Lemon Butter and lemon and poppyseed cake :) yummy

Have a day at home alone today... and adam brought home some lemons one of his customers had given him so i thought i would whip up some lemon butter :) and a lemon and poppyseed cake to go with it!

Lemon Butter

4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
125g chopped butter

1. Put sugar and eggs into a heatproof bowl, put bowl over a saucepan of just simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved
2. Add the lemon juice, rind and butter (i would get this ready before hand) Whisk for 20 minutes until smooth and thickend (it doesnt look like its going to work...but for me at about the 18 min mark it thickened)
DO NOT LET IT BOIL! IT WILL CURDLE-you have been warned :)
3. Put 2x 250ml clean jars into the oven for a couple of minutes (this sterilises them)
4. Pour mixture into hot jars and seal

Store in the fridge and use within a few weeks-makes 2 cups

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

50g poppy seeds
185ml warm milk
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs
2 cups self raising flour
185g butter, chopped
1 lemon-zested

1. Turn oven onto 180'C. Grease a loaf tin (approx 20cmx10cm)
2.In one bowl put warm milk and poppy seeds-leave for 15 minutes
3. In another bowl put your sugar, eggs, flour, butter and lemon rind. Mix in the milk and poppys
4. Beat for 5 minutes or until the mixture is looking pale
5. Pour into loaf tin and cook for 40 minutes (mine took more like an hour. test it with a skewer from 40 mins on)

:)

Oven Baked Bread Recipe

Update: Made this again yesterday and have a pic!

I made this way back in march! But though i should share it! it was the first bread i have ever made that was light and fluffy on the inside and had a crunchy crust!

2tsp dry yeast
300ml luke warm water
3tsp salt
3tsp sugar
500g plain or bread flour
2tbsp olive oil


Stir 2 tsp dry yeast into 300ml luke warm water. let it sit until bubbles have formed. Place 3 tsp salt 3 tsp sugar 500g flour(plain or bread flour) in a different bowl, stir together. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast/water mix and 2 tbsp olive oil. Mix with wooden spoon until it comes together. Knead for about 10 minutes on a floured bench top. add flour as needed to keep it from sticking. put in an oiled bowl for 45-60 minutes (or until doubled in size). Shape the loaf (loaf tin, football shape etc. let it rise again. bake for 30-45 mins in a 190 C oven.

Spring is here!!!!!

Finally spring has arrived and the garden is a flurry of activity! From weeding, planting seeds, planting out seedling, fertilising, mulching.....the list goes on!

But first things first over the past few days i have been conducting an experiment with my beer baits....as Adam likes beer i thought it would be good if i tried another liqued in them.

So out of 4 traps they had
1x orange juice
1x apple juice
1x diluted ribena
1x apple/blueberry/blackcurrant juice

note: all these juices were the fresh versions not the long life ones...not sure if it would make a difference

....and here were the results! quite interesting!

Orange juice-was difficult to see as i had gone mouldy but there was not alot of anything is there (FAIL)
Apple juice-EARWIGS! tons of them....none found in any other trap (WIN)
Ribena-Slugs, nothing else just big fat engorged dead slugs...who had turned purple (WIN)
Apple/blueberry/blackcurrant-Snails...again nothing else just snails (WIN)

So as i think my main pest problem this year will be earwigs....apple juice it is :)

Here is a look at parts of my garden is picture




1st tyre potato up




Raised bed...end of cool weather crops...ready for summer!




Mignonette lettuce (grown under empty soft drink bottles)




White Mulberry




Lettuce mix (see growth against last pic)




Red Kale seedling




Tomato seedlings (various)




Nectarine

I planted some marigolds around the edge of the raise bed (need to get some more) They are a great companion plant as they repel nematodes in the soil, bean beetle, thrips and they keep whitefly away! They also attract hoverflies (beneficial insect)
I thought that i might start talking about individual plants and my experience with them, difficulty etc to help people decide if it would be something they might want to grow :) I'm going to start today with my favourite:

BLUEBERRIES

These are an incredible easy plant to grow, and so rewarding...i have had bluberries for 3 years now and NOTHING eats them! They have never had a disease, they just grow and produce blueberries!
Height: Anywhere between 1-2m and just a tad smaller in width

Full Sun/part shade (mine get morning sun only and thrive)

Soil requirements: Blueberries are acid loving plants...just like azaleas...if you are planting them in pots you should plant them in an azalea potting mix. They like a ph of about 4-5.5. If you are planting in the ground or potting mix you already have it is a good idea to get some garden sulfur and apply it according to the instructions.

A great way to keep the soil acidic is you mulch it with spent coffee grounds or pine needles. :)

Here is melbourne mine fruit from about end November-Start of February

The other week i raided my mums lemon tree and made lemon cordial, it is very sweet but yummy!

Recipe (Thanks to Jackie French's book 'Backyard self-sufficiency')

Ingredients:
6 cups white sugar
3 cups water
3 cups lemon juice
3 tsp citric acid (in the baking aisle at safeway/woolworths and coles)
3 tsp tartaric acid (see above)

Boil for 10 minutes. Bottle in clean bottles while hot. Keep in a cool dark place for up to a month. Throw out if it ferments or looks cloudy. It also makes a good iceblock.

:) Wow long post...any questions? Queries? would be happy to help