Simple Courgette Salad Ideas

I'm not a cook, I'll put that out there to begin with! I like baking (maybe twice a year, haha) and I am not a fan of courgettes BUT this way of eating up our glut of courgettes has changed everything :)

Now with my disclaimer out in the open you will have to just forgive me the lack of absolute measurements and merely use this recipe as a guide. I think with mixing a salad up together that it's up to your individual tastes anyway, this is not a science, it's an art.

Simple (tasty) Courgette Salad

You'll be in the glut season, and yes courgettes are coming out your ears, you can't even give them away and you really don't want them to turn in to marrows; that just means MORE courgette to deal with at a time. Fear not my friends - I am here to help...

1 - Take a courgette and give it a wash, then top and tail it.

2 - Take out your potato peeler and peel that courgette to death = ribbons of courgette!

3 - Gather a really big bunch of coriander and one of fresh mint (hopefully your grow your own, basil would be great too)

4 - Wash those herbs, remove any thick stems and chop up chunky

5 -  Add these three ingredients together in a bowl and grind some salt and black pepper in (to taste)

6 - Cut a lemon in two and squeeze like your life depends on it; let that liquid summer cascade down through your fingers onto the mixture.

7 - Add the same quantity of olive oil as your lemon provided (roughly)

8 - Take a deep breath in of this magic and mix it up together with your hands

Crappy photo but this was the seasoning part and i was more smelling it all

8 - Add your favourite bashed up nuts, pine nuts (roasted for full flavour), goats cheese or wild rice and quinoa. You know what you like :)

Here, a pack of wheat, quinoa, and rice was added.

Serve and share the joy or take it somewhere quiet and gobble it all up yourself.

Hugs
Carrie xx

I have a broad bean hummus recipe to share too, but need to take photos for it :)

Seedlings ahoy plus rhubarb and ginger compote

'Oh the weather outside is frightful...' with a chill in the air and regular rain/hail downpours; it's just plain miserable. But luckily the seedlings in the greenhouse are doing grand and all those little green dreams are coping well. The cold nights have necessitated a little bit of literal thinking and Andrew has deployed extra large tea lights (from Tesco) which burn for 8 hours; it's saved the babies on a few occasions by upping the temperature by a couple of degrees, compared to the shed.

leeks, broccoli, mangetout, purple sprouting broccoli, chard and cosmos

What a delightful sight it is out there with trays upon trays of tasty crops-to-be (more than pictured here). Plus I just adore how leeks germinate bent in half firstly and then growing tall :)

*********************

Due to such terrible weather I have been cleaning the kitchen and cooking! 

We are really trying hard not to waste any food this year and gluts will be tended to more creatively this year. Today I made a rhubarb and ginger compote. It follows the same recipe as my plain rhubarb compote but with a little twist. Making it tangy with a touch of heat :)

* instead of the half cup of orange juice - I added 2 teaspoons of diced ginger (in it's own syrup) and

* instead of the half cup of brown sugar - I reduced it to a quarter.

Rhubarb and Ginger Compote

making delicious rhubarb and ginger compote

Later I shall also be tackling the leek glut by simply cleaning, chopping and bagging them up individually to be frozen. I just learnt today that they do not need to be blanched first :)

Love and hugs
Carrie

Red Gooseberry Jam

Okay, so I thought I would be away from the laptop for a few days over our holiday period but no, it's absolutely pouring down and I refuse to go outside today so instead...a recipe for you :)

I have this red gooseberry bush on the plot of shame (14b) that is so prolific that I think we could be incredibly fed up with the very thought of eating red gooseberries by the end of summer. So thinking ahead I thought; 'well, I've only harvested a quarter of what's there and there's no way I am letting the birds pilfer the rest so I need to think laterally...jam, jam for the miserable winter mornings, jam for my porridge....'

Thus I made red gooseberry jam and this is how. It only made enough for half sized Kilner jar, perfect for storing away as and when I make batches.

