Food over the last while

We are so happy that our kitchen renovation is now done. We all love being in there and with the new entrance and the fireplace being right there it is a warm welcoming part of the home. We realised pretty soon after we had the majority done, that the rest of the home needed a facelift so we have all worked like Trojans unpacking each room, de-cluttering, painting, repacking and decorating. We feel like we are living in a brand new home.

Main bedroom

 We have used colour in each room, something Superman was hesitant to do for many years but the gorgeous oranges, browns, golds, blues and reds have made this little cottage vibrant and cozy. We have managed to get rid of boxes and boxes of things we "thought" we needed but haven't used in years. It has been a hard, but fabulous process...now that it is over.

We had a funny little passage that we could never figure out how to incorporate into the home effectively until a very clever designer friend suggested splitting it and making one half the pantry and the other a store room.

This storeroom now holds all the sports equipment, hobbies (air rifles, sewing, scrapbooking, Ninco and Technic Lego) as well as my overflow school books. It's so great to have this stuff contained instead of spilling out around the home.

Entrance hall

Store room

My hero

Everyone is finding that now the kitchen has been planned and the pantry right next to the cooking area we can use the space much more effectively.

With the Cape winter hitting us hard I am delighted that the laundry is now indoors. I used to have to make mad dashes in the rain across the back courtyard to the laundry.

Even Superman got into the kitchen this morning and made me a yummy omelette. Buy here are some other things that went on in our kitchen...

Broad bean, potato and carrot curry.
Yes, broad beans are being harvested.

Spinach is now being snuck into everything too!

Lovely sourdough bread made by eldest son

Kefir flapjacks made by youngest

Scones made by younger daughter

Warm porridge with apples, walnuts and honey

Even my Mum made us sago pudding with farm peaches.

So loving the kitchen.....

An unashamedly straight line gardener!

I had a nowadays-rare-early-morning-gardening session! After a lovely walk in the forest I decided to do some quick garden jobs while the family was still slumbering. It was so delightful to be in the garden so early in the cool autumn morning with Lucky and the rays of sun slanting through the trees.

Rescued Cavolo Nero

 I had to rescue some Cavolo Nero seedlings which were sown as seeds but too close together. So I gently dug the clumps up and planted them in straight lines.

They filled a whole raised bed so I think we are going to be eating lots of this in a few months time.

I also had to split the spinach seedlings which filled another raised bed, in straight lines.

Straight lines

My carrots that I planted a few weeks ago are up and needed a good weeding.

Red Creole Onions also needed weeding, but I ran out of steam. It will have to wait until inspiration strikes!

Then Lucky and I took these photos for you...the autumn garden is a slow growing garden and it does not have the spectacular heights of summer corn, but it has a charm of its own.

Last Aubergine planting starting to yield

Carrot seedlings

Green pepper growing

Nasturtiums in the pond

Lucky checking out the cat grass

Peas a-climbing

Bright lights spinach

The last tomato of the season

I have changed my planting system this season in that I have dedicated one bed per vegetable. Int eh past I have tried companion planting, no planning, mixed beds and other styles but as I want simplicity more than anything now, I just allocated a bed per vegetable.

At the moment we also have lettuce, broad beans, turnips and garlic growing so it should be a good winter. In newspaper pots we have cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage still germinating.

Ways with spinach and asparagus

Our mainstay crops at the moment are spinach, asparagus, broad beans and broccoli. I am fond of veggies, I wasn't when I was younger, but I have grown in my love for them as being the highlight of the meal. Part of this love I think is in the fact that we nurture them in the garden and they are freshly harvested and on our plate within a short time. I thought I would share some of the favourite ways that we prepare asparagus and spinach most evenings.

We pick our asparagus in the evening by slicing it off just above ground level. You can see last years growth as brown sticks in this photo and then then new spears pushing through. If we do not have enough for one meal, Superman and I will steam them lightly and gobble them down after dunking them in a bit of Hollandaise Sauce.

If there is enough for a side dish (only 4 of us eat asparagus) then I have a few ways of preparing them. To prevent the spears from feathering out if we do not have enough I cut then and keep them in a glass of spring water until we have collected enough. This is normally a 3 day process and the jar can stand on the counter. They tend to dry out in the fridge.

