The Harvest

The sun is shinning, the skies are blue so there is only one thing for me to do. Yep, that's right folks I'm going to don the wellies, put on my gloves and head down to the allotment.

There is nothing quite like growing your own food. It can be very rewarding. To see the fruits of your labour sprouting out of the ground can give you a comforting sense of mother nature's awesome power. Your mind boggles at the seemingly infinity possibilities and you can think of little else other then what delicious fare you can conjure up from all this produce.

However, it can also be heartbreaking. You have toiled for months and one day you have a beautiful crop promising a wonderful bounty only to discover the next day it has all been eaten by a freak swarm of some evil critter, hell bent on ruining your life.

Oh the joys of the allotment!


We have only just got our allotment after being on various waiting lists for over a year. It is already established with a gluttony of turnips, beetroot and carrots which are just begging to be dug up and roasted with a nice herby butter.

There is just one slight downside; it has been left unloved for months and as a result the weeds have moved in and set up home. There is a lot of work to do but let's face it, that's part of the fun, right?




Before we can get the plot back to it's former glory we need to harvest all the goodies that are already in the ground. So with spade in hand, lets get to work!






After a couple of hours of pulling, digging, sorting and bagging we eventually had ourselves an assortment of tasty vegetables ready to take home and transform into something delicious.

So now it's time to decide what to do with all these wonderful vegetables.

I feel a recipe coming on...






I cannot take credit for this following recipe. It's one I found whilst researching and it looked so simple but tasty I just have to give it a try.

Shredded Root Vegetable Pancakes:

Credit - Eating Well

And here it is: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/shredded_root_vegetable_pancakes.html

I find it almost impossible to follow a recipe without adding something or substituting an ingredient for something else.  That's one of best things about cooking; taking inspiration from others but making it your own with a few little twists. In this particular case, I had to use wasabi instead of horseradish because that was all I had in the cupboard (don't use anywhere near as much, 1 tsp is plenty). I used turnips as well as the beetroot and the carrots and used fresh coriander instead of dill. I am not a fan of dill. I also used gluten free flour owing to the fact my husband Jon is intolerant to gluten.

Nonetheless the little pancakes turned out great and I served them up as a side dish to nice bit of roast chicken with roast potatoes.

Fun Food Facts:

• "Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved out of turnips. It is only when the tradition reached America that pumpkins started to be used instead." - www.turnpitime.co.uk

• "One of the earliest known benefits of beetroot is its use as an aphrodisiac during the Roman times. And it wasn’t all folklore as it has been found to contain high amounts of boron, which is directly related to the production of human sex hormones." - www.lovebeetroot.com

Coming up soon...

Halloween special - including my attempt at carving a turnip!

If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see in future posts please feel free to leave a comment below.

Heaven in a Mug

Through the rain battered window screen of my little Fiesta I tried to see through the gloomy mist as I made my way home from work. Wet and cold all I wanted to do was get home. Get into my fluffy slippers and curl up with a nice hot drink. After the day I had had neither tea nor coffee was going to satisfy me. There was only one drink that could cure my autumnal blues and that my friends is mug of steaming Hot Chocolate.

I am quite partial to a hot chocolate and regularly reach for the tin of powdery goodness, however, today calls for something more, something more luxurious, something more decendent. Today, I must capture Heaven in a Mug.

I hastened to the supermarket and quickly gathered the necessary ingredients to prepare this magical fabled drink of the gods. I hurried home through the gloom but now with a lightened heart at the prospect of soon being able to hold in my hands the smooth sweet taste of heaven.

What I will share with you now my friends is the secret to how to make the drink that has the power to lift the heaviest heart.

You will need the following ingredients:

40-50g of 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate
1 level tsp of Nutmeg (freshly grated)
1 generous pinch of Red Chilli (fresh, very finely chopped)
1 cup of Whole Milk
2 floz of double cream (whipped)

1. Whip the double cream until it is stiff.
2. Melt the chocolate in a pan until smooth. If you have an electric hob and can't control the heat easily use a larger pan of hot water and melt the chocolate in a smaller pan over the top. You are much less likely to burn the chocolate.
3. Add the nutmeg and chilli and stir in well.
4. Add the milk a little at a time stirring all the time to avoid the chocolate becoming stuck to the pan.
5. Once all the chocolate has dissolved into the milk turn up the heat a little and bring it up to almost boiling.
6. Pour into a big mug, spoon in a couple of spoonfuls of whipped cream on top and grate a little chocolate over the top.

You are now ready to curl up on the couch and be transported to heaven.

Enjoy! x

Winter is coming!

It's the first day of October and there's a definite chill in the air. So what better time to start thinking about big hearty food to keep your belly warm and happy! Therefore I have decided to share some of my winter recipes for you to try out.

To celebrate my first ever post I thought I would share a brand new recipe cooked up in the kitchen tonight - Shoulder of Venison with a Mushroom and Spinach Sauce.

Ingredients: Serves 2

2 portions of Vension Shoulder
100g Smoked Bacon Lardons
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
200g of Mushrooms
2 Balls of Frozen Spinach
1 Medium Onion finely chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic
Flour (quantity unknown)
Generous Pinch of Salt
A Couple of Pinches of Roughly Ground Pepper
1/2 Pint of Vegetable Stock
A Generous Splash of Worcester Sauce
1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
2 tsp Dried Rosemary

1. Rub the Vension with some of the salt and pepper and put to one side.
2. In a large oven proof pan fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil just until the onions softened but not browned.
3. Add the salt, pepper and rosemary to the hot oil and mix in but don't put it back onto the heat.
4. Add the Vension and the lardons to the pan and cover with the vegetable stock.
5. Put the pan in the oven, with a lid on, at approximately 180 degrees for about 45mins. Check every now and again there is still enough stock to cover the meat.
6. After approximately 45 minutes remove the pan from the oven and using a fine sieve to drain out the oil, stock and lovely meat juices into another pan. This will now be used for the sauce.
7. Add the mushrooms and spinach (defrost spinach first) to the oven pan along with the meat and onions etc.
8. Put the stock pan over a very low heat and add the flour a tiny bit at a time until the stock begins to thicken into a sauce. While the mixture is still quite watery add a good couple of squirts of tomato puree, probably equal to about a table spoon. Also add the Worcester Sauce at this stage, the amount is up to personal taste but less is usually more. Keep adding the flour a little bit at a time until the desired consistency is reached. If you go too far and the sauce becomes very thick remove from the heat completely and add a little bit of water at a time and stir well.
9. Pour the sauce over the meat, onions, spinach and mushrooms and stir in well.
10. Put back into the oven for another 15 mins at 180 degrees.
11. Remove from oven and serve up. Serve with potatoes (mashed, roasted, boiled any way you prefer) and a selection of vegetables.

Enjoy!