Leanne has allowed me to guest post on her blog for which I thank her. This is probably due to the fact that I actually made dinner for the first time in a long time... So what did I make. Well the title above sums it up... Gnocchi. This is something I've never made before but probably eaten a couple of times in the past. However I didn't really know much about what was in it. Well it's actually pretty simple. Basically it's mashed potatoes and flour for the gnocchi and it's best served with a simple tomato sauce for which you just need an onion and some garlic. And luckily for us we have a lot of potatoes in the UK in October. Which is sort of why I chose to make this meal. It's actually based on a recipe from a book called the Boxing Clever Cookbook.  This was produced a few years ago by some of the people involved in the EarthShare CSA scheme. . No, this isn't something to do with the Child Support Agency. It's actually Community Supported Agriculture . This is a new-ish (well new in the UK at least) way of linking the community with the ...

I love this bright orange soup. A little bit of spice to keep you warm, good autumnal  chunky veg and a few lovely soft butter beans. Mmm, it's like a cosy duvet. This is the basic recipe, but if you have any other nice bright coloured autumn veg lying around spare, no harm throwing them in too. This recipe has tinned butter beans in. Generally I prefer dried beans. I find they usually have better texture than the canned ones. Butter beans are, I think, the exception to the rule though and I actually prefer them. I've been getting the Suma ones which have been really big and tasty. When I've used dried ones before they didn't end up with the nice soft texture that these have, plus it obviously takes more time and planning. But each to their own. When I made this soup I also intended to make some soda bread, but then realised we didn't have any wholemeal flour. I ended up using stone ground white flour and mixing in a bit of oatmeal. I turned out ok. Not as nice as real soda bread I've had before, maybe a little heavy, but definitely a good quick substitute if ...

Here's a lovely recipe for a quinoa salad I got from Scrumptious a random food blog I stumbled across while wondering what to do with the jar of quinoa that's been sitting in the cupboard for well over a year. I've been a bit scared of these small grains ever since I saw them, not sure what to do with them, how to cook them, what they would taste like blah blah blah, but it turns out they're pretty easy going little chaps and they assisted in making this very tasty, hearty but fresh tasting salad. Apparently it's very good for you too. A 'Super Grain' no less. Wooo. I wonder if that's a bit like Super Gran. There's only one letter in it, must be. Maybe super grains turn you into Super Grans?! Now, I said I got the recipe from a blog, but what actually happened was I'd seen it and decided I was going to make it after I'd been to the shops, then got part way through and realised I was missing several of the key ingredients, so I would say this was influenced by rather than a direct cover of the original. I'd also intended to ...

It's soup time, yipeeee! One bonus of it getting colder and darker is that it makes soup suddenly seem like a brilliant thing, which of course it is! I've already started cooking up a huge vats of lovely fresh soup and am very much looking forward to more to come. It really is so easy to make and far, far tastier than the gloopy gunk that comes in tins. Years ago when I was working I used to eat tinned soup quite often and Marzena, a Polish girl who came to work with us was astounded that you could actually buy soup in tins. "Soup comes in tins?... Really?... I can't believe it.... but why?". At the time I thought she was bonkers, now I feel exactly the same (about the soup/tin thing, not her being bonkers. Although actually she is a bit). Most simple soups follow the same basic idea, cook your onions off in a a little oil, or butter (nicer), add the chopped vegetables, cover to sweat for ten minutes or so, then cover with stock and leave to simmer until all veg are soft and then blitz it, maybe add a bit of cream. Lovely jubbly. While I'm on ...

I started this post weeks ago, then got distracted, so it's now well out of date and the recipe for summer pudding using the then seasonal fruits is not seasonal anymore, but since I've got his chance to catch up I might as well do it as it was really easy and a lovely treat. It's a couple of months since we were there now, here is a little post about our stay at Plan-it Earth in Sancreed, which is pretty much at Land's End in Cornwall. I think I might have mentioned it before, it's a seven acre small holding which runs eco-education courses and has two yurts for holiday rentals. We'd gone there wwoofing, intending to stay for just three days, but ended up staying over a week. It was a really great place. We learnt loads and had a great time. As an added bonus for the first couple of days we were able to stay in this lovely yurt before the next guests arrived. The first day there was a bit of a downpour and we spent most of the morning weeding the polytunnel, dashing out into the garden to pick artichokes and redcurrants in any dry spells. ...