Use Your Harvest and Dont Just Look At It

OK, i admit it (i think i might have confessed this before) that i love to spend time in my garden watching everything grow and sometimes, just sometimes, i leave them there a little too long and they go to seed or they rot on the plant.  Stupid, i know.  So when i brought in my harvest last night and proudly showed them in my last post

if you missed them, here it is again.....

i immediately thought that i had better come up with something that used the above.

If you take a look at the opening picture (pretty isn't it) well that's

my lettuce
my tomato
my zucchini
my corn kernels (cooked)
my capsicum

I've added onion, pumpkin, eggs, bacon and flour and made a slice.   Some for tonight's dinner and some packed in freezer.  It reheats really well and makes a nice light lunch.

The only thing i missed out on was the beans.  The pickings from the day before ended up in a slow cooked lamb shank stew served on a potato and garlic mash (sorry no photo).  There were lots of leftovers so again it was boxed up for freezing and serving on pasta at another time.  The beans picked last night were blanched and frozen for later use.

How green is green

The other week i showed a bowl of lemons i was given and said i would be making a Lemon Coconut Slice.  Today i was at Bunnings buying some wood for Hubby's project and getting some more Pea Straw for mulching and we had a cup of coffee together.  I almost bought a piece of this slice for $3 and then i thought, no i have everything i need to make it at home.  So on request from Sharon, here is the recipe:

Base

90gm butter
250ml of sweetened condensed milk (i used skim because i had it)
1 pkt of Marie biscuits (250gm)
1 Cup of dessicated coconut
2 tbsp of lemon juice (about 2 med size)
peel from 1 lemon   (don't forget to put the rest of the peel in your citrus cleaner jar covered with vinegar).

Place the butter, condensed milk and peel in a saucepan on very low heat and stir constantly until butter is melted.  Crush the biscuits and place in bowl with coconut.  Pour butter mixture over and mix until all coated.
Press into slice tin lined with baking paper.  Refrigerate until firm.

Icing

3 cups of Icing Sugar
2 tbsp of butter
3 tbsp of juice
a little peel
A drizzle of milk chocolate is optional.

Sift sugar and combine with butter, juice and peel.  I wanted a thick icing that was about 5mm thick and so i kept it quite firm.  The chocolate drizzle was optional but i wanted to appeal to Tom and his mate that was coming over.  If i said it was a Lemon Slice they wouldn't even try it but because it had chocolate on it, it actually made it past their lips and they ended up having two slices.

Definition of Frustration:   When you go to the effort of making good food and you are told "i don't like it" and they have never had it before.  This happens so so often.

I used a lasagna dish for this and so i figure at cafe prices i had a fortune now packed away in my freezer.

I know the chocolate looks crazy but after gardening i really couldn't be bothered getting out a piping bag.  

Leftovers Magic

My Bestie is leaving for holidays tomorrow and so she came around with the contents of her crisper and the chicken carcass from her roast chicken dinner tonight.  Only the best of friends would give each other a cooked chicken carcass.   So i threw it into a pot with veggies, herbs, can of lentils and after pulling the chicken off and discarding the bones, i have a yummy healthy soup for tomorrows lunch.  She left with a big frozen bowl of my slow cooked bolognese sauce i made a week ago to take with her so that when she arrives in Hastings tomorrow their first meal is taken care of.

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