down to earth

We all have our speciality dishes - those that we serve at great family celebrations, our favourite foods, meals that hold special memories for us, easy go-to meals that save us time and, of course, those thrifty meals that help us stay on track with our budgets and therefore living true to our values. One of my thrifty meals is this one - chicken and vegetable casserole. It's easy, delicious and it won't break the bank. The added bonus is that it freezes well.

We bought these chicken drumsticks at Aldi for $3.72 - that is enough to do Hanno and me for two meals. When we see bargains like these, we grab a few packs because they store well in the freezer and we know that sure as eggs, they'll be used for this recipe or others.

The basis of the meal is chicken and vegetables and the vegetables can be anything you have in the fridge. I used onions (I use onions in everything I cook), carrots, celery and mushrooms, but it could just as easily have been parsnips, zucchini, potatoes and pumpkin/squash.

Remove the skin from the chicken.
Brown the chicken in a pan with olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika - as much or as little as you like. Take time browning the chicken because this is when you'll add a lot of flavour and that rich brown colour.
When the chicken is brown on all sides, add the vegetables and brown them as well.
When you've got some good colour in the pan, add two level tablespoons of plain/all purpose flour and stir in. When that takes on some colour as well ...
Add 2½ cups of water and stir in well. You can add chicken stock if you like but I tend to think it's a waste in this dish because you're using chicken on the bone - the slow cooking of that makes its own stock.
Bring the pan up to the boil while you're stirring.
When the sauce has thickened, add some herbs - I used parsley but you could use chives or thyme as well.
Pour your meal into an oven-proof dish, put the lid on and put it in the oven.
Cook on 170C/340F for an hour.
Serve with rice.

This meal would have cost about $5.50 to make from start to finish. It is enough for four people, or for us, two meals. That's $1.37 per serve for a nutritious, tasty meal cooked from scratch with no preservatives. It think that's real value for money. If you made up a small pot of rice pudding and served that warm with some canned peaches or apricots, you'd easily feed a family of four a healthy meal for $10.

The trick with these cheap meals is to buy those meat or chicken specials when you see them. You don't have to eat what you buy immediately because it's great having these cheap protein portions in the freezer ready for an afternoon when you have time to make up a delicious casserole.

You often see loofahs being sold in shops; in Australia they're sold at the Chemist. People see them and know they're sponges but often they're mistaken for sea sponges. Of course there are beautiful sea sponges but loofahs are plant sponges and we grow them in our backyard.

I discovered something new about loofahs this year and last. If you don't pull out the vines when you harvest your summer crop, they'll rest over winter, then start producing flowers and loofahs again the following year. At least they do that here in the subtropics. We planted the loofahs late last year - they went in during November, flowered soon after, produced loofahs in March/April, were harvested in August and we left the vines in. They're flowering again now on very healthy lush vines.

This was taken yesterday. There are about six loofahs growing now.

Loofahs are a member of the vine family of cucurbits, such as pumpkins, squash and zucchini. If you want to grow them, you'll need a warm climate, a large study trellis and about 110 days of warm-hot growing days. They grow well from seeds harvested the previous year so when you pick your loofahs, choose your best ones to collect seeds from.

Loofahs are pollinated by bees but you often see ants on the flowers and vines. They're attracted to the plants and don't usually cause any harm. Plant into rich soil, water in with seaweed tea but don't over-fertilise with nitrogen. A sprinkling of sulphate of potash when planting and another sprinkling when the first flowers appear will keep them producing flowers and fruit. They need to be kept fairly well watered but once the loofahs have grown, you don't want a lot of rain because that will start mould growing in them. The young shoots are suitable for stir frying and the young fruit can be cooked like zucchini but they become hard and fibrous quickly and are then unsuitable for eating but great for washing yourself.

When the flowers turn into fruit and grow, wait until they go brown and start drying out. They can dry out completely on the vine but if you have a prolonged period of rain forecast it's best to pick them brown and not completely dry and leave them in a sheltered position to dry out completely. When the skin is dry and brittle, you can crack them open, shake the seeds out, remove all the outer skin and soak them in a bucket of water to which you've added about quarter a cup of peroxide or a tablespoon of bleach. That will clean them up nicely and kill of any mould spores they might be hiding.

So these are the loofahs we picked in August. They'd been on the vine far too long so some of them were full of mould and had to be thrown on the compost. The rest are fine and will keep us in loofahs for the year.

And these are the vines: above is the vine when I picked the loofahs in August, below is the same vine yesterday afternoon.

If you live in a warm climate, loofahs make a great addition to a sustainable and productive backyard. They're multi-purpose, so would make a good choice for a permaculture garden, and they're easy to grow. One crop will keep you in loofahs for the year and they also make a lovely gift with a cake of homemade soap.

