Pasta Sauce . . . 

It seems like my entire garden is shutting down for the winter. I have just picked the last of the Roma tomatoes. I love these tomatoes as they are so easy to grow, no staking required. They are also a very fleshy fruit which yields well when making wonderful tomato dishes.

Bottling pasta sauce is a delicious way to preserve garden-fresh tomatoes and herbs. Homemade sauce is truly a wonderful way to elevate your pasta dishes. 

The perfect sauce to make the most of your fresh summer tomatoes and basil. However, that was the last batch I bottled. The recent heavy frost finished off my basil, so this batch will have thyme and parsley. You can bottle, freeze or eat it right away. Perfect for pasta, on pizza, with meatballs, in spaghetti Bolognese or in lasagne. I always go for the bottling scenario as I am terrible at remembering to take things out of the freezer before I need them. This is the most wonderful thing about bottling, the jar that is stored in your larder can be opened and used straight away, no defrosting required.

Before I started to prepare the vegetables, I got the Agee Preserver a third filled with water. Washed seven pint sized jars in hot soapy water and placed them in a low oven to sterilise and keep warm. As there is just two of us at home now, I find this is a good size for us. 

I washed the tomatoes. Put the tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil and tomato paste into a stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. While it cooked, I stripped the stems off the herbs and finely chopped them. Added these and the sugar, salt and pepper when the vegetables were soft. Using my trusty stick blender, I pureed the sauce. If you don't like the skins and pips and want a smoother sauce, you can push it through a sieve at this point. We like it more rustic and don't mind the texture.

Bring the sauce back to a boil and pour into the prepared jars leaving a 2cm headspace at the top. This is about the depth of the thread around the top of the jar. Add ¼ teaspoon citric acid to each jar as you fill it, this is important as newer varieties of tomato are lower in acid. Use a chopstick or small spatula to remove air bubbles. Wipe the rim clean and place the lid on the jar. Apply band and turn until it is fingertip tight. Place jar in the boiling water. Repeat until all jars are filled. I have bottling tongs for putting the jars in the water, if you don't, reduce the amount of water so you can use gloves or a cloth and then when all the jars are in the pot add more boiling water so that the jars are completely covered. Make sure the water covers the jars throughout the processing time.  If you don't have a preserver, you can use a large pot. It is important to note that the jars must not touch the bottom of the pot. Place a small rack in the pot or if you don't have one that fits, a folded tea towel also works.

Process pint jars for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the jars carefully from the water bath, remember that steam burns, place on a towel, tighten the bands and let cool to room temperature. Make sure you use gloves or a cloth when tightening the bands as they are extremely hot. When they have cooled, check to make sure the jars have sealed correctly. If any jars haven’t sealed, they will need to be refrigerated and used within three days or you can tip them into bags and freeze them. However, it is rare for jars not to seal. If you are going to do a lot of bottling, I highly recommend getting a preserving set.

Wait 24 hours before removing the bands, labelling and storing jars away.

 Pasta Sauce Recipe . . . 

2kg ripe tomatoes

500g diced onions  

4 tsp minced garlic

½ cup olive oil

½ cup tomato paste - I use my homemade tomato sauce

Handful of basil leaves - or other herbs

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Black pepper to taste - freshly ground

Citric acid - ¼ tsp per jar

Prepare as above.

#PastaSauceRecipe #RomaTomatoes #AgeePreserver #Bottling #Canning

14th May 2024

 Baby News . . .

I can’t tell you how many times we were told “there are so few good surprises in life”
 and finding out your grandbaby’s gender is definitely one of those precious moments.

I have heard of so many fun ways to reveal the gender, but our darling son sent a text with just three words lol.

Baby is pink!

 Says it all really. Farmers are economical with words. Bruce and I can't wait to meet this precious little one. A wee sister for Addison.

13th May 2024

 Tactile Pairing . . .

Montessori education places a strong emphasis on developing children’s senses, including their tactile sense. The child’s sense of touch is heightened with most of the Montessori materials. Touch is a very important sense for children to develop, as when children touch and manipulate various things, they are learning at the same time. Maria Montessori said, “the hands are the instruments of the mind”.

After looking through my stash of fabrics, I found some textured fabrics that would be ok for making pairing tablets. Then I made a template, and I was ready to begin. I formed a pocket using the calico and after slipping the textured fabric in, I stitched around the outside. 

