CINNAMON TEA CAKE

There is nothing nicer than a bit of freshly baked cake .... still warm, a cup of tea and a chat with a friend. That is one of my favourite things. Slow living allows you to do all three in a calm and relaxed atmosphere. I think slow living does not mean you sit around all day. Rather its about taking time to do the things you love. Not over booking your life and filling it with too many things to do, However some people seem to thrive on that fast paced living. Me I am naturally slow. Maybe I was a snail in my previous life. That would account for my snail paced approach to blogging. Anyway without anymore blah blah blah here is the recipe so you can enjoy it during a slow moment. 

CINNAMON TEA CAKE

Waste - glass milk container ... recyclable
Compost - egg shell and paper wrapping from butter

INGREDIENTS
2 Eggs
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
2 cups self raising flour
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar (extra for sprinkling)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon (also for sprinkling)


METHOD

1. Separate eggs and place whites in a bowl and yolks in a cup for later
2. Add the salt to the egg whites and beat together until they form soft peaks
3. Gradually add the sugar and beat well
4. Sift in flour and add melted butter
5. Pour into a cake tin approx 20cm
6. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the top
7. Bake in a moderate oven for 50 - 60 minutes.
8. You can turn it into apple tea cake by finely slicing an apple and putting that on top of the cake             before you add the cinnamon and sugar.

So there it is a quick and easy cake that you can share with a friend or by yourself in  a slow moment of your day. Enjoy. Thanks for stopping by ......  Eco Granny.

VEGETABLE PIE

As a blogger I fail to be consistent. It is because I am a person who requires peace and quite to collect my thoughts and wade through all the trauma that is technology to get the job done. Uploading photos then putting them where they need to go. Remembering passwords .... forgetting passwords and the resetting passwords. Computers who feel the need to take half an hour to update every time you decide to do something. All these things come together to make me put off blogging until another day. However lucky for you all the stars have aligned tonight. So I am starting my blog and sharing this vegetable pie recipe. As I always say make it your own. Take the basic recipe and add to it whatever you like and whatever you have in the cupboard. The contents of my pie are forever changing with the availability of the contents of my kitchen. So go forth and pie make ........

VEGETABLE PIE
Waste - Tin from kidney beans which is recyclable
Composted - veggie peelings and butter wrapping

WHOLEMEAL PASTRY

Two cups of wholemeal plain flour
One teaspoon of salt
One cup of plain white flour
250g butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup of water (more if needed to make pastry good consistency)

METHOD

1. Put all flours and salt into a bowl
2. Rug the butter through the mixture until is is like fine breadcrumbs. 
3. Gradually add the water and mix through with a knife until dough is firm but not so dry           as to be  falling apart.
4. Knead of a lightly floured board.


FILLING 

One large brown onion
Three cloves of garlic
One red capsicum
Large handful of spinach
500grams ripe tomatoes
One carrot 
400grams tin of red kidney beans (of course you could use fresh but you would have to precook them)
Dash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
salt pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Dice all vegetables
2. Put a little butter in a pan and melt
3. Saute onion and garlic until is softens
4. Add capsicum salt and pepper
5. Add all the other ingredients
6. Cook on a low heat for about ten minutes.
7. Add a dash of water if it begins to stick to the pan.
8. Divide the pastry into two pieces and roll out
9. Put pastry in a pie dish then stab the bottom a couple of times with a fork to make a few small 
    holes.
10. Add the filling
11. Roll out the other piece of pastry and put on the top.
12. Make some small holes with the fork in the top of the pastry
13. Press the edges together and cut off the excess pastry
14. You can brush the top with milk, a beaten egg or just plain water.
15. Bake in the oven until the pastry is golden brown 
16. 20 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven.

This is a good meal for summer or winter you can add some mash or some salad. Depends on how you are feeling. Other things you can add to the pie filling are celery, pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini the list is endless. I hope your pie turns out as yummy as mine. Thanks for stopping by ...... Eco Granny. 

RED LENTIL AND CARROT SOUP

Part of trying to live waste free is not wasting resources and those resources include the food that we purchase. Apparently for every five bags of groceries people buy one bag goes to the bin as food that has not been eaten and then thrown away. We have been trying hard to limit our waste by making meal plans and eating down our food  before we buy anymore. So with nothing much in the fridge I decided to cook up the three carrots we had left and make some lovely soup. Its winter here so that is a bonus. Perfect soup eating weather. This recipe is so simple and easy even Eco Pop could cook it. Yes he could ..... ah but would he .....I think not!

RED LENTIL AND CARROT SOUP

Waste - paper around stock cube.

Composted - onion and garlic skins.

