Merryn's Menu: Winter Garden Delights

Merryn's Menu: Winter Garden Delights: June in the Garden The coolest months are upon us, and as we pass from Autumn to Winter our gardens magnify to heap before us, all grea...

Winter Garden Delights

June in the Garden

The coolest months are upon us, and as we pass from Autumn to Winter

our gardens magnify to heap before us, all great vegetables that thrive at this time.

Various vegetables to take us through winter.    Lettuces, tomatoes, fennel, capsicum, endive, shallots, leeks, cabbage, broccoli to bok choy and eggplant.

We have protected the new garden beds from the chickens and placed watering systems in most.

Below are some of the more unusual trees I have collected.

The above one is a sour sop, which will shortly lose its leaves for winter.

Below is a Drumstick, or Horseradish tree, let's just say it was a good idea at the time.

Surely I am not the only one who indiscriminately collects unique trees?

On the left is an Anise Myrtle tree which has a gorgeous aniseed flavour.

To the right is my Pandan tree which is thriving and multiplying with pups.
Not watering very much is the secret to success for this Pandan tree.

Underneath is a potted curry tree,  Murraya koenigii
which is a very useful addition to curries and stir fries.

A lemon myrtle tree below, has been growing solidly since being planted in the ground 4 weeks ago.

This peach tree was pruned four weeks ago and it already has beautiful pink peach flowers.

One of these trees is a Valencia orange while the other is a Blood Orange.  

Time will tell which is which, as they were moved last Spring.

This is a post for the Garden Share Collective hosted by Lizzie at Strayed from the Table.
You can see the other members gardens here.
This is also posted on my Facebook page.
Thank you for walking around my garden on the 1st June 2014.
Kind regards, Merryn.

Beeswax Hand Cream - Home Made

Beeswax Hand Cream with Macadamia and Coconut Oils

One reason why I started a web blog, was to connect with like minded people

and share my joy of cooking/creating/gardening

and enjoy sharing these hobbies during quiet times.

It is wonderful to relax  during the day and browse my favourite blogs
reading about what other people have been cooking or creating.

I read many different hand creme, salve and lotion recipes
then adapted what I had in my kitchen to incorporate what I thought would create a good combination.

I thought it was cute to strain the beeswax from our last honey harvest
into heart shaped molds I have had forever.

Gather your oils, beeswax and Vitamin E oil and place into a small saucepan.
This is an old one I specifically keep for melting non food items.

Add your preferred essential oils as soon as you take the lotion off the heat.
Here is my delightfully creamy hand creme with a beautiful consistency.
When you rub some between your hands it at first feels a little greasy but is quickly absorbed
making your hands lovely, soft and moisturised.

Merryns's Beeswax Hand Creme 

½ cup macadamia oil 

½ cup olive oil 

½ cup coconut oil 

½ cup beeswax, grated 

5 vitamin E capsules, pierced with a pin and the oil squeezed out 

10 drops rose geranium essential oil

10 drops lavender essential oil.

Place the macadamia oil, olive oil, coconut oil and grated beeswax in a small saucepan.

Place saucepan on top of boiling water in another, bigger saucepan until melted.

This only takes 3 - 4 minutes.   Then add essential oils.

Pour product into small containers and let cool.

Buon appetito, enjoy Merryn.

Merryn's Menu: Beeswax and Coconut Lip Balm (home made)

Merryn's Menu: Beeswax and Coconut Lip Balm (home made): One of the beautiful by products of honey is BEESWAX When you extract the honey you have all of this glorious, sweet smelling, luscious beeswax...

Beeswax and Coconut Lip Balm (home made)

One of the beautiful by products of honey is

BEESWAX

When you extract the honey you have all of this glorious, sweet smelling, luscious beeswax.

I have experimented with beeswax lip balm, hand cream and face scrub.

Here is my preferred beeswax lip balm.

Moisturising for your lips, non greasy, light and lovely. 

Measure your ingredients; I finely chopped the beeswax but you can also grate it.

Add the coconut oil, vitamin E and lanolin cream

(you can use pure lanolin oil instead.)

Add your essential oils after the oils have been heated.

• 
  Beeswax Lip Balm Recipe

25 grams pure beeswax

40 grams coconut oil

4 capsules of Vitamin E

1 heaped teaspoon of Lanolin cream

6 drops lemon myrtle essential oil

6 drops peppermint essential oil

4 drops lavender essential oil

Place beeswax, coconut oil, the vitamin E oil that has been squeezed out of the capsules (pierce capsules with a pin first) and the lanolin into the small saucepan.

