50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

Lesley_Gaye

I planted two gooseberry bushes last year, one the usual type, and one a red dessert type. They are on stems so I can grow other things underneath. That was the idea anyway, but the branches are very droopy and they hang down like weeping willow. They have LOTS of fruit on them, but we lost the green one in the high winds a couple of months ago, it just snapped off the stem OH NO!! Will get another one in the autumn and stake it to within an inch of its life!

The red dessert one is ready for picking now and they are totally scrummy, you can just eat them as fresh fruit. A recipe that I tried with some of the small fruit I had to rescue from the snapped off bush was an Eton's Mess type pudding. I used meringues, greek yogurt instead of cream, cooked, sweetened gooseberries and some elderflower syrup over the top - delish!

Lesley_Gaye

I tried a new recipe last night from the summer edition of BBC Good Food Vegetarian. It was carrot and sesame burgers, it has tahini in it. The recipe used 750g carrots and said it makes 6. But that seemed much too much, so I halved the recipe and still made 8 ordinary sized burgers from it. Says it freezes well, so great for bargain carrot finds, and batch cooking. You could easily change the spicing too to ring the changes.

We had one with some relish in a wrap and a side salad, really good. The recipe is here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11011/carrot-and-sesame-burgers

Herewegoagain

Hiya Weezl,

I've not been around for months, congrats on the baby, looks real cute. I need to catch up from the beginning which will take a while but well worth it I think.

Bits of fruits being picked in the garden but Mr and Mrs son killed the gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes I planted:mad::mad: so will have to get some more. Cooking apples not so abundant this year and only one of the plum trees have loads of fruit, one's better than none.

I live near the trainline and blackberries look real promiseing, also we get slows growing down there, what can you do with them other than slow gin, which we don't like.

Sorbet suggestion sounds good so will try that I think, must put tinned peaches on shopping list.;)

Bye for now, off to catch up on thread, good luck all

HWGA xx

SunnyGirl

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

I tried a new recipe last night from the summer edition of BBC Good Food Vegetarian. It was carrot and sesame burgers, it has tahini in it. The recipe used 750g carrots and said it makes 6. But that seemed much too much, so I halved the recipe and still made 8 ordinary sized burgers from it. Says it freezes well, so great for bargain carrot finds, and batch cooking. You could easily change the spicing too to ring the changes.

We had one with some relish in a wrap and a side salad, really good. The recipe is here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11011/carrot-and-sesame-burgers

Thanks for that! I've copied & pasted the recipe as it sounds lovely and nice for summer cooking, something that I struggle with as it seems easier to make big hearty stews & soups in the winter IYSWIM?

Lesley_Gaye

SunnyGirl wrote: »

Thanks for that! I've copied & pasted the recipe as it sounds lovely and nice for summer cooking, something that I struggle with as it seems easier to make big hearty stews & soups in the winter IYSWIM?

Hi Sunnygirl,
I've got lots of others! We have a couple of salads a lot in the summer. Avocado, Tomato and Orange with a bit of brie and some HM focaccia; Cauliflower, Date and Banana (sounds weird, tastes great|) with a jkt and a grated carrot and salted peanut salad. And sometimes I do Jamie Olivers CousCous Salad, which is lovely. Would you like the recipes?
Lesley

SunnyGirl

Yes please Lesley that'd be great :T I need all the inspiration I can get!

phizzimum

weezl74 wrote: »

morning all,

Fergus is outraged that his female minion (mummy) won't turn the temperature down at night. He believes her to be capable of this, so why will she not answer his requests? All she's managed is to mop his brow with a cold wet muslin! Pah! Useless

poor old Fergus, minions aren't what they used to be, are they?

Herewegoagain

As I'm a live in carer, I don't want to spend alot of my money on planting fruit/veg at my work place but do want myself and mr and mrs to get fresh cheap food.

Does anyone know if you can successfully grow these things in window boxes as I have lots of them at home and am never there, so not used at the moment. Plus when the time come to leave herer as it inevitablely will, I can take these on with me.

