The Bitch Can Bake

Life has been pretty slow around here lately. The grass is barely growing and the weather has been pretty terrible so work is patchy at best. This week I have managed to do 2 hours in two days so far. I am also house sitting in the evenings though which is lucky for my bank account but not quite a substitute for a real pay check.

The upside to lack of work though that I have energy to burn around the house and at the moment my new little fad seems to be baking. I've done sugar cookies, dog biscuits and cupcakes in the last 2 weeks as well as getting a bit more adventurous about making dinner.

What I really want to write about though is a new experimental recipe that I've been playing with. In my head I like to call it Lembas after the elven bread in the Lord of the Rings but I think Traveller's Biscuit is perhaps more accurate and lowers expectations!

The weird part in all this (if it wasn't weird enough that I try to bake fictional food) is that the idea originally came to me from making food for a dog. The dog biscuit recipe I have is so simple and lends itself so well to adaptations that I wondered if it could be made palatable for people. Turns out it can! Well palatable to me and Mum but we aren't fussy eaters.

Anyway! My plan was born from laziness really as I have been doing a lot of house sitting lately and I hate having to cook in kitchens I don't know, also it seems like a lot of effort for one person. So I decided I would make a meal in a biscuit, a 'complete and balanced diet' to keep me fuelled while I was away with minimum effort. Ta dah my travelling biscuits were born!

The basis of the recipe is oats and flour which I could say are my carbs, eggs and chorizo for protein. Carrot, leek and parsley for fibre and vitamins. Beef stock for flavour and salt and cheese for fat. Pretty well rounded huh.

Of course all the fresh ingredients can be swapped in or out or added to. The amounts change depending on what I have in the fridge at the time or what I fancy. My ultimate hope for these biscuits is that I can use them as exercise food, for long walks with the dog or perhaps even exploring by myself whether by foot or by car. They have a flexible consistency so don't crumb in the pocket and wouldn't break if accidentally sat on. They can last about a week with out needing to be in the fridge and taste alright hot or cold. They aren't a five star meal but they have everything necessary and if followed with a chocolate bar I reckon they could keep someone going all day. As a side bonus they are even safe for my furry friend if I feel he needs a snack.

So there you have it. The latest instalment of the weird things that I come with to fill time in the winter. What odd things do you do to while away the dark hours?

My Life May Be Odd Because I'm Odd

This morning was another cold one and I couldn't resist taking pictures of the frost. At the moment I find it hard to resist taking pictures of anything. During the work day I got a pretty good snap of a heron and also a kingfisher, both of which were hanging around areas which are normally dry but are currently under water.

After work we picked up Rush again and brought him home and I took him for a walk along one of the lanes just so that he had a little exercise before we slobbed in the house. At the end of the lane we saw some cows with covers on which was totally cute but so strange as most farmers would just let them deal with the cold. They may have only been old grain sacks cut in half but the thought counts.

Just outside our house I found a baby hedgehog which is definitely odd for this time of year as they should all be hibernating. Its a real small one though and oddly tame so I picked it up and brought it in. I can pick it up without it curling into a ball and it has a kind of weird cough/sneeze going on so I think it's underweight and ill. I've popped it into my old rat cage on the porch with some hay and an egg to eat. We are planning to buy some cat meat tomorrow and we will fatten it up over the winter and release it in spring which we have done before with another hedgehog a few years ago. Hopefully the little cutie lives.

Rush had a bit of a hissy fit this morning and refused to eat his breakfast. Mum is determined that he doesn't like his dog food because the biscuits are burnt. They aren't but the fact remains that he wasn't keen so since he had to stay with us again tonight I decided to bake his dinner for him and he got tonight's serving still warm from the oven.

I have changed the original recipe so many times that now only the oats, eggs and flour remain from the ingredient list. Tonight I wanted it to be a meat and veg dinner so I added beef stock, garlic, carrots, parsley and silverbeet. I mixed it all up, rolled it out and baked for 30 mins. Don't ask me what nutritional value it has as I have no idea but Rush loves it and ate 2 biscuits in a matter of seconds! I reckon tomorrow he might decide breakfast is worth eating after all.