How to make a bay leaf wreath … last minute

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Bay leaf wreaths tend to quickly dry out in the summer heat, so I left it till the last minute to make one.

I picked some branches off our bay tree in the garden and used what supplies I had at home to keep things simple. At this point I am trying to avoid going to the shops and enjoying just being at home with the family.

Supplies needed:

twine (you can also use florist wire)

wire coat hanger

scissors

bay leaves (or any greenery you have should work well)

Instructions:

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First take your coat hanger and make into a circle.

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Next cut your bay leaf branches to the right length and place around the coat hanger.

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Tie the branches onto the wire.

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Continue add leaves until the wire is covered and you have the amount of leaves on the wreath you desire.

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Finally, wrap the twine around the coat hanger wire hook at the top.

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This was really quick to make and I am hoping it will last really well throughout the  Christmas holidays. It will also be great to have so many dried bay leaves for cooking now! This wreath would be easy to make with other greenery from the garden or neighbourhood, whatever you can find!

Thanks for reading my post.

Andi

 

Lemon curd recipe- homemade gift jars…

Homemade Lemon Curd – a great gift in a jar this Christmas and very easy to make!

Lemon curd and Maori bread

I wasn’t planning on making homemade Lemon Curd today, but one of my sons came home from university for the holidays. He brought with him a suitcase of clothes and a half eaten jar of Lemon Curd and told us, “no one was allowed to eat it but him”. To save disputes breaking out I told everyone I would make some for all of them to share.

Then, I decided it would also be a great opportunity to make a couple of jars as gifts for work colleagues. Who doesn’t like receiving homemade Lemon Curd at Christmas?

Looking for a good recipe I went to my mum’s old recipe book, Mrs.Beeton’s Household Management. I love old recipe books!

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Check out this beautiful inscription my dad wrote in it for my mum for Christmas 1958.

Inscription from my dad to my mum Christmas 1958

Inscription from my dad to my mum Christmas 1958

I used the recipe in the book, but adapted to update measurements.

Ingredients

3-4 lemons depending on size (you need ½ cup lemon juice and 2 Tbsps. Lemon zest)

¼ lb butter (115 grams/4oz/ ½ cup/1 butter stick)

1 ½ cups sugar

4 eggs

1/8 tsp salt (I don’t put this in as I use salted butter)

Method

Put the sugar, butter, lemon zest and strained lemon juice into pot (I use a double boiler, which is a pot onto of a pot of water, but you don’t have to do this). Then stir until the sugar is dissolved.

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Next, beat the eggs, and add them to contents of the pot. Stir continuously and cook slowly until the mixture thickens, can take 10-13 minutes (If it is not thickening then turn the heat up a bit!).

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The mixture should be creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

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Finally, remove from the heat and let it cool, stirring occasionally before you pour it into your sterilised jars. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

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Lemon Curd with Maori bread

Lemon Curd with Maori bread

Thanks for reading my post! I ended up making Maori (Rewena) bread as well, see my post on how to make it here.

Andi

 

 

 

 

 

Traditional Maori (Rewena) Bread from New Zealand

I love been able to share this recipe of our wonderful traditional Maori (Rewena) bread from New Zealand. It is a bread made with a potato starter or bug that ferments and causes the bread to rise. The starter is made from boiled potato, flour, sugar and water. There is no need for yeast to be added. It has its own really great favour.

There is no better time to make this bread than Christmas, when spending time with family and friends (whanau).

You have to allow 36-48 hours for the starter to ferment before you can make the bread. So you need to plan ahead!

Ingredients for starter:

1 medium potato

1 cup flour

1 tsp sugar

1 cup water

Instructions for starter:

First, peel and chop the potato into small pieces.

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Boil the chopped potato in 1 cup of water in a pot with the lid on until mashing consistency.

Mash and leave to cool to lukewarm.

Mix in the flour and sugar into the potato mixture. Add more lukewarm water if needed. It needs to be pancake mixture consistency. (I always need to add more water).

Pour it into a glass bowl or mason jar and cover.

Starter

Starter

Leave in a warm place (not the refrigerator) to rise for about 24-48 hours. It should have bubbles and a yeast smell when ready.

Fermented for 36 hours

Fermented for 36 hours

If you wish to keep some for your next loaf, take out 1 Tbsp. of the mixture, put it back into your container and cover. Add ½ cup of warm potato water one day and the next 1 tsp sugar. You can also add 1- 2 Tbsp. of flour. Skip this step if you only want to make one loaf.

Ingredients for loaf:

Starter

5 cups flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Instructions for loaf:

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.

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Make a well in the middle and add the starter, mix well.

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If needed add warm water  (I always need to)

Knead for 10 minutes until firm (or for a short cut put it into the bread machine and let it knead for you)

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Knead into a ball and place in a greased dish or tin.

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Cover with a lid, tea towel or glad wrap.

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Next, set aside to rise in a warm place until it doubles in size. (I did this loaf  today and it was a colder day, so I put it in a slightly warmed oven to rise).

