Thanks for dropping by! My husband Pete and I live a blissful existence with our two sons in the Great Southern Land. For the past couple of years, we’ve been on a quest to make as much of our food as possible from scratch – something we refer to as “quasi-sustainability”. Whilst we’re not obsessive about it, we’re definitely enjoying the adventure!
Celia
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hi “C” I will try to remember to visit at least weekly, or more often if I can think of it. I loved your pizza recipe/story.
Bob H.
Thanks Bobby! It’s always good to see you! Celia
Celia, I have just found your blog, and it is now in my Favorites list. :) I really need to find some figs…
Cheers, RR, thanks for popping by! Celia
Hi Celia
Nice to read about your endeavours to become ‘semi self sufficient’. My friend the Francophile and I had fond hopes of doing that when we moved into this house – but our efforts at vege gardening have largely gone unrewarded so far. But we keep on trying … if it would only RAIN!
cheers, Matilda
Nice job, Celia. I’m planning on visiting once a week. Got any great recipes for either eggplant or lentils?
Best, Bob
Matilda, we’re getting a bit of rain down our way, wish we could send you some!
Bob, I make a lentil soup (please see the Pasta Soup post), and also an eggplant pickle – will write the latter up next time I make it! One thing I have been making lately is a simplified version of babaganoush – roasting the eggplants whole (but with the skins pricked to stop them exploding), and then scooping out the flesh and pureeing it with a little tahini and lemon juice.
Cheers, Celia
Hi “C”,
I just read your latest additions to your blog and was quite taken with the one about making butter. You might have read something from me previously concerning “sour cream butter” My Mother always allowed the cream to sour for quite sometime before churning. We kids would sneak into the sour cream and spread it on fresh home made bread instead of butter, And in Summer when the tomatoes were ripe in the garden we would make a tomato and onion sandwich using the sour cream. It might just be my memory (or what passes for memory nowadays) but IMO there is no comparison between fresh and sour cream butter. Sour cream wins hands down. You should try it sometime.
Bobby, I knew it was either you or Bob Ross that had made the comment about souring the cream first, and we do that, although I’ll try letting it go longer next time, as you suggest. As I said in my post, butter-making is only ever a byproduct of having out-of-date cream, so it’s almost always a little bit sour when we make it.
Can you remember if your mum put salt in her butter when she made it, Bob? We add only the tiniest bit.
I tried to move your comment to the butter thread, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. Haven’t quite got the wordpress software sussed yet! :)
Cheers, Celia
Wow! If I were a blogger, I’d give you a vote on having one of the most informative, instructional, and, sharing blogs. Great job, C!
TP
Teeeep… :)
Thanks for checking in, girlfriend!
Celia
Awesome! Just found you from wineloverspage.com – you gave me some good advice on adjusting flour for local humidity once upon a time :-)
Welcome to the blogosphere – come see me at http://www.mrandmrsx.spaces.live.com
Nice to see you again, Christine!
I remember now – it was the spreading chocolate chip cookies, right? :)
Yep, and I’m about to try whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip cranberry – wish me luck!!! I’ve started Hebrew school and have to be there too early for my stomach to accept breakfast, so I’m attempting a portable alternative :-)
Wow! Serendipitously, I’m working right now on an applesauce oatie, with chocolate, dried fruits and almonds. Will post the recipe if I can get it to work…
Congratulations on a wonderful site. I’ll be keeping a regular watch for more stunning food ideas, Celia. Cheers!
Your blog is fantastic and I will stay tuned now! It made me even hungrier than “Farmer Boy” by LIW! (And I think they were super-self-sufficient! :)). Loved it. Will check in every few days.
Here’s a nice quote and very apt for you:
“Isn’t it a joy to acquire knowledge and be able to put it to use?” – Confucius.
