Stacey Carol

    After failing to find a decent sugar-free tomato sauce recipe I made one of my own. It goes well with burgers, cheese and crackers, or as a dip for anything from cut carrots to thick potato wedges.   Ingredients 1 cup cashew nuts 2 large red pepper / red capsicum  2 small aubergine / eggplant  2 cups cherry tomatoes  1/2 red chilli  1 bulb garlic  2 medium onions 1 cup dates  3 big punches of pink Himalayan rock salt  1/3 cup fluid (left over in tray from steam-grilling the veg/water/bone broth)   Method Roughly cut the capsicum, slice the eggplant and place on an oiled baking tray.  Add the cherry tomatoes, whole, and spray with olive oil. Roast or grill in the oven until lightly charred.  I used a counter-top steam oven set on the steam grill function at 210 degrees for about 20 minutes (turning half-way). Finely chop the chilli, garlic, onions and fry in olive oil, in a deep sided pan, over a medium heat unt...

    Our good (not so) old post Mistress, Lisa, is giving you the chance to win this whole giant jar of Easter eggs.  At just $1 per guess you might as well pick a few numbers. Moorland Public School P&C are running an Easter Egg Guessing Competition, only $1/guess! All proceeds go to Moorland Public School P&C. Lisa said, "We are a small school of 32 students, our aim is to raise money to support school excursions such as swimming lessons and where possible, contribute towards the cost of hiring a bus to transport our students. Your support is always greatly appreciated." Guessing competition rules: the 1st person to pick the number will be deemed the winner so where there are multiple correct guesses, the winner will be deemed from the date of the guess. So that you get your eggs in time for Easter, the competition will be drawn on Monday 3rd April.  I made sure to ask Lisa to bring the the jar along to the Easter Party Community Catch-up this Sunday (2-4pm ...

The fire danger season may be coming to an end, but the Rural Fire Service (RFS) is already preparing for future events, and are looking for new recruits to help our community. You can help the RFS by becoming a firefighter, or sharing this post with someone you think might fit the bill.  I caught up with Stewart Waugh, the esteemed Fire Chief at Moorland RFS, to ask what it takes to become a member of the RFS.   There's not much to it really, as long as you have a reasonable level of fitness and are over 18 years old you can apply.     All costs are covered by the RFS, so you need not pay anything to become a volunteer Firefighter.   Once qualified, you will be expected to attend at least two training session per month.  The crew trains on a Sunday between 10am and 12pm.  As the video below shows, some of the training is pretty fun! It is important to attend incidents in a timely manner, so the RFS prefers members to live within 15 mintutes...

Ingredients: 2 cups sushi rice 3 cups water 2 large Lebanese cucumbers / 1 continental 8 Nori shushi seaweed sheets  Cucumber sushi seasoning: 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar 1/4 cup fish sauce Special equipment: Sushi mat Small bowl of tepid water A very sharp knife Method: Wash the rice, in a sieve, under cold water and place in a medium-large saucepan.  Add 3 cups of water and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer, with a lid on, for 15 minutes.  Take off the heat and let stand for 5 minutes with the lid still on.  Cut your cucumber into strips. If you can get them about the width of the Nori sheets that is helpful. Spoon out the rice into a large glass bowl and add the seasoning. Mix well. Lay out your sushi mat and place 1 Nori seaweed sheet on it. Dip a couple of fingers in you water bowl, and wet the top 2 cms of the Nori sheet. Making sure to leave the top 2 cms empty, carefully spread about 6 heaped tablespoons of rice per Nori sushi sheet...