Dwarf Fantasy Sunflowers and Blue Berries

Last week, I shared the echinacea growing in my vegetable garden plot.

Today its the turn of sunflowers. 

Although they have not been as tall and magnificent compared to years gone, they are still adding cheer and colour to the garden - so much so, our neighbours went to the garden centre and bought some potted sunflowers to put outside their front door. 

Ours came out of a packet called Dwarf Fantasy Mixed Sunflowers and were started from seed.

Indeed all are different and even different shades of yellow.

I think this is Sunzilla sunflower - very, very big sunflower - its still growing and taller than me, over five foot and came in a packet of its own.  

We do also have some Russian Sunflowers growing too, but more about them next time. 

Okay, so this is supposed to be Harvest Monday where I share homegrown fruit and vegetables with Dave from Happy Acres.  

So i have some homegrown blueberries to share. 

Turned into a Blueberry Loaf Cake adapted from this Cranberry , Carrot and Orange Bread recipe.

One Long Fiorentino Courgette with which i made pasta dish.

A handful of runner beans.

If you look closer, you will see that i also harvest the first yellow Neckargold French bean buts its looking more like a yellow runner bean. 

I f you look closely, you will note how closely have put vegetables together to make the most of the space this year.  From the right hand corner - Dazzling Blue Kale, then Perpetual Spinach, the  Long Fiorentino Courgette  and then Runner Bean wigwams and right at the back the Tall Climbing Pea frames (and some crocosmia creeping  in between the fencing from the neighbours).

Wild Strawberry Cake

I made this Wild Strawberry Cake at the weekend with wild strawberries and a handful of strawberries picked from the garden. 

The wild strawberries are growing like weed, but thankfully I don't mind that and nor do the birds. I sometimes from the corner of my eye spot a blackbird or a mistletoe thrush scurrying amongst the growth, its rather amusing. 

I then go to pick a lovely big juicy looking strawberry and i find a beak peck. I don't overly mind, good for the birds if they beat me to the ripe strawberries - as long as i get some; and  i have been getting my fair share. 

D liked this cake very much and actually had two slices at one point. It was light and spongy with the wild strawberries making the cake fragrant, but also giving that sweet intense strawberry burst.  It was rather enjoyable to eat. 

I had intended to bake a Strawberry cake recipe from one of my many cookbooks, but i did not have the energy to sit and seek one out, so resorted to the world wide web, typed in Strawberry Cake and this is the Strawberry Cake recipe I baked if your interested. 

Chilli Carrot Pasta and Orange Drizzle Cake

You know I do appreciate my weekends.  Come Friday afternoon, I look forward to closing the laptop and tucking it away in its case along with the mouse.  I can then turn my head to my Friday evening and watch some light TV like Gogglebox or Have I Got News For You (but that was not on this week),  so I turned to Netflix and settled on watching  Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods about four African American veterans return who return to Vietnam decades after the war.  There were echoes of Treasure of Sierra Madre.   

I haven't cooked much this weekend though as I needed to rest.  Its been an extremely busy week, in fact its been unbelievably manic since April, which is in stark contrast to  a number of people I work with who say that their pace of life have slowed down and they could get used to it, I can only wish I had that privilege.  

So I am sharing this Chilli Carrot Pasta Salad that I made late last month.   It was one of those recipes where I thought i was being both frugal and innovative with the carrots. However the idea in my head was better than the actual execution of the recipe.  I don't know why I thought the carrots would break down like red lentil dal and cling to the penne pasta like sauce, but that is not what happened. The carrots were grate-y, in fact looking at it you would think there were red lentils in this, but no.

The flavours were alright though - mildly spiced.  The recipe is not dissimilar form the Garlicky Rainbow Chard Pasta Salad, but with the addition of carrot.  Once the carrot had softened up, I used my hand blender thinking it would turn smooth, but it just grated the carrots - I don't know what I was thinking, in fact i wasn't thinking properly.  Regardless of the texture, it tasted okay and was alright to tuck into for working lunch at home. 

I also made Orange Drizzle Cake adapted from the  'Lemon Balm - Lemon Drizzle Cake'  that I shared last month.

It was good. 

I am sharing this Chilli Carrot Pasta Salad with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.

Lunch: Lemon Balm Drizzle Cake and Indian Inspired Potato and Chickpea Salad

Some of my colleagues and people I am meeting through Zoom are saying that they are losing track of days, but I am like - Is it Friday yet ? 

