When that's done, fill as desired (we tried apples, for a chocolate apple pie. I think custard would work nicely too) and bake accordingly for the filling you have used.
If you have any bright ideas for using failed or leftover cake, let us know!
My children love cooking. The eldest is a bit like me and likes to stray from the recipes when she gets used to them and wing it. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it most certainly doesn't! In particular, her last batch of cupcakes were SO dry! Some ingredient must have been omitted. But anyway, these cupcakes had been made with quality ingredients like organic coconut sugar and home grown eggs...I didn't want to just feed them to the chooks! After over a month of these muffins sitting in the freezer awaiting their sentence, I decided to look around for ideas for using failed cakes...and what do you know? Failed (or leftover cake...but that doesn't exist in our home!) cake can be turned into sweet pie crust! All you do is put the cake through a food processor with enough butter (was about 6 Tbsp in our case) to make a dough like consistency. I'll tell you now though, that I think there should have been an egg in the recipe too. The end result didn't bond like it should have. Then you just press your dough into your pie dish and blind bake at 200 C for 10 minutes.
When that's done, fill as desired (we tried apples, for a chocolate apple pie. I think custard would work nicely too) and bake accordingly for the filling you have used. If you have any bright ideas for using failed or leftover cake, let us know!
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March already! And this months workshop found us sitting around a crafting table learning to felt a flower with Marilyn, who is president of the Toowoomba Weavers Spinners and Dyers group. It was lovely to learn under someone so passionate about fibers and crafting! The process involves dyed wool, bubble wrap, lux flakes, a water bottle/spray bottle and obedience to Marilyn (she's a character and much of the morning was spent joking about some of the pupils misbehavior!) By the way, the Toowoomba Spinners, Weavers and Dyers meet every Thursday and often Saturdays too and are always happy to take new members. The advantage as a member is you'll have access to a wealth of experience and knowledge from the masters of the crafts who can teach you in the way you should go :-) Making a flower starts with a sheet of bubble wrap on which you make a circle of wool wisps. NOT to thick, as we were frequently admonished! Don't you just want to touch those clouds of wool on the bubble wrap? Then the circle is lightly sprinkled with lux soap flakes and wet down. A smaller sheet of bubble wrap with the center removed is placed on the wet wool and then the wool is rubbed between the layers. Next up we cover the hole in the bubble wrap with some wisps of wool and then continue to make a circle over the existing circle (and bubble wrap). This is soaped, wet and rubbed down and then repeated again, for the third layer of the flower. When we had the wool felted, it was carefully removed from the bubble wrap 'templates' and wrung out...then it was subject to rinsing, wringing and general rough treatment to form it into the beautiful flower it was destined to be. I probably haven't done the process justice with this explanation, but you'll just have to go and check out the local group for some expert advice if you want to know more :-)
It looked like a great therapeutic type of craft for those wanting to relax and be creative. Many of the Simple Living Toowoomba crowd are gardeners and love to produce at least a little of their own food. But then there's also those who don't have the time/space/energy/interest to grow their own, but would still love to be buying and eating homegrown produce, grown without the use of toxic chemicals.
And here's where Birdsong Market Garden may be of interest to you. We're a new (uncertified) Organic market garden, with a strong emphasis on soil nutrition. Soil nutrition is actually largely the reason why we won't bother with organic certification, as they even limit the amount of manure that can be mixed in with the soil! So Birdsong came about because my husband and I had read about the major issue our culture faces with depleted soils and the resulting mineral deficiencies that cause most of the diseases people are battling. One book in particular stated that you're left with no real options except to use supplements to meet your nutrition needs since food no longer makes the grade. And buying organic doesn't necessarily make any positive difference in the nutrition department. Yes, you'd be doing yourself a favour by avoiding the toxins, but organic food can still be very nutritionally depleted, unless it's from a diligent farmer who looks after their soil. We decided to do something about this (especially as my electrical engineer of a husband wanted to switch to a more purposeful career!) and start our own market garden, right on the northern edge of Toowoomba. Soil tests were completed, the soil was balanced with the minerals it had lacked, rich compost was added and we were on our way to real food! Our trial season (summer '15/16) was a success. I was in the midst of battling an autoimmune disease at the time, which often left me fatigued and I was amazed at how much energy eating daily from our garden gave me. I actually ditched the supplements I'd been taking as I was feeling so healthy. Fast forward to now...March '17. This is our first season where we are actually ready to sell produce. This week we've been bringing in loads of rockmelon, watermelon, rainbow chard, corn, butternut pumpkin...plus there are some herbs like rosemary and basil available. More produce will be ready within the next few weeks also, for example, about 8 varieties of heirloom tomatoes! Our website is https://birdsongmarketgarden.com.au/ At the moment, we are hoping to sell direct to customers via our farm gate stall. We can also do online orders which we can box up and have ready for you to pickup. Prices, farm gate stall times and much more info is available on the website linked above. We're in Cranley, between Wilsonton and Gowrie Junction (full address also o the website), just a 10 minute drive from Toowoomba. If you're looking for nutritious, balanced produce, then come see us! Racheal |
AuthorHi, my name is Racheal and I write the blog for Simple Living Toowoomba. Thanks for joining us on this journey to living a simpler life and encouraging others to do the same. Archives
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