End Of The Summer Season

In New Zealand the seasons change on the first of the month, as opposed to the solstices or equinoxes, so we've been ensconced in autumn for a month now.  Aside from the calendar heralding the change of seasons, the weather has also let us know (in no uncertain terms) that summer's over... but further to that, the summer produce is definitely done.

First - the watermelon:

Check out my melon baby... kind of wish I had another one, so I could do a real classy melon shot!  Please excuse the crazy eyes and the teeth I've bared - I think I was a bit tired and disheveled from gardening.

Unfortunately, when I cut it, it was a bit anemic inside - a light pink instead of a beautiful juicy watermelon colour.  That hasn't stopped me from eating it - tastes alright.

Today my dinner was provided to me, courtesy of our garden.  I didn't feel like anything fancy, but everything just seemed to fall into place this evening.  The BEST thing is that this meal was delicious and relatively low in Weight Watchers ProPoints!

First, I whipped up some pesto, using some sad basil from the garden.  It's nearing the end of heat-loving-basil-growing season and my basil got blown over during a storm a while back, so it's a bit worse for wear, so I figured I needed to use it up quick smart.  I used the same recipe as I have before, except I was lazy and didn't toast the pine nuts.  It still tasted fabulous.

I had to fight some yucky snails for the last of my basil leaves.  I've still got a bit out there that I need to harvest.

My plan was to make a pesto cream sauce (I made one last week with some Philadelphia Cream for Cooking.)  It was lovely, but a touch bland... I was planning to give it another go, but to make the odd improvement. 

Then I looked at my veggies I gathered from the garden and hemmed and hawed for a while.

I chopped up the capsicum and when I tasted it, it felt like the bits exploded with flavour in my mouth!  I think I even did a little happy dance.

I decided I wasn't in a pasta mood, so I cooked up some quinoa.  We had it in the cupboard and both Phill and I weren't wild about it when we tried it - we found it far too bland to enjoy.  I have been convinced that I could find something that would work with it though.

So I chopped up the beans (after stringing them) and threw them in a pot with the silverbeet and a little bit of water so they could cook a tiny bit (about 10 min.)  I diced the capsicum and tomato and set them aside for later.  Once the quinoa was cooked I stirred in about 4 tablespoons of pesto, the cooked beans and silverbeet.  I spooned the mixture on a plate and sprinkled the diced capsicum and tomato over top of the warm quinoa and veggies.  The veggies are all 0 points, so all the points come from the quinoa and pesto - for the amount I used, it was around 7 ProPoints all together, but you could easily reduce the number of points by using a bit less pesto. 

I'm going to go right ahead and say it - it was AMAZING.  If I wasn't trying to practise some sort of portion control, I would have eaten another plateful!!  The remaining pesto is going to be frozen in the ice cube tray so I can enjoy the taste of summer in a few months' time.

Phill even liked it (he really didn't like quinoa when we had it) - I do attribute it to my heavy hand with the pesto.  To be honest, it had so much of it because my ice cube tray was full and I didn't want to sterilize a bottle to save a tablespoon's worth of pesto. 

We both agreed that a bit of chicken (cooked with a lot of garlic) would have made this amazing dish extraordinary.  Ooooh - maybe a bit of grated parmesan too?

Next time!

A Change Of Plan(t)s

Yesterday's plan was to pick some of the beautiful basil I've got growing in the vege patch and make some pesto - I'm running out of the store bought stuff in the fridge and it's one of my cooking staples.  I decided to use my own, fresh ingredients to make a batch instead of paying a small fortune to buy the premade stuff. 

But... after a bit of reading about the funny markings on my tomato plants, I found out that they are sick.  With a heavy heart and a pair of secateurs, I mercilessly snipped away at the vines, leaves and stalks.  Where there were six big, bushy, delightful plants, there are now only four tragically thinned out plants.  I'm supposed to remove ALL vines with the awful white fungus stuff on them, but that would have decimated my biggest, most productive plant.  So I took off most of it and I've got my fingers crossed that I can control the rest with one of these home remedies.  I'm a bit worried my tomatoes are going to get a sunburn now.  Sheesh.  Does it never end?

