Living a contented creative life.

Snow and ice! A cold garden, covered in a white blanket last week. Not a favourite of mine but even so, an opportunity to see some lovely sights.

The birds have been tucking in on the bird table and feeders. Although they’re very elusive I snapped a few through the window,

Signs that spring is only weeks away are emerging around the garden. Lovely hellebores are slowly unfolding buds. Snowdrops, daffodils and tulips are pushing skywards. I found a couple of primula flowers blooming despite being full of melted snow.

Always plenty to see, whatever the weather.

The winter clematis are beautiful. I have two varieties of Clematis cirrhoza draped over an arch. One side has “Wisley cream” and the other side has “Freckles” I think the photos explain which is which.

Despite the icy conditions, I found another bumble bee, busily visiting the clematis flowers and the small white blossom of the scented winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima. He was very quick but I managed to snap a couple of photos.

I even found a beautiful, fat, green caterpillar among the carrot leaves in the polytunnel. I hadn’t the heart to throw it out. Didn’t seem to be doing any harm, and moths and butterflies are declining. Who knows what a beauty it might become? I left it to do whatever it needed to.

Indoors, I have been reading a lot. I need to do some baking but I’ve been learning about food science. “Food for Life” by professor Tim Spector. Extremely interesting, sensible stuff, nothing to do with eating fads and all that nonsense about “superfoods”. All food is good if it’s not over-processed. I find it fascinating to learn about food and what it contains. You can always discover something you didn’t know.

Regular readers will know that my recipes are simple and don’t involve exotic ingredients. Comfort food, in a way. Basic ingredients which produce satisfying, nutritious and tasty meals. I have a few tricks and must-haves up my sleeve but anyone can cook using my methods.

I think we all need to be able to look after ourselves and the cost of living is so high now that it’s important not to waste anything. With that in mind I had two ideas last week for easy ways to use up bits of food.

My first one was a bacon and bread pudding. I had two strips of bacon and a few dry slices of bread. Not good for much on their own. So, I snipped the bacon into bits, chopped an onion and a tomato and tore some basil leaves. I put these with pieces of bread into a baking dish and mixed them together. I beat two eggs with about 300mls of milk and a little pepper, then poured this over the bread mixture. Allowed the bread to soak up the moisture, then baked in the microwave for 10 minutes. A tasty meal served with some vegetables and nothing wasted.

This would work in the electric or gas oven for about half an hour and parsley would be just as good instead of basil. I grow beautiful basil in my greenhouse in the summer but it doesn’t like the cold. In Winter, I buy a pot of growing basil from the supermarket. I keep it on the kitchen windowsill and feed it with cold tea every day. It keeps going for a couple of weeks and I can use it for a few meals.

Another idea came about in a similar way. I had a small piece of cooked chicken. Not enough on it’s own but combined with other ingredients it made a delicious meal. Using the food processor, I added the chicken with sliced onion, basil leaves, a couple of slices of bread, salt and pepper and an egg. Whizzed them together, formed the resulting mash into flattened patties and fried them in a little heated oil in the frying pan. Cooked for a few minutes until golden brown on each side and served with vegetables and chutney, they were delicious.

This way, what seems like a scrap of food can be turned into something nutritious and appealing. The eggs give extra protein and the bread pads out the texture to make a filling meal. They’re easy to do and don’t use a lot of fuel. Again, any kind of herb like parsley, sage or marjoram would do, if basil isn’t a favourite.

Finally, here’s a cheerful little painting to brighten the Winter.

I hope you’ll join me again next week. Stay warm and healthy. Bye for now.

Halfway through January and Winter is truly underway. It has been relatively mild although the forecast is for colder weather soon. This is when I appreciate hearth and home more than ever. Enjoying baking in my warm kitchen and snuggled up by the fire at night.

But then I have always appreciated being at home, no matter what the season. Home is the hub of all my activities. Gardening, cooking my produce, baking delicious cakes, knitting, painting, using my camera and writing my blog. All my treasured possessions have a place here and it provides me with a base for enjoying the things they enable me to do.

I enjoy creating. It’s lovely to have an item to use and appreciate when you’ve spent some energy. I have been knitting a warm jumper. A pleasant way to pass wet, cold, days when the garden looks forbidding. The needles are no longer clicking. I can actually wear it now. Here’s the result.

