Petal Pusher

Since my family and I moved into the rental house in February it has been a mad rush to put everything in its place to make us feel at home and comfortable and not to mention for me getting back to work creating, blogging, face booking, website and just networking in general, it has been quite hard to keep up on everything that goes on, but the one thing I have loved is looking out the kitchen window into the sun room that has large windows that lets the winter sun flood in the morning,

which allows me to view the whole back yard, I have been waiting for the Camellia tree down the back to flower, as it started to bud I often wondered what colour flowers it was going to bring, and now it's here 

so much so that the Camellia tree is so full of flowers it has dropped a blanket of petals all around it, it looks so beautiful

I decided to lean my old pink bike against the tree,  

as I stand taking these images I couldn't help thinking or wishing the petals wouldn't brown up and weather away, it looks so beautiful,   

I just love being inspired by nature and happy I was able to capture this moment.

Kirstie.

My Nanna Mackenzie Veggie Soup

As I was a child we would visit my nanna and pop on the weekends and stay for lunch or dinner, Nanna would always start with a bowl of her homemade soup before having a main meal, I remember thinking as a child how much I hated this soup and didn't want to eat it, but was always told if we didn't eat it we would get nothing else...lol...so slowly spoon by spoon with much disgust I would finish it, after all what child likes eating there veggies, I know I didn't, lets just say when mum and dad would leave the table I would go throw my peas down the toilet, until one day the tank over flowed and yep you guessed it pea's and everything else flooded at the back door boy did it stink!...oops sorry about that dad sheepishly, love you!! so then I started to sneak out side and throw my veggies over the back fence, then go back inside and sit at the table tapping my knife and folk just to pretend I had eaten everything off my plate and ask if I could leave the table...hmmm yeah I did get caught there too, our neighbour asked my father to stop throwing our food scraps over onto his garden...lol...sorry dad!!! anyway getting back to it, so my mother learnt how to make my Nanna's soup and started making it at home for us all the time, all I could think was blurk! blurk! blurk! I guess over the years I learnt to love it, when ever I was sick I wanted this soup as I knew it was going to make me well again, now I make this soup all the time through winter and my girls have learnt to love it too, and when ever there sick guess what soup they ask for me to make? yep Nanna Mackenzie's Soup...I thought Id share this recipe with you, just remember the more grated veggies you add the better it tastes...
   
1 tbl spoon barley }
1/2 cup green split peas } all washed and drained
1/2 cup yellow split peas }
1 hand full of Lima beans (soaked over night, to remove shell)
1 hand full of chopped leek
2 hand fulls chopped celery
3 large grated carrots
2 large grated parsnips
1/4 of a pumpkin grated
3 bay leaves
salt & pepper

Added all ingredients into a pressure cooker added water to just see come through the veggies, then follow your pressure cooker instructions.

If you don't have pressure cooker, soak barley, both split peas over night including Lima beans in separate bowl so you can remove the shell, if you like add some stock for extra taste (pictured in image 6 to the right), next day add all ingredients into a large pot and bring to the boil for 20mins then turn down to the lowest setting and simmer for and hour or until barley, split peas and Lima beans are soft to eat. making sure you do give it a stir in between...then serve!

This soup can also be freezed once cooled down, perfect for that icy cold day.

Hope you enjoy making my Nanna Mackenzie's Veggie soup as much as it tastes...happy Soup Ladle!

Kirstie