Seasonal Eating Blog

After writing some seasonal eating blogs covering one week some readers expressed an interest in more information about how we eat seasonally. I won't fill in all meals, just the ones I feel are of interest, some days are missing and the formatting is a bit inconsistent but I'm hoping I will keep at it! I'm also hoping it will help me remember things I've cooked that worked well.

Thursday 25th July

Camping at the wood, had museli and banana.

Lunch: Green salad, cucumber, nasturtiums and peas, all from the garden with sauerkraut, tomatoes and feta cheese.

Wednesday 24th July

Kale omelette for breakfast

Salad - carrot, sauerkraut, fennel and feta cheese.

Lentil and lamb stew with brown rice and yoghurt.

Tuesday 23rd July

Eggs on rye bread

Was working at the Royal Show all day so had beef tacos for lunch then some chips and a pint later on.

Monday 22nd July

Museli with stewed rhubarb

Lettuce with cottage cheese, tomatoes, carrot salad and lemon aioli

Made a korean spicy gochujang soup with the "tofu" I unsuccessfully made a while ago and used lettuce instead of spinach. Really good.

Sunday 21st July 

Mushroom omelette for breakfast, added cheese as I'm working, I have on-going issues regarding self medicating with food.

Lunch was marinated fennel salad, carrot salad, coleslaw and feta cheese.

Dinner was a green lasagne from the freezer, green salad and coleslaw.

Saturday 20th July

Mushroom omelette for breakfast.

Salad - cottage cheese, carrot salad, tomatoes, lettuce and lemon aioli dressing.

Chicken legs roasted with lemon, onions, potatoes from the garden and served with homemade coleslaw.

Friday 19th July

Kale omelette for breakfast.

Leftovers from last night.

Made a chilli with Holden Farm veal in the pressure cooker. It was good but I always err on the side of caution and add loads of liquid after the dreaded "burn" notifications I've had in the past and it was more like a soup. Added loads of cornflour (I normally add flour and butter, not sure why I didn't) and felt like I made it taste a bit weird. Served with brown rice, yoghurt and cheese. 

Thursday 18th July

Mushroom omelette for breakfast.

Frittata from the freezer with green salad and carrot salad.

Something else from the new "How to Eat 30 Plants a week" book. Roasted summer veg with bulgar wheat and preserved lemon aioli. Really good.

Wednesday 17th July

Chelsea bun from my favourite bakery in Cumbria for breakfast.

Lettuce from the garden, sauerkraut, tomatoes, olives and cottage cheese.

Greens bake from the freezer, carrot salad, sauerkraut and green salad.

Wednesday 10th July 

Museli for breakfast then drove to Cumbria for work, there until 16th July.

Tuesday 9th July

Mushroom omelette for breakfast.

Salad as yesterday plus a marinated fennel salad

Felt so depressed about the garden I came home and ate some Tony's chocolate.

Black bean and quinoa chilli with brown rice, yoghurt, grated cheese and homemade salsa with a tiny cucumber from our polytunnel!

Monday 8th July

Mushroom omelette for breakfast.

Cottage cheese, sauerkraut, pickles, carrot salad, cauliflower salad and lettuce for lunch.

Squash and kale soup for dinner with wholemeal sourdough.

Sunday 7th July

Made baked dutch pancake for breakfast and served with stewed rhubarb, blackberries from the freezer and fresh strawberries. Been buying strawberries locally, I think all of ours have been eaten.

Had cottage cheese, sauerkraut, celery and tomato salad for lunch.

Eric made pizza for dinner.

Saturday 6th July

Up early for a market in Montgomery, museil with strawberries for breakfast

A sausage and mustard roll from a fellow stallholder for lunch and we shared some chips in the afternoon.

Called into Arvon Ales in Llandrindod on the way home before having tartiflette from the freezer with sauerkraut, it tasted amazing. A carb-overload day!

Friday 5th July

Last night was election night and throughout the night I ate crisps and Tony's chocolate, drank wine and went to sleep at 7 a.m. for a few hours. Woke up at about 10.30 and made a cooked breakfast with mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs and toast which we ate at about 12.

Dinner was Welsh dragon sausages and polenta cooked with kale, lemon and cottage cheese and a jar of ratatouille from the larder.

Thursday 4th July

Toast with peanut butter for breakfast. Cooked an elderflower cordial drizzle cake for knitting as it's my turn on the cake rota.

Took a salad to my knitting group: cottage cheese, cauliflower rice, olives, pickles, sauerkraut, tomatoes and herby dressing. Followed by the drizzle cake. 

Spring greens galette from the freezer (the one I wrote for the Coed Net blog featured here) served with roasted new potatoes with garlic and lettuce leaves ( all from the garden).

 Wednesday 3rd July

Cooked bread.

Museli and banana for breakfast.

Met some family who are visiting at the wonderful International Rarebit Centre for lunch.

We were at the wood and after having a paddle in the river we walked up to the new camp at the top and had the soup I made yesterday cooked on our new Kadai firebowl with the bread, followed by some malt loaf.

Tuesday 2nd July

Homemade museli and banana

Salad leaves from the garden with cottage cheese, celery, tomatoes, pickles and olives

Did some cooking and prep for the coming week. Made two malt loaves and prepared some bread. Finished the Beech Leaf Noyau by making the syrup and adding it to the steeped gin. Made a soup for tomorrow in the pressure cooker, using the recipe I have for buttery tomato soup from Modern Pressure Cooking by Catherine Phipps and adding a large tub of cooked pumpkin and one of cooked courgette from the freezer.

Lamb koftas from the freezer, cauliflower rice, carrot salad, sauerkraut, raita and feta cheese

Monday 1st July

Homemade museli and banana

Eggs with kale and cheddar cheese

Squash and lentil soup with rye bread croutons and pumpkin seeds

Sunday 30th June

Egg and bacon sandwich

Lunch was lamb, chickpea, tomato and feta cheese salad

We camped in the woodland and cooked a huge leg of pork in the cage over the fire. Had it with potatoes cooked with fennel and red onions. loads left for the freezer. This is a great way of cooking large pieces of meat rather than using the gas oven in the caravan.