The colours are cheerful and cosy looking.

Since I last mentioned I was knitting, a few readers have told me that they would love to knit but can’t quite master it. My advice is to keep trying. It took me years to do it well. I can only cope with simple patterns , even now, and I still make mistakes if I lose concentration but it’s a very satisfying hobby when you persevere. Here are a few helpful hints which patterns never tell you.

Patterns don't tell you practical tips such as the following:
*With a highlighter, mark the number of stitches and rows throughout  the pattern for your individual size, before you begin. Saves confusion as you work.
*It's helpful to have a pencil and notepad on hand while you knit. Then you can mark off the rows while counting them. If you have to answer the phone, you will know where you are in your pattern when you return to your knitting.
*Always pull the yarn very tight when you knit the first stitch in every row. That way you will have a neat edge when the knitting is finished.
*When you begin or end a piece of knitting, leave a length of yarn so that you can weave it in with a darning needle when sewing the pieces together. That secures it very well and leaves no unsightly knots.
*Once you've mastered the basic stitches of knit and purl, casting on and casting off, you can tackle most things. Knitting small toys is often a good way to practice these skills. They're quick and simple and fun to do so you don't feel daunted by a huge project.

Don't give up. Invest in a good book of instructions if you find that's a good way to learn, and don't be put off by examples of fancy patterns. You don't need to do them! If you progress though, you might find them enjoyable.
I hope I can encourage you to keep trying. It's a nice way to pass winter hours. Please believe me, if I can do it, anybody can! I'm not a "natural", I have to work at these things.

The garden is included when I talk about the appreciation of home. It’s part of my feeling of being grounded and essential to my sense of who I am. I try most days to go into the garden, if only for a look around. Much of it looks soggy and dark right now but pretty little flowers are peeping out here and there and the snowdrops are pushing up. The bellis daisies are so fresh and appealing in their simplicity and the cyclamen announce their arrival with vivid colour. Won’t be long before the daffodils cheer us with their astonishing brightness.

I noticed a log with some weed leaves splayed beautifully over it. The texture of the bark was lovely to see and the fresh leaves were green and shapely.

Beauty is around us if we choose to look. It’s surprising where you can find loveliness if you notice small details.

I hope you’re finding lots of pleasurable pastimes during the dreary Winter. One pleasure is cooking warming and sustaining meals. Since Christmas I’ve been making a lot of my one-pan meals with simple, seasonal ingredients like carrots, sprouts, kale, celeriac and parsnips. Because I cook them all together in very little water, all the goodness and flavour are retained and they’re delicious. The vegetables combine well with potatoes or rice. Ideas, and instructions, are in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook.

These can be meat or fish based or vegetarian and I’m inclining more and more to vegetarian versions. Some ground nuts or a handful of red lentils, added to the pan, make a nutritious and tasty alternative. Ideas are buzzing around in my head all the time.

Something I’ve developed recently is a small addition of yoghurt, creme fraiche, or soured cream. I wait until the vegetables are cooked then remove the pan from the heat and stir in a dollop of one of these. It combines with the stock and makes a flavourful sauce. A very satisfying meal to make and eat and so simple.

I hope you’re enjoying your own home comforts. With you again next week. Bye for now.

I love the fresh pages of a new diary in January. I always have two. One is for general day-to-day events and the other is for my gardening notes. I’m not a “dear diary” type of person. Mine would be boring for anyone else to read (Windows cleaned, paid! etc) but they are so useful as a reminder when I need to look back for when something happened.

My gardening diary helps me to remember when I sowed seeds, planted out, and the names of vegetable varieties I’ve chosen to grow. My head is like a sieve, so I value this information. I also record the weather and sightings of birds or other wildlife in the garden. Nice to read back on a wintry night.

I like these plain black ones because the layout is good and they look neat on the bookshelf.

Each year our daughter has a calendar made for me using my photos of food, vegetables and kitchen tools. It’s such a lovely idea and I really appreciate it.

The weather has been kinder since the severe frosts of last month. Blackened leaves have been hiding fresh new buds and pretty flowers to brighten up a bedraggled garden.

I actually saw a bee buzzing around the flowers on my winter clematis! That seems very early. I know bumble bees often emerge from their nests in February on sunny days but I don’t think I ever saw one in January before.

