The Best Coconut Slice Ever!

 Archie had to do some cooking for his class last night so decided to make coconut ice. The recipe called for copha which is a hydrogenated vegetable fat... something I really didn't want to buy. So we thought we would try using coconut oil instead. Oh my giddy aunt - it was so much better that I thought we should share the recipe!

Archie's Coconut Slice (adapted from Stephanie Alexander's 'The Cook's Companion'

130 grams coconut oil

250 grams dessicated coconut

500 grams icing sugar

a few drops of vanilla extract

2 egg whites

a few drops of natural food colouring 

Melt the coconut oil and then mix with the dessicated coconut, icing sugar, vanilla extract and egg whites. Divide the mixture in half and mix the natural food colouring through one batch. Spread one half in a 20x20cm square cake tin then spread the other half on top. Refrigerate until cold and then cut into pieces. TRY NOT TO EAT TOO MUCH!!!

At the Table.

It is wonderful to be home but goodness, with school starting back, what a whirlwind life has become again... and what a contrast to life down at the beach. Nonetheless, knitting is beckoning to me once more - I've started a new jumper for Archie - We're hurtling towards Autumn at a rapid rate so it really is time to think about getting ready for a change of weather.

Our plums are have ripened so I've been cooking and jamming them as quickly as I can - the cake above is plum with vanilla icing.

We're also making the most of strawberries - they are particularly sweet at the moment.

And of course also making the most of friends and cups of tea... My neighbour came over today and wound up this ball of wool while I was skimming the plum jam. She was a very good jam tester too.

After a morning's work I was very happy to line up twenty jars of jam on the bench and even more proud when Hugo came home from school and couldn't believe I made them all. I like five year olds.

Well, I'm about to collapse on the couch for a while...

Have a lovely night,

Love Kate xxooxx.

A Gluten Free Chocolate Cake!!! Also good for gluten people too...

This is our family favourite....

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake (also a good recipe for gluten flour)

150 grams softened butter

1 cup of sugar

3 eggs (only 2 if you are making a cake with gluten flour)

2 cups grated carrot (or 2 ripe bananas mashed)

2/3 cup cocoa powder (dark)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup gluten free self raising flour

1/2 cup of milk

Preheat oven to 180c (or moderate oven). Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat in. Next add the grated carrot or banana mash. Mix in dry ingredients thoroughly and then add milk.

Scrape into a greased and lined cake tin and bake for approximately 45 - 50 minutes.

Ice with your family's favourite chocolate icing. Usually I use butter, boiling water, icing sugar and cocoa powder but last time I swapped the butter for light cream cheese and the icing was extraordinary (and much lower in fat... not that it mattered).

Have fun.

Love Kate xxooxx.

Ambling Along.

Today is very much a dig your toes into home kind of day. I have been checking on the new roses flowering for their first time (kind of like Jonno when his cows are calving but I don't have to don gloves). The rose featured above is a David Austin named 'The Prince'. Its fragrance is incredible.
Hugo decided he wanted to earn pocket money and scrubbed the bathroom sink for me... he was thrilled with this arrangement and so was I.

A bit of gluten free bread making has been going on which is so exciting for Hugo and I but not so much for Jonno and Archie (although they love it when it's fresh).

And Archie has been putting lots of Bundle loving time into his schedule.

Last of all I finished the cuttings brought back from the South Island.

Aside from all of these wonderful weekendy things, something even more exciting is coming up... tonight we have been invited to a fireworks party and the children are staying up late. The best part about this is the very long nap we will all have to take this afternoon. Oh dear.

Have a lovely weekend, love Kate xxooxxooxx.

Happy Birthdays and the Great Big Greedy Give Away!!

It has been a wonderful birthday so far - lots of spoiling, good food, a few presents (including the necklace and headband from tamar.etsy.com - I can't get a link on it at the moment) and plenty of careful rose transplanting. The weather is beautifulish and the crackle is definitely pinging through the air. Oh to be born on the 10/10 and be alive in 2010!!!

So to celebrate 10/10/10, it is time to kick off the big give away. The prize is made up of one pincushion of your choice (crocheted or sewn) and the book pictured above, 'Kyuto! Japanese Crafts: Woolly Embroidery'.

In order to enter please tell me your favourite read of the past year and your nameif you can't sign in with a pre-existing account.

Happy Day!!!

p.s. I will draw the winner on Monday, 18th October. Good luck...

Snippets.

A photo to show the sun shining again after weeks of wind and rain.

What are the boys watching so intently...

Jonno and his sausage maker - chicken, sun dried tomatoes and white wine.

Hugo's toast - he is sick again, this time with strep throat and needed some cheering up.

Hard to believe but we are back to quietly shuffling around the house as Hugo is feeling very poorly with lots of temperatures and a sore throat. It's no surprise really as of course the only place we have been while his system was under attack was the doctors and there always seem to be a few germs lurking around.
As for me, sleep and strep throat don't go hand in hand so I am catching up with snippets of naps here and there. I am actually feeling very cheerful - just such a relief to have chicken pox over and done with. But you know what - I am so looking forward to posting about craft and only craft!!!

Harvest and Plum Jam

Things have been a bit quiet on the blogging front so I thought I would do a little catch up from last week. Now the seasons are changing, the plum jam is coming into its own bringing memories of summer onto our plates. And autumn too is having its celebration, showering our grass with feijoas, windfall apples and pale blue eggs.