Saturday 29th June

Brunch of eggs, tomatoes, bacon and mushrooms with toast

Smoothie with milk, strawberries that were looking a bit sad, frozen banana and frozen blackberries.

Eric made pizza for dinner

Friday 28th June

Mushroom omelette for breakfast

Same cottage cheese salad as yesterday for lunch

Worked at the wood till really late and ended up going to the pub and having a takeaway.

Thursday 27th June

Eggs with kale, ham and garlic for breakfast

Lunch was cottage cheese with celery, tomatoes, kimchi, olives, pickles and salad dressing, I was pleasantly surprised, it was really good. 

Tomato soup with polenta bread and toasted pumpkin seeds for dinner.

Away visiting friends and with work 21st - 26th June

Friday 21st June

Pastries from Hay for breakfast - we camped last night so needed something easy. I really must stop eating so much pastry though.

Lunch was leftover new potatoes, red onion and fennel from last night with some salad leaves

Went away in the evening.

Thursday 20th June

Eggs with kale and cheese for breakfast

Eric went to Hay and came back with tarts from Duggan's for lunch

Eric cooked trout over the fire with new potatoes, red onion and fennel.

Wednesday 19th June

Rye bread and eggs

Lunch is same salad as yesterday

Dinner is kale with polenta and sausage and bean stew from the freezer

Tuesday 18th June

Finished making some elderflower cordial, the elder at our wood is much later than other places it seems. 

Egg muffins with mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese for breakfast

Lunch was a salad - carrot salad, salad leaves, potatoes, broad bean humous. 

Leftover lamb from Sunday night coated in cornflour and ras el hanout and quickly fried with salad leaves, roasted chickpeas, tomatoes, marinated red onions and feta cheese

Monday 17th June

Camping down at the wood, toast and honey

Made some egg muffins with mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese

Tomato soup made in the pressure cooker.

Sunday 16th June

Had an almond croissant from Pobl bakery, probably the best almond croissant I've ever had. I'm still mainly sticking to my low carb high protein diet but allowing myself to slide off sometimes. Everything Pobl bakery does is amazing. Got some brown sourdough and rye bread as well. I have not perfected my wholemeal sourdough yet, probably because I've only tried once.

My wonderful friend and cheese eating enabler, Malcolm, sent me this link and we had barbecue baked homemade paneer with oregano, chilli and honey cooked over the fire with tomatoes and a slice of bread.

Cooked a leg of lamb (gifted in return for helping put up our friends' yurts) in a metal roasting cage over the fire. It was excellent. Had it with broad beans and potato salad.

Saturday 15th June

Went to Talgarth mill and had a cooked breakfast.

Bottled kombuca and made a new batch of 4.5 litres with green tea. Made a syrup for some bergamot gin I started over three years ago. Strained and bottled some damson gin. 

Smoothie for lunch - frozen banana, whole milk, roasted rhubarb and frozen blackberries.

Eric made pizza.

Friday 14th June

Mushroom omelette

Had a beetroot, walnut and camembert tart from a local cafe for lunch.

Veg gratin from the freezer and welsh dragon sausages (so called for their spiciness.)

Thursday 13th June

Eggs, toast and asparagus. 

Frittata, carrot salad, field bean humous and salad leaves.

From the freezer - brown rice leftovers, dahl and chicken penang curry.

Wednesday 12th June

Wholemeal toast with peanut butter, mashed banana and jam, like I'm 12.

More frittata and salad for lunch.

Had galette and chard bake from the freezer. Made a grated carrot salad (with dressing, toasted pumpkin seeds and sultanas), a field bean humous and salad leaves. 

Tuesday 11th June

Baked the bread. Had museli with the roasted rhubarb.

Lunch was salad leaves from the garden, frittata and the other half of the avocado.

Cooked onion and garlic, added chopped sausage. Added oregano, smoked paprika and ground cumin. Then a tin of chopped tomatoes, some cooked chick peas from the freezer and some wholewheat pasta. Served with some grated cheese. Two portions went in the freezer.

Monday 10th June

Eggs, kale, chard and cheese, something in-between an omelette and scrambled eggs.

Cooked some diced onions and carrots then added them to the slow cooker with some pumpkin and chicken stock from the freezer, a tin of tomatoes, a cup of red lentils and a dollop of wild garlic kimchi (the lethal stuff).

Lunch at the wood was fennel salad, avocado, tomato, halloumi and salad leaves.

Did some cooking for the week. Roasted some rhubarb I picked at the wood, made a oven baked frittata with leftover potatoes, sautéed baby field beans, cooked red onion, cooked kale and chard (leftover from the veg gratin on Thursday) and some suspect bits of cheddar cheese I found in the fridge. Prepared a wholemeal loaf.

Blended the soup and served it with some herby yoghurt and roasted rye bread croutons and pumpkin seeds.

Sunday 9th June

Baked dutch pancake with strawberries, baked rhubarb and frozen blackberries with honey.

Lunch at the shop - salad leaves, bacon, tomato, fennel salad, halloumi cheese.

Eric cooking the sea bass piccata we had last weekend. 

Saturday 8th June

Eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon and rye bread.

Strawberry and banana smoothie.

Eric made pizza

Friday 7th June

Some strawberries first thing then a mushroom omelette.

Lunch, chicken and halloumi from yesterday with a marinated fennel salad and tomatoes.

Yesterday I cooked a veg gratin inspired by a recipe in a book I got for my birthday - How to Eat 30 Plants a Week by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, we easily eat 30 plants a week but this book is full of really great ideas and inspiration. Cooked leek scapes, leeks, half a red onion languishing in the fridge, wet garlic, some tough chive stalks, baby field beans and chard stems, all from the garden apart from the red onion. Made a sauce with soaked cashew nuts, hot veg stock and mustard and poured it over the cooked veg. Steamed kale and chard leaves. Layered these two with leftover potatoes. Made a crunchy topping with seeds, nuts, buckwheat groats and rosemary. It made 8 portions.

