Despite having the best looking veg box delivered last week, somehow lunches didn't happen as I'd hoped. They were hastily grabbed and probably not the healthiest option and I was keen not to repeat that again this week. So yesterday I spent some time prepping and cooking in the kitchen so that I stood half a chance.
If you didn't see my pretty and tasty veg box, here's my Facebook post:
The box was so good - it's the type of box where you can choose your items - that our second box is arriving before we head to work this morning. We usually buy our fruit and veg from our local greengrocers, but just lately the quality seems to have gone down while the price has gone up and so I've been looking at other options. The price of this box is similar but the quality - and freshness - of the produce is far superior.
As well as these we also had some raspberries from the allotment to use - most are in the freezer - so my day of Domestic Godess-ing started with banana, apple and raspberry spelt pancakes, which of course we topped with greek yogurt, more apple puree and honey. They're good, and I use the recipe in Hugh's River Cottage Everyday as my base. I'm not sure I ever really follow it - for a start it doesn't have banana in it - but you'll discover through this post, I often only use a recipe as a guide.
Back to those lunches...
And yes, if you've scrolled down that is cake. But a homemade cake so I think that's slightly better. And any lunch this ends with cake is even better still.
So this is my take on Elly Pear's apple and banana cake. It does have quite a bit of sugar in, as I discovered as I started to make it - oops. Well, I consoled myself that it was helping me reduce the mountain of frozen bananas I have in the freezer. The recipe says to use overripe bananas, not frozen ones, but I sort of adapted the recipe a bit, I also didn't add the second topping, purely because by the time it was in the oven I had moved onto other things.
The cake recipe says it serves ten, even for a big cake person like me, I think it'll do more than that. Maybe next time though I should opt for a healthier cake, I will, if I remember. There is more to our lunches than cake, but rolls get boring (and sandwiches aren't my thing) so I've turned to those kinds of lunches where there's salad, protein and grains with lots of variety.
To help get us back on track with weekday lunches, yesterday I cooked some greenwheat freekeh and knocked up another batch and a half of Elly Pear's green harissa. I was only going to make a single batch, but my kitchen scales went a bit loopy with the coriander and so it became a batch and a half.
I think I agree with her about it being addictive, and who'd have thought that spring onions, kale, coriander, garlic, pickled jalapenos, salt and vegetable oil could produce such a winning combination.
In her newest book there's also recipes using the paste - I cooked the green eggs and refried beans, and we'll be having that again. Maybe not this batch though, as a spoonful alongside grains, salad and roasted vegetables will give our lunches a bit of zing, and there's more recipes I want to try in her books too.
And a batch of pizza dough
While the cake was cooking I was making a batch of pizza dough, as with the weather nice again we decided to fire up the pizza oven. There seemed little point making enough for one meal though so in the end I made enough for what turned out to be three occasions. With a kilo of flour, plenty of yeast, some olive oil, salt and tepid water it's a sticky, but enthusiastic dough.
I've still the perfect my take on the recipe, but when I do I'll share it here. Already we've found that the simplest pizza toppings are the best: tomato sauce, torn mozzarella and torn basil, or with some shavings of spicy nduja sausage.
Here's one serving of the dough during its second prove, it's enough for four pizzas the size of a large side plate and a smaller, test, garlic bread pizza. With another two "meals" in the freezer, the self appointed domestic goddess title was starting to be earnt.
But I wasn't done there as while the pizza oven was on, it seemed a missed opportunity not to make use of the heat as the oven cooled down. So the apricots from my veg box were split and doused with thyme, vanilla sugar, water and a vanilla pod. A combination I remembered seeing online recently and was looking forward to trying out.
Each year I forget just how much I like apricots and I was really looking forward to trying these.
Outside finally the pizza oven was getting there, and pizzas were cooked and eaten. No pictures, as by now I was hungry. I'd also made some crumble to keep in the fridge to meet emergency crumble needs, and following the suggestion of rhubarb crumble in an earlier comment, it seemed the only way to go.
Not content with that I'd also made a good looking, and well-risen sourdough to cook in the pizza oven. We knew it was possible, but as we discovered our oven was still too hot. The crust crusted up well, but before the bread could continue to rise in the heat, and it came out looking like this - oops.
Thankfully though it tasted better than it looked and so we'll be eating this for breakfast this week. And trying again, every time we fire up the pizza oven.
That wasn't our only mishap though as it turns out I needed my emergency crumble sooner than I thought too. That turned out much better than the bread, especially dolloped with mascarpone and eaten straight out of the tin as soon as it was done. It seemed rude not to.
But what became of the apricots?
The short answer is, not much and quite a lot! They cooked well and were just starting to catch so MOH took them out of the oven. And promptly dropped them.
Strangely, after that neither of us wanted any... Ah well, another time maybe.
In my greenhouse...
