Eating Seasonally

Eating seasonally includes eggs. Our hens have all stopped laying while they moult. We have heritage breeds at the moment. They do what they need to do to stay healthy.That means taking a break from laying eggs. Just like us hens are born with their allotted number of eggs. Once they're laid there is no more. Those hens bred for the egg laying industries don't stop laying until they have laid their allotted eggs which is why the industry pack them off at around 18 months of age.

During the spring and summer we enjoy an abundance of eggs and it gives us a diverse array of opportunities when it comes to cooking and baking. But now the eggs are few and far between and we need to adjust our menus.

Here's a recipe for an egg free date loaf that we will enjoy over the coming months.

Date and Walnut Loaf ( from an old book Quick and Easy Vegetarian)

Ingredients

1 cup chopped dates
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons golden syrup ( I use honey)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (I use extract)
2 cups wholemeal flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Place dates in bowl and add boiling water.Mix in honey (or golden syrup) brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla. Sprinkle in the wholemeal flour and add walnuts. Mix until combined. Place mixture in a greased loaf tin and bake at 180degrees for 45 mins or until loaf springs back when lightly touched. Leave in tin for 10 mins before turning onto a cake rack to cool.

What Will We Cook This Week?

One of the things I love about growing our own food is the ever changing weekly menu. Sure there are old favourites that reappear each week but they invariably have a twist due to the ever changing produce that comes our of the garden. Another thing I love is that the produce is produced Biodynamically and so very full of vitality.

It makes so much sense to me to write a up a weekly plan to make sure I use this produce to make the most of this vitality and also ensure nothing goes to waste.

This week the plan uses the produce that goes in to our CSA boxes plus what I have in the pantry

Wednesday ~ Pizza with pesto.

Thursday ~  Pesto pasta

  Pesto
1/4 cup pine nuts (replace pine nuts with macadamia nuts from the box)
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 small garlic cloves
3/4 cup parmesan
5 Tblspns olive oil
Mix altogether in food processor

Friday ~ Couscous and zucchini salad

Saturday ~ Stir Fry

Sunday ~ LETS picnic Pizza and pasta

Monday ~ Chili corn pie

Tuesday ~  Vegetable curry


Last night we celebrated the completion of our Pizza Oven by cooking a quiche ....

 Mark has worked hard to get the oven completed so that we can host the LETS (Local Energy  Trading System) Christmas party on Sunday night. We will be having pizza and pasta. So quite a few meals this week will be cooked in the pizza oven to make sure that it's up to scratch .

Quiche and weed salad shared with family and friends last night to celebrate 

Our lovely WWOOFer Julia has been making weed salads from the garden. Weeds included are fat hen, farmer's friends, purslane, plantain and dandelion, all very abundant at this time of year. Wonderful to think that there is always something to eat from the garden.

Weekly Meal Plan

We have been operating our CSA for 10 years now and over that time we have seen subscribers come and go, but on the whole our most loyal customers have been with us from day one. They are your typical foodie types and can manage to use up every morsel of produce we put in their box. They look in their box every week and think of what they can make for the week that best uses the produce and gives them a variety of meals throughout the week. It's about planning the weekly meals based on what's in the box.

Here's my weekly meal plan based on this week's box.....

Last night was our farm community weekly shared meal. I made this rice and vegie pie. Another member made a garden salad and another made a couscous salad. This served 6 adults with most vegetable ingredients sourced from individual CSA boxes.

Rice and Vegetable Pie

Ingredients

2 cups cooked brown rice (sometimes I use leftover rice ) cooked in stock
2 cups grated or finely chopped seasonal vegies. I always include mushrooms.
1 onion
Chopped parsley
4 eggs
1 cup grated cheese
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. herbs of your choice.

Method

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Place in pie dish and top with extra cheese if you like. Bake in moderate oven for 45 mins. or until firm.

Can be served hot or cold. Great to take on picnics and such.

I used one of the zucchinis, tatsoi, eggs and herbs from the box plus carrot, onion and mushrooms from the fridge.

The other meals on my plan will use the remaining vegies from the box spread out over the week so nothing goes to waste.