I did a bit of tidying around my hellebore border, removing damaged leaves and debris which had blown over emerging shoots. I was annoyed with myself when I found I had snipped off a little flower. I brought it in with some snowdrops to make a tiny arrangement in a small wine glass, so all was not lost after all.

Hellebores are such wonderful flowers, so welcome in the Winter when little else is flourishing. Only a few have opened up yet but the buds are steadily increasing.

While I was clearing the border, I found a little hidey-hole at the back underneath leaves and tree roots. I hope it’s keeping a small hedgehog snug for the Winter.

In the vegetable garden, new plants are slowly growing. The greenhouse is protecting my Winter lettuces which I grew from seed a few months back. The heavy frost didn’t damage them despite having no extra protection. Only small yet but gaining and will take off in February when the days lengthen.

I have sworn not to buy any more mail-order plants after many disappointments but my weakness kicked in when I thought about growing cauliflowers. So, again, against my better judgement, I splashed out on six little plants. When I say little, I mean little! When they arrived they were barely beyond the seedling stage. I planted them immediately in one of the polytunnels with fingers crossed that they might grow. I will keep you posted.

Indoors I have some stored squashes, which I grew last Summer. I thought it was time to use a small one, but I only needed a quarter of it for one of my one-pan meals. To use the rest I made soup. Very simple and nice to have on a cold day.

Here is my recipe for four servings.

Squash and Cashew Soup
1 small Onion
approximately 350g Squash, prepared weight
2 Vegetable Stock cubes
1 stick Celery
50g Cashew Nuts
1 litre Water
Soured Cream or Creme Fraiche

Roughly chop the onion and celery. Cube the squash.
Put ingredients, including cashew nuts, into a large pan, add water and crumbled stock cubes. Bring to the boil and stir to dissolve stock cubes.
Turn down the heat and simmer for twenty-five to thirty minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Liquidise in a food processor jug or use a hand blender. 
Just before serving stir in a spoonful of soured cream or creme fraiche.

Indoors, my Christmas cactus is looking lovely with it’s deep pink flowers. Big tiered blossoms with a silky sheen hang off the ends of rough old stems. It’s an ancient plant but still produces a few pretty blooms every year.

My knitting is coming along nicely. I shall soon have another warm jumper to wear but I haven’t had the time to paint anything since before Christmas. Here’s an old picture reminding me of Spring when the ladybirds will be active again.

With you again next week. Stay warm and find lots of enjoyable pastimes to while away the Winter. Bye for now.

We stand at the beginning of the year
Full of hope and good intentions.
The old year gone, our spirits stir
And throw away those last-year tensions.

Bring on the new, embrace it all.
Expand the mind, the heart, the soul.
Go forward, not afraid to fall.
There's every chance you'll reach your goal.

Happy New Year everyone! Very best wishes for good health and happiness in 2023.

Christmas was lovely . I hope yours was too.

Christmas dinner was so enjoyable! Cooking it was a pleasure with all the lovely aroma, a glass of sherry and Handel’s “Messiah” in the background. My festive flan was as delicious as ever, the parsnips were sweet and the roast potatoes were crisp and golden. Eaten with copious helpings of my cranberry sauce. A winning combination for us.

The Christmas cake is going down a treat and chocolates are my big temptation . I’ve been over-indulging so my New Year resolution is to go back to healthy eating and lose some weight. I say this every year!! Perhaps in another week!

Around Christmas I love to think about my gardening needs for next year, so I sorted my seed packets. I have loads. Can’t resist buying seeds, even though I might never use some of them. That wonderful promise contained in those tiny specks is so exciting. I made a list of what I have and I think it’s complete.

I usually buy smaller packets now, to ensure I use fresh seed, but I do find some leftover ones are too good to throw away. Especially peas and beans. They keep well and usually come in generous amounts greater than our needs. I only grow a few plants of our favourite vegetables. I don’t see the point in growing enormous amounts and we haven’t got exotic tastes. I grow familiar vegetables for satisfying and nutritious meals, and make sure I have something to harvest all year round. That keeps me happy as a gardener and a cook.

I will grow more “Autumn King” carrots this year. They’re an old variety with a delicious flavour and grow big if I remember to sow the seed thinly so they’re not overcrowded. I still have plenty in the polytunnel, along with parsnips and celeriac.

