Happy Sunflowers

The weather over the weekend has been dreadful.  Forecasters have predicted that there is more of it to come.

Part of our plum tree was damaged in the high gust winds, taking a load of branches laden with unripe plums with it.  

Well at least the sunflowers are still standing which makes me happy. 

From the garden we have tomatoes...not as big as previous years, but sweet nonetheless.

The beans have been coming in drips and drabs. I picked up some plums that had not been got by the wasps on the ground. 

Along with the variety of beans, we are still getting some blueberries. 

Just enough to enjoy with some Greek yogurt. 

I also have harvested some more yellow courgettes, but have not showcased them this week as they were used pretty promptly over the weekend.  With the weather being so poor, I found myself in the kitchen making the most of the homegrown vegetable.  I have made another Courgette Quiche and a Courgette Blueberry Cake made with the blueberries I picked last week.  I am hoping to share them in the next few days. 

I am sharing my homegrown vegetables and fruit with Dave who blogs at Happy Acres for Harvest Monday. 

Little Sunflowers

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the Russian Giant Sunflowers growing in my garden, well here are images of some of them.  

The Russian Giant Sunflowers have been a disappointment this year, not living up to their giant name - these should be called Five Footers, some are not even four foot.

Still its nice to see in the garden.  There is something cheerful about sunflowers regardless of their size. 

So here is my most recently harvest.  

Starting from the top: a round courgette, yellow courgettes, some tomatoes, green beans, purple beans, peas and runner beans

My plum tree brings all the butterflies to the yard,We have had a load of courgettes.  Some of which were turned into another Quiche.

This Quiche also has spring onions, garnished with nasturtium flowers. 

Yellow Courgette, Spring Onions and Twarog Cheese Quiche
For the pastry
120g butter
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon dried parsley
200g plain flour
For the filling
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
285ml milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 courgettes
180g soft cheese such as Twarog or Cottage cheese
Method
Place flour and butter in a large bowl and rub with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add enough water to combine into a dough.
Turn dough onto floured surface and roll out to fit a deep greased 8 - 9 inch round or square tin.
Carefully place the pastry into the tin, pressing gently down and trim the edges.
Prick the base with a fork.
Chill for 30 minutes, then remove from fridge and cover with non-stick paper and weigh down the pastry with dried beans.
Bake in a preheated oven at gas mark 6 for 20 minutes.
Then remove paper and beans and bake for another 10 minutes till crisp.
Leave to cool.When it is cool, scatter over the chopped courgettes and spring onions.
Evenly distribute the cheese. 
In a bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, mustard  and season to taste. 
Pour over the creamy egg mustard mixture.
Bake gas mark 4/180oc for 40 - 45 minutes or until golden. 
Allow to cool, before serving. 

Oh I should mention that the eggs used in this quiche came from this rescued chicken that belongs to the neighbour next door.  There are four of them, but this one always comes up and close to us when we are harvesting, in the hope it will get something to eat from us.  Have you heard of the pecking order...I understand it now, completely. 

The tomatoes are coming along nicely, but again, not quite right - even though they are super sweet and tasty, they seem to be growing the size of cherries, that you'd think we had planted cherry variety, but that is not the case.  Again, not sure what it is - perhaps the weather, perhaps the soil, perhaps we are not feeding them enough...

We have artichokes in the garden.  I am growing these mostly for ornamental purposes. 

The pear tree this year is laden.  Last year was the best year for pears for us, but i think this year may be the best so far.  I cannot say the same for the plum tree, this year is not its best, but we will still get some.

My plum tree brings all We also have blueberries.  I have been picking them every day.  Its not enough for a big cake, but maybe muffins. 

I am sharing this small harvest with Dave who blogs at Happy Acres for Harvest Monday. 

The Culinary Alphabet Mug and Beetroot Ketchup

I must admit there is not that much that is new in my kitchen.

I have been to two Food Festivals recently: one in Cardiff and the other in Gloucester.  I have not come back with anything from either, which I think is a reflection that I am becoming familiar with most food stuff showcased at food festivals.  I tend to look out for unusual vegan, vegetarian and quirky things that are new to me. 

Still I have found a handful of things to share.  

We went to Bristol a couple of months back to check out Greta Thunberg's mural and they had a Sunday market at the Tobacco Food Factorsy with lots of pop up food stalls as well as creatives.  

I liked this culinary alphabet mug for obvious reasons and D took a shine to The Gardener's A-Z chopping board.  

I am not keen on chopping on glass.  So this will not be used for chopping onions or any other vegetable.  It is sat next to the oven as a trivet.

We are doing well with garden produce, nothing like when we had an allotment plot, just enough to have us ticking over.  For example I made a Thai Green Curry yesterday, but the carrots and shiitake mushrooms came from the supermarket, but the variety of  beans and courgettes were homegrown. 

We are doing well with garden produce, nothing like when we had an allotment plot, just enough to have us ticking over One of the neighbours gave us some eggs, these were massive.  These went into a quiche. 

I think I mentioned before that two of our neighbours keep chickens.  One of them gave us some eggs, these were big.  

She said here chickens are laying eggs quite regular and was pleased to share them.  Hopefully I will be able to give her something from the garden, perhaps some tomatoes.  These went into a quiche. 

The eggs went into this Yellow Courgette and Spring Onion Quiche.   

I don't remember having done so, but apparently i entered a competition on Twitter by Cool Chile Co.  for World Chocolate Day and I won these  Mexican Chocolate and Maya Chocolate with a wooden hand whisker.  I look forward to drinking it come winter.  

D's been going through some boxes in the garage.  He came across this Turtle glass mould.  I had wondered where it had gone.  I am planning on using it soon to for green jelly.

I picked p these American Super Size Flips - Peanut flavour.  For those of us in the UK, I can only visually compare these to wotsits.  I cannot comment on flavour yet as I have not opened it. 

We have some cheese in the fridge: Brie, Le Bleu and Taleggio.  I like Taleggio.  I cannot remember the last time i had some, so look forward to tucking in.

And finally, while D was going through boxes in the garage.  I was going through some of the kitchen cupboards, I came across a open bottle of Smoked Beetroot Ketchup. It has expired, so it went into the bin.  

I am sharing this blog post with Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen series.  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by the 13th of the month

Crushed Potato, Courgette and Feta Salad

So I was sitting in the garden early this evening minding my own business, sipping on some homemade Hibiscus Cooler (recipe to come), when I saw what I thought at first glance were dead dandelion seeds floating by, but when I paused to look properly - I realised they were flying ants!. Eek.  We seem to have so many different ants in the garden this year and I am not sure why?!.  

Anyway, onto some good food from the garden.

Although we have new potatoes growing in the garden, for some reason D has decided not to dig them up yet - so these are shop bought.  These new potatoes were left over from another meal, so I decided to crush them a little and then throw them into a baking tray along with some of my harvest from the weekend: round courgette cut into wedges, yellow courgette sliced into thick coins and some beans doused with some olive oil and then into the oven to roast a little.

Once the courgettes were suitably soft, I stirred in some of the homegrown peas, a little salt and pepper and chopped parsley. Then covered it with some feta cheese and spring onions.  I returned it to the oven for a few minutes, before serving it.  

Even though this was so simple to put together, D liked it very much.  He especially loved the roasted green courgette wedges. 

I am sharing this simple salad with The VegHog who is hosting #EatYourGreens this month.  Please do join in this month, you have plenty of time to share a vegan or vegetarian recipe made with either a green fruit or green vegetable, including herbs! As well as and Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen