Chutney - Gluten-free and Delicious - Friday, 28th August 2015 - Perfect for Perking up Dull meals

Mixed vegetable chutney with courgettes

Rich plum and marrow chutney

Really spicy marrow and plum chutney

It's being a  busy time in the kitchen.  The Dear SO came home last weekend with six huge marrows and I had also bought home one marrow, but a normal sized marrow.  A perfect size for gently steaming or stuffing with a delicious meaty mix or even baking.

my normal marrow can be easily identified!

And  we were also given a box of plums which were in urgent need  of being dealt with, either by being eaten or cooked.






So there we on Sunday evening desperately buying malt vinegar, and preserving sugar also more onions then hurrying home to start preparing the fruit.  It was picked over and washed, some stoned by hand but others gently simmered until soft and happy to release their stone.




We've used a good variety of other ingredients like three types of vinegar - malt, cider and red wine ; two types of sugar  -preserving and soft brown, plus a good amount of  flavouring items; root ginger, spices, chilli and Scotch Bonnet peppers.

And we've just printed off labels too so our jars look rather smart....

These chutneys will be stored for two years and, in the meantime, we have my Welsh apple and elderberry chutney to keep us going for quick snacks, sandwiches  and delicious with cheese and biscuits.

Thanks to kind friends we have more than enough jars for the other chutneys to be made plus, hopefully, jars for the marmalade to be made in January when the Seville oranges are on sale.  The beauty of these is that we can store them in the freezer, making it possible for the marmalade to be made at our leisure rather than in a great panic at the beginning of the year!!!

And here's our third chutney, labelled and ready for storing...

Well, that's all for now friends...

Daisy xxx

Fresh Gluten-free food, Lidl's and Deddington Farmers' Market Mid-August Shopping & Cooking -Tuesday 25th Aungust 2015

 Lunch time bliss of a bowl of hot homemade soup dusted with grated Arla Lacto-free Lastose Free Mature Cheddar Cheese.  This is my first batch of Kale and Bean soup to a recipe from a new book – Grow Harvest Cook - by Meredith Kirton and Mandy Sinclair – ISBN 978-174270608-5 – which I found on my return from Australia where I’d been helping my family with their vegetable garden.

There was another book I really wanted but OMG that was so expensive really, even for me to consider buying but, it’s on my Christmas list and somebody might just be generous and buy it for me!

I did make a tiny change to the recipe in that I omitted to add the pasta, adding potatoes instead which I had already prep’d in the freezer needing to be used.; I’ll add pasta to the next batch.  I also had to use kale instead of the Cavolo Nero as Lidl’s were unable to supply this and we had gone to Lidl for a first reckie for me.  He’d gone a few days earlier reporting they stocked blueberry bushes which I’m really enthusiastic about and I just love eating blueberries with my breakfast bowl of homemade muesli.

Muesli with fresh blackberries from Deddington Farmers' Market

So taking this new cookery book with us for its blueberry-growing advice, I then discovered several new recipes and went in to Lidl’s with an enlarged shopping list.  We bought three plants and a good bag of interesting items including kale, beans for kale hummus, but I couldn’t find any Tahini then cheeses, meat and various sauces.  All in all it was a good shopping spree!

Some of our Lidl bag...

The soup is a mixture of onions, tomatoes, kale or Cavolo Nero and borlotti beans with seasonings of garlic, red chilli, chicken stock, salt and pepper and grated Parmesan to serve.  I now wish I’d chopped the kale before using but didn’t, so decided to blend the finished soup instead.   It’s meant to be a hearty soup but you can add more stock if too thick; I hadn’t and frankly it is nice, a thick and chunky soup!  Then the recipe calls for Parmesan and garlic toasts, with Sourdough bread spread with a mixture of butter, parsley, garlic and seasoning which you spread onto the sliced bread before toasting under the grill.  I however toasted my two slices in the toaster, spread on the mixture which melted nicely, while the soup warmed-up in the microwave.

Kale & Bean Soup with Parmesan Toasts

See Page 191 for Soup and Parmesan Toasts 

With the remaining kale I made up a batch of kale hummus using the recipe on P.73 substituting the kale, mixing all the ingredients in my food processor; then I clarified butter to seal the mixture, covered both containers with cling film and left to become cold and set.  I shall freeze the ramekin for a winter snack lunch and keep the jar in the ‘fridge.

On Saturday it was market day for Deddington Farmers’ Market at which I bought three heads of broccoli to make a hummus with, all of which I’ll freeze for more winter lunch time treats.

Broccoli for Hummus


OK  that's it for now - see you soon...


Daisy xxx

Daisy's Diary - Sunday, 16th August 2015 - August and September 2015

Daisy’s Diary – Sunday, 16^th August 2015 – for August and September

August 2015

Saturday. 22nd August 

JS Auctions - Antiques and interiors public auction sale – 10.00am

JS Auctions @ Cotefield Auction Rooms, Oxford Road, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 4AQ.  Contact: 01295 272488 - email:  enquiries@jsauctions.co.uk

Deddington Farmers’ Market – August Market Day – 9am – 12.30pm

Author Linda Newbury at Library stall 9am-12.00pm signing books & meeting fans

Deddington Farmers’ Market, Market Place, Deddington, Oxfordshire OX15 OSE.  Contact: www.deddingtonfarmersmarket.co.uk

July at Deddington Farmers Market

Next Deddington Farmers’ Market – Saturday 26th September 2015

Sunday, 23rd August 2015

Wolvercote Farmers’ Market – every Sunday 10am – 1pm - Wolvercote Primary School OX2 8AQ (first turn).  Est. 2002.  Contact: http://www.wolvercotefarmersmarket.co.uk/contact-us

Summetown Farmers’ Market – every Sunday 10am – 2pm - Banbury Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX2 7DE. Enquiries – 07413 662838

September 2015

Friday, 4th September 2015

Banbury Farmers’ Market – 1^st Friday of month – 8.30am – 1.30pm – Cornhill Market Place, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX16 5NG.  Contact: Lee McCallum – 07779 400 421. Email: marketmanager@ymail.com

Member of Thames Valley Farmers’ Market Co-operative

Saturday, 12^th September 2015

Charlbury Farmers’ Market – quarterly on 2nd Saturday of month – 9am – 1pm – The Playing Field, Charlbury, Oxfordshire OX7 3RJ.  Contact: Nick Potter – 08702414762

March at Charlbury Farmers' Market

Next Charlbury Farmers’ Market – Saturday, 12^th December 2015

Daisy