Monday 25 July 2016

Harvest Monday - the first tomatoes

Yay, tomato season has arrived, just a few at first but I expect it won't be long before they're coming thick and fast. We've also had some sugar snap peas (variety Sugar Anne) from the back garden (from the odd plants that survived the slug onslaught) They were really good, nice and sweet and crunchy. Plus a bit of lettuce from some plants in the lean-to (all my ones in the garden have been slugged too).
The self-sown chard on the allotment has really picked-up. I cooked this lot in a pan (colourful stalks and greens) along with courgettes then packed them into a couple of containers for the freezer.
I'm away unexpectedly, so after the harvests above from early last week Jan has kindly taken on some of the allotment jobs, including picking the goodies.
She's made a couple of batches of these classic courgette and cheese muffins, they look good.
And a mixed pan of veggies (finished off with the classic 'stick an egg in it')

I'm looking forward to enjoying some more when I get back, yum.

 

Thanks for reading this week, I'm linking in with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres

 

 

14 comments:

  1. A great harvest! Those muffins look delicious. I know most people end up with a glut of zucchini but I'd love just one this year as I've seen nothing so far.

    And still so many berries ... wow!

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    1. Thanks Susie, hope your zukes start producing soon.

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  2. I love the muffins! I'm not sure I ever had a cheese/squash muffin like that. I usually do something sweet with it, no doubt my sweet tooth is the cause of that. When I saw the chard photo I thought 'rhubarb' first. It does look colorful, and I know it is productive too.

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    1. Thanks Dave. I've made courgette and chocolate cake before - that's quite nice too and good for those with a sweet tooth.
      The chard does look a bit like rhubarb, doesn't it.

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  3. Looks like your garden is doing great, the raspberries look so good. The cheesy courgette muffins look delicious. I really should do more baking with our garden harvests, the way you and Jan do.

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    1. Thanks Phuong, fresh raspberries are definitely one of my favourites, hopefully there's still some growing when I get back. Mind you, just before I left I spotted the first couple of blackberries turning ripe, yum.

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  4. When you freeze the Chard, don't you find that the leafy bits go black? If it were me, I'd cook and freeze the stalks and greens separately because I like using them differently. I'm with everyone else on the Muffins - seriously delicious food! How about slicing one in half, toasting it and "sticking an egg on it"?

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    1. Hi Mark, I can't remember about the chard leaves turning black, not sure if I've frozen it like this before. But I will just be adding it as a block into a stew or curry-type thing so hopefully that won't matter.
      Egg on courgette muffin sounds good!

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  5. Those muffins look good - I'll have to seek out a recipe.

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    1. Thanks sue, Jan uses a recipe from a book, which I'll check another time, but I'm sure there must be similar ones out there. Though I don't think it actually uses masses of courgette up, but makes a nice change anyway.

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  6. Lovely harvests and congrats on the first tomatoes! I had my first ones this past weekend too - funny how even with our distance, so many things are similar in our gardens.

    And love the classic "stick an egg in it" - you've got me doing that too :)

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    1. Thanks Margaret, I'm looking forward to some more toms. Yeah that's funny you've had yours too!
      Hehe, glad to hear the egg trick is spreading :)

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  7. The muffins indeed do look good, I am hoping to make some savoury ones soon. And red gooseberries, I had some growing which I shared a few weeks back with Harvest Monday,but then I went to harvest them a few days later and they were all gone - birds got them. You have an abundance, what plans do you have for them?

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    1. Hi shaheen, oh no it's a shame about your gooseberries. I generally just top/tail and freeze them to later make mixed fruit for on top of muesli throughout the year. With the rasps I've made your delicious raw raspberry and frozen banana mousse (I forget the proper name) a few times before but not had chance this year.

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