Goodies Archives • Dibber&Boots

my favourite STAUB cast iron cooking pot

Staub, my one-pot.

April 2020April 2020Leave a comment

We have two favourite cooking vessels that are deeply connected to our family life. When the kids come home and see them, lid on and burbling quietly away on the stove, they know whatever one-pot meal comes next is gonna be special.

One was inherited – he’s a small oval cast iron trooper that has served two generations now – over 50 years of wholelotalove cooking and still makes amazing bread, one-pot-chicken-to-die-for and rolled turkey in Springtime.

My second one is new, a handsome cast iron 5.2L Staub Cocotte with Steamer, and boy does it earn its keep. Growing food and trying to keep energy use to a minimum means that one-pot miracles are always welcome, and as the weather cools, we are using it on the wood stove top as well. The steamer on top takes it to a new level, so we get two ways to cook in every meal:

Soup with dumplings
ragout and potato mash
baked sweet potato with steamed fragrant greens
curry and rice
saffron rice with steamed fish
slow pulled pork and baked potato
bread down the bottom, and a cheeky danish on top

my Staub one-pot with baked sweet potato

Grow and eat well, folks 🌿🥘

Contactless travel cutlery

April 2020July 2020Leave a comment

Lunch on the go – not a thing we might think about in isolation at the moment, but giving my bag a tidy out this week I thought folks might like to see my super handy home made travel lunch kit. Of course, with contactless food pickup, it is also a way to be totally sure of where your eating tools have been.

It started with taking Mr 15 out for a sushi lunch, and when it arrived with another paper napkin, plastic cutlery, straw and bottled water, we thought ‘we don’t need all this stuff’.

My mum made me a 10 inch zipper pouch.

The pouch was made by my mum using one of my favourite blue fabrics. Thanks mum xx You can find them for sale in our garden shop, here. This is what is inside (but of course include anything you like):

A linen napkin from the local op-shop (thrift store). I use it to wipe cutlery and cleanups after a meal. I have another couple that I can sub-in quickly when this one is chucked into the wash.
A pair of plastic chopsticks – yes plastic I know but I have had these for more than 15 years and they are small and handy… why waste them and buy more?
Two little plastic spoons from our local gelataria, cause we love going there so much but not a fan of disposable plastic spoons. Two because gelato is much more fun with a friend. We just kept a pair and use them over and over.
Two metal straws – the cleaner brush is at home.
A full size knife and fork from home. It’s so easy to just take home and replace. There doesn’t seem any point to disposable stuff all the time. I have a spoon too but it went into the wash and I forgot to include it in the photo.

I did try to use a pencil case but found them a smidge too short to use full size knife and fork. Mum to the rescue – haha. If you don’t want to break a set of cutlery at home, you could always grab some at the op-shop to use.

We now stock these Travel Cutlery zip Pouches in the gift section of our Garden Store. Check them out 🙂

Rex, old faithful.

March 2020May 2020Leave a comment

REX jars preserve, store, display and celebrate your food.

The REX handsome jars and lids are glass, with seals of rubber and clips of metal; these are a celebration of plastic-free making. They love the freezer, microwave and oven, and look dang good out on the table.

All parts are interchangeable with their cousins in the WECK family, and when you buy a case of 6, the box they come in is a storage plus. Very handy.