Food swap

I've been thinking about having a food swap day for a long time. I think February is the month it is finally going to happen. A food swap can be as organised or relaxed as you like. It can be as simple as a table where people place the food they've made/grown and want to share and anyone can take whatever they want. Or it can be structured, using cards where people can offer a swap for each item (using swap sheets with categories What, Who and Offers). Then the maker can choose what 'payment' they want for their product. I'm kind of excited about this! I'll keep you posted on the planning.

Community swapping and sharing is starting to gain momentum in Australia. Yesterday I read an article about home grown produce sharing in Melbourne and surrounds. It sounds like a great idea, one I'd love to get started here. It's just another way of developing community sufficiency, instead of being too worried about complete self sufficiency. Do you have anything like this near you?

Free Library

I recently stumbled across a link to any amazing project called Little Free Library on Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking. It started in the States and basically involves a weather proof box where you leave books you want to share with the neighbourhood. Locals borrow the books and then bring them back, same as you would with a regular library. People even contribute their own books.

It seems like a wonderful way to encourage community, sharing and reading. I wonder if it could take off here?

Chocolate Beetroot Brownies

I'm about to head to a friend's house warming party down the road and didn't want to go empty handed. I made some yummy fetta and pesto quinoa with grilled zucchini - but a couple of wilting beetroot in my crisper drawer were making me feel guilty so chocolate beetroot brownies were in order. These are easy to make and actually quite healthy...as brownies go. And a lovely way to warm a house! You could add nuts - if that's your thing.

Chocolate beetroot brownies

2 medium beetroot

100gm dark chocolate (70%) 

1 egg

60gm plain flour

50gm butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

125gm caster sugar

15gm cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a rectangular pan (approx 15 x 20 cm). Peel and cut beetroot into eighths. You can either cook til tender in a microwave with a little water on high for 12 mins or steam on the stove top. Blend the beetroot with the chopped chocolate, vanilla and butter in a food processor until smooth. Beat sugar and egg until creamy, 2 minutes. Gently fold in the beetroot mix. Sift in the flour and the cocoa and gently fold into the wet mixture. Pour into the tin and bake about 25 minutes until the centre is almost done. Cool completely in the pan.

House vs Home

I spent this weekend clearing out, de-cluttering and organising our house with my partner, Andy. It was desperately needed, I only wish I'd taken before photos so I could do a comparison. We've lived in five different places since moving in together ten years ago (six if you count our stint in Dublin for 6 months) and it has turned us into water-treaders. When you move a lot (and also rent), it's easy to get into the trap of not really putting down roots. All of our previous rentals have really just been houses, this current place is the first I'd call a home. It's a big difference that, house vs. home. And it's taken about five years living in the one place to realise. 

I finally arranged a little space for myself to call a craft corner, setting up my sewing machine instead of leaving it neglected in the linen closet. That feels positive in itself. I wish we'd done this years ago but it's better late than never. Definitely another reminder of the importance to 'grow where you are planted'.

I made banana bread to provide sustenance for the weekend's work. A very tasty, cinnamon-y loaf that's firm enough for toasting under the grill. And perfect for the sudden rainy cold snap we're having.

Banana Bread

adapted from a recipe in Things on Toast by Tonia George

200g self raising flour

125g brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

pinch salt

50g butter, melted

60ml milk

1 egg, beaten

3 very ripe lady finger bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 180degC. Grease a loaf tin (mine was 14cm x 20 cm). Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl. Mix the dry ingredients in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix to get rid of floury pockets. Don't over mix, it will be lumpy. Bake 30-35 mins or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin 10 mins. Fantastic toasted with butter!

Waste-less

I mentioned in an earlier post about the huge amount of food Australian households waste (estimated at around $6billion a year!). These numbers frighten me. It basically means, when weighed against how much money the average family spends on food, people might as well just throw out one full bag of groceries out of every six they purchase the minute they get home. Crazy.


I try very hard not to waste food, but I'm far from perfect. We're lucky that we have a dog who loves veggies and what she doesn't eat raw gets cooked into her dog food I make every few months. Anything below Frankie's standard goes to the compost bin to produce better soil in our backyard. 


All these options are good. But one of the tastiest uses for scraps of veg is in making stock. Same goes for bones and chicken carcasses but best not ask a vego for the recipe! I love home made stock, it really does make food taste better and is worth the effort. 


I read an idea somewhere (I can't remember where unfortunately) that suggested keeping an old milk carton in the freezer and adding all your veggie scraps to that throughout the week. You throw in all the onion tops and celery leaves and carrot tops and then when you want stock you just cut open the carton and chuck it in the pot. Simmer the stock 'til flavoursome and then strain. We did a mushroom stock the other day with some dried out mushies and it was amazing!


Once you have your beautiful stock, the options are endless. Below is my favourite soup recipe. We sold this with lazy girl bread at last year's BOGI Fair and it sold out in an hour. Great comfort food.

Potato and three onion soup


nice, local waxy potatoes
leeks
brown onions
onion chives
garlic
stock 
butter
olive oil
cream
salt and pepper


All quantities are to scale based on your number to feed. Dice your onions, use more onions than you would as a base to most meals. They're a major ingredient in this soup, not just a supporting act. Soften the onions slowly in a good knob of butter and a good splash of olive oil. Take your time here, when they're halfway done, add the sliced leeks (as many as you can afford). Cook until soft and delicious. Stir through your diced and peeled potatoes, get them well covered in the onion-y goodness. Add your stock and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. Blend with a stick blender or in batches in a blender until very smooth. Add cream and some more butter (I didn't say it was a healthy dish!). Season. Serve with lazy girl bread.

Gifting

A friend, Amy, posted a link to a really interesting article about the economy of gifts recently. After reading I started thinking about ways to make this sort of idea work. I spoke with Mel about this and she mentioned she'd been thinking about the idea of community sufficiency as opposed to self-sufficiency for awhile. It makes a lot of sense to me. We'd like to have something organised (as described in the article) but I also started thinking about ways in which I'm already involved in gifting. 


Mel and I don't seem to ever visit each other without something in hand - a jar of jam, something home grown or a piece of clothing, even something we saw while op-shopping which made us think of the other. It's a natural thing and it makes me happy. Seeing someone else get joy out of something you made, or wear a beautiful dress you no longer fit in to can be really uplifting. 


I also use freecycle quite a bit. I recently posted some items and when a lovely girl called Em came to collect a couch and laundry basket for her new home, I thought she looked a little familiar. Turned out she knows Mel and a half dozen of my friends! She brought a home grown rockmelon and an eggplant, and some of her hen's eggs. It reminded me of the days when you'd never think of visiting a friend empty handed.

These simple, small acts are the easy way to start the circle of giving. I'm a big believer in starting small. Next time you visit someone, take them a flower from your garden or a few slices of banana bread you cooked. It'll make you both smile.