BUSY WEEK AND A TON OF BOXES AND TOMATOES

Oooops!  I missed a week.  Sorry about that but it was a pretty uneventful week on all fronts anyway.

This week a lovely pile of boxes arrived from my veggie delivery although as you can see from the contains I probably didn’t need that many boxes just as you never need the amount of carrier bags that they put things into when you get a supermarket delivery unless you shop with one that gives you the option to be carrier bag free.  Bonus for my delivery is that all the boxes and 90% of the packaging can be returned and reused, even the string.  Must admit I tend to keep the string as it’s handy for tying up plants in the garden and some of the plastic trays are useful as seed trays or pot holders, haha.

A pile of boxes and their contains

It’s been an odd week of ‘in and out’ the house, so dinners have been as quick and as simple as they can be with the exception of Monday when I felt like doing a full on curry using left over chicken from Sunday to make a korma and the left over pumpkin to make a dahl.  I still marinated the cooked chicken in the spices and yogurt and I replaced the lentils in the recipe for the smashed up pumpkin.  No-one died of food poisoning and there were clean plates all round.  And before you ask; no I did not make the poppadums!  They were bought and are gluten and grass free; I checked. 

Chicken Korma, Pumpkin Dahl and Poppadums

Tuesday’s slow cooker recipe was a huge tomato sauce as I appear to receive a ton of tomatoes this week and still had some left from last.  Red onion, courgettes (yes Abel & Cole had some), the last of last week’s mushrooms, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper, oregano and thyme were added and set on high for about 5 hours.  Then served with pasta and grated cheese on top!

Weds I went all Asian again and did stir fry fish with lime, leek, remaining cooked carrot and green beans from Sunday, Aldi mangetout and baby sweetcorn.  I sloshed in some fish sauce, rice wine, spattering of sugar, ground cloves, fennel, coriander and sesame seeds, then served with mushroom, egg fried rice.

Mushroom, egg fried rice with spring onion

Fish with Lime, Carrots, Green Beans, Mangetout and Baby Sweetcorn

Apologies for photos; it was a bit steamy, haha

Yes I know! I had rice! I only normally eat rice about once a fortnight, if that, as it bloats my stomach and I feel awful, but I needed something a bit more exotic this week and rice just happened to be in the cupboard and I’d run out of my noodles. L

Thursday, as always, was busy backwards and forwarding to trampoline centre with an extra lengthy session in the afternoon as son had group lesson followed straight away by private session.  So time was short and having prepped Tuesday night’s dinner on Monday night and sticking it in the fridge to shove in slow cooker in the morning, I did the same on Weds night by prepping layers of sliced potato, Jerusalem artichoke, celeriac, leek, chopped ham and grated cheese.  In the morning I poured over a combination of cream and milk and switched it on and walked away.  Next time I won’t add equal quantities of milk to cream as it did produce quite a lot of liquid.  However, it tasted fab!

Alfred on the move!

In other news; the bulbs I hastily planted a couple of weeks ago are growing rather well.  The potatoes that The Potato Council sent us are chitting away nicely on the window sill and Alfred, after moving about and deciding to stop on the ceiling right above the kettle and abseiling up and down with the inevitability of eventually landing on someone’s head and thus causing panic and death, was carefully removed into the garden to find a new home.  I’ll miss him, but hopefully he’ll find a comfy spot and a decent mate.

DREARY FEBRUARY AND THE SHORTAGE OF LETTUCE!

Funny old week!  It’s very grey and miserable in the South East of Blighty.  February has arrived!  Although on the bright side bulbs are beginning to push green shoots out above the soil so the promise of colour is there.

Alfred the garden spider has decided to move home and taken himself off to the corner of the kitchen between the above sink cupboard and the wall; maybe he’s thinking of looking for a mate which is rather sad as he won’t find one.  If he lasts long enough and the warm weather finely arrives, I’ll reinstate him into the garden.

As to food and menus; I’m still finding little inspiration but then it is the ‘lean’ time of year.

The garden has a few turnips and leeks left but that’s about it although rosemary, sage, thyme, young mint and a few fronds of fennel are still there for the picking.  Talking of the garden I’ve had a tidy up and cut back a few bits as there is less risk of frost now.  Also found a few bulbs, that I hadn’t got round to planting in November, in the shed which were sprouting so risked planting up a couple of pots to see how they fair.  Next week will be checking over seed packets for dates and ordering new strawberry plants as the old ones have become far too old to produce much crop.

The festival of Imbolg was this week so I decided that Wednesday would be the day that I decorated the house with fresh flowers (supermarket unfortunately), greenery from the garden (eucalyptus needed a cut back), and candles and did a yellow and green themed dinner of smoked haddock, spring onion and pea frittata along with a fresh salad of lettuce (not iceburg I might add; more about that in a min), onion, watercress, apple, walnut and cheese.  I also took half the rhubarb out of the freezer and made an orange and rhubarb ‘cake’ with one of the blood oranges I had left and served this with custard.