Three large carrots or (1kg)

One cup of dried lentils or (200grams)

Three cloves of garlic

One brown onion

Two teaspoons of grated ginger

A pinch of nutmeg

Half a teaspoon of cinnamon

One stock cube and four cups of water OR

Four cups of vegetable stock

METHOD

1. Cut up onion and garlic

2. Dice Carrot into about one inch bits (you don't have to be fussy)

3. Heat oil in a saucepan and add onion, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon

4. Add some salt and pepper

5. Cook on a low heat until the onion becomes a little bit soft

6. Then add carrots, lentils, stock cube and water (or vegetable stock) add more water during cooking if required. 

7. Cook on a low heat until soft.

8. Allow to cool then blend up until it is smooth.

9. Serve with crusty bread. 

10. A dollop of cream and a bit of parsley make it look a bit special.

This soup was very tasty and so easy to make. The dollop of cream came from the top of our bottle of milk and the parsley was from our parsley pot on the back deck. If you make it I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  Thanks for stopping by ........ Eco Granny.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE

One of the most complicated cakes I have ever made ..... the hummingbird cake. Not difficult just has a few more steps than the usual cake that I cook. My niece requested this cake on her recent visit so it was only fair that I insisted that she act as my apprentice. Like everything I cook I think you can add more or less of things like nuts, bananas a pineapple to suit your own tastes. As I source a wider variety of bulk pantry items from new stores my waste list decreases. This makes me very happy as I move more and more towards my goal of creating less rubbish in the world.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE
Waste - paper bags from flour, sugar. Tins from pineapple. Butter paper. Cardboard and foil from cream cheese.
Composted - banana skins, egg shells

CAKE
1 450gram tin of pineapple
3 cups of plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon bi carbonate soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
1 cup of olive oil
3 ripe bananas
1 cup pecans chopped (or I used walnuts as I had no pecans this time)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Drain juice from pineapple tin and put into a small pan and reduce it on a low heat until it becomes one cup
2. Pull or cut the pineapple flesh up and put aside in a bowl until later
3. In a bowl put flour, baking powder, cinnamon and bicarbonate soda
4. In a different bowl combine the sugar and eggs. Whisk them together. Add the oil, pineapple, pineapple juice, nuts and banana.  Mix through.
5. Combine the wet mixture with the dry and beat together.
6. Divide the mixture and pour into two tins.
7. You can make two cakes or a double decker cake depending on what you want.
8. Bake in a moderate oven until the knife is pulled from the middle of the cake clean and the cake is slightly brown. Takes about 45-50 minutes.

ICING

140 grams of butter
2 cups of icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250 grams of cream cheese
Nuts to decorate the top.

METHOD

Put all of the above ingredients into a food processor and mix until smooth and creamy. If you are making a double decker cake you might want to double the icing mixture to put it in between the layers. I find this amount will generously ice two cakes. Decorate the cake with nuts either pecans or walnuts.

I think this cake needs to be cooked a few time to find out if you would like more or less of the banana, pineapple and nuts.  A big thanks to my apprentice and her friend for their help, As usual our cake was eaten with people I love and a nice cup of tea . Thanks for stopping by ......... Eco Granny.

CHERRY PIE

Part of trying to live waste free is avoiding food waste. Realising that food takes a lot of resources to bring food to our tables. I think we take for granted that we just go and get the food we want. I often think about those people who do not have access to food and that their attitude towards the waste of food would be much different to ours. I heard Geraldine Cox (who runs an orphanage in Cambodia)  speak once and she told the story of one of the children who she brought to Australia for medical treatment. He could not believe that we did not want to eat fresh food when it was so readily available, he could not understand why you would willingly buy processed food. The other thing he said was he couldn't understand why we cooked more than we needed and had leftovers in our fridge. He thought that was wasteful. When I heard this story years ago it resonated with me. Long before my Eco journey I did think about food waste and how food is valued more by those who don't have it (naturally) and how we as a society just take it all for granted. Anyway with this all in mind, the cherries that were starting to go soft were taken out of the fridge and given a new lease of life in the form of  Cherry Pie.

CHERRY PIE

Waste - paper bags from flour and sugar and butter wrapping paper

Composted - Egg Shell and cherry pips

CHERRY PIE FILLING

600 grams of cherries

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons of cornflour

1/3 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

METHOD

1. Take all the pips out of the cherries

2. Place cherries, cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice in a pan and cook until the cherries are soft and squishy.

3. Add the cornflour and stir and it thickens.

4. If it is thicker than you would like just add a bit of water until it is the consistency that you desire

5. Set aside to cool

PASTRY

1 1/3 cups of plain flour

1/2 cup of self raising flour

1/4 cup of custard powder or icing sugar or (I used organic plain flour as it has a sweet taste)

1/4 cup caster sugar

150grams of butter

2 tablespoons of iced water

1 egg

METHOD

1. Place all dry ingredients with butter in a food processor or bowl and mix through until the butter is      mixed through. Like fine breadcrumbs.