Dough doubled in size

Dough doubled in size

Bake for 1 hour in a preheated oven at about 180 degrees C/350 degrees F (Moderate oven).

Cooked loaf

Cooked loaf

Rewena (Maori) Bread

Rewena (Maori) Bread

My family especially love this bread while it is still warm! It slices really well.

Delicious Maori bread

Delicious Maori bread

Thanks for reading my post! I really hope you get to make this Maori bread from New Zealand!

Andi

 

 

 

Easy to make rustic christmas log project…New Zealand

No mantel and fireplace – make a rustic wooden log box…

We don’t have a mantel and fireplace so I decide to make a really quick rustic wooden log project to give that winter log, pine smell, Christmas feel to our living room…

 

Supplies needed:

Wooden crate

Logs

Juniper or some pine looking cuttings

Pine cones

Christmas white lights

Rustic wooden log project:

This project didn’t take long, but it really fun to do.

I had found a discarded wooden crate the other week and was saving it for a project. First I lightly painted it using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old Ochre. It probably didn’t need painting, but it had some writing on it from the liquor store I found it outside of, so to get rid of this I painted. I love painting as well, so any excuse. You could use any paint you have handy! The paint dried within an hour because I only did a very light coat and it was a hot day today.

unpainted wooden crate

unpainted wooden crate

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old Ochre

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old Ochre

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Next I put the logs, which had been recently cut from a tree in our yard, into the crate.

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When I was out walking the dog this morning I came across some juniper in the neighbourhood. Fortunately, no one was looking as I trim off some of the tree! It was a large tree so I am sure no one would have minded. I arranged the juniper with pretty light blue berries around the outside of the logs on the crate.

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Then the lights, placing them down into the box and around the logs.

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Finally, I place the pine cones I collect earlier this week for my branch Christmas tree post, putting them onto of the juniper and lights.

Rustic Christmas log project

Rustic Christmas log project

It looks so cute can’t wait until it gets dark tonight to really see how wonderful it looks!

Thanks for reading my post! Hope you give my rustic wooden log box a try!

Andi

 

 

 

 

Simple branch Christmas tree…New Zealand

A simple  branch Christmas tree is so quick to make, looks fantastic and can be a great alternative to a traditional tree…

If you are like me and looking for something different this year, don’t have the time or even the space for a traditional tree try this:

I was on my way home this afternoon and stopped to have a look at a local reserve where I knew there would be pine cones. I was excited to find some great branches on the ground that could be made into a branch Christmas tree. It had some lovely moss on it which was even better for this purpose.

There were some natural things for decorations as well and when I got back home I picked some little crab apples from the garden to add some red colour to them.

Supplies needed:

Branches

Pine cones

Decorations

Scissors

Galvanized bucket (I brought mine at Kmart)

Floral foam (optional)

Twine

Instructions:

Start by placing your branches in floral foam (if you have some, I already had some left over from a florist bouquet in a little burlap bag, so I used this for convenience).

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Galvanized bucket

Galvanized bucket

Then carefully place into the galvanized bucket. Or a large jar would work, as long as it doesn’t topple over everything is on the branches.

Put the pine cones on top.

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Next using twine tie up the berries, nuts, natural decorations onto the branches.

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Finally, add any other decorations, I used my burlap hearts and stars, which I made in a previous post, see instructions here.

And some cute little decorations I brought from trade aid, it is always nice to buy things from companies that support third world countries.

trade aid Christmas ornament

trade aid Christmas ornaments

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Thanks for reading my post! I have also made a pallet Christmas tree, see here. Have you made an alternative Christmas tree this year?

Andi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty Christmas star cookie tree – New Zealand

I was very excited to find these pretty Christmas star cookie tree cutters to make my Christmas cookies look that much more fun.

Star cookie cutters and stand

Shortbread…

One of my favourite cookie recipe is from Chelsea Sugar Shortbread. This is a gorgeous recipe and to make it even more yummy I added 1 cup of dark chocolate chips at the end (before rolling the dough). Check out the recipe here.

Butter and icing sugar beaten together

Butter and icing sugar beaten together

1 cup of chocolate chips added

Once I rolled out the dough, I cut out the star shapes and a hole in the centre of each one.

This dough was wonderful to roll out, no need to refrigerate first

This dough was wonderful to roll out, no need to refrigerate first

Star cutters

Star cutters

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Stars cut with holes in centres

When they cooled I decorated them by sprinkling icing sugar over them. It is important to let them completely cool before stacking. Although I love eating them while they are still a little bit warm.

Cooled shortbread sprinkled with icing sugar

Cooled shortbread sprinkled with icing sugar

Then I stacked them largest to smallest, it is up to you how many of each size you want.

Finally, I added a red ribbon to make it more festive and attractive.

This is really a great way to present your Christmas cookies as I did for morning tea today.

Christmas Cookie Tree

Christmas Cookie Tree

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Christmas morning tea

Thanks so much for reading my post! What is your favourite cookie recipe?

Andi

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