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 One morning last week , horror of horrors !, I had no bread for breakfast . By the time I realised that I had no time to prove and bake yeast bread . A table of faces looked at me expectantly so I whipped up a soda bread dough. My friend Freddy had just given me the recipe . Its so simple and yummy. Howeverthere was still no time to wait for bread to bake so I cooked the bread on my cast iron crepe pan. Took only a few minutes to bake and tasted great , especially with butter and a homemade Blackcurrant Jam or Wild Damson Jam like the above picture.
Griddlebread
14 oz flour
1tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
12 oz sour milk/buttermilk
mix it all up to give a soft dough and put on a preheated cast iron pan or heavy frying pan thats been sprinkled with flour .  Cut it into quarters and cook for a few minutes until golden then flip over to finish. Simple and yummy.
You can substitue some of the flour with oatflakes , add some seeds or add some raisins etc. Play with the recipe.
 
 This recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens “New Family Coookbook”. Ive been making this recipe for about 17 years since I got my first copy of the book. Its very quick and easy and you can really play around with the recipe. Here we covered it in raspberries we crushed with a spoon , added a sprinkle of sugar and left for a while. We’ve also used strawberries , logan berries and blackberries with the cake. I think any soft fruit will be great with it or plums, pears ,rhubarb or apples lightly stewed. Kids love to make it as its so simple. Bella (12) made the one in the photo.
Busy Day Cake
1 1/3 cups flour
2/3 sugar
2 tsp baking pwder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter ,margarineor vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
mix up everything together until smooth pour into a greased 8 or 9 inch round cake pan
bake at 180 degrees for 25 -30 mins
You dont have to pair it with berries. Sometimes I put lemon zest in the batter and then put a lemon drizzle on the finished cake. Another idea is to add chocolate chips to the batter and then drizzle the cake with melted chocolate. You could also just ice the cake with any butter icing.
Ive always wanted a good baked cheesecake recipe but a lot of the recipes seemed a bit complicated. I wanted baked as I’m not that fond of the gelatin based wobbly cold cheesecakes. They look so tasty but just dont live up to their looks. My friend Marina gave me this recipe last week and so for Bella’s 12th birthday on Monday we tried it . It was so simple that the kids helped make it.
Oh my goodness , it was sooo good!. There were fights in our house over the last piece and over who got to clean out the tin . This is now going to be a regular here.
Marinas Baked Cheesecake
4 x 200g tubs Cream cheese (we used the tesco own brand cheese, Lidl has one too)
1 small tub sour cream
3 eggs
1/2 – 2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate pieces ( optional we used 100g of 70% dark chocolate chopped up)
beat the eggs and add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix untill smooth
for the biscuit base use
approx 1 pack biscuits crushed (we used a mix of chocolate chip cookies and oat cookies )
mix with enough melted butter to bind about 1/2 cup and pat into the base of a tin . we used a 9 inch cake pan . If you have enough pat it up the sides too.
Pour half of the cheese mix onto the biscuit base add half the chocolate pour on the rest then sprinkle on the remaining chocolate.
bake at about 210 degrees for 15 mins then turn oven down to 180 for 1/2 hour . check it .it should be just browned in the middle of the top . When it is, turn off the oven and leave leave the cake in the warm oven to finish cooking for about an hour, then remove . Let it cool to room temp then put in the fridge for a few hours.
You can serve with a nice fruit jam or coulis but we ate it without it was so good.
Thanks to Marina for sharing this fabulous recipe
 Inspired by the fabulous felafels we got in Galway market weve been experimenting with recipes. Some have been too dry , others too cakey and others fell apart. . We recycled our deep fat fryer years ago so we neded a recipe that would stand up to being flipped in a frying pan or could be baked . After much research on the net I managed to come up with a fairly good basic recipe. I handed the recipe over to Alex to try . He’s 15 and a bit of a foodie and an awfully fine cook . He tried out a few variations and came up wiith this .
Felafel Recipe
Chickpeas or garbanzo beans (soaked overnight or for at least 12 hours)
for every 2 cups of soaked chick peas you need
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion
1 t cumin
1 t coriander seed
1/2 t chili powder
1t salt
1t pepper
3 T or small handful of fresh coriander
whizz the uncooked chickpeas in a food processor untill the consistency of cous cous add all the rest of ingredients and whizz up for a few seconds untill combined.
make about 8 patties out of the resulting mix and either fry in vegetable oil for about 15 mins or bake at 180 on a greased baking tray for 15 -20 mins.