The sprout plants were hopeless last year. For some reason, they just didn’t grow and the sprouts were few and very tiny. Had to buy some for my festive flan. Not bad but not quite as sweet as little homegrown ones. Must do better this year.

Kale is a good Winter standby. Full of goodness, tasty and reliable. I prefer the less curly one called “Red Winter” or “Red Russian”, which recovers well after hard frosts. It has a purple tinge to the stems and frilly green leaves. Always tender when steamed or stir-fried.

In the flower garden, the hellebores are budding. I have the oriental ones which do better in my garden than Heleborus niger, the one people call the “Christmas Rose”. I have a lovely cream, oriental one which starts budding in October and is now flowering really well. A welcome sight in my tired, dreary, Winter garden.

Bulbs are showing little green tips just peeping out of the soil. A few snowdrops are pushing up and showing flower buds.

Apart from tidying the polytunnels, it’s been too wet for gardening. Even my camera is having a rest because the garden offers little in the way of photo opportunities at this time of year, although I try to find other points of interest when flowers are not freely available.

When I can’t go out in the garden and there’s no need to bake, my fingers start itching to do some knitting. I like to buy yarn in sales and keep it for a rainy day. Some of it I’ve had for years but it’s good to have supplies ready when I feel creative. Then I find a suitable pattern and start those needles clicking. I’m knitting a jumper in lovely colours. The yarn is a bit chunky so knits nice and quickly and it’s 50 percent wool so it’s warm. I think it will be lovely to wear.

I hope you’ve also found a few quiet moments to be creative.

Have you managed to use up the Christmas food? There is a tendency for us all to overstock at Christmas, just in case! Sometimes it takes a lot of imagination to keep coming up with innovative ideas rather than waste all that excess. I expect the turkey and ham have gone by now. With a lot of pleasure, I should think. My festive flan provided us with Boxing Day lunch as well, so a nice relaxing day after all the activity.

All over for another year. Onwards and upwards now with New Year resolutions and a fresh start. Good luck, everyone. With you again next week. Bye for now.

The frost has gone for now and it’s wet and windy. Most people prefer the crisp bright days but I’m relieved that it’s a few degrees warmer. At least you can move about without icy hazards underfoot.

The garden looks a little bedraggled after the harsh frosts. Fortunately the hellebores, winter clematis and jasmine perk up again once the frost has melted.

The leucojum, like a giant snowdrop, is sending up its leaves again and will flower in a few weeks’ time. Always a reliable early Spring flower.

Indoors, my Christmas cactus is a bit slow to flower this year. It’s an old plant and probably needs repotting.

Like me, it’s getting old and can’t quite manage the full performance. Sometimes I need to just put my feet up and keep warm. It was a busy week, so why not?

Our family were here for our early Christmas get-together. It was a happy occasion with good food and gifts and began the festive feeling for all of us. One member of the family will be working for some of the Christmas days so this time together was precious.

For our own Christmas dinner, just two of us, we have a vegetarian meal. Trust me, this is as tasty and satisfying as any meaty dinner. I started this a few years ago when we’d had a lot of meat for our family meal before Christmas. I felt almost like I needed a detox! So I looked for an alternative and came up with my festive flan. We loved it so much that it has become a tradition.

It contains ground cashews, winter vegetables and apple in a pastry base and I serve it with roast potatoes and roast parsnips. It’s truly delicious.

The recipe is a bit too detailed to give here but it’s in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook, if you’d like a lovely vegetarian alternative that doesn’t contain cheese. There is a kindle version as well as a paperback. If you’re interested you will find my book with this link

https://geni.us/eANQu

There are also easy recipes for cranberry sauce, rum sauce to have with Christmas pudding, and simple desserts to have as an alternative or to enjoy with other festive meals.

Here’s one of my poems about the magic of Christmas.

Christmas Day
The wine flows, chocolate melts on our eager tongues.
The kitchen buzzes and tempting aromas fill the air.
As days go, this one belongs
Among the very best we share.

This is the magic that Christmas brings-
Traditional pleasures, the giving of gifts,
The thrilling sound when a choirboy sings,
The feeling that our soul uplifts.

As once again this special day is dawning
With bright-bowed presents waiting there,
We wake to another Christmas morning
Full of merriment, peace and prayer.

Time to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and everything good in 2023. I will be with you again in the new year.

The frost has finally hit home! The garden is frozen and the nights cold and long. Time for cosy fires and hot meals.

