Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

The house has had a chocolate drought for a little while so I rectified it yesterday when I was in town. A little bit of good chocolate is a good thing... I hope. I don't think chocolate requires much any value adding but I did want to make some brownies. Last week I was tempted by the River Cottage beetroot brownies but alas my beetroot were too small and besides, I didn't have the necessary choclate. This morning I thought why not pumpkin brownies instead? The verdict, moist and moreish. I am farming alone today so I have had to do my own taste testing and believe me, it was no hardship. The recipe for anyone who might be interested. 

 Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients

125 grams butter

200 grams dark chocolate

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 and 1/4 cup plain flour

150 grams grated pumpkin

Method

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin with baking paper.

Stir butter and chocolate over a low heat in saucepan until smooth. Cool slightly.

Place the dry ingredients and pumpkin in a bowl and stir to coat the pumpkin in the flour mixture. Add the chocolate mixture and stir until combined then add the slightly beaten eggs.

Spread into the baking tin.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Not  a health conscious recipe (even with the pumpkin) but it does do the soul some good to have a small  slice of decadence sometimes.A little goes a long way or not depending on the appetite of course.

Enjoy
Tracy

Croceting and Knitting

 During the cooler months yarn craft always comes to the fore. The granny squares I am working on now are for a swap of squares in black, grey and white. They have a more masculine appeal I think which is a nice change from the brights and pastels and I might even give this blanket to one of the men in my life. They aren't often recipients of my crafting endeavours but everyone likes to snuggle up under a warm rug in the winter so I'm sure it will be appreciated.

I also spent a few minutes making a Mother's Day card for my mother in-law yesterday. I used the same pattern back in February to make a card and thought it would be a nice touch at this time too. It really takes next to no time and I am hoping she likes the homemade touch to her card this year. The pattern is here for anyone who might be interested.

As for other knitting and crochet projects, I could get lost on Ravelry. It is such a wealth of inspiration and instructions. The more you look, the more you want to make. Grace is hooked on crochet too and made a gift card wallet last night from a free Ravelry pattern although she usually prefers amigarumi.

This afternoon it is a trip to town. There is a second hand book sale on and we need a few things from the store too. Having only one car (and living 50km from town) means trips have to be planned and lists made because I won't be able to go back for a while. I am actually enjoying the feeling of not being able to go. It just feels so good to be at home.
Tracy

Potatoes and Leeks

The garden provided me with some potatoes and leeks today. I have been ruthlessly clearing out summertime crops which have been keeping on during the earlier parts of autumn. Not too ruthless I have to say, there are still some beans left in the garden and the pumpkins are rampant and are showing very little signs of dying off. I have been breaking off the fresh growth on the pumpkins because it really is going to come to nothing. They are a mess but there are plenty so I am not complaining.

We have been eating a lot of meatless meals. It might seem a bit strange, living on a  farm with a fresh supply of poultry and lamb that we don't eat meat every day. The kids could gladly (as long as it isn't a lamb they have played with) eat meat daily and their requirements for it are probably greater than ours. So tonight, they will enjoy a cottage pie whilst Tim and I have a potato and leek soup. Simple food, where the flavours can shine.

No real recipe for the soup. I usually follow a similar formula for all of my pureed vegetable soups. Prepare the vegetables, boil them until tender (adding stock if necessary) and then puree. It works with most of the root vegetables anyway. Sometimes I will add lentils or even a bit of cream after pureeing.With the potato and leek soup, I will saute the leeks in butter before cooking with the potatoes.  Quick, easy and generally healthy too. A chunk of parsnip and thyme bread on the side and it's a meal.
Tracy

A Kind Word

Never underestimate the value of a kind word or gesture. I am reading a book all about kindness right now and the ramifications of being kind or perhaps unkind to yourself and others. Today a kind word was what I needed to hear and I am grateful to have had it from an unexpected source. Just a few sentences was enough to make me feel a little special. Of course self-worth and happiness really has to come from within but a bit of outside help well... helps.
 Thank you.
Tracy

Tidying Up

Making soap and tidying up our budget has been on the agenda. I actually made the soap two days ago but I am just getting around to cutting it into individual cakes. I just used a basic recipe which are available in books and all over the internet but added ground coffee after it reached the trace stage. It makes the soap a little more exfoliating and was a good way to use some caffeinated coffee I had which I can't drink.Nobody wants to be around me when I have had caffeine, I am no fun.

The budget tables don't look as good as the soap. We are making some real cut backs. Grace will no longer be taking music lessons. I hope that in the near future we can return her to her tuition but at the moment the costs of over $100 per week just for the lessons is not feasibe or sustainable. It is unfortunate because she is quite advanced and should be sitting an exam in August but it just can't be helped right now. I  feel awful about this.

Anyway, things will look better tomorrow I'm sure.
Tracy

 There is of course more to me than gardening, farming, cooking and the other things I write about here but today was really just about being outside and enjoying a day in the garden made evn better by having Tim at home to work beside me. The days are shorter, there is less to do and the sun has lost some of its summertime sting.   

 There is still plenty to be done but energy isn't as easily drained in the cooler months. The cotton I planted last spring is finally heading towrds picking. It is such an interesting plant to grow. Easy to look after. Just plant the seed, water occasionally and wait. Large scale farming is another story, where cotton is a high demand crop. At the end, you get the cutest little cotton balls of fluff. Very much worth it.

The marigolds are truly lovely right now. There don't seem to be many pests around so either the marigolds really are keeping them at bay or more likely they are gone for the cooler seasons. A friend who visited once mentioned that the  marigolds and calendula were just too bright and gaudy for her tastes. I like them. I don't think natural colours are ever too over the top.

This afternoon I was going to make some beetroot and chocolate brownies for afternoon tea. But the beetroot(above) are just too tiny to do the job. So for our teatime treat this afternoon it is  lemon/lime bars. I would have made it just with limes because I really do have more than enough of them but I am erring on the side of caution. think they might be too tart on their own. We'll see, it is due out of the oven just about now and the girls should be off the bus in about 5 minutes. Perfect timing.

I have switched over to the new blogger and it is causing me a few headaches. Nothng wrong with it I am sure just I am a creature of habit and need time to adjust.

Tea time,

Tracy

Friday

I was more than a little lucky to capture this bee on the wing. The beauty of digital photograpy, no worries about wasted film. Pity about the big woolly ram in the background.

The herb garden in autumn tends to be a little messy. There are  seed heads to remove, the ever present weeds to deal with and straggly woody growth to prune back. That is what I have been doing for fun the past few days, tidying up the herbs before winter. I am feeling tired though and my work has been in fits and starts but hopefully I will conquer my weariness soon and have enough energy to do what I have to and then some.

Now, off to deal with the limes.
Tracy