Waste Not Want Not

So the first month in the big smoke has quickly evaporated into some form of routine that compliments the objective.
The biggest change for us has been the idea of 'waste not want not'. What does this really mean?
According to http://dictionary.reference.com; 'if we do not waste what we have, we'll still have it in the future and will not lack (want) it'. So my goal has been to put this to the test. The best examples I can reflect on are the making of guava and apple jelly. We have a backyard full of fruit trees dropping little bundles of sweet deliciousness. To be honest I had to get a friend to tell me what half the trees actually were but it seemed wrong to see it rotting on the grass. I also discovered a little red tattered recipe book written in smudged ink cursive handwriting in one of the numerous boxes I had been feverishly unpacking. It was amongst some other things I had been given from my nanas estate. The handwritten recipes were dated 1951. It was in this moment the idea of turning the fruit on the trees into something useful was born. I started with the guavas. Thank god for google where I picked up the basics and a few bubbling brews later came the glorious rose hued sweet and sticky red guava jelly. Perfect with cheese, red meats or on a hot buttered scone.

Red Guava Jelly

6 cups of chopped whole guavas
Water
2 limes chopped
1 tablespoon of Apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 cups of white sugar

Place the chopped guavas, chopped limes, vinegar and salt in a large saucepan. Add just enough water to cover the fruit. Bring to the boil and simmer for 40min.
Strain the pulpy liquid through a sieve lined with muslin. Return the strained juice to a clean pot. Add the sugar and bring to the boil. Once the sugar had dissolved, boil for additional 30-40min. Stir and test regularly. Remove any scum that forms. Test the jelly by putting a teaspoon of the liquid into a saucer. The jelly is ready when you can either draw a line with your finger down the middle or the top of the jelly creases on touch once cooled in the saucer. Pour hot jelly into hot sterilised jars immediately.

I had the jelly making skills refined now and was pretty proud of myself so when I came across an old apple tree at a friends place, the temptation to turn the humble apple into jelly was high! This time however I was left with a thick creamy pulp instead of a hard seeded mass as the byproduct. I

used the same process at the guava jelly but omitted the vinegar and salt. This jelly is also delicious
with cheese, amazing with pork and great spread on a sponge cake filled with cream. My 'waste not want not' mindset decided to use the byproduct being the apple pulp in a rather tasty applesauce cake.

Apple cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

120grams butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups of apple pulp
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of chopped toasted walnuts.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla, I used an electric beater. Beat in each egg individually making sure that are fully incorporated. Add the apple pulp. Mix in the sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. You can add the optional nuts at this stage. Do not over mix.
Pour into greased cake tin. Bake at 180 for 35 minutes. Test, make sure a skewer comes out clean.
Cool for 15 mins and run a knife around the side of the tin. Remove the cake from the tin and cool on a rack. Ice with frosting.

Cream cheese frosting

150g cream cheese
3 tablespoons of softened butter
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Using an electric beater, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla for 2 minutes till fluffy. Add the
icing sugar and cinnamon until fully incorporated.

Some other ideas I have discovered along the way..

• Make a pie with leftover lamb roast and gravy. Add some peas and thicken with a bit of cornflour.
• Use your fruit trees! I made a Luscious feijoa cake with lime frosting.
• Buy in bulk. Especially things like flour, sugar and rice.
• Go into places like Farro Fresh on a Monday morning. They mark down their meat from the weekend. I got diced lamb, trimmed of fat for under $10 a kilo.
• Visit your local butcher, they tend to have specials when you buy in larger quantities. You can get a beautiful steak mince from Westmere butcher when buying 2 kilos or more at $7.95 a kilo.
• Invest in a rainwater holding tank or make one? We used an old recycling bin. Attach a hose attachment to water your garden. 
• If you are going to grow anything. Grow herbs. Parsley, mint, thyme, basil are my favourites. They will grow in any container. I used an old wooden drawer, wooden box and an old recycling bin. 

3 weeks to go

So we are 3 weeks away from uprooting our exiting life in order to clean the slate and start again at the ages of 36 and 41 with 3 school aged children and a collection of pets in tow. We are giving up our house, jobs and existing burdens in order to find out what truly makes us tick not only as individuals but also at a family unit. We were somewhat forced into looking at how we were functioning as a family unit and realised that were only existing. We weren't actually living. So embracing who we are has led me to bring to world of blogging. My passion is my family and providing them with the best I can provide them with. For us nourishment, sustainability and our living environment are key factors in what makes us happy. My love of vintage and recycled home decor, design, and craft will be the influencing elements factoring in sustainability and living environment while my passion for food will look after the nourishment side. This is how I plan to reinvent myself based on what I love rather than want. I plan to create, invent, review, search for and implement ideas, concepts and tangible goods. So watch this space as my plan unfolds. It will be random, hopefully inspiring and somewhat intrepid.