Hope that doesn't sound mean but would be upset if my hard work was sold on with the house:o

HWGA xx

shaz_mum_of__2

weezl

if you have a fan and a water spray (like for the garden)you can make fergie cool

put fan on and spray water(on mist setting ) in front of the blades (about a foot away) then lovely cool damp air falls on baby and baby goes to sleep......but mummy needs to stay awake and keep spraying from time to time.

another alternaive is a bowl of iced water in front of fan used both these with some success when youngest had a bad reaction to immunisations also rememer painkillerslike calpol and nurofen make you sweaty to reduce temps so best given not too soon to sleep time.


Hope this works or the weather gets cooler soon

Shaz

Lesley_Gaye

Here you go Sunnygirl. Hope you like them

Avocado Salad
I have been making this salad for a long time and can’t remember where I first got it from

For 2
1 ripe and ready to eat avocado
1 or 2 tomatoes
1 large orange
A good quality olive oil

Peel the avocado and slice into walnut sized pieces, place into a largish serving bowl. Slice the peel from the orange, making sure you remove all the bitter white pith. Segment the orange, holding it over the bowl so the juice drops onto the avocado helping to stop it oxidise. Chop the orange into walnut sized pieces. Chop the tomatoes into similar sized pieces. Mix everything together.

Stir in a generous slug of olive oil. Grind over some crunchy salt, and some fresh black pepper. Serve within an hour or the avocado will start to turn black. Delicious with a piece of brie and a nice crusty piece of bread

You can prepare everything else but the avocado beforehand and peel and chop the avocado at the last minute.

I have done this with kiwi fruit instead of the orange and that was lovely too. If the only avocados around are unripe, buy them anyway , ripen them in the fruit bowl and have this on the day they are ready.



Cauliflower, Date & Banana Salad
From The Cranks Recipe Book
This unusual combination works really well and many people have asked for the recipe. It is quite sweet tho, so works best with a plain green salad or with other salads in a buffet. I usually have this with a piece of plain grilled chicken and a green salad, or with a jacket potato and carrot and peanut salad.
1 cauliflower
50g, 2oz stoned dates
2 bananas
¼ pint, 150ml mayonnaise, any type you like
Grated rind and juice of a lemon

Break the cauliflower into florets. The recipe says to steam them for 5 minutes, but I prefer to have small florets and eat them raw. Chop the dates and slice the bananas. Mix all ingredients together and eat within an hour or two or the banana will blacken.

I tend not to use the lemon, but it would work well with or without it.

Carrot and Peanut Salad
Coarsely grate some peeled carrot and throw in some roasted, salted peanuts – that’s it! Surprisingly good.

Couscous Salad
This is a main course salad from Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef
Serves 4
255g/9oz couscous
4 tblsp oil
Juice of a large lemon
285ml,1/2 pint water
2 red peppers from a jar, or peeled and deseeded
A small red onion
¼ clove garlic, finely chopped
1 medium fresh chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 handfuls fresh herbs (basil, coriander or flat leaf parsley)

Put the couscous in a bowl and toss with olive oil and lemon juice. Season with crunchy salt and fresh ground pepper. Add the water and leave to stand for 15 minutes or so for the dressing to be absorbed.

Put all the other ingredients in a bowl, drizzle with more olive oil, season to taste and stir. Leave for 15 minutes then mix the vegetable mix with the couscous

I have given the vegetables that Jamie uses, but I have successfully used many different combinations and types. Raw mange tout and mini sweetcorn, bean sprouts and maybe a splash of soy for instance. Other veg I've tried include raw mushroom sliced fine, sweetcorn kernels, grated swede and carrot, spring onion, watercress etc etc.Try using whatever you have and keep tasting. I use the cauli stalks chopped fine in this and other salads (the stalks with the leaves on I mean), and my OH who wouldn't eat them if he knew never notices.

This is paired with a sticky chicken recipe in the book and goes really well with anything like that, grilled fish, sausages, on it's own - whatever!

Lesley