Veggie Box - 9th April 2013

Four Seasons Foods took a little (well-earned) break over Easter - hence no veggie box post last week. This week's box is oh so colourful and inspired me to rustle up one of my favourite quick suppers!






This week we had...

• broccoli
• carrots
• broad beans
• potatoes
• red onions
• cherry tomatoes
• mange tout
• bag of rocket/salad leaves
• yellow pepper
• grapes
• bananas

I was not a huge fan of broad beans until someone showed me how to remove them from their pale jackets and reveal the beautiful tender bright green beans hiding inside!

Once you have discarded the tough outer skin the tender sweetness of the bean within is so much improved - now they are ready to eat as they are, add to salads,  mash into a paste/dip/pate or stir into a warm pasta salad like this...

Broad Bean, Pesto & Goats Cheese Pasta

First you need to prepare your broad beans

Pod them and add to a pan of boiling water. Allow them to simmer for a couple of minutes before draining and rinsing them in cold water. Then take each bean and pinch out the skin at the bottom and gently squeeze the beans out of their skin.

Cook your pasta according to instructions on the packet while you quarter a handful of cherry tomatoes and crumble some goats cheese.




When the pasta has cooked, drain it and stir in a good dollop of pesto (homemade or from a jar), add the beans, cherry tomatoes and a handful of rocket and give it another stir. Finally add the goats cheese which will melt slightly in your still warm pasta...

Serve. Eat. Enjoy!

Veggie Box - 26th March 2013

 In our box this week we have:

• Bag of new potatoes
• Bag of mange tout
• carrots
• spring onions
• some runner beans
• bag of salad leaves
• tomatoes
• plums
• pears
• white grapes
• the teeniest, tiniest little Romanesco you ever did see!

Our veggie box is looking a bit sparse this week. Very colourful, but not as full as previous weeks. I put this down in part to the bad weather and in part due to the presence of some very lovely (but, I expect, pretty pricey) white grapes.
It's not a problem as I still have the mushrooms and broccoli left from last week! ( I know, I know - they really should have been eaten by now...)

I may have to buy some cooking onions and more spuds though - this cold weather means comfort food all the way and the ultimate comfort food as far as I am concerned is mashed potato!

Here's the teeny, tiny romanesco (it's a type of cauliflower in case you were wondering) It's sitting next to some normal sized tomatoes and that's a bunch of spring onions behind it, just to give you an idea of the scale.
I just love them. In fact I am almost loath to cook and eat this one, it is a work of art! Isn't nature amazing?

Romanesco - Roman Cauliflower - originates as the name suggests, from Italy so it's hardly surprising that most of the recipes I found seem to be based around pasta.  I might even dig out my old pasta machine and rustle up some fresh linguine in honour of this miniature masterpiece :-)

Lots of romanesco recipes have been added to the pinboard - please do go take a look! (I'll let you know how the homemade pasta goes - it's been a while since I attempted it!)

Veggie Box - 19th March 2013

Here's what I got in yesterday's fruit and veg box from Four Seasons Foods...



we have

• potatoes
• carrots
• one HUGE white onion
• a leek
• head of broccoli
• big bag of salad leaves
• cherry tomatoes
• some pak choi leaves
• some lovely brown mushrooms
• a bag of beautiful sugar snap peas
• oranges, apples and kiwi fruit for the fruit bowl

Some nice basics this week - Little Man loves broccoli and so do I! We usually had the nice dark green 'flower' as a veggie side dish and keep the stalk to chop up and add to soup (goes particularly well in leek and potato soup).  The sugar snap peas barely made it to the end of the day - they were so sweet I was just eating them out of the bag like sweeties!

Two ingredients I will be concentrating on this week are mushrooms and the pak choi.

Pak Choi - aka Chinese cabbage - is a staple green used in many Asian dishes so I am thinking simple stir fry with ginger and sesame like this tasty looking side dish (may add some chicken for a more substantial 'supper' dish)

Source: wishfulchef.com via Anthea on Pinterest

Mushrooms are a bit trickier for me - I am not a huge fan of the texture of them when cooked so I generally cut 'em really small or make them into cream of mushroom soup.
Many years ago an Australian housemate of mine introduced me to the idea slicing really fresh ones raw into salad which I love to do. Maybe we'll try something different this week...

