Overgrown!!

 

This is what my plot looks like after 3 weeks of being away unexpectedly.  It's rained heavily but the temperature has been in the high teens so it's a tad wild and overgrown!!! 😱 But thanks to my lovely plot neighbours watering my polytunnel for me, my tomatoes and cucumbers have survived.  Hooray!  The cucumbers are getting a bit unruly but as I've never successfully got any to this stage before I've no idea if they need staked.  Any tips welcome!!

I picked just over a kilo of raspberries!  Some had gone over but there are still loads left to ripen.  It's a lottery getting to them before the rain makes them soggy and inedible.  When I got home I put them straight into the dehydrator.  The smell is amazing!  I've not done this before so it's a bit of an experiment to find new ways to preserve my fruit instead of jam.  I'll report back on how successful they are (or not!)

Lots of 'stuff' is flowering so all is good.  The daisies have just popped up by themselves but I'm happy to leave them.  Not sure what kind they are (they're about 40cm tall) or if they have any culinary or herbal uses.  Everything needs to have a purpose to earn their place!  Let me know if you know!

My garden is similarly wild and overgrown.  In this bed there are sweet peas, sweetcorn, squash, runner beans (I'm doing the Three Sisters method), Jerusalem artichokes and peas.  I'm going to have to sort them out somehow or none of it will be able to produce anything to eat.  

One of the things I did while I was staying at mum's house in between hospital stuff, was stitching some more of my sock yarn squares onto my blanket.  I added the bottom 2 rows so it's now 12 squares by 13 squares.  This is it laid out on a double bed.  I still need to decide how big I want it to be.  I've certainly got enough leftover sock yarn to make it double this size!!  But as it's taken me (on and off) about 10 years to get to this size, it's starting to feel like a never ending project! 🧶

Plot, preserves and yellow stickers (not mine!)

I popped down to the plot this morning and spent 4 hours digging out the last of the raspberries and the overgrown grass.  Not a great before and after picture but the top one shows the old strawberry/potato patch after I started clearing it.  Then I added 3 of the cheap B&Q raised beds.  Today I cleared the last bit with the overgrown canes.  There's room for 3 more beds.

A closer look at the top end (I took out the random post too!)

I read an article that showed you how to fill a new raised bed without buying tons of soil/compost.  Layer the bottom with cardboard.  Add a layer of dead twigs/branches chopped up (I did some of that today.)  Then add some partially broken down compost (got a ton of that on the plot!!) and finally put some compost/soil on top.  I can get the free compost from the tip!  So hopefully I can fill my raised beds without spending any money! 🤞

I cooked the beetroot from Lidl, grated it (oh my, that was messy!) and packed it into 2 very large pickling jars with hot spiced vinegar.  It tastes amazing already so I can't wait for it to properly pickle!

I also dehydrated some apples my Lovely Mum gave me from her garden.

I currently have a load of calendula in the dehydrator.  They'll be used to make some lip or skin balms.

My friend at school sent me this pic in the late afternoon.  She'd been to M&S to get her usual yellow stickers for the week ahead.  She was delighted with a bumper haul today.  My eldest son said Tesco also had a ton of reduced stuff. I guess with supermarkets being closed tomorrow they have a lot of stock to shift.   I was tempted to visit both places but I don't need anything.  It's not a saving if I don't need it!!

Hurry up Spring!

Today was cold but sunny.  I took a wander round my garden and found some snowdrops, crocus and tulips popping up through the cold soil.  Spring is coming! I know it's still far too cold to start any gardening but it's nice to start thinking about it.

I checked one of my raised beds at the front and discovered some carrots I'd forgotten about.  They were perfectly lovely if a bit small. Variety Eskimo.

The carrot tops were lovely and green.  I got to thinking and remembered that I'd read somewhere they were edible.  A quick look on Pinterest revealed carrot top pesto and drying them to use in soups and salads like a herb.  So they're currently drying in the dehydrator. I'm going to try to dehydrate the carrots too.  They have to be sliced and steamed first.  I'll report back on their success (or not!)

On Saturday nights OH and his Teenogre come over for dinner.  I always try to make something special plus dessert.  Last night I tried Pineapple Poke Cake.  Recipe HERE  I'd never heard of a Poke cake so was intrigued.  It was delicious and so easy to make.  I subbed GF flour, added about 30g of ground almonds and used dairy free butter and milk but followed the recipe exactly.

