Back to basics

For various reasons over the last couple of months my trusty breadmaker has been decidedly unloved and the basic ingredients that we always keep in haven't been used as much as normal. Instead I've been buying in pitta bread and tortilla/wrap style breads which means not only spending money that I don't really need to spend but also bringing extra non-recyclable, non-reusable plastic wrappings in to the house that just end up in the bin. Lots of reasons for this, some days I'm just not very hungry or the taste buds are playing tricks but I know I need to eat so a single pitta straight out of the freezer and in the toaster plus some soup is perfect, other days my mouth is a bit sore or swallowing a bit difficult and that lovely loaf of crusty bread becomes a bit of a minefield. Just part and parcel of the cancer treatment and no doubt the same thing for lots of people living with other long term conditions too.

So time for an experiment - can I make a batch of my own flatbreads using what I have in the house without tiring myself out and still have the convenience of being able to just have a single piece if that's all my appetite demands...

well-thumbed but hopefully legible!

My usual meander around blog-land came up with various make your own tortilla type recipes and I soon twigged that our regular weekend pizza dough recipe was very similar - low yeast, oil based and easily adapted to whatever flavourings you have to hand. Time for a play.



So this morning into the bread machine went:
about 100g of mixed grain bread flour (tail end of the bag)
about 200g of white bread flour
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1.5 tablespoon of onion powder
about 1 tablespoon of dried mixed herbs (last of the jar)
1 teaspoon of salt
170ml of water


And out came 550g dough ball which then got divided into eight.








I popped a couple of raw dough balls in individual cases to see how well they freeze and cook later. These are just reusable silicon muffin cases - once frozen I'll take them out and leave them in the tub.

Next I rolled out a couple of the pieces as large tortilla-style breads and popped them in a hot dry pan to cook. 

I divided a couple of the other pieces into 2 to make small pitta type breads - a hot fry pan with a little water - may use a little oil next time as pan started to smell a bit as it got very hot.

So now we have a few cooked for my tea and J's supper then a few smaller ones that are in the freezer to see how they re-heat over the week.



So far the results look promising, just need to see what they are like out of the freezer and then that's another step back from pre-packed foods.

Book Review - Diane Setterfield - Once upon a river

"A dark midwinter’s night. The Swan, an ancient inn on the banks of the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger.

 In his arms is the corpse of a drowned child.

Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can it be explained by science?

And who exactly is the little girl? As news spreads of the child who drowned and lived again, three families come to claim her, and the stories of three lost girls (and a missing pig) come to light. In the background is the river itself: powerful, unknowable, lifegiving and lifetaking.

There is talk of a ferryman who appears to those who get into trouble on the river … But at the Swan Inn, is anything ever just a story?"

✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Yet again I can't remember where I saw this mentioned but I am so glad I added it to the wish-list. Once upon a river is a beautifully-crafted tale that weaves in and out of the lives of people living along the river and the mysterious tale of the girl who died but didn't that emerges over the course of a year. At turns fabulous and ethereal yet it also feels firmly rooted in the everyday lives of farmers, villagers and innkeepers, villains and gentlefolk. Re-counting both the cruelty and kindnesses that ordinary people visit on each other, it has been a wonderful read. There is blackmail, murder and kidnap here but there is also love, redemption and hope. The river is at the heart of everything and the story twists and turns along it, pulling you very willingly with it. It is most definitely set in the past and has that rooted feel of a story that could have been told around all manner of Winter firesides for a very long time. As you may have guessed, Once upon a river has really resonated with me and will be something I'll want to savour for a while before moving on to another story.

Borrowed as an e-book from the library app so no pretty cover pictures to share I'm afraid but a link to the author's website is here and the ISBNs for those that prefer to hunt that way: Ebook: ISBN 9781473555815; Paperback ISBN 9780857525659.

This is the author's third novel and I will definitely be looking at the other two - The thirteenth tale and Bellman & Black - but maybe not straightaway.

Tired but happy...

Starting to flag a bit now but today we've had a lovely morning of plant and pot shuffling as whilst chilly, it has stayed dry and given us a chance to get some of the winter preparation jobs done. Mind you I'm saying we, as usual J has done most of the actual work whilst I've pointed to where I want things to live!

