Sunday, March 20, 2011

Chooks

As promised, here's some photos of our new chooks - 10 of them of varying colours and breeds - that have had full run of our big back garden for the last few weeks.  They now peck and strut about (bullying the cats) as if they own the place.  It's lovely to sit and watch them as they cluck about, digging, pecking, and stealing tidbits from the vegie patch.




"Kids" love cupcakes

My niece and nephew - who normally live in Sweden - regularly ask me if they can bake with me; and regretfully I haven't done nearly as much as I would have hoped during their stay in Australia.

One day I baked cupcakes with niece M, on the promise that after dinner (and after a few wines), the adults would all have a go at decorating them.  We then held a competition to see if they kids could guess who decorated which cake.

It ended up becoming an exercise in keeping the adults entertained; by the time the children got around to the guessing game, they just wanted to eat them ... as did we.


Pea and mint frittata

I'm back after a two month absence - nope, I haven't been anywhere exotic.  Life just got a little busier than usual.  We still have our Swedish guests so we have a full house; and having two young kids living here means there's ALWAYS food on the go.

In the next entry I will post about our new additions to the family: ten chooks of different variety, free ranging it in our back garden.

But for now, I wanted to share with you a super simple recipe for pea and mint frittata - which I adapted into little individual frittatas for a picnic we went to in the Dandenongs yesterday.  I just love how the peas hold their shape and look as though they've been neatly stacked together.

First, turn your oven to 190C and grease a 12 hole muffin pan.  Beat together 6 large eggs, add one cup of cooked peas, a big handful of chopped fresh mint, and some chopped chives.  Season with salt and pepper, then 3/4 fill each of the muffin holes.  Bake in the oven until they have risen (they will initially look like little souffles) and are golden brown on top.  Take out and cool.