Lemon Yoghurt Cake

A scrumptious cake made with lemon and yoghurt. 

Well this just HAS to be healthy!

Thank you so much to everyone for your comments about my Lemon Cordial recipe.  I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  It tastes just like old fashioned lemonade!

I am determined to use every single one of the gorgeous juicy lemons from my neighbour's tree.  I am a woman on a mission -  seeking out creative ways to make maximum use of the humble lemon.   

So with the first day of school holidays and a drizzly, miserable day here in the Far North, I decided to grab a few more lemons and do some baking. 

I have been wanting to try out this Donna Hay recipe for Lemon Yoghurt cake for quite a while now and believe me, it didn't disappoint!  

Lemon Yoghurt Cake

3/4 cup (180ml) vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tabs finely grated lemon rind

2 tabs lemon juice

1 cup (280) thick natural yoghurt

1 3/4 cups (384g) caster sugar

2 cups (300g) self raising flour

Lemon icing :

3/4 cup sifted icing sugar

1 tabs lemon juice 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Place the oil, eggs, rind, lemon juice, yoghurt and sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine.

Sift over the flour and stir until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a greased 24cm fluted ring tin and bake for 35minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

While the cake is still hot - remove from the tin and place on a plate.

To make the lemon icing - gently stir together the sugar and lemon juice.

Spoon over the cake and allow to set.  Serve warm.

The texture, the flavour, the scrumptiousness..........Wow!

Well done DONNA HAY - you have surpassed yourself with this one.

A Lemon a Day

At this time of the year,  it seems that the citrus trees in this part of the world are literally dripping with fruit.

I can't help but think what a terrible waste it is when I see piles of  gorgeous lemons, grapefruit and oranges just rotting under trees.   So when a neighbour very kindly handed me a HUGE bag of lemons from her very bountiful lemon tree - I was determined to come up with creative ways to use each and every one of them.

A quick search of the Internet led me to this delicious recipe for Lemon Cordial.

Lemon Cordial

What you need :

8 lemons juiced

1 tabs of lemon rind

1.5 litres of water

1.5 kilo sugar

2 teaspoons of citric acid

How to :

1. Squeeze lemons and place in large container.   (I put mine into a bucket!)  You will probably need to strain the juice to remove the seeds;
2. Grate some lemon rind (before you squeeze them) and put into the lemon juice;
3. In a saucepan, boil water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.   Then add the 2 teaspoons of citric acid - give it a stir to dissolve and then leave to cool;
4. Pour the syrup over the lemon juice and give it a good stir;
5. Grab yourself a funnel and some clean bottles (with lids) and pour cordial into bottles.
6. Cool/put the lids on and store in the fridge (you could probably freeze it if you put it in plastic bottles).  It actually made almost 2.5 litres of cordial.

To serve :

Once chilled, pour a little of the cordial into the bottom of a glass - top with ice and soda water (or just plain cold water) - and voila!   Delicious lemonade.

Thirst quenching - fresh and a great way to use all that surplus fruit.

/

Next :  Lemon Yoghurt Cake

(stay tuned!)

Miss Molly's Big Adventure

.......An interview with Miss Molly (Blue Heeler and mountain climber extraordinaire).  

As told to me..........

Me :                Well Miss Molly.  I understand you went on quite an adventure today.  Do you want to
                       tell us where you went and what you did?

Miss Molly :     Sure Sharyne (aka Kendall's Mum and nice lady who gives me Beef Jerky treats!) 

                         This morning - Really REALLY! early - Kendall and Alan woke me up and told me we were
                        going for a drive in the car.   I was so excited - you know how much I love going for drives
in the car!

Me:                  So - did you know where you were going?

Miss Molly :    No. I thought we might have been going for a drive to get a Pizza (I know how much Alan 

              and Kendall like Pizza!) but then we turned down this road I had never seen before and I

                       saw this HUGE mountain.    Then Kendall told me that we were going to climb that 

                       mountain - all the way to the top.   WOW - I was so excited!

           

Me :               What was it like on the mountain?

Miss Molly :    Well,  there were SO many interesting things to smell...... and strange little insects and crawly

                        things...... lots and lots of trees and grass...... oh, and there were also a couple of other

                        dogs on the mountain.  

Alan said they were "German Shepherds".  I just thought they were

                        two dopey showoffs!   Running like crazy up that little track.......            

    

Miss Molly :    And I'm not the only one who thought that!    

Kendall told me I was such a good dog.  So well behaved...... So obedient......

So intelligent.......

SO much better than those two dopey German Shepherds!

I really like Kendall (and Alan of course!)

Me :                What about the view?

Miss Molly :     View?   What view?

Me :    Did you have any trouble keeping up with Kendall and Alan?

Miss Molly :  Who me?   No way. 
I had to keep stopping so they could catch up to me.

Me :   What about rest breaks along the way?

Miss Molly:  Oh yes, there were plenty of those.  
Kendall brought along my own special water bowl - see that little blue bowl in the picture.
Alan let me share his sandwich and I also had a couple of biscuits - yum! 

Me :  What was the best part of the whole trip for you?

Miss Molly :  Um mm...... climbing over all those rock faces
and
showing Kendall and Alan the way to go!

Miss Molly :      Oh....... and sharing Alan's sandwiches and biscuits!

Me :   And once you got to the top - what did you think of the view

Miss Molly :   View?  What view?

Me :  Well thank you Miss Molly.  It has been a real treat hearing all about your big adventure today.
Is there anything else you would like to add?

Miss Molly :   I would just like to thank Kendall and Alan for taking me.
But next time.......

Could you PLEASE pack me my own sandwiches and bikkies

(and maybe some beef jerky treats!)

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

Although it is now officially Winter in this part of the world

Summer is never really far away here in the tropics.

 

As the days get shorter

And the garden goes into hibernation for a couple of months

It's great to be able to sit back on the patio and enjoy the slower pace of life.

And dream about all the new gardening projects I am planning for summer.

 

So in celebration of life in the great outdoors

And those Lazy, Hazy days of summer

I'm linking up with Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for her

Patio Decor Link Party.

A Little Tote Magic

How do you like this cute little toolbox I whipped up over the weekend?    

With my trusty Ryobi power drill, a handsaw and a few offcuts of packing case timber - I managed to put together this handy little storage tote.   Perfect for keeping all my stationery bits and pieces!

 

It really was one of the easiest woodworking projects I have undertaken.

A bit of measuring and a bit of cutting.   And then a bit of sawing and a bit of gluing.

Here are the two sides.  See how I have cut the corners off to give it that tapered look.

Next the front bits.  See those 2 skinnier bits of timber.  They were actually from the base of an old mattress ensemble.  (I knew they would come in handy one day!) 

The flat larger piece of timber is the base.  

Then it was just a matter of piecing it together.

And checking to make sure that everything was even and level.

I really love this steel washer which was embedded into the timber.  I think it adds real character to the front.

Then with a bit more gluing and screwing - it all came together.

I then used a special bit which allowed me to drill a couple of holes in the top and cut the top off of my old garden rake to make into a handle.  Perfect!

A coat of paint and a bit of distressing.

Oh, and of course I had to include a cute little hand painted sunflower and some

signage.....

Then gave the whole thing a good sandpaper rub down just to give it that aged look.

And voila!

Here we have it - my rustic little sunflower toolbox.

I love it to bits!

And it looks right at home here on my desk. 

Don't you think?