Easy Homemade Sausage Rolls

Ingredients:

250g readymade shop bought puff pastry (OR make your own using the recipe - Easy Puff Pastry)

8 sausages

thyme

ground pepper

1 egg, beaten

Method:

1. Preheat oven to Gas 6/200C.
2. Roll out the pastry onto a lightly floured surface, ideally into a rectangle, about <0.5cm thick & the width of 2 sausages end to end. Cut the pastry into 2 long strips the width of each sausage.
3. Brush the beaten egg onto the pastry and sprinkle some of the thyme & ground black pepper over it.
4. Place a sausage to the edge of the pastry and roll, cutting the pastry when you have approximately 1cm overlap of pastry around the sausage.
5. Place the rolled sausage on a baking tray and make some slits with a knife in the top.
6. Brush with beaten egg.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 until you have used all the pastry or sausages (I found this was the perfect ratio of sausages to pastry but it depends on how thinly/thickly you roll your pastry and how fat your sausages are!).
8. Place in the oven for 25-30 mins or until golden brown.

Great to take on a packed lunch or for a buffet or summer picnic.

Pea, Spinach & Pesto Lasagne

Ingredients:

White sauce:

500ml milk
25g butter
1 heaped tbsp plain flour

Lasagne sheets
Pesto - half jar
200g frozen or fresh peas
200g spinach
Cheese, grated
Few leaves of fresh basil
Few leaves of fresh mint

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Melt butter in a pan on a low heat.
3. Remove from heat & mix in the flour to make a thick paste.
4. Whisk in a small amount of the milk to make a smooth paste and return to a low/medium heat. As it's heating continue stirring & gradually add more & more of milk to the pan. Eventually the sauce will begin thickening.
5. Stir in the spinach, peas, pesto & herbs and heat until the spinach leaves have wilted.
6. In a lasagne dish layer: the lasagne sheets, pesto, pea & spinach sauce & a sprinkling of grated cheese. Continue layering until you have used all the sauce, top with cheese. 
7. Place in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy with some fresh green salad or garlic bread. We also had some grilled sausages with the lasagne for all you meat lovers.

Peas in a Pod

My pea harvest has began, they're so beautifully sweet and succulent...

Also you remember the photos of the basil I posted a month ago What Is Wrong With My Basil? well . . . after moving the plants outside, removing the browned leaves and repotting them, the plants have sprouted some beautiful healthy green leaves which I am looking forward to using soon in my kitchen.

Celebration cake

Yesterday we were celebrating with family & friends a year with our little one, who adores "doggies" so here is the cake we made. 

First fruits

Carrots

Red Strawberries

Peas

Peas

Green Tomatoes