Lots of new recipes being added to the Veggie Box pinboard but do let me know if you have any tried and tested favourites!

Veggie Box - 12th March 2013

A couple of months back I promised I would share the contents of my weekly veggie box with you (metaphorically speaking) and also share a a recipe or two. I really want to inspire more of you to sign up to local veggie box schemes - I believe that they really are an excellent way to support your local economy, eat seasonally, become more creative in the kitchen and get more of that foodie goodness inside you!

It's always a challenge when you get your box and have to come up with ideas for what to make with the contents before it becomes inedible - I have found myself chopping and freezing leeks, french and runner beans over the past few weeks when I just didn't feel like cooking with them. And am I glad I did - leek and potato soup was just what we needed after a particularly chilly school run on Monday. All I had to do was peel a spud, chop it up and tip it, with the frozen chopped leeks into the pan with a bit of butter and some stock - half an hour later we were well and truly warming our cockles!

My 'Veggie Box' pinterest board is slowly filling up with ideas too and I am slowly making my way through the list of new recipes to try.

But if I want to convince the more reluctant of you I am going to have to be a bit more pushy!

So from this week I will be posting a piccie of my veggie box every Tuesday or Wednesday and sharing a recipe made with items from that box on Friday or Saturday.  It will keep me on my toes and hopefully help some of you feel more inspired by the idea of veggie box cooking!

This weeks box...


 contents:

• new potatoes 
• carrots
• parsnips
• french beans
• spring onions
• leek
• bag salad leaves (rocket etc)
• half sweetheart cabbage
• quarter large melon
• pears
• cooking apples

I have a couple of ideas - nice to have some cooking apples. I feel a nice appley cinnamon-y  pudding coming on! The cabbage looks gorgeous too. Maybe a stir fry, a soup or left raw in a winter coleslaw?

Pop back at the weekend and see what I came up with!

My box is delivered by FourSeasonsFoods, a local organic fruit and veg box scheme. I have the smallest fruit and veg box - mainly because it's only me and the Little Man who actually eat fruit and veg and I would rather have not enough than waste too much - which costs me £9 (delivery is free).

Veggie Box Meals - Kale Pesto

Kale is one of winter's staple greens. It's packed full of nutrients and available in abundance but, well, there's only so many times you can eat steamed greens before they get a bit dull and Kale, with it's distinctive earthy flavour is not one of my favourites.

We have been getting rather a lot of kale in our veggie box lately and trying to find things to do with it has become a bit of a mission! Thankfully it freezes well - just bag it up and pop it in the freezer to use at a later date.  I have found a wealth of interesting things to do with kale on the internet and I thought it might be an idea to actually TRY some of them . . . 

Pesto is something I love to have in the fridge because you can use it so many ways. Add a spoonful to soups for extra flavour; spread it on crusty bread, add some cherry tomatoes and top with a bit of mozzarella and place under the grill for a lovely lunch. Or you could just stir it into some warm pasta for a simple supper.

There are several different versions of Kale Pesto out there, some of them more a traditional pesto than others. Here's my take using toasted walnuts instead of the usual pine nuts

KALE PESTO

bunch of kale (approx 150g)
clove of garlic, crushed
juice of 1 lemon
2 1/2 oz / 60g  walnuts
1/2tsp salt
2tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
4tbsp olive oil






First you need to toast your walnuts - spread them out on a baking tray and put them in a hot oven 200C/GAS6 for 5-10mins until they are lightly browned.

Add all the ingredients, including the toasted nuts to your blender/processor and blitz until reduced to a paste. You can add a little more oil if you want or a splash of water for a looser paste.

Stir into warm pasta or rice and enjoy!

 Kale pesto will keep in the fridge for a few days in an airtight container or freeze it in an ice cube tray for individual flavour hits for soups and stews!

