Green Tomato Chutney

Wondering what to do with that glut of green tomatoes from the garden?

Ingredients:

1kg green tomatoes

2 medium onions

400g sultanas

400g dark brown soft sugar

1.5 tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 tsp nutmeg

800ml malt vinegar

Method:

1. Chop tomatoes & onions roughly.
2. Add all the ingredients to a large pan & mix together.
3. Bring pan to the boil on a medium heat then reduce the heat to continue simmering, stir occasionally.
4. Simmer for about an hour to hour and a half (can sometimes take longer!) until the mixture is a thick pulp, when you draw the wooden spoon across the base of the pan there should be no vinegar fill that space.
5. Preheat oven to 150C to sterilse the jars.
6. Wash in clean soapy water the jars & their lids, then place on a baking tray & put them in the oven for 15 mins to dry.
7. Fill the jars with the hot chutney, place a wax seal on top of the chutney & screw on the lid.
8. Leave for about 4-6 weeks for the flavour to develop.

Great to give away as presents for Christmas or to enjoy for yourself with cheese and ham   :)

NB The above recipe made & filled about 4 1lb jars of chutney.

An Autumn Owl

My toddler was loving playing with the dry golden brown leaves in the garden so we collected some together to make an autumn owl.

You cannot get an idea of the size from this photo but the owl is almost as tall as my 2 year old :)

PACMAN Birthday!

For my husband's birthday & with very little time this year I had the challenge of making a cake with a computer game theme. My husband loves his space games especially Elite Dangerous, so an easy but retro idea came to mind....

Paneer Tikka

Ingredients:

Marinade:

125ml natural yoghurt

2 tbsp ginger purée

1-2 tbsp garlic purée

1 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp veg oil

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp cumin

6 cardamom pods, grounded seeds 

250g paneer, inch cubes

2 peppers

1 large red onion

Method:

1. In a bowl mix together the marinade ingredients to make a thick paste.
2. Chop the other ingredients to inch size pieces & add to the marinade mixing well.
3. Leave for a few hrs or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 200C.
5. Bake for 10mins until the paneer is turning golden brown & turn over putting back in the oven for another 10 mins.

Serve with fresh lettuce, chopped tomatoes, raita & mango chutney in a wrap or naan.

NB could also skewer the paneer & veg after it's marinated & cook on a BBQ or under the grill.

Homemade naans

Where have I been?

I know it's been a very long time since I posted anything...apologies but it's been a very busy summer!!

We had a wonderful road & camping trip to the Black Forest in Germany to see my brother, sister-in-law & 3 nieces. The youngest nieces are twins that were born earlier in the year so it was our first time to meet them & have lots of cuddles. Plus my brother & his family hadn't yet met our youngest neither. We also became Godparents to the twins & had a lovely day with all the family at the Christening at a little chapel high in the mountains.

Heidelberg

Heidelberg

Black Forest

Only a few weeks after returning from our holiday my mum suddenly passed away, which was quite a shock for us all, but meant I was very pre-occupied with all the arrangements & grieving.

In memory of mum

August brought my return to work after nearly 7 months off, which has been a big adjustment for us all. 

Hence, I'm sure you can now understand  why the blog has been a little neglected. But I now have some wonderful new recipes to share with you, especially as we have now all become vegetarians I have even trying out lots of new foods & recipes.

Peas in a pod

Green tomatoes waiting to be made into chutney

On top of that I've been:

• Enjoying the garden & more recently harvesting
• Learning lots about essential oils & their benefit to health & wellbeing from my sister-in-law Maria in the Wood
• Started doing some Christmas crafts in preparation for December coming around much quicker than I'd like to admit! 
• Looking after my 2 gorgeous little boys  :)
• And a last minute camping trip to Northumberland enjoying the last of the summer sun in September.

Bamburgh in September