Savoury Sausages and a Sweet Little Doll

The weather is being very unkind. I’m not a cold weather person. I want the gentle Spring sun on my back as I work in the garden. Can’t be too long now though. Give it a week and hopefully we’ll all be basking again.

The newly opened plum blossom is lovely. We have one big old tree which only bears a few purple plums these days. The other is just a few years old and I hope it will have fruit this year. It grows my favourite Victoria plums, so sweet and flavoursome. I could eat them till I burst. Last year was its first fruiting year and I had one solitary plum! Tasted good though.

The plum blossom is pure white and flowers first. Next will be the pears but they’re not quite ready yet. The creamy white flowers will be open in a few days if we have some sun. After that we have the apples. My favourite blossom. It’s a fabulous pink, so delicate and yet so full of colour with the buds emerging with a deeper tint and petals fading later to almost white.

Meanwhile more lovely sights are appearing. The Berberis is smothered in golden flowers like mini daffodils and the snakeshead fritillaries in pinky purple and white are nodding their drooping bells.

The wallflowers are flowering again. I left last year’s in the border and although they produced lots of seed during the Summer they survived and are so pretty again. It was difficult to take good shots of them because it was so windy. One advantage of the breeze though is that the delicious scent wafts around.

Here are some other treasures making me smile.

So much pleasure in a garden. Flowers lift the spirits and feed the soul.

I was thinking again about alternative recipes. We try to cut down on meat for our health and environmental reasons but it’s too easy to fall into the trap of eating cheese all the time. So many lovely vegetarian meals depend on it but variety is important in our diet. So I try to think of ways of introducing nuts into meals. Here’s my latest nut meal idea. We really like it.

Nutty Sausages
Makes four.

50g Cashew Nuts
60g Breadcrumbs
Onion, sliced
Small amount of Parsley
A few Sage leaves
A small Apple, peeled and sliced
1 Egg
S & P
Small amount of Flour

nb. I used Spring onions because I had some to use up but a small onion will do.

Grind the nuts if you like them fine.
If you prefer texture just crush them a bit.
Remove any woody stalks from the sage and rinse.
Not too much sage or it would be overpowering.
Destalk the parsley and rinse.Pat dry on kitchen
paper.
Put bread pieces or crumbs, sliced onion,sage,
parsley,apple,egg,salt,pepper and nuts
into the food processor.
Whizz until combined.
Put flour onto a plate and have another plate
ready. With floured hands make four sausage shapes.
Put onto the clean plate and put in the fridge
for about half an hour to firm up.
Heat some oil in a frying pan, hot enough to 
sizzle the mixture. Slide the sausages
into the pan. You may need a flat spatula to 
slide them in in order to keep the shape.
Brown on all sides.
Serve with vegs and chutney or your favourite sauce. 

These would be good with green beans, broad beans or even baked beans for extra protein.

Sage, especially the purple variety, also looks lovely in a vase with some pretty flowers.

For a few hours I had more fun knitting another small toy. This time a tiny doll. I will give her to a lovely little girl I know. It’s such a pleasure watching these patterns come to life.

I’ve found plenty to do over the last few months. I know it’s been hard for many people but lockdown is gradually easing. We are having our second jabs this weekend so will feel more confident in a week or two. Meanwhile, staying safe and hoping you are too. With you again in a few days.