Making bread is easy with a breadmaker, and for £40 it’s easily paid for itself. You can keep flour and yeast for quite a while in the cupboards, and even if you run out of bread, 3 hours later you can have a ready made loaf (quicker if you have one of the new fast-bake machines).

I’ve mainly stuck to packet bread mixes since I bought the mixer. Packet mixes work out slightly cheaper than buying a loaf of bread, and the ciabatta packet mix is great for making about 10-12 white rolls, which work out nicer and a lot cheaper than buying a decent bag of rolls from the supermarket. However, recently I’ve been venturing into more untried territory of using strong bread flour and yeast, and essentially cutting the cost of the bread even more.

My first attempt was with some strong wholemeal bread flour. It came out a little dense (but brown bread tends to be denser I find, even from the bakers) but more importantly it seemed a bit tasteless to me and I didn’t enjoy much. I tried a second time, adding a bit more salt and some sugar, as suggested on the packet, but found that the bread came out overcooked (I put it on the wholemeal setting instead of the basic bread setting, which I think was wrong!).

After chatting to my dad, a seasonal bread maker, he suggested mixing white bread flour with wholemeal or multigrain mixes, to lighten the bread. So today I used a third of a multigrain bread mix (as we’d had it for a while) and topped up with white bread flour to get enough ingredients for a 1.5lb loaf, the first time I’ve made a large loaf (usually stick to 1lb). 3 hours later and the results looked impressive, and once the loaf cooled we tried a bit and it’s nice and light and very nice with the grains through it. Only problem to me with it is that again it’s lacking in taste, but I didn’t add any salt at all so I just need to work on getting the right balance of seasoning and then we have perfect bread Cheaper than the shops and while it’s waiting to be cooked, much longer lasting!

Incidentally, the recipe and proportions I used were
165g Hovis Harvest Grain bread mix
210g Sainsburys strong white bread flour
1 tsp hovis yeast (slightly out of date but clearly works fine!)
155ml lukewarm water
1 dessert spoon of olive oil

Cook as a 1.5lb loaf on the basic bread setting (took 3 hours exactly).

So what’s on the go this year?

Potatoes

This year I decided I wanted to do potatoes again. It’s not easy when you don’t have much space but I got a couple of potato sacks and my Dad built me a couple of deep wooden troughs to use. So I’ve got 4 first earlies and 4 second earlies on the go, and I’ve got my main crop (King Edwards) sitting in an egg tray waiting to go in next month.

I planted the potatoes out at the beginning of March and they’re growing well, despite the cold weather we’ve had.

Pak Choi

I sowed some Pak Choi seeds out in one of the troughs next to a couple of potato plants around mid March. Despite not thinking to cover them over to protect from the cold weather, they’ve all germinated well. I now keep a piece of clear plastic board over the top of them just to create a mini greenhouse under it to help them along.

Pak choi can be picked as leaves and eaten in salad or you can let them grow and they’re like a chinese cabbage, great stirfried.

Carrots

I love raw carrot but I’ve never tried growing it. We got a baby carrot variety, designed for growing in pots. I’ve sowed a few rows of carrot seeds in the other trough, again next to a couple of the potato plants. These took longer to show the initial seedling however the main work is going on underneath the surface.

If you want to grow carrots you need to sow them where they’re going to grow as they’re obviously a root vegetable and will set the root in before you even possibly see the seed leaves.

Again, I didn’t think to cover them over for a few weeks but once I’d put the clear plastic board over them they seemed a bit happier. I’m not sure if some of the little seed leaves have been eaten by slugs however, as some have disappeared, hopefully they’ve not damaged the growing vegetable underneath.

Leeks

We got a baby leek variety (but can also be left to mature to a bigger size), and I’ve had some seeds on the go since January. I’m not sure if they’ve hit a wall in growth as they don’t seem to be doing much now! So I’m going to try another batch now that the weather is warmer and the light better, and hopefully get these going.

Red Onions

David loves onion, particular red onions for sandwiches, so I’ve got red onions growing all around the garden. They’re so easy to grow, just push them into the ground with the tip showing. I’ve put some in a plastic trough, which are growing very well (probably because they’re in pure compost), and I’ve also put some in a tiny patch of ground in the back garden, and then a few are dotted in between the flowers in the front garden!

