Capsicum Jam.

We have heaps of Capsicums at the moment and I happened to see a few different recipes for Capsicum Jam so thought that I'd have a go at making some too.

The recipes that I had seen though had ingredients that I didn't have here or that I don't eat so I had to do what I always do and change them to use what I had.

I had capsicums. I had the vinegar and sugar.  I also had chokos and even though none of the recipes included those I figured they wouldn't hurt.

I chopped up the capsicums, maybe half a dozen red and a couple of green.  Most of the seeds were removed but not all.   I chopped up 2 peeled chokos.  If I was using small chokos I wouldn't worry about peeling them but these were quite big.  That was all put in a pot with a cup of vinegar and a cup of sugar and boiled until it thickened.  I didn't take notice of how long it took as it was on the wood stove and I just kept coming back to give it a stir now and then.

When I thought it was reduced enough I put it into sterilised jars and put the lids on. 
OK, something didn't work here, usually the lids pop down and they are good to store but this time no popping down.  Seeing as I only had 3 smallish jars though I am keeping it in the fridge and they will be gone within a few weeks.

I think it would make a nice dip if added to yoghurt.  It is nice on crackers, it's nice with cheese, it's nice stirred through soup, it's nice on meat...I like it.

I intend making some more but next time I will add onions and some chillies as well.  Because I have them here.  And that's what I do.

April Veg.

Another month has passed and I'm pleased to say that we didn't buy many fruit or vegetables.  We are eating  carrots, onion and potato that I bought ages ago so I do need to get better at growing those things but really I'm not too fussed if I need to buy them again.

We're adding chokos and eggplant to last months list of potato, capsicum, onion, chilli, sweet potato, silverbeet, lettuce, butternut pumpkin.    I have had my first taste of Jerusalem artichokes.  Not bad.  Very knobbly so not sure how you're suposed to peel them so I just washed them and threw them in with all the other veg.  They are something I will need to try different ways to see what we like.

Fruit we ate this month was mainly apples.  We did get a couple of watermelon, not the best but OK.  Too late in the year though, they took forever to grow and get ripe so not sure what we did wrong with them.  We have had 1 bunch of bananas.  They broke off the *tree* so we ripened them in the shed.  They were small but nice.  There are still another half dozen or so out there but not ready to pick yet.  I've had a few Indian guavas, they are OK.  Not something I would ever buy but OK if I am out there and there is one handy.  Strawberries are still growing but not many, maybe a couple of handfuls each week.  A few passionfruit.

Still getting eggs though the chooks aren't laying much.  There are way too many out there and some need to go as they are costing more than they are giving.

I have finally got some new plants and seeds in but we will be eating the same things during May as we ate diring April.  That's Ok, we haven't gone hungry yet and I grow what we like so there shouldn't be too many complaints.

Strawberry Season.

I usually manage to find a few strawberries to munch on while I'm wandering around the yard checking out all the different garden areas but a couple of days ago I had to come inside and get a bowl as there were too many to eat while awandering.

Add that plateful to the ones that were already in the fridge and I had too many to eat fresh, nice as they are.  We don't eat jam so how else can we eat them...Yep, add the mankyist ones to some milk, add a chopped up frozen banana, drink some, freeze leftover and tada... 

 

Wrap frozen icepoles in recycled plasic and put back in freezer until grandaughter or husband sees them.

Do the same in a few days because I haven't eaten the ones in the fridge and there are more to pick...

Lentils.

I like Lentils, I mainly buy the split red ones and add them to lots of things that I cook.  They are cheap and healthy and though Hubby is not as keen on them he eats stuff I make for me that has them in.  So I figure...If I eat them I should grow them.

So, I'm going to try and grow some Lentils.  Has anyone here done that?  Any tips please?

 I had mentioned wanting to sprout some to the daughter, she said she had some whole ones, I only had the split ones and of cause they wont sprout.  Silly me! 

Now I have enough to try sprouting and growing them. 

How cool would that be, to be able to grow your own...

My daughter gifted me them yesterday, along with lotsa other cool stuff so I have no excuse and will find a jar and start on the sprouting today.



Choko Time.

Well it is that time of year again when the yard is taken over by the chokos.  Some of the ones still on the vine are huge so I will need to pick a pile today and decide what to do with them all.

I am going to take a bag full down the road 'cause the old bloke on the corner really likes them and he was asking about buying!! some.  Sheesh, he'll be getting a lot of the extras for nothing just so they aren't wasted. 

One thing I am going to try today is to turn them into Bread and Butter Pickles.  I do that with cucumbers and it is so nice so can't see why it wont work with these.  I don't have many green Capsicum to add to them like the recipe says to but I do have lots of banana caps (or chillies) so will use them.  Hope they are not a hot chilli, I *think* they are a type of capsicum.  They came in a punnet of mixed caps but I'm not game to take a bite to see what they are like.

I'll cook and freeze a bunch to add to soups and stews and will try different ways this year to what I usually do.  I have a heap of recipes that need trying so will make sure I do this year. 

And I'm sure that there are people out there that will want some.  Sherrie?  How about you?  I could come for a visit and bring a bag...

Strawberries and Pepinos.

I was wandering around the yard this morning and couldn't help noticing all the Strawberries that needed picking. So I picked them.

Went round the front and saw that there were Pepino that were ripe as well.  So I picked them too.
I ended up with just over 400gm of Strawberries and 3 Pepino.  There will be heaps more Strawberries ready in a couple of days time.  All the bushes have really started producing since I fertilised and mulched them all a few weeks back.



Back inside I added some manky apples, a couple of old bananas, a few passionfruit and what do ya know...Enough yummy fruitsalad to last the week.

                                                                     I love my garden.

Passionfruit.

I had the 3year old grandaughter out here for a bit this morning so I roped her into helping me with some Passionfruit.

They are falling from the vines and like everything else there is only
so much you can eat so preserving them somehow is important. 
We have 2 vines growing great and producing well and 2
others that are not doing too good at all.  This vine gives
us the most but is the oldest and will probably cark it
within the next year or so so we do need to keep them all.


 I have made cordial but as we don't drink a lot of that stuff I am freezing this lot for when I figure out what to do with them.  I could make passionfruit spread but again, we don't eat it so no point.




We ended up with 5 cups of pulp to freeze but then GD went out and picked up the ones from this morning and we have another 18.  Some of these will be eaten over the next few days, I am going to make up a fruitsalad this afternoon so a few will be added to that...But by the end of the week after collecting the ones that have fallen from the vine between now and then I will need to freeze some more.



Not sure why I want to plant another vine...

Pickings For Tea.

I have been out, in the rain, and picked some stuff to cook up and have with my patties.

I dug up a sweet potato, picked a cabbage, a handful of peas, 5 spears of asparagus, a couple of carrots and a red capsicum.  Grabbed a butternut pumpkin from the shed and now have it all on the stove.
Added some onions from the cupboard and a brocolli picked a couple of days ago.

I filled up a bread and butter plate with the veg, added 2 patties and  sat down and enjoyed a yummy, cheap, healthy meal.





 Unfortunately there aren't too many patties left.  I ate more than I should have throughout the day and the 3 year old grandaughter was out here and she had a couple.  At least they are better for us than the cake I made the other day.

I will cook up some more lentils tonight and make some more patties tomorrow.  Maybe some of those will make it to the freezer.  And I have enough vegetables left for the next couple of days.