The Montessori Touch Tablets activity is a sensory-based learning tool designed to refine a child’s tactile senses. Comprising pairs of fabric squares with distinct textures such as smooth, rough, or silky, children are encouraged, often blindfolded or with eyes closed, to feel and compare these textures.

The goal is to match the pairs based solely on touch, honing their ability to discern subtle tactile differences. This hands-on activity not only sharpens the sense of touch but also fosters concentration, vocabulary expansion, and prepares the fingers for tasks requiring fine motor skills, like writing.

When you first introduce this activity to a child, it's best to use similarly coloured fabrics.
This is because children should learn to identify the fabrics by feel and not match them by colour. After working with the Montessori Touch Fabrics, many children will go around touching different items around the classroom or home and describing them. Children may also begin comparing the textures of different items or even grading them by texture. It's really such a wonderful thing to observe.

#MontessoriActivity #TouchTablets #FabricPairing #SenseOfTouch #MariaMontessori

 Mother's Day Meal . . .

I chose this meal because both dishes are wonderful comfort foods and seemed perfect for Mother's Day.

I made the cheesecake first as it needed time to set in the refrigerator and then the soup as I had Bruce here to cut up the pumpkin for me.

I love this Lemon Cheesecake and it is so easy to make, is creamy and refreshing. After gathering the ingredients, I started by lining a 20cm loose bottom cake tin with baking paper. To make the base I crushed the biscuits in my pestle and mortar. However, it works just as well if you use the handle of a rolling pin in a bowl, put the biscuits in a bag and roll them with a rolling pin or bottle, or use a kitchen whizz. There is no right or wrong way. After tipping the crumbs into the melted butter, I combined the two and pressed them into the tin, pressing them down with the back of a spoon. I put the tin into the refrigerator to allow the base to firm up while I prepared the filling.

Next, I whipped the cream into firm peaks. This is important because the cake won't set if the cream is too soft. Then I put in the rest of the ingredients and combined well. I slowly put the mixture into the tin, pushing it down well as I went to make sure there were no air pockets. Once I had levelled the top, I added some more zest to the top of the cheesecake and put it bake in the refrigerator. It needs 2-3 hours to set.

Once it was set, I removed it from the tin. The easiest way to do this is to put the tin onto a glass and the bottom separates from the tin. Then I popped it onto a plate and decorated it with some extra whipped cream and some of the lemon that was left over from the zesting. Then it was back in the refrigerator till dessert time.

Lemon Cheesecake Recipe . . .

200g digestive biscuits

80g butter - melted

280ml cream

250g cream cheese

100g caster sugar

5 tsp lemon juice

Zest of 3 small lemons - reserve some for decorating the top

To decorate - extra whipped cream and lemon pieces.

Method - as above.

*  *  *  *  *

Once the dessert was done, I started preparing the pumpkin soup. I was very grateful to Bruce cutting it up for me. I was struggling a bit with such a large pumpkin when he arrived and took over for me. Once again, I started by gathering the ingredients together. I put the vegetables into the soup pot and covered them with water. Then I added the rest of the ingredients to the pot, except for the pepper and nutmeg. Once it came to the boil, I turned it down to a simmer until the pumpkin was cooked. Then using the stick blender, I pureed it till it was creamy, added the pepper and grated in some nutmeg. When it was time to serve it, I added a spoonful of sour cream and some chopped chives. It was delicious.

 

Pumpkin Soup Recipe . . .

1 kg prepared pumpkin

2 onions - chopped

Water to cover - may need to add more if too thick after pureeing

1 tsp crushed garlic

2 tsp instant chicken stock

2 tsp green herb stock

¼ cup brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

½ tsp grated nutmeg - can use ground reduce to ¼ tsp

Note - because it was such a large pumpkin I doubled the recipe and will put some into the freezer.

#PumpkinSoupRecipe  #LemonCheeseCakeRecipe  

12th May 2024

 Woodturning Course . . .

The second Saturday of each month I attend my NAW (National Association of Woodworkers New Zealand Inc) course. Today's brief was - By the end of this course you will be able to design and produce an off centre and/or multi axis project that extends the application of off-centre principles and includes the use of at least three different centres or axis. I knew this would be challenging, and the mere thought of it made the heart race a bit lol. I chose the three multi axis option and turned three indentations in my bowl blank. There were times when I had my heart in my mouth, this happened on several occasions. It is quite nerve wracking when it is wildly spinning off centre.