There are lots more recipes with kale on my 'Veggie Box Recipes' pinterest board here. I suspect there may be a few more weeks of kale in the box to come so I hope to try out some more - although maybe NOT the kale smoothie . . .  *shudders*

Veggie Box Meals - A Friday night curry

We are starting to get into the routine of school here now, although we still haven't quite got the hang of the morning bit yet and it usually involves a bit of shouting at each other 2 minutes before we have to leave!

One big change I have noticed is that the Little Man's appetite seems to have really perked up and plates are being cleared every night instead of just when it's cheesy pasta for tea . . .  I put it down to all the extra fresh air and having opportunities to use his brain more!  I'm not complaining. It's nice to know that my cooking efforts are not wasted, and unlike his Daddy, who would happily live on beans on toast and pizza forever more, Little Man is happy to give my veggie box recipes a try.

This scrummy curry went down a treat!

Veggie Box Curry

One large onion, chopped finely
One large potato, diced
A couple of carrots, sliced
Diced flesh of small squash
One small cauliflower chopped into bite size florets
A tin of chick peas, drained
A carton of passata (sieved tomatoes) or a couple of tins of chopped tomatoes
Some curry paste (I used Balti paste but Rogan Josh works well too)
Veg stock cube or 2 tsp Marigold Vegetable Bouillon

A big pan with a lid to cook it in!


Fry the onion in a little vegetable oil until it soft and golden, then add the potato and carrot and stir in some curry paste - add as much or as little as you like. I used a generous tbsp - enough to provide some spicy flavour but not so much to put the Little Man off!

Add the passata/tomatoes. Give it a good stir then add the cauliflower florets, squash and chick peas.

Crumble in the veg stock cube and add a little water to loosen up the mixture then put on the lid and leave to simmer for half an hour (or until all the veg is tender) stirring occasionally and adding extra water if needed.

Serve with rice (a plain version of the baked Gourmet Rice recipe here works well - just use chopped onion and some pilau rice seasoning with the rice) or naan bread.  For a milder version add some natural yoghurt to the curry just before serving, or put a pot on the table for those who want to add it themselves!

Little Man tucking in to (cold) photoshoot curry... it's THAT good ;-)

As it's just the two of us eating this it went a LOOOOOONG way - a tub in the fridge for later in the week and a two servings in the freezer for those days when I just don't want to cook. It's a great way to make the most of your veggie box as you can add just about anything - sweetcorn, beans, peas and greens could all go in quite happily. You could use fresh tomatoes (skinned and chopped) , sliced courgettes, mushrooms and peppers too - just remember some vegetables don't need to cook as long as others!

I am adding this recipe along with others as I find them to my Pinterest board 'Veggie Box Recipes'. This week I got some surprise broad beans in the box so I have been searching for some 'not-too-summery' recipes to use those in - I love them double podded with pesto and pasta and a bit of Parmesan cheese, but it's always nice to find a new way of eating a favourite food!

Why not have a look, for some Veggie recipe inspiration (although not necessarily Vegetarian, I hasten to add!)? I would love it if anyone wanted to join in pinning their own veggie box recipes - just give me a shout and I will add you as a pinner for that board! 

Veggie Box Meal Planning...

Last week I took delivery of my first organic fruit and veg box from our local box scheme Four Seasons Foods.  I have used their excellent service in the past and have decided to go back after a break of over a year.

Why? Mainly because I am feeling it is more and more important to support small local businesses in these increasingly difficult times. Supermarket fruit and veg prices are only going to go up and we have no local greengrocer, only Co-op (probably one of the most expensive supermarkets) to shop from locally. Although I get my main food shop online I am reluctant to allow a 'picker' to chose my fresh fruit and veg for me and every time I have done I am invariably disappointed with the quality.
Organic produce boxes are about as fresh as fruit and veg can get (apart from harvesting them from your own back garden) and I have the satisfaction of knowing that this food didn't travel halfway around the world to reach my plate.

