Wow, it certainly has been a busy couple of weeks, hence the absence of posts from moi!!!
I have had a couple of birthdays, my hubbie to be last week and my youngest who turned 4 today! So we've been galavanting about, doing silly things like paintballing & trampoline building!!!
So just to update you, the garden is coming along, slowly but brilliantly, the grass seed has gone nuts since our rain fall and the turf is looking lush and green, can really start to picture my gorgeous garden to be! Finally!
Our potatoes, onions, carrots, radish & lettuce are sprouting through and we had our first pickings of spinach tonight (added to a lush curry!!)
Runner beans will be going in within the next couple of weeks once I get my wigwam up. Also have some sweetcorn, peas, broad beans & tomatoe plants to sort. So I gather from that the next (few) weeks or so will be super busy too!
I will have to update my "plan" seeing as the lovely Claire has been uber organised and updated hers, so not to be outdone I will be reposting mine v. soon!!!
The table birds are HUGE!!! It seems we have two rather large cockerals, who are now trying to "cockadoodledo" but it sounds more like foghorn leghorn at the minute! Bless!
The hens are doing well, even after their "attack" from my layers (the meanies actually pecked holes into the chicks during a mass attack!) They have now been seperated!
Had to re-pot the boys sunflowers today, hoping to be able to harden them off soon and get them outside, then the challenge really begins! Who's will survive the weather conditions and/or those pesky slugs??
Wagers being taken, tweet me!!!
Mel
@Tikobear
@honestlyitseasy
Showing posts with label onion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label onion. Show all posts
Monday, 16 May 2011
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Sunday Roast & Strawberry Cheescake!
We had my "soon to be" In-Laws over today, their first visit to our new house since we'd moved in, so we wanted to make it special!
The house was blitzed top to bottom yesterday, everything cleaned and polished, even the chickens got a scrub down!
We had a lovely day watching the pheasants in the field at the bottom of the garden and enjoyed seeing the kids running around in the sun, something that doesn't happen often enough in this country!!
My gorgeous other half cooked his impressive roast - A huge joint of Aberdeen Angus with all the trimmings inc. onion sauce & even pigs in blankets!! Yum! I was even asked to make my homemade onion gravy!!!
We finished off with a huge helping of my... (ok, my mums) Strawberry cheesecake which went down well with everyone!
I was super proud of myself as I'm not the domestic kitchen goddess, my other half is a much better cook than me, but I must say, the cheesecake was a hit and so was my onion gravy!!!!!!!
Overall our day has been uber pleasant!!
Mel
Twitter:
@honestlyitseasy
@Tikobear
P.S. And if you want my receipes for the onion gravy & cheesecake, here they are:
Onion Gravy
1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
2 Large Red Onion - Halved & finely chopped
1 Large White Onion - Halved & finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic - chopped
3-4 Sage Leaves - chopped
400ml Beef Stock - Homemade or out the jar!!
Salt & Pepper
In a large frying pan, add the butter and oil and heat gently, once hot add the onion and fry for around 10 minutes until soft, add the garlic & sage and fry for another 5 minutes.
Now add the stock, turn up the heat and let it bubble away for around 20 minutes and not a minute before!!
Right at the last minute add salt & pepper to taste.
If the gravy seems a little "dry" just add some more water until you get the right consistency for you - Its all personal taste!
Thats it!! Now you can either use the gravy as is, or I like to blend mine up.
I find it is best to make this before anything else, even the day before. It can even be frozen. Perfect!
Strawberry Cheesecake
8 Digestive Biscuits
2oz Butter
1/2 pt double cream
3/4 cup Icing Sugar
8oz Light Philadelphia/Cream Cheese
Vanilla Essence
500g Strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Put the butter in a pan on a gentle heat, while this is melting pop the 8 digestive biscuits into a bag and take out any frustration on them! Crush them up until all crumbly. Add to the butter and mix well.
Pop this into the bottom of the pan/bowl you will be using and squash down, making sure its level, ready for the next layer. Pop in the fridge to set while doing the next step.
Now whisk the double cream until it forms soft peaks,
Then mix togwether the cream cheese, icing sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence. Fold into the cream.
Add to the pan/bowl again making your second layer to the cake.
Pop in the fridge for 2-3hrs.
Decorate with a few of the strawberries, leaving most for the coulis to be drizzled on top.
Heat the water, sugar & strawberries in a pan until bubbling. Once all the strawberries are super soft and mushy, transfer the mixture into a blender and blend until it makes a sauce.
Some people at this point like to strain this through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the strawberry seeds, I didn't bother!
