Time is not a Good Excuse for Eating Bad Food. Recipes included.

This day and age everyone seems to be time poor. Too busy doing things to, well, do other things. But honestly, there is no excuse of too little time when it comes to eating real food, good food, even (dare I say it) healthy food.

What else to do with Pumpkin ~ A twist on Soup and Seeds

If you saw yesterday’s Blog Post (How Big Does Your Pumpkin Grow), I mentioned a number of Pumpkin recipes I tried, of which I included Spicy Pumpkin and Apple Chutney.  Today I am posting Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds for your autumn harvest enjoyment. (Tomorrow, I will post a Pie recipe to close on a classic .) After all, those large pumpkins go along way.

How big does your Pumpkin grow?

Whether it is images for Halloween or the cornucopia concept of harvest, autumn to me can be summed up in Pumpkins.  There is something about these roly-poly orange veg that just makes me smile.  (Maybe that is why we are driven to carve toothy faces into them?)

Autumn Harvest – planting the unique

As this was my second year gardening vegetables, I put my hand to trying to grow more unusual vegetables.  As a Garden Virgin, I of course had varying success. However, I am very proud of having had a go with melons, various types of basil, sweet potatoes, and particularly Rond de Nice – round courgettes (or zucchini) to you and me.

Last year I planted straight courgettes, only 4 plants, but my oh my did I get a few courgettes. As did the neighbours, and the neighbours of the neighbours, the workmen, heck, anyone who dared come to our door. This year I planted Rond de Nice, mainly because I think they are prettier, but! and this is a big but, it turns out they also produce less and don’t (quiet) take over the garden.

It’s a little trickier figuring out what to do with them. The obvious is stuff them, and that is actually a delicious thing to do as they cook better than squashes this way, since they are softer and have a higher water content. But that can get a little boring after the 3rd time, particularly if you have quite a few of them. I did find you can actually cook them just as you would straight courgettes, cutting them up, ribboning them, whatever the needs are for a recipe.

One of my favourite recipes for courgettes is so very easy, takes about 5 minutes:

Ingredients:
courgette
olive oil
salt
sumac (substitute paprika if you don’t have sumac, though not quite as good)
sesame seeds

Using a potato peeler, peel your courgette (round or otherwise) into ribbons, skin and flesh, until you get to the seeds. Compost the seeded bit.

In a saucepan heat a tablespoon of olive oil on a medium heat. Toss in the courgette ribbons and stir around. Add a pinch of salt. Add a teaspoon of sumac, and stir into the courgette. Add the sesame seeds, and again stir. Stir loosely for about 2 minutes and serve.

Following an Apple theme – Apple Compote recipe

Having blogged about what to do with left over apple peels and cores from making apple compote, I thought it might be worth actually posting a recipe for what to with the actual apples. So herewith, a delicious recipe for apple compote / sauce:

Autumn Apples – making Easy apple juice

I’m sitting here, writing this blog post with a pot of apple cores and peels on the boil on the stove , deliciously wafting an apple scent into the room, and a bowl of vanilla ice cream and warm apple compote sat beside me just begging to be eaten. So, excuse me just a minute….

What’s to like about Menopause? I’m no longer allergic to cats.

What’s to like about Menopause? Honestly? Not a cotton picking thing. Well… there is one thing. I am no longer allergic to cats. My allergy to cats has been something I have had to contend with all my life, and, since I absolutely adore the little fur balls, I have simply learned not to put my face in, or even near, their fur. But all that has changed.

An Eggageration of Eggs – Trying my hand at Creme Brulee

We have 3 chickens and 3 ducks. We average about 2 eggs per day. Now that may not seem like a lot, but you try eating over a dozen eggs per week, every week. And I have to say, I am rather tired of omelettes. So, I am on the search for something new to do with our eggs.

My first new attempt has been Coffee-Caramel Creme Brulee,

5:2, Bullet Proof, Paleo, Gluten Free – Diet or Lifestyle?

I am not a great proponent of diets. I am a firm believer that if you deprive yourself of something, particularly a yummy something, you will inevitably go back to it and then more so. So although a diet may give a quick fix, I think it is not sustainable. *And by ‘diet’ I mean something you do for a bit, hopefully reach your goal, and then stop, or give up in most cases.  Now a lifestyle change that is far more healthy sounding to my ears.

Discovering Lettuce Sandwiches

I have discovered Lettuce Sandwiches. No, its not a sandwich made of lettuce (though personally I haven’t tried that yet, so one never knows.) Rather it is a sandwich that uses lettuce instead of bread.

I came across this concept first when making a hamburger. Hamburger buns in France are, well, ewwww. It’s not something you go out of your way to find unless you like the taste of cardboard. And any self respecting boulangerie is not going to make le bun.  I fancied a good juicy burger and our butcher minces the cut of beef one choices for you. Perfection. We tried burgers without buns and for some reason this just doesn’t make sense. Then I hit on the idea of taking the lettuce we normally put on the burger, around the burger. And voila! And, I have to say it was delicious, fresh and because we could pick it up like a burger, it seemed like one.

This has led us into the realm of trying all sorts of other things in lettuce. Left over stir-fried chicken, prawn noodles, even some chilli. But our absolute favourite, and so simple for lunch is the classic tuna and sweetcorn. I add just a tiny amount of mayonnaise, just enough to bind it a bit and then wrap a spoonful or two in a lettuce leaf. They are so fresh and flavoursome I wouldn’t eat tuna and sweetcorn any other way now.

Oh, and of course, a great and easy gluten free alternative to the normal bread sandwich.