I knew this day was coming but I didn't know it would be so soon. Last Friday, I held my book in my hands for the first time. Jo, my Penguin editor, sent it from Melbourne on Thursday, one of two advanced copies, it arrived on Friday. I asked Hanno to check the mail when he went out. He returned home with the shopping, unpacked everything, talked to me a couple of times and I presumed there was no parcel. Not a problem, I thought, it will be here Monday. About half an hour after he came home, he walked into my work room where I was writing my Women's Weekly column, with an express parcel and two little bottles of Grolsch beer.

When I saw the parcel, I got scared. What if I didn't like what was inside that package! I opened the envelope, saw the familiar cover, opened the book and fell in love with it. It is so beautiful. I'm really proud and happy to call it my own. I flicked through the pages while Hanno poured our beers, then we drank a toast to the book, to the work put into it and to all the people who helped with it. Hanno was my main helper, without him, there would be no book. Thank you Hanno. I can't show you a photo of the book because Penguin is working on the promotion and publicity and I don't want to jump the gun.

For those of you who are new to my blog. I started writing this book many years ago and tried to get it published. No one was interested, so I turned the beginning of that old book into this blog. I thought that what I had written might help others as well as provide a valuable record about what we were doing here. Well, a couple of years after I started blogging, I received an email from Penguin asking if I'd like to talk about the possibility of publishing a book based on my blog. That email was from Jo Rosenberg, who ended up being the editor of my book and who I now consider a friend. Sometimes it's strange how things work themselves out, sometimes you have to wait for the right people to come along.

The book is called Down to Earth - a guide to simple living and although I see my name on the cover, I still don't quite believe it's my book. I guess time will remedy that. Down to Earth will be on sale in Australia in March. I'm not sure about sales in other countries but when I know, I'll let you know. I am hoping to sell some signed copies from my blog.

So, there you have it. Years of work, a different way of living and monumental change, all condensed into a few small paragraphs. I guess I learned something about simplifying along the way. :- )

Thank you all for the wonderful ideas that came rolling in yesterday about lunches. Reading what you wrote set me on the right path - I need to cook beforehand, portion it up and freeze. That will work well here. And now I have that in mind, I don't know why it wasn't clear to me before, because that is what I do with my baking. BTW Lis, have you tried giving your teenagers wraps? They take the same fillings, you'd just need to make or buy some tortillas or pita bread. It's worth a try.

I baked a few scones on the weekend. A large batch that I could divide up and freeze for later in the week. Hanno loves having a scone, slice or piece of cake with his coffee. I did about two-thirds mixed fruit scones and the other third with dates. I LOVE date scones. Scones are one of those things that our gramdmas would have said you need a "light hand" for. That just means that they're better if you don't handle the dough too much. Just mix, a quick shaping and cut - and Bob's your uncle. This batch of scones would have cost me about four dollars, had I left out the dried fruit, they would have cost about two dollars.

Scones are delicious hot, straight from the oven, but they also freeze well. I divided our batch up into four - we ate one lot fresh, and three went into the freezer. You can either defrost them on the kitchen bench or microwave them to get that just cooked warmth and when you spread some butter, it melts a tiny bit and runs over the side. (Cough. Cough. Ahem.)

This is the way I make scones, it makes about 8 small scones. Double or treble the recipe if you want a couple of batches of scones to freeze.

2 cups self raising flour OR plain/all purpose flour with one teaspoon of baking powder for each cup
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
30g (1 oz) butter chopped
1 cup buttermilk or plain milk or half milk and half yoghurt

Plain scones, that you have with jam and cream or just with a little butter, are made using the ingredients above. If you want fruit scones like these, add an extra tablespoon of sugar, plus a cup of chopped and pitted dates or a cup of mixed dried fruit that you've soaked for at least an hour. Soaking the fruit in fresh orange juice gives a fantastic extra dimension.

METHOD

Preheat oven to hot, 200C. Get your tray ready by greasing it or adding baking paper.
Sift flour into a large bowl. Add butter and rub in lightly with your fingers, until it looks like breadcrumbs.
If you're going to add fruit, do it now.
Pour in milk and mix in using a butter knife. You want a soft and sticky dough.
OVER MIXING at this point will result in tough scones.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly for 15 seconds and shape the dough to about 2cm (1 inch) thickness. Cut into rounds using a cutter or floured wine glass.

To make a large batch for a big group, you'll need 2 kg (5 lb) of SR flour, 125g (1 stick) butter to make up 50 scones.

For savoury scones, add grated cheese and chopped ham, cheese and chives or chopped up semi-dried tomato with basil.

Serve the scones hot from the oven, or rewarmed in the microwave, with a dab of butter, or with jam and a dab of cream. They don't store well so if you have any left over, store them in the freezer for later in the week.