And besides, who could not be inspired by this box full of loveliness?

This week we had potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, red pepper, cauliflower, two cobs of sweetcorn, a Patti Pan squash, a big bag of salad leaves (including lots of my favourite peppery rocket), apples, oranges and a bunch of the sweetest black grapes I have ever tasted!  Four Seasons grow much of their produce themselves while the rest is sourced from farms and growers locally. Some of the fruit may come from a little further afield but they promise that none of the produce is air-freighted.

My challenge each week is to plan our meals around these boxes, ensuring that none of this lovely produce goes to waste! I hope to share some of these meal ideas with you on this blog and would love to hear ideas and recipes from those of you who also use a veggie box service!

So far this week we have had carrot and lentil soup, cauliflower cheese and lots of salad. I am still hunting down good stuffed squash recipes so the patti pan doesn't go to waste (although I am told it can be used as a courgette substitute). The recipe I would like to share with you this week comes from the good old BBC Good Food website - Easy Oven Frittata. It is a perfect veggie box supper! 

chopped veggies - use whatever you got!

The recipe calls for leeks, peas, pepper and sweetcorn but is easily adaptable. I added some sliced runner beans to mine and used corn sliced off a cob rather than the tinned in the recipe.
After reading the comments, I also used 100g of pasta rather than the 85g recommended, used a little more Cheddar as we have no Parmesan and mixed Italian herbs rather than lemon thyme.

Oven baked Frittata on the plate

I confess I was a bit dubious about the eggy pasta bake idea but it worked really well and tasted just as good cold for lunch the next day. Add a large salad and maybe some crusty bread and it will easily feed a family of four and get them well on their way to five a day.

This is definitely a veggie box recipe I shall be using again - you really could use any vegetables you have around. Grated carrot and courgette, broccoli, peas and spinach would all work well and the egg and cheese mix makes it a more substantial meal than just veg and pasta.

Are you a member of a veg box scheme? Most areas have their own local scheme, many of which deliver for free, but there are also a few national box schemes that deliver all over the country.
I would love to hear any recipes you may have tried. If you are on Pinterest why not check out my board 'Veggie Box Recipes' for ideas and inspiration? And if you want to add your own pins to the board give me a shout and I will add you as a pinner.



If you live in the Forest of Dean/Wye Valley area and would like to try a veggie box for yourself give Four Seasons Foods a shout. Visit their website for contact info or tweet them @4SeasonsFoods

Fancy some meats?

A couple of weeks ago I got an email with 'Fancy some meats?' in the subject line. I confess I nearly hit delete. But my curiosity got the better of me and boy am I glad it did...

One Ingredient Challenge - Carrots

I was recently introduced to the excellent blog Working London Mummy. It's packed with lots of lovely foodie posts including some great children-friendly recipes. This month she has opened up her 'One Ingredient' challenge to the blogisphere, inviting us to come up with a recipe focusing on the chosen ingredient...


This month's 'One Ingredient' is.... Carrots

Me and the Little Man are big fans of carrots, raw and cooked, grated in sandwiches, dipped in hummus, as a base for soups and casseroles and as side with everything from fish pie to Sunday roast. Little Man has even requested that we grow some in the garden next year (although I do hope he is not expecting them  to sing to him like the ones n Mr Bloom's Nursery...)
But one of the best things you can do with carrots is use them to make cake!

Even better - we used them to make muffins! With less sugar and fat than traditional Carrot Cake you can almost pass them off as  'health food' ;-)

Muffins are dead simple to make and really take no time at all to prepare and homemade ones are a million times better than shop bought!

Scrummy Spicey Carrot Muffins 
(makes 10-12 large muffins)

Pre-heat the oven to 190c/gas5 and prepare your muffin tin

Mix the following 'dry' ingredients together in a large bowl:
10oz/280g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
2tsp ground cinnamon

Mix the following 'wet' ingredients together in another large bowl:
12oz/340g finely grated carrots (I process mine in the 'chopper' attachment of my Braun stick blender)
1 egg, beaten
4-6tbs milk or water
2tbsp runny honey
4oz sugar (caster or soft brown sugar is fine)
1tsp vanilla essense
3 fl oz/90ml vegetable oil

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Add a handful of chopped walnuts and/or raisins at the last stir if you want (optional but tasty).
Spoon the mix into prepared muffin tin and bake for approx 20mins - until the tops spring back when pressed.

