Grow your own

Well here they are. The first lot of potatoes grown organically in our garden.

I roasted them in olive oil, salt & pepper and some garlic butter

There is a strange sense of pride when harvesting your own food. Myself and our little chef went out yesterday and dug up two lots. We still have loads of potatoes to come and a second harvest of spring onions coming soon. All our tomato plants (all 12) are growing strong. I grew them from seed so I'm overly impressed they are actually still alive let alone that so many survived.

On the sweet side we have strawberries, blueberries and cherries :)
Watch out for some yummy desserts when they are ready to be picked

I regret not planting carrots. I have a love of carrots and there seems to be a very poor crop available to buy. Though we grow mostly in pots so I think I may run out of deck space if I put much more on there.

I am a huge garden fan anyway but this year I'm really enjoying making random things from the garden. We have grown edible flowers (coming soon), I have made rose water from out own beautiful roses. I am hoping to do something with the sunflowers and there is lavender looking at me begging to be used creatively.

                     Here is the rose water. I will be posting a step by step how to soon

I hope it's not raining as much where ever you are in the world! Though at least I won't have to water the garden :)

R x

Strawberry Salad

Yes that's right, strawberry in a salad. Don't say no so quickly! Try it out. This really is very nice.

My lovely wife picked up some strawberries today while we were doing out food shop so this was the result when she couldn't decide what she felt like for dinner. "Something light and fresh"

I aim to please

This is really quick and simple, as any salad should be


Serves 4

You will need;

250g Strawberries, tops removed and quartered
1 bag of mixed leaves or about 200g if you grow them yourself
100g Spinach leaves
1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
100g Feta
Good handful of chopped walnuts

Dressing

1/4 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
70ml balsamic vinegar

Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing and pop into the fridge until needed
This can also be saved, in the fridge if you have some left over

Combine all salad ingredients and crumble the feta
Toss gently

Toss through some of the dressing


Serve with chicken, fish, or with some pizza slices like we did

I hope you enjoy

B

Where is my Sunshine?!

This morning I was standing in the kitchen looking out the window, feeling a little less than enthusiastic about the sudden disappearance of the beautiful sunshine. I don't know about where you are but I was cold and feeling like crawling back under the covers was the best option this Sunday morning.
However with a husband getting ready to leave for work and a 3 year old hanging off my leg it was sadly not an option.
I am not a fan of tea (yes I said it) and I usually don't drink coffee unless out and about, so I needed to come up with something else to pep me up. We have a rather large selection of herbal teas but I just wasn't feeling the urge for that distinctive green tea taste.

While checking the plants and herbs by the window for dehydration I, as I often do, rubbed my fingers over the mint leaves for a quick intake of beautiful aroma

**Light bulb**

Mint into a glass, pour hot water over and leave to cool. The mint infuses beautifully and leaves a warm tummy pleasing drink.

So if you're feeling chilly today and happen to grow some mint, why not try this out?

Your insides will thank you

R

Rhubard Salad

This may sound like an odd mix and I wasn't totally sure until I sat down to eat it. Let me just say this is our new top salad! Really tasty and filling. I served with lamb chops and I think they really complemented each other. This needs to go top of your list for any summer BBQs this year. How great would this colourful delight look as a gift to the host?

Pretty simple to make

3 sticks of rhubarb, cut to 2cm cubes
A good drizzle of honey
Pickled beetroot (in a jar or make your own)
Fresh spinach leaves
100g goats cheese
Good handful chopped walnuts

Dressing made with Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper


Pop the rhubarb onto a baking tray and drizzle with honey. Into an oven to soften. This won't take long. Maybe 10 mins at 180C. Keep an eye on it. Allow to cool.

If not already done, quarter the beetroot

In a bowl whisk 3 tbsp of olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.

