From My Kitchen - Sunday 21st August

It has been such a lovely weekend in Christchurch. After our second snow storm in three weeks, it has been such a treat to see the sun! I was very inspired yesterday to get out in the garden and started to feel positive about the space again. I had been feeling very unmotivated about the whole thing ever since the earthquake, but now I feel revived and ready to get stuck in again. I planted some new fruit trees, tidied up my herbal/medicinal garden and gave my strawberry bed a bit of VIP treatment. My plants had been furiously making babies and I managed to get 20 free plants from the runners! These are a wonderful variety of strawberries, which fruit continuously from about December till April/May. I managed to squeeze nine more plants into my patch and gifted the rest to my neighbour, Sharon.

The only thing left to tackle in my garden is the vege plot. As I have a small patch, I don't have the luxury of any kind of crop rotation, and I tend to be always planting, which means my poor soil never gets a rest. I have decided this week to try and empty whats left in my plot, and then give it a hefty fertilise/compost, so it is happy and ready to go when Spring planting starts. I might end up being a few weeks behind but it will be worth it in the long run.

So, this weeks meals are all planned around my vege plot. It currently contains: spinach, beetroot, carrots, kale, red onions, spring onions, broccoli and brussel sprouts and my goal this week is to eat it empty! I am also drawing on inspiration from a few different recipes I have tagged on Pinterest lately. I love trying new things, especially when it relates to food!

Dinner
Sunday: noodle salad with spinach, carrot, spring onion, homemade grilled halloumi and a pesto dressing
Monday: broccoli and homemade feta pasta sauce on wholemeal penne
Tuesday: raw tuscan kale salad with roasted brussel sprouts and quinoa risotto
Wednesday: upside down potato and onion tart with grated beetroot and carrot salad
Thursday: spinach souffle with roasted vege and quinoa salad

Baking
- wholemeal sourdough
- muesli bars

Coming up this week:

- halloumi tutorial
- homemade natural toilet cleaner
- my experiences with ditching shampoo...