A courgette quickie...

Just a quickie tonight because I can't quite believe how tired I am after the first day back at work - too tired to cook even the humblest of courgettes - so instead...uncooked courgettes.

These are from Nigellas Forever Summer, and she calls them a carpacciao of zucchini gialli, which she admits is a bit poncey - I called them yellow ribbons, but whatever you call them they're surprisingly delicious. Just ribbons of courgette, a squirt of lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, some maldon salt and pepper.

I made them to share with BH but they were gone before he made it to the table - never mind!

Lunchbox essentials...

My school bag is packed, pencils are sharpened and shoes are shined and ready for tomorrow. Thankfully the sun has shone all day and the garden gave us a last flourish before term starts - these nasturtiums were looking eaten and ropey a few weeks ago but have really perked up - just in time to provide us with a late summer glow!

To take my mind off first day nerves I cooked up yet another batch of courgettes - this time following Patrices recommendation for courgette muffins from the allotment.com site. Thanks for tip Patrice! BH wasnt convinced at first, he's still recovering from my trying to slip him a beetroot brownie ( I know lots of people love 'em but I must have taken a wrong turn on that recipe because mine were shocking!)




I shouldnt have worried because these were very popular - They taste quite treacly which helps and are very moist. I might even give courgette cake a go after this!



Perhaps I'll pack one in my lunch box - thanks to the courgettes I can pass it off as one of my five a day!

You say courgette I say zucchini...

Today was Day four in my week of courgette cuisine (i'm determined not to waste any of them). But instead of courgettes today were talking zucchinis, there is a reason for this madness - I promise. For one thing, I figured that if I gave them a different name I might get them past the family for another day running before courgette fatigue sets in - and its in honour of Dom at Bellaukitchen as I believe this recipe came from the states in the first place!


The dish consists of lightly coated fried strips of courgette, loads of mozzarella and a truly gorgeous tomato sauce. The sauce is definitely the secret weapon in this recipe and im going to have a go at freezing some on its own for future use, it has a good glug of balsamic vinegar and white wine in it so it has that sweet and tart taste that you get from seaside ketchup if you know what I mean - lovely!

I topped it with parmesan and then baked until it was ready - the only probelm was waiting for it to cool down before we could dig in! If you try one courgette recipe this season then I would definitely give this a go - it was delicious. BH rated it as his favourite so far ( I think it helped that I didn't call it a lasagne so he wasnt looking longingly for the pasta!)









So it was a big thumbs up from the freerangers - thanks for recipe Dom, we all voted it Truly Great!














But I couldnt end todays post without sharing this picture of freerangenan and bionic grandpas flower baskets - theyve gone crazy this year. I wouldnt be surprised if they get a fine for taking over the pavement without a permit!

Blue skies and Yellow happiness...

It was the last official day of the summer hols today. Oh I know we've still got the weekend, but that doesn't really count - today was our last freebie, before we have to start thinking about uniforms and getting up on time and brushing hair (oops maybe thats just us!) We'd got stuck into boring old chores today when BH put his foot down and said enough was enough - we were off to the beach before the hols were over! It does help that its just up the road!





Its easy to forget the pleasures of an afternoon on the sands - but every time we go down the beach I do feel so lucky to have this on our doorstep. No more trips to the Early Learning Centre to replenish the sandpit - we just sit and play on the beach instead!





I dont know if it was the sunshine or the blue skies that brought out this little Freerangers crazy side but something definitely had a positive effect on him - even his sister couldn't stay 'oh so serious' for too long!



So after all those blue skies and sunshine our dish of the day had to be the Yellow Happiness soup from Nigellas Summer book...



It is so easy, really unbelievably easy considering the taste it packs in.

All I had to do was chop two large yellow courgettes and cook them in a little olive oil with some lemon zest, then add a good dollop of turmeric, 1 litre of stock ( I used chicken), the juice of the lemon I zested and a cup of rice and cook for about 20 mins...and that was it!

I have lots more yellow courgettes to come so this could well become a freeranger staple! I love it, it's light enough to feel virtuous but tasty enough to feel like a treat...perfect!