Serve with salsa , salad greens, coriander pesto , yougurt, hummus and pitta bread.
We used uncooked chickpeas to give a drier felafel . If you use canned or cooked chickpeas the mix is mushy and hummus like , so you will need to counteract this with flour which leads to cakey felafels .
Alex made about 80 of these for a party we had last week . He managed to produce them in about 2 hours and they still tasted great when cold. Even the comfirmed meat eaters scarfed them down so we figure we’ve got a good recipe there.
 Much and all as I love courgettes there is a limit to how much I can actually eat . We are picking over 20 a week and there are still the odd ones lurking under the leaves which you only find when they’ve grown to the size of a small child. I’m eating fried courgette every day (sometimes twice ,I do love it)) and its going into casseroles and soups and the freezer is full of ratatouille. I’m keeping some of the larger ones for the winter to make stuffed marrow and freezing lots of slices. But theres still more .
I remembered that when we were little Mom used to make zucchini bread (sounds so much better than courgette cake , zucchini being courgettes cooler name). This is an excellent sweet cake/bread which is popular in America . Its very similar to carrot cake , very easy to make and uses up some of your courgette glut.We had a party last week and made 8 dozen small zucchini buns which went down extremely well, even with veg hating kids.
Zucchini Bread
6 eggs
2Cups vegetable oil
4 cups sugar
4 cups grated courgette( leave the skin on )
6 cups flour
4 tsp vanilla
3tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup raisins
2 tsp bread soda
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts
160 degrees
beat togther eggs, oil ,sugar ,vanilla untill thick ,then stir in the grated courgette, then add the remaining ingredients. mix untill well combined. put in baking trays and cook at 160 degrees .
The recipe makes 5 loaf pan size breads or 8 dozen buns, so if you dont want that many divide the recipe accordingly. However these freeze well and are very tasty so we make the full batch at one time. Cook small buns for approx 12 mins and larger breads for about 1 hour.
You can substitute grated apple for the courgette to make apple bread . I also saw a recipe that added chocolate chips to the mix. Yum!
When the bread is cool slice and serve . I’m a pig so I always put a bit of butter on my slices but its still yummy without.
I love leaf tea. When travelling I browse tea houses, sniffing and tasting , and always come back with some exciting finds . This spring I came back from The Tea House ,  Covent Garden with a strongly smoky Russian Samover tea, and a delicate Nepal tea.
As we wandered around the shop there were so many cool tea accessories: strainers ,tongs, tea balls and teapots. Beautiful chinese porcelain pots. They were gorgeous and I was tempted to bring one home. But I knew. I have the perfect tea pot.
We’ve all bought bad teapots. The teapot that looks good but just doesn’t function well. The handle is too small or too big, the lid falls out as you are trying to drain the dregs out out of the pot, the metal one that burnt the hand off you, or my most hated fault, the dribbling spout. I found that the quirky teapots were the worst . they just weren’t meant to function.
Back in 2004 we were staying for a week on in Ballyferriter for a wedding.We trailed into Dingle one day and went to An Gailearai Beag ,which is a gallery showcasing West Kerry Craft. They have some excellent work there and it one of our must go to places in Dingle .www.gailearaibeag.com
There she was, the most beautiful teapot I’d ever seen ,a little bit like a blue alladins lamp. I picked her up .The handle was perfect with a little lip on it to rest your thumb and there was a tiny handle on the side for added manouvering. Lovely!. But Ive been burned before by beautiful but dribbly pots. So the lady running the gallery took me into the tiny storeroom in the back and we tried out the teapot with water. Nary a dribble. Brilliant! It took 20 years but I found the perfect pot.
I brought her back to the cottages where we were staying. Everyone loved her and my sister in law immediately went and bought one from the potter who was only a few miles away. (copycat)
So I brought my pot home and used her for years. She fits about 2 1/2 mugs of tea which is fine for me and 1 visitor ( or just me ). However I discovered when we had builders in, that thats not enough.( Some thoughts spring to mind: Why do builders drink so much tea, does it give them super builder powers like not listening , is that all they drink? could we harness the power of builder tea to run the world) . Anyway another trip to Kerry was in order, so I called the potter and we made an expedition down to Ballyferriter to get us a big pot and one for the builder too.
