Healthy apple treat...

...with little, decadent chocolate pots. But, by all means, skip the pots, if you want to stick to the healthy bit.

Put equal amounts of dark (as dark as you can get it) chocolate and thick cream into a heat-proof bowl. Add the zest of one organic orange.
Put bowl over a little saucepan filled 1/3 with water and put on low heat. Melt chocolate and mix everything together. Take off heat. Add a splash of orange juice or orange liqueur of your choice.Pour the contents into little cups. We use Chinese tea cups. They are just the right size for us. You don't need big cups, as this is quite a filling, satisfying treat. If you have raspberries (we still have some frozen ones from our bumper harvest), place some at the bottom of your cup. The raspberries are not necessary, the pots are totally delicious without them.
Chill for a few hours. Then cut up an apple or two, arrange around the cups. Dip apple slices into chocolate pots. No spoons required.
Share with your loved one(s) or special friends.
If you can be bothered, you could add a lightly beaten egg yolk to the slightly cooled chocolate mixture. Beat the egg white until stiff, then add to the whole mixture. It makes it more like a chocolate mousse. Very nice, too. :)

Frosty morning

We do have frosty mornings, but usually not as bad as today's.
It was beautiful, though. With the sun making all the tiny icicles glitter and glisten.

No major damage, so I'm happy!

KaleCorianderCabbagesSome other green stuff
Carrots

Cabbage Earliball #2

A while back (beginning of June) I wrote about this cabbage. Well, here it is, the same head, all nicely grown and soon to be harvested. The rest of the cabbages in the same bed are of various sizes, just perfect. So we should have a continuous supply of cabbage, instead of one big glut.What's your favourite use of cabbage or recipe? Coleslaw? Sauerkraut?

Cauliflower

Green Macerata (which does not look green to me, but who am I to bicker?) and more of the purple cauliflower. The latter has opened up heaps, so I just pretend I am harvesting purple sprouting broccoli. Looks exactly like that to me. We'll be having veggie feasts. I am not complaining. :)

The best burger and chips ever!

It's cold around here. Really cold. And miserable. Too miserable to do much out in the garden. Hence the lack of garden pictures.

Last night we satisfied our craving for burger and chips. The best ever! Everything home-made and grown ourselves. (Sorry about the bragging.) Except the beastie for the meat. Looking at the picture, I am getting hungry again. :)

Steamed Persimmon Pudding

...studded with a generous amount of dark chocolate chunks.

The persimmon season was fantastic this year. I never thought I'd see the day where you can buy a kilo (!!!) for 2.99 (!!). And lots of gardeners desperate to give away their bounty.

So, who am I do squander the opportunity to pig out on persimmons?! And to use them in baking. My goodness, the luxury!

Persimmon purée is an absolutely amazing colour. Here it is just about to be incorporated into the pudding batter.The batter in the pudding form. You can see some of the chocolate pieces. The recipes did not call for chocolate, but hey! why not?
3 hours later.Looking fantastic! Luxurious, decadent.... and the fragrance!

A good dollop of cream. Yeah!I used Maggie Beer's recipe from her book 'Maggie's Harvest'. (The recipe in the link bakes the pud in the oven, instead of steaming it in a pot.) Instead of sugar, I used half the quantity honey. Plus the generous helping of dark chocolate. And Grand Marnier.