Into a large salad bowl add spinach, 3/4 each of the nuts, rhubarb, beetroot, crumbled goats cheese and dressing. Toss gently with hands

Top with the remaining goats cheese, walnuts, rhubarb and beetroot

Drizzle remaining dressing on top

Fish Cakes

OK so I'm not a huge fish fan. I may manage fish fingers or some take out fish when we are at the beach but even at that I will pick at it. Its the fishy smell I'm just not the person for fish! My husband created an awesome Salmon dish for me to try. Full of flavour. The sauce was wonderful but the salmon...well it didn't stay down :/

We have had fish cakes on our menu for weeks and I never made them. I honestly think I wrote them down about 4 weeks ago. So this week I bit the bullet and WOW I can't believe I waited this long to put them on. Fresh, nothing processed and SO good! Our mini taster gobbled them with her salad!

You can use any fish you like. Ensure there are no bones. I used the food processor but feel free to not be as lazy as I am :)

You will need

500g Fresh or Fresh Frozen fish of your choice
(we used basa)
500g of mashed potato
2 tbsp Creme Fraiche
500ml Vegetable/Fish stock
1 tbsp Parsley
1 tbsp Coriander
2 tbsp dark Soy Sauce
Flour for dusting

Pop the fish (defrosted) into the food processor and blitz until broken

Add mashed potato, creme fraiche, stock and blitz

Gently mix the parsley, coriander and soy sauce


These are best shallow fried but you can pop them in a fryer if you have one

Use your hands to form patty shapes and coat lightly in flour. Gently lower
into the hot oil.

They will cook in about 20 minutes


Serve with a Rocket salad (arugula)

Pineapple Pudding

Oven Baked


Ingredients

1 Small tin pineapple rings
3oz / 85g brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
Zest of an orange

Topping
140g / 5oz flour
50g / 2oz ground almonds
85g / 3oz caster sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
5 tbsp plain yogurt
85g / 3oz melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Pre heat oven to 190C

Toss sugar, pineapple, flour & orange zest in a bowl

Using a shallow baking dish (I used round) line the base of the dish
with the pineapple rings

In a second bowl, mix dry then wet ingredients for topping

Spoon mix over the pineapples in the dish


Bake for 50mins or until skewers clean

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Asian Lettuce Wraps

So I decided this week we would be avoiding meat. I wanted to introduce my husband to an apple and considering he bought be a food processor, decided to make use of it and bring in a daily fruit/veggie juice to boost the healthy food intake! Alas I believe he has eaten one apple. One lonely apple... *sigh*

The meals however have gone down much better. I banned processed foods,at home at least *shakes fist at husband* and stocked the fridge with fresh produce. Boy it looked and smelled amazing! As an extra bonus the yummy fresh produce has been USED not wasted and I sure an feeling good. I have a few meals to share *hangs head for being a bad blogger* and I cannot think of a better place to start.

The ever amazing Miss A has shared this with me when I demanding meat free ideas from some fantastic ladies. I've slightly altered but nothing major :)
Wait till I share the rest :)

OK so here are the Asian Lettuce wraps

Serves 4

Sauce:
1/3 cup orange juice (about 80ml, fresh if possible)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes *optional*

Make this up, whisk in a bowl and leave to stand. I left mine for about 2 hours

Wraps:
1/2 cup brown rice (uncooked)
400g minced turkey, tofu or beef
2 tsp very fine chopped garlic
2 tsp very fine chopped fresh ginger
1 lrg red pepper, cut to thin strips
6 spring onions, sliced thin
2 tbsp hoisin sauce (or 3 *snigger*)
8 lettuce leaves, Iceberg works well


Before doing any prep, cook the rice. Add it to boiling water and it will take up to 20 mins

Prep away!

Pre heat a wok. Add your choice of meat or "meat" with the garlic and ginger
Cook through. Break up the meat as you cook

Add the red pepper to warm

Drain rice

Add the spring onion & hoisin sauce

To serve, add rice, meat mix to the lettuce "cup" and drizzle the sauce over


I want to eat this again just typing about it!