I used the basic BBC Good Food recipe which I thought it was fabulous; my weights were different but it's always the same weight of fruit to sugar really with any jam I've made so far. Don't skip that lemon!

 http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2303641/gooseberry-jam

* first sterilise your jar/s by washing thoroughly in very hot soapy water. Rinse in very hot water and put on a baking tray and into the oven at 140C fan oven until totally dry. I usually turn the oven off and leave it/them in the oven until I need it at the end...

* put the gooseberries, juice of half a lemon and water (enough to just cover the berries) in a large wide pan (use a preserving pan if you have one). Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes until the fruit is very soft and pulpy. Put 2 or 3 small saucers in the freezer (these will be used to test the setting later on)

I didn't get any scum and under the activity of top and tailing I just used my nails. I did start out with taking a little knife to both ends but somehow I felt the world was laughing at me and I was seriously wasting minutes of my life, haha.

The time wasting stops!!!

Stuff all the gooseberries, lemon juice and water in a saucepan, cook until boiling - BE CAREFUL

* Add the sugar and stir over a gentle heat for another 10 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Once you can’t feel or see any grains of sugar bring to the boil and boil hard for 10 minutes, skimming the surface as you go and stirring now and again to stop it catching.

* Spoon a little jam onto a chilled saucer, leave to cool then run your finger through it. If it’s ready it will wrinkle up. If this doesn’t happen boil for another 5 minutes then keep testing and boiling until it does.

Add sugar and cook for what feels likes forever. This is how mine looked when the wrinkle test was passed.

 * Do a final skim on the finished jam then pour into the sterilised jars and seal. Store in a cool dark place – the jam will be good for up to 6 months.

Pretty :) Hot jam in a hot jar - the seal works best this way as it contracts.

May the weather be less depressing where you are today but if not - bake or make jam maybe :)
Love and hugs
Carrie

Happy Birthday Plot 24a

In on my way to bonny Scotland - hurray!! But in bigger news 24a is 6 yrs old today!!

Eeeeekkk my baby! They grow up so quickly..

Those silly RHS people ruined the party with their National Gardening Week starting on the same day *rolls eyes* but we had a little gathering in the house on Saturday where there was obviously cake and bunting!
I shall say more about the National Gardening Week 2014 tomorrow xxxx

Boy this cupcake tasted GOOD! Maybe you ought to make some rhubarb and ginger muffins to celebrate of some rhubarb compote over ice cream would be yummy....

Love and hugs
Carrie x

Plain Rhubarb Compote

Andrew made a lot of rhubarb compote last year to help deal with the immense glut we had. His was spicy ginger and gorgeous and I shall make his and this in various other forms I'm sure before the season is over.

This recipe is just plain and came from a lovely blog called 'Simple Bites'.. from which there is a great list of things you can add it too to make dishes taste even better.

N.B. Sterilising jars:
Wash in hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Place in an oven that is at 140 Celsius for at least half an hour. Turn oven off and allow to cool a good bit.
Do not ever put hot jams or compotes into a cold jar - there is a risk the glass to crack! :O

*  Chopping rhubarb for me isn't the easiest task as I have permanent double vision. So I split my stems in two, hold them together and slice as finely as I can then finish off with a mezzaluna. 6 cups full!!

* All ingredients in the pot, time to boil then simmer....

* Boiled mixture, now to simmer with lid on and again with lid off

* Lovely natural rhubarb compote. To add a redness to it you can put in a finely chopped beetroot (once you've grown them) or heavens...food colouring!

* The finished article - almost a litre.

Rhubarb and Ginger Muffins

I've been baking again so prepare yourselves friends for a heck of a lot of photos and another recipe card.

It was impossible not to do something with the first rhubarb harvest of the year (I have other ideas too) so I looked through a lot of recipes and decided on this one first, though as usual I changed it from the original as I went along. This recipe card has the steps which I think would be better than the way I did it.



So, I really do mean it when I say you really ought to get all your ingredients measured out and chopped etc before you start because I didn't and it was a nightmare of mess and confusion. I am not a calm and collected person in the kitchen!