These are gorgeous just as they are or you can add a simple cream cheese frosting when cool - 1 heaped tbsp cream cheese to 2oz/55g icing sugar and a dash of vanilla essence beaten together until smooth. This makes enough frosting for 6 muffins. I usually freeze the other half of the batch (without frosting). You can take them out of the freezer when you need them and just give them about 30 seconds in the microwave or 10 mins in a warm oven to defrost and warm through.

So there you have it - a tasty, nutritious, quick recipe using carrots that even a sworn carrot-hater can't help but enjoy... (just don't tell them what the secret ingredient is!)

If you like these why not try my Courgette and Cocoa muffins for more 'hidden vegetable' yumminess?


Do you have a carrot based recipe you want to share? Why not hop along to Working London Mummy's blog and join in the 'One Ingredient' challenge...

#HandmadeChristmas - what's it all about?

Now we have Halloween out of the way and we are properly into November I guess I can start talking about Christmas without getting too many dirty looks and dark mutterings in my general direction...

If, like me, you are getting fed up with the whole crazy commercialism that surrounds the festive season you may want to join the ever growing trend that recognises the unique value of handmade gifts, decorations and food.

These days it is possible to do your entire Christmas shop from ONE supermarket - from the food to the drink; presents for everyone from baby to Granny. Cards, trees, decorations and even the outfit you are going to wear for the Christmas party.

But why would you want to do that? Really?

Now I'm not suggesting for one second you fore go the supermarket completely (although I would say that doing your food shop online two weeks before and booking a home delivery to arrive couple of days before Christmas is definitely preferable to fighting over the last frozen turkey with 15 other desperate shoppers...)* but certainly consider creating a few homemade touches to your celebrations to create a really memorable Christmas.

From gorgeous paper star and bauble decorations to homemade mince pies made with your own mincemeat, to highlighting some great British designer/makers for fabulous gifts you can pretty much guarantee you won't find on the supermarket shelves.

In my first post, tomorrow, I will be showing you how to make some gorgeous star decorations just by folding strips of paper.

Later on I will be trying some homemade sweeties, which make a really good present, and the above mentioned mince pies. I hope to show you some gift ideas to make yourself  and highlight some great tutorials across the web, plus some picks from the many talented online sellers from sites like Folksy, Etsy, Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous, Not on the High Street and the newly set up SHHIMUK promoting independent sellers who, like me, are going-it-alone and running their own online emporium!

Last year I set up the successful Handmade Christmas page on Facebook and encouraged designer/makers to use the #handmadechristmas hashtag on Twitter when advertising their wares. All the relevant blog post will be posted on both Facebook and Twitter.

If you want make sure you don't miss a thing why not follow this blog with GFC or subscribe by clicking on the 'posts' button at the top of the right hand column?


*thats a whole other blog post.... I might write it one day!

Jammin'

The other day I made jam. For the very first time.

For some reason it's something I have avoided in the past, partly because of the bewildering array of 'special' utensils listed in my recipe books - jam thermometer, jam funnel, special pans, waxed circles, preserving jars etc etc. Perusing the Lakeland website (my kitchen utensil supplier of choice ) confirmed my suspicions that these things cost money. More than I can afford to shell out for what, at best would be a once or twice yearly activity. I really might just as well go out to the supermarket and just buy a jar or two of jam (good stuff, obviously. The ones with 'extra' on the label somewhere...) So I avoided making jam.

This year, however, I thought 'Sod it! Surely I don't really need all that stuff? I mean how difficult can it be? Really?'

And you know what? It really isn't as mystical as hardcore jammers would have us believe.

