recipe of the week: lemonade x2

when it's hot outside, make lemonade.

basil lemonade

3 lemons, zested and juiced
handful of fresh basil, chopped roughly
2 spoonfuls of honey
2 spoonfuls of sugar
jug of water

pour some of the water into a pot, add sugar and honey and boil for a few minutes, everything needs to be dissolved.
take off the heat and add the zest and basil, allow to cool completely.
pour lemon juice into a large bowl, strain the zesty, sugary water into the bowl and taste.
add more water or sugar or lemon or anything it needs.


minty melon lemonade

half a melon (i used cantaloupe) puree with a splash of water using a hand blender
1 lemon, zested and juiced
handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
jug of water
2 spoonfuls of sugar

boil some of the water with the sugar until dissolved, take off the heat and add the zest and mint, cool completely.
strain the blended melon into a bowl and add lemon juice.
strain cooled mint water into the melon and lemon juice.
add more water or lemon or sugar to taste.

i'm obsessed

i love my garden. my turf has taken really well and is growing with gusto. i have some deep blue, hot pink and yellow flowers in bloom. my tomatoes and courgettes have definite buds that are looking suspiciously like flowers...which mean food will be growing soon! my strawberries are flourishing and i have my first pea shoots!

look at my first pea shoot!

i'm so impressed with myself. last year i couldn't even keep a house plant alive and now i have a full on garden as well as 3 house plants thriving. my black fingers have turned to green thumbs.

i cannot wait to eat you.

first recipe using my produce: vegetarian cannelloni

ok, so it's only using some basil from my garden, but it's basil that i grow. i don't have any measurements for this recipe.

soya mince
bottle of tomato juice, sauce or puree
cherry tomatoes
garlic cloves, finely chopped/grated
grated cheese - i used parmesan and mozzarella
basil leaves, half chopped half left whole
dried cannelloni pasta.

preheat oven to 175C or 350F, bring a pot of water up to the boil.
slit and X into the bottom skin of each tomato and pop into boiling water for 30 seconds. the skin slips right off when slightly squeezed.
fry the vege mince until wamred, add skinned cherry tomoatoes and a sploosh of tomato sauce. cook for a few minutes and then allow to cool a little.
pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into a deep baking dish, making sure the whole surface is covered.
sprinkle the chopped garlic and basil over the top.
spoon the mince filling into the pasta tubes and lay the tubes into the sauced dish. fill the dish with as many cannelloni's as you can.
pour the remaining tomato sauce over the pasta, ensuring good spreading and coverage.
grate the parmesan over the top and rip pieces of mozzarella over the top.
place the whole basil leaves on top of the cheese because it's pretty.
bake for 30 minutes covered and then uncovered for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is gooey and brown.

my garden: the update

you didn't cross your fingers and hope for the best did you? the strawberry plants i saved have all died but one so i went in search of living plants that will give me fruit. i ventured out to my school's local garden centre and found the plant perfection i was seeking! i even found a bat box, ladybird house, bee house and a variety of bird feeders...i'll pick up some of those next month.

not only did i get 2 huge and healthy strawberry plants - with flowers and fruit already, far yellow tub - i procured purple sage and moroccan mint to accompany my basil, coriander and garden mint already in my herb tub - far orange tub. i purchased a plum tomato and cherry tomato plant - close yellow tub - along with 2 courgette plants - close orange tub. i also picked up some pea and broad bean seeds - small black tubs - guaranteed to sprout in 7-10 days.

so my garden is now complete. except maybe some mulch or bark for around the flowers to help smother the weeds. i love every aspect of the garden up-keep but i can't say i enjoy weeding.

i cannot wait to eat some of my own fruit and vegetables! i'm so impressed with myself.

busy little bees

a few weeks ago i decided it was time to attack the over-grown wilderness that was my back garden. i was high on the sunshine at the time.

imagine, if you will as i didn't take any 'before' shots, this mash of tangled weedland covering my entire back garden up to your knees. it was a forest. and old forest. the roots grew deep.

i enlisted some help of alex and his mother as there was no way i could tackle this wilderness on my own but 3 cheers for alex who basically cleared the whole thing by himself! as you can see he and i both gave up towards the back of the patch and laid some paving tiles down to separate the wasteland from the garden. that back patch may be a job for another day.

once everything was cleared we ventured to the local garden centre to pick up some plants. the theme is 'cottage garden'. unfortunately nothing has really bloomed yet so the theme is not obvious. but i have poppies, lupins, lavenders, periwinkle, heathers, clematis, and others i cannot remember. i also picked up some turf so i can have a little patch of grass to lay my head. this weekend i found some dreadful strawberry plants that i saved from the indoor horrors of tesco grocery store and planted in a large tub on my patio along with another tub for herbs *cross your fingers that the strawberries survive*. next weekend i think i'll get another tub or two and plant some vegetables. beans? tomatoes? courgettes? yes i think so. can you grow courgettes in a tub?

i have bumble bees visiting my garden regularly as well as squirrels and a variety of birds. that makes me happy. now i want to get a bat box, a ladybird house and possibly a bird feeder. i could really go crazy. check out flickr for more picture goodness.