With a spicy ginger taste & a texture that melts in your mouth, these best-ever ginger biscuits really are the best you’ll ever make! These are quick & easy to make, and you’ll get at least 20 biscuits from a batch. This means there’ll be enough for morning teas, afternoon teas plus school and work
Ginger & walnut cake with vanilla buttercream seamlessly blends gingers spicy warmth with the satisfying crunch of walnuts…and it may well become your next classic. Each slice is a celebration of flavours—warm ginger, earthy walnuts, and creamy vanilla. Ideal for parties or morning teas, this recipe is both simple and indulgent, catering to bakers of
Growing up, I vividly recall Mum’s remedy for our childhood stomachaches—homemade ginger ale. Inspired by those memories, I ventured into creating my own homemade ginger syrup, perfect for mixing with sparkling water for a refreshing vitamin boost. Homemade ginger syrup is essentially a bunch of fresh ginger infused into a sugar syrup. The syrup itself
There’s nothing so comforting as the delightful combination of salt, spice & warmth, and our potato, paprika and choko soup fits the bill perfectly. Chokos can be a little difficult to know how to use. Even if you grew up with a choko vine in the backyard, those vintage recipes can be a little ho-hum.
A traditional Australian favourite yet rarely seen on restaurant menus, the humble backyard choko is experiencing a resurgence. No-one is surprised. This classic vegetable is at once unique, nutritious and filling. Its mild, buttery flavour means it can be adapted to a wide variety of sweet and savoury dishes (apple pie with choko, anyone?), and
Kosho is a (traditionally Japanese) condiment or spicy paste that is used to liven up & add flavour to a wide variety of meals. Combining the double whammy of citrus and chilli, this fermented blend usually features the north Asian fruit Yuzu. Here, we’ve swapped the yuzu out for makrut lime, better known as kaffir
Long prized for its health-boosting and purported medicinal properties, turmeric (curcuma longa) is a flowering plant in the ginger family. This heat-loving perennial is easy to grow at home if you can provide the right growing conditions. But beware- growing turmeric is addictive, and the harvests can be huge! Turmeric is a natural source of
Being able to preserve your harvest for later use is just as big a part of self-sufficiency as growing the produce. Food preservation is the process of treating and handling food in such a way as to stop or greatly slow its spoilage, and prevent foodborne illness while maintaining nutritional value, texture and flavour. When crops
Miso, mushroom & green bean bake is a fresh, modern take on green bean casserole, which Americans will know as a traditional thanksgiving side dish. Green bean casserole is usually made with tinned mushroom soup, as it was invented during the 1950s by Campbells specifically to boost sales of their tinned soup. Here, we freshen
Nasturtiums are an easy delight in any type of garden. They suit a variety of climates, and are easy to grow. They make a lovely ground cover, sprawl out quickly, and look attractive. But there’s much more to nasturtiums than simply filling up space, and they’re definitely more than a basic ornamental. Read on to
Whether you’re looking for a light meal, an unusual side dish or something different to make from your own produce, these roast zucchini w/nasturtium leaf pesto fit the bill! Tasty yet vitamin-rich, this neat little dish packs a serious punch of greens. Sure to be a crowd-pleaser for vegetarians, roast zucchini w/nasturtium leaf pesto showcases
Discover the delightful taste of a homemade warm passionfruit soufflé! This classic dessert is fairly bursting with tropical flavour- and it’s all the sweeter when made with fresh fruit from your own backyard. Enjoy the satisfaction of using your own passionfruit while creating a treat that’s both sweet and tangy. It’s a simple way to
From basil to rosemary to coriander and everything in between, fresh herbs are like fragrant treasures that add depth and complexity to dishes, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. They are fantastic to have in the garden, attracting beneficial pollinators to vegetable plants, adding visual interest and filling the air with sweet scents. At the
Take fancy dessert to the next level with our grilled figs w/cinnamon cheese + blackberry coulis! Figs have been a delicious delicacy for many centuries, and are thought to be one of the first fruits cultivated by humans. Integral to the history and ritual of ancient cultures, the fig has endured the test of time
There’s nothing more refreshing than an ice block on a hot day, and there’s nothing better than enjoying your home grown fruit at the same time. Whether you’re an adult or a child, ice blocks are always a fun treat- and you’ll happily bypass the sugar-laden commercial versions when you see how easy these are
Citrus leaf miner (phyllocnistris citrella) is a very common pest to all types of citrus trees. No matter where in the world you live, this tiny, insidious pest is likely to appear on your citrus during summer. Its distribution is close to worldwide, so whether you grow limes, lemons, oranges, finger limes or hybrids, this
What is a Wicking Bed? A wicking bed is a type of self-watering raised garden bed that is both water-saving and time-efficient. It has a water reservoir at the bottom and growing medium (soil) on the top, which are separated by a layer of fabric. This allows the plant roots to ‘wick’ water up as
Welcome to winter in the humid subtropics- all three weeks of it. Okay that’s a local joke where I live (Brisbane, Australia), but it’s not far from the truth. The subtropics give us a specialised climate- one unlike any other. Most gardening information found online and in books is written for cool or temperate climates,
It’s all very fun to grow a ton of food…until you don’t know what to do with it all. Produce gluts can be difficult, if not impossible, to avoid when you have fruit trees. There’s nothing a food gardener likes more than a big harvest, but it can be overwhelming when it comes all at
Gall wasp is a problem to all types of citrus trees in many parts of Australia. Whether you grow limes, lemons, oranges, finger limes or hybrids, this common pest can infiltrate and damage your precious fruit trees without you even realising it. Originating in the subtropical northern NSW-seQLD area, this is a pest that you
Self Sufficient Me is a blog about self-sustainment by growing our own produce (plant/animal), and self-fulfilment by looking after our health (physical/mental) through exercise and slowing life down a little.