Served the above with some spiced chicken breasts from the butcher.

Thursday 6th June

Leek scapes, wendesleydale and egg omelette

For lunch I bashed a chicken breast until thin and marinated it with lemon and herbs before cooking in a griddle pan with some cubes of halloumi. Served with salad leaves picked in the morning and tomatoes.

Out for dinner, birthday celebrations continued.

Wednesday 5th June

Smoothie with milk, frozen banana and blackberries and stewed rhubarb.

Eggs with kale for lunch

Dinner was the greens lasagne I made a couple of weeks ago with salad leaves picked from the garden.

Tuesday 4th June

Almond croissants and coffee for breakfast

Eggs with kale for lunch

Borlotti bean soup for dinner

Monday 3rd June

My birthday! Had some savoury tarts and a bottle of fizz for lunch. Camped down by the river in the woodland and Eric cooked steak and chips with carrots and field beans over the fire. 

Sunday 2nd June - 3rd June

Away in Glastonbury

Saturday 1st June

Eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes and rye bread for brunch.

Eric made pizza

Friday 31st May

Cinnamon and apricot chelsea buns bought in Hay yesterday for breakfast.

There was a bit of rice, curry and chard leftover from last night, just a small bowlful. Mixed this with 6 eggs and some wensleydale cheese for the lunch muffins, worked really well.

Got some fish from the market in Hay yesterday, the closest fishmonger we have. I'm not a big fan of fish but want more in my diet. I got some sea bass which I presume is farmed and not wild, I'm not really clear what to look for in terms of sustainability and should have probably asked. They also had dorade and trout, one of which I'll get next time and cook on the fire. Felt really annoyed with myself as I'd forgotten to pick herbs for the fish and bring them home to the caravan (living and working between the two is a constant lesson in preparedness). I remembered that we bought some nduja from Hay Charcuterie yesterday which is amazing stuff. So I ended up making this Smoky Sea Bass Piccata which was insanely good. One of the best things I've cooked recently. I substituted the shallot for red onion and the asparagus for young field beans which worked really well. 

Thursday 30th May

Rye bread with homemade raspberry jam.

Went shopping in Hay, market day, for supplies, more on that tomorrow.

Egg cheese and ham muffins made yesterday.

Leftovers from the curries I defrosted for my friends the other weekend were all lumped together and chucked back in the freezer. I also cooked some wet garlic I harvested with a tablespoon of Panch Phoran mix, added some chopped chard stalks and then the chard leaves. Mixed some mint with yoghurt and served it all with brown rice. Had a bottle of wonderful cider from our friends Artistraw with it.

Wednesday 29th May

Museli for breakfast and made egg, cheese and ham muffins to take to the wood for lunch. Added the following to the slow cooker defrosted from the freezer: chicken stock, cooked courgette, cooked pumpkin, leftover roast lamb and a cube of wild garlic. Fried some onions and added them along with a cup of red lentils, a tin of tomatoes and some beef stock from an organic cube. Cooked for 5 hours. When I got home I added some kale I'd harvested and some parsley, plus some cooked chick peas from the freezer (I cook them in the slow cooker from dried then freeze them in tin-sized portions). Served with grated cheese on top and a hunk of bread.

Tuesday 28th May

Banana, blackberry, whole milk and peanut butter smoothie for breakfast

Egg, tomato, ham and cheese muffins for lunch

Special pre-birthday meal at Chapters in Hay-on-Wye.

Monday 27th May

Eggs, bacon, mushrooms and rye bread for brunch

Chips and a pint in a pub 

Nettle soup and sourdough for dinner

Sunday 26th May

Museli with stewed apple

Was at a fair all day selling my work. Took a salad that I made with broad beans tops, salad leaves, cold chicken, tomatoes, potato and a herb dressing. Also, Reece's Peanut Butter cups. 

At the Hay festival in the evening, had a pork gyros (which cost £14!!!), a beer then toffee and honeycomb ice cream. We are entering a bit of a holiday period leading up to my birthday in one week and have more tickets for Hay so I'm sure the high protein, low carb and fat diet will be the first casualty. 

Saturday 25th May

Eggs, bacon and mushrooms, one slice rye bread

Smoothie for lunch: frozen banana, frozen blackberries, peanut butter and whole milk

Eric is away on a timber framing course and we had an odd number of packets of raclette in the freezer so I took one for the team and had raclette with a small jar of our bottled ratatouille, new potatoes, gherkins and parma ham. I could barely breathe afterwards, not used to eating so much. 

Friday 24th May

Baked mushroom with egg, one slice rye bread

Egg, cheese, mushroom and bacon muffins volunteering at the Corner Collective

Chicken leg roasted with new potatoes and field bean tops

Thursday 23rd May

Baked mushroom with egg, one slice rye bread

Egg, cheese, mushroom and bacon muffins at knitting group

Chick pea and kale stew with baked potato

Wednesday 22nd May

Toast with banana, peanut butter and cacao for breakfast

Mushroom omelette

I was looking for something to do with leeks and found a leek lasagne recipe which I adapted. I cooked onions, leeks, field bean tops and kale, all from the garden, each separately (as they didn't fit in the pan together) then mixed them with 500ml of cooked courgettes from the freezer (I grow Lungo Bianco courgettes which cook down amazingly well and have great flavour) adding some wild garlic and seasoning. I made a béchamel and added some fennel pesto from the freezer then layered the whole thing up one layer of goats cheese that needed using up and another pot of pesto, this time a basil one from the freezer. Cheddar cheese on top. Wow, it was good. My first ever green lasagne! I'll do a variation on this throughout the summer I think. Would be even better to make my own green pasta too. I got a pasta machine for a birthday in my 20's... still not used it. Don't even know where it is in fact.