Normally I loathe and detest all photos of me but J took this today and I actually love it so I'm going to share it here. This is me surrounded by my favourite things and very happy to be doing something productive, yes the hair is nearly gone but the smile says it all.

wallflowers for us and a friend and a great view of the garden

Our wallflowers are now in the ground and their final pots and the spares will be being picked up by a friend later in the week, she gave us some lovely hardy geraniums earlier in the summer so it's great to be able to offer something back. Last year's bulb pots have been weeded, sorted and shuffled ready for swapping with the autumn flowering ones when they finally give up in a few weeks time, the parsley pots are indoors ready for cutting and the chillis have come in too for overwintering. Splitting and keeping the lovely little chrysanthemum that we were given as a present last winter has worked really well and, as they are now budding up beautifully, we have brought one of the plants back indoors to add to the kitchen table garden, the others can stay outside for now just to see how long they will flower outside.

As with every garden there is still plenty more to do but it feels like we've made a good start on the list which is always a great feeling. I hope you've had a great weekend too...

Bulb pots cleaned and shuffled

Who needs peat when a simple garden bin produces compost like this?

Wallflowers and bulbs into the path bed

Chrysanthemum budding up well

Roses, verbena and asters delighting

Six-on-Saturday 19th October 2019

Morning Blog-land today is my October link-up with The Propagator's Six on Saturday meme. Please check out The Propagator's post here for instructions on how to join in and take a look at his blog for links to lots of wonderful gardens from all around the world, they really bring a spark of joy to a weekend.  My previous posts can be found by clicking on the #SixOnSaturday label and if you are on Twitter, enter the #SixOnSaturday hashtag in the search bar and you'll see even more beautiful images from around the world.

All these photos were taken in our little back garden yesterday morning before it got too wet and I had to head off to chemo. It then hammered down with rain for most of the afternoon and evening so I'm very glad I got a head start on the pictures. No real rhyme nor reason to the photos this month - although "work to do"would probably sum up the collection!

1. Mint Corner - the recent rains have done wonders for all the potted mints lurking by the kitchen door. Nearly time to cut them again and freeze for using over the winter, well all except the apple mint as whilst, pretty, isn't a flavour I particularly like.

2. Achillea "Cerise Queen". These two were runts of the litter that I couldn't quite bear to compost and I'm so glad I didn't as they are now nice strong plants that will fit in the borders next year and fill the late summer garden (and vases) with their dark pink blooms.

3. Fabulous fuschia fairies - gifted to the hospice as tiny baby plants that a local nursery couldn't use, and offered to patients and volunteers for a donation earlier in the summer. I've no idea of the varieties but they have been flowering for weeks and show no sign of stopping yet.

4. Wallflowers and strawberry runners awaiting new homes on the outside shelves.
All ready for planting out when the rain eventually stops - new plants for free always raise a smile in this house!

5. Still a chance of a few more rose blooms - raised from cuttings from my late Gran's garden this beauty opens pink and fades to a beautiful peach and is proving to be very long flowering so well worth the effort.

6. And finally, weather permitting, the job for the weekend - start to sort out what needs bringing in, what needs re-potting and what needs cutting for use over the winter - herbs, welsh onions, chillis, strawberries and flowers all jostling for space on the mini patio.

Have a wonderful weekend all, and I'll "see" you next month. Tx

Puzzlement - when action seems to fly in the face of logic

I'm having a confusing morning this morning as I sit in bed listening to the news of the latest Climate Action protests. By now I hope it's nice and clear where I stand on the need for change, the need for us all to do whatever we can to make changes and improve the future. As part of that need I obviously support the right to protest, demonstrate and march, to create beautiful protests like the one Jackie Morris and other artists and writers, poets and performers are coming together and using to remind us why we need to change, what we are trying to protect and the right to point out as effectively as we can that companies, corporates, government and all the individuals that make up society need to make changes. And yet today's targets for the Extinction Rebellion protests seem incongruous with the messages we are all trying to send to folk who have yet to come on board for whatever reason. And, terrifyingly to me, judging by a lot of the reactions I'm hearing and reading on social media they have the potential to have the exact opposite effect to the one we need. To alienate not to persuade, to close people's ears, minds and hearts and destroy the good work of thousands of small local groups and individuals who work tirelessly in their communities to demonstrate the changes that people CAN do..

An efficient, clean, reliable mass transport system has to be the cornerstone to any country's response to cleaning up the air and environment as a whole. People need to be able to get around and the need to do it consistently and safely and know they are going to get where they need to be, when they need to be there and if, by shutting down the very networks that currently do that (more or less) then what are all those folk going to do? They are going to shift to personal transport - to cars and vans that they feel they have control over, to planes that will get them to that meeting in Scotland when they have to be back in London or Manchester or Newcastle that evening, to going backwards and point blank refusing to make any changes to their behaviour. I'm also puzzled when those same protesters start to damage infrastructure and destroy things - things that will then need to use finite resources to fix. I fear a backlash from the current actions and that, in my view, should worry us all...

