Chutney And Cake

The cherry tomatoes that I grew in a window box did extremely well, much better than the ones in the greenhouse.  Yesterday I harvested all the cherry tomatoes and there where loads.  Some were red and some were still green but I had noticed that they were being eaten and it turned out to be caterpillars.  It looked as if the caterpillars were taking a small meal out of each tomato then moving on to another one so it was time to pick them all before they were all ruined.  Once again I decided to make chutney.  This chutney is beetroot and tomato, I also added a big courgette/small marrow, four cooking apples and two onions as well as mixed spice, salt, ground ginger, brown sugar and wine vinegar.  I vaguely followed the chutney recipe out of my book, the weight of the total veg added up to the weight in the recipe so the spices, sugar and vinegar was the same as in the recipe.

Because I was using cherry tomatoes I couldn't prepare them as I usually do, that is remove all the skins, so, after I'd cut out the wood stem bit I simmered them until soft then liquidized them.  This is a very fruity tasting chutney probably due to the addition of the beetroot.

I mentioned in my last posting that I'd been to the Lowdham Show.  In the tent where the competition entries were on show there was a baking section.  Some of the recipes were included in the show guide booklet.  One cake looked so delicious I had to make it

Pineapple Cake

225g tin crushed pineapple

175g marg

250g soft brown sugar

225g mixed fruit

175g glace cherries, halved

350g SR flour

3 eggs

Melt marg and sugar in a large saucepan, add fruit, cherries and pineapple.  Mix thoroughly then ALLOW TO COOL.  Beat eggs and add to mixture with the flour.  Bake in a deep cake tin approx 21cm at 150C/gas 2 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Baking, Stitching and Other Stuff

We had a few day in Norfolk last week.  The weather was quite good considering the really crap August we've had.  I did get a trip out to Taverham, I wanted some Milliners needles and some Christmas card making supplies but couldn't find either but did end up buying stuff from the kitchen shop.  Several years ago I bought a Silverline cake tin, then I bought extra dividers for it (it's one of those tins that you can slot in the sides to make different size cakes).  But, the extra dividers were for the new, bigger sized tin, so I had to buy that too.  Plus I bought some preserving jars.  I'd used up all the recycled jars I had and the ones a friend had given me because of my chutney making.  As well as the rhubarb chutney I've made tomato & marrow and plum & damson.  The damsons were from my own tree, it's the first year this tree has actually produced fruit.  Usually it gets infested with some sort of pest and doesn't do very well.  I don't like spraying pests but this year I just had to, of course I used a spray that wouldn't harm birds but I still felt guilty for doing it.  We did get a few damsons though

We made these Apple & Apricot Treacle Tart Bars today, that dark bit around the edge is lovely and chewy due to the syrup that was in the topping, delicious!  It's got a shortcake base, apple, apricot and sugar stewed together (then pureed) in the middle and is topped with orange zest and juice, syrup and oats.  It was quite a time consuming recipe to do but tastes lovely.

While we were away I stitched this little embroidery, it's to cover the lid of a storage jar for my craft room.  I wanted to do this one because I wanted to stitch some bees, just got to put it on the lid now.

A Matter of Taste

I have wondered recently if my sense of taste was disappearing, particularly when I eat vegetables.  On Sunday I managed to collect enough veg from my plot to give us a small portion each.  That's when I realised that it's not my sense of taste, it's the commercially grown vegetables that I eat most of the year.  Carrots usually taste of nothing but I eat them anyway - but - when I tasted my home grown ones the memory of what carrots should taste like came flooding back.  They were delicious, full of flavour.

It's years since I tried to grow carrots, I never had any success with them.  This year, because I now have my raised beds, I decided to try them again.  These carrots are the best I've ever grown, wish I'd sown a few more now.  The mange tout are tender and tasty, the courgettes taste like courgettes and the broccoli has flavour.  Even though I only grow enough veg to use during the summer months it is worth it.  Worth it for the taste and worth it for the enjoyment I get tending my veg plot.