Now to the lettuce issue!  Apparently the UK imports more than half its fruit and veg from abroad, which personally I find astonishing and rather worrying, and, as there is currently unusual weather conditions in Southern Europe, it’s affecting their ability to produce veg and this has meant a shortage of foodstuffs like courgettes, spinach, iceberg lettuce and now broccoli reaching our supermarket shelves.  My issue here is that why are we trying to buy courgettes, spinach, iceberg lettuce and broccoli now anyway?  To be honest why would you buy iceberg lettuce at any time of the year; it’s foul! Those are summer veggies! Why? Because we have become so used to buying anything at any time of year that we have become distanced from what we truly should be eating at any specific point. I often wonder if this is why illnesses have increased. Our bodies are attuned to eat certain things at certain times and to eat seasonally has a huge impact on our health and, obviously, the planet. Now I’m not being all evangelical about it; I love my blood oranges from Sicily and, of course, I’m still eating tomatoes in February which is silly unless canned, pickled or dried but I’m trying to eat as seasonally as possible and to grow my own or buy mainly from the UK and preferably local. I wonder how others would fair if they did the same. Perhaps if we did we wouldn’t be panic buying lettuce, yes people really are, with one supermarket rationing them to three per person.  On that point; to whoever is buying three at a time, all I can say is you must be eating a hell of a lot of lettuce as it wouldn’t last in my house and would go off before we could use it up.  Hmmm, more food waste I think.  May I make a suggestion?  Eat cabbage!  Red cabbage is around and that’s lovely and crunchy raw.  Finely shred it, shove in some grated carrot, possibly a chopped onion, maybe a few raisins or grated apple or both, add a light dressing and you have homemade coleslaw; tastes much better than lettuce anyway!

For further information I’ve added a couple of links below.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/03/no-three-lettuce-heads-supermarkets-tell-customers-extreme-weather/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38666752

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/aug/12/seasonal-eating-vegetables-uk-does-it-matter

http://eatseasonably.co.uk/

Cya

Menu plan for the week is as follows:

Monday – Roasted veg pasta

Tuesday – Turnip and chickpea casserole with mashed potato

Wednesday – Smoked haddock frittata with salad and rhubarb and orange cake for pud

Thursday – Mushroom curry with rice

ENERGY LEVELS UP AND DOWN AND SUPPLIES RUNNING LOW

Had a brilliant start to the week; woke up at a reasonable time, garden was all frosty and beautiful and I felt I had some energy.  Garden was so pretty I rushed outside in pjs and bare feet just to get some photos. Needless to say that my tootsies were a bit ‘cold’ by the time I’d finished, so wrapped up in slipper socks and boot slippers under a blanket with first morning’s coffee.  Roasted off a whole pumpkin; cut it in half around the middle, rubbed with salt, pepper and oil and cooked in the oven for about an hour. Half of it was used for the pumpkin polenta and the other half will be made into a pumpkin and walnut loaf (I still have 1 very large and 2 medium pumpkins left from Halloween, but as I hadn’t cut them due to their decorative skin, they’ve kept perfectly fine in my chilly utility room).

Was a bit slower on the energy levels on Tuesday, but that was mainly due to having osteo the evening before.  Took an age for me to decide what to do for dinner as was slightly lacking in inspiration; yes it does happen to me!  So after ploughing through about half a dozen cookery books, not finding anything that totally grabbed my attention, I decided that a couple of recipes could work if I combined them and added my own flavours, so roasted roots with chickpeas, feta and Moroccan spice.

Still struggling for ideas on Wednesday; it’s the end of the month and the cupboards are getting a little bare and because I’m trying to eat as seasonable as possible I’m finding that I’m getting a little bored with the same old thing; time for spring!  Cleaned out the freezers (I have one large one that gets full quite quickly when we are harvesting, but remains half empty if I’m not filling it up with baked goods when garden isn’t over producing) and a small upright one in the kitchen which is used for open packets, breadcrumbs, leftover meals, etc.  Now I have two clean and tidy freezers and I know exactly what I have in them which should help a bit when planning meals.  I’ve also had a chat with partner and should be taking full control of food shopping again as of next week!  He took over the shopping nearly 10 years ago when I broke my leg and has been reluctant to let me take it back even though I’m constantly shopping as he only ever buys the basic boring stuff as he’s a meat and two veg kind of guy when it comes to cooking.  Ended up cooking six of the bubble and squeak patties I made before Xmas, grilled bacon, fried mushrooms and eggs and whizzing up my own version of baked beans (we didn’t have any; like a said, it’s the end of the month) using an inch of chopped chorizo, 2 finely chopped tomatoes (no tinned toms either), squirt of tomato paste and ketchup, splash of balsamic vinegar for sweetness and a tin of cannellini beans.  Actually I rather liked them and, although wouldn’t necessarily want to do them every time I used baked beans, I would definitely do them again.

Bubble & Squeak Patties

Thursday was mega busy with loads of online grocery shops, son’s trampolining group and then work, so slow cooker back in business with sweet and sour fish.  I’ve used the recipe for chicken before, but didn’t have any so thought ‘why not’ fish! As it was it worked!  Phew!

Biggest excitement of the week apart from Monday’s frosty garden was the fact that Alfred the spider isn’t dead as we first thought but very much alive and well! I hate spiders normally, but I’ve become quite attached and was slightly over excited by the fact that after spending 3 days curled up in the corner of the window with no new webs being built he was back in the middle of a brand new web and looking healthy again.  Hoorah!

Alfred the Spider (old picture)

Menu plan for the week is as follows:

Monday – Garlic chicken with pumpkin polenta and peas.

Tuesday – Oven roasted roots with chickpeas and feta

Wednesday – bubble & squeak patties, fried mushrooms, fried eggs, grilled bacon and home-made baked beans

Thursday – Sweet and sour fish

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to you all.  Hope you intend to have a fab 2017 in the kitchen and maybe the garden if you have one, although a few pots on a window sill would suffice :-D

We started the New Year with an old friend coming for dinner so no cooking for me again as it was Sunday!  Roast duck stuffed with clementines and a couple of halved lemons plus a bouquet garni which made the gravy have a hint of citrus to cut through the meat.  Roast tatties, carrots, broccoli from the garden, leeks also from garden in cheese sauce and a red cabbage cooked in apple juice and raisins.  Yum!

To be honest I’m getting rather sick of all the leftovers now and, as I don’t eat much meat normally, I’m also getting a bit sick of meat so beginning to crave fish and veggie food, haha. So Monday was going to be, hopefully, the last whack it all together leftover meal. In this case I added together the remaining mashed potato from Saturday’s fish pie with the leeks in cheese sauce and the odd bits of leftover cooked carrots and broccoli from yesterday and heated it through in the oven until bubbling; this was served with cold cooked ham and the remaining duck and a choice of pickles.  Even after that I’ve still got cold ham left, but, at least, it can be used up in sandwiches.

Tuesday I awoke with a chronic stomach ache and a rash on my elbow which normally indicates I’ve eaten gluten (would also account for stomach ache) but unless the gravy had had flour added or stock granules which partner swears he didn’t do or the so called gluten free crackers weren’t as gluten free as they indicated I can’t think of where the suspicious gluten has come from.  Oh well I suffered for the day and did a much more ‘normal’ dinner of frozen bought pies for them with mashed potato and celeriac with peas on the side and the gravy from Sunday as there is never enough gravy in the pies.  Stomach felt even more swollen afterwards even though I, obviously, didn’t have pie, but I did pour gravy over the mash and peas.  Hmmmm, me thinks partner may be telling a porky which I’m not too happy about, but if he does ever admit to it it’ll be ‘but it was only a tiny bit to thicken it up’.  Not the point mate.  Anyway, son came down and was ecstatic to have a ‘normal’ meal and even stated that it looked yummy!!!  I have to admit, I’m definitely now craving veg and salad and soup even more.

Luckily I’d had the aforethought to order some sustainable trout for Wednesday night and after the past week of rich food and leftover mishmashes I can safely say that the trout was very much appreciated and not just by me. I wrapped it in foil with a bed of onions and a cover of lemon slices and dill seed and then cooked in the oven for about 15mins.  Was rather proud of myself as I managed to debone the fillets of the pin bones so no-one got any; I think I can safely say that my knife skills are obviously improving.  Did a stir fry of mushrooms, courgette, carrot, ginger, red pepper and a handful of salad leaves plus a sorry looking and lonely Little Gem lettuce was finely sliced and whacked in with some lime juice and tamari for flavour; the whole lot was served up with noodles for the boys ( I just had the veg and trout).  Yum!!  And my stomach is now singing songs of light and healthy food again.

Thursday was back to work so slow cooker was back in business with a chickpea and root vegetable curry which served us three nicely and gave me a small bowlful left for Friday so I didn’t pig out on chips which is normal Friday fare as Friday is the first day of partner cooking.  I do have to admit, however, that his chips are homemade and he’s got the crispy chips down to a fine art.  I can never be bothered to do chips from scratch so if I ever feel the need to do them they are frozen oven ones which are nowhere near as nice, but a damn sight easier.

Weekend has been his shepherd’s pie and another roast dinner as he never feels like it’s a Sunday unless there is a roast, even in summer which I hate.