Back in June it was all about reacquainting myself with my greenhouse, and trying to persuade my tomatoes to grow - and I managed that, in the end. I think I should have potted them on much sooner, but hey ho!
i had a bit more luck with courgettes and squashes although no sooner had I planted them out in the allotment, then another one sprung out of nowhere...
My chillies were suffering the same non-growing fate as my tomatoes, so on our recent visit to Hyde Hall I consoled myself with this pretty purple chilli plant. I've not picked any yet, but am curious to know what they taste like.
The flowers I have in the greenhouse continue to flower, it seems both those grown from seed and the miniature bedding plants are acting the same way, and both are adding some unusual colour to my space. The one below is a poached egg plant and good for attracting pollinators. Pretty too.
Proof that my tomatoes have responded well to potting on. Of course now I'm left with the headache of finding space for them on the allotment, but that's a good problem to have.
I've also had success with parsley this year. For the first time ever what growing from seed I know parsley likes it warm to germinate and it seems this year it's playing ball.
I'm also trying starting off spinach, lettuce and beetroot in drainpipe. I know it sounds odd but I think these are the kinds of plant that do well sown direct. But the only problem with that is when the seedlings come through they look like weeds. So my master plan is to give them a head start in the drainpipe and then transplant them without needing to disrupt and interrupt them too much.
Thats the plan anyway, and of course it's reliant on having somewhere to grow them...
As well as the pale pink flower above I'm noticing that my blueberry has turned autumnal. I mean, it's a lovely colour but I don't know if it's putting on a show or slowly giving up, I guess I'll find out soon enough.
It seems that this year though is my year of the foxglove, as not only did I have two flowering foxgloves I've a bumper crop of seedlings too.
And finally, there's an unusual addition this month, with these solar powered light bulbs sheltering here. It was way too windy for them to be outside, so they're taking a temporary respite until the summer returns. I'm hoping it won't be long!
What have you been up to in your garden or greenhouse? Share your successes and more in the comments.
Stylish brights & patterned tableware at the new Homesense store in Greenwich
OWL-TASTIC, AND JUST MY COLOUR
Exciting news, this week HomeSense finally moved into my area.
Dangerous news too for my purse, and MOH is already rolling his eyes at this news. No doubt he's resigned to the fact that it's now even more likely (and let's face it it was pretty likely before) that even more interior loveliness will find its way into our home.
While I was in the new store it would have been rude not to take a few pictures of their ranges, wouldn't it?
It seems that right now I'm attracted to cushions, as I found myself drawn to them almost at every turn. And if it's cushions you want then HomeSense have a great range, and one of the sales assistants today told me they also have a delivery every day...
I told you it was dangerous.
Yesterday it started with the owls. I was seriously tempted, before being sidetracked by the geometrics. I'm not sure why as I know the owls would be a better fit for our home, but well indecision struck.
And these were in the window, it wasn't going to end well was it, or was it?
I turned away only to be met by these buddhas, calm was restored and these statues were considered too. But then again taking this larger gold one back to work on the bus might cause a few looks, maybe that's for another day.
I wandered and found myself in the lighting department at the back of the store and in front of this pink flamingo light. Then I remembered that the lamp in my bedroom, which lights the mirror where I do my make-up had less than quietly gone pop recently, so I could leave with an ultra-practical purchase. I looked at the flamingo light again and I knew that even I would be struggling to badge this as an ultra-practical purchase.
Although I think everyone should consider a pink flamingo home accessory at least once in their life.
Resisting the practical choices for now I moved on throughout the store and promptly fell in love with this sofa, its pattern is very similar to one I saw in Totnes many years ago, which started a new sofa search. Up until now I hadn't realised HomeSense sold larger items of furniture - I think on previous visits to the Tunbridge Wells store I'd been so focussed on my mission of faux flowers and garden lights that I'd missed this all together.
I did spot many grey and yellow colour combinations though, which is a combination I love - and if you hadn't noticed, I've also snuck plenty more cushions into this post with the photos above. The photo below is much less subtle, but definitely no worse for it either.
The other thing that struck me as I walked around the new store on opening day was how easy it'd be to get organised with HomeSense, there were office organisers, wicker baskets for use just about anywhere and an aisle end display that was not only eye catching but clearly practical too.
NO EXCUSE TO NOT BE ORGANISED!
Also upstairs I discovered the most gorgeous tableware. I knew that if I hung around for too long it would be dangerous and (on this visit) I daren't even pick the pieces up and look at the prices as I'd be in that place where resistance is futile...
The willpower was strong on this visit - and I stuck to my gameplan, remember the bedroom lamp one? Yes, the practical side was in evidence today, as I headed back downstairs to the stylish matt grey and brass lamp that had caught my eye earlier. It's not quite the pink flamingo light, but it's every bit as stylish in its understated way, and will be a massive boon for avoiding the mascara wand in my eye!
So thank you HomeSense, it's good to have you close by and it's safe to say I'll be back!
* This is a collaborative post but all views are my own