What to do with a surplus of capsicums

What do I do with a surplus of green capsicums?
I was given a box of green capsicums, there were too many to use quickly before they turned bad. I didn’t want to waste them.

Off to Google I went and found a delicious recipe for Green Capsicum Pickles - 8 capsicum, 3 onions, pickling spice, 2 cups white sugar, 1 tsp salt and 2 cups apple cider vinegar.
I didn’t have the spice mix they used so I made my own in the coffee grinder - mustard powder, coriander seeds, dried chilli flakes, ground ginger, bay leaf and cinnamon powder.

Simmered together for 5 minutes, pack into sterilised Fowlers jars and boil in the preserver for 30 minutes.
Delicious with a salad or BBQ meat.

In fact, writing this blog has made me hungry for more of them so I think I will have some with my lunch.

Enjoy life :)

Ann 

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Making Olive Oil

We have 4 olive trees, I don't eat olives, so what do we do with all the fruit?

A number of years ago we decided to pick our olives and take them to a friends farm for pressing into olive oil.  We have not bought olive oil since and the best thing is we know exactly what has gone into our oil and where it has come from.


It is a laborious job picking the olives, but time passes quickly when you pick with friends.  We now have a small community who we pick with and then pool our olives into one big batch for pressing.

I bought this wonderful apron a few years ago from a market and it has made picking the olives a lot easier.  I have both hands free for picking and can just load the apron up to be emptied into our picking crates.

After pressing we decant our oil into upcycled bottles (my husband eagerly helps with emptying the wine bottles :))

We use our oil for almost all our cooking and it is delicious as a dip with some bread and dukkah.

My helper

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What to do with all that garlic....

I was given a bag of garlic by a good friend and rather than see it go forgotten in the pantry I preserved it for future use.

With a bit of help I peeled the cloves.
To make the skin come off easier I cracked the clove under the knife blade (push down gently until you hear the crack) this makes the skin "separate" from the clove and easier to peel.

The peeled cloves were put in a sterilised jar, tap the jar on the bench to allow the cloves to settle together and make more room on top for more cloves.

I then poured olive oil (from our olive trees) over the cloves to cover the top, gently tap the jar on the bench to release any bubbles and fill until covered allowing a bit of room at the top of the jar before putting the lid or seal on.

Store in the fridge for future use or in case of vampires.

Enjoy

Ann
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What to do with all the carrots we have harvested?

It was all hands on deck when our daughter walked in with a big armful of carrots.  She was so proud that she had harvested all the carrots in the vegie patch.  

I was suffering with Ross River Virus and my husband was busy harvesting the wheat crop.

Needless to say we found time to prepare all the lovingly harvested carrots for the freezer.

Little Miss was put on carrot topping and washing duty, then Hubby and I diced the carrots into the saucepan.

The carrots were blanched in boiling water for a couple of minutes and then put into freezer bags and straight into the freezer.  

We can now enjoy eating our harvest at our leisure.

Enjoy

Ann

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I was going to make Mulberry jam - honestly I was

Back in November our mulberry tree started fruiting.  It is a lot of fun to go outside and pick our breakfast straight from the tree.  The mulberries and apricots ripened about the same time, the peaches are ripening now and soon we will have pears, quinces, grapes and figs.  Sadly the citrus are almost finished for the season.

Anyway, back to the mulberries, I managed to actually pick a bowl full of mulberries, it was one for the bowl, one for me.  I did manage to get them inside before they were devoured, they are so delicious.  I had every good intention of turning them into mulberry jam, but well you know, they sort of all hopped into my mouth.   

There's always next year.

Enjoy life

Ann

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Quandong Jam

Living in the Victorian Mallee we are surrounded by native plants, trees and flowers.  One of these is the Quandong (Santalum acuminatum) or native peach.  This parasitic tree belongs in the same family as the Sandalwood.

In early Spring the Quandong produces a small bright red fruit, it has a bitter taste but the fruit is delicious when made into jam.

Quandong Jam

2 cups of Quandongs de-seeded and roughly chopped 

2 cups castor sugar
2 cups water
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Boil together stirring continuously.  Pour into sterilised jars, seal and label.


















Looking forward to enjoying this on my toast in the morning.










When you have finished preparing the fruit, you are left with these wonderful seeds.  My Mother-in-law had collected hundreds of them which I have in a jar in my craft room.

So far I have used them as game pieces in a Chinese Checkers game and as beads in a necklace.  I am still looking for more uses for them, so any ideas will be gratefully accepted.


Enjoy

Ann
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