Fabulous Lemon Hand & Foot Scrub

This "recipe" I found in a newsletter for Childcare Professionals, called our little treasure (www.ourlittletreasures.com.au)

We all can do with a little treat every now and then; no matter if we are childcare professionals, mothers or just busy women who work very hard both at work, play and home! All ingrendents are easrly found it the kitchen. It takes only a few minutes to make the wonderfully smelly scrab. A faulous and refreashing exfoliation treatment, we all battle colds, fatigue and the urge to sometimes just stay at home, rather then go to work or shopping. Here, is a great idea to keeo you feeling refreshed and relaxed after a long and buzy day. Enjoy!

Fabulous Lemon Hand & Foot Scrub
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 tablespoons caster sugar
5 drops of lemon essential oil

Mix all ingredients together in a plastic container. Place a towel and a bowl of warm water close by. Massage the scrab into your hands and feet. Rinse off in the warm water. Pat dry with the towel.

Lemon Ice-Cream. So so easy!

This is the most yummy and most easy ice-cream to make as well as very quick! However if you are looking for a low-fat ice-cream, I wouldn't ever consiter this one, using a low-fat cream just doesn't work, you really need double cream, or cream higher then 35% fat content. It tastes like REAL ice-cream, so creamy and you only need to serve little amounts. It is also nice made with Mandarin juice insteed of lemon juce, (Mandarin ice-cream only has a light taste of mandarin, where I find the lemon ice-cream very lemmonly and tangy) I must admit this is my favoute ice-cream recipe (and I don't need to flaff around with the ice-cream maker) Recipe is found in Nigella Lawson's How to Eat, in the Week-end Lunch section.

Lemon Ice-Cream
Recipe from Nigella Lawson, How to Eat.
3 juicy lemons, perferably unwaxed
420ml double cream
170g icing sugar

Grate the zest from 2 of the lemons. Sqeeze the juice of all three and pour into a small bowl with the zest and icing sugar, stir to combine and leave for 30 minutes, if you can, to let the flavour deepen.

Whip the cream with 3 tablespoons iced water until holds soft peaks, then whisk in the sweetened lemon juice. Tun into a shallow container, cover and freeze- no stiring, crystal-breaking-up, mixing or anything needed-until firm. Place in fridge around 40 minutes before serving to ripen/soften.

Photo to come.

Quince and Nut Cake

26th July 2008
After a visit to Camberwell Food Market, I was left wondering how to cook some Quinces which I brought. I was looking for a different idea rather then just the normal way of roasting or poaching them, and serving them on top of Bircher muesli for a healthy breakfast or as a dessert served along with Vanilla Yogurt or ice-cream. This recipe was found in The Cook's Companion by the wonderful Auststralian food writer and well-known foodie, Stephanie Alexander.


Quince and Nut Cake (from Stephanie Alexander’s The cook’s companion)
This cake can be made using walnuts, almonds or pecans, or a mixture. I used a mixture of 3/4 cup walnuts and 1/4 pecans nuts) I also used Duck eggs, rather then chicken.

375g plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground allspice
Pinch of salt
1cup roughly crushed nuts
2 cups poached Quince
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
250g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Pure icing sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 180 C, then butter a 23cm ring tin and dust it with flour. Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt and stir in nuts. Combine quince and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk eggs into butter and gently stir quince mixture and mix well. Spoon into prepared tin. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake in tin. Unmould and scatter with icing sugar, if desired, to serve.

Lamb Shanks

22 July 2008
We are in the middle of winter, here in Melbourne, and feeling the extremes from mother nature, we were feeling the need for a simple nice, warming winter meal. lamb Shanks seem to be sceaming out to me, what else could you feel like but a slow cooking meaty meal!

Before heading off to work in the morning I placed four lamb shank in the slow cooker as well as some cut up carrots, a celery stalk, light amount of garlic and mixed Itailan herbs, corn cut of the cob, 2 cans of tomatoes, thyme (4 teaspoons) 1 cup soup mix (soup beans) 1 cup red wine, I then turned the slow cooked to a low cook, went to work and return around 9 hours later to a wonderful cooked dinner.

havin' Fish & Chips for tea tonight

19th July, 2008.

After spending the morning visiting the Booroondara Farmers Market, I decided we were having fish and chips for dinner tonight. I brought a wonderful whole Barramundi as well as some Kipper potatoes at the market. I also did cauliflower with cheese and white wine sauce.

To do the fish I simply slide a knife down one side of the fish (about 1cm) and then stuffed it with ginger and Vietnam mint (polygonum odoratum) wrapped up the whole fish (yak, head and tail too!) with foil, placing slices of lemon on top of the fish and baked for 45 minutes.

I cup the kipfler Potatoes in to chip-like shapes (6 in total) placed in small roasting tray with 3 tablespoons of duck fat and roasted for the same time as the fish.

While making the white sauce for the Cauliflower, in the microwave went 1/2 cauliflower cut into small flowers (around 2-3cm) to cook on med for 10-12 Min's. Making the white sauce, I melted 3 table spoons unsalted butter, once melted I blended 6 tablespoon plain flour flat tablespoons, and cooked on high till blended together, then adding 1/2 cup dry white wine, followed by 1/2 cup milk (low-fat) continue, till you achieve a thick and slow following liquid while moving a wooden spoon though your saucepan. Place the cook cauliflower in an oven poof dish, place the cheese sauce on top with grated cheese mixed in to it. Bake for 30 minutes.

Note: Oven temp should be around 180 Degrees.