There are loads of recipes on the internet but basically you need the same weight of sugar and fruit.
I had 600gms of blackberries and apples (peeled and chopped up small) from my mother-in-law's garden, so used 600gms of sugar. I added a large dash (more of a slosh really...) of lemon juice coz it seemed to be mentioned in at least three of the recipes I looked at. And a slosh of water. I have no idea how much... (sorry thats not very helpful I know, but that's the kind of cook I am )

Bring to the boil gently on the lowest heat you can - this can take quite a while so put some music on and make sure kiddiewinks are occupied. You do have to keep an eye on it and stir it so it doesnt burn/stick! In the meantime put a saucer in the freezer (one of those 'mystical' jam things - will become clear in a bit!) and place your washed jam jars upside down in a warm oven for half an hour to sterilize them (140C/275F/Gas1) If you are making this sort of quantity you will only need one or two - recycle old jam jars rather than buying special 'preserving jars'.

Once the fruit and sugar mix has come to the boil keep it there, stirring pretty much constantly for a good 10 mins or so. To test whether 'setting point' has been reached drop a small amount of the HOT jam on the ice cold saucer you have just fished out of the freezer. If its ready it should set fairly quickly as it cools. If not keep it boiling and try again in 10 mins. When ready, remove from the heat and allow to cool for 15mins then ladle into sterilsed jars.

Et Voila!

I know it's chunky but that's the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it (uh huh uh huh)

No complicated ingredients or utensils need! (Sorry Lakeland, but rest assured I will spend my money on other lovely things...)

This is quite a small amount of jam and should keep fine in the fridge - I have no idea how long it will last - but if your house is anything like mine it will be eaten up long before it has chance to go off!

Summer Cupcakes

Those lovely people over at John Crane are about to release a fabulous new toy. High Tea Shape Matching will appeal to little darlings (and their mummies;) ) everywhere. To celebrate this release they are running a fab competition giving you the chance to win Tea at the Ritz! They have also been asking bloggers everywhere to talk cupcakes. Well go on then, twist my arm...

Here is the recipe for my favourite cupcake creation - inspired by Mint Choc Chip Ice-cream!

You will need for the cakes:

4oz/100g butter
4oz/100g caster sugar
2 medium eggs (preferably free range)
4oz/100g self raising flour
Vanilla essence
50g dark chocolate chips (optional)

for the icing

4oz/100g butter
8oz/200g icing sugar
peppermint flavouring
green food colouring
chocolate sprinkles

pre-heat your oven to approx 160/gas4 and put some cupcake cases in a bun tin ( I use silicone ones that are reusable and ridiculously pretty to boot )

Cream together the butter and caster sugar till light and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla essence. Then sift in the flour. You can add the chocolate chips now too, if you are using them.

Drop spoonfuls of mix into the cupcake cases and then pop them into the oven for about 12-15mins

Lick the bowl out :) (or more accurately let the Little Man lick the bowl out...)

For the icing cream the butter then add the icing sugar, a splash of peppermint flavouring (to taste) and a few drops of green colouring - we are aiming for a delectable pale pistachio not Kermit green, ok?

When the cakes are cool, slice the tops off to even them out if you have too, pipe the icing in swirls and sprinkle with chocolate flakes to finish.

Refridgerate to chill the icing for an authentic 'mint choc-chip ice cream' taste.

Enjoy x

ps Best eaten the same day - but there won't be any left over. Trust me.

pps You have until the end of July to enter the High Tea Shape Matching competition :)

A bowl of soup to warm the cockles...

I love this time of year. Christmas is all over and done with, the decorations are down but there is a feeling of optimism in the air. A New Year, a fresh start, time to start implementing the plans that were conceived over the late nights with mulled wine during the holidays... OK, not ALL the plans, some of them were just a bit silly, but that's mulled wine for you ;)

Time, also, to get back to nice, plain, simple food after the over indulgence of the Christmas period. And what better food to eat at this time of year, when it's cold and grey, than a nice steaming bowl of wholesome, homemade soup :)

Today we had one of my personal favourites - its called 'Let's see what we have got left in the fridge' soup and it is really simple to make!