Notes:

* Butter, Eggs - I use unsalted butter for all my baking, there really isn't that much in these (healthy?? hahaha). Always with the medium sized eggs too.

* Sugar, Milk - For spicy yummy things I always choose brown sugar for that more malty and warm flavour and for milk I use semi-skimmed, but you know; I think coconut milk was recommended for this recipe originally...that might be lovely.

* Vanila Essence, Rhubarb - Vanilla essence makes a difference, there I said it. I never used to use it but now it's not going to left out again; plus a bottle lasts for ages. Two cups of rhubarb is roughly the equivalent to 275g or approx 2 large stalks.

* Ginger, Flour - For this recipe I love crystallised ginger but I reckon stem ginger would be just as good but ooh so messy to chop finely! Then adding the ground ginger = yummy burny-ness. You must use self-raising flour for this or the muffins will be so heavy and dense even though you will already have added some baking soda!!

* Butter your molds or they just won't come out.

10 mins later...

Hugs and Love
Your Carrie
x

Fruit Soda Farls - N. Irish bread yumminess

So here it is, my 1st ever recipe shared with you! As I said in the last post it is a muddle of a few recipes and some Carrie intuition. Oh crikey I am so nervous. I have made a recipe card, it's 6x4 so if you like you can print it out but seriously, if you do try this ~ constructive feedback only please!

Fruit Soda Farls 

Do remember that flour is a funny thing and the amounts you require can change on any given day due to the weather and humidity in the room or the make you buy etc...

Farl - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farl



I made it yesterday again and tried to take photos along the way but goodness it was difficult, especially when trying not to get flour or dough etc on my lovely camera and lens, nevermind the not burning my farls!

Below Left ~ Measuring
Below Right ~ Mixing the dry ingredients

Below Left ~ The Well and the wet batter/dough
Below Right ~ By cutting into 4 you are creating 4 'farls' :) ~ Cooking 2 at at time

Below ~ Here they are, I like to go a deep golden and even love little burnt bits ;)

Hugs and love

 Carrie x

An Allotment Check-up

We had an allotment 'date' last Friday, as Andrew had taken a much needed day off :) I painted inside the shed and then got very panicky, feeling cooped up alone while he was over on the other half plot working away. So after a wee trip out for a warm drink and and sit down together I felt better, much better and we went back and got to work again together.

Andrew planted 3 blackthorn trees = our very own sloe berries for the traditional lottie sloe gin :) They will also act as a much needed screen up at the top of 14b, by the compost bins. I did take a photo but it's awful and do you really want to see 3 brown twigs in a row in brown soil??

He also cut back and tied in the blackberry, which was something I started a few months back but my double vision was sort of a hazard, hahaha. It looked like I'd  had a fight with a crazy litter of cats; so many big cuts and blood on my gloves. Still, as least I tried. Here's Andrew glorious work though....

the blackberry all tied in for the season ahead

I am so looking forward to more jam but also I found this blackberry frozen yogurt recipe on Pinterest.

I continued with the incredible task of weeding the main flower bed. It is just infested with weeds, yes some would be our own but I swear most are from the 3 plots that surround us - they have been abandoned for about a year now and do nothing but grow weeds and then spread them all over the darn place - usually right slap bang into our plots! Oh if only all vegetables and fruit were so prolific.

I'm very near to being finished (though as you'll know yourself, I probably think I'm finished when I need to start all over again) and it looks good. We have a lot of tulips and daffodils coming through and the first little Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete' was in flower. Look! doesn't it fill you heart with joy?

Happiness is yellow :)

I also loved this daisy, I can't help myself...

I love daisies, I can't help myself :)

Prepare for a little rant now, just my personal view point.....

****

I am annoyed today, very annoyed. A letter arrived from the Council and they have decided to up our rent by a whooping 14%! I wouldn't mind so much if the Council was actually good at helping us and providing us with the basic necessities but they don't...

