven (135C) for 40 minutes until lightly golden, turning it over every 10 minutes.

When cool stir through:
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
2/3 cup dried fruit (eg. sultanas, currants, figs, dates, cranberries, apricots)

Enjoy!

From garden to kitchen

:: Little Miss digging for potatoes in her preferred gardening attire

:: Collecting the daily autumn bounty from the garden

:: Another batch of passata in progress (this time from our home-grown tomatoes)

:: Yummy potato pancakes for lunch - recipe from here 

What's happening in your garden and kitchen?

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Last year I planted two zucchini seeds... two zucchini plants sprouted... and for a good couple of months we were inundated with zucchini's. Nope, none of our friends needed any thank-you, they also had plenty coming from their gardens. Even if nothing else in their veg patch was doing too well, the zucchini's were thriving.

So this year, one seed, one plant and we're just starting to get a nice steady flow of the stripy green veg. Lovely. (Actually my inner nerd is telling me it's technically a fruit.)

Anyhow, the kids aren't rapt in them (and fair enough, neither was I as a kid) but luckily they're so easy to hide in all manner of things... bolognese sauce, fritters, frittata, soup and oh yes, chocolate muffins. Funnily enough they don't even question the little green flecks... clearly a minor detail.

What I'm looking for is chocolately goodness without too much sugar. Hence this is the recipe I've come up with. (Note, if you're a sweet tooth you might not find these sweet enough, but hey, my kids seem pretty happy with them!)

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

2 cups wholemeal plain flour
1/2 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
2 tblsp cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup coconut oil (or mild olive oil)
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 heaped cup of grated zucchini

Sift dry ingredients. Add to liquid ingredients and beat well. Stir in grated zucchini.
Pour into muffin pans (either use paper patty pans or simply grease well) and bake in a moderate oven for around 15 minutes.

A cookbook giveaway :: The Byron Life

Photo by The Byron Life

Pop over to The Byron Life for a chance to win a copy of the Byron Farmers Market 10 Year Anniversary Recipe Collection! 

Banana Berry Ice-cream

I've recently discovered this super yummy and 100% healthy summer treat! The only ingredients are frozen bananas and raspberries! (I used around 10 raspberries for each banana. Plus a sprinkle of coconut to make it look pretty!) How did I not know that whizzed up frozen bananas turn into something that has a perfect, creamy, ice-cream texture?

Apparently the blending process can be done just in a food processor. I haven't tried this method yet though, as our lovely friend and neighbour Barb, has a Champion juicer with an attachment that is apparently intended for this very purpose. Ooh yeah!!

(Just checked ebay... even secondhand Champion juicers sell for several hundred dollars. However this is a less expensive alternative that I may just splash out on if I spot one secondhand.)

Note: A reminder to myself for next time - remember to peel the bananas before popping them in the freezer the night before.

Birdseed Slice

I love that almost everyone in my extended family are great cooks. We're definitely a bit of a foodie family! Family get-togethers are always a feast of tasty goodies. 

This Christmas was a highlight - Uncle Jeff's stuffing roll and super fluffy roast potatoes, Auntie Heather's stuffed zucchini flowers, Thomaz's roast duck, Mum's plum pudding, cousin Jaclyn's pavlova and lots of other delicious things. Mmm!!

This is a super simple and tasty slice, slightly adapted from my Auntie Heather's recipe. It's an ideal alternative to bought muesli bars for school lunches.

Birdseed Slice

125g butter

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats

1 cup desiccated coconut

1/4 cup wholemeal flour

1/4 cup oat bran or wheat germ

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup sunflower kernels

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds

1 cup dried fruit (sultanas, apricots, figs or dates)

Melt butter, honey and brown sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Stir into the dry ingredients.

Press mixture into a greased slice tray and bake in a moderate oven for approx 15 minutes until golden.

Allow to cool completely then cut into squares.