Must start thinking about tomorrow and day 4 of the the courgette challenge! Dom at Bellau Kitchen shared his courgette lasagne so it would be rude not give it a go really! (maybe I'll call it zucchini just to confuse the kids)

When is a courgette not a courgette...

When its a stuffed marrow of course! Tonight was round 2 in our 7 days of courgette cuisine and after a day back at work I was starving hungry so it had to be substantial... and it certainly was that!



I sauted some garlic, red onions and mushrooms, scooped out the centres and stuffed 'em good and proper. I thought that looked a bit too healthy so I wedged plenty of feta and tomato on top and gave them a good glugging with the olive oil (drizzlings for wimps!). They took a while to bake but we really moist and tasty - the feta definitely did the business adding a salty kick. So far so good!

Tomorrow is officially the last day of the summer hols. Although i've been in at work most days this week, this still marks the end of another summer for me and any other teachers out there - so Friday calls for Nigellas Happiness soup to raise the spirits (thanks Mrs Nesbitt and Brownieville Girl for the tip off!)

Buildings a Go Go...

First of all thankyou for sticking with me whilst I disappeared from blogland for the last week. Citygirl treated us all to a very much appreciated break and we packed up the the tribe and headed for the hills.



Our minifreerangers couldnt have been happier - at last a chance to release their inner princess and pirate without mum and dad moping on about cement mixers!

Bless that Citygirl! She certainly knows whats needed and when! Waiting for planning approval had us both at the end of our tether - I'd convinced myself that it wasnt going to happen, we would have to move and start again and my veg patch would belong to someone else - boo hoo! But Citygirl knows better than to give into amateur dramatics and shoved us on bikes for the week to take our mind off things ( she also knows just when a mojito is called for!) so Mojitos, bikes and lots of rest were prescribed and we certainly feel all the better for it.


Especially because...our building plans have been approved!!!! Hoorah!!!


We got the call a couple of days early and it took us completely by surprise, but now its full steam ahead. Bricks are being laid at last!



Secondly - can I thank everybody who posted suggestions for what to do with my courgettes - in the culinary sense that is! Bionic Grandpa kept watering while we were away and they just kept producing more and more. So in honour of you all I am going to try and cook a different courgette dish from your suggestions every night this week (also Ive run out room in the freezer!)

Tonights was nice and easy - Spicy Vegetable Soup. Onions, Courgettes, tomatoes, Peppers, more courgettes, an anonymous chilli, some basil, more courgettes and plenty of seasoning.



Its very simple but very yum! Its also very low calorie to compensate for all the lovely food citygirl plied us with, but theres no compromise on the taste. Im going to try freezing some as a lunchtime standby...



Im already planning tomorrows creation...

Good Foundations...

The day of concretion has come at last! The concrete mixer arrived very early (much earlier than we expected!) and we shot out of bed and straight into our wellies to get shovelling. BH was on barrow duty and I was literally up to my wellytops in conc until the Bionic Grandpa arrived with his rake in hand to rescue me. Id love to say that I finished the job off and was responsible for the end product - but I didnt want to get in their way (handy that!) and I retreated to teamaking duty!

After much moving and smoothing we have our first base down and we couldnt be prouder - sad I know - but i cant wait for it to dry so I can put the patio chairs out on it and imagine what it will be like!



Elsewhere, Im glad to say that we have more late colour popping up...



and these are still busting out all over - I wasnt sure at first as the leaves have looked scabby all summer but weve had about 20 courgettes off it and its still going strong - and they taste lovely - much less bitter than the green ones can be.



BH dug up his first potatoes. He's very proud - i think he may end up framing these! I only planted maincroppers this year and Ive been too nervous to dig em up in case they were too small but so far so good...




and at last - the toms are making it from the green house to the table. As usual they'll all come at once. Thank goodness for Tomato salads....and soup...and pasta sauce...and ratatouille (speaking of which has any got a good recipe for this one that will freeze - Ive got to do something with all these courgettes!!!