Mini spinach quiche (vg) (gf) and Chick pea brownies

Mini vegan spinach quiche  great recipe for buffets or as little snacks

 

We made it with a couscous salad

and as dessert this amazing chickpea chocolate brownie

 





Finally some sunshine and a bit of warmth, so we ended up in the allotment as well as the garden, to pick our ingredients and some flowers. Currently the phacelia, calendula, love in the mist, sweetpeas, are ready to be picked.

Rain, Rain and more rain... we need it!

Waking up this morning, was a welcome sound of persistent rain. Yesterday I was working in the allotment and the need for watering was apparent. Luckily the heavens opened and for the last 12 hours it has rained and still is.

As the asparagus and artichokes needed harvesting, I decided to pick these before the group arrived.

On the menu:  Artichoke in a vinegrette sauce.

Followed by a lentil and tomato soup, topped with basil.

As a main meal  we had asparagus, with boiled potatoes and a poached egg.

Although the group today was small we had fun experimenting.

Wednesday 1st May - Dandelion Jelly, Spinach polpette with Orzo

As the orzo we did on monday was not properly made, I decided to try again and see how it turned out.
Well, it was delicious.
A few months ago Carmen gave me a recipe from Waitrose. Spinach polpette with orzo so decided to do a mixture of the lemon asparagus orzo recipe from Monday's from Spade to Plate but added the tomatoes and the spinach polpettes and topped it with finely chopped mint. It was gorgeous.

The juice today was Rhubarb cordial, with the pulp I made some lovely rhubarb crumble for the family, so not a bit of waste here.

The weather was nice and the dandelions were going to seed all over the allotment. To do the other allotment holders a favour, we picked 110gr of dandelion petals and turned them into dandelion jelly.
This time we used a sachet of pectine rather than my favourite dutch jelly sugar. I am keeping fingers crossed that it will set as everyone went home with a little jar to put on their toast as a vegan alternative to honey.

Curried Chickweed, dandelion fritters and basmati rice

Today we had a large group who went on a little foraging expedition. We were on the hunt for dandelions and chickweed.

Before we set off, David made some vegannaise using aquafaba, which we used as a dip for the Dandelion Fritters as well as a topping for the Chickweed curry.

       

The chickpeas that were left were used in the Curried Chickweed recipe which we had with a carrot and cumin seed salad

A hive of activity in this kitchen, when we prepared the carrot salad

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The Dandelions were turned into some delicate Dandelion fritters.

Dandelion fritter, and curried chickweed

Lucky us. The sun was out and the dandelions were in full bloom. Today we went to the allotment to pick these bright yellow flowers to turn into dandelion fritters. We ate them as a starter with a mayonnaise, maple syrup and pepper dip.
     

Here Yukini and Kazaki are preparing the parmesan cheese and mushroom for the delicious creamy mushroom sauce.


We made some ravioli, tagliatelle and spaghetti and a mushroom and garlic sauce.
The making of the pasta was a big hit with the children and the dandelion fritters were a real novelty.

Must do this again.

Building a vertical garden

As there as been a lot of interest into my vertical garden, I have decided to do  a little workshop this weekend. Rozenn, Mairead, Simone and Melendra turned up to turn the plastic bottles donated by various friends into a productive garden in a very small space.

We even have Ayesha from Lahore and Jorge in Colombia who watched this little video with interest. I thought you might like to see it too

Oats, Oats and more oats

Today we started with making Oat Milk as the the Creamy Vegan Broccoli Soup called for plant milk.
We went to the allotment to pick the purple sprouting broccoli.


We made some oat and yoghurt bread to go with the deliciously creamy soup.           

As a treat we made a banana blueberry vegan ice cream which went down very well with young and old.  We froze 3 bananas in chunks, as well as a couple of handfuls of blueberry, we blended them into a smooth ice cream. We kept some of the berries to defrost as a topping together with a little fresh mint.
        


What a lovely morning we had!

Bulgar wheat salad with flat bread and rhubarb crumble

As it was the first rhubarb from the allotment, it was not much but enough to make a delicious Rhubarb cordial 

and  with the left over fibre we made a crumble.

       We made some egg custard to go with the crumble an as main meal we made a Bulgar Wheat Salad with flat bread.

                

          


The whole meal was an experiment (which paid off well.)

Spinach & Feta Tarts

Spinach & Feta Tarts pine nuts served with a mixed leaf salad.

     

   
Spinach and ginger soup

 with Guinness bread 

What a lovely birthday party

Today I was treated with no end of flowers and cards before we made my birthday meal. As one friend needs a gluten free diet and another vegan, we managed to come up with a lovely meal with much of the food coming out of the garden.

We sat down and during the preparation of all the food we had a chat, laugh and time to share experiences together.

 It was a hive of activity. We started by making the special occasion salad, we only needed to pick the greens (lambs lettuce and chickweed) from the allotment to add later.

The kitchen smelled divine after we started the curry, again we could make most of beginnings of the curry and needed to pick up the Chard for the Chard and Mushroom Curry from the Guardian News Paper.

Chard, chickpea and mushroom curry (V) which we had with rice and a delicious salad and a sweet potato roti we added some cumin seed to the mix before cooking in a dry frying pan.

When we were in the alloment we pick a variety of different coloured chard, it was a joy to eat but also to look at as it was so colourful.

As we made a vegan gluten free carrot cake, we went to the allotment to pick hand fulls of carrots.