Thursday 7 September 2017

Homegrown and Homemade



It's all about the preservation of food we've grown at the moment and it's a busy time of year. 

A watering session in the polytunnel this morning saw me busy picking all the ripe stuff and bits and bobs of plants that were going over and finishing their useful growing life while the water trough filled up with more water for the watering cans.

So once back in the house everything that I had just picked was washed and prepped.  This tray ready for the Aga has the last of the aubergines, the last of the green peppers and the last few home grown onions tucked in amongst the tomatoes and garlic.  I find it satisfying that everything is home grown. 


Once it's finished roasting and then cooled, it will be whizzed up and put into the freezer joining this stack of ready made tomato based sauces.  We love a good roasted sauce on pasta, pizza, rice or as the base of many a dish.  It can also be watered down slightly and turned into a delicious soup.


Another good thing to come out of having to empty out the flooded under stairs cupboard was finding a tub of my old soap base mix. So over the last couple of days I have made up another 4kg of soap to see us through the Winter.  I cut each kilo block that I make into eight bars, so that's a total of 32 bars of soap now stored in this basket on the bathroom shelf ready for use.   We have Lavender, Geranium, Peppermint and also a Tea tree and Lavender mix.  It smells very good in the bathroom at the moment  :-)

It's all satisfying prep for the season to come .... but bloody exhausting if the truth be told!!

Sue xx

10 comments:

  1. Your roasted sauce sounds delicious, with the soap smells in the bathroom and the roasting aromas from your kitchen, your house must smell wonderful x

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    1. Sue - I love that last line. I don't think people looking at your blog and the pictures realise just how much hard work has to be put into it all. I love the sound of that sauce. I am winding down my freezer ready for the move but once I am up and running again I shall certainly do something similar.

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  2. The "bloody exhausting" part is why there is no homemade sauce or soap in our house! But I love to read about it - is that weird? Your roasted vegs would taste very good "as is" also ...

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  3. You do work hard, it is hard work doing these things, I have productive days like this in the kitchen but I do enjoy it, and home made is so satisfying, I love roasting veg and doing the same. I have never looked at making soap to be honest, I suppose its not always about whats cheapest its what it has in it, I personally can't use cheap soap anymore as my skin just dries right out, after hitting the menopause it has made it worse so I have to be careful what I use, would be very interested to here a bit more about the soap making if you can find the time one day. x

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    1. Sorry I just had to reply not sure if I worded my comment correctly I didn't mean yours was cheap I meant buying cheap from the shops, x

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  4. It always amazes me people can grow so much of their own food. Something to be proud of.

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  5. I laughed out loud at the last sentence-said with feeling! Catriona

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  6. Satisfying and exhausting at the same time! That roasted veg sauce looks lovely, would be great to have on hand in the freezer. I rarely grow enough to preserve anything, we tend to eat it all fresh as it comes out of the garden or swap with neighbours and friends. Meg:)

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  7. A friend handed me an eggplant [aubergine] and a zucchini [corgette] this week. I wondered what to do with them as husband refuses to eat either if in recognizable form. After seeing your post, I chunked them into a roasting pan along with green peppers, onion, red and yellow tomatoes. For seasoning: olive oil, salt, freshly ground pepper, fresh purple basil, parsley and garlic. I am enjoying the resulting blend of flavors served over rice.

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  8. Catching up on posts at the moment as like you preserving is taking over the daily routine at the moment. I love hard soap but hubby doesn't do one bar last for ever in this house.

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