I have been busy at home during a crisis trying to work.  In fact, I think I am sure I am working harder from home more than i ever did in the office, unless it feels that way from staring at the computer screen for hours on end. But on balance, working from home means my lunch has never been so good.  

There always seems to be cake of my own making of course! 

I  teased some of you with a glimpse of this Lemon Balm  Drizzle Cake in my In My Kitchen blog post, but here it is in all its golden gorgeousness. 

Lemon Balm also known as Melissa Balm is a lemon scented perennial herb.  I often infuse the  lemon balm leaves (like mint) in hot water and drink like a herbal tea.  It can also be used in a number of recipes  like ice-cream and custard, but here I added it to cake. 

The 'Lemon Balm - Lemon Drizzle Cake' was splendid, with flecks of green lemon balm running through it, I even topped the outside with lemon balm leaves for adornment. Only comment, perhaps it could have been a bit more lemony, but I know whay that was - I did not have enough lemons, so made do with what I had.

Also a change from sandwiches and pasta salads, I made a Indian inspired Chickpea Salad Potato Salad smothered in mild spices and mango chutney.  I don't think my mother would approve, but I know my nephews and nieces would.  It was still warm when we ate it and I liked that as often my salads at work are cold or just room temperature. 

This lockdown potato salad recipe comes from The Guardian to which we subcribed to about a month ago. To be honest we should have subscribed to it a while back as it perhaps the only online newspaper that I consistently read for news, not just recipes. 

And the 'Lemon Balm Drizzle Cake' comes from Mary Berry which you can find online.  I substituted lemon balm for Lemon Verbena Drizzle Cake.  

I am sharing  this Indian Inspired Potato and Chickpea Salad with Kahakai Kitchen, for Souper Sundays,  a space where bloggers can come share together to share homemade comfort foods like soup, salads sandwiches.

Orange Cumin Madeira Cake

The  oranges I picked up well before quarantine are still rolling about in my fruit bowl, as D has failied in his duty as orange juice crusher. They are still super juicy and tasty, so can be eaten naturaly, but I find that I am left to be creative with them. Regular readers will know that I have already I made Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake early this April.   

Today I have this Orange and Cumin Madeira Cake to share; and tomorrow I have a Orange Carrot Soup for you. 

This recipe for Cumin and Orange Maderia Loaf comes from a cookbook called Spice Trip by Stevie Pearle and Emma Grazette. I had not heard of either of these chefs before, until I bought the cookbook from Oxfam second hand bookshop about 6 years ago. And although many of the recipes are meat based, there is lots of good stuff to read around medicinal use of spices.

For those of you who want the recipe, well its essentially a Orange and Caraway cake with cumin instead.  It was wonderfully buttery. 

I hope your all keeping well and are finding things to keep you occupied, by the way let me know what you have been baking? 

Orange Curry and Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake

We woke up early to go to the supermarket to top up on fruit and vegetables, along with other basic essentials. When we got there just before 7am, noticed that had changed the time of opening to 8am. We drove back home empty handed. I must admit, I was a bit anxious. It was my first time leaving the house.  Surprisingly the roads were busy as if we were going into work, which was unusual.  D commented on how busy it was, I stared out of the car window at the windows of the houses we drove past, displaying colourful rainbows. I wasn't sure what this was about, but when I got back home I did a search and learned that pictures of rainbows have started springing up in windows after schools had closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, and primary schools are encouraging pupils at home to put up paintings to "spread hope". It was genuinely heart warming to see.

No rainbows in my window though...instead in my home was this Orange Cake and Double: Sweet Potato Curry. I say was, as I made it early this week and its all gone. 

Mid March, well before the quarantine  - D picked up a load of oranges to make juice with his manual juice maker, but typically I end up having to find ways of making the most of ingredients he picks up. 

So this egg free Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake was one way that I found myself using some of those oranges, but as I went to make the cake I realised that I did not need to use the whole orange - only the zest!  The cake also contains mixed dried fruit, black treacle aka molasses. 

The Double Potato and Pepper Curry with Chickpeas was made to use up what we had in the house. I found the Double Potato Curry a little sweet, so squeezed the juice of half of zested orange into it for liven it up a little.  It definately perked it up a little for my tastebuds. 

The  Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake was reminisce of steamed pudding or even closer to malt bread which is dark and squidgy, full of dried fruit. The recipe was adapted fromThe Vegetarian Gourmet: Easy Low Fat Favourites cookbook.  This was nice to eat warm (reheated in the microwave), but by day four it began to feel a bit dense and stodgy so we fed it to the birds, by the following day it was all gone. Nothing at home is going to waste, it rarely did before so I can continue to feel smug in that knowledge. 

