High fibre, gluten free, delicious granola

Here is my basic recipe, substitute to suit your own personal taste. Precise measurements are not needed.  I left out oats and other grains to make this batch gluten free.

Mix nuts and seeds in a large bowl.  Use roughly equally amounts.

• Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• sunflower seeds
• pecans, chopped
• hazlenuts, crushed or chopped
• walnuts
• cashews
• coconut flakes

Stir in a small amount of maple syrup (or agave or rice bran syrup).  You need approximately 1/4 cup to cover a large mixing bowl full of nuts.

Spread onto a baking tray covered in baking paper.  Bake in a moderate oven for approximately 10 minutes.  Stir and bake another 5 mins. Be careful if it easy to burn your mix, it should be lightly golden.  

Tip nut mix back into your mixing bowl.  Add chopped dried fruit:

• dried figs, apricots, dates
• sultanas
• cranberries or other dried berries.

Allow to cool then store in an airtight jar.  Enjoy with fruit or yoghurt.  

5 weeks break - cooking crumpets was not a success

Ages ago I found a crumpet recipe and though wow, I have to try that. I had visions of hot, fresh crumpets for breakfast. I thought I could experiment with lours and delight friends with old favourites turned gluten free.

Sadly I was not happy with my efforts. They take hours to make.  You leave the batter to foam, then pour into egg rings on a hot, greased pan. No matter what I tried they stuck to the rings. I'm very sorry to say the results didn't seem worth the effort. Not when crepes and pancakes are quick and easy. My bread is improving all the time. Crumpets can go on the low priority list.

If anyone out there has mastered them and has any tips to share, I'll reconsider.

5 weeks break - learning to crochet

Ah I have not done any craft for ages. I recently saw a design for a sweet little crochet flower made with a button centre. I have made a few granny squares in my day but I'm no expert in crochet. And of course I had set myself a challenge by choosing a project that didn't come with a pattern. Oops.

My friend Kate came to the rescue. She is so clever, she looked at the photo and made a lovely little flower, then taught me how to do it.

Its a perfect activity for these wet days when I am sitting in front of the fire to keep warm and dry.  I will be a great activity to keep my fingers busy during the winter nights.

I've had a great time rummaging through my vintage button collection for buttons with four holes of a suitable size. Even with the smallest crochet needle I could find its a tight squeeze to stitch in and out.

These will be turned into long garland necklaces.

What fun!

5 weeks break - stumpwork embroidery cufflinks

One of my great loves is stumpwork embroidery.  If you don't know it stumpwork is the art of 3D embroidery. Pieces are created on a flat piec of fabric, edged with wire and cut out, The loose piece is usually then added to another work to add dimension.  I specialise in making jewellery from my stumpwork.  (Commissions always welcome)

As stupid as it sounds, I often deny myself the pleasure of doing things I love. I commute, I work, I cook dinner, I complain I'm tired and go bed to work early.  Aah.

Finally I have the time, energy and head space to create.

Again its raining and raining. Its freezing cold.  I have the fire roaring, sitting stitching tiny embroidery leaves in autumn colours.

The edge is made from copper wire and picked out in buttonhole stitch. The details of the leaves are created in thread painting, long and short stitch.  A lot of people don't like long and short stitch but I think its the most forgiving stitch of all. It gives the ability to create subtle changes of colour.

When complete, I carefully cut out the shapes using sharp scissors and a good magnifying lamp. It takes hours to cut them out precisely and remove all the tiny fibres of fabric outside the wire edge.

Preserved with fabric stiffener, my lovely leaves are glued into cufflink findings. My husband commissioned them last autumn, so I made him two sets, from 4 mis-matched leaves.

You can see some of my other work here. 

5 weeks break - pine mushroom schnitzels

Here's another recipe idea for using Pine Mushrooms. I chose the smallest button Saffron Milkcaps we picked on Sunday for this dish.

After cleaning the mushrooms with a dry paper towel to brush off dirt and pine needles I trimmed the stems a little.  I mixed breadcrumbs with freshly ground salt and pepper and dried marjoram.  I double crumbed the mushrooms by dipping in egg, crumbs, then repeating.

I deep fried the mushrooms which quickly formed a crisp crust.  

Served with Donna Hay's coriander mayo.  Delicious.  This will actually work for any type of firm fleshed mushrooms but pine mushrooms are so special having such a short season.

5 weeks break - Curry pasties

Last week we had a planned black out. The power was off about 3 hours longer than expected which wore thin once dark fell.

As I knew about the black out before it happened I planned my day around cleaning out my chest freezer. It wasn't an exciting job but it was a good job to get done. Its certainly been on my list too long. My chest freezer is in the laundry and I really went to town, cleaned out cupboards and drawers and completed more de-cluttering. So that fell good. I threw out some of the contents of the freezer but I re-discovered some great food that I forgot I had.  

One of those finds was several tubs of forgotten lentil and vegetable curry.   

Today I turned the curry into delicious pasties or curry puffs if you will.  I added some spinach, a spoonful of curry, turned the pastry over and crimped the edges. A little egg wash and bake for 20 minutes. Yum.

Tip: If your curry is a moist soup style you will need to drain it first. Pasties and lots of liquid don't mix.

5 weeks break - Day 17 exploring Macquarie Rivulet

This afternoon I went for a small bush walk along the edge of the Macquarie Rivulet at the bottom of Macquarie Pass, Green Valley.  I drive this road every day to and from work but I have never stopped to discover its delights.  Oh I've thought about it, said "I should".  But that's the problem with life isn't it? You get into habits, you avoid doing fun things because you have somewhere to be, something you have to do. By taking 5 weeks off work I am able to go where the wind leads me and today it lead me to this idyllic spot.  A short walk from the main road there is this lovely swimming hole where the water trickles over stones.   Here are a few photos from my visit.

 The tree canopy reflected in a muddy puddle always reminds me of my favourite Escher artworks.

 Fine maidenhair fern fronds along the path.

 I don't know wht this plant is but it was popular with bees and butterflies.

Stunning fungi sprouting from a rotting log on the rainforest floor.