Category Archives: Making, Creating + Frugal Living

dyeing with turmeric

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Looking at the shelves, I see a sea of whites, and pastels before me. Now how did that happen? How have I gone through two newborn stages before and still have a cupboard so lacking in colour? It looks like colour was a bit slim on the ground before 3-6 months. Hmmm, need to change that.

How about some playing with natural dyes and see what I can come up with? With yellow on my mind lately, I remembered this post from this lovely lady. It seemed turmeric was looking like a good choice and having come home with some fresh turmeric from my favourite market stall a few days before, an even more logical choice.

Some fresh turmeric dyeing action it was going to be.

First up, some turmeric sliced into pieces and put into enough water to just cover the items I want coloured.

looking lemony yellowy looking after 24 hours of soaking… now to cook it.

After an hour of gently boiling. The colour looks good, but will it stay? (Turmeric seems to be one of the few natural dyes that don’t need a mordant.)

After one wash in the machine and line dried… looking rather lemony again, not the brighter yellow I was after. The wash wasn’t what did it, it seems the sun fades it, and rather quickly.

Try again…

This time with one teaspoon dried turmeric and enough water to just colour the material, cold water soak for an hour. Rinsed until the water runs clear, and how’s it looking? Looking like a wonderful bright yellow.

On the line to dry again, and once  more  it seems to fade a bit with the sun. This time I’m ok with that though. The colour is more vivid, and if it fades well so be it, it’s a natural dye. A natural dye that has its own rhythm and opinion it seems and if I really want to vamp the colour up again, well I just need a teaspoon of turmeric and little cold water.

Have you had great natural dyeing action? What are your favourite colours or items to use?

Summer Roasted Tomatoes- Frugal Friday

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Roasted Summer

some summery heirloom tomatoes chopped in half

a small roughly chopped eggplant

a few cloves of seasonal local garlic

some great local olive oil drizzled all over

pop in a few potatoes/ sweet potatoes if you feel like it

then roast at about 200C until it smells wonderful and looks how you want it.

Just before you finish the roasting add some

ripped up basil leaves

and sliced soft fresh mozzarella (not the salty waxy yellow type)

Eat with some chunks of sourdough for mopping up those juices.

Simple, seasonal, locally produced, frugal… oh and tasty.

pepperonata- Frugal Friday

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The first time The Monkeys saw yellow capsicum, they raised a skeptical eyebrow or two. Even after my assurance that yes, it was still a capsicum, yellow it may be.

Capsicums are red or green mama…

Yes, but they are also yellow.

Now come on, eat it.

A tentative bite, eyebrows still cocked…

It is capsicum!  They happily declared.

(Saying that, they wouldn’t touch this dish, they like their vegetables on the raw side.)

Pepperonata

A couple of good slurps of wonderful local olive oil

as much diced seasonal garlic as you fancy

and sliced capsicum

cook it through for a few minutes, and then pop a lid on and wilt it down until it becomes soft. Salt to taste and serve with some crusty bread, and perhaps a little chorizo, (the chorizo alway wins points with The Monkeys and Mr Chocolate.)

Chocolate Hazelnut Surprise- Frugal Friday

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So, desserts don’t usually make it in to my Frugal Friday posts. But drown me in amaretto if this one isn’t frugal.

Mr Chocolate’s parents were coming over for lunch and my thoughts had been else where. The lunch bit was sorted, but it would be nice if there was a little sweetie something to follow it up with. Now what do I have?

some cooking mistake freezer brownie

some old cream

some sad looking strawberries

oh and some chocolate (50%)

Now I hate tossing food out. I can generally give something a new lease of life well after it has looked it’s best. I like the challenge of it, and it let’s me be a little creative in the kitchen. I was a little nervous with this one though, as it wasn’t just the usual culprits eating it.

Hmmm, thinking cap on, and…

Chocolate Hazelnut Surprise

crumble up some freezer brownie

then whip up

300mls of cream that needed using

add a good shake

 of some hazelnut meal through it (approx 50g)

and

1 tsp vanilla into the whipped cream

and then slowly drizzle some

melted dark chocolate (about 100g- I used 50%)

in as well (don’t over whip it)

layer it with your brownie (or an old chocolate/plain cake you may have hanging around)

add a few

chopped up sad looking strawberries on top and then

drizzle a little more chocolate on

******

So how did it taste?

Delicious.

Did the inlaws suspect anything less than a well planned dessert.

Hell no.