* The fields have no proper drainage and many plots are flooded, even as I weeded, going half a hand fork in depth the soil, I was encountering pools of water! Our whole allotment has been double dug and has raised beds, plus we have spent so much money on grit and topsoil and getting great manure to improve everything, best we can. It really feels pointless.

*They do not look after the roads. Look at them! never mind that the paths between plots are so slippery (see above) that I am scared to walk around, now there is no way I could go to the Allotment Gardens alone if I wanted to - the roads aren't even safe for me. 

Road between field A and B.

*There is no basic security in place, not a good fence or even the improved hedges (to also act as wind breaks) that were meant to be put in. People can just walk in nilly willy if they want to and it's going to get worse if rumours are true. There is a new community building being built just above the allotment grounds and I have been told by many that access to it from the village is through the centre of the allotment gardens. I hope this isn't true.

*We do not get the Council green waste we were promised over and over; there are no skip days any more to safely dispose of our rubbish and proper management of the plots in terms of so many abandoned ones, is ridiculous whilst there is still a huge waiting list. I am sickened, utterly downhearted.

But I must end on a happy note - 

Look at the rhurbab and the honeysuckle, plus the broad bean seeds have been planted and the garlic looks amazing (but I can't find the photo!)

What are you up too?? Is it starting to feel springy where you are???

Cranachan - a gift from the Scottish gods

Hey lovelies, I'm back sort off. I haven't been to the lottie (Andrew has though) but I have been eating really well - our own carrots, kale, french dwarf beans, runner beans and loads of raspberries and blackberries - yummmmy! A pile of spuds will have to be sent off to my sister-in-law too (it's so fab when people get itchy waiting for more of your home grown goodies).

But I was in Bonny Scotland last week and was introduced to my new favourite thing ever - Cranachan, oh just say the word over and over and I purr like a kitten. Now you may look it up and see a million variations on the recipe but I am going to tell you how the chief at our pub/hotel did it and I swear you will never look at any other recipe ever! Well until you see the new and exciting Gault's low fat Blackberry Cranachan recipe ;)

Naturally we all know that the vast majority of the raspberries we grow here are Scottish, for goodness sake they all have 'Glen' at the start of their name, such as Glen Ample (which we grow) and Glen Cova, Glen Doll, Glen Fyne, etc. Well in Scotland they just grow like weeds I tells ya - take yourself for a wee dander and bam! you walk into hundreds of them, you'll never grow hungry out for a walk there.

The Hotel Allan Ramsay's Cranachan

•  a lovely little glass - presentation is very important people!
• Raspberries
• Raspberry jam
• Double cream
• Whiskey (honey toned)
• Scottish oats
• Honey

* Lightly toast your oats and let them sit in a wee dram o' whiskey :)

* Whip up that cream like there is no tomorrow (burn some calories too) and add a little honey to it if you want.

* Play with the different food stuffs, layering them all like a trifle. Oats at the bottom, then a dollop of cream (with honey mixed in - or spoon a little on top), then raspberry jam over some juicy raspberries, then repeat until your glass is full and gorgeous looking.

*End with a raspberry on top and sprinkle a few more oats.

We made a load when we got home with our Blackberry glut (which is still continuing). But you know, shame on me, I didn't take a single photo ~ when you're at home all dignity goes out the window and you just unceremoniously get stuck in, you know its true. I bet there are some of you out there that even lick the plate, hahaha

Gaults' Low Fat Blackberry Cranachan

a lovely glass - presentation is still very important!

Blackberries

Blackcurrant jam

Fromage Frais zero fat

Whiskey (honey toned)

Scottish oats

Honey



Just do the same as above in the layering idea, but in the wonderful knowledge that this is healthier and indeed could possibly count as good for you, hehehe. We didn't bother toasting the oats (we didn't have the patience) and we just spooned some lovely honey on top of the Fromage Frais. We fell down on the Whiskey though as though it was Scottish it had a peat tone - a little overpowering but we do like our whiskey in this house so it was fine :)

Gooseberry and Ginger Compote

I thought it would be a good idea, I thought I was doing the right thing and not being wasteful, I thought it would a lovely surprise.... I can not cook, I am not a domestic goddess but I am truthful and so here goes...