Once this has cooled, dish up your cheesecake and pour over some coulis! Mmmmm absolutely beautiful!!!!
The house was blitzed top to bottom yesterday, everything cleaned and polished, even the chickens got a scrub down!
We had a lovely day watching the pheasants in the field at the bottom of the garden and enjoyed seeing the kids running around in the sun, something that doesn't happen often enough in this country!!
My gorgeous other half cooked his impressive roast - A huge joint of Aberdeen Angus with all the trimmings inc. onion sauce & even pigs in blankets!! Yum! I was even asked to make my homemade onion gravy!!!
We finished off with a huge helping of my... (ok, my mums) Strawberry cheesecake which went down well with everyone!
I was super proud of myself as I'm not the domestic kitchen goddess, my other half is a much better cook than me, but I must say, the cheesecake was a hit and so was my onion gravy!!!!!!!
Overall our day has been uber pleasant!!
Mel
Twitter:
@honestlyitseasy
@Tikobear
P.S. And if you want my receipes for the onion gravy & cheesecake, here they are:
Onion Gravy
1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
2 Large Red Onion - Halved & finely chopped
1 Large White Onion - Halved & finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic - chopped
3-4 Sage Leaves - chopped
400ml Beef Stock - Homemade or out the jar!!
Salt & Pepper
In a large frying pan, add the butter and oil and heat gently, once hot add the onion and fry for around 10 minutes until soft, add the garlic & sage and fry for another 5 minutes.
Now add the stock, turn up the heat and let it bubble away for around 20 minutes and not a minute before!!
Right at the last minute add salt & pepper to taste.
If the gravy seems a little "dry" just add some more water until you get the right consistency for you - Its all personal taste!
Thats it!! Now you can either use the gravy as is, or I like to blend mine up.
I find it is best to make this before anything else, even the day before. It can even be frozen. Perfect!
Strawberry Cheesecake
8 Digestive Biscuits
2oz Butter
1/2 pt double cream
3/4 cup Icing Sugar
8oz Light Philadelphia/Cream Cheese
Vanilla Essence
500g Strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Put the butter in a pan on a gentle heat, while this is melting pop the 8 digestive biscuits into a bag and take out any frustration on them! Crush them up until all crumbly. Add to the butter and mix well.
Pop this into the bottom of the pan/bowl you will be using and squash down, making sure its level, ready for the next layer. Pop in the fridge to set while doing the next step.
Now whisk the double cream until it forms soft peaks,
Then mix togwether the cream cheese, icing sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence. Fold into the cream.
Add to the pan/bowl again making your second layer to the cake.
Pop in the fridge for 2-3hrs.
Decorate with a few of the strawberries, leaving most for the coulis to be drizzled on top.
Heat the water, sugar & strawberries in a pan until bubbling. Once all the strawberries are super soft and mushy, transfer the mixture into a blender and blend until it makes a sauce.
Some people at this point like to strain this through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the strawberry seeds, I didn't bother!
Once this has cooled, dish up your cheesecake and pour over some coulis! Mmmmm absolutely beautiful!!!!
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
What to fill the raised beds with .....
When I went out to our area for raised beds the other evening I noticed a few of my carefully placed plant labels had been moved. I expect the culprit is Henrietta who is a Bantam Modern Game Chicken who insists that the coop area is not somewhere she should be and jumps up on the chicken house roof and over into the rest of the garden which since I have started sowing seeds is forbidden for the cheeky little chickens! She seems to be the only one that does this, what a rebel!
So before I forget what I’ve planted where I’ve drawn up a little plan!
Now I am by no means an expert in growing vegetables and this is the first lot of vegetables we are attempting at our new house (the ground was like clay when we first moved in we’ve been improving it with lots of chicken manure and stuff over the last 12 months).
I’ve also got some chillies and tomatoes started off in the house and now that the cold frame area is nearly finished (just some last minute touches to do should be fully operational by the weekend!), I can really start getting cracking on seedlings etc. We are going to try and grow our own ginger this year as well, never done it before so any tips would be very welcome!
All the best!
Claire
Xx
Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup
So before I forget what I’ve planted where I’ve drawn up a little plan!
Now I am by no means an expert in growing vegetables and this is the first lot of vegetables we are attempting at our new house (the ground was like clay when we first moved in we’ve been improving it with lots of chicken manure and stuff over the last 12 months).
I’ve also got some chillies and tomatoes started off in the house and now that the cold frame area is nearly finished (just some last minute touches to do should be fully operational by the weekend!), I can really start getting cracking on seedlings etc. We are going to try and grow our own ginger this year as well, never done it before so any tips would be very welcome!
All the best!
Claire
Xx
Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)