down to earth

I'm hoping the hard copies of my books will be on sale at Amazon soon so I was checking in there yesterday looking for signs of activity. While I was there I noticed a review with one star so I had to look at it. This is what it said: While there were some really good tips for simplifying, the basic message in this book is how to be a "traditional" housewife. Nothing against that at all, but it is not for me and I suspect many others. Anyone who has read my books right through or the blog for any length of time would know that my "basic message" isn't promoting traditional housewifery, but an encouragement to be whatever you feel is your true self. Simple life is a garment that all of us can wear but we need to pin and sew it according to the cut of our own jibs, not the expectations of anyone. Just as in mainstream life, if you live according to the ideals and aspirations of others, you're doomed to failure.

The life choices you make should fit the age you're currently at and reflect your values. When you move towards a simple life it should incorporate what you're comfortable with and be allowed to settle in its own time. Anything else would be a complete waste, and a betrayal of your core beliefs. When I look back on my own life, I see that each decade presents different challenges and if you're lucky enough to start living simply when you're young, you'll progress through life, building one stage upon the previous one. However, not all of us are that sensible (I wasn't) but it's quite easy to come into the lifestyle at any age and start where ever you're currently at.

Jamie's toys on the kitchen table (above) and craft supplies, collected rocks, seeds and a little pine cone on the outside table (below).

But getting back to the "traditional" housewife in the review, I hope you're not a traditional anything just for the sake of tradition. That implies to me that you're adopting a role that has already been laid down and rubber stamped as being acceptable. If simple life gives us anything, it's the guts to move away from what is "normal", the courage to examine who we are and what we have, and to do things our own way. It's fine to be a traditional housewife if that is what you are, but it's also fine to be any other kind of housewife or not to think of yourself as a housewife at all. I prefer not to label anyone and to accept them as they are.

If you end up moving towards a traditional life or a non-conventional one, if you're married or single, straight or gay, young or older, if you are black, white, yellow, red or spotted, if you're female, male or transgendered, it is possible to have a happy simple life. And within all that diversity, with people making decisions based upon their own values, beliefs and knowledge of what is good for them, what will emerge is a life worth living. So steer clear of anyone who wants to label you as being a certain type, be yourself, be true to who you are and live to your potential. Life won't always be smooth sailing but if you create a balanced life, the way you live will help you through the tough times. And if someone who doesn't know you labels you as being the opposite of what you are, just roll your eyes and move on.

I'm an old fashioned cook. My food is tasty, I can stretch a pound of minced steak as far as the best of them and to tell you the truth, when I see towers of food, foam, micro herbs, "super" foods, or anything newly fashionable I roll my eyes and move on. I'm not a complete philistine though. I do enjoy eating and cooking with grains (turn your heads all paleos), and I like experimenting with salads and dairy foods.

But I am what I am - a product of my times, and although some new food is seen on our table, mostly I go for the old standards and I have a group of delicious slow foods that we all enjoy. The one thing I found that helped a lot early on in my married life (and now) was to have a decent collection of fast food recipes that even though it is cooked from scratch, I can prepare quickly. If you have a few standby recipes for cheap nourishing meals and snacks that you can make in a hurry then you'll save yourself time and time again when life gets busy.

I've had a few requests for some recipes I've featured in the past week. I'm happy to oblige and share how I cook. All the older experienced cooks and a few of the younger savvy ones will know most of my recipes but I'm aiming for the newer cooks and those who are still unsure of their capabilities in the kitchen. Introducing fast quiche and banana and walnut cake.

Remember that a quiche is an egg pie with a range of additions, which will change depending on what you have in the fridge. In this one I used bacon, parsley, garlic and cheese. Often the thing that puts cooks off cooking quiche is the pastry. I can make quite good pastry but I use filo pastry when I need a fast meal. It's easier and much quicker. Instead of brushing the sheets of pastry with melted butter, I spray the sheets with olive oil, which cuts down on the prep time. Normally it would take you about an hour to make a traditional quiche. This fast recipe will have you putting the quiche in the oven to bake in about 15 minutes. Add 30 minutes for the cooking time and you've got a healthy meal that will feed at least four people. To feed more, just increase the amounts.

FAST QUICHE

4 or 5 sheets filo pastry

can of olive oil spray

6 large eggs

½ cup cream

2 rashers bacon, chopped into small pieces

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated on a microphone

½ red capsicum, finely diced

1 cup hard cheese, grated

hand full of parsley, finely chopped

Prepare the pastry by spraying the sheets and folding them in two. Line the pie dish with the filo, and spray the surface again. Make sure every surface is covered. If you're using a large dish, use more pastry. Fold the edges of the pastry down to prevent them from burning.

Mix the eggs and cream together in a bowl and leave while you cook the other ingredients. Fry the bacon, onion, garlic and capsicum/peppers for about three minutes - just enough to soften all of the vegetables.