This is a coconut cake that I made today.  So what, you might say.  Well, what makes it unusual for me is that as well as using desiccated coconut it contains coconut cream.  I have only ever used coconut cream in curries before now but the recipe for this cake included coconut cream in the cake and in the icing.  I'm not sure if it makes much difference to the taste but the texture of this cake is very nice.  My recipe book tends to overdo it on the icing so in future I think I'll only make half the quantity, I told myself this before but I must stick to my decision next time.

Good Friday

I didn't know that Simnel Cake was originally a cake that young girls made for their mothers on Mother's Day, which here in the UK is the fourth Sunday in Lent.  I've never made one of these cakes, one reason being that marzipan used to be very expensive and I only used it for Christmas cake.  However, now that baking ingredients seem to be more affordable, I can be a lot more adventurous in my baking.  My new cake recipe book has a recipe for something similar to a Simnel cake so DH decided he would have a go at it.  When we bake one of us is the baker and the other is the assistant, this way we don't get too tired by the end of a baking session and it becomes an enjoyable experience (we are not as fit as we used to be).  The baker does all the mixing and the assistant does the weighing and reading out the recipe. 

This is the cake DH came up with

It tastes as delicious as it looks

It has cherries and a layer of marzipan in it - I bet you would like a piece!!!  The recipe book tells you how many calories for each slice and this one is 407 calories per slice.  There is a chocolate cake recipe that has 703 calories per slice, that one should be interesting!

One of my hobbies is dolls house miniatures.  The problem I have with this is that the houses take up so much room and one of them has been relegated to the garden shed along with most of my miniature making stash.  I often feel guilty that I don't do anything with my miniature supplies and have been thinking of a way to use them that doesn't take up so much room.  One idea was to make scenes that would fit into a shadow box.  I didn't want to spend any more money on this hobby and wondered if I could find an idea for making my own shadow boxes.  As usual, a search of the internet gave me just what I needed and I found a great tutorial.  I'm part way through making an adaptation of the box shown in the video and feel very enthusiastic about it.  That's what I'll be doing today, I was hoping to get out into the garden but the weather is so horrible, I'm glad I've always got my hobbies to keep me occupied.

Monday

Some people are talented bakers, some people are enthusiastic bakers.  I'm enthusiastic and bake often, sometimes with good results, sometimes with not so good results.  My baked goods always taste ok though.  Now, on the other hand, my DH is a talented baker.

If I'd have made these scones they would have been flat as pancakes but, as you can see, these rose beautifully.  I'm looking forward to having one after dinner with plum compote and cream.  This situation of enthusiasm versus talent doesn't deter me, I will carry on baking and hope that one day I'll attain that magic touch.

Our clocks went forward on Saturday/Sunday night, this always throws my inner clock out of sync.  As mentioned previously, I had to get up early today and be out of the house for eight o'clock.  So, I went to bed at my usual time (by the clock), and had an hours read, but could I get to sleep - it was at least two o'clock before I dropped off and I had to be up at six.  Then it dawned on me, I did go to sleep at my usual time, it was really one o'clock in old time!  I got to the venue early, as I usually do, I'm one of those people even if I think I'm late I'm early.  I sat there all day doing nothing but chat with a group of lovely ladies who felt the same way that I did about the situation (see a previous post re what I was there for).  Then, at three o'clock we were told we could all go home and not go back until a week on Wednesday - what a relief!!!  At least next week we don't have to be there until ten o'clock.

An Unproductive Week

This week has been wasted, hardly anything done at all because I've felt so tired and I don't know why.  I did get two more Ohio Star blocks made and some more cut out.

This is more the look I want and I'm pleased with how the colours go together.  I kept waiting for this tiredness to go off but it hasn't so far, I could have got more blocks sewn up if it had.

I did a bit of baking and made an apple and cinnamon cake, no picture because it's about all eaten.  In my quest for a cake suitable for a diabetic I tried a cookie recipe.  They don't look much like cookies to me, they tasted more like a scone and my friend tried one with low fat spread and said they were acceptable but I think she was just being kind!  They had no fat in them and the granulated sweetener.