So now I have my wee pot for me and the giant builder pot. Children and clumsy people aren’t allowed to touch them. They are far too valuable .
So if like me youve been searching for years for the perfect pot , heres where to get one.
The pottery is Faoilean Pottery Studio, Ballyferriter West ,Dingle 066,9156294 .email: faoileanpottery@gmail.com.
Apart from making perfect tea pots and other stoneware ,the pottery also runs classes on pottery painting. Cool!
 Another summer jam recipe. We raided the neighbours garden again, this time for gooseberries (I forgot to wear long sleeves so my arms are scratched to bits,wont make that mistake again) .
We picked 25lbs of berries from 1 bush . How fantastic was that!. 
My jam recipe is the same for both blackcurrants and gooseberries, You can also use this recipe to make jam of Josta berries and other hybrids of gooseberries and blackcurrants. Make sure to use cooking gooseberries not sweet dessert gooseberries.
Gooseberries and Blackcurrants are both high in pectin and dont need setting agents such as lemon. We add quite a bit of water to the jam to so the individual berries float in jelly in the pot . Many poeple dont add enough water and then the jam has a verychewy dense texture. Dont use overripe fruit as it wont set well and makes a poor jam. Use any overripe fruit to make cordials,liquers, syrups or puddings.
Gooseberry Jam
4lb Gooseberries
3pt water
6lb sugar
Cook the berries in the water untill the berries pop and the skin of a berry smooshes (nice technical term that) between your fingers and disintegrates. Adding suger to jam toughens the fruit so if you dont cook them untill they are this soft the skins toughen and the jam is chewy.
Add the sugar and boil for about 20- 30 minutes until a teaspoonfull of jam wrinkles on a plate .
Dont worry if the color of the jam changes from green to pink .This is normal but it doesnt always happen so dont worry if it doesnt.
pour into jars and lid
As simple as that
(see rhubarb jam recipe post for more details on lidding etc.)
Its summer jam time so I’m gonna start it off with one of my favorites Rhubarb and Ginger Jam
My Neighbour Matt kindly allowed me to raid his rhubarb patch today. Mine is still a bit young as the stools only went in last year . If you dont have a rhubarb patch ask around as many older gardens have a rhubarb jungle in the corner and people are happy to share.
We took a few stalks from each plant and ended up with over 20 lb of rhubarb . Yum! lots of Jam and some crumble.
Rhubarb and Ginger Jam
6lb rhubarb cut into 1inch slices
1 1/2 pt water
4 lemons
6 lb sugar
1inch root ginger
1tsp ground ginger
Put the rhubarb and the water in a pot . Squeeze the lemons add the juice and the emply lemon shells and the root ginger and cook until the rhubarb has gone to pulp
remove the lemon shells.
Add the sugar and the powdered ginger  cook the jam up until a blob of jam placed on a saucer wrinkles when pushed with a finger ( check the taste and add more powdered ginger if you like a more gingerry jam).(watch out rhubarb jam splats everywhere, all over the stove and you) 
Pot up and lid.
You can leave out the ginger or relace the ginger root with powdered ginger. Another great variation is to add coriander powder or seeds instead of ginger.
sterilize jars by washing them in hot soapy water. Rinse then place on a newspaper covered baking tray . Put the tray of jars in the oven at 130 degrees for about 10 -15 mins.
If you are using solid metal lids rinse them then pour boiling water over them.dry them on a teatowel or paper towelling.
Heres a usefull tip I learned from another jam maker . After you lid the jars, flip them over for a second so the hot jam sterilizes the lid .
 Alliums There are a lot of pictures in this post and more on this page.
To see the gardens you can go to www.rhs.org.uk but I wanted to share the stuff I loved .
We’ve watched the Chelsea Flower Show on The BBC for years and I’ve always wanted to go but just couldn’t organise myself.
So this year when my friend Aine called to say her husband refused to go and would I, I jumped at the chance. She organised everything so it was easy.
 Garden parasols We went on the Tuesday as Aine is a member of the RHS . It was already fairly full by the time we got there shortly after 8 and there were BBC crews everywhere.
RHS have a cloakroom facility where you can dump you stuff and keep coming back during the day to put more stuff in. This is a fantastic idea.