Add that to the egg mix, add the cheese and parsley, mix well and pour it into the pie dish lined with filo. Bake is a moderate oven 175C/350F for about 35 - 40 minutes or until the egg mix is golden brown on top and the egg is set. Be careful not to overcook the egg, take it out when the centre is still slightly wobbly because it will continue to cook for a couple of minutes after you remove it from the oven.

The quiche is delicious hot or cold and served with a salad.

.......

This banana and walnut cake is ideal for those who don't have a mixer but still want a good light cake to add to lunch boxes or for morning or afternoon tea.

BANANA AND WALNUT CAKE

125 grams butter
¾ cup sugar - I use ½ white and ½ dark Muscavado sugar You can use a mix of white and brown sugar or just white or raw sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup walnuts
3 small-medium eggs
½ teaspoon bicarb soda/baking soda *
1½ cups self raising flour or plain/all purpose flour with 1½ teaspoons baking powder *

* Please note: baking soda and baking powder listed above are two different ingredients.

Into a small saucepan, add butter, sugar and vanilla. Over a low heat, melt the butter while stirring to dissolve the sugar. When the butter melts, leave it to the side.

In a bowl, mash the bananas, add the eggs and bicarb and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula. Then add the melted butter and mix it together, add the flour and combine thoroughly. Finally, add the walnuts and mix through.

Add the cake mix to a prepared cake tin. I use a 33 x 23cm rectangular cake tin but you could also use a 22 x 13cm loaf tin. Bake in a moderate oven 175C/350F for about 35 - 40 minutes or until the cake is golden on top, it smells cooked or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Store the cake in an air-tight container and it will last about 5 days. It's ideal for school and work lunches because it will travel quite well packed in lunch box.

These are just two examples of simple foods that won't take too much time, effort or money to make. Collect recipes like this that you and your family like so that when you need to produce food and you don't have much time, you can have good food on the table and you don't buy take away. Hopefully other experienced cooks will share their fast and frugal recipes here too. It's okay to link to your own blog today to share your recipe.

It's been a quietly busy few days here. I finished my blue swap sewing, worked in the garden, baked bread and a cake, made a quick quiche which fed us for two days, watered the garden when I gave up all hope of rain, finally booked an appointment to have a haircut and did the hundred other unnoticed but necessary things that make up a day.

I smiled when I just read what I'd written. It seems like so little was done and yet it filled my days not only with activity but with satisfaction and contentment as well. There was a time when I would have thought I was wasting time doing what I've been doing, a time when only busyness counted. Well, I'm more enlightened now. Now I value each moment. I've stopped rushing and I'm just as committed to enjoying what I do as I am about the productivity of my hours. Life's too short for anything else.

In the old days I would have known I had a certain task to complete - let's say it was my swap sewing - and I would have planned it out, cut it out, spent time at the machine sewing, ironed what I'd made and within half a day, I would have finished the job. HA! Not now. Many of you know I now have my sewing machine set up next to my computer and so before I sat down to make the last blue item, I searched for some music to listen to and watch on You Tube. I settled on the funeral music of country music legend George Jones, yes, the funeral music, then readied myself to listen to Alan Jackson singing He stopped loving her today. Not the most popular music but oh my, it was beautiful - I was captured by the emotion as much as the words. As it turned out, I listened to that particular song about 10 okay, 30 times. Long term readers will know I've referred to myself before now as the ageing equivalent of a box full of monkeys being let loose in the jungle. This is another manifestation of that. We are all many people rolled into one and this is a small example of my obsessive self. It surfaces fairly frequently. ;- )

So, I had the music ready and was just about to start sewing when my good friend Kathleen messaged me. I have phone messages set up on my computer too, so we had a long chat, in between stitches, cutting, snipping and listening to Alan singing sadly for old George and watching a bit of flat foot dancing on the porch. It took me three or four times longer than it should have to finish my project but the enjoyment factor was sky-high. I was smiling and ready for anything.

Of course I had many other things I could have been doing but I came away from that sewing machine feeling that I'd looked after myself and given myself the time to enjoy those hours. Sometimes it's not so much about what is produced but the feeling the production gives you. That is the true gift and there will be days when that gift will carry me through a bad day and help me continue this journey of simplicity. And even though some people would look at me there, madly re-listening to Alan singing for George, and taking longer, much longer, than the job needed, sometimes we all need to embrace the mad feelings we have, invest that time and craziness in ourselves and then reap the rewards.

What craziness do you get up to? :- )

The weather is wonderful at the moment. It's cool at night (6-8* C) and warm during the day (20C ish) and that is the best gardening weather. Our gate is closed and if you strolled down our one lane street, you'd think no one was at home or at the very least, the people inside were watching TV or sleeping. But it's been a hive of activity here. We've been cleaning, moving, cooking, baking and rearranging the outdoor space out back to better suit us.