1) Put a cup of water in a skillet and then add the asparagus. Let the water cook off, drizzle with olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper and the juice of half a lemon.

2) Dry griddle the spears for about 5 minutes to get them crunchily cooked. Remove from the heat and place on a plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then shavings of Parmesan.

The key with asparagus is not to overcook it as then you loose the sweetness of the vegetable. I have recipes for asparagus soup, tarts and more but they tend to overpower the gentle flavour of this amazing plant. In case you don't know...here is a great article on the health benefits of asparagus.

Moving on then...spinach! We have one child who is spinach resistant :) but will endure the torture because its a vegetable that I can disguise in quiche, tarts and lasagne. But I like it very simply as well and this is the most common way that we eat it.

At least 3 nights a week spinach graces our table in one guise or another. We cut it as close to cooking as possible always taking into account that it shrinks in cooking. So there were times that the kids would go out to harvest and I would need to send them back for more as the basket that looked so full would only do for 2 or 3 of us.

1) The easiest way to prepare once the leaves are washed and chopped is simply in boiling water. Tip the vegetable into a colander to drain and then immediately into a serving bowl. Add a knob of butter, freshly grated nutmeg and salt and pepper.

2) The other way is to wash and chop the leaves. Then into a deep pan fry up some garlic, onion and thyme. Add the spinach in handfuls and sweat in between by placing a lid on the pan. When all is added and has cooked down pour in 250ml cream and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grate over a layer of Parmesan cheese and replace the lid until the cheese melts.

3) The last way is a little more complicated and I cannot claim it as my own but I have to share it as it is simple a superb meal along with a salad. Jamie Oliver has it on his site here.

I hope these inspire you to not only cook these veggies but also find a patch to grow your own spinach and asparagus can be grown in a big barrel too!

The garden pantry

It's so exciting to see the winter crops come into full production. While we have been eating Asian Greens, spinach, broccoli and peas for a while we now have the long awaited broad beans making their appearance.

There are loads of pods on the plants, and even though many were damaged in the storms of the last weeks, we will have plenty on our dinner table over the next while.

The last of our beets are big enough to harvest now so we will clear this bed out this week so that I can plant the last spinach of the season which should see us to December. A nice bowl of steam baby beets will go down well with a roast chicken this week. I also use the leaves like spinach, so perhaps a spinach and feta pie will be on the menu?

 The last purple broccoli is waiting to be picked, we still have some of the sprouting variety so these two combined will go into a pasta or broccoli cheese for a meal.

 Peas are nice and fat in their pods and we have mange tout for salads at the moment. I am also harvesting the pea sprouts that we planted in our asparagus  beds for salads.

And then our shy Mary Washington asparagus is arriving. We have about 10 spears in different stages peeping through and will make a lovely hors d'oeuvre one evening. In the book "Animal Vegetable Miracle" they talk about asparagus being the first sign of spring...this may well be but it is still freezing here.

Our herbs of coriander, majorum, celery, origanum, rosemary and thyme have been used heavily this winter. I also have a Bay tree but it is infested with scale....so it is being pulled...it is actually in the wrong place anyway. Today I planted a new Bay in a pot and put Penny Royal and Thyme at the base. I need to rethink all the herbs I do have growing as I use so much of them that I need to allocated more space....time to plan!

What's growing in your garden?

Easy spinach, pinenut and cream cheese pies.

Today for lunch we had delicious spinach pies. Our spinach is growing fast and furious in this unseasonally warm weather....it's a bit concerning that we have not had enough rain....

I took a packed colander of spinach, washed and chopped it... then added it to a pot with some fried onion in butter to sweat.

In the meantime I rolled out the pastry and edged it with egg.

When the spinach is cooked, drain and cool slightly. Add to it 250ml cream cheese and 125g packet of pine nuts. Mix it all together and plonk a little in the centre of each pasty square.

Seal up and brush with egg then bake until golden. Delicious.

Quick easy spinach bread

I seem to be dropping more balls than I am catching at the moment and ended up at lunch time with no bread for the hungry hordes! I didn't have time to use yeast so made up this quick bread....