Tuesday 21st May

Smoothie for breakfast - blackberries picked last year from the freezer with frozen bananas, peanut butter and local organic milk.

Lunch was an omelette with field bean tops. 

Went to Llandovery to see some friends and ate at The Bear, excellent food. 

Monday 20th May

Mushroom omelette for breakfast

Leftovers from Saturday night salad - potato and tomato salad with lamb chops

Pumpkin soup from the freezer with sourdough and a slice of Wensleydale for dinner.

Sunday 19th May

Cooked bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs and toast for my guests before they left.

Eric made pizza.

Saturday 18th May

Cooked bacon, mushrooms, scrambled eggs and toast for everyone.

Went to Sombresa for drinks and some delicious cheese and charcuterie boards from local producers. It was heaven.

For dinner I made a potato salad and a tomato and red onion salad. I couldn't resist the dutch tomatoes in the veg shop but normally I try and wait for the Isle of Wight ones at least. On the petromax ( I highly recommend their griddle/fire bowls, we have had one for years and it's brilliant) over the fire I cooked Welsh dragon spicy sausages from our local butcher, I made a spice rub for some pork belly slices and did the rose lamb chops again. 

Friday 17th May

Eggs and mushrooms for breakfast

Toast and butter for lunch - was rushing

We have some friends camping with us at the woodland so I got some curries out of the freezer - courgette dahl, my basic dahl and a root veg curry - and made some brown rice. Took yoghurt and lime pickle down there as well.

Thursday 16th May

One slice wholemeal toast with peanut butter, a banana and a sprinkling of raw cacao on the top.

Eggs and mushrooms for lunch

I made a chard bake with creme fraiche, the chard has made a comeback in the garden. I roasted a whole cauliflower covered with a coconut oil and harissa rub, half went in the freezer. I cooked some local lamb chops using this Sabrina Ghayour recipe which I use all the time. I used rose petals that I picked last year and dried. It's a super quick way to cook lamb and always works out really well.

Wednesday 15th May

Kale with eggs and Cheddar cheese

Lunch was leftover veal stew, eaten out of the casserole dish, it's that kind of week.

Dinner, decided to go to a talk with Chris Smaje just down the road so had a super quick dinner of ratatouille from the freezer with some pickled nasturtiums chucked in, wholemeal pasta and grated cheese on top. 

Had some chocolate when we got home.

Tuesday 14th May

Muesli for breakfast

Made some egg, bacon, cheese and herb muffins to take to the wood for lunch, they were lovely (I put loads of cheese in)

Veal stew from the freezer with half a baked potato

Monday 13th May

Muesli for breakfast

Cauliflower rice, quinoa chilli from the freezer with that thick satay sauce the failed "tofu" made for lunch

Borlotti bean soup from the freezer

Sunday 12th May

Egg and bacon omelette

Volunteering at the Oil and Oak in Hay - slice of leftover pizza for lunch and a flapjack

Dahl with mushrooms, brown rice and yoghurt for dinner

Saturday 11th May

Eggs, bacon and mushrooms for breakfast

Day of Super Seconds festival and it was wonderful but intense and exhausting. Slice of toast with peanut butter for lunch

Eric made pizza, I drank too much and climbed up the hill behind the caravan to see the Northern Lights, didn't see anything. 

Friday 10th May

Mushroom omelette.

Was volunteering in the shop in Builth so took leftovers from the farro bake and cauliflower and chickpea thing from last night with some homegrown salad leaves and salad burnet I picked yesterday. 

Met Eric in the pub after work and this led onto us getting fish and chips from the chippy. Was in bed by 9.30 and missed the Northern Lights.

Thursday 9th May

Eggs with kale for breakfast

Made some cottage cheese (I had some languishing in the fridge) low carb muffins yesterday to have for my lunch today. I was lying in bed last night thinking about food as I often do and realised that none of the ingredients taste of anything. I was annoyed as usually I realise this while I'm cooking a new recipe and do something about it. So basically had a very bland muffin for my lunch at the wood. 

It was hot and I was fantasising about buying a Magnum ice cream on the way home (white chocolate and vanilla if you were wondering, although those Gold Caramel Billionaires are amazing)... instead I made a smoothie at home with some frozen blackberries, banana, milk and peanut butter, it was really good.

In the afternoon I got on with a load of food related jobs that I've been meaning to do for some time. I gathered the fresh beech leaves from the huge grandmother beech that towers over the caravan and made beech leaf noyau. Made up a big batch of museli. Made paneer with some milk that was on the turn. Eric helped me bottle the blackberry wine last night (I should have done it ages ago) so I labelled it all and put it in the larder. Made flapjacks. We helped a neighbour put up some yurts on Tuesday and in return were given loads of lamb, honey and some chicken of the woods mushroom from the freezer. Made lamb koftas and roasted cauliflower and chickpeas with a herb dressing.

Wednesday 8th May

Museli with stewed apple and banana

Lunch - mushroom omelette

Dinner was sausages and the French Onion farro bake leftovers in the freezer and sauerkraut

Tuesday 7th May

Museli with stewed apple and banana

Lunch - provided by some friends we were helping out

Dinner - Borlotti bean soup from the freezer

Monday 6th May

Evening when we got home - jar of cassulet from France

Saturday - Monday - away staying with my sister

Friday 3rd May

Mushroom omelette

Yesterdays salad for lunch

Roast chicken legs with herby lemony dressing and roasted potatoes with sauerkraut

Thursday 2nd May

Mushroom omelette.

Forgot my salad packed lunch, only remembered the cheese scone to go with it. Had just that and cake at my knitting group and didn't feel too great after.

Baked potatoes, chick pea stew with kale, yoghurt and grated cheese on top.