Red Spring Onions

These we saw at a garden centre, pre-grown, with a long tray of them for just 99p. I’ve never seen red spring onions so figured it was worth a go just to see what they tasted like. I’ve split most of these up into their single plants now, there’s loads of them!

Cherry Tomatoes

Last year my Dad gave me a cherry tomato plant in a large pot. It didn’t suffer with blight (I’m not saying they won’t, but this one didn’t!), and it happily grew outside of a greenhouse. So this year I decided to do a couple and have them in hanging baskets instead. I’ve had these plants growing in the propogator and then in the conservatory since January, and now they’re in their hanging baskets outside.

Green Bell Pepper

We picked a few of these plants up very cheaply so I gave a couple away and kept a couple. I’ve put them both into large pots and am going to keep them in the greenhouse, or may even move them into the conservatory, depending on how well they do outside. I’ve never had much luck with bell peppers but I’d love to crack them as we go through about 3-5 a week!

Cucumber

I’ve never grown cucumbers before (well I may have when I was a kid but I’m sure my Dad will have helped me out there!). We picked up a cucumber plant for 99p and I’ve got that in a decent sized pot in the greenhouse for now. Cucumbers are ideal if they’re trained to grow up a net or frame so that the fruit grows off the ground, to avoid bugs.

Pea Shoots

David loves pea shoots as I do I. They’re great for going in sandwiches or having with salad, however they’re also very expensive to buy. We watched a programme on TV where this woman grew her own pea shoots a bit like growing cress but on a larger scale. She just had a small plastic trough/tub, filled with compost and a box of cheapy dried peas from the supermarket (the type you put into soups). She just put a good handful or two of these peas over the top of the compost and pushed them under the surface.

The pea shoots then grew to about half a foot (15 cm) high and then get cut off. Such a cheap and easy way to grow a fab salad leaf. So I’m giving this a go too!

Chilli Peppers

Every year I’ve tried different chilli peppers and this year we have two types. A hot carribbean blend and scotch bonnet chillis. These are all being kept in the conservatory as the hotter the environment, the hotter the chillis

Green/dwarf beans

I’ve had a few of these plants the last two summers, but they were pre-grown by my Dad and given to me, so this year I bought my own seeds to start them from scratch. We’ve got a couple of large plants at the moment and more seeds on the go. I’ve got them in a small wooden trough. They’re so easy to grow and the great thing with beans (plus other veg) is that you can blanche and freeze them for use later in the year.

Courgette

A couple of years ago we grew courgettes and found them to be one of the easiest things ever to grow. We go through a lot of courgettes so I decided that we’d get a couple of plants again this year. So simple to grow and all you need is a small growbag to put them in. As you pick the courgettes, more appear!

Garlic

Our garlic is still growing well. I’m hoping the really cold winter will have helped it as the colder the winter, the stronger the garlic. This will be ready around late June / early July.

Lettuce

Another easy salad item to grow. There is nothing like picking, washing and eating fresh lettuce. We’ve got a few different varieties in a seed tray at the moment. I got some new lettuce seeds of a frilly green lettuce, plus I’ve also put in rocket, mixed spicy leaves and a lettuce mix, all of which are older seeds so may or may not grow!

Easy to grow, but you need to keep a continuous supply of seeds on the go (a new crop every 1-2 weeks), and then you can enjoy them for as long as they’ll keep growing.

Radish

Something for David as I don’t eat it. Very easy to grow but you need to sow them where you’re going to keep them, so a decent pot and compost in it and away you go

Strawberries

As usual, we’ve got our strawberry plants. A few of the plants died off in the winter with the cold weather but we’ve still got a few going so we’ll hopefully get a small crop off them. Of course come the strawberry season and you can pick them up so cheaply off the markets or even find a ‘pick your own’ field. Personally I think strawberries are the best fruit you can get

Gooseberries

Our gooseberry bush is still going strong. It’s still in its large pot where it’s been for over two years now. Last year it had a semi good crop of gooseberries but the squirrels got them before we did! So this year I’ll be keeping an eye on it and possibly covering it with the strawberry netting once the fruit start to appear.

