Belinda Moore

Meal times went surprisingly well last week, considering we had to contend with holiday-mode, some busy days, late afternoons outdoors and ten people in the house!

We did skip the tuna patties for a variety of homemade pizzas and garlic bread on Friday night. We’d had half a day in and around town, rushing with co-op stuff and other errands, so Abby made six pizzas with some help from Marije.

At last I made a great big batch of Honey Oat Cookies. Immi also baked a chocolate cake from scratch. I’m rapt that the girls have moved on from packet mixes to real cakes now.

From the garden we still have beans, broad beans, a little broccoli, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and the odd large tomato, cabbage, herbs, sweet potatoes, small capsicums, chokos, silverbeet, celery and herbs. There’s almost enough rhubarb to make another yummy dessert! The summer perennials like ceylon spinach and kang kong are going crazy, and pumpkins are making babies again (same vines as last year, they never died off, just waited through winter). Comfrey and parsley are flowering, which are big and annoying in the garden, but I’m hoping to collect seed and also have a lot of self-seeded plants come up. The nasturtiums are also rambling everywhere and a bit invasive, but they’re so pretty and the little kids just love their nectar. We have less eggs than usual, but still plenty for the ten of us to enjoy eggs every couple of days.

More raspberries and the fruit of the malay malay (millaa vine) were nibbled from the forest this week, and the kids brought home some blue quandong and bumpy satinash fruit to try. They’re technically edible, but not to our liking. I am wondering about quandong jam though…

From friends we have boxes full of bananas, bags of beans and one pawpaw. From roadside stalls we have some delicious local desiree potatoes. From the co-op we have organic carrots and local broccoli. From the fruit & veg shop we have local onions, ginger, apples, pears, local pumpkins and other goodies. From the markets we have more potatoes, peaches, grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes, honey, capsicums, rockmelon and pineapple - ALL LOCAL! What a bountiful place we live in…

We’re cooking for ten until Thursday, another busy week and full weekend ahead…

Monday: pasta & creamy broccoli sauce with steamed carrots and beans

Tuesday: tuna patties, boiled eggs, salads

Wednesday: quiche with pumpkin, broccoli, silverbeet and salad and boiled new potatoes on the side

Thursday: leftovers, (homemade) freezer meals, eggs, beans etc - home late, big day out

Friday: potatoes, vegetables and white sauce or gravy

Saturday: eat out or take-away, Yungaburra Folk Festival

Sunday: pasta with sauce from freezer (home late)

Baking & Prep: snacks for the busy weekend out

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