About time you got here, gorgeous. :) I’ve fixed the brownie cupcake link – thanks for pointing it out.
hi celia, finally ive visited your site and it is really great, how do you find the time to log all the beautiful food when your busy baking.thanks for the quince paste and jelly it is beautiful sooooo fragrant. dot xxx
Hi Celia
A friend of yours, Michael Luscombe, purchased some Woll cookware from me recently. He was acting on your recommendation and directed me to your comments in the Wine Lovers Forum. So thank you. One of the conditions of his purchase was that you have a free membership to our Priority Club and that’s what we’ve done.
I have checked out your site and I must say that the community service you are offering is out standing! I have the greatest admiration for anyone willing to put back in without remuneration. I have no idea how you find the time (or resources) to put put it all together, but I know that your growing band of supporters (like Michael), really appreciate it.
Keep up the good work,
Best Regards
Steve
Hi Steve
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I adore our Woll pans, and Moo just emailed me to say how delighted they’ve been with theirs. They really are the best thing ever – they’re on my list of things to write about.
As for the time and resources, it doesn’t feel like work – FJALC has proven to be a wonderful way to keep in touch with my friends! :)
Cheers, Celia
Glad to see such a fun site – especially one that teaches me about using my left over apple peels which one daughter hates and the other loves. Not to mention the Kumquat jelly – I’ve recently made a Kumquat oil…not posted it yet though. Will let you know as soon as
Thanks for checking in from the other side of the world! Isn’t the internet wonderful? I love that I can go to your blog and read about what people are eating in the Netherlands.. :) Celia
Back from a non stop weekend of baking with other Dan Lepard forum folk, just the best time I have had in ages. But I quite forgot to say that I had nominated you here at a very nice museli company. Hope other people vote for you too! best wishes, Jo
http://www.dorsetcereals.co.uk/little-blog-awards/nomination/1598
Wow, thanks for doing that Jo! Glad to hear you had fun – will check out Dan’s site to see if there are photos of the get-together. Celia
Hi Mon,
This is my favorite — a very forgiving recipe. Check out the user comments for further insights. It’s from “Saveur”:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Vegetarian-Lasagne
12 tbsp. unsalted butter
12 sun-dried tomatoes
1 shallot, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1⁄2 cup flour
5 cups milk
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 lbs. shiitake mushrooms,
stemmed, quartered
1⁄2 lb. spinach, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp. chopped oregano
1 tbsp. chopped thyme
1 tbsp. chopped rosemary
1 tbsp. tomato paste
5 cups whole canned tomatoes, crushed
1 lb. lasagna noodles
2 1⁄2 cups grated grana padano
2 1⁄2 cups grated fontina
1. Grease a 9″x 13″ baking pan with 1 tbsp. butter. Cover dried tomatoes with 1 cup boiling water; soak for 20 minutes. Drain. Chop; set aside.
2. Make béchamel: Heat 8 tbsp. butter in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and carrots; cook 5 minutes. Add flour; cook 2 minutes. Whisk in milk; boil. Reduce to medium-low; simmer, whisking, until thick, 20–25 minutes. Add nutmeg; season with salt and pepper.
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and remaining butter in a 6-qt. pot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook 10 minutes. Add dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and tomato paste; cook 3 minutes. Add canned tomatoes. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set sauce aside.
4. Heat oven to 375˚. Spread 2 cups tomato sauce in baking dish. Cover with a layer of noodles. Spread 1 cup béchamel over top; sprinkle with 1⁄2 cup of each cheese and 2 cups tomato sauce. Repeat layering 2 more times. Top with remaining noodles, tomato sauce, béchamel, and cheeses. Bake covered with foil on a baking sheet for 1 hour. Remove foil; raise oven to 500˚. Bake until golden, 15 minutes.
SERVES 6 – 8
This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #117
Best, Bob
Many thanks for chiming in, Bob! Hope all is well on your side of the planet.. :)
Celia
celia, another question: do you perchance have a vegetarian lasagne recipe? I used to have a great one but i’ve lost it….just on the offchance you do!
M
Sorry, Mon, I don’t. Will let you know if I come across a good one!