I had too much mixture for my cake tin so filled some muffin cases too.

It was amazing with some Alpro 'cream.'  I even reheated some this morning for my breakfast (well it has all that pineapple so must count as 1 of my 5 a day 😉)

December, eeeek!

It's been a busy few weeks and all of a sudden it's December!!  The end of the year is fast approaching.  Christmas seems to have arrived late here or maybe it's just because I usually avoid shops.  Now Sainsbury's is playing that piped music, aargh!!  But I did score a couple of fruit bargains the other night.  Can't knock a 10p pineapple!

It's currently dehydrating.  I really must try to use my dehydrator more and not rely on my freezer to preserve fruit and vegetables.

Tonight's meal was a use it up veggie risotto.  Rice is the sushi rice I got from Approved Foods ages ago.  Veggies were an onion, half a courgette, quarter of a sad red pepper and the end of a bag of frozen broccoli.  At the end I stirred in some creamy goats cheese my lovely mum brought me yesterday.  It was delicious and I have leftovers for 2 more meals.

On the decorating front I'm nearly finished making 2 pairs of curtains for my living room.  Mum and I spent 4 hours on just measuring and cutting!  I've 'misplaced' the curtain heading tape so had to order more online as nowhere in town stocks it.  Clearly people don't make their own curtains in Stirling!! My living room is nearly done 😊

This picture popped up on my Facebook page.  It pretty much sums up my work life at the moment.  Except change flu outbreak to diarrhea and projectile vomiting!!!  So far I've had 6 kids absent with it.  I have 3 weeks of school to survive then I get 3 weekends and 2 whole weeks off.  Really really looking forward to the break.

Easiest ever healthy chocolate mousse

I found this recipe on Pinterest and tweaked it a wee bit.  So easy and VERY healthy!!  It tastes like Snickers :-)

1 x 300g packet smooth silken tofu (YEP, tofu!!)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
6 tbsp of agave syrup (although next time I'll try just 4 tbsp)

EDIT: works with 3 tbsp honey

Blend together until smooth.  Chill for at least half an hour. Serves 4.  I served it in espresso cups.

It was a bit too sweet for me but everyone else loved it.  I didn't tell anyone it had tofu in it until they'd eaten it ;-) The original recipe used maple syrup but I didn't have any and they used 400g tofu.  My packet only had 300g but it seemed to work ok.  Might try it with honey sometime as well.

My parsley was beginning to go to seed so I picked it all and dehydrated it.  It only took 4 hours until it was all dry.  I had all 6 trays full.

It filled 2 wide necked salsa jars.  And it tastes of parsley funnily enough!  I'm well chuffed :-)

It worked!

Well, they were edible so that counts!  I did them for 8 hours in the dehydrator but they still weren't 'crisp.' However, they were slightly chewy and absolutely delicious.  Because they weren't fully dry they wouldn't store for long so I had to eat them! ;-) But as a first attempt I was really pleased.  Next time I'll cut them more on the diagonal (they look better and are bigger) and dry them for longer.  I'm going to try a fruit leather next with the remaining blackcurrants in the freezer.

Most things are growing successfully in the polytunnel but I've noticed some of my spinach and rocket leaves are are curling and withering.  Not sure why.

Something is eating a couple of my pumpkin leaves.  I'm pretty sure it's a leaf cutter but not sure how to get rid of it.

And my first tomato!!

The end of term is fast approaching.  I only have 4 weeks left until the summer holiday!  Hopefully by the end of this week I'll know if my contract is being changed to a permanent one and if I get to stay in this school.  Fingers crossed!

Going bananas

I had 6 ripe bananas languishing in the fruit bowl.  For some reason I've not felt like eating them this week.  Normally I'd pop them into the freezer to avoid wasting them (I use them for smoothies) but thought this would be a good chance to try out my dehydrator.  Thanks to Pinterest I found some specific instructions.

I sliced them then tossed them in a 1 part apple cider vinegar 4 parts water mixture (I didn't have any lemon juice) then arranged them in 3 of the layers.

I'm not sure yet how long they'll take as my instruction manual helpfully says 8 to 38 hours for banana slices!!!  Pinterest suggests less time than that.  Apparently I can't over dry them so fingers crossed.

The Teenager has just arrived home and declared the kitchen smells banana-y.  Yummmm!