Tell me What You'd do with Four Bags of Scavenged Produce?

We went up to visit Mum and Dad at the pink house over the weekend.
It was a lovely break from the heat filled monotiny of home.
It was still pretty hot there, don't get me wrong! But at least we were hot in a different spot! lol!
It turned out to be a huge blessing that we had organised to go up to visit as our ancient hot water system had chosen that very evening before we left to rupture, so we had no hot water, and this gave us time to think about that.
Anyway, we stayed in their house up the road, and it was a lovely visit. We arrived late afternoon, and went to the pink house first to say G'day' and get a 'by your leave' to go into the other house, and naturally stopped for chitchat and there may have been coffee... I can't remember!
We got permission to leave ther older three children with their Aunties and Michael and I went with Eli off to the other house to open it up and unpack our stuff, which we did in relative piece and quiet due to the fact that we only had one child for a change! Then we drove back to the pink house to partake in the delicious dinner my Mum had cooked.
That night we had semi warm showers (the house was still pretty warm) and the children rolled into bed with pedistle fans on them. (we brought two, and there was one there at the house already)(that one was on us!).
The next day Michael and I scurried around the house cleaning, dusting, and spraying before church, as we needed to pack up and leave that afternoon, and I wanted Mum to help me cut Eli's hair, so didn't want to be bothered with cleaning then.
The house was actually pretty good. Dusty from none use, and there were a couple of cockroaches and some mouse poo, but that was easy fix. I ached to get outside into the yard and mow and play in the garden, but there was no time!
We got to the pink house in plenty of time (this is a miracle!! Do you have any idea how hard it is for us to get to church at home on time when we have nothing to do but get ready???) and relaxed though Dad's sermon.
Then after lunch (spaghetti) I dragged Mum up to the other house and left Michael with everyone. I needed Mum to see the stuff I had brought with me to leave at the house, and in the meantime I decided to finish spraying the house with surface spray.
BAD MOVE!! I didn't read the can before I started to spray, and Mum pointed out (too late) that it was outdoor strength, and muggins that is me just blithley started spraing the corners willynilly, nearly killing both of us with asthma in the process. Doh! Note to self. Always read the label!!
Once we had recovered Mum looked at the stugg (a wok, a dutch oven, and a couple of pretty glass jewelry containers) and I asked her if I coupl raid the fruit trees and garden for any foods that might be there. She said go for your life :)
Back at the pink house we were getting ready to say goodbye, but I managed to scavenge a big bag of apples, and another big bag of rhubarb as soon as Eli had been trimmed by Mum while being held by Daddy and Mummy. Yay!

We left with many goodbyes, before the children got too rowdy (just).
At the other house Michael packed the car while I got another big bag of quinces, a big bag of silverbeet, a small bag (FULL) of mint, and a BIG handfull af parsely. (Michael complained we were leaving with more that we arrived with, lol!).
The trip home was quiet and uneventful, except that between Bairnsdale and Sale I was the only person awake, and as we passed through Sale we passed through rain, which I fervently hoped stretched to our place.
It didn't.
Home again and I arrived with no washing except the clothes that were on our back, YAY! and had plenty of help putting away, so it all went fast, and the children were tired enough to go to sleep that night without a fuss :D
Okay, so the question is, what did I do with all those bags of stuff?? Well, I'll tell you what I made:

Quince-Date Chutney

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3 large quinces (about 21 ounces), peeled, quartered, cored, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 large Granny Smith apples (about 24 ounces), peeled, quartered, cored, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 1 teaspoon minced serrano chile with seeds
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pitted Medjool dates (about 7 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Combine vinegar and brown sugar in heavy large saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add quinces; cover and simmer until quinces are tender and liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Add apples, 1/2 cup water, ginger, coriander, cardamom, salt, cinnamon stick, and chile; bring to simmer over medium heat. Cover and simmer until apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in dates and lime juice. Transfer chutney to bowl and cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Spiced apple chutney

Ingredients

• 225g/8oz onions, chopped
• 900g/2lb apples, cored and chopped
• 110g/4oz sultanas, raisins or chopped dates
• 15g/½oz ground coriander
• 15g/½oz paprika
• 15g/½oz mixed spice
• 15g/½oz salt
• 340g/12oz granulated sugar
• 425ml/¾ pints malt vinegar

Preparation method

1. Put all the ingredients into a preserving pan. Slowly bring to the boil until the sugar has dissolved.
   
2. Simmer for 1½-2 hours, stirring from time to time to stop the chutney sticking to the pan.
   
3. When it is very thick and you can draw a wooden spoon across the base of the pan so that it leaves a channel behind it that does not immediately fill with liquid, the chutney is ready.
   