So, as you can see, we’ve got a fair bit on the go and besides a few onions in the ground, everything else is in pots of some sort. I’ll get some photos up soon and try and keep this a bit more updated with the progress of it all

After reading my previous post I’ve realised that I ate exactly the same meal this time as I did the last time! Any difference? Well the starter (melted goats cheese on a croute and lettuce) was very nice, and the dessert of chocolate brownie, cherries and cream was gorgeous. The main course (now called Chicken Supreme Parmigiana) had been changed slightly and came with/on a chunky tomato and courgette sauce. The chicken wasn’t so dry, except on the edges, however frustratingly pepper had been added onto the chicken before putting the cheese on top, which wasn’t great as I hate pepper on most food and really don’t like it being added out of my control!

All in all the meal was very nice and came to just over £100 for the 4 of us including drinks which is pretty good value, luckily the brownie made up for my pepper issue

Forget pancake mixes, you don’t know what’s gone in there. All you need is 3 ingredients plus some butter or oil for frying them in.

1/2 pint (300ml) milk
1 egg
Plain flour
Pinch of salt (optional, I don’t use it).

Beat the milk and egg together then slowly add flour and beat (an electric whisk is useful here) until you get a thick but still loose consistency, similar to that of a slighly thick sauce (or double cream). Then heat a pan and add some oil or butter to coat the base of it, pour in some of the mixture until it thinly covers the base of the pain, allow it to cook until the top is almost firm, then turn it over (flipping pancakes is great fun!).

Cook all of the mixture into pancakes. I tend to keep an oven on low heat to put the finished ones in so that they’re all still hot when you’re finished. Then serve with whatever suits your taste

• Icing sugar
• Lemon juice (fresh is best!)
• Maple syrup
• Stewed Fruit
• Vanilla icecream

Or for savoury ideas why not try ham and cheese?

Don’t forget… pancakes are great any time of the year, not just today

So I asked my mum for her gooseberry streusel recipe, one I can remember her making when I was little. We’ve always had gooseberries, I can remember eating them straight off the bush as a child. We have our own gooseberry bush now which produces a small amount of gooseberries, but my taste seems to have changed as I don’t like them much anymore.

Today I gave the streusel recipe a go. It’s quite a nice light cake and I love the streusel topping, and David said it all tasted good (I can’t comment on the gooseberries! Although I did eat it all ). You can also freeze it whole or cut it into portions/quarters and freeze it for up to 2 months, so I’ve frozen 2 quarters and kept the rest out. It’s quite a moist cake, from the gooseberries, so it doesn’t need any cream or custard, however it can’t be kept for too long else it’ll go mouldy.

Ingredients

Streusel Topping:
150g self raising flour
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar

225g gooseberries, topped and tailed

Sponge base:
180g self raising flour
Pinch of salt
125g caster sugar
125g unsalted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon of milk

Method

Take the streusel ingredients, put the flour and butter into a bowl and rub together until it’s resembling a crumbly mix, add the sugar and continue to rub the mixture together to get your streusel mix (it’s hard to explain but you’ll know when it’s right! Took me about 10 minutes to do!!)

For the sponge base, add the salt into the flour, cream the butter and sugar together, then slowly add the eggs. Add a couple of spoons of flour/salt into the blender/mixer. Then you need to fold in (by hand) the rest of the flour and the milk, until it’s a smooth consistency. In a greased cake tin (I used a 23cm one, ideally you should use a 21cm tin), spoon the cake mixture onto the base and spread out. Then put a single layer of gooseberries onto the mixture, going from the centre out. Try not to have gooseberries on the edge as they’ll probably burn. Then scatter your streusel topping over the gooseberries and try to ensure the gooseberries are covered completely (to prevent burning).

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 75 minutes. Allow to cool and then store in a cake tin, or freeze.

I’ve also planted some hot chilli plant seeds (scotch bonnet and habanero chillis) that we bought last week to keep David happy.

Whilst out last week we also picked up some packs of potatoes for growing, some red onions and a couple of potato sacks for growing potatoes in. I’ve got 3 types of potatoes, first earlies, second earlies and main crop. I’m hoping that I can time it so that the first earlies can be picked and then the main crop can go into the sack straight after, then plant some more after the second earlies are picked.