Wednesday 1st May

Christmas pudding and custard - now the Christmas pudding is gone

Cauliflower rice, sauerkraut, blue cheese, leftover new potatoes with tahini sauce - smaller portion than yesterday and a slice of wholemeal toast with butter (which was heaven)

Made chicken noodle soup as Eric has had a lingering cold for weeks. Homemade chicken stock, roast chicken leftovers, lots of fresh herbs from the garden.

Tuesday 30th April

Eggs with kale

Cauliflower rice, sauerkraut, blue cheese, leftover new potatoes with tahini sauce

Made "tofu" with chick peas, this recipe, it did not work. Broccoli and satay sauce with the "tofu" stirred into it. It was actually very nice and I might use it as a way to make thick sauces for curry, etc in the future. Brown rice.

Monday

Christmas pudding and custard for breakfast again, I was exhausted and needed some comfort

Cauliflower rice, sauerkraut and bacon with tahini sauce

Lentil soup from the freezer with polenta bread I made last week

Sunday - working at Wonderwool

Eggs with ground elder

One slice of leftover pizza for lunch

Eric cooked fish with lemon and nduja, new potatoes and leeks

Saturday - at Wonderwool

Museli

Amazing pierogi, the most carbolicious thing I've had in ages

Eric made pizza

Friday 26th April

Museli and banana

Lunch out - Tapas in Brecon

Dinner - crackers, nduja, cheese and pickles

Thursday 25th April

Mushroom omelette for breakfast

Broccoli salad with some sweet potato wedges and kale and carrot salad leftovers

I was invited to contribute a foraged food recipe for CoedNet, a network of Welsh woodland makers I'm part of. I wrote the recipe and tried it out tonight. Foraged Spring Greens Galette. I served it with cauliflower rice, sauerkraut and a mint, parsley and caper sauce. 

Foraged Spring Greens Galette

For the pastry:

120g flour

110g cold grated salted butter

Ice cold water

For the filling:

1 tbsp butter or coconut oil

I medium onion

Sea salt

2 cloves garlic finely chopped - can leave out if you have wild garlic instead

Medium basket of mixed foraged greens - dandelion leaves, ground elder, sorrel, lamb’s quarters, wild garlic, garlic hedge mustard, plantain, etc. washed and roughly chopped, big bits is fine

Large handful (be careful) of nettles

1 heaped teaspoon Za’atar (optional)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Around 150g of grated cheese or crumbly feta, whatever cheese you have to hand

Fresh garden herbs like rosemary, sage, thyme or a combination - about a tablespoon when finely chopped

Make the pastry: Pulse the flour and butter together in a food processor until it looks like fine crumbs then add the water slowly until the pastry starts to come together. (You can of course use your hands, cold grated butter will make it easier.) Remove from the food processor and knead briefly to create the dough. Shape into a disc, put in a plastic bag and into the fridge for at least one hour or up to two days.

The filling: Cook the onions in butter/coconut oil adding a generous pinch of salt until they are golden brown, adding the chopped garlic towards the end and giving them a stir when required. Tip into a bowl to cool. Pour a kettle full of boiling water over your nettles in a colander. Squeeze out the water and chop fairly small. Add all of your foraged greens including the nettles to the pan, season and stir until they are just wilted and coated with butter, add more if you need to. Add the za’atar if using. Allow to cool.

Assembly: Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface, about 12-14 inches wide and put in onto a baking sheet. Don't worry if it hangs over the edge, you’ll be folding it over the filling. Spread the mustard over the dough leaving a gap around the edge of about 2 inches. Cover with 1/3 of the cheese. Add half of the greens then half the onions then another 1/3 of cheese. Add the remaining greens, the rest of the onions and the final 1/3 of cheese on top. Fold the edge of the pastry into the middle all the way around, leaving a gap of filling in the middle. Brush the pastry with a beaten egg or milk. Sprinkle the whole thing with finely chopped herbs.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden.

Wednesday 24th

Mushroom omelette for breakfast

Broccoli salad from yesterday with some leftover pasta from the dinner as well

Some breaded chicken from the freezer - made before the new diet - sweet potato wedges and kale and carrot salad

Tuesday 23rd

Eggs and kale for breakfast

Another day another broccoli salad. Slightly different, made tahini sauce and added bacon, pickled nasturtium seeds and feta cheese

Wholemeal pasta and a jar of homemade ratatouille, grated cheese on top

Monday 22nd April

Christmas pudding and custard for breakfast. I'm on my period and it seemed like an excellent idea.

Lunch, as yesterday

Dinner was the leftover veg puree from last weekend with a colander full of blanched and chopped nettles. Made some polenta bread to go with it, added some wild garlic kimchi to the batter which made it more intertesting.

Sunday 21st April

Mushroom omelete

Working at the shop in hay so took a packed lunch: Cauliflower rice, sauerkraut, chicken, herb dressing, feta cheese

On the way home I was craving cake and remembered the second Christmas pudding I made so had some with hastily made instant custard.

Dinner was sausages and the French Onion farro bake leftovers in the freezer.

Saturday 20th April

Museli with banana and rhubarb

Mushrooms baked with butter, thyme and garlic, eggs and wholemeal sourdough

Eric made pizza

Friday 19th

Eggs, bacon and mushrooms for breakfast

Lunch - chicken, kale, sauerkraut, cottage cheese, pickled cucumber

Dinner - quinoa burgers, cauliflower rice, feta cheese and satay sauce

Thursday 18th

Eggs and kale for breakfast

Lunch - chicken salad with foraged and homegrown salad and sauerkraut. I got some reduced 20p organic cucumbers from the wholefood shop (I wouldn't normally buy them out of season) and did a quick pickle with some pickling liquid leftover from the pickled onions. 

Dinner - Baked sweet potato with quinoa chilli and feta cheese

Tuesday 16th April

Museli and banana for breakfast

Lunch at a friends house

Made a curry with the leftover meat from the cockerel. Used Panang curry paste (good to keep in the fridge for quick curries), added onion, coconut milk and at the end a large handful of chopped ground elder and a handful of blanched and chopped nettles. Served with cauliflower rice, yoghurt and fermented wild garlic which was really good, need to make another batch.