The frost always looks beautiful so I can forgive its savage effect on the garden. Here are some frosty moments I caught with the camera.

The robin is a very round ball of fluff and the birdfeeders are constantly busy. Even the jackdaws have clung clumsily to the suet feeder and squirrels are hanging by their back feet to nibble any scrap.

Downy feathers are dropped here and there as the birds do their winter preening.

These frost-frozen days often have clear blue skies and welcome sunshine.

I’m not fond of cold weather though so I’ve kept warm by baking. I made little cakes and froze them. Very simple to do but a lovely sweet treat to eat. I just mix together 200g caster sugar, 4 eggs, 200g self-raising flour, two rounded teaspoons of baking powder and 200g sunflower oil, and spoon into paper cases, then bake for 15 minutes at 180C/160C fan oven.

Some had to be sampled of course! I shall make more and ice them for our Christmas family get-together.

I will need to make more mince pies as well because our December treat is a warm mince pie, dusted with icing sugar, and a glass of sherry on a wintry afternoon. They’re disappearing quickly. So delicious and so Christmassy.

The tree is up and decorated. I don’t go for style with our Christmas ornaments, although I have a particular liking for symmetry and glistening objects. I bought most of the baubles over 50 years ago. I love them for the way they look and the memories they evoke. I made a few things when the children were small and although they don’t look very professional they are always included. Tinsel and fairy lights are compulsory for that festive shine.

I need to be ready a bit earlier than most. We have our family with us a week before Christmas. It began when our son had to work during Christmas and became a tradition. We spend time together over the previous weekend and exchange gifts. These days it’s a little briefer but just as enjoyable. We all feel it starts the season off and extends the festivities.

I hope you’re keeping warm and having some pre-Christmas treats of your own. With you again next week.

ps. Some readers have had trouble using my link on Facebook over the last couple of weeks. I hope it’s now working. The best way to catch my blog is to “follow” me, then you will receive an email telling you that I have posted. Thank you so much to everyone who reads my blog. It’s such a pleasure to write it and it’s lovely when readers say they enjoy it too.

Christmas planning going full steam ahead! But still time to wander around the garden searching for hidden treasure. Amazingly, I found a snowdrop in flower. Never known that in November. Mine usually flower in late January.

Still a few leaves in lovely colours hanging on and the evergreens are pleasing at this time of year.

In Winter other features of the garden take over, like the light behind a statue, the ivy trailing around a garden pot, the bark of the trees or the fading wood of the fence.

My broad bean seeds have germinated and are now peeping through the soil. When they make sturdy little plants, I’ll put them into the garden border to grow on until Spring.

The celeriac are lovely to eat now. Mine never grow very big but they are adequate and very tasty. They have a long growing season but worth the wait. I usually sow the seeds in early April, and they are harvested in late Autumn and Winter. Their mild, celery flavour is good cooked or grated raw in salads. They are messy looking, knobbly things when they come out of the ground but once washed and prepared, they are a welcome winter veg. I love to nibble bits while I’m chopping them for my one-pan meals.

I’m continuing to enjoy my air fryer. Mine has several settings and I’m finding the bake one very useful. I experimented with bananas. If you like them, try this, it’s delicious. Slice the peeled bananas lengthways, place the bottom halves in a silicone dish which fits the air fryer basket, and sprinkle the surface of the bananas with caster sugar and cocoa powder. Place the top banana halves over them. Set on bake at 160C and cook for 13 – 15 minutes. The sugar and cocoa make a chocolate sauce. Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream.

Another good banana idea was passed on by my sister. Slice bananas and fry in heated butter with a sprinkling of brown sugar, for a few minutes. Delicious and a really good way to use up over-ripe fruit.

I made a pecan pie. This is a Christmas treat which I have made every year for some time. I was so pleased with the way it turned out. Sometimes they can bubble in the oven and the surface cracks but this one was perfect. It’s not difficult to make and always goes down well with guests. Looks special and is a wickedly rich treat. Freezes well too.

I had a compliment from an American friend who tried my recipe. She said it was even better than her Mom’s. Loved that! If you’d like to try it, you’ll find the recipe in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook, with this link

https://geni.us/eANQu

You might remember my little teddy from last week. Well, the needles have been clicking again and he now has a companion.

