This time of year we are always inundated with fruit and veg growing in the garden, of course without complaint! Last weekend it was time to go out in the garden and see what was growing and ready to pick, a five minute job definitely not!
Finally it was time for some fruit from the orchard.. I have been watching them grow for what seems like forever, being eager to pick some.. apples and cherries being my fav! The good thing about having different varieties of apples, cherries and plums growing, is they are spread out throughout the season rather than all of your apples at once in an overwhelming hit and nothing for the remainder of the year. Last year the cherries and plums came quite late and were not the best crop, but this year they are looking good and healthy, considering the weather of the year so far!
Carrots, onions, runner beans, potatoes, marrow, courgette, cucumber, tomatoes… the rest is all piling in too, in great quantities I might add too! I have tried to come up with some different recipes to use the produce this time around. You can see I have tried to be creative from my pics below. The weekend just gone, I decided to create a tempura style dish. Coating the marrow pieces in chilli and flour then frying in some olive oil, then topping with chilli ketchup. Carringtons Foods and Wiltshire Chilli being the main brands used of course! I used some of the chilli rub mixed into the cornflour batter, along with some chilli pepper. The chilli ketchup's were then dolloped generously over the top!! yummmm :-)
The lucky thing with courgette and marrow is it has a plain flavour so can take on anything you add- therefore you can't really go wrong, using it as you please, the possibilities are endless. You can create any dish and any flavour to your own taste - what would you choose?
As well as the new food we have going on we also have two new chickens!! Meet the girls :-) So lovely and already proving us with lovely fresh eggs- better get making some omelettes I suppose ;-)
The weekend I must have been feeling inspired, after Matcha tea tasting I was up for even more Matcha goodness, creating a lush Matcha smoothie bowl!! Super healthy and providing me with lots of energy, I had an oat and Alpro bowl that day too... overload of goodness and fuel. Can't help but take photos, the colours are so inviting!! What flavour smoothie bowl would you choose?? I always use Alpro yogurt and/or soya milk then choose the rest of my ingredients depending what flavour I fancy that day. I love using frozen berries (normally my own from the garden, frozen to use when I please...seeing as I have an overload I can enjoy them both fresh and frozen). When the frozen berries bleed into the yogurt it creates such cool colours. This time I was using Vita Coco coconut milk with the oats, it is creamy and rich- full of flavour. Gluten free, vegan and dairy free- no one is left out!! <3