Carrie's Gooseberry and Ginger Compote.
Ingredients:

Loads of gooseberries

Some ginger in syrup

A liberal sprinkling of granulated sugar

Water

No shame.

I don't think there are many occasions in this world were a recipe comes with a disclaimer, well in this case I am breaking the mould - following this recipe could make you sad and feel like you have wasted an afternoon. There, you have been forewarned...
Originally the recipe came from a good place but then I didn't quite have the right ingredients or the right frame of mind or patience or natural ability.

****

To begin with I had these gooseberries, which I have already shown you when I plucked them fresh from the lottie bushes. Well here is that photo again and a much more down to earth one...

I took these promising little babes and washed them, topped and tailed them and put them all snug in a bowl together. Me, using a knife is a miracle in itself, I must say I was nervous but I had classical music on and it became really rather meditative. I was listening to the fantastic Camille Saint-Saens and the best piece of music in the world 'The Swan' from 'Carnival of the Animals'. You may not agree that this is the most fabulous piece of music out there, but I can't help you if you're wrong....

Then I chopped up the ginger (definitely not fine enough, though that is a macro photo!). Now if you have looked at the highlighted recipe above you will see that it required 'crystallised ginger', well I couldn't blasted well get hold of any so I was using Ginger in Syrup and it wasn't the same thing at all but I fought on gallantly.

So you add all this into a saucepan and plonk some sugar in (to taste - I added more later on) and just about nearly cover it with water.

Let it bubble and simmer for 10 mins (At this stage it's super burny hot so be careful, don't go saying I didn't warn you! If you decide to be an eejit I would recommend having an ambulance and a trusted plastic surgeon; preferably one whom you went to school with and who will help you out for free, on standby) then turn the heat down. Or it will burn (don't ask me how I know that, I just do!)

Then you are meant to let it gently simmer away until it is reduced by roughly half. My Nana always put a dollop on a dish and then ran her finger through it, if it staid parted by that finger furrow it was almost done. This did happen with mine but it still wasn't getting to the magical finger furrow AND wrinkle stage and I got bored and smelt burning......

So then off the heat and into jars to cool down and set more (or not) and there you have it Jam Compote!

Andrew tried some and his face was a picture. First of all he got a big chunk of ginger in his mouth which he wasn't expecting and then it wasn't sweet enough and he stuck out his tongue and there was some mild coughing...he took a drink and ate some crisps and that fixed it...

So Yay me! I'll not be doing that again in a hurry; or if I do I may follow the recipe.

Good night xxx

Matron has corrupted me, guv!

I don't even like gin. Let that be known to begin with, secondly if Matron's bad influence had not been at work on us, this would not have happened, I lay the guilt of a drunken gin-soaked Christmas entirely at her feet.

Andrew got stuck in the mud last week whilst on a visit for work. Luckily he wasn't alone and his colleagues in the other car were able to go and get a tow rope and eventually pull our wee car out of the quagmire. Being a resourceful man, Andrew spent the anguish of 20 or so mins waiting for them to come back from buying the rope by picking Sloes.

We made sloe gin, it smelt terrible but I am assured that 1, my nose and palate are 'weird' and don't recognise the joy that is gin and 2 it will get fruity away.

The recipe is pretty easy to remember, 'it's basically half and half again'. The amount of gin (around 1litre), then half that (around 450g) of pricked and washed Sloes, then half that (around 225g) of caster sugar. Just the 3 ingredients. Then you have to make sure you give it a darn good shaking every month for about 2 months. The thing is that we didn't have a big bottle so we had to use the gin one = 1 litre will not fit back in again once there are lots of sloes in there.

So we had some left over and the devil on my shoulder came up with an idea, Raspberries and Blackberries are berries and why can't we put them into gin too? An alternative, a fresh approach to fancying up cheap Tesco* own brand liquor. We did the process again, unfortunately we didn't have a clear glass bottle for this batch and it's such a pretty colour too, ah well, wait til Christmas.