Been great fun making them, although my fingers are a bit sore by now. I thought the little skirt required a dainty pair of pants to go underneath. I can imagine some small child looking for them! So, I got my thinking head on and worked out how to make them. Here they are.

That’s all for this week. I hope you’re coping with Christmas planning and enjoying the pleasures of the season. Bye for now. With you again next week.

Wet and windy. Not tempting me into the garden except to fetch vegetables for cooking. Although it’s a long, wet trek to fetch them, the carrots, parsnips and celeriac are snug in the polytunnels, and I have an abundant supply of fresh parsley. It’s always worth the effort. I have a couple of nice winter squashes stored in the house.

These carrots are “Autumn King”, an old variety with plenty of flavour. I hope I have enough for the next few weeks. They’re a bit overcrowded so I probably won’t be pulling up huge ones. I should have sown them thinly, but I’m carried away with a packet of seeds in my hand.

The onions I grow over winter are doing well. They are surprisingly hardy and will tick along until February when they will put on a spurt and gradually begin to swell. I’m growing “Toughball”. They must have that name because of their ability to withstand bad weather. The onions are actually very tender and sweet to eat.

The “Spring Hero” cabbages are holding their own after a few nibbles from slugs. Once plants are a bit bigger, they recover well and continue to grow. Best to work with nature wherever possible. These are lovely cabbages. As far as I know they are the only Spring cabbages which form a ball head. When they’re ready, we love these shredded thinly with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a dribble of ginger syrup stirred in. Or if I cook them, they’re good steamed. Really delicious.

Very few flowers to brighten the garden now. Evergreens come into their own though and provide some structure to a fading scene.

One of the compensations for this weather is the opportunity to bake delicious Christmas treats. I’ve made some mince pies, using my own mincemeat . A little extra brandy stirred in, before filling the pastry cases, adds flavour and moisture. A warm mince pie with a glass of sherry is always welcome in December. I shall make some more because we love them. A little dusting of icing sugar makes them extra tempting.

For an easy but special dessert to enjoy at some point over Christmas, I always make a swiss roll filled with cream. I give it the posh name of “roulade”. It can be filled with so many tasty ingredients, such as chocolate, nuts or fruit. This time I filled it with stem ginger pieces and cream flavoured with ginger syrup. This recipe, and one for walnut and coffee roulade, is in my cookbook. If you’d like to take a look, click this link to find it. https://geni.us/eANQu

You will need a swiss roll tin and greaseproof paper.

It’s easy to make, delicious to eat and freezes perfectly if you need to make it ahead. I always make these before Christmas so that when the time comes, I can relax and enjoy the treats without too much work. If you’re good with an icing kit you can make it look a lot fancier than I do. When it’s sliced the inside looks really nice.

There are other ideas in my cookbook for easy but delicious desserts. Good food doesn’t need to be complicated. Christmas should be enjoyed, not endured. Planning ahead and a few simple ideas make for more festive fun.

For those relaxing moments I’ve been knitting again. It’s surprisingly soothing when I have a lot on my mind. Another little teddy, dressed for the cold weather. So pleasing when it comes to life and his little bits of clothing are added.

Fun to do with easy patterns and oddments of yarn. I hope he’ll find a home with some little person who will treasure him.

I hope your Christmas plans are going well and you’re enjoying the preparations. With you again next week. Bye for now.

The weather has cooled at last and more like the usual November. Cosy nights by the fire and crisper days. Happy times in a warm kitchen, baking, cooking, and filling up the freezer with Christmas goodies.

My lovely daughter, Sam, helped me to make the Christmas cake. We always do this on my birthday. It’s stashed away now in a cake tin to mature, and I will sprinkle it with sherry a couple of times to boost that wonderful festive flavour.

We needed a quick lunch, so I made delicious chicken soup the day before. I always find soup is even better the day after I make it. The flavours develop and it thickens slightly. We enjoyed some chocolate brownies I’d made and frozen on another baking day.

It was a lovely way to spend my birthday. The kitchen was full of Christmas aromas. Spices, brandy and sweet ingredients. Plus, a tasty lunch and chocolate cakes. Wonderful!

One birthday treat was a visit to our favourite local nursery to buy plants. Always a pleasure for me. I have popped the plants into a bed which was created when we had the landscaping done. Meanwhile, I look around the garden and find pleasure in the leaves. Some still clinging on and others glistening wet on the paths.