I started by turning the bottom of the bowl and then slightly domed the top. After I had sanded the top, I burned in three rings. Next came the task of working out where the three indentations would go.

After setting up the baseboard for the multi axis, I hesitantly started to turn the first one. Gaining confidence, I turned the remaining two. I made the last one slightly larger, so had to back track and redo the first two again. This wasn't as easy as I thought it would be I held my nerve and managed it. Finally, I sanded the indents. 

To show you how terrifying it was when the wood was turning wildly on the lathe, I asked my tutor to video it. Please excuse my bent arthritic fingers.

I was thrilled with the final result. I did three, can't get over that someone did eight indentations - so crazy. These classes certainly push me outside of my comfort zone.

After that we started turning an off-centre box. I didn't get mine finished, so will do that when I go to class on Thursday.

#MultiAxisTurning

11th May 2024

 Ice-cream Rhyme . . .

On Wednesday I joined a Knit and Chat group in a neighbouring village, starting to show my age lol. I started to make some ice-cream cones, although I think I did more chatting than crocheting. Today I finished them. I crocheted vanilla ice-creams and separate toppings. This is so children can change the ice-creams to suit the rhyme. 

Ice-Cream Shop

Five ice-creams in the ice-cream shop, 

But no one wanted to buy them with vanilla on the top.

One ice-cream took some time to think,

She mixed in some strawberries and turned herself pink.

Four ice-creams in the ice-cream shop, 

But no one wanted to buy them with vanilla on the top.

One ice-cream knew what to do,

He mixed in some blueberries and turned himself blue.

Three ice-creams in the ice-cream shop, 

But no one wanted to buy them with vanilla on the top.

One ice-cream got an idea in her head,

She mixed in some raspberries and turned herself red.

Two ice-creams in the ice-cream shop, 

But no one wanted to buy them with vanilla on the top.

One ice-cream was a clever fellow,

He mixed in some banana and turned himself yellow.

One ice-cream in the ice-cream shop, 

But no one wanted to buy it with vanilla on the top.

This ice-cream said, "I know", 

She mixed in all the colours and made a rainbow.

#Children'sRhyme  #CrochetIceCreams

10th May 2024

 New Coat . . .

This is Finney modelling her new coat. She is 12 years old and feels the cold. I feel for her when she is shaking and shivering. After all she is our fur baby. 

#JackRussel

10th May 2024

 Lemon Cordial . . .

When life gives you lemons make lemonade - or in my case cordial.

In the summer I love to have it poured over lots of ice. However, at this time of the year I love to have it as a hot drink. I dilute it 1 to 4 but it is really a personal choice. As well as mixing it with water, it is also lovely with soda or tonic water. This sparkling water adds a lovely fizz that brings out the flavour. It is also delicious when you add a dash to a gin and tonic, it is fun being an adult.

After picking and washing the lemons, I zested them. Always zest before you squeeze the juice, this is much easier while the fruit is firm. If you don't have a zester, just take a very thin sliver with a peeler. Making sure you don't include any of the white pith as this will make it very bitter. Then squeeze out the juice. You need to use nice ripe lemons, a ripe lemon feels slightly soft when squeezed. If the lemons are firm, once zested microwave for about 20 seconds until warm. This helps to break down the lemon and create more juice. To help this along, roll the lemon firmly on the bench once warmed. Cut it in half and juice.

Put the sugar and water into a pot and bring to the boil. Turn it down, add the juice and zest, simmer for 20 minutes don't let it boil. Strain the mixture through a sieve and pour into sterilised bottles. This makes about a litre of cordial. Store in the refrigerator. Dilute to taste and enjoy.

Lemon Cordial Recipe . . .

2 cups water 

2 cups sugar 

2 cups lemon juice

Lemon zest

Prepare as above.

While I was out in the citrus garden picking the lemons, I also checked out the mandarin trees. The Autumn tree is nearly depleted, but the fruit has been juicy and delicious. The winter fruiting tree is ripening nicely and is absolutely laden this year. We are totally blessed to have fresh fruit every month of the year on the farm. 

#LemonCoridal  #Lemonade  #LemonSquash  #CitrusFruit

10th May 2024