Sunday harvest

This afternoon I was able to harvest some of my first summer veg:-) I filled a bowl with some parsley, green beans and 3 tiny zucchini. Some nice organic veg to accompany our dinner!

Parsley Pesto Recipe

Beautiful zucchini flowers in the morning

I'm happy to say that my veggie patch survived a week of scorching temperatures. I watered morning and night and all was good....we'll except for a little capsicum plant. We aren't huge capsicum fans in this household anyway so no big loss.

Corn seedling heading towards to scorching sun

young zucchinis

an almost ripe grape tomato

tomatoes loving the heat

lebanese cucumbers

Although the heat did stress me and my veggies out a bit, the heat definitely sped things up a bit. So for today I harvested a nice big bunch of flat parsley, a zucchini and a tiny cucumber which I ate straight away!

today's harvest

A large bunch of parsley this good called for another pesto recipe, this time parsley pesto.

You will need:

A bunch of continental flat parsley

3 garlic cloves

1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Handful of walnuts

Handful of grated Parmesan

Teaspoon of salt

2 medium sized zucchini diced

Packet of pasta of your choice 

Method: 

Bring a large pot of water to the boil.

While that is happening, add your parsley, garlic, oil, walnuts, Parmesan and salt to a food processor.

Whizz it altogether until it resembles a pesto consistency.

By now your water should be boiling so add your pasta.

When there is a few minutes to go until your pasta is cooked, add your diced zucchini. You could also add diced green beans or potato as well.

Once your pasta is cooked so too should your veg so drain it all and return back it the pot.

Stir your pesto through the pasta and veg and enjoy!

Home again

I've been away with my family for just under a week for some much needed rest and relaxation. As the holiday started to come to a close I started to think about my garden. The weather had been quite hot back home and it wasn't receiving the regular watering that it would had id been home to look after it. I was wondering....

Is everything still alive?

Is anything ready for harvesting?

How much weeding will need to be done?

Did my seeds germinate?

What will I plant next?

Much to my delight I found some things to harvest tomorrow, 2 young zucchinis and some beans.

Lots of flowers on my tomato, cucumber and zucchini plants so many more to harvest later.

Lettuce and corn seeds have germinated.

Some wilted leaves...many many weeds! But no dead plants:-)

I'm happy to be home, my kids are happy to be home back to their creature comforts, hubby's happy to have another week to wind down at home before going back to work.

Yes there are mountains of laundry to be washed, then folded and put away...meals to be planned, groceries to be bought, meals to be cooked...hems to be taken up, name labels to be ironed onto uniforms and the lists goes on and on with no end. The truth is, it isn't all that bad, it's part of my home, my family, my life that I wouldn't trade for any other.

2014 brings a new baby into our family....more washing, more nappies, more crying, more sleepless nights but most of all more love and joy into our home

:-)

Summer garden

The madness of Christmas has subsided and my garden was in desperate need of some tlc. My tomato, zucchini, bean and cucumber seedlings were growing nicely as the weather has been warmer. However, they were slowly being taken over by weeds!

Today was a mild morning so it wasn't too hot to spend a couple of hours weeding. I dread weeding but the end result is always worth it and my plants will reward me later with summer veg:-) 

I also visited the nursery later and bought some more seedlings ( eggplant, chilli, capsicum, more herbs and beans ), and some sugar cane mulch to try and keep those weeds away!

Let's see how long it is before harvest!

Creamy basil pesto recipe

This is a recipe that I've been cooking now for about 10 years and am yet to find anyone who dislikes it. It's healthy ish, green, garlicky, filling and doesn't take long to make.

You will need.

Packet of pasta of your choice

Bunch of basil

5 cloves of garlic

300ml ish of cream of your choice...I used thickened

5 tablespoons of pine nuts 

Handful of Parmesan and extra to serve

About half a cup of olive oil

Salt to taste

Method

Start by browning your pine nuts in a frypan until lightly brown over a low to medium heat.

In a blender add a quater of a cup of oil, your basil bunch, crushed garlic cloves and pine nuts.

Start blending your mix. You may find that not much is happening. If this occurs start to add the remainder of your oil in stream from the top. I often turn it off, open it and squash it all down with a spoon to help it along. Continue to process until you get a smooth mixture.

At this stage add a handful of Parmesan and process again. Add about a teaspoon of salt or less depending on your preference. When you taste your pesto at this stage, the garlic will be very strong. Don't stress! The cream will mellow it down. If you still find after eating this dish that the garlic is too strong then reduce the cloves until you find what works. Remember though that garlic in this raw form has amazing medicinal properties!

Once you have your pesto mix, bring some water to the boil in a large pot and cook your pasta according to the cooking instructions. Today we had ricotta and spinach tortellini. If you have the skills and a great amount of time, make your own pasta. It tastes divine with gnocchi.

In the same pan that you browned your pine nuts in, over a low heat add your cream. Combine that gently with all of the pesto and slowly simmer.

Once your pasta has finished cooking, strain it and return to the pot. Add all of the cream sauce and gently combine.

Enjoy!

You could also add some browned pine nuts on top. I've also made this with some cooked chicken. If your brave, you could skip the cream and just stir through the pesto with the pasta.

New beginning

So I have been slow to write and my garden has been much the same. Times have been busy but I am now settling into a new place. Part of my settling in involves setting up my own little space in the garden so I began to do just that.

Fortunately I have a space in the backyard which pretty much has all the hard work done. Garden beds ready to plant my summer crop. We have had a pretty cold and wet spring but now I think it's starting to dry up and we are receiving more and more sunny days.

In the past I've bought a whole bunch of seedlings for summer without giving it much thought. That summer you end up with an overgrown jungle with veggies growing everywhere and you forget what you planted in the first place. I'm sure some of you are nodding your heads! So this year I held back and just thought about what I actually eat and buy and what I have space for. The seedling list consisted of green beans, Lebanese cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, basil and parsley. I also threw in watermelon just for an experiment!

Speaking of experiments, I decided to mix in mushroom compost instead of the usual manure and I've given my veggies more room, hoping it will keep them happy and in return yield a bigger harvest. No harm in trying, we'll see what happens!

I also transplanted some of my herbs from my previous property that had given me success but I think they'll just stay in pots for now. All I need now is a bit more sunshine!

Spring Garden

The sun is shining, the days are longer, our spirits are lifted and my plants are smiling. Today I marvelled at how productive my garden has been over the slow, cold winter months.

These geraniums have come a long way. I look forward to blooming red flowers reminding me of the balconies in Paris.

 

I hacked this lemon tree so hard last summer. I was beginning to wonder whether it was ever going to bear fruit again....I spotted some lovely flowers which gave me hope that I will harvest some lovely lemons again.

My dwarf apple tree was bare over winter. You sometimes wonder whether the are still alive but with a glimpse of sunshine they remind they were just having a little sleep!

I have been so happy with my herbs this year. They have all flourished and I've been able to continually  harvest all year. 

This young orange tree only gave 2 oranges last year. I have tended to it this year but improving the soil with organic matter and it looks like this year will be plentiful with oranges. There are masses of flowers and small oranges growing as the temperature rises.

I will be moving to a new property soon so unfortunately I won't be able to enjoy the citrus harvest this summer. However, i will be taking my pots with me and growing a spring crop in the new garden. Stay tuned...