Home Dairy

 . ricotta .

 . yoghurt .

. 'butter' .

I dream about the day I have a steady supply of fresh milk at my fingertips. I first learnt to milk a cow when I was on holiday in Chile. I have an aunty who is renowned for her fresh, white cheese. I remember her making it when I was a child and was still doing so

when I went back in 2007.  People come by the farm to pick it up, she makes and sells it daily.

Whether I ever will have my own cow, or a herd share, is yet to be revealed.  But I love the idea, even though it's quite a commitment. For the meantime I will live vicariously through books such as The Dirty Life and blogs such as Longest Acres.

I will also treasure the affordable supply of raw milk that I've been able to receive recently. This happy situation unfolded just at the time that the book Home Dairy arrived on my doorstep.

It has meant that we can master familiar recipes like Paneer and Yoghurt while experimenting with a whole bunch of other things, starting with Ricotta and 'butter' (more like whipped butter).

It is humbling to embark on such experiments and realise just how much time and milk goes in to making the final product. But you can't beat the satisfaction that accompanies this process either. Buttermilk pancakes with homemade butter, ricotta and local honey. Yes please!

 . breakfast time .

 . and I couldn't resist adding a photo of
 the eggs from our lovely ladies.

Making your own muesli (granola)

One of the best ways of saving money and having control over what you eat is by making your own cereal. After searching the aisles of supermarkets and natural food stores alike, I struggled to find a breakfast cereal that was just what I wanted. They all had either too much fat or too much sugar. None that was "just right"...hehehe. So I decided to make my own.

I'm a toasted muesli girl (or 'granola', for American readers) so that's what I chose, but you can make a wide range of cereals very cheaply. The easiest would be natural muesli (untoasted muesli). Just get your hands on some good quality rolled oats and mix it with any dried fruit, nuts, seeds and spices. You can add anything you like. There's plenty of recipes online but just go with what your taste buds tell you. 

The natural bulk foods store I shop at has a really good range of puffed, flaked and rolled grains. You can make a lighter option if you don't like muesli by just blending these with some fruit and nuts or seeds. There's some pretty protein packed grain options available (like quinoa flakes).

My favourite is a toasted muesli though. I don't really have a recipe, I just use what I have on hand. My most recent blend was rolled oats, coconut, almonds, apricots, cinnamon and honey. It's like a big bowl of sunshine in the morning. The basic guide is below, but really, it's hard to go wrong here. Start experimenting!

My muesli blend

all measurements are guestimates

6 cups rolled oats

2 cups shredded coconut

1 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped

1/2 ts cinnamon

1/3 cup brown sugar 

1 tb rice bran oil (any oil would do, olive is apparently nice)

1/2 cup water

2 tb honey

1 ts vanilla extract

1 cup dried apricots, diced

Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl. I like chunky bits (the ad companies call them 'clusters') in my muesli so I do a little trick where I put a cup of these dry ingredients in the food processor and pulverise them then mix in with the rest. 

Heat the next five ingredients until the sugar has dissolved. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Spread out on a lined tray (probably two trays) and bake on a low heat 'til lightly browned. If you like a muesli without clumps, stir the muesli as it cools. If you like clusters, don't stir. I add my fruit after the muesli has cooled. If you like your fruit super chewy, you can bake it in with the muesli. Store in an air tight container when completely cool. Lasts for about a month.

Food swap day planning

I've decided on the day for the food swap (March 25, three weeks away) and I've started making plans. The invites are sent (virtually) and I've begun the difficult task of making a list of what to make... So many options! This is the perfect opportunity to try out some new recipes. I often get overwhelmed with too many cookies or too much bread when I bake (good problem to have), a food swap allows you to have a little bit of everything. I can't wait to try what the other swappers bring too. It's a little bit like the best country fete/fair but everything is free!

So far, my list looks something like this:
pesto - my summer basil needs a trim
mini pies - there's some tasty apricots down at the green grocer
biscuits - too many options, but maybe these from 101 Cookbooks
jams - I have some rhubarb and vanilla bean jam I made earlier
salted caramel sauce - this looks amazing!


I better not get carried away though... What would you bring to a food swap?

Jessie's guest Green Cleaning post

I twisted Jessie's arm at the last SkillCycle day and convinced her to write something for the blog. So, with much excitement, introducing our first guest poster - Jessie!

There are lots of different motivations to get into green cleaning – for example, for healthier skin, safe grey water for our gardens, to help protect our waterways, to consume less, and to save money.

Some of us also have particular things that keep us from actually doing it – for me, it was uncertainty about whether I could get things ‘really’ clean (I was also wary of the smell of vinegar, until I realised it has no scent when it dries). Then the Queensland Floods happened in January. With water and sludge up to 2 metres up the walls, and the threat of mould enveloping the entire house, I had more cleaning to do than in the rest of my life so far, and didn’t want to inflict any more damage on the natural world than the disaster had already done.