Anywho, enter the next recipe.  Green tomato chutney.  I'm NOT letting all my tomatoes go to waste and I don't think they'll ripen if they're this green, so here goes.  I got this recipe off the internet, like many others.  Sounds pretty standard (check me out, Mrs Tomato Chutney Expert.)  I've halved the original recipe, as I'm short on jars and Mum thinks some of these green babies will ripen up.

Green Tomato Chutney - slightly modified from recipe
Weight Watchers ProPoints = 1 point per serve (based on 50 servings.)

1.3(ish - whatever 2.5 lbs comes out to) kg green tomatoes
500g onions or 1 lg. onion
1/2 tsp. peppercorns
1/2 tsp. salt
just under 500g brown sugar (whatever comes out to 1lb or thereabouts)
3/4 c. malt vinegar
1/4 c. sultanas
2 cloves

1/8ish tsp of cayenne chilli powder

I had to take a photo of the cut tomato - I thought it was so pretty!  (I may have popped a bit in my mouth accidentally... it tasted nice, like tomato obviously, but with a gentler flavour.)

Roughly chop the tomatoes and onions.  Mix them together in a basin/bowl/container (whatever) with the peppercorns and salt. Allow this to stand overnight. 

All mixed up so then I covered it with Glad wrap for the night.

It's a bit late.  I shouldn't have faffed around so much... regardless, it's standing overnight now.

The following day (today), boil the sugar, cloves and cayenne with the vinegar then add the sultanas.

Sometimes Blogger uploads my pictures sideways.  I don't understand why, but I can't fix it - even if I reupload the photo.  Anyhow, keep an eye on it at this stage because it will boil really suddenly and if you don't pay attention will burn and boil over.

Simmer for 5ish minutes, then add the tomatoes and onions and simmer until thick.

Again, sideways.  Irritating!

I simmered mine for about an hour and a half.  I think it's because I added the tomatoes and onions AND the water that was in the bowl after it sat all night.  I think if you drained the water and THEN added it, it may take only 40 minutes, as the original recipe says.

I forgot to take a photo when it was done just right.  I used the potato masher to mash it up and make it smaller and more chutnified. 

Pour into hot jars and seal.

I made cute labels yesterday.  I love them!

This chutney is a lot sweeter than the other one, and doesn't have as much of a kick.  I do like it though.  I'm not sure how it tastes with stuff yet, but I imagine it'll be nice with cheese and crackers, sausages and steaks.  If properly sealed and stored, it's meant to keep for up to a year (refrigerate after opening.)

**update - it tastes AWESOME with all of the above suggestions, and I think I like it better than my other tomato chutney... it's also a better consistency than the first batch of chutney (Phill prefers the taste of the first chutney though, so they must both be pretty good.)

original recipe source

Le Jardin

Cucumbers

Garden from upstairs - much fuller than last time.

From left to right - bed 1 - watermelon; bed 2 - tomatoes, spring onion, celery and parsley; bed 3 - potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce; bed 4 - perpetual spinach, oregano, thyme, basil, chilli oregano; bed 5 - cucumber & scarlet runner beans

My tomatoes

Green oak lettuce

Chives

Perpetual spinach

Capsicum

Basil

Scarlet runner beans

Any recipe suggestions will be happily and gratefully received, trialled and blogged!

Welcome To My Kitchen!

Hello and welcome!

I've only just started this blog, having rediscovered my love for baking and cooking.  I've also found a new passion for gardening.  Our garden is lovely, large and highly productive!

Since this photo was taken three weeks ago, everything seems to have exploded!  All the beds are full of veg and we're eating our way through them.

There's been an abundance of fresh fruit and veg filling our kitchen over the past few months and I hate to see it go to waste, so I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen trying to use it up.  I thought some people may enjoy seeing a range of recipes that are tried, tested, true and tasty.  I'll be the first to admit, I'm no foodie, but I do love food.

Finally, there's the never-ending quest to get fit.  I'll admit, sometimes I'm crap at it and I make things that are not the healthiest, but all things in moderation, right?  Where applicable or useful, I'll put Weight Watchers ProPoints values up with some recipes. 

So... I'd love it if you could stay a while and give some of my bits and bobs a read!