I should probably point out that most of my winter cooking consists of soups and desserts, so over the next two months or so you may find that most of the recipes I put here will be of either soup or some type of comfort-food, because it's what I like to eat when it's freezing cold out.
Autumn here is full of orange stuff: Orange sunsets, orange moon, orange fruits, orange leaves, and orange vegetables!
One of my favourite orange things is pumpkin, and my ma over at Out Back was kind enough to provide me with one of her very own, home-grown butternut pumpkins, so I decided to put it to good use and make some pumpkin soup.
Over the past few years, since discovering that I actually like pumpkin, I have been trying to find a really good pumpkin soup recipe. I hate it when what is supposed to be pumpkin soup comes out tasting like something else, such as onion, curry or potato (the worst offenders!).
However, I searched online for pumpkin soup recipes last week, and from them took some ideas for my own pumpkin soup recipe. Here is what I came up with:
Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 tspn ground coriander
1 tspn ground cumin seeds
1/2 tspn ground nutmeg
1kg peeled pumpkin, diced (I used butternut)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1L vegetable stock
Cream or sour cream to top
I cook all my soups in a slow-cooker. In the crock-pot I put the pumpkin and potato. In a small saucepan I sautee the onion until brown and then add garlic, coriander, cumin and nutmeg and continue stirring over low heat for another minute or two. Then I put all that into the crock-pot as well, before adding the vegetable stock. I then let it cook on low for around six hours, or until the pumpkin and potato are soft.
I then blend the mixture using a hand-held blender, and it's ready to eat! I serve it with either a dollop of cream or sour cream on top, and toasted turkish bread on the side.
"Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit"
"Agent Orange No. 2"
"But Grandmother, what an awfully big mouth you have!"
"Mirror, Mirror..."
"De Goole Bug"
Back in April I decided to try my hand at raising seeds, and did reasonably well (in my humble opinion). I ended up with Spinach, Cauliflower, Red Onion, Baby Carrot, Basil and Parsley seedlings, which went into the ground about a fortnight ago. Then last weekend I purchased some more seedlings from a local supplier and added Cabbage and Brown Onion to the plot. I am now contemplating trying to get my hands on some Broccoli and Snow-Pea seedlings, with the hope of getting them into the ground before the dreaded Winter Frosts arrive..jpg)
So far the garden is thriving! All plants are standing and growing well. We can only hope that the good luck will continue and in approximately 12 weeks we will have produce!
I also found the time this weekend to finally get around to making some homemade laundry liquid. It had been on my to-do list for around two months! It did not take as long as I thought it would, which was relieving, and I ended up with 10 litres of liquid that cost me less than AU$1! That's less than 10c per litre, and this stuff actually works! It cleans beautifully, and is great for people who have french-drains, use grey-water for their gardens, or for those who have sensitive skin and allergies, as it has no harsh chemicals.
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