Here is how to do it...

1. Run out to the spinach patch to cut a colander of spinach...give the holey ones to the chickens.


2. Steal two eggs from under the chicken while making sure she doesn't peck you.

3. Wash & chop the spinach and then wilt it in a pan on the stove.

4. Measure 500g of flour.

5. Grate 250 ml of cheese and some extra to top the loaf.

6. Mix together the two eggs with 250ml water and 125ml olive oil.

7. In a bowl mix together the flour, 1 heaped tablespoon of baking powder and the grated cheese and 1 t salt.

8. Add the wilted spinach and the wet ingredients.

9. Put into a greased loaf pan, sprinkle with sunflower seeds and remaining cheese.

10. Bake at 180 deg C for 40 mins while reading to the children to take their minds off their hungry tummies.

Cut and enjoy with fresh avo, chicken mayo, cream cheese or just butter!

Always make room for spinach

My spinach this year has been fabulous. I planted bright lights at the end of Autumn and we were eating it about 2 months later almost every day. Spinach serves 4 purposes in our home.

The bug bitten leaves go to the chickens. The huge leaves go into dog food. The small leaves we eat raw in salads and if I don't need for dog food I use the larger leaves for cooked meals.

Some of the spinach is starting to got to seed, but there is still plently left to eat.

Today I made cheese, spinach and walnut muffins for lunch.

I steamed a large bunch of spinach until soft. While that was steaming I mixed together 400g flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 250ml grated cheddar and salt and pepper. I chopped the walnuts and added it to the dry ingredients.

In another bowl I mixed 2 eggs and some milk and then added the cooled chopped spinach.

Mixed it all together, adjusted the liquid and baked them at 180 until brown. Very yummy and nutrtious.

Fast Food

A few years back I would agree that Fast Food comes from the Golden Arches or the local pizza place, even Chinese takeaways were normal. It is convenient to take a night off once a week and order in, it's even nicer to go out with Superman on my own sometimes.

However, I cannot remember the last time (besides for our London trip, which doesn't count!) when I ordered in or ate out. Ordering in doesn't take any quicker than cooking at home (about 40 mins is the average) and eating out takes forever.

Then there is the heartburn overfed feeling afterwards that lasts long into the evening as those hydrogentated fats settle in - yuck. So we just don't make it a habit to order in.

But every now and again I forget to take something out of the freezer, or I don't plan my meals, and then I am in trouble. Last night was such a night...at about 5.00 I realized that in about 1 hr my children would be climbing the walls with hunger and I was preoccupied packing orders for my business so had forgotten to sort out dinner earlier.

Here was my fast food...

Tomato pasta sauce made a couple of weeks ago and ricotta cheese - 1 min (I must learn to make my own!)

Spinach from the garden (5 mins)

Batch of pasta (20 mins)

Mix ricotta, spinach. grated nutmeg, salt and pepper...3 mins

Place 1/3 of the sauce in the bottom of the dish...roll spinach mix into cut sheets, place in dish - 10 mins

Pour over rest of sauce, cover with grated cheddar and mozarella...3 mins

Bake at 190 deg C for 15 mins...serve and eat.

57 minutes...supper is ready! Cost - only the cheeses directly, but a fraction of what a meal out would cost. Enjoyment? Pure tastebud pleasure :-)

And the winners are....

The all time over producers of this past winter are...

1st Prize - Broad Beans

We have picked, cooked and eaten broad beans from June through until now. I never weighed them, but in the height of their production we could serve them twice a week.
We ate the last tonight. Tomorrow the stalks will be pulled up and shredded for the compost. I will dig in compost and plant tomatoes here. Definately 1st prize to the broad beans.

2nd Prize - Swiss Chard

Our chard has been fabulous this year. I planted normal chard and bright lights. The lovely red and yellow stalks have brigthened my veggie patch. There is still so much growing, but as it is a "normal" vegetable it gets second prize.

We cut from it daily. We have used it in omlettes, quiche, salads, creamed as a side dish, under poached eggs and even for our dog food once a week. Our chard will continue to provide leaves at least until February when the heat will be too much for it.

So well done to the winners, they may take a bow.