I Picked A Pumpkin

I have just picked the first pumpkin that has been grown on the property, and there are two more that shouldn’t be long. These things are always very exciting, to be able to produce your own food.

The good thing about pumpkin is that there is so many things you can do with it that you really can’t grow too many. Pumpkin soup is always popular, pumpkin scones and muffins and a most favourite in our house is pumpkin fruit cake. This recipe is my mum’s that she has been making for years, don’t know where it originally came from but my partner in crime and life just loves it, and so think it is time to make one :)

PUMPKIN FRUIT CAKE

4 flat tablespoons butter (1/4 lb)
1 cup sugar
1 – 1 ¼ cup boiled pumpkin
2 cups SR flour
2eggs
1 pkt (2 cups) mixed dry fruit.

Cream the butter and the sugar, add eggs, then pumpkin, fruit and flour. Mix very well. Cook for one hour in moderate oven – 180 degrees.

I still haven’t planted out my seedlings but I really must, they need space to grow. I don’t think they will get any bigger in the little pots.

This weekend it looks like I will do a gardening workshop over where a friend lives about an hour and a half away. It is a good drive but we get to visit at the same time, just waiting for her to ring me today with the details, hope it works out.

If I do get to go, I will be able to take my friend some strawberry plants (ours are just going crazy), sweet potato runners and a gigantic cucumber which they can eat and also save the seeds from so they can grow them too. Gotta share the love :D

Looks like today we are going to go and get a new kitchen sink and tap. Our current sink is plastic and stained and disgusting, so since we moved here we have been using a basin in the sink to do the dishes.

Also the tap leaks into the cupboard underneath, my partner in crime and life was looking to fix it but word has it that it would be better to just replace it, so that is what we are going to do. Then, we later just have to replace a couple of bench tops.

I was given some homemade dog biscuits this week from a lovely friend (who made them all in heart shapes) and included the recipe. Our dog is allergic to preservatives and additives and we have to be careful what we give her, though she is addicted to peanut butter, and so these biscuits are peanut butter ones. The recipe came from the allrecipes.com.au site, and apparently there are more recipes.

DOG BISCUITS

280g wholemeal flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
315g unsalted natural peanut butter
1 cup low fat milk

Preheat oven to 190 degrees (fan forced), grease baking trays. Stir together flour and baking powder and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the peanut butter and milk. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Roll out to 1cm thickness and cut into shapes using biscuit cutters. Place 2 cm apart on the prepared trays.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from baking trays to cool on wire racks. Store in fridge.

Now I know that I should have been making these all along but sometimes you just need a bit of a push. The dog just loves them, I know what is in them, and they are cheap to make, can’t ask for more. Thanks Robyn :D

ON OTHER MATTERS

This post at Monkey Butt Junction is one after my own heart. She tracked her rubbish for the day and then made a list of what she could have done better. As she said, recycling is good, but reducing the amount of stuff we use is better. Unfortunately, a lot of things are packaged in plastic, and there are only so many tins that you can cover and make into pencil pots :P

While surfing around I found this article that I found interesting about global energy wars. It is true that regardless of the affect on the environment or whether you believe in peak oil or not, our consumption is only increasing (you can't deny there are more cars on the roads) and that we are paying more and more for fuel, electricity etc and the price will never go down, only up. Certainly makes me think about alot of things, the ripple affect is huge.

I listen to Dr Karl on the ABC radio a lot while driving to and from town (commercial radio stations drive me nuts with their stupidity) and so I thought I would check out his site. He is a very interesting guy and knows lots about lots, so I am going to spend some time on his site, fascinating stuff :D