2.  Add the egg and the iced water and mix through

3. Put onto a floured surface and knead it until it is smooth 

4. Roll it and wrap it in a beeswax wrap and place in the fridge for up to 30minutes

5. Take out and divide into two. One bit larger than the other. 

6. Roll out and put into pie dish

7. Add the cherry mix

8. Roll out the other piece of pastry for the top. You can make a lattice top or a flat top depending on        what you like.

9. Use milk or egg and use a pastry brush to glaze over the top of the pastry. You can also sprinkle          sugar if  you like.

10. Bake in a moderate oven until the top is golden brown.

My mouth was actually watering as I took this photo and I can assure you it tasted as good as it looked. Thanks for stopping by .......  Eco Granny.

LENTIL SHEPPARDS PIE

This is a slight variation of the lentil lasagne. Some people don't eat pasta or its unavailable to them so this is an alternative for them. I wanted to eat a shepherd's pie but as I gave up meat I had to create an alternative. Its a nice winter meal when you are craving warm comfort food. Potato is very common making this an easy recipe for everyone. You can change the filling with whatever you have in season or whatever you need to cook up in your fridge. Its flexible and you can easily make it your own to suit your own tastes. This is one of my lazy meals that I make and can cook it up very quickly. It lasts well in the fridge for a couple of days ..... that's if the family stop eating it all the time!

LENTIL SHEPHERD'S PIE (disclaimer it contains no shepherd's!)
Waste - organic peels of onion and garlic
Tins - from lentils and tomatoes
Glass - sauce bottles
Plastic - cheese wrapping

LENTIL MIXTURE
1 large carrot
1 large zucchini
1/2 capsicum
1/2 large onion or 1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic or as many or few as you wish
handful of spinich
400 gram tin of cooked tomatoes or you could add 400 grams of freshly cooked tomatoes
400gram tin of lentils rinsed and drained or 240 grams of lentils that you have cooked yourself
1 tablespoon  of wortechsire sauce
1 tablespoon of tomatoe sauce
salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Add a dash of olive oil to a pan and when it warms add the onion and garlic cook until soft.
2. Add capsicum and stir for a few minutes
3. Put in all other ingredients and stir.
4. Taste test after a few minutes deciding if you would like to add more sauce or you are pleased with the taste.
5. When cooked put into the baking dish you want to use and set aside to cool.

TOPPING
Boil potatoes the number will depend on how wide your dish is. If I cook extra I just make another meal with them. But normally about five average sized potatoes will do the job. When cooked through mash them with a bit of butter and a splash of milk and a 1/2 cup of cheese.

METHOD TO COMPLETE

Spread over the top of the lentil mixture the mashed potato and then grate cheese of you would like. Put back into the oven and brown the top and heat through. You can make this meal in advance and heat and brown the top when you are ready to eat it.

This is a good hearty meal for hungry tummies. Its flexible so add whatever you have and whatever you like to eat. Make it your own. I hope you enjoy ........... thanks for stopping by ......  Eco Granny.

CARROT CAKE

I have cooked this carrot cake a few times now and it has not failed once. Therefore it is worthy of a blog. We have enjoyed it for afternoon tea with visitors and today I am taking it to my step mother's home as she has just had surgery for breast cancer. I wanted to take something nice as food always makes you feel a bit better. Life can be unpredictable and this situation just reminds me once again to enjoy every day and to value those you love. We can't always roam around doing exactly as we please but we can make our spare time count by doing things we love and being with those we love. So with that in mind bake this cake and share it and your time with your favourite people.

CARROT CAKE
Waste produced - organic to be ccomposted
Flour bags - paper biodegradable
Ingredients in glass such as vanilla, olive oil, cinnamon.
Honey from The Source is in a jar which I will clean and refill


1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 grated carrots
1/2 brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup olive oil

METHOD

1. Place all dry indgredients into a bowl including the carrot and walnut and stir through
2. Place all wet ingredients into another bowl and mix
3. Combine all together
4. Put into a cake tin and bake on a moderate oven until the cake is cooked through.
5. For cake novices the way to test if the cake is cooked is to poke through the middle of the cake with a skewer or knife and if it comes out clean or with crumbs on it then it's ready.

Icing for the top of the cake
 Combine 250 grams of cream cheese with 1/2 cup of icing sugar. Spread on the top of the cake once it has cooled. You can sprinkle some chopped up walnuts on the top to add extra crunch.

If you bake this cake share it with people who you love and those who love you back ....... thanks for stopping by ......... Eco Granny