On My Table....

My cumquat tree is ladden with fruit and has been for a good 3 months.... A favourite way of preserving this bitter little mini mandarine looking fruit is to turn them into sweet little citrus balls of golden deliciousness....

Preserved Cumquats are super easy to make and take no time at all... They taste delicious served on a plater with some good Blue Cheese, spooned over ice-cream or custard and the syrup is delicious poured over a freshly baked buter cake....

Here's how I preserve my Cumquarts..... Simmer 1kg of cumquats in a pot of water for 15mins, drain. Make up a sugar syrup while the fruit drains like so; mix 1 cup of water with 600g of sugar and bring to the boil. Add the drained fruit to the sugar syrup and simmer for 20mins. Using tongs, stack the cumquats in sterelized jars until full, then top up jars with the syrup. These need to be stored in a dark cupboard or they will discolour. Preserved fruit will last for 6-12 months. I get 4x250ml size jars from 1kg of fruit.

The mood struck today to make a Spinach Pie.... We love these in our house, especially when they're made with home-made Ricotta....

So while a fresh batch of Ricotta hung from the kitchen tap, draining, I went out to the garden and picked a big bunch of coloured chard (similar to silverbeet)....

 After only 10mins hanging my Ricotta was ready,

fresh and creamy and tasting better than anything you'll every buy in the Shop's!!!!

So armed with freshly picked coloured chard, home-made cheese and a few other ingredients I made a Spinach Pie for lunch (which we finished off for tea)....

Here's my recipe....

Spinach Pie

Big bunch of Coloured Chard/Spinach/Silverbeet, chopped.

1 onion diced

3 eggs

200g Ricotta

1/2 cups of Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Salt and Pepper

Freshly Ground Nutmeg

And that's it!!!!

Heat the spinach in a pan until it is a 1/3 of its harvested size, put aside.

Saute onions, put aside.

Mix all other ingredients together in a large bowl, add the Spinach and onion, mix well.

Spoon mixute into a loaf style dish and bake at 190'C for 45mins.

If you feel like a little bit of a crunch use 10 sheets of buttered filo as a base for your pie.

This is great served cold with salad or even sliced thinly and used as a meat substitute on a salad sandwich for lunch is delicious!!! 

What have you been making today???

I'm Doing It Again....

Yes that's right, some more yarns been slashed and added to my SALE BIN!!!

 

This time I'm clearing out the remainder of my Malabrigo Lace to make way for some other new yarns soon to hit the shelves.....

 

Pop on over here for 50% OFF....

Butter!!!!

I love BUTTER!!! I don't know if it's because I'm pregnant or if it's just because everything that's cooked with butter seems to take on a whole new life - and it's a deliciously amazing new life at that...

My latest sweet butter-y creation is this shortbread jam filled slice - YUM-MO!!!

 

This slice has the crunchiest, melt in your mouth texture that won't let you stop at just 1 piece - it must be that gooey, sweet, fruity centre that keeps me coming back for piece after piece - no, that's the pregnancy, LOL!!!

Jam Filled Shortbread Slice

1 cup of butter (I use salt that is salted for this recipe, I like the flavour it gives), 2 1/2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of icing sugar, about 1/2 a jar of home-made jam (I used nectarine recipe here).

Process all ingredients, except that jam, in a food processor until a dough is formed this should only take about a minute (it will start to roll around like a ball in the bowl when it's ready). 

Press half of the mixture into a standard slice tray, spread the jam over the top. You are now going to crumble the remaining dough mixture over the top of the jam.

Bake in an over at 180'C for about 30mins or until the edges are well browned and the house smells of sweet warm cookies...

Slice into pieces once cooled and enjoy with a fresh pot of your favourite tea.... 

What's you're favourite 'butter' recipe? Are you a 'sweet' or 'savoury' kind a girl???

Way Too Many!!!

I've slowly been working on a few yarn-y projects of late to gift.....

I made this little crochet type bolero

and this open vest using just 1 ball of Noro Taiyo...

The bolero I 'made-up' and the open vest is a freebie from here, I simply omitted the sleeves, they only get in the way of newborns anyway - right??!!

With this being our last week of Term 2 for school here on the farm (wow - where has that half a year gone???) I can safely say that this will be my last batch of play-dough for a good couple of weeks.... 

We love this stuff and use it ALL OF THE TIME in the schoolroom - especially with Maths...

The recipe I use is pretty simply - 2 parts flour to 1 part salt, add a couple of generous tablespoons of oil and colouring then pour in boiling hot water and stir (if I'm feeling creative I'll add a bit of glitter to the flour mix too - the girls love that). The mixture seems really gloop-y at the start but after a couple of minutes of kneading on the bench top it all comes together - you don't want it too dry, trust me.

We're also very excited to welcome yet another kitten into our ever expanding 'tribe'....

I know, I have WAY TOO MANY CATS!!!!

But, I just can't help myself - I love their company and they're great for keeping the snakes away in the hotter months by eating the mice and frogs up for us. And you know what??? They don't touch the gorgeous birds that I have living quite happily in my garden either...

A Few More BARGAINS!!!!

After having such a great response to Wednesday Nights Sale I've decided to whack a few more things on special...