I spotted a tiny snail clinging on to a brown and shrivelled leaf.

The winter clematis has lots of buds and a few opening flowers. In a week or two it will be a picture.

You don’t often see the white flowers on holly but there is a little cluster of buds just behind a trellis fence which I managed to catch with my camera.

A few small roses keep surprising me. Their beautiful petals look so fragile and yet they withstand the wind and rain and still manage to look lovely. The hydrangea we planted a few weeks ago is still blooming and full of colour.

Winter days call for satisfying and warming food. The cost of groceries is worryingly high right now but here are two suggestions for cheap, tasty and nutritious meals.

Boil and mash potatoes. Drain a can of salmon, sardines or mackerel and mash into the potatoes. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and spread the mash in the pan. Brown on both sides and then serve with vegetables and your favourite sauce or chutney. If you have a steamer, you can cook frozen peas above the potatoes as they boil. That will save a bit of fuel.

For a vegetarian alternative, one which I love, cook red lentils to a mush and then add to the mashed potatoes. The lentils need to be just covered in water so that it’s absorbed and not too sloppy. Cook in the microwave for ten minutes, uncovered, or cook on the hob for about fifteen minutes until the water has been absorbed. Brown in a little heated oil, as before, and again serve with vegetables and sauce or chutney.

Cheap and enjoyable, full of protein and easy to do.

With you again next week. Meanwhile, enjoy your Christmas preparations. Bye for now.

Almost mid-November, yet the weather has been so mild that the plants are confused. Some of them think it’s Spring. The rhododendron has opened a few flower buds and the primulas are flowering.

A few little potted roses are pretty and brightening the garden with their delicate beauty.

The tomatoes have been removed from the greenhouse and I’ve used the border to plant a few winter lettuces. I started the seeds in plugs of homemade compost and transplanted them once they had a few leaves. They will grow slowly over the next few months, providing a few leaves, and begin to bulk up in February when the days are longer.

The Spring cabbages in the polytunnel are tiny yet but by late April I will have delicious fresh cabbage to enjoy. They don’t look much at this stage, but gardeners learn to be patient people.

The garlic I planted last month has fresh green leaves. I’m hoping for a nice crop of juicy bulbs in May. Still using this year’s crop of sweet, flavoursome cloves.

My “Red Winter” kale is producing some useable leaves now. I grow this outside because it’s very hardy and suffers from powdery mildew if I grow it under cover. It was a battle to keep the Cabbage White butterflies off earlier but now they’ve gone it can grow undisturbed. It’s a delicious kale. Really good steamed or stir-fried.

Not so much colour in the garden at this time of year but still things to enjoy. I love the undergrowth of the two huge cypress trees we have and our melancholy maiden standing beneath.

There are lovely leaves and berries around the garden. The holly hedge has some scarlet gems and the skimmia is always a show. The leaf bin is pleasingly full and will make leaf mould for next year and the following year.

It’s a good thing that the gardening has eased because Christmas shopping and baking take a lot of time and thought. Lots of work but something I enjoy.

I’m trying to reduce plastic in my gifts, so I usually make some presents. This year I’ve knitted someone a scarf. I thought it would be simple, but it seemed to take a long time to reach the right length! I hope it will be snug and comfortable to wear.

I’m not making Christmas puddings this year but if you’re looking for a nice recipe that doesn’t take multiple hours of steaming, try mine. I make individual puddings which keep for a short time or can be frozen for a year. They take just one minute to thaw to eating temperature in the microwave. A fruity and spicy treat to be had with my rum sauce. Both recipes are in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook, available with Amazon. You can find it with this link.

https://geni.us/eANQu

Thank you to everyone who has bought my book. Many of you know that I produced this in response to requests from regular readers of my blog. Thinking up simple recipes is one of my pleasures and I’m happy to pass them on, along with tips to make things easier. Cooking and baking, and of course eating, should be something to enjoy. Cooking makes work but there is no need for complicated methods. My cakes are all easy to mix and I have recipes for easy, nutritious and economical meals. The simplest meals are often the most delicious and satisfying.

When I want to relax, I like to paint. You might remember I had something in progress. Not very big, drawn from one of my photos of the garden and painted with gouache. Here’s the end product.

That’s all for this week. I hope you’re finding lots of pleasant ways to fill your time. With you again soon. Bye for now.