Celia
Hi Celia,
I just discovered your site via Dan Lepard. I put on half a stone just looking at the pictures. I will definitely be bookmarking you and am looking forward to trying some recipes. Just don’t know where to start.
Good luck and God Bless
Hi Tim, nice to hear from you! :)
Please don’t mention weight though, you have no idea how much I’ve put on writing this blog..
Best, Celia
via Celia, thanks Bob for the vegetarian lasagne recipe. will try this weekend….silly me for not having logged onto the site in recent weeks!!!!
hope you’re well Celia….and happily gearing up for Xmas…i have decided to make some of the bees wax candles you talked about….off to Flemington on Friday!
Mon
Hi Celia,
I’ve just happened across your site during a search for recipes for my new cathedral bundt tin (a most longed for Christmas present). I’m so impressed with your site, and inspired to try many of your recipes, particularly the ones for pectin and vanilla extract (and later, vanilla syrup).
Baking non-stop for a whole weekend is my idea of heaven, and it’s lovely to know there are others out there who feel the same way. I’m going to give your White Chocolate Bundt Cake a go – without the topping as I just want to enjoy the lovely cathedral design (always assuming the cake comes out of the tin cleanly, of course!).
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful site.
Hi Di,
Thanks for popping in – I adore the cathedral bundt but have never bought it. I already have the Christmas tree bundt which I use for festive baking, so it’s hard to justify another pan, although the cathedral dusted in icing sugar is absolutely magnificent (good idea about skipping the icing, it would clutter up the design details).
The white chocolate bundt works well in the Nordic pans, although you’ll have excess mixture, as it’s designed for a slightly larger pan. The excess mix bakes well in muffin pans. Do give it a good coating of canola oil spray to grease – make sure you avoid olive or rice bran oil, both of which have stained up my pans in the past. And I’m not sure if you’ve found this already, but I wrote a long post about my bundt pan addiction here.. :)
Cheers, Celia
My cathedral cake was a wonderful success! I used a mix of melted unsalted butter and flour to grease the tin (got the idea from a Bo Friberg book) and it slipped out beautifully. I can tell my first bundt tin will not be my last – perhaps one of the mini tins next, and then….
And blessings to my brother, who bought me the tin.
Aren’t they just wonderful cake pans? And you’re blessed indeed to have a brother who buys you such great Chrissie presents! :)
Brand new to all this blogging. Read about your bread with great interest and have this fabulous receipe for “Harlots Bread” would love to share. Mix it up the night before and put it in the fridge over night then pop it from a cold oven when you put the kettle on for your first cuppa in the morning. 40 mins later – YUMBO!!
Harlot’s bread sounds wicked, Beverley! What a great name.. :)
Just wondering if you have any wonderful recipes for tomato chutney. I need to make some for our school fete extravaganza!!! I need a trusted recipe that will taste amazing!
Claire
Claire, I tried to email you, but your email address keeps bouncing?
Pete makes this roasted tomato relish a couple of times a year. It’s based on a recipe from Jams and Preserves (published by Murdoch Books), and is delicious, but it takes quite a long time and doesn’t make very much, so I’m not sure it’s all that good for selling at a fete! If you do a google search, there’s probably a recipe somewhere that you can make on the stove top that would be much faster!
* 3kg roma tomatoes, halved
* 2 onions (310g), chopped
* 2 small red chillies, seeded and chopped
* 1 teaspoon Hungarian smoked paprika
* 375ml white wine vinegar
* 360g white sugar
* 60ml lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
* 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to 150C. Line a tray with baking paper and roast the tomatoes, cut side up for an hour. Sprinkle with the onion and cook for another hour.
2. Cool slightly, then remove the tomato skins and roughly chop. Place the tomato with all the remaining ingredients in a large saute pan and stir until the sugar dissolves.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the relish is thick. Stir frequently to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Spoon into sterilised jars, seal tightly, and then process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes (for more on this, see the jam making primer on the Jams page).
Have fun! :)
Cheers, Celia