First you need to see what is in the fridge...

Today we had a head of broccoli, a couple of spuds, some ropey brown onions and a couple of 'definitely past their best' spring onions.

Get yourself a large saucepan and peel and chop all your veggies. Heat up a little butter or oil and throw in any onions or leeks and heat gently for a few minutes. Then add your root veg - potatoes, carrots etc and continue to cook, stirring so it doesn't stick. At this point I added some dried herbs and then a litre or so of vegetable stock. Bring it up to the boil then add the broccoli (or cabbage or whatever else you found in your fridge!). Simmer the lot for about 10-15 mins until all the veggies are tender then simply blend it all together to smooth creaminess.

Check for seasoning and add a little salt and pepper if you wish and there you have it!

 Ladle into bowls, add a swirl of cream or plain yoghurt and serve with lots of warm crusty bread...

Fabulous!!

A great way use up bits and pieces lurking in the veggie drawer that might otherwise get thrown away! Plus you're well on your way to your five-a-day too.

p.s. A tip if you too want to make 'Let's see what we've got left in the fridge' Soup - old lettuce makes fab soup! Bags of baby salad leaves, spinach, watercress, rocket etc with just a couple of spuds and onions makes the most velvety smooth and soothing broth. Quick to prepare and perfect after a long, hectic day. But please, if the leaves have turned into a black, soggy mess at the bottom of the bag - just throw it away!! Some things are beyond redemption...

My Handmade Christmas (pt 3) Dried Orange Garlands

What is it about oranges that so sums up Christmas? They are said to represent the gift of Gold in the Nativity story and in the days before electronic gadgets and must-have toys they were an essential, and much anticipated stocking gift. The glorious orangey scent blends so well with spices - cinnamon, cloves and ginger to create a quintessential Christmas fragrance that fills my home thanks to a couple of well placed essential oil burners that I keep topped up over the festive period.

Piles of mandarins and clementines in their little red net bags fill the fresh fruit section of the supermarket at this time of year and a fair few of them have found their way into my shopping basket and home, where they are currently residing in a basket with some unshelled walnuts looking oh-so-christmassy.

This year I decided to have a go at making some orange decorations and, rather than buy ready dried orange slices, I thought I'd do it from scratch and dry some myself. After all, how hard could it be?

So first of all you need a couple of nice firm oranges. Not the above mentioned clementines et al but the big ones you might juice for breakfast if you were feeling a bit decadent...

Cut them into fairly thick slices - about 5-10mm

and lay them all out on a baking tray.

Pop them in the oven on it's lowest setting for a couple of hours until they are completely dried out.

Then transfer them onto a wire rack to cool...

et voila! Dried orange slices ready to be made into pretty, festive decorations!

Well that's the theory anyway...

As you can see some of mine turned out a little too crispy round the edges and not quite as 'pretty' as the commercially dried slices. But I did them myself and that's what counts :)

And strung together on some red gingham ribbon I think they pass muster!

The rest look very pretty displayed in this little glass jar and, although they may not look perfect, they smell divine.

Which is, after all, the whole point!

Now I have some presents to finish off as there are only 10 sleeps till the big day :)

Easy Peasy Gourmet Rice!

Don't let anyone tell you they can't cook good, nutritious food for all the family quickly and on a budget!

Here is a recipe that I came across in its original form in Rachel Allen's book 'Bake' and is so simple to prepare and cook there really are no excuses!

You'll need a lidded casserole that you can use on the stove as well as in the oven.

To feed four (or possibly more depending on what you accompany it with) chop one medium onion and fry it in a knob of butter for a couple of minutes. You can add other veg here too - today we had red pepper and a handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn. Add a tsp of dried herbs too and cook for a couple of minutes stirring occasionally. Now add 200grams of basmati rice and give it a good stir - the grains of rice will start to look clear. Pour over 500ml of veg stock ( I use Marigold Vegetable Bouillon) stir it again - you don't want the rice sticking to the bottom! -

bring it up to the boil then pop the lid on and put it in the oven (mine is usually at about 180) for 10 mins. Take it out of the oven, fluff it up with a fork and serve.