Sticky and Fiery Crystallised Ginger Cake

Hope your all keeping well.

Other than the garden, I have not stepped outside of the house since we were advised to stay (and work from) home to protect ourselves and the NHS and save lives.  As I am not having to commute to and from work, I am finding that I have more time on my hands (and energy) in the evening, so am trying to find some distractions to remain upbeat, one of which is doing some baking with whatever ingredients we have in the house. Here's a Crystallised Ginger Cake I made last week, but more about that in a moment.

I  was also was thankful the good weather as it permitted me to go and finish off the weeding and digging.  As many of you will know, the past few weekends and months in fact have been dreary, wet and damp, so I was  little pleased that I was able to spend most of my Saturday and Sunday in the garden tidying it up for the next lot of planting .  

Here are some pictures of the garden. I know I should have done a before and after, but I wanted to get stuck in and get my hands dirty. 

I have cleared the whole plot of weeds, clumps of grass, removed last year climbing bean frames and wigwams.  What you can see above is the plum tree starting to bud.  Below it is our strawberry patch and in the corner you can just about see the rhubarb coming into its own.   

Every gardener knows gardening is a never ending job, but I was pleased with my achievement as I looked back - no weeds.   

The Rainbow Chard is still growing strong and is giving the garden colour.  I have harvested Ruby chard leafy stems for a Cheese Quiche filling, but have decided to leave the rest in the ground until I come to cook with them in the upcoming days (and possibly weeks) that way they will remain fresher, then the ground will be dug over and free for the next lot of incoming plants. 

I also dug out some potatoes (not shown), and still wondering if they are okay to eat?!

The above picture shows our pear tree. The invasive mint, Artichoke and raspberry patch which is in need of some weeding.   I am sharing this blog post with Dave over at Happy Acres who hosts Harvest Monday every week.

Now back to the Crystallised Ginger Cake.  Ginger as we know has many health benefits, one of which is its good for colds and flus, so it can only be good for us especially at this time. 

This cake has double the dose of ginger: ground ginger and crystallised ginger (and could have taken a triple dose with freshly grated), but I thought I'd hold back this time round.  It was spicy with a little bit of fiery and proper sticky topping - reminisce of old fashioned Jamaica Ginger Cake.  I don't know if it was doing us any good medicinally, but it was hitting the happy spot.  D liked it so much that he said I can make it again.  By the way if you do bake this, the crystallised ginger may fall to the bottom, but you can flip the cake over.
Other Ginger Recipes
Beetroot and Ginger bread Muffins
Gingerbread Pancakes
Fresh Ginger and Carrot Muffins (vegan)
Vegan Chocolate Ginger Cake (vegan)
Orange Gingerbread Slices
Rhubarb and Ginger Loaves
Rhubarb and Gingerbread Loaf

Lemon Drizzle Cake for Optimism

Neither of us like supermarket shopping at the best of times, so we have always been in the habit of doing a big bulk shop (tinned tomatoes, dried beans, lentils, grains, as well as flours) in the long-run its often works out much cheaper for us. Unlike other people around us, we haven't bought any additional toilet rolls since the panic! I did however pick up some hand wash the last time I went in to work in my lunch break.  

We are however beginning to run low on fresh fruit and vegetables, so we will have to venture out at some point this week. We are doing our utmost to take individual responsibility for our actions and will buy only what we need, and try and not be influenced by the madness that surrounds us.  

Perhaps this time round, I will use what now seems like 'luxury' ingredients at the back of my kitchen cupboards that often get overlooked, and not waste them like the black quinoa, black rice, pumpkin puree, red velvet chocolate curd and purple yam spread  which may already be well past its sell by date, seeing that I blogged about it first in 2015.

Anyway, you know the saying, when life gives you lemons make lemonade !   That may be the case in hotter climates but not here.  I checked out the thinking behind this phrase, and its often used to encourage optimism and a positive attitude in the face of adversity.  Lemons represent a sour or difficult stage in life and thus, making lemonade transforms them into something more palatable and therefore bearable.  Well in the UK, we make Lemon Cake!

Actually I made this Lemon Cake early this January.  The recipe came from Emily who blogs at A Mummy Too. Its a good Lemon Drizzle Cake. D was delighted with it and approved of the citrus tang!

Okay, I am off to do some gardening this weekend while its dry and the sun is shining. It looks like my neighbours have the same idea too!