Like the total eejit that I am I didn't/couldn't take any photos to go with this blog as my camera's battery was/is dead. But if you look at Matron's posts on the subject Monday 5th October and the update on Wednesday 7th October you'll get the picture (literally).

*could be evil; yet to be confirmed...

Ummmm, Squash Soup

'All pumpkins are squash, but not all squash are pumpkins' ~ direct quote from my Hubby.

Well to me, he's the authority on cucurbits (the proper family name for such things) as he managed to grow some this year, hurrah! Last year was an unmitigated disaster, nothing grew for us from that family at all, which was a real disappointment as I had 50p on the fact that we would win the biggest Pumpkin Award. Luckily the person I had that bet with doesn't remember, haha, so my 50p is safe.

This year we (notice how when things go right, I write 'we', when they go wrong it's Andrew's fault) grew Butternut Squash 'Cobnut' and little 'Sweet Dumpling'. Here they are in all their glory, a good haul, compared to last year, at least.

The Squash is one of the finest things known to allotmenteering in my eyes; the flowers are lovely you can do the 'sisters' system with them, therefore they don't take up too much room and they're bloomin' gorgeous. I like them roasted, chopped up and put in the oven for ages with olive oil and salt and pepper, no, I LOVE them, my mouth is watering like crazy. Andrew is the best cook ever and he took this one stage further with a squash soup last week. I have begged him to share his secret recipe with us all here and he has relented.....

Andrew's Squash Soup

1 leek

3 or 4 cloves of garlic, to taste

2 medium sized home-grown squash of your selection, (sliced & roasted)

1 Litre of chicken stock

Seasoning, including a dash of cumin

Sweat, simmer, muddle and serve.

Thank you Andrew x

I'm a fricking domestic goddess!

I'm making jam!!! I rather excited, I don't cook as it makes me so anxious I hate it. Plus I don't bake anymore as I used to eat it all! Ooooppps. So, yep, me, I'm making Strawberry jam like the domestic goddess I knew I had inside me. Though I'm not wearing a fabulous 50s dress or even an apron, should I confess?....okay, I'm still in my pajamas.

I'm having fun ~ I have the 'Ultimate Carpenters Collection' on and singing very loudly ~ thank goodness the neighbours are out. I have to have music on, I have to watch this pot very slowly heating up for, oh about 45 mins, I think I'd fall asleep if Karen and Richard weren't filling my ears with groovy, chilled out tunes. ('So they sprinkled gold dust in your hair.....')

So as you my have gathered I needed a very easy recipe to use or this momentous occasion would not be happening. I got this super easy one from the Good Food channel, here. As I have half of the strawberries, am using half the lemon and sugar amounts. And I did some further research and discovered that using berries that are not ripe in the mixture adds the much need pectin, so throw the best juicy bright red ones in your mouth and use more the pale and red-one-side-green-the-other ones. (Oh, this is smelling so good)

Time to add the sugar ~ good grief, it never fails to shock me just how much you seem to need!

Okay, so do domestic goddesses curse?? I do. A lot, aow, hot jam spots jumping out of the pot to hurt me. I suppose most people don't have to take a phone call at the vital last moments and then it all gets stuck to the pan etc either. You know who you are!!!! Well there we are 2 sterilised tubs (I didn't have any jars) full to the brim with 'Carrie's not so secret special strawberry jam', damn it, I haven't any labels either, or bread for that matter. x

Later tonight, we'll be back at the Lottie and there will most likely be another load of fresh strawberries to begin home, it's just as well we like them. That's a very good point to rise - DO NOT grow things you don't want to eat lots of! Wow cooking and motherly advice, I've changed...

******

Here's one of last night's 1st beetroots of the season - super yum!

UPDATE:

I have just made my lunch, a simple tasty stir-fry. Our very own chard, spinach and broccoli sprouts with some sesame seeds and honey. Happy days. Plus in the fridge we have our own broad beans and peas for tonight's risotto! Grow your own friends!