Our Busy Weekend

Harry on the tree stump

 

We had a wonderfully busy weekend, three days including the Friday of tidying the place up and moving Chicken World further along the paddock so that they are on fresh grass and getting lots of planting done.

 

 

 

I'm cruel to Harry, I plonk him (yes, I'm beginning to have suspicions that she might be a he or at the very least have leanings in that direction) in the most strange places and he stands there patiently until I get him down.  The others run over to see what's going on.  But he just stands and waits.  Geese don't 'do' climbing, they either walk or fly.

 

 

While we move the electric fencing the birds all free range over the entire 4.5 acres, visiting the house, having a mooch around the shed and going everywhere they haven't been for a while.  It's a good day for them as they find all sorts of tasty titbits not normally available to them.

 

Of course some of them just stay close to home, and this time Caldwell took the opportunity to have a good dustbath in the hole that used to be under the henhouse.

 

A shuffle this way and that gets all that lovely dry soil through the feathers .....

 

... while everyone else completely ignores him and tootles around.

 

"Don't forget me" says Harry

(I did go back and lift him down....the big softy!!)

 

I got lots of turning over of the beds, weeding and planting done and now I have a bit of space in the greenhouse for the next wave of seed sowing.

 

 

Once the fence was back up around Chicken World and everything was back in place Lovely Hubby gave the henhouse roof a fresh coat of creosote, it keeps it more weatherproof and should make it last longer.  Then he set to with his strimmer and got lots of the undergrowth and edges under control.

 

 

 

And after all that hard work we sat down to a lovely alfresco tea, with a homemade loaf, lots of the bits and bobs from the fridge and a bottle of Bucks Fizz that had just gone out of date (well it was bought for Christmas).

 

Sometimes being frugal and using up what you have is so hard .... Lol  :-)

 

Sue xx

 

Rosemary Oil

 

 

I promised I would take some photos of what I was up to next with my Rosemary at the end of yesterday's post, so here they are. 

 

I have this lovely oil bottle that sits next to the cooker for use in so many things, it came with posh oil in and cost me a pretty penny but I have refilled it over and over and now I feel I have had more than my moneys worth.  It holds half a litre, so half of a one litre bottle, which of course always leaves me with half a bottle tucked in the cupboard for the next refill, but this time I thought I would do something different with that leftover half litre.

 

 

Luckily I had an empty half litre bottle in the cupboard so I simply filled it with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I always buy it when it is on offer and get as many bottles as I can afford) and popped in a washed and dried sprig of fresh Rosemary straight from the garden.

 

 

It looks and smells lovely ...

 

 

 

... and looks even better in the natural daylight. 

 

But for now it is back in the cupboard sat in the dark while the lovely taste and scent of the Rosemary infuses with the oil.  Another way of doing this is to gently simmer a sprig of Rosemary in the oil for a few minutes and then cool and pour into the bottle, putting a fresh sprig in the oil for aesthetic purposes and to identify the oil.  Either way a really handy flavoured oil to use in cooking or for salad dressing or simply to dunk chunks of homemade bread into as a lovely starter.  

 

So next time I make Mediterranean Vegetables I will have my flavoured oil ready, now I'm wondering if I should make up some Chilli Oil to expand my repertoire even further, after all I have lots of Chilli Flakes in the storecupboard.

 

Sue xx

 

 

My Favourite, Our Favourite ......

 

My favourite herb of all time, for it's scent, for it's taste and for the look of it growing so majestically is Rosemary.  I love the stuff, in fact I find it very hard to visit a garden centre or nursery or any place that sells plants and not buy one.  I stroke them as I walk around and then enjoy the scent all the way home in the car, it's a good job I use so much of the stuff in my cooking :-)

 

And I use it most often in our favourite meal, Mediterranean Vegetables.

 

 

Start with a sprig or two of Rosemary in the bottom of your ovenproof dish, and in a jug mix couple of tablespoons of Olive Oil with some freshly ground Black Pepper, some Garlic Flakes or Paste (or add a couple of cloves of Garlic, chopped up if you have some fresh) a sprinkle of Chilli Flakes, stir these all together and then pour over the Rosemary.

 

 

Next get a selection of vegetables, these are what we usually use, it doesn't matter if they are a bit sad or out of date.  Chop them rouchly the same size, Cherry Tomatoes can go in whole, chop any big tomatoes into wedges, the onions are also lovely if you leave them in wedge shapes (cut in half and then into wedges).

 

 

Tip them all into the dish on top of the Rosemary and then give everything a really good stir so that the oil ends up coating everything.  Make sure the Rosemary is tucked deep amongst the veggies and then put it in the oven on a medium heat for about 40 minutes.  Halfway through give everything another good stir and, if you want to prepare it as a whole meal in one dish place either a salmon fillet, a chicken portion, or a Quorn fillet amongst the veggies and then pop back into the oven.

 

 

 

I always prepare much more than we need for one meal and then Lovely Hubby can take a good portion of it to work on top of a serving of Cous Cous the next day AND I have a tub or two to pop into the freezer ready to use for a miriad of other meals.

 

 

A spoonful or two makes for a brilliant topping on homemade pizzas, or cheat and use the little value ones from the supermarket as your base, add the Mediterranean Veggies and then a good sprinkle of cheese straight from the freezer.

 

It also makes a lovely lunch mixed with some cooked pasta, and is tasty either hot or cold, this time topped with some grated Parmesan style cheese.

 

So a really good dish to make up either at the start or the end of the week using all those leftovers that you can find lurking with intent at the bottom of the fridge.  I have enough veggies left in the fridge for one more batch of it and then I will have to dig deep in the chest freezer for all those little tubs of leftovers that I know are in there.

 

So in our opinion this is the best possible use for my favourite herb.

 

 

There's something else I'm just about to do with some of my Rosemary from the herb sink, I'll let you in on that one tomorrow, when I've taken some photos.

 

Sue xx