4. Turn into sterilised jars, seal and cool.
   
5. Store in a cool, dark cupboard for two to three months before eating.
   
   

   Spicy Quince and Apple Chutney

   2 pounds quince, peeled, cored, and chopped
   4 pounds tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
   3/4 cup water
   3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used safflower)
   4 tablespoons mustard seeds (I used a mix of brown and yellow, but still, this is a lot of mustard seeds; next time I might use half this amount)
   2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
   1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds
   1 tablespoon ground cumin
   2 teaspoons turmeric
   1/2 bulb garlic,  minced (that’s 1/2 head of garlic, not 1/2 clove)
   3″ piece ginger, grated
   2 small cayenne chili peppers, seeds removed, minced
   1 or 2 large, mild red peppers, seeds removed, finely sliced (these are for beauty!)
   2 cups cider vinegar
   1 tablespoon salt (I used sel gris)
   2 1/3 cups light brown sugar
   1. Peel, core, and chop your quince into chunks roughly 1-inch square. Put them in a pan and add the water. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, until the quince is soft. (The original recipe said “about 90 minutes.” Mine took 20 minutes, so look alive!) Strain and set aside the quince chunks. (You may want to  keep the juice in the fridge for making jelly or something else quincey later on.)
   2. While your quince is cooking, begin to prep your other ingredients: chop the apples (I tossed mine in a little bit of lemon juice — which is optional — and set them aside), measure out the spices, grate the ginger, mince the garlic, slice the peppers. Also measure out your vinegar, salt, and sugar. This will make what’s coming much easier!
   3. Put the vegetable oil into a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and cook until they start to pop. Then stir in the rest of the spices: black pepper, fenugreek seeds, cumin, and turmeric. Stir constantly for 2 minutes.
   4. Add the garlic, ginger, and chiles and cook for 2 minutes more.
   5. Add the apples and stir well to combine with the spices. Then add the vinegar, salt, sugar, and quince cubes to the pot.
   6. Stir the chutney over low heat until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until the mixture thickens (about 2 hours). Stir occasionally and add a little water if the mixture looks like it’s getting too thick.
   
   

Mint Sauce

 I finely chopped 4 cups of freshly washed fresh mint leaves... OK I STARTED finely chopping 4 cups of mint leaves and realized that when finely chopped, mint leaves will take FOREVER to accumulate to 4 cups... so...

I used my blender and some of the vinegar called for in the recipe... if you're a purist, feel free to hand chop... I had Season 2 of Downton Abbey on DVD to watch and wanted to get finished in time to watch an episode or two before bedtime. Priorities you know!

I poured my chopped mint leaves and vinegar mixture into a stainless steel stockpot, then added...

4 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup lemon (or lime) juice

2 12-ounce bottles English malt vinegar

2 cups vinegar (the original recipe called for white vinegar, I used apple cider, this is the vinegar I used to aid in blending/chopping my mint leaves)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

I brought the entire mixture to a boil and simmered until the leaves were softened. (took about 10 minutes of simmering)

After simmering, I ladled the hot mixture into hot, sterilized pint jars, leaving one inch headspace.

 

APPLE SAUCE

 4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped  

3/4 cup water  

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon  

1/4 cup white sugar

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Put into steralized jars.

Here  is the parsley drying, but methinks it will all be used before it gets to be stored!

My garden didn't suffer too much from not being watered all weekend:

And while I was digging around in the garden I found this totally amazing baby potato with a piece of grass growing THOUGH it!

And I harvested my first two Pink Accordion Tomatoes. They are huge!

I shall leave you with a contented shot of Michael and Eli, and I hope this blog finds you all well :)