Sweet, crisp and so fruity, this delicious salad makes use of summery gluts. The raspberry balsamic dressing is delicious poured over mixed leaves and roasted chicories, and is a great way to use less than perfect raspberries.
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Kale – Root to Shoot: leaves, flowers, sprouts and more!
Kale, a nutrient dense vegetable high in vitamins, is well known for its many health benefits. Easy to grow and winter hardy in the UK, it’s a fantastic plant for the hungry home gardener. Kale’s delicious leaves make a tasty addition to all kinds of meals cooked and raw, but did you know that you can also eat other parts of this cruciferous vegetable and that growing it benefits wildlife too?!
Vegan “Bubble and Squeak” salad recipe – ideal for using up leftovers
This gorgeous, vegetable-filled salad is ideal for winter meals, a great way of using leftover vegetables from a roast dinner – just like “bubble and squeak”. A tasty way to make the most of a Thanksgiving, Christmas or other roast dinner leftovers! This recipe includes an oil free version, too.
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How to make nasturtium salt & other nasturtium recipes
In my garden a bright jungle of colourful nasturtiums are rejoicing in the surprisingly warm sunshine-y October weather. After a summer of taking their prolific spiciness for granted, I’m keen to preserve what I can before the weather turns colder….
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September sowing, sweetcorn harvests and recipes
As summer mellows into autumn, the allotment and garden is full of ripening vegetables and fruit.
Courgette, coconut and lemon basil muffins
It’s that time of year again, the days of delighting in the first few courgettes have transformed into a bewilderment of abundance. As fast as I pick them, more are growing – it’s wonderful.
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Two Summer Salads – Virgin Mojito Cucumbers and Roast Fennel with Beetroot
The vegetable gardens are filling up with gorgeous summer abundance, almost every day it seems we are welcoming back another seasonal delight.
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A quick update with a deeply chocolatey vegan rhubarb cake recipe
May is always a busy month for gardeners and it feels even more so this year here – is that the same for you?
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New allotment plan and other experiments.
Every year I mulch my no dig allotment with an inch or two of composted manure or homemade compost, but this year I am trying something different!
Guest Blog for Mr Plant Geek
Michael Perry, aka Mr Plant Geek, saw some photographs of the seasonal, plant based food I make on Twitter and asked me to share some recipes on his website: here they are.
Roasted beetroot, carrot and onion hummus recipe
Beetroot grows in my garden from April right through to the end of autumn, some in the polytunnel over winter too. This tasty root vegetable stores so well that I can make this hummus at any time of year, but there’s something especially autumnal and satisfying about the combination of roasted beetroot, carrot and onion.
Spiced Elderberry Whisky Liqueur
A deep red, warmly spiced drink which tastes delicious drunk neat in tiny glasses (it is strong!) or as a nurturing hot toddy if you are feeling under the weather during the winter months. It makes a great cocktail too, try mixing with ginger beer.
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Thai influenced golden raw summer vegetable salad
This gorgeous bright seasonal salad is almost a meal in itself and can easily be adapted to include other summer vegetables in your garden (and winter root veg later in the year). It is a zingy, delicious, colourful way to use up gluts.
Crunchy Courgette Gardener’s Muffins
I’ve been trying out a few variations of this seasonal muffin, using our course people as guinea pigs! Low in processed sugar, these satisfying baked treats are great to nibble on for an extra boost of energy when gardening. They also make a great breakfast muffin.
blog/featured/homesteading/No Dig Home/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/recipes/seasonal cooking/summer
Seasonal summer frugal feasting
Regular readers of my blog will know that one of passions, and fortunately work, is harvesting seasonal homegrown vegetables, fruit and herbs and delicious food. For our no dig gardening day course at Homeacres on Saturday, I made lunch for 17 (including Charles and myself) using Charles’ gorgeous vegetables (plus some bought ingredients, things we can’t grow easily which I’ll explain later) for around £1 a head, including muffins.
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A cornucopia of summer soft fruit … with recipes for homemade cassis and blackcurrant wine
Perennial fruit bushes play a key role in my garden, producing an abundance of delicious berries during summer months. These I preserve, to enjoy year round: jewel coloured jams, cordials, liqueurs, chutneys and other delicious additions to my homegrown larder.
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Exciting times!
Friday 21st April was uniquely special for Charles and myself. Two very exciting events happened quite by chance on the same day: our book arrived at the publishers and Charles was featured on BBC Gardeners’ World. Life has been so busy since that it has taken a week to be able to find the time write this post 🙂
Roasted squash and Czar bean hummus
Over the past two weeks I have been busy with our courses, my garden, picking salad at Charles’ garden and doing the final edit of our book No Dig Organic Home & Garden. We are both really happy with the way it is looks – so colourful! Signed copies can be pre-ordered from Charles’ website here. Publication date is very soon – April 10th 🙂 I have included many of my recipes in the book: for potions, drinks, preserves, cosmetics and of course seasonal food.
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How to eat more than 10 a day, in March
Growing your own really helps to make meals more delicious and exciting, offering an ever changing repertoire of amazing fresh veggies, fruit, herbs and other edibles to eat. For our no dig gardening courses at Homeacres I make lunches using, as much as we possibly can, only food that has been grown by Charles or myself. There is such variety! Even when there are several courses in a month, the choice of available plants to harvest is never the same from one course to the next.
Basil flower tips and recipes
Basil flowers are beautiful to look at, smell gorgeous and attract bees and other beneficial insects. It is tempting to leave the flowers on because they look so pretty, but removing them encourages the plant to put its energy into continuing to produce abundant leaves for longer – for salads, pesto, preserving and summer cooking.