Place on top of a larger saucepan with boiling water and stir until dissolved, approx 3 -5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add essential oils, to achieve your desired fragrance.

Let cool, then test before bottling.

       

Buon appetitio, Enjoy, Merryn.

Merryn's Menu: Garden Share Collective May Gardening

Merryn's Menu: Garden Share Collective May Gardening: Autumn is definitely here, producing lovely sunny days with cooler mornings and evenings. The perfect climate for growing capsicums. ...

Garden Share Collective May Gardening

Autumn is definitely here, producing lovely sunny days with cooler mornings and evenings.

The perfect climate for growing capsicums.

Sweet Fennel

I have started a new herb garden against a north facing brick wall.

The shredded paper was padding for an object posted to me,

I decided to use it as mulch.  Anything from straw to paper, helps to keep the soil moist

and stop your delicate plants from drying out too quickly.

To the right is a new male kiwifruit plant I finally purchased.

My 3 year old female on the left has been alone for a while

and kiwifruit need male and female plants for pollination.

I will remember to water this one.

Shopping for plants is like going into a jewellery store.

You have to try hard not to get distracted.

Well, not too much anyway.

So I found this really cute cinnamon tree ~ if it lives for just 5 years it will pay for itself.

... and this adorable macadamia tree.

Here are winter tomatoes raised from seed and planted in a northerly position

against a brick wall that retains the heat and give the tomato plants extra warmth.

My Tahitian Lime and Eureka Lemon trees

bursting with glorious citrus fruit.

Our next banana bunch, growing in size and strength.

Blueberry bushes, a Biloxi and a Misty.

They will cross pollinate each other and grow up to 1m in size.

I have potted them into bigger pots as I want them to grow bigger before planting in the ground.

I trust you have enjoyed viewing my garden 

and I will do my best to keep everything watered and alive.

Please have a look at the other Garden Share Collective members gardens this month.

Buon appetito, Enjoy, Merryn.

Merryn's Menu: Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie

Merryn's Menu: Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie: Full of flavour Chicken and Leek Pie I often plan dinners ahead, although food being an emotional enjoyment is also often decided daily...

Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie

Full of flavour Chicken and Leek Pie

I often plan dinners ahead, although food being an emotional enjoyment is also often decided daily.

On this Monday I had planned to cook a chicken and leek pie that evening, after work.

On this day while having my morning caffe latte and browsing the day's emails 

I was fortunate to find and read Billy Law's latest post featuring 

a game-of-thrones-faux-pigeon-pie and I highly recommend you have a look as well.

I was not quite inspired enough to cook all of the trimmings, time is precious after work!

Billy's recipe was adapted to suit my ingredients and the time available.  It was a huge success.

Short crust pastry with Lard
500g all-purpose plain flour, extra for dusting
150g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
100g lard
1/4 cup cold water

Place flour, butter and lard into a food processor.  Blend until it just looks like breadcrumbs.

Lightly pulse, adding the water in a stream until it comes together as a ball.  

Place in bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Chicken and Leek Filling

2 tablespoons butter

2 big leeks, white part only, thinly sliced
350g  white mushrooms, thinly sliced

900g chicken thigh fillets, diced into 1 - 2cm cubes

2 tablespoons butter, extra

¼ cup all-purpose plain flour200ml Chicken Stock

200ml cream

1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tablespoon dried)

salt and white pepper
1 egg

Melt butter in a large heavy based  frying pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons butter, the leeks and mushrooms, sauté for 5 minutes.  Add the chicken pieces and fry another 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Sprinkle the flour over this mixture and cook for a further couple of minutes. Gradually stir in the hot stock sitrring constantly, then add the cream. Add herbs and simmer gently over low heat until the mixture has thickened.    Season with salt and white pepper.  Allow to cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 200 celsius.

Take 2/3 of the lard pastry and roll pastry out until it is wide enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 20-cm springform tin. Place a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry and fill with baking beans (weights to stop pastry rising) then cook for 20 minutes.  

Remove and take away the paper and weights.  Bake for another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.

Fill pastry case with chicken, leek and mushroom filling.

Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie with this lid, squeezing the lid to the sides to seal the pie.

Beat an egg with a little milk and brush the pie with this egg wash.

Place the pie on a baking tray, bake pie in oven for 35 - 40 minutes. 

Remove and let rest for 5 - 10 minutes.

Buon appetito, enjoy. Merryn