Plus we celebrated Twelfth Night by going to a Wassailing Event at our local fort, so plenty of Morris Dancing to watch, a Mummer’s play, storytelling, cannons being fired and raising of glasses of cider with a shout of ‘Wassail, Drink Hail’ and a bumping into old friends.

'Wassail; Drink Hail'

Mummer's Play with a modern twist

 

Photos courtesy of local Moot member/s

WEATHER IMPROVES! HOORAH!

Rogue raspberry from under fence

Well it's been a week of hit and miss; some days have been brilliant and others have been, shall we say, a little stressful.  But the Wing It kitchen has been reasonably busy along with the Wing It garden.

Monday was last of the frozen pumpkin, last of the carrots from last week and chopped swede, coconut curry.  Problem was I thought I had some coconut milk in the cupboard which I didn't; whoops! I did, however, have desiccated coconut, so I stuck a couple of handfuls in a bowl and poured on boiling water and left for half an hour.  This I then drained and squeezed which gave me a very watery, but coconut flavoured liquid which I used to cook the veggies in before adding the curry spices and the coconut at the end.  Good flavour, but wouldn't recommend swede in a curry unless a tomato based one.

Tuesday was eventful to say the least as I had a hospital appointment to check my ears as I suffered from a dose of tinitus a few months ago and my ears felt blocked, but there was no wax or infection. On the way up to the hospital I get a phone call from a job I'd applied for many months ago asking if I was still interested and would I like to come along for an 'interview/chat' the next day.  Eeek!  Anyway, ears all fine, no hearing loss; probably just a dose of blocked sinus/ear canal and that is now drained.  Phew! So nice and easy dinner of spaghetti bolognese made with quorn mince and my oven roasted and slow cooked tomato sauce with added sliced mushrooms and a splash of balsamic vinegar.  Again I had the buckwheat pasta which I am definitely liking.

Weds arrived and I walked son up to his course, popped into docs for results of blood test and all now fine!  Eh???  So one week they are fine, two weeks later they are borderline diabetic and two weeks after that they are fine again!  Osteo after a quick Aldi shop and I can finally walk without feeling like an old lady.  Getting older sucks!  Haha.  Interview in the afternoon and I'm offered the job!!! Double EEEEEEEKKKKK!!!  So two evenings a week as of next week I'm a working woman again after many, many years.

Dinner was a disaster!  Yep, I have those days too.  Wanted to do a stir fry noodle dish and try out my new gluten free noodle find which are made with sweet potatos.

White haddock fillets were marinaded in the morning in a curried spice mix with a tsp of sugar, pinch of salt, crushed garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil and then cooked in a dryish pan until cooked through.  Then stir fried pak choi, baby corn, spring onion, sugar snap peas and mushrooms, with chopped ginger, coriander and a splash each of water, tamari sauce and fish sauce.  Noodles were soaked and then tipped into veggies to finish cooking as per instructions!  Yuck!  They looked like see through worms and tasted like plastic and acted like elastic bands.  I ended up attempting, and exceeding pretty well, picking the lot out of the stir fry and spiralising some courgette instead.  Meant the fish ended up cold, although nice flavour and my son refused to eat the stir fry as there were a few remaining 'plastic worms' left. He made himself toast! Never again!!

Thursday and I'm having doubts!  What the hell am I doing?  Am sure I'll be fine!  Ached like hell all day and brain was all over the place so it was an easy dinner of slow cooked chicken, butter beans, chickpeas and sweetcorn with leeks and plenty of freshly chopped parsley to have as a soup bowl dinner with bread for dunking.

No dinner cooking over weekend again as that's partners job so out in the garden to start putting things to bed.  Ie, chopping back herbs and seeing what's left to harvest.  And I made a banana bread using up the, now browning, bananas and some candied cut peel I had in the cupboard.

Chillis

Weird chilli

Chilli plants from seeds of a chilli are ready for picking.  As are the tomatos that were also grown from tomatos cut into halves and planted.  And the butternut squash seeds I planted (also from veg seed not packet) have gone a bit rampant.

Butternut squashes

Row of tomato plants from cut tomatoes

 MY BANANA BREAD

200g plain flour (I use a mix of soya, buckwheat, gram and potato starch, but any plain flour will do)

2.25tsp baking powder

0.5tsp of salt

0.75tsp of cinnamon

75g butter or marg

115g caster sugar (mine is sugar beet sugar not sugar cane)

3 ripe bananas

2 eggs beaten

2 tbsp chopped candied peel.

In a bowl sieve flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar and then add marg and beaten eggs. Thoroughly beat the mixture together using a hand mixer if you have one or plenty of muscle and a wooden spoon.  In a separate bowl mash the bananas and then add these to the cake mix and beat again.  Fold in the candied peel and bake for 50mins to an hour in a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin at 180C.  It's cooked when knife or skewer (whichever you prefer) comes out clean and the cake is coming away from the sides a little.  Turn out and cool.