Monday 15th April

Eggs and kale for breakfast

Broccoli salad for lunch - I really need to branch out with some new high protein salads - also had homegrown salad leaves and some of the dressing from last night

Lentil soup with a slice of rye bread for dinner

Sunday 14th April

Eggs, bacon and mushrooms for breakfast

Broccoli salad for lunch

Was working at the wood all day so before I left I put the following in the slow cooker: Chunky pieces of carrot, celery, onion, potatoes, cooked bacon chopped, half a pint of cider, half a pint of chicken stock then one of our cockerels smeared with butter and seasoned on the top. Cooked for 6 hours and kept warm for 2 hours - too long, will cook for less next time. Served with a dressing made of ACV, Dijon mustard, capers, olive oil, parsley and mint from the garden, it was delicious. The cockerel tasted good, maybe a bit tough but possibly as I overcooked it. Maybe if it was covered in liquid it might be better. Stripped the carcas and froze the bones for stock, put the meat aside for later in the week. Put the leftover veg in the blender, added some stock and out in the freezer for soup.

13th April

Eggs with ground elder for breakfast 

Rye bread with peanut butter and banana

Eric made pizza for dinner

12th April

Cornish teacake for breakfast

Frittata and salad at a local cafe for lunch as I was volunteering in the shop

Courgette dal with brown rice

7th - 11th April in Cornwall on holiday, fish and chips and beers on the horizon...

Saturday 6th April

Breakfast as yesterday

Broccoli salad

Dinner - rump steak with homemade chips, kale and roasted carrots

Friday 5th April

Dutch pancake with the first rhubarb harvested from the garden and blackberries from the freezer, plus maple syrup

Broccoli salad with some grated cheese on top to make it more satisfying

Baked potato with cottage cheese, three types of sprouted seeds, sauerkraut and herb dressing

Thursday 4th April

Breakfast - Eggs and kale with garlic and some nutritional yeast

Made another batch of broccoli salad as before but had nutritional yeast instead of grated chedder, used no mayo and less dressing. It was nowhere near as nice, left me feeling hungry and unsatisfied so I ate a mini egg brownie... lesson learnt.

Quinoa chilli with cauliflower rice and feta cheese for dinner. Made a huge batch of the quinoa chilli yesterday when I was making the burgers so four portions go in the freezer.

Wednesday 3rd April

Museli and banana

Volunteering at the shop, had borlotti bean soup and a couple of stale crispbread things (I didn't realise they were stale until I ate them)

3 x brazil nuts

Quinoa and black bean burgers which were really good, salad leaves, tahini dressing, feta cheese and cauliflower rice.

Tuesday 2nd April

Museli and banana

Borlotti bean soup at the wood

3 x brazil nuts

PSB from the garden, slices of roast pork from the freezer, cauliflower rice and a satay sauce.

Monday 1st April

Mushroom and bacon omelete

Had a really late lunch, 3.30, at the pub, I had mushroom soup and didn't feel like eating again, just had a bit of Easter egg later

Sunday 31st March

Was working today so had museli with a banana

Lunch - Broccoli salad with leftover Cauliflower rice

3 x brazil nuts

Dinner was pork chops roasted with new potatoes and thyme, carrots roasted with mustard and honey

Saturday 30th March

Baked eggs with bacon

Lunch - Broccoli salad with leftover Cauliflower rice

3 x brazil nuts

Eric made pizza

Friday 29th March

Baked a wholemeal sourdough which actually looks great.

Breakfast - baked eggs with cooked mushrooms (I put some aside last night when cooking the dinner) and manchego cheese. One bite of wholemeal bread, I found the eggs were enough on their own. Maybe this won't be as hard as I think. 

Lunch - raw broccoli and bacon salad it was really good, made enough for two more days

3 x brazil nuts

Dinner - chilli and lime chicken kebabs from the butcher and cauliflower rice (got a nice organic cauliflower from the farmers market today) with salad. The cauliflower rice was a revelation, it was delicious. Actually managed to eat twice the protein to carbs today.

Thursday 28th March

I've been seeing a herbalist to regulate my cycle and had mineral analysis done. I now need to follow a high protein, low carb, low fat diet for 12 weeks to sort things out (decreased thyroid and adrenal function probably due to some extreme work stress over the past few years, ending up on anxiety medication and having therapy). Just a casual stroll through this diary will show that I eat a lot of sourdough, lentils, rice, potatoes, etc. I'm using Chronometer to track it all and it's clear that I am going to have to make some radical changes to eat more protein than carbs day to day, it's hard to imagine what that will look like and also annoying that I will have to buy in a lot of food to achieve this and not just eat from the larder, freezer and garden. In the summer it would be easier with plenty of lovely fresh food to eat. Anyway, despite being pretty down about it right now I realise that I'm massively privileged to be able to make changes and even have access to food. Made some mini egg brownies today as a futile act of defiance which I'll now feel very guilty about eating. 

Breakfast - Museli - full of carbs! - with full fat milk. Also just to say, I was lactose intolerant for years and recently found I no longer am so have been really enjoying full fat milk from a local farm in refilled glass bottles which I now have to cut down as part of this diet.

Lunch - One slice sourdough, two eggs

3 x brazil nuts - new daily addition to increase selenium levels. 

Dinner - Spelt and mushroom risotto - delicious, still loads of carbs but "packed with energising and immune-strengthening vitamins and minerals". Feel free to check in with this blog in 12 weeks, I'm boring myself already. 

Prepared a wholemeal sourdough to bake in the morning.

Wednesday 27th March

Porridge with blackberries

Lunch - two slices sourdough with peanut butter and banana

Dinner - Made this French onion baked lentils and farro dish after I saw it on Instagram, luckily had some farro from Hodmedods. It was amazing, four portions left over.

