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Bananas · chocolate · cooking · Muffins · Uncategorized

There’s Nothin’ Like a Muffin!

JoanneLeave a comment

School’s out for the year and what better way for a 12 year old to celebrate the Grand Finale of his primary school years than with a freshly baked batch of Chocolate & Banana Muffins.

A firm favourite in our household for a number of years now, these mouth watering muffins fill our home with one of the most comforting aromas of all!

Chocolate & Banana Muffins

Stir together in a large bowl –

2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon salt

In another bowl, mix together –

100 grams melted butter

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup (2-3) mashed bananas

Tip the bowl of well combined wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together until the flour mixture is moistened. Don’t overmix.

Thoroughly grease a muffin tray, or alternatively place 12 muffin patty cases into the muffin tray.

Divide mixture evenly between the 12 muffin cases, about 1/4 cup per case.

Bake in a pre-heated oven, 220 degrees, for approximately 12-15 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly in the tin before turning out.

cooking · mangoes · recipe · traditions · Uncategorized

Green Mango Chutney

Joanne8 Comments
Green Mango Chutney
Green Mango Chutney

With my beautiful mango tree producing fruit like crazy this summer, Green Mango Chutney was a certainty. I also knew exactly which recipe I would be using.

For the last goodness-knows-how-many years I have been hearing about my husband’s grandmother’s famous Green Mango Chutney recipe. It has just about become folklore in our family!

I must admit that I have made a couple of variations to the original recipe, but only ever so slight. To change anything too drastically would be sacrilege! Grandma’s recipe uses ground ginger, where I have used fresh. Also, Grandma added salt to all of the other ingredients, whereas I sprinkled salt over the raw mangoes and left them standing overnight.

GREEN MANGO CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS –

1.5 kg green mangoes, peeled & sliced (For 1.5 kg of mango flesh, I used 6 whole mangoes.)

50 g freshly ground sea salt

2 cups white wine vinegar

700 g (approximately 4 1/2 cups) brown sugar

150 g sultanas or raisins

150 g fresh ginger, chopped, or 1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 – 1 teaspoon chilli powder (or 6 dried red chillies, chopped)

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 onion, chopped

METHOD – Toss mango thoroughly with the ground sea salt in a large stainless steel bowl or saucepan and leave to stand, covered, overnight.

Tip mangoes into a colander and drain well.

Place well drained mangoes into a large stainless steel saucepan or stockpot and add all of the other ingredients.

Bring pan to the boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

When pan is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Bottle immediately in clean, warm, sterilised jars and seal tightly.

This chutney is best left for a month or two to mature, but tastes great immediately if you can’t wait that long!

Enjoy!! 🙂

Green Mangoes
Green Mangoes
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The CWA & The LOA (AKA…Country Women’s Association & Law of Attraction!)

Joanne2 Comments

Last week, whilst reading my favourite magazine, a letter to the editor caught my eye. The author of the letter told her story of having purchased, in 1984, from an antique store in England, a copy of a Coronation CWA (Country Women’s Association) Cookery Book, for the (pricey) sum of one pound!

On reading her letter I made a mental note to keep an eye open for a copy of a CWA cookery book myself, preferably old, but any year would do. When time permits I enjoy browsing through second-hand bookstores and hope that I may find such a gem on my next visit.

In the meantime, I asked my mother-in-law if she had a copy of my husband’s grandmother’s recipe book, compiled by one of the grandchildren after grandma’s passing. I knew that grandma’s famous Green Mango Chutney recipe was in this book and my husband has raved over this chutney for years!

cwa-cookbook1

My mother-in-law was happy to lend me the book, then went on to tell me that she had another cookbook that I may be interested in….The Coronation Cookery Book Compiled by the Country Women’s Association of N.S.W.”! She had purchased the cookery book herself, when still a young teenager and on a visit to her older sister at Wagga Wagga, in southern N.S.W. She would lend that to me if I was interested!

Her little gem, slightly worn, with a few loose pages and yellowing with age, although still in surprisingly good condition, is the 6th edition of the book, printed in 1951, with 30,000 copies issued.

Now, if I could JUST work out how to use the Law of Attraction to bring everything else into my life that I want there…..

I’m working on it!!! 🙂

gardening · mangoes · Uncategorized

Delightful Mangoes.

Joanne4 Comments
Ready for Mango Chutney!
Ready for Mango Chutney

This summer, the branches of my mango tree are being dragged down by an abundance of perfectly formed fruit.

The tree was planted some fifteen years ago and has been admired each year as it has matured into one of our favourite trees in the garden.

My family estimates that we have somewhere in the vicinity of 150-200 mangoes, all of which are likely to ripen around the same time!

During the winter months my father-in-law, a third-generation farmer, did a brilliant job at pruning the tree. What he doesn’t know about fruit trees just isn’t worth knowing about!

Over the years, many adventurous children have chosen my mango tree as a playhouse, climbing the solid branches and also hiding beneath the canopy of shady green leaves. This magnificent tree, with its beautiful spirit, has made many friends in its lifetime.

With Mother Nature’s perfect timing, this superb fruit will bring a smile to the faces of family and friends ~ just in time for Christmas.