Starting with clove oil to kill mould spores, and baking soda and vinegar to clean almost everything else, I realised greener methods could be extremely effective.  (And after the initial double-take on the cost of 10 ml of clove oil, I realised that with something so effective when using only a few drops per bucket, I could clean the entire house several times, for less than the cost of one spray-pack of ineffective whiteners. I still have ½ the bottle left).

Since then I’ve gleaned more information from friends, books and websites, and hope that this set of ‘Green Cleaning’ basics will be helpful for everyday (everyweek/month) cleaning and for dealing with some of the rarer tasks and accidents.  Ideas and links are really welcome!

Jessie

Bliss balls

Photo from a great vegan blog  Of The Kitten Kind 

Bliss balls are not my creation, they've been around for years. Most of you will have seen them selling for crazy prices at the front counter of your local health food store. Thing is, they're really easy to make. There's no recipe really, just a few things blended together to make a tasty snack. You can make them as healthy or as unhealthy as you like. At their simplest, they're a blend of nuts, seeds, dried fruit and a sticky sweetener. Here's the 'recipe' for one of my most popular mixes. I never measure any ingredients, just pour and adjust if needed.

Bliss balls (all measurements are guesses)

1 1/2 cups almonds

1/3 cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup cashews blended into a paste

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

2 TB honey

1 TB cocoa powder

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup LSA

Grind your cashews into a paste in food processor. Blend your almonds in a food processor until they form a nut meal (like a breadcrumb consistency). Process dried cranberries in almond meal quickly to chop them a little. Mix in all other ingredients in bowl, add more honey if too crumbly. Taste, adjust sweetness to your liking. Can add a little oil if not binding. Roll into balls then roll in coconut or sesame seeds. Refrigerate til ready to eat. They will last a months in the fridge if you can stop eating them!


Other options for mixes: macadamia nuts, dried apricots, dates, cinnamon (and other spices), sultanas, wheatgerm, tahini, vanilla, chocolate. A quick google will bring up hundreds of great combos. 

SkillCycle II - frugal gardening and more

So, the second SkillCycle day was a success! We covered pasta making with Kate, knot tying with Kerry, bliss balls with Bron (yum!), green cleaning with Jessie and I did frugal gardening. 

My session covered a range of bits and pieces you could collect from around the home/in the bin/on the kerbside throw-out to make gardening cheaper and more sustainable. I went through different options for growing containers like olive oil tins, small tins, yoghurt containers etc., and making your own pots out of newspaper, toilet rolls or egg cartons. Then I discussed making labels for your pots out of recycled food containers (like milk bottles and yoghurt tubs again) as well as old venetian blinds you find on council kerbside recycling days.

I spoke about saving seeds and my general motto of 'give it a go, you never know'. Some seeds are easier to save and grow than others but you'll never know until you stick some in the ground. Remember to try the pantry and your spice rack.  


We also covered protecting your garden from bush turkeys and possums. I absolutely love bird netting for this purpose. I had little success with my veggie beds until I covered the whole garden in netting. Now I only have to fight caterpillars and grasshoppers; much nicer than the total annihilation you get from the possums and turkeys! The stuff is very cheap at your local hardware store or nursery. You do have to keep it quite low and watch no birds get tangled in it though.


All in all it was a lovely, inspiring day. I went home and planted some seeds, made some bliss balls (recipe to come in a later post) and generally felt like I'd accomplished something. 

BOGI Fair - other inspirations

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm always inspired at BOGI Fair's. The year before I joined a Community Exchange System called LETS (Local Energy Trading Scheme) after speaking to Adrian who has a LETS stall each year. Our local branch is called BrisLETS but there are many groups all over the world. The system works as a multi-way trading scheme. In other words, I can sell something to another member which puts credit into my account, I can then use that credit to purchase something or pay for a service from any other member. While I like small one to one trades within my community, LETS allows for a lot more flexibility. And there is a huge variety of services and products for sale.


My other stall neighbour this year was Marilena. She was selling her homemade cakes and cards. None of us could resist her elderberry flower and mulberry cupcakes. I chatted to her throughout the day about SkillCycle and why we both do what we do. We both feel the same way about not really doing any of this for 'profit' (in the conventional sense). We both just enjoy showing people how easy it is to make delicious food from locally sourced and sustainably grown food. Marilena also helps organise a yearly winter feast in Samford (north west of Brisbane) with fresh local produce being shared by the whole community.


Quite a few Transition Towns members approached the stall throughout the day. These groups do so much more than can be described in a few lines so you can read about them here. I've been meaning to join my local group for awhile now.


I've heard Stan from Sizzling Solar Systems and his wife Jane speak on numerous occasions but he's always impressive so I popped by for another demo. I also love hearing the ooh's and aah's from people who have never seen Stan set fire to a piece of wood in seconds using only a salvaged satellite dish, base of a student desk chair and some shiny chip packet liners. He's like a modern day MacGyver. Who cooks.


All in all, a very inspiring day!