Best ever tomato relish recipe

Here's the recipe I used this week, to make the tastiest home made tomato and onion relish, full of wholesome ingredients and packing a huge flavour punch. We have some food intolerance in the family, so all our ingredients need to be as close to nature as we can get. I have indicated what I left out to achieve this, and the flavour is still fantastic.

6 medium (1.1kg) tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 medium (300g) onions, finely chopped
2 medium (300g) apples, peeled, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon dry mustard (I ground my own mustard seeds with mortar and pestle)
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons of mild curry powder (I used my home made madras curry powder)
1 1/4 cups (250g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) white vinegar (which I had to leave out)
1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
1 tablespoon tomato paste (which I also had to omit)

Combine all ingredients in a large pan and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for about one and a half hours or until the mixture is thick. Pour hot relish into hot sterilised jars, seal immediately.

Here's the mixture when I started to cook:

and here's the mixture after about 1 and a 1/4 hours of cooking:

the finished relish:

We have been having it with eggs for breakfast and using it instead of tomato sauce with meat balls. Thank you to the Australian Women's Weekly Tomato Cookbook for this recipe.

A place for everything...

Simon wanted me to go four wheel driving with him last week. We were running a little early to meet the other vehicle so we called in at Gottabee Country at Highfields and I found this old silky oak filing cupboard. It was love at first sight and I couldn't leave without knowing it was coming home to my place. Of course, it couldn't come 4 wheel driving with us, so we picked it up on the way home. Here is it in my study, doors closed:

And here it is chock-a-block with things that needed filing, like paper for the printer, folders, envelopes etc...

All in all, quite a successful four wheel driving excursion really. I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would, and I even have something to show for it.

Ah, the joy of having a place for things!

Camping in Comfort

We've just spent the weekend at the Goomburra Valley Campground which is just over 1 hour south of Toowoomba. Here's Simon and the poodle enjoying what we came for...Simon snoozing and Juliette keeping a look out for stray cows in the creek.

I loved setting up our camp site, stringing up my red and white bunting, drinking from our new red and white striped coffee cups and preparing meals when I wasn't relaxing with the dog on my lap. We ate some yummy meals. Here I am about to eat eggs, poatato cakes and grilled tomato for breakfast.

I loved the challenge of cooking everything fresh, with all natural ingredients. Here are the ingredients for a creamy, chicken pasta we had for lunch yesterday...

 and here's the finished product:

We had a really restful time...in bed by 7.00pm each night and sleeps during the day! Goomburra Valley Camp Ground is such a lovely place to stay, park like grounds, excellent amenities and you can have your dog there. What more could we want?