Tuesday 26th March

Porridge with blackberries

Snack - the last two stale jacobs cream crackers from the Christmas cracker selection with butter

Lunch - soup leftovers with cheese scones from the freezer

Dinner - leftover roast lamb baked in the oven with some date and tamarind sauce I got with some samosas I bought from an Indian cafe in Leicester (i.e. about 2 years old), it tasted great. Served with gigantic bean stew baked with some manchego cheese grated on the top. Kale from the garden cooked with garlic.

Monday 25th March

Porridge with blackberries

Lunch - used leftover mashed potato to make rostis with wild garlic and some cheese, cooked in the pan I cooked the pork in last night to use the fat, had with eggs and a slice of toast

Snack - brazil nuts

Dinner - Freezer grab soup. Browned onions, added garlic and chillies, celery and carrots a sachet of miso soup and curry powder then beef stock, pumpkin, courgette and the last cube of frozen wild garlic from the freezer. Added one tin tomatoes and 250g of green lentils from Hodmedod's Served with yoghurt, roasted pumpkin seeds and a slice of sourdough. Had 6 portions leftover.

Sunday 24th March

Mushrooms (I cook them in butter with thyme and mushroom relish added towards the end), eggs and sourdough for brunch

Chocolate cake with pecans and cherries from the freezer, made in January

Dinner - pork chops with mashed potatoes. Gravy and runner beans from the freezer

Saturday 23rd March

Brunch - sourdough with our PSB and poached eggs.

We killed and prepared two of our cockerels today for the first time. One of the hardest things I've ever done but necessary, we have 4 cockerels left. 

Dinner - Eric made pizza

Friday 22nd March

Porridge with banana and blackberries

Made breaded chicken escalopes and chips, should have had PSB with it but I didn't harvest enough, saved it for breakfast

Thursday 21st March

Baked bread

Lunch - last nights leftovers

Dinner - new potatoes. Galette with 4 different kales, blue cheese and cheddar cheese, homemade shortcrust pastry

20th March

Made bread to bake in the morning

Made sauerkraut with bought organic cabbage

Fermented some wild garlic

Lunch - kale and eggs on sourdough

Dinner - smoked quinoa with chickpeas and PSB with tahini dressing and wild garlic pesto. It was okay, needed more textures.

19th March

Chick pea stew from freezer with baked potatoes and cheese

18th March

Got blackberries from the freezer to make wine.

Soup from freezer - pumpkin, apple and mustard with sourdough croutons in the freezer

17th March

Brunch - mushrooms, eggs, bacon and toast

This recipe from Gill Mellers beautiful book, Time - https://www.instagram.com/p/C0QuXvjCBVE/. Used veal shin from Hafod Dairy Farm. Adapted to cook in the pressure cooker.

16th March

Lunch - leftover pots, squash

Dinner - pub

15th March

Late breakfast - sausage sandwich

Dinner - pizza with blue cheese and mushrooms

14th March

Lunch - leftover pots, squash

Dinner - sausages, herby yoghurt, baked potatoes, squash

13th March

Dinner from the freezer - Galette made with layers of mustard, cooked onions, cabbage and cheese, kale from garden, new potatoes 

12th March

Dahl and homegrown squash

11th March

Soup, borlotti beans, whole crop, tasted wonderful with homemade chicken stock, cooked courgette and squash from the freezer, onions, garlic, chilli, tin of tomatoes and curry powder.

10th March

Pressure cooker lamb, greek potatoes cooked with chicken stock, PSB

9th March

Eric made pizza

8th March

Chinese takeaway

Thurs 7th March

Pub lunch at Kilpeck

Pate for dinner

Tues 5th March

Dinner - Cheese and broccoli pasties with potatoes and PSB

Friday 1st March - 4th March - Away in Dartmoor

Thursday 29th Feb

Baked bread

Breakfast - Porridge as before

Lunch - toast with jam

Dinner - Enchiladas from the freezer

Wednesday 28th Feb

Breakfast - Porridge

Lunch - Sourdough with eggs

Dinner - Made a Gigantes bean stew with our whole crop of dried beans from last year (they were plated too late and went mouldy so the crop was small. Served with polenta made with 2/3 organic chicken stock cube and 1/3 whole milk which I hadn’t tried before. Yoghurt and grated cheese on top.

Tuesday 27th

Breakfast - Porridge with bottled apple, flax, mixed seeds and honey.

Lunch - crisp breads and cream cheese (leftovers from working away) and sauerkraut

Dinner - Our first PSB, steamed with poached eggs. I made a hollandaise which failed miserably, we ate it anyway. Eric forgot to pick up new potatoes on the way home so I made potato wedges.

Monday

Breakfast - Porridge with bottled apple, flax, mixed seeds and honey.

Lunch - leftover pizza

Dinner - Curried pumpkin soup with cheese and herb flatbread, made with pizza dough

Sunday 25th February

Bacon, eggs and sourdough (from a Cumbrian bakery) for breakfast. Came home to about 10 eggs! Lasagne from the freezer for dinner.

Saturday 24th February - home

Eric made pizza

Wednesday 14th

Breakfast - porridge with homemade mincemeat found at the back of the fridge

Drove to Cumbria - away till 24th Feb

Tuesday 13th

Breakfast - porridge with sliced dates, ground flax, seeds and honey

Lunch - leftover roast potatoes sliced and fried in the leftover butter from cooing the carrots, fresh eggs from the hens and sourdough toast

Dinner - Courgette dal, brown rice and yoghurt

Monday 12th Feb

Breakfast - porridge with blackberries from the freezer, ground flax, seeds and honey

Lunch - Salad of leftover potatoes, carrots and sauerkraut with herb dressing

Dinner - Lentil soup and sourdough

Sunday 11th Feb

Brunch - our eggs, local bacon and homemade sourdough

Afternoon - last of the Christmas cake!

Chicken pie from the freezer and batch cooked roast potatoes and carrots cooked in mustard, butter and our honey.