We downsized and simplified our garden last year, stopped growing so many winter crops and decided to focus on herbs, salad greens and summer vegetables, with some tomatoes and fruit thrown in for good measure. So instead of planting out many tomato bushes, this year we have four: two cherry tomato types, the hybrid Rapunzel with her metre long trusses of fruit, and an older heirloom variety: Beef Short. Those two varieties should cover all our needs for snacking, salads, sandwiches and cooking. Over winter we've grown our winter favourites - turnips, kale, snow peas and lettuce. We also have all the herbs I need for cooking as well as ginger, chillies, capsicums (peppers) and Asian greens. I want to grow more flowers too, in with the vegetables, to encourage the insects and to bring into the house. I have two new raspberries to plant. They're the Heritage variety which is a good grower in warmer climes. We planted two last year and got a reasonable crop from them but a passionfruit crowded them out so Hanno will moved that to another spot this week and the area will be for raspberries alone now. According to the tag on the plants, I should expect a crop in spring and a very big crop in autumn.

I haven't finished setting this area up yet. It's an old table there that I have to scrub clean and I still have some potted plants to move in. I'll take more photos when I'm finished and happy with it.

I'll plant these out during the week, fertilise and mulch them so they should be set up for the end of winter and the warmer weather.

But the most exciting part of the garden now is the introduction of a table and benches, and when it's hotter, a large canvas umbrella. It will give us an extra place to sit and relax and to look around this wonderful backyard we have. One of the great advantages of a garden is that you're outside surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of the natural world, instead of being inside in a man-made one. We hear bees buzzing, see birds of all kinds fly over and hope they'll feel safe enough to visit here a while. We have water out for them and we don't mind sharing the food we grow. There is enough for all of us.

A flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos visited us for a snack during the week.

Now the warmer weather is just around the corner, the grass is starting to grow again and that means more clippings to make compost for the garden beds. We have a good crop of comfrey right next to the compost heaps and soon I'll make a rich fertiliser for the gardens and use the rest to accelerate the decomposition of the compost materials. Comfrey grows fast so they'll be plenty of follow up leaves we can use during the year instead of buying organic fertiliser. I've written about how to make it here.

Hanno is going to remove that picket fence soon too. It used to keep the dogs and chooks out of the area we grow fruit in.

It's peaceful here. The garden is productive, the hens are happily laying eggs and soon the deciduous trees will start growing new leaves and that will signal the warmer weather and yet another year of growth - both for the garden and us. There is a lot of work going into our backyard at the moment but we both enjoy the work and we get back ten times more than we put in. There is a kind of magic out there that blocks out the noise, and sometimes even the knowledge, of the outside world. We potter around, sow seeds, weed and water plants and generally make this place what we want it to be. We both feel very lucky to live here and when the work of the day is done, and even when it isn't, we take the opportunity to sit and enjoy our wild and natural habitat.

I wish you all the best for the week ahead. ♥︎

This is a weekly feature for readers to show us their favourite place at home. Thanks to Sue and Angie for this week's photos. Both ladies are in the United States.

Attached are two photos of my favorite place, which is my front garden. For many years this was a typical front yard with a lawn, yew trees and hostas. My passion for growing my own food grew beyond my back yard traditional vegetable garden and I started thinking about how I could turn my front yard into an edible landscape. Two years later and this garden has become my favorite place to be. I removed all the plants and lawn from the two spaces either side of the path leading up to the house, installed two brick diamond shaped walkways and planted two gardens which are the mirror image of each other. The garden consists of over sixty different varieties of plant of which eighty five percent of them are edible. In the summer, the gardens are exploding with herbs, vegetables, berry bushes and edible flowers.

My favorite time in the garden is early morning. I walk through the plants with my mug of coffee and watch an army of bees working furiously away. I am a new beekeeper and watching both the honey bees and native solitary bees being so industrious is quite inspirational. I feed my family from this garden every day and I love how the feel of it changes through the months as different plants come into their own. This garden is both beautiful and productive and provides a unique welcome to my home.

I live in Rhode Island, USA and I blog at www.lessnoise-moregreen.com.

Thanks for the opportunity to share my garden. Sue St Jean

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And Angie says:

I currently live in a condo unit that was chosen because of the woods in the back and the number of windows so I could watch nature. I use the living room to watch the wonders of nature because it opens up to the woods.

This is the area of my home I do quite a bit of reflecting. I watch nature out the window with a cup of coffee in hand. Sometimes I read, as well, but seldom watch television. When my son in laws come over the TV can be turned on or we will all just enjoy each other's company.

I live in the South of the United States on the coast line enjoying the bright sunlight and ocean breezes that this area is noted for. The pictures are taken in the summer.

I have a blog that your readers may be interested in as it also highlights the benefits of living a simple life. If you are interested I would love it if you stopped by to say hello. www.angiesfrugalhouse.blogspot.com

I hope each of your readers has a special spot that serves them in peace and simplicity.