Burger & Chips please!!

"What would you like for tea?" I asked.
"Burger, chips and beans" he replied with a smirk.


Here is my healthy version:

Burger made with minced beef, chopped onion and some salt and pepper.
Beans made with chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, haricot beans and some salt.
Chips made from very thinly sliced parsnips fried in coconut oil.

Quick, affordable and healthy.

Trick or Treat?

 A row of pumpkins all lined up along the wall of a local house. For Sale at £1.90 each
I thought I'd better get one.

I cut the lid and scooped out the pulp and seeds, then I cut out the flesh to make the puree.

I made the pumpkin
puree for my dairy, grain
and sugar free pie
by steaming it and
then pulsing in the
blender. See my
recipe page to make
the pumpkin pie.
                

I carved the obligatory lantern then..

washed the seeds and roasted them with some coconut oil and some pink rock salt. They make a tasty, healthy snack.

The chickens enjoyed the pulp for their supper, so nothing was wasted;

                       


               Conclusion:  Definitely a Treat!

Today was an exciting day!

At the beginning of the year, when our first batch of pork and bacon was newly frozen, our chook house still in the throws of renovation and our veggie patch a rough sketch on a sheet of
A4, I vowed that by the end of the year we would be eating a dinner consisting only of our own produce.
Well here it is and it was oh so tasty.
sausages, potatoes, runner beans, carrots, beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber, boiled eggs
yum
:-)

Result !!

You may recall my previous post showing a completely barren, empty veggie patch. This is how it looks today. We have spent many hours out here, the work is back breaking at times but oh so satisfying. We were nervous when digging the first out door potatoes. We tried growing some in the hot house in dustbins but they didn't work. They didn't grow a single potato, not even a chip!  We were relieved when we dug up these, especially as there are quite a few rows of them! 

This is the start of our orchard / fruit garden. Using the bank outside the hot house seems a good use of an otherwise useless space. It gets the sun all day, so fingers crossed for good results. Hubs and I have been married 28 years on 31st August so the fruit trees and bushes are our present to each other (how romantic)  Who needs candlelit dinners and flowers and I can't eat chocolates anyway. We have Plum, apple and pear trees. Blackcurrant, gooseberry, raspberry and rhubarb, so lots of planting tomorrow.

Pancakes, bread and more pancakes!

Supplies were getting low and I realised I needed to do some serious cooking. Here are the results of a productive afternoon.

From top left going clockwise:  Buckwheat Blinis, Fluffy Coconut Pancakes, Coconut Bread, Raspberry Pudding Cake and Gingerbread.

The savoury Blinis and Coconut Loaf are great gluten free substitutes for Bread. The Pudding cake is dairy, gluten and sugar free. The coconut pancakes are an old time favourite. The Gingerbread was an experiment, we haven't tried it yet, I will let you know how it tastes!

The recipe for the Raspberry Pudding cake is courtesy of the Urban Poser (although she calls it a breakfast cake). Check out her blog for some fab recipe ideas.

The Blinis are easy peasy:

3oz Buckwheat Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
Salt & Pepper
5 fl oz Milk (I use almond milk)
1tsp mustard powder
A few chopped chives
2 Egg whites whisked to stiff peaks

Combine the first six ingredients and beat well. Fold in Egg Whites and then fry in a hot pan with a little coconut oil.  These are great topped with bacon and egg or spread with almond butter or homemade baked beans or.....   so many possibilities.

Check out the recipe pages for the others

First Harvest

Heading out to my veggie patch, trug in hand I go in search of home grown produce.....

With recent sunny weather and a sprinkling of rain, things are certainly moving! The runner beans are actually running now, though they weren't helped by the munchings of a herd of deer last week!! Leeks have been transplanted and a new row of carrots and beetroots have been sown. 

The cabbages look sadly skeletal, it seems the local pheasant population have been feasting on them and I noticed the cabbage white butterflies were at the party yesterday, so I doubt Savoy will be part of our Christmas dinner :-(

Veggie gardening is a bit of a learning curve for me, hopefully next year I will have a bit more of a clue!  However, there have been some successes. Carrots, beetroot and courgette from outside. Cucumber, chilli pepper, lettuce and raddish from inside. Tomatoes, aubergines, potatoes, parsnips and sweet peppers on the way. It makes me happy to be picking and eating our own fresh veg. Nothing is wasted, the chickens enjoy the beetroot and carrot tops.

Collect up your courgette flowers and fry them in some coconut oil, they are (suprisingly) delish!!

What's cooking?

Onion Tart

This is always a favourite and compliments salad dishes perfectly. Making a crust without wheat flour to hold it together can be challenging, but this works pretty well and tastes scrummy!

Crust

4 oz Buckwheat Flour

2 oz Oatbran

2 oz Beef Dripping

1 tbsp Coconut Oil

½ tsp Salt

Mix buckwheat flour and oatbran in a bowl and add salt. Rub in dripping first and then lightly rub in coconut oil. Add enough cold water to form a dough. Press in to flan dish. 

Filling

3 White Onions

3 Red Onions

Bunch of Spring Onions

Coconut Oil for frying

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the onions and fry them in a pan with a tablespoon of coconut oil. When onions have softened put them in to crust case and bake at 180 for approx 25 mins.

Pig in a Poke

Well you need bacon to go with your eggs!!

I've always loved pigs and have wanted to keep them for as long as I can remember so when the opportunity arose I didn't hesitate. After much research and advice from a knowledgeable father in law, I set about registering the holding and obtaining a herd number. Hubs and No 1 son fenced off the pig pen and made a shelter and after the purchase of some food, straw and a heavy weight water trough we were ready. With the Animal Movement Licence firmly in my grasp I set off to fetch my piglets home. We had two the first time, Big Pig and Little Pig. We were careful not to name them, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel when it was time for them to go and didn't want to get too attached. They thrived despite the wet summer and I knew that they had had the best and healthiest life possible.

We ran out of bacon part way through the year so this time we have three pigs, Big Pig, Middle Pig and Little Pig and aside from an escape act on the first day, seem to have settled really well.

Virgin Territory

The new veggie patch in its infancy!!

1st May 2013

Am I underestimating the amount of work needed to turn this barren, clay soil into a fertile veggie patch? Maybe, but nothing ventured.........

Eggs Please!

17/03/13

5 young ladies in their new house. Point of Lay hens just ready to provide us with lovely eggs for our omlettes and pancakes!