(This is not a recipe. Not really any way. Just use what you have and play. You will probably end up with a lovely tasty surprise.)

houmus- frugal Friday

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Tahini was one of those food items that I had long since written off as something I didn’t particularly like. I didn’t mind it in other peoples cooking, but I certainly wasn’t going to be eating it by the spoonful from the jar. If you can imagine a cat coughing up a fur ball, that would be me trying to eat a spoonful of tahini.

Then I decided that I wanted to make houmus for The Monkeys though. When making houmus it needs tahini, everyone knows that, so I was going to have to revisit my spoonful of fur ball.

I decided to try the unhulled darker type as it had been the hulled version I had always tried in the past. With teaspoon at the ready, I dipped in.

Holy houmus, it was delicious.

It tried another small piece to see if my taste buds were tricking me. Nope, it really was. It was like peanut butter…but sesame butter. Now I don’t know if my taste buds have simply changed over time or unhulled tastes ridiculously better than hulled. Either way, it’s now a staple in the fridge and The Monkeys can have as much houmus as they want, as this dip is dead easy to make.

Houmus

400g canned chick peas

1 clove raw garlic

1/4 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

4 tbls olive oil

3 tbls lemon juice

1 tbls unhulled tahini

salt and black pepper to taste

Whiz it all up in a hand held blender. Spoon it out on to a dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little paprika.

12 eco friendly Christmas gift ideas

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We seem to be heading towards the pointy end of the year and with that usually comes a little gift giving. I love making or giving something that I know can either be consumed, passed on, recycled, is environmentally friendly or upcycled in some way. In giving gifts like this though, you usually have to think a little bit before hand. So no shopping on Christmas Eve for me. (Anyway, I would rather be eating my 10th rum ball and reading Christmas bed time stories to The Monkeys.)

So a few rehashed ideas, in a listy form.

******

  Preserves for everyone. Jams, marmalades, sweet chilli sauce and chutneys.  You can make them well ahead of time and easy thing to pop in a little food hamper or given singularly.

Idea: attach an antique teaspoon with some string to the side.

 

 Gnome fairies as a gift or even Christmas decoration. How to make them and where to buy their little wooden bodies here.

A plate of various biscuits for Grandma Esme and Uncle Pollywaffle?

Chocolate Honey Biscuits, Lemon Vanilla Stars, Anzac Biscuits, Chewy Coconut Biscuits, Custard Biscuits  the list is endless. Make them crisper and they will keep longer.

Idea: A plate of biscotti and some beautiful fairtrade tea.

Buy a plate or dish second hand from your local op-shop/thrift shop/charity shop. Beautiful one off antique ones can bought for usually just a couple of dollars.

An afternoon outing, exploring your local botanical gardens or national park with a picnic? Make an IOU card. Can be used for any ages.

A visit to the local zoo for your nephew Buster? A present doesn’t have to be a ‘thing’ it can be an experience.

maybe a Keep Cup for the coffee fiend from work? No more annoying mounting up disposable coffee cups in the bin.

Where to buy some Soap Nuts for Aunt Green Pants and what on earth they are?

Some bubbles for the triplet girls- Aoli, Bellini, and Chia and how to make your own.

Lots of scraps of fabric? Get quilting. There is probably a beautiful new baby that could use a little quilted change mat. Or maybe some new oven mits for the kind lady down the road who keeps baking fabulous brownies and leaving them on your door step.

Some different ideas for wrapping some of those gifts. Gift wrapping doesn’t have to be the conventional rip it up kind.

…and perhaps a card to go with it?

Chocolate wrapping cards. There’s a damn good reason to go buy some of that fairtrade chocolate you saw on special.

or maybe just a simple gift tag?…

Gift tags can made from old cards, cereal boxes, biscuit boxes or just a beautiful old photo.

Lots of possibilities… now go have fun creating and giving.

Cauliflower Curry- Frugal Friday

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Cauliflower.

I think you either love it or hate it. Is there a middle ground with this much loved/hated vegetable? If you hate it, find something else to substitute it. If you love it…well tuck in please.

Cauliflower Curry

a good slurp of vegetable oil

then add

1 chopped spring garlic

a diced onion

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

 1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cinnamon

 salt to taste

fry until smells delicious and then add

 1 whole roughly chopped cauliflower

5 small chopped length ways zucchini

2 cups water

cook until the vegetables are just cooked through, (you don’t want them mushy and disintegrated)

then add

200mls coconut milk

serve with some roasted cashews on top

patching it up

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I still haven’t quilted properly. Not a full size one anyway. But I am loving this whole patchwork business. What’s not to like about cutting little scrappy pieces of fabric up, stitching them together and making something useful or enjoyable (or both!) Doona covers still don’t sound as exciting as a quilt, but for these three purposes they suited me better. So covers it was.