But what can little old me do....

I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the headlines and soundbites around the climate emergency and the attempt to paint small actions as inadequate, ineffective, "not enough". It makes people feel helpless, hopeless and dangerously, gives us permission to bury our heads in the sand and say what's the point? I might as well carry on as I am, after all "they" say it won't be enough and doing or not doing that thing will involve a change, a bit of effort, not doing something I like doing as often as I want to, learning or trying something new and could be a bit scary or different and I'm already busy/tired/poorly/struggling to make ends meet enough as it is....

After all one person not using peat in their gardens isn't going to save all the planet's peat bogs, one person not using herbicides and pesticides isn't going to protect all the soils and lives of all the creatures that depend on the micro-organisms that live within it, one person switching to a re-usable cup and water bottle isn't going to stop the production and dumping of plastics in our ocean, one person switching to the bus rather than driving to work isn't going to suddenly result in improved air quality in all our towns, one person taking the train from London to Scotland instead of flying isn't going to stop that plane taking off and... you get the picture.

But what, for me, is getting lost in all this is the multiplier effect - whether deliberately or just plain ignorantly our media and vested interests are feeding us a line that we just might not be able to make enough of a difference by our own behaviour, that dangerous implication that maybe just maybe we therefore shouldn't bother even trying. And yes, I know there is a danger here of my sounding like a completely paranoid conspiracy theorist but that doesn't change the facts that folk with money and livelihoods at stake will always try to influence the outcome of an argument in their immediate favour - apart from anything else that's human nature - what's in it for me? how will I benefit? immediate self-preservation - it's just what humans do.

However, all these "it's not enoughs" ignore a vital fact, no matter our creed, colour, gender, age, location, beliefs, education, income or any other characteristic we like to label and pigeon-hole each other with, we are a society, a collective of people who share this planet and hold the key to our own survival - the planet will exist whatever we do, it won't be the same but it will be here, it's our species and the other creatures that suffer from our choices and actions, it's our children who struggle to breathe on their way to school, our watercourses that are getting clogged up with poisons, soil run-off and rubbish of all kinds, our food-chain that has been contaminated with plastics and poisons... we have been and still are doing this to ourselves by our own small, cumulative actions and in-actions over centuries and now that we actually understand what is happening and can even see it with our own eyes, feel it with our own breath and know that things can be different if we want them to be, surely it just makes sense that we make whatever small choices or changes we can just on the off-chance that it starts to improve things for everyone...

And the wet weekend continued...

Judging by the blogs I've peeked at this morning a lot of us have let the weather inspire us to play in the kitchen this week! The weekend pretty much followed Friday's pattern as it was pretty darn wet underfoot and grey throughout Saturday. This meant I ended up doing some more "let's use stuff up" cooking - this time with some of the veg in the freezer - Cauliflower & Pine-nut Macaroni Bake - before putting my feet up with my book and some music and a couple of episodes of Made in Bolton on the I-player whilst making some more cracker innards and J popped into town to run some errands. 

Sunday also ended up being a kitchen morning as I played with making some spicy apple muffins using the food processor. They worked out well so that's one more thing I can manage on good days. Lunch was easy as we had leftovers from Saturday's bake with some veggie sausages and of course, the muffins had to be taste tested too! The rest of Sunday has passed quietly watching TV and reading again. The sun did eventually break through mid-afternoon but by that time I was back in low power mode so no more chores for me.

So, for today's post another recipe and this one is even a vegan one - although you can grate a bit of cheese on top if you really want!

Cauliflower and pine-nut macaroni bake

Makes between 4 and 6 portions in a 2 pint casserole



Put
About 250-300g cauliflower
4-6 mushrooms chopped
1 cup of wholemeal macaroni or other small pasta - cooked until just tender.
Approx. 500ml tomato sauce - made with passata or tin tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 2 dessertspoons mixed herbs, 1 dessertspoon sage and ground garlic and pepper to taste
100g bag of pine nuts - toasted dry in a fry pan.

Into a 2 pint casserole dish 
Stir all the veg, cooked pasta and pine-nuts together in the dish.
Pour the tomato sauce over the top making sure it gets all around all the veg
and pasta

Bake Gas 5 for about 30-40 minutes until piping hot and bubbling well.

Enjoy!