Crusty Life: 30th September 2014

I enjoy writing up my gardening diary but I didn't mean for this blog to be solely about gardening so I'm going to give a go making a record of the significant jobs I do in the day. Today was a particularly productive day, and I am not at work, so I am starting on a good foot. I am sure later posts will be much sparser.

1. I baked Queen Cakes

I use a very simple recipe that results in sweet, moist cakes.

Ingredients 
Makes 12

150g softened butter
150g caster sugar
175g self raising white flour
3 eggs (preferably at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla flavouring (optional, for taste)

Method

Preheat your oven to Gas 4/180C/350F

If you have a food processor/mixer, just tip all the ingredients into the bowl and wizz to combine for a minute or two. Otherwise, combine by hand until the mix is smooth.

Divide among twelve bun cases (I use silicon reusable cases)

Bake for 20 minutes - only brown very gently so the cakes stay moist.

They will keep very well in an airtight container for a few days.

2. I made Tomato and Chili Relish using the same recipe as always but with my own homegrown tomatoes for the first time. Oh my lord, what a difference. The relish reduced to a much darker, thicker sauce. The sweet was sweeter, the spice was spicier and the tomatoes were tomatoier! Next year I need a bigger and better tomato crop and resist the temptation to eat any of them fresh (would that be a shame though?)

3. I tidied a patch of the garden

I cleared a large patch of weedy ground (so many thistles) and moved the heaps of dead ivy that was torn from the house wall earlier this year. Spider city, glad I had wellies on. On this patch originally stood an overgrown, huge shrub that we cleared out (it has since regrown from a stump into a lovely little bush and I plan to keep it that way). I left the dead leaves for ground cover. Many thoughts passed through my head including planting green manure in the patch over winter, should I later plant flowers or vegetables or herbs or all three? Then I went inside and had a cup of tea.

4. I made our family favourite Pasta Salad

The name doesn't give too much away but it's a combination of pasta (normally fusilli), chopped boiled egg, sweetcorn, halved cherry tomatoes, diced spring onion, mayonnaise and a dash of french dressing. The baby eats his with natural yogurt instead of the salad dressings. It keeps for a few days in the fridge and is a life saver when time is short and hunger strikes. We all had a helping today with enough left over for all our lunches tomorrow.

5. Dinner was leftovers from yesterday

Yesterday I made a fish casserole (old photo but you get the gist):

It is very simple. 

Ingredients (serve 4)

4 large/6 small fillets of white fish (I used cod, haddock and whiting)

200g smoked fish (I used mackerel)

1 onion peeled and diced

2 carrots peeled and diced

Olive oil for frying

250ml cream (I have also used coconut milk in the past)

Handful grated cheese

Cup of frozen peas and sweetcorn

250g cherry tomatoes

Method

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/350F

Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the onion and carrots gently until softened.

Add the cream, and when hot, stir in the grated cheese until melted.

Lay your fillets in a casserole dish and shred in the smoked fish.

Sprinkle the peas, sweetcorn and cherry tomatoes over.

Pour over the cheesy cream and veg mix and gently mix to ensure everything is coated.

Bake for 50 minutes.

I served with boiled rice.

And that was my day. I also had time for a lovely walk along the Monkstown wall. I am reading Just Vegetating by Joy Larkcom. I daydreamed about one day being able to design and grow a garden that I could open to the public. Back to work tomorrow, different story.