Fun in the sun ☼ Apple tree's and Roses

I have been really busy the last few weeks, not even caught up on reading my fave blogs.

My children have have a busy time too, my little girl  attends ballet classes, and performed in a show for 3 nights on the trot and did amazingly well, considering she's still 3, never got stage fright at all, she was in her element, she dressed up as bumble bee, and sung and danced to the ugly bug ball {Disney} and Chu Chi Face, I was SO SO proud if her!!

Elder son went away to Dorset for his rugby tour, all lads and dads together, :O They had good weather and a great time,  and they won the tournament, so he was a happy bunny! Then both  of my sons went on to Oxford for more camping with there dad, no pool on site though, don't think they were too impressed with swimming in the lake....and youngest son cannot get by without Laptop, PS3, Ipod etc, don't think they are keen on charades for entertainment!

We have had the most amazing weather here in the south East, it has been like mid July,  we already have our gazebo up on our decking{can't sit in full sun!} looks very pretty at night with all the fairy lights.

We made many trips to the garden centre over the weekend, and bought tomatoes, strawberries, chillies and a variety of herbs. I'm not growing them outside this year, as fed up with the slugs eaten them, so am keeping them in my conservatory, wish we had room for more in here though.

Homegrown tiers

We also bought some roses, I love them, and can't be bothered with planting annuals as the slugs munch through them too,  waste of money. I  bought 3 different colours which are stunning can't wait to see them bloom, one is a a silvery lilac colour, another a peachy pink, and a burgundy, all will look gorgeous together. A good investment as they will come up every year. I also have climbing pink rose which has gone mad this year, will post some pics when in bloom.



Beautiful roses


Our most special purchase was our very own apple tree, its 'Lord Derby' variety, it is a cooking apple, and is four years old and has loads of blossoms which means lots of fruit this year!! It is said to be very hardy and disease resistant, and will  produce crops up to November -December, I can't tell you how excited we are about watching her grow, B has always wanted an apple tree since he was a child, and it was him that went on and on, we saw this one and thought that is the one!! Here she is.. I'm going to have to paint that ugly wall being it though, very grotty looking, and next doors fence has seen better days, hoping he will replace this year.

Miss Derby

She doesn't look like much at the moment, but will flourish in 2-3 years:) We don't have a very large garden but we had a perfect space to plant it, and will control the size.

 I have been most jealous of Mrs Quince Tree {one of my fave bloggers} she has masses of fruits from her Quince tree and gets to make all kinds of delicious things, so I think I will post on progress once in a while too :)

We had a lovely Easter weekend spent with family and friends, had 2 BBQ's, drinks, all in all very enjoyable. The very early egg hunt {6. 30 am!!}took  daughter nearly 3 hours! Little one then  preceded to spend most of the weekend in her cossie in the paddling pool, and  running through the sprinkler!!

Fun in the sun!



Happy with her stash :)

Here are lots of pics of my beautiful tulips : most impressive this year, I especially like the black ones, lovely colour combos,and other parts of my garden, the Tamarix looks like candyfloss!

A blaze of gold at the local park







Candyfloss pink

Easter flowers

I love my garden and feel very lucky to have one :)

Here's to another sunny weekend!

Something out of nothing.

I was watching Nigel Slater's simple suppers last night, and it was about how we can make ingredients for a meal go much further for your family, making the meal much more economical. I have always done this without really thinking about it, I get a basic shop once a week, but nearly always have a full store cupboard, so the flexibility to make something out of very few fresh ingredients , is always a possibility, casseroles stews, and soups take minutes to prepare and give your family a wonderfully nutritious, filling and cheap meal, that is ultimately better than anything bought ready made, no matter how posh the label.

I took a pack of chicken legs out of the freezer yesterday, and this morning, looked through the fridge which was quite empty, and used up my last two onions, some celery, carrots, and a few spuds that had seen better days, and a tin of chick peas, and made a casserole.

To make:

Seal chicken legs in a little olive oil, until browned, set aside.
Fry roughly chopped onions, celery, and carrots, with a little garlic, until slightly browned and softened.

throw chicken back in, add 1 pint of chicken stock, I had some in freezer, or make up with couple stock cubes, and a small carton of vegetable soup also from the freezer, and 1 cup of left over gravy from sunday's roast, I NEVER never throw anything away that can be frozen ,and added to flavour a meal some other  time! I then added 2 sprigs fresh rosemary from garden, very handy herb, its really expensive in supermarkets, chop up a few small potatoes into small pieces,skin on, add a tin of chick peas, juice and all. A squirt of tomato puree, bring to boil and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, taste, then season well. leave to cool.



                                                                  
I served this with a little boiled rice, and some homemade soda bread from this recipe by Hugh Fearnley- Whittinstall here

Soda bread

                                                    
This is the first time I have made this bread, and I thought it was delicious, its very time consuming making bread with yeast, although it does have a better flavour. If you want to make a really quick loaf, or if you  you have an impromtu visit, this would be great to serve with some soup, or for mopping up juices from a stew or casserole, definitely fits the bill! I would say though, its taste and texture is more cake- scone like ,and I feel more suited to jam and butter, but nontheless my children all enjoyed it.

For pudding I made a really easy peasy, simple, but divine chocolate pudding taken from the very talented Sue, from Quince tree, she could easily give Nigella a run for her money, I am always inspired reading her blogs, and have tried lots of her wonderful recipes, so thanks for this Sue! Recipe here

                                   

The beauty of this pud is you don't need any fancy ingredients, just flour , cocoa, sugar, butter and milk, baking powder, salt.(All store cupboard stuff) but it tastes like you have slaved over it ,and loaded it with top quality chocolate, my boys didn't belive me that it din't have any in it, it must be served with cream though, and even the greediest person (namely eldest son) will only manage a small portion, he say's 'I will have the rest when I get back from rugby tonight, cos i'll be starving'!

                     As Sue say's its meant to look look like a cow pat!

              You can't help but dip your fingers in. Bon appetit bloggers!