There is a bit of cheerfulness in the garden

Miniature daffodils

Primulas that I took out of the vegetable plot and just roughly stuck in this tub, they are doing well

I love the colour of this pulmanaria.

No gardening got done again, it's been quite a wet week, we have had intermittent sunshine though.  My broadbean seedlings are now outside in the mini greenhouse and my tomato seedlings are doing well but are a bit stalky.

I hope I recover from this tiredness soon, next week is going to be a bit of a challenge.  I have to be out of the house by 8 am on Monday and I'll probably be away every day for the rest of the week.  I haven't had to do this for several years and I'm not looking forward to it!!!

Rainy Saturday

No gardening got done today, it has rained all day.  It's perhaps a good thing really, we both felt a bit tired with all the physical activity that we haven't been used to for quite a while now.

So, instead I decided to start a quilt.  I saw a fabulous quilt on Laurie's blog and she told me that the pattern is Ohio Star.  I went over to Quilters Cache and found the instructions.  Here's my first block

It's not quite how I wanted it to look but I did enjoy making it.

Right, about the cake I made yesterday.  It was a bit stodgy and not very sweet but it was acceptable.  I didn't get around to icing it because I wanted to try it and it was still warm when I cut it (mmmm yummy).  I was glad that I'd added the orange to it, I think it would have been a bit too bland without it.  If you want the recipe leave a comment and I'll post it on my blog for you.  I will make it again as it is a good, no sugar alternative to my usual cakes.

Diabetic Cake

I have a friend who is diabetic and loves baking.  She will often bring cake to my house for Graham, who loves her sponge cakes with buttercream.  I always feel a bit sorry that she can't enjoy a piece of cake when she visits me so I thought I'd try to bake a sugar free cake, then I could offer her a piece with her cup of tea instead of the boring digestive biscuit she usually has.

This cake is orange flavoured, I used the boiled, pureed whole orange idea that I'd used for a non-diabetic cake I'd made recently.  Anyway, I just took the cake out of the oven and, so far, it looks good.  It rose beautifully but is rather pale (apart from one area, my oven is terrible for an uneven heat).  The paleness won't matter as I intend to cover the top with a low fat soft cheese, diabetic suitable, icing.  The sweetener I used was Canderel, I used this in particular because my brother was instrumental in developing this sweeter (the clever old thing!).  Later I will ice the cake and try it then tomorrow I'll report on the taste and texture.  If I think it is ok I'll put the recipe here in case anyone wants to try it.

Garden Report

I spent another morning in the garden.  The weather was so warm I actually took my jacket off today.  I now have five raised beds and it still leaves plenty of areas where I will be able to place tubs and pots.  I'm growing a few things from seed but next week I'll go to a local nursery where I buy my vegetable plants and see what they've got for sale.  It's still a bit early for a lot of things but last year I had success protecting the plants I put in early by using garden fleece around the bed.  Last year I only planted the big raised bed and one row of beans in another bed due to the situation with Graham's health.

Sour Dough Mk II

The Mk II version of my sour dough bread looks much better than the Mk I.  I didn't add extra water than recommended to the dough and left it quite dry.  It rose beautifully overnight and I used a bread tin to bake it in.  I also baked it at a higher temperature and for ten minutes longer.  Plus, I put a bowl of water in the oven to provide a more moist environment.  It did split along one end but I think that was caused by the way I'd folded it.  Next week I'll try another technique for the proving that is used at River Cottage.

I spent another morning in my vegetable garden.  The weather was lovely, even better than yesterday as there was no wind.  A robin joined us for a few minutes, he found a few insects in the soil we'd turned over.  I put the manure and some pelleted chicken manure onto the new bed, cleared the big raised bed and marked out another bed ready for making tomorrow.  I've covered the new bed with the black plastic, for two reasons really, to suppress weeds and to also stop the foxes digging holes in it.  I did notice that a fox has started to dig a tunnel under our garage!