Saturday 10th February

Museli for breakfast

Toast for lunch

Out for dinner

Friday eve - mushroom carbonara

Friday 2nd February - Friday 9th February we had a visitor and were staying with them at their holiday accommodation. We cooked and ate together and it wasn’t particularly representative of what we would normally eat but very enjoyable all the same.

Thursday 1st February

Chick pea and tomato stew with oat topping - some biscuits that went wrong with coleslaw and potato salad

Wednesday 31st

Roasted beetroot with orange zest and thyme, new potato salad, coleslaw

Tuesday 30th

Out for lunch

Soup and bread and cheese

Monday 29th

Lunch - soup and bread

Cabbage, onion and cheese galette with baby potatoes

Sunday 28th

Brunch - toast with our eggs and some grated cheese on top

Did some food prep for the week

Made a random soup - onion, HG chilli, garlic, added the drained water from the re-freid beans made on Thursday, two cubes of frozen wild garlic, vegetable stock, HG pumpkin puree and courgette both from the freezer, some beetroot concentrate, curry powder, leftover brown rice from Thurs

Cubed some Hg beetroot for roasting later

Fried onion and HG cabbage for tomorrow’s galette

Dinner - leftover roast lamb, gravy and spiced red cabbage from the freezer, potatoes roasted with thyme

Saturday 27th Jan

Baked a loaf with rye flour, worked well, has a sweetness to it

Bacon sandwich with smoked bacon from the butcher and home made brown sauce

Made some pie dough, half went in the freezer, half in the fridge for a later date

Cooked the rest of the pumpkin in the pressure cooker, went in the freezer

Eric made pizza with sourdough discard

Friday 26th

Porridge with rhubarb

Lunch leftover brown rice, fried egg, za’tar and parmesan

Dinner - Carbonara with stored pumpkin - wrong one for that dish, too watery

Thursday 25th Jan

Porridge with blackberries and rhubarb from the freezer

Lunch - as yesterday

Dinner - Enchiladas from last week plus re-fried beans - https://www.wellplated.com/instant-pot-refried-beans/ and brown rice and wild garlic kimchi

Wednesday 24th Jan

Baked bread

Homemade museli - oat, wheat and barley flakes, homemade apple slices, dates, sultanas, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds, pecan and hazel nuts, ground flax.

Lunch - blue cheese and chutney sandwiches

Dinner - dragon sausages from the butcher, lentils cooked with diced veg and herbs from the freezer and a beetroot, celeriac and potato gratin from the freezer. Fresh herb dressing - Winter savoury, sage, thyme, salad burnet, rosemary.

Tuesday 23rd Jan

Porridge with apple cooked with sultanas and cinnamon.

Lunch - leftover onion soup from last night

Christmas cake in the afternoon

Dinner - Tartiflette with reblochen cheese I bought in France and has been in the freezer for a year and 3 months, it looked perfectly fine. Bit of an extravagant mid week meal but should have had it lat week when the pipes were frozen. It was delicious!

Monday 22nd Jan

Porridge with apple cooked with sultanas and cinnamon.

Lunch - brown seeded rolls scavenged from the buffet at a family party with Roast plum and liquorice chutney and stilton cheese.

Dinner - Onion soup with apple and cheese on toast - Gill Mellor Time book

Weekend - away visiting family

Friday 19th Jan

Porridge with rhubarb

Lunch - Tomato soup from the freezer with gremolata

Dinner - Chicken enchiladas

Chicken mixture - freezer raid - leftover roast chicken, roast tomatoes, ratatouille, tin tomatoes, black eye beans from freezer. Added to onions, garlic and chilli. Thought it was super spicy but when we ate it it was barely spicy at all.

Couldn’t get organic flour tortillas, agonised over whether I should make my own, got a grip and got them from the coop.

Thurs 18th Jan

Toast with neighbours homemade lemon curd

Lunch - leftover curry cold from Tuesday night

Took cake to knitting cherry and pecan cake from Gais’s feasts

Dinner - kitchen pipes are frozen - fish and chips from the chippy

Wed 17th Jan

Porridge with rhubarb from the freezer

Lunch pumpkin soup from Monday with gremolata (delicious)

Gremolata basic recipe -

1 tbs salted butter and 1 tbs oil in a pan

Add 1/2 cup chopped pumpkin seeds - sunflower? Hazelnut? Any nuts?

1 garlic clove

1 tbs chopped rosemary

Cool

Add 1 cup finely chopped herbs

Zest of one orange/lemon/preserved lemon?

1/4 tsp sea salt

Dinner - Deep freezer retrieval game pie filling - didn’t realise, failed oat biscuits on the top - made it super dry. Celeriac, beetroot and potato gratin. All a bit dry but good to use up

Tues 16th Jan

Porridge with rhubarb and blackberries from the freezer

Lunch - Toast with ham cheese and egg

Dinner - Kale thoran, courgette dal and brown rice

15th Jan

Porridge made with organic whole milk, turmeric, apples cooked fresh with sultanas and cinnamon. Topped with ground flaxseed, sunflower seeds, pumpkin and sesame seeds, bee pollen and our honey.

Lunch - baked potatoes with cottage cheese and homemade sauerkraut

Dinner - Made soup - pumpkin, courgette from freezer, stock with stock veg inc. onion, chilli, garlic - in blender, yellow split peas and curry powder. With cheese scones

14th Jan

Croque monsieur - only one egg

Christmas cake

Lamb hotpot from the freezer and taunton dean kale from the wood

13th January

Breakfast - baked eggs with ham and perl wen cheese

Made beef stock in the pressure cooker

Baked bread

Eric made pizza, Shropshire blue and mozzarella. Wish we had a better supply of organic mozzarella

12th January 2024

Porridge with apples cooked fresh, hazelnuts and honey

Lunch at the Hop In

Dinner - chicken pie made with stock leftovers, braised red cabbage and roast potatoes