The hippy one (top- just in case you weren’t sure) screams flared pants, orange flowered coffee cups and …excuse me a minute while I part my hair down the middle, plait it and then go afro Mr Chocolate’s hair up. I can very much deal with that, as well… it says it all in the blog title doesn’t it?

These two scream practical. Two Monkey doona covers that were either old and very unexciting or unexciting and looked old. Either way, a doona cover suited their The Monkey’s sticky fingers over a quilt and a little upcycling was in order. Chop, chop, chop… and we are in Monkey business.

Now, what else can I cut up and turn into something else?….

eggs two ways- Frugal Friday

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Eggs are always a quick and easy thing to prepare. Cool or warm weather, these little fellas are easily adaptable to what ever your taste buds fancy.

For warmer weather or an easy lunch try and egg salad. Dictated by what’s in season, what’s in the fridge and pretty much what you fancy eating.

Egg Salad

boiled eggs

lettuce

celery

walnuts

parmesan shavings

olive oil

Baked Eggs

In a baking dish add some tomato passata or left over pasta sauce. This one was a eggplant and zucchini pasta sauce. Make some slight hollows and crack the eggs in. Bake at 200 until golden. If you like your eggs still runny, bake until just the whites are cooked. Serve with some crusty bread.


Almond pesto- Frugal Friday

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Pesto is one of those dead easy, whiz it up and away you go kind of meals. The only thing that stops me is pine nuts. Yes, I love them, they are delicious. However I can’t source any local ones and they are really quite expensive. Swapping the pine nuts to a cheaper and more local nut works just as well though.

I’ve made it with pecans, walnuts before and for this one it was almonds. Blitzing whole almonds in a blender (skins on) then adding 2 bunches of fresh basil, some grated parmesan and some great local olive oil. It’s an accompaniment to lots of dishes. It never lasts long in this house, but this amount will give a good sized jar, which I just top up with some extra olive oil, and then keep it in the fridge.

Eat it stirred through pasta, a little chopped up chilli and extra parmesan.

Mixed with rice, baby spinach, and crumbled fetta.

Or simply on some toasted sourdough, bruschetta style.

just how hot is hot?

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I did a post at the end of summer on my tiny gas metre box garden. Nothing flash. Just a few pots of greenery that keep me centred. The chilli plants happily flowered and grew, they even got through the Noah’s Ark of winter rain thrown at them. Then they turned red, actually they are still turning red. Slowly changing from subtle green, to come on- I dare you red.

Now when I planted these little fella’s I wanted something a little feisty. The packet said hot, actually it said piccante. It was an Italian heirloom variety. So anything labelled piccante, and I have high hopes.

Not gaspingly, oh for the love of god, find me a river and submerge my firey mouth.

 But, hey…Oooo, yep, that’s a bit hot right there.

Something like that anyway.

So they have been turning red, and I’ve slowly been collecting them on my kitchen window sill. A little fiery red mountain growing. Each day I wonder, just how hot they are.

these look like a completely different variety, but I'm sure they came out of the same packet.

Blueberries are also flowering. Last season there was just a tiny handful of flowers that seemed to take six months to actually develop the fruit. This year with quadruple the flowers, I’m hoping the fruiting doesn’t take quite so long.

Rosemary is also happy. I just have to remember not to remember it. It’s never happy when I give it too much love and attention. Neglect, and the odd whisper of I’m still watching you, and it seems to thrive.

There are some other pots as well that look empty, but have sleeping seeds in them. What’s in there though and I wouldn’t have a clue. I planted them one evening and then got rushed inside. Distracted for the next few days, I never quite made it back out to write what I had planted and where. So now, wouldn’t have a clue what was in there.

Never mind, who doesn’t like surprises….especially the plant kind.

Now, speaking of surprises, I think it might be time to find out just how hot that chilli really is…

Just how hot is hot?

Moroccan Chickpeas- Frugal Friday

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Super quick, and super easy. If you prefer dried chickpeas just soak them before hand, and for the tomatoes if you have fresh ones available in abundance use them. Garlic is also another thing I would usually put in here, but not having access to Australian garlic for the moment, most dishes are garlic less. If you have it at home though, whack it in.

Moroccan Chickpeas

In a pot add a couple of good slurps of olive oil

a diced onion

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp cumin

1 can chickpeas

1 can tomatoes

rinse the can out with half water, pop it in

2 bunches of chopped English spinach

2 chopped carrots

and whack the lid on for about 10 minutes.

Salt to taste and serve with basmati rice or cous cous, a dollop of natural yogurt, a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of turmeric.

10 minutes to prepare, and ten minutes to cook