Pumpkins! Green pumpkins! White pumpkins! Yellow pumpkins! Stripy pumpkins! Okay, and orange pumpkins! Firstly, if you have a pumpkin field, farm or farm shop near you. Go and have a look! There are so many different varieties of pumpkin, each with their own unique flavour profile. Some pumpkins (aka squash) taste like courgette, some like marrow (there’s other things I…
Tomatoes & Peppers. Summer in the UK usually brings an abundance of tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes, but the recent hot weather has also brought peppers too! Whilst eating freshly grown produce raw in salads and sandwiches is fantastic, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, and need a few ideas to switch things up! My tomato plants…
Courgettes. Yes, it is that time of year, when gardeners and allotmenters in the UK suddenly find courgettes springing up everywhere! We may not have had much rain with our unfamiliar 35c+ heat, but those courgettes still keep growing! This year I’ve been sharing my courgettes with the muntjac deer… or the foxes… or both! I’ve covered them up with…
Salads. Hopefully you are way past the thought of salad being lettuce, tomato and a slice of cucumber, possibly with a sprinkle of cress! Maybe you are in the next stage where you add a bit of carrot, sweetcorn, beetroot, pepper or onion – a bit like a cheap and cheerful restaurant salad bar. Either way, both are good for…
Easy vegetable dish. Well… this was something unexpected and different even for me! Someone asked me if I wanted some ‘salad’ that had been left and thinking the guinea pigs would like it I thought that was an unexpected bonus. The ‘salad’ however was three (yes three)! pointed head cabbages! Not entirely what I was expecting, but having just heard…
Mushrooms. This week I have had several people tell me about their dislike for mushrooms! Now, I do get it. Well, maybe. In a way I get it. If you give me tinned button mushrooms heated up in the microwave, then I’m totally with you! A bowl of tepid mushroom soup will make me understand too. Perhaps if you feed…
Cauliflower. This easily recognisable and widely available vegetable is much more versatile than you think! Gone are the days when cauliflower is just boiled in a pan, the result being a mush of white non-descript food. Cauliflower is one of those vegetables which soaks up flavours and can be prepared in so many different ways. Are you aware that cauliflower…
Biryani. Biryani used to be something which I only ever saw on restaurant menus. I would be very confused when I ordered it and received vegetable curry and vegetable rice! I never understood what biryani was then! Anyway, a few decades later and I know now that biryani is a rice dish! A very tasty rice dish! I am posting…
Garlic Bread. In our house, we often have garlic bread with a lasagne or spaghetti bolognese. This is something I have grown up with and never questioned it until recently, when an Italian friend told me this was something they never did! Italians do however, rub cut garlic on bruschetta and maybe add a drizzle of olive oil. Apparently, what…
