I’m posting this today as I have to chase off to meet with my granddaughter, so will, as always, get myself all flustered while I get ready. Today the sun is shining, although there is plenty of cloud cover. My plants are happy however as we had a lovely downpour yesterday. So, my Coriander seeds are dried and waiting for separation from the dust and stuff, my Basil leaves are also dried, waiting for me to crush them. That will be two more jars of herbs/spices for my meals and in the not too distant future I will have Sunflower seeds as well. I planted just one Sunflower seed and was really surprised (I’ve never grown them before) when it grew very tall, which I was expecting, and ten plus flowers, which I definitely wasn’t expecting.
So, today I will be snipping off the flower heads at the top which are defintely wilting and putting them on the potting table in my garage that my son in law made for me. I think I mentioned that before, so that they can dry, out of the weather, but with plenty of light.
I’m afraid I got a bit carried away with my last post so will try to stay focused for this one. Although I’ll have to do a bit more research today as I no longer have children living at home and I really want to make our next meal both easier to cook and cheaper to buy. Still, all being well, you will have most of the ingredients we used for our nuggets so won’t have to buy them when you want to use them again.
Gardening today, planting peas and brassicas, also Tomato in a larger pot for indoors as we are well into AUtumn now, also Capsicum in new pot, but I think that can stay outside for a while anyway then I’ll bring it in with the Tomato, see how they do in a sunny spot in the living room. Just have a couple of baby Courgettes on the plant, so will harvest them and make the recipe I found online this morning.
Baby Courgette Bites
Ingredients
- 1 courgette
- 2 eggs
- 3 Tbsp Breadcrumbs
- 1 Spring onion (optional)
- 50 Grams Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Grate courgette and cheddar into a large bowl.
- Add breadcrumbs, chopped spring onion and eggs and combine thoroughly.
- Prep a baking tray with baking paper and using a spoon, create walnut sized balls and place on the baking tray.
- Bake at 200C/180C fan for 20 minutes or until browned. Flip them half way through so ensure they’re evenly cooked.
- Leave to cool and serve whole or sliced depending on baby’s age.
Will make some of these to go with my lamb rib bones and salad today.
Here is another easy dish, often my go to for potluck dinners.
Fried Rice
Use with whatever meat etc, you are making that day. I often use Chicken Drumsticks as there is only me and you can get a lot more for your money with them. Although last week. I bought a small pack of Lamb rib bones and casseroled them yesterday. Yum, and tender as I left them in the oven for a good two hours after browning them first.
Anyway, fried rice, my recipe.
Ingredients
Long grain rice, preferably cooked the day before, but just an hour before will do. Mixed vegetables, I normally use ready frozen (and often diced from supermarket). Onion Garlic, I use ready minced in jar. Worcester sauce. Soy sauce, Oil, your preference) Any herbs or spices you like to use for Oriental food.
Method
Fry onion till soft and tender, add chopped/grated garlic. Boil rice and vegetables. I like adding frozen Cauli and Broccoli too, (which freeze from fresh when I get home from shopping). Add boiled ingredients to onion in large fry-pan on low heat, mix together then add Worcester sauce and Soy sauce, pus any herbs or spices you want, testing for flavour as you do so. It generally takes me about 15-20 minutes to combine everything and bring flavour to how I like it.
And that’s it.
Nothing fancy, but there is rarely anything left over at the end of our potluck dinners for me to take home. Which meant of course that I would have to make another pot for myself. 🙂
Yesterday the weather was good and I didn’t have to go anywhere, so I took myself out on the deck and worked on what needed doing. I decided to leave the courgettes for a few more days to grow a bit more so I can make the Courgette bites, above. I cut a few more of my Sunflower heads off for drying, then replanted my pea seedlings, also a few Broad beans, but they are a bit old so not sure if they will take. I also repotted my Capsicum, which was doing ok, but not growing much where it was, and my new Tomato seedling. I decided I would leave them on the sunniest part of the deck and see how they go. With the thought that I can bring them indoors if need be as I have a good sunny spot in the living room and I remembered how well my Tomato plants did indoors when I lived in the cold South Island Winters.
I should be getting my replacement (from accident write off) car at the weekend, so I can stop saving for that and start saving for my large raised bed in a sunny spot in the garden to grow all my winter vegetables and use the beds on the deck for flowers. At this season and into Spring, there is so much that can be done and as long as you buy and plant at the right time, you can GROW your own instead of having to buy everything. I’m even thinking of growing Garlic for next year. Among other things, but I won’t bore you by going on about my hopes and dreams, at least not today.
Have a great week with your growing food and eating it, and I hope that my offerings can help you to avoid buying ready made with all their additives that none of us ever see or use in our own kitchens. Please, if you have any suggestions, comments, complaints even, drop me a line and I will do my best to answer helpfully. My plans for growing hydroponically are thankfully much closer than they were. My dream is for a tunnel house for those alongside my large, raised bed. Boy I’m getting carried away again.
My addresses are, hilary@affordablehydrogreens.com, and gosportgal@gmail.com.