Last weekend I spent some time making little pants for my grandsons, Alexander and Jamie. They'll wear these pants in the coming months and probably look far too cute in them. Of course I had to make a mistake. I made the apple pants with the apple fabric upside down but I doubt either of the boys will mind.

I love this sock monkey fabric.

All three sets - two long pants and the shorts - were made using this pattern. I took about an hour for the first pair with the cutting of the pattern and organising myself, then half that time for the next two. I've got some more fabric here so when I have a fitting for these pants and know they fit well, I'll make more and some little singlet vests as well. This kind of sewing is really quick and simple. If you've been wanting to do some sewing that's not too complicated, this would be a very good first step. There is such a feeling of satisfaction you get when making clothes for someone you love.

We bought some lean Kassler (smoked pork) for sandwiches last week. It was delicious but we decided not to buy it on a regular basis because it contains contains nitrates. Lunches pose a problem for me. I keep thinking they're easy and don't need to be planned - that sandwiches can be made or leftovers eaten, but too late I remember that sandwiches are only easy when the fillings have been prepared and good bread made. We usually have the bread but the fillings are a problem.

I usually have a sandwich with salad or Vegemite toast or a boiled egg on toast, or a toasted sandwich. Hanno likes cottage cheese with slices of radish, tomato or cucumber, or chicken or cold meat. Both of us like leftovers but we don't often have them. We both like avocado but they're expensive so we don't buy them often. We have planted the delicious Reid avocado in the front yard but it will be a few years before we're harvesting.

Looking in my very old CWA cookbook I found a few interesting fillings: beetroot and sardines, Chicken sandwich (with 4 oz of tongue), "paste for sandwiches", Federal cheese paste and this potted meat recipe: Place one pound rump steak, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 teapoons pepper and 1 teaspoon nutmeg in a double boiler and boil for two hours. Put the meat through a sausage machine three times to form a paste and mix in gravy.

I don't think I'll try that.

I might make up a small meat or tuna loaf on a regular basis just for lunches - to eat with a salad or on a sandwich. Roast chicken is delicious and easily cooked, we could have part of the chicken as an evening meal and keep the rest for lunches. I want to keep it homemade and as thrifty as possible. An extra cooking session seems to be the way to go so we have something in the fridge ready for lunches. How do you organise this meal? Do you do any special cooking specifically for lunches?

I think a lot about role models - about being one and about learning from them. Nothing inspires me more than seeing a woman working true to her values, being thoughtful about what she wants her future to be and then doing the hard work to make that future happen. I never think of celebrities as role models. I am an ordinary woman so my role models are usually women doing what I do, but maybe in a different way, at a different stage in their life or making gains that I hadn't even thought of. When I find a role model, I celebrate it silently, knowing that I can observe and remember from the side line, then use what I have learnt to modify and hopefully improve what I do and who I am. I want my role models to change me in subtle and magnificent ways.

My son Kerry and baby Jamie.

The idea of improvement dangles like a carrot ahead of me constantly. I want to change and improve; I want to be challenged. I want to explore the things I do in my everyday life with forensic scrutiny so I know I am working to my potential. Once I understand a task, I can relax into it; it will blend into my days with the rest of my work until I get the urge, once again, to change and improve. It never ends. I hope.

Funnily enough, I rarely find role models in real life. I find them online in this virtual neighbourhood we call blogs. I see them pushing the boundaries, breaking their moulds and cutting loose. They're women and men for whom creativity and innovation play a daily part in their ordinary lives. I am inspired by normal people who find joy and enrichment in working hard. When I see that, I usually find grace and kindness travelling close by, and it encourages me to work in a similar way and to hope for something similar for myself. Hard work, grace and kindness; they're the glittering prizes for me but they can be elusive.

It's difficult at my age to find a good fit in role models. Many of my contemporaries don't live like we do, nor do they want to. But I have found that age in this context, like in most others, is irrelevant. What I look for and what I hope I provide to those who look to me is honest productivity, vulnerability, strength, courage and the drive to never give up when the going is tough; especially not then. I know I'm a hard worker, I'm not sure if I can claim grace and kindness but I do try.

I was stunned when I read recently that a 2008 survey of teachers in the UK found most young people look to celebrities as their role models. I wonder if that is true and I wonder about older folk too. Are role models important to you? What do you look for in a role model? Do you find them online or in real life? Do you consciously live your life in a way that provides a positive model for those around you? Do you think it's important to do that? If you have a few minutes today, I hope you'll take some time to answer one or two, or all, of those questions.