We also went out to another local garden centre yesterday (I love these places!) to see if they had any scotch bonnet chilli seeds. Whilst there I also picked up a couple of potato grow bags (deep bags with a slit on the side) and 3 different types of potatoes which’ll be ready at varying times throughout the summer and the main crop (King Edwards) should keep a fair while (whether they last that long or not who knows!). We won’t get a massive amount of potatoes I doubt but it does mean we can get a few crops going.

I checked on my garlic yesterday too and all 6 cloves that I planted are now showing shoots, even the one that the squirrel dug up!

I usually use frozen blackberries and raspberries as I get loads off my parents in the autumn and they’re great for all sorts of desserts.

Ingredients

1 cooking apple
1 dessert apple
3 handfuls of blackberries
2 handfuls of raspberries
100g plain flour
20g brown caster sugar
30g dark muscavado sugar
40g butter or margarine

Method

Peel, core and slice both apples. Put into a large pyrex bowl, add a teaspoon of water and put into the microwave for about 3 minutes to soften the apples. If freezing, divide the apples into foil dishes at this point. Add the blackberries and raspberries.

In a mixer or food processor mix the flour, sugar and butter until fine. If it gets a bit lumpy/gloopy just add a little more flour (this can happen if the butter/margarine is soft). The cover the fruit in the crumble topping.

Cook at 180 degrees celcius for 35 minutes (25-30 minutes for smaller portions). Serve with custard, cream or icecream.

So today I decided to give them a go. It was a joint effort and for the first attempt we were quite chuffed with the outcome as they were really nice (“best fish cakes I’ve ever had” from David!). The next plan is to add this to my bulk cooking list, so make up a batch of them and freeze them. At this rate I’ll have a home-made frozen ready meal for every day of the week!

On to the recipe, these are the quantities we used, of course a fillet of fish and two potatoes won’t always weigh in the same ratio, but hey, it’s all cooked and it’s all edible, so adjust the quantities to suit your own tastes

Ingredients

1 fillet of smoked haddock, skinned and boned
2 potatoes (aim to have around 50% more of potato than fish)
6 spring onion finely chopped
Grated cheddar cheese
2 eggs
Fresh breadcrumbs (3 slices of white bread blended to breadcrumbs)
Plain flour
Milk
Butter/Margarine

Method

Boil the potatoes, drain and pat dry. Then mash (don’t add any milk or butter!) and allow to cool slightly. Add the spring onion and a few handfuls of grated cheddar and mix into the mash potato. Poach the fish in milk, either in a pan or in the microwave. To use the microwave put the fish into a Pyrex dish, add milk until it’s partially covered, then cover with cling film. Put on high for 3 minutes. Remove fish from dish but keep the milk. Pat the fish dry, flake and fold into the mashed potato mixture along with a beaten egg. Form into round shapes.

Beat the second egg and pour into a bowl. Put the breadcrumbs on a plate and some flour in another bowl. Take each fish cake, dip it in the flour, then in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Once they’re all done heat some oil in a frying pan and add the fish cakes. Fry until the breadcrumbs are golden brown all over.

We then put them on a baking tray into the oven on a 150 deg C heat to keep warm (you may need higher if you don’t have a fan oven).

Then I also made a simple cheese sauce to go with them by melting about a teaspoon of butter in a saucepan, adding about 2 teaspoons of flour, mixing it in to the melted butter, then the milk from the pyrex dish and a couple of handfuls of cheese. Sorry, no real measurements as I just go by the consistency and taste, but all good cookbooks should tell you how to make a simple cheese sauce.

These quantities made 6 large fish cakes in total

So, after winning some vouchers for a local garden centre, we finally took a trip over there today and I got a decent sized heated propagator (photos to follow once it’s set up!), plus a few packets of seeds designed for the compact/patio garden. I bought seeds for dwarf beans (I’ve grown these the last two summers in a pot), cherry tomatoes (going to put these in a hanging basket), spring onions, baby carrots and baby leeks. Plus I’ll be seeing if my existing seeds (courgettes, lettuce, radish and rocket) are still ‘working’.

My plan this year is to stick with the pots and growbags, as there is no ground space to put plants in. I’m also planning to do a couple of troughs of potatoes, using a couple of deep wooden troughs built by my Dad (from old scrap wood, no expense spared!). That, plus the pots and two wooden troughs I already have, plus maybe 3 growbags and I think we should get a nice little crop of vegetables and salad this year