You can’t buy plants at the show but there are so many stalls selling tools, gloves, art and anything garden related. Also the nurseries with show stands mostly all sell their own seeds. I wanted to buy everything but apart from my wallet there were Ryanair handluggage allowances to be considered(next time I’ll be taking a bag) .
There were also many large stands selling conservatories, summerhouses, sculptures etc. Fantastic stuff.
The Show Gardens were great and gave me lots of ideas for redesigning mine( the family all groaned when they heard that) To me the best were James May’s Plastacine garden  and the Cayman Islands Reef Garden .
Actually you got a much better look at the gardens when you watched them on TV as you had to stand well back from them at the show.
We took a break from garden watching to have a Pimm’s ,so English ,then returned to the fray. We left at 4.30 body broken and mind full.We still hadn’t seen quite everything and hadn’t a chance to sit by the Bandstand, relax and listen to the music. Next time I’m going to go for an extra half day I think, just to absorb everything.
My show highlights were seeing Alan Titchmarsh in the flesh
Talking to James May at his Marla garden
Having one of the BBC film crew praise my phography.(How cool is that)
For those of you thinking of going, here are some tips
Wear your most comfortable shoes.You are going to be on your feet forever.
Wear light clothes and carry as little as possible. Its most likely going to be warm if not hot.
Unless Monsoon type rain is forecast only bring a wee brolly . An anorak will weigh you down and be too hot.
Go to the courtyard gardens as soon as you can because they are so popular you won’t get near them later in the day.
 Swings
 This is my favorite food time of the year. Cougette season.
I will happily eat them three times a day, in fact I often have to to keep up with the glut. I get terribly greedy about them at the start and end of the season when I have only a few. I watch the rest of the family as they are eating my precious courgettes and grudge them every mouthfull , and sometimes have little secret cougette feasts when they are’nt home.(A bit like Hobbits and mushrooms). But I know they dont love them as much as I do and the season isnt long.
First thing is DO NOT BUY COURGETTES IN A SUPERMARKET. They are nasty and often bitter and bear no resemblance to fresh courgettes. Go to your local market and get freshly picked ones ,grow your own or get somebody who does grow their own to share. The season is normally from June to September.
To grow your own is easy.
Plant seeds at the end of april in pots of compost under cover or outdoors in May. When they have a few real leaves (not seed leaves ) plant them out of the pots into the ground( about 1m apart) or in containers. You can readily buy plants at most markets and garden centers. Courgettes are heavy feeders so either put about a bucketload of horse/cow manure in a hole ,cover the manure with soil and plant the courgettes on top or feed them really well all summer.They do very well in containers too.
They come in a variety of shapes and colors. Long, round, ridged Dark green, mid green, yellow, striped and pale green. Take your pick.
Pick them as soon as they reach a reasonable size. I usually use them at about 8 inches . The more you pick the more you get. Check carefully that one isnt lurking under the leaves or else suddenly you find a marrow and the plant isn’t as productive anymore.
What to do with all the courgettes.
 The first ones of the season I slice and fry in butter.Fantastic.
When I get tired of this I let them grow a bit larger slice them into rings dip them in egg and then breadcrumbs and fry them. I love this too. Sometimes I eat more as I’m cooking them than gets left for the rest of the family.
My friend Amanda shared this recipe with us.You cant believe how good this tastes and even courgette haters love it .
Courgette Bake
Cut courgettes in wedges lenthwise ,chop up a few cloves of garlic and fry both in butter untill slightly soft. Put in a casserole dish and pour some cream over them until they are almost covered.sprinkle grated cheese over the top and bake at 200 Deg until the dish is bubbly and golden season with asalt and loads of black pepper . Yuuummmy!
We make this in tinfoil containers and freeze before its cooked and use it all winter.
A lower fat version is to steam the corgettes instead of frying and use a lowfat yougurt instead of cream.its good this way but not so heartstoppingly yum.
We add sliced courgettes to casseroles , stews, pasta sauce and soups and freeze the slices to add to these all through the rest of the year. Sadly frozen slices dont fry well so I have to wait for the season to return.
There is still time to plant plants for this seasonso go out and try them.
I dream of a day when I have a heated and lit greenhouse where i can have courgettes and tomatos all year.Heaven!
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