I like using one product for many different things. It saves time and money. It saves fiddling around with too many ingredients. It's simple. It's been a long time since I cleaned the modern way - using a different product for the various household cleaning jobs. I use my home made soap for showering and for washing my hair and hands. It's also a horticultural soap so if any garden potion requires soap to be added, my homemade soap fits the bill perfectly. Soon I'll be using it exclusively for washing up, but that's another story and I'll write about it at another time.

Another good all rounder, and a great base for other cleaners, is homemade laundry liquid. When I make up a new batch of laundry liquid, I always make up one smaller glass bottle that I use for various cleaning tasks around the home. But today I want to write about making up a cleaner that is perfect for cleaning metal - including stainless steel, porcelain baths and sinks, and spot cleaning on painted walls. It also does a good job on appliances - like white fridges and food processors and painted cupboards. The recipe for making laundry liquid is here.

Add about half a cup of homemade laundry liquid (soap, washing soda and borax) to a small container and add enough bicarb to make a thick paste. Stir until it's combined. Adding 6 - 10 drops of tea tree oil will make the mix an effective antiseptic cleaner. If you stir this mix with a tea-stained spoon, by the time you've finished stirring, the spoon will be shining like a star. Use the tea tree version in the bathroom and laundry and the tea tree-free version in the kitchen. You don't want to wipe out your normal kitchen flora.

I keep this little jar of cleaner on my sink and use it for my new sink and stove, as well as for spot cleaning in the kitchen. It's gentle but effective and it doesn't scratch the surface of the metal. My guess is the jar would cost less than a dollar to make up and it will last at least a month of constant use. It's definitely a better option than buying Jif, Ajax powder or any of those cleaning gels.

I use laundry liquid straight on a rag to spot clean and sometimes, when the floor is particulary dirty, I add half a cup of laundry liquid and half a cup of white vinegar to my bucket and mop up. It works well.

Laundry liquid is also an excellent stain remover. Just take a tablespoon of liquid and rub it onto the stain. Rub it in well with your fingers, and leave for 30 minutes, then wash the item in with the normal wash. Most of the time, this treatment will remove the stain.

But now I'm really interested in finding other uses for laundry liquid. How do you use it? Do you use it only for laundry or have you tried it on other jobs in the home? What laundry liquid recipe do you use?

We have Kerry, Sunny and Jamie staying with us. Shhhhh, everyone is still sound asleep. It's so good to have them here, to see how much Jamie is growing and how healthy and strong he is. He's crawling, eating solids and drinking from a sippy cup now. Later in the morning, I'm going to take him on another trip into the backyard to see the chooks and the garden. It's a real adventure for him and I love being with him while he takes it all in and makes some kind of sense of it.

Jamie and Opa. Jamie is wearing the very cute tiger suit Sharon sent. Thanks Sharon and Claude! Below, Jamie is testing out his new wheels in the kitchen.

It's been another busy week here. I had Tuesday and Wednesday at the Neighbourhood Centre working on various things and preparing for our first committee meeting next Monday. There are so many exciting programs and activities we're working on or planning; I'm excited just thinking about the possibilities and opportunities ahead of us. It's a great place to work - I have a venue in which to share my skills and present workshops, I get to exercise my brain and I am surrounded by people who share a vision for our community that is equitable and just.

We had a new sink installed in our kitchen here this week. Our old sink had no drainboard, which is useless for someone with no dishwasher, and there was always water on the bench. Hanno did most of the work so we kept the costs down, we just needed our local plumber to connect the new tap and hook up water filter tap again. We have two equal size sinks with the drains at the back so we can stand things in the sink without them sitting on the plug. As usual, we bought the best quality we could afford and hope that it will be with us for as long as we live in this house. I've already made friends with it and see us organising and cleaning up after many family celebrations and ordinary meals in the future.

An interesting and delicious parcel of goodies in the mail this week.

Guess who did the taste test?

And this was what I found in the biscuit jar when I came home from work yesterday.

On Tuesday, a parcel arrived from Buena Vista Farm Bikkies. The lovely Fiona from Inner Pickle blog sent a pack of her homemade ginger biscuits and a pack of biscotti with almonds. Both delicious, and I was really pleased to read that they were made from all natural ingredients with no preservatives - and with eggs from Fiona's chooks. Thanks Fiona. It was quite a treat for us. I picked up the parcel on the way home from work on Tuesday, around 4.30pm. By 4.31, I think, Hanno had sampled his first biscuit. He gave it the thumbs up.

When everyone else is awake this morning, I'm going to measure Jamie and talk to Sunny about summer shorts and singlets. I have fabric waiting here for pants for Alex, and have some ideas for Jamie too. It looks like I'll be spending time sewing over the weekend. That's just what I need to clear my head. I hope to do some knitting too and if I work at it, I'll finish off the cotton cardigan I'm knitting for Alexander. I hope your week is going smoothly.