So pop on over to my SALE BIN for 50% OFF what's left in stock of my 100g skeins of Malabrigo Worsted Merino.  

I have 24 new shades arriving in the next week or so and thought it would be nice to get rid of my old stock before they all arrive... :)

I've also whacked 30% OFF ALL Pattern Leaflets so be sure to check that out also...

Girl-y Day Out....

Country Races are a great excuse to chuck on a frock, pretty yourself up and head to town for a catch up. These pictures were taken last month when we headed into Cobar for the Annual Picnic Race Meet...

We enjoy these days so much and I can't remember the last time the girls and I missed a day out at the Cobar Races. We are usually lucky enough to have DH by our sides to enjoy the fun, but not this year....

Mustering was priority so we left the 'men' at home and headed in for a nice girl-y day out....

It was just gorgeous - a day filled to the brim, but next year we sure do hope DH can come along too!!!!!

GRAB A BARGAIN!!!!!

I'm having a clean out in the Shop to make some room for the 3 BIG BOXES of Malabrigo which are due to arrive next week.

So today's your lucky day as I'm having a bit of a sale - A 50% OFF SALE!!!!!

I have 4 shades of this gorgeous Ella Rae DK weight Bamboo Silk in 50g skeins

and 7 shades of some of my all time favourite 20ply Pure Wool by the Australian owned Nundle Wool Mill... This yarn comes in a very generous 200g hank!!!!!

Both yarns are a MASSIVE 50% OFF but stocks are limited!!!!!

This Sale is exclusive to my website shop only... 

Baby Knits

I love knitting for babies and 2 of my most favourite things to knit for little girls would have to be this Abagail Sweater

and this sweet little Scalloped Lace Baby Hat....

Both these knits I've made many a times for my 2 little girls. I've also made these 2 classic knits for many friends baby girls and feel such warmth to see them wearing the same special knits as my very own babies...

For my latest Abagail I used the new Arroyo. I'm loving this fingering weight Superwash Merino and nearly can't believe that it only took 1/2 a skein to knit the entire cardigan - gotta love baby knits!!!!

For the Scalloped Hat I used 1/2 a skein of some gorgeous Silky Merino in the softest shade of purple.... 

We are so looking forward to welcoming our new little baby into the world before the year is out and you just never know - maybe there might be a few more Abagail's and Scallop Hats on the horizon if our latest little one is a girl too... *^_^*

Living Life....

I'm so happy to report that the morning sickness has finally pasted... HOORAY!!!!!!

These days I just can't seem to get enough of the cheeky little antics of my sweet little Miss

Millie....

This age, 3-4, is just so special - independence starts to grow and exploring becomes that little more adventurous.... 

I love watching her 'living life' - it makes my heart simply melt...

My favourite yarn at the moment would definitely have to be the gorgeous, squishy, Malabrigo Rios... For this hat I used the Ravelry Red shade and worked on this great free crochet beret pattern.... 

Some other yarn I'm loving at the moment is this 100% Merino Sock weight yarn by Skein.... Hand-dyed in Armidale in the most divine shades....

Industrial Age and

Beach Shack....

Also, fresh from the garden tonight I'm cooking up an arm full of Coloured Chard and adding it to the top of an oven baked Spaghetti Bolagnese along with some crumbly home-made Feta.... Yum-O!!!

What are you harvesting and eating at the moment???

Update....

I'm so excited to report that I've finally updated my Shop with some new yarn....
*Silky Merino*

*Rios*

*Sock*

*Arroyos*

I'd love for you to pop on over and check out the gorgeous shades of Silky Merino, Sock, Rios and Arroyos - all by Malabrigo and if you do please tell me what you think, I love feedback!!!!

I also think I now know why I've been on such a lull for the past couple of months... Here at the 'Weekes' family we are very excited to be welcoming a new addition - Yes that means that I'm expecting bub #3, can you believe it???

I'm 3 months pregnant and am feeling a little nauseous - I can definitely say that this time 'round I'm having 'day long' sickness and not just sickness in the morning, blrrr.... Hopefully by week 20 all will be good...

time and time again.....

There's something about the Queen Anne Scarf that keeps drawing me back in, time and time again... For this blue version, that I made as a gift for Connie's dance teacher, I used Malabrigo Rios. I love the way that this gorgeous family owned company kettle dyes their yarn - the variegation's are simply divine...

Some more crochet : : I've had the picture of the little stars below stuck on my SLR camera since early December of last year.... A bunch of these little treasures were packed inside a very plump envelope and posted out to my loved ones with their Xmas cards last year... The pattern was by the very talented Lucy of Attic 24 - and what a bonus it's a freebie!!! I used Debbie Bliss DK Cotton for my stars - the shades in this range are deliciously vibrant, perfect for making a statement on your Xmas tree or for something even better - hang them on a door knob all year 'round!!!

I'm spending more and more time out in the garden these days - with Autumn settled in and the temperatures slowly declining I'm enjoying re-potting some succulent and Aloe Vera pups....

I have this stuff EVERYWHERE!!!! I love how it doesn't need much water to keep it alive, you can neglect it for months and it will fend for itself and every time you turn around it produces lovely little pup's ready for the transplanting - now that's my kind of gardening!!!

Here's hoping you've had a glorious Autumn weekend where you are...