That's it. Simples.

The best thing about it is that it is so easy to adapt - add some pilau spices for instead of dried herbs or a couple of chopped spring onions, some baby corn and Chinese 5 spice seasoning for an oriental flavour. One of my favourite combos is onions and peas, a touch of curry seasoning and some cooked, smoked haddock, served with hard boiled eggs for a kedgeree type dish. You can add small pieces of cooked chicken, tuna or some cooked chick peas or kidney beans to make a complete meal in one pot so you save on washing up too!

To make it in larger (or smaller) quantities just remember the ratio of 100g of rice to 250ml of stock.

I would love to hear if any of you try this one and especially if you add your own twist!

Organic veggie box...

Riley wasted no time investigating the veggie box!

All excited this morning as my organic fruit and veg box arrives courtesy of Four Seasons Foods - www.fourseasonsfoods.org . Four Seasons Foods are a local company running an organic box delivery scheme. Started up by some friends of mine - Glenn and Kishe Redwood a few years back now they have gone from strength to strength and now deliver all around the forest. I had boxes from them a few years back but had to stop due to a number of factors but now Riley is eating pretty much what I do and the cost of our local supermarket fruit and veg is ridiculous I thought it was time to go back to basics.
So what have I got for my £12? lets see... some lovely mushrooms, onions,carrots and potatoes still in dirt jackets! (the best way to keep them fresh), lots of lovely curly greens, nice head of broccoli, some dwarf french beans, a couple of corn cobs, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some apples, kiwi fruit, a lemon and a bag of red grapes!

Now I need to get planning meals so none of it goes to waste....Any excuse to get all my cookery books out!

Autumn bounty...

I love this time of year. The summer - such as it was - is having it's final fling, with glorious blue skies and fluffy white clouds encouraging us outside - although the brisk breeze and the nip in the air reminding us that colder times are not far off.
I took Riley down to his Nannie's house for a romp around the garden yesterday, approximately a quarter of an acre of cultivated wildness complete with little pathways that disappear behind shrubs and apple, plum and hazel trees. Not forgetting tangles of bramble bushes over flowing with luscious blackberries!
Of course we couldn't leave without a bag full of apples and blackberries as Riley got his first lesson in foraging for food!

What I love most about Autumn is that a lovely pile of goodies like this...

...can be turned into a luscious pudding like this...

...a bowl full of sumptuousness like this...

...to be enjoyed like this!

A suprising combination...

Mmmmmmmuffins!

My attempts at vegetable growing have not exactly been 100% successful - I've lost three of my tomato plants to blight and a lot of strawberries to slugs and the promised heatwave gave way to rain, rain and more rain so what tomatoes and peppers I do have are still quite small and nowhere near ripe. One plant, however has done spectacularly well - my courgette has been producing in abundance so we have had courgette in stirfries, courgette soup, roasted courgette etc etc. In my quest to find something different to do with courgettes I found a recipe for courgette muffins - I kid you not!

And suprisingly - they are yummy!

So for those of you who also have a surplus of courgettes - here it is. If you grate them/chop them up really fine nobody need ever know they are in there...

Pre-heat oven to 190-200c/gas 5-6 and prepare muffin tin.

In a large bowl sift together 280g plain flour, 2tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda. 1/2tsp salt, 2tsp ground cinnamon and 3tbs cocoa powder.

In a medium sized bowl beat and egg with a fork. Add 125g soft brown sugar, 90ml milk, 2tsp vanilla essence, 90ml vegetable oil and 350g (approx 3-4 medium sized) finely grated courgette - no need to peel unless you want to avoid green flecks in the finished muffin. stir well.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until combined. Batter will be lumpy but no dry flour should be visible.

Spoon into tin - should make 11 or 12 big muffins - and bake for approx 20mins.

Enjoy!!

mm mmm mmmmmmm!