With a little Stilton cheese left over from Christmas, I've made some Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

• 1 head broccoli
• 2 small onions
• 1 sprig celery
• 1 potato
• a little oil
• blue cheese (radio of about 1/3 to 1/5th of the weight of the broccoli)
• vegetable stock or chicken stock

1. Weigh the broccoli (to determine amount of cheese to add at the end)
2. chop the vegetables
3. gently fry onion, add celery.
4. add rest potato, the stem of the broccoli, then add the stock
5. cook, when nearly done, add heads of broccoli
6. whizz and serve with stilton crumbled over the top

Autumn Recipes

It's now time to pick the last of our crop - the runner beans are nearly finished, ditto the courgettes and beetroot.   We didn't grow a great deal this year as it's our first summer since David built the veggy raised bed.  It's 3 metres by 8 metres, so a pretty good size.

We also grew some spinach which has been good but the broccoli were taken over by the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars before I got round to netting them.

I've picked the last of the tomatoes which are still green, and we're rather short of chutney so this year will make chutney.  Last I fried them to have as an accompaniment to our meals.
We haven't grown any pumpkins or plums but have included recipes here as there such a mark of the passing of the seasons.  It's lovely to buy a couple of large pumpkins before they're all removed from the shops after Halloween.


Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin recipes from Jamie Oliver:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/search/?s=pumpkin
Baked Pumpkin
1 kg pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunky slices
3 medium onions, sliced
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
black pepper
2 tbsp flour
150 ml olive oil

Heat oven to 200/6.
Arrange pumpkin sliced in greased roasting tin.
In large bowl massage the salt into the sliced onions with your hands.
Mix in the tomato paste, pepper and flour.
Scatter over the pumpkin.
Drizzle with oil and bake 30 - 40 mins until onions are starting to brown and pumpkin is tender.
Serve hot or warm.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/11840276/Baked-pumpkin-with-sun-dried-tomato-paste-and-crispy-onions-recipe.html

Pumpkin and Ginger Teabread
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1018/pumpkin-and-ginger-teabread
Green tomato Chutney
250g green tomatoes, sliced
100g onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp salt
500g sultanas
500g cooking apples
500g light muscavado sugar
1.14 litre jar spiced pickling vinegar

1. Slice the tomatoes (you can skin them if you want, but I don’t usually bother). Finely chop the onions. Layer both in a large bowl with the salt. Leave overnight.
2. Next day, chop the sultanas using a large, sharp knife, then peel, core and chop theapples. Put the sugar and vinegar into a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the sultanas and apples and simmer for 10 mins. Strain the tomatoes and onions in a colander (but don’t rinse), then tip into the pan and return to the boil.
3. Simmer for about 1 hr, stirring occasionally until the mixture is thick and pulpy. Transfer to warmed jars (see Know-how, below) and cover with lids.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2865/green-tomato-chutney



Plum Liqueur
750g plums
3.5 cups gin
400g caster sugar

Put plums into freezer overnight to soften.
Defrost. Put in large container along with the rest of the ingredients.
Leave two to three months.
Strain and bottle.

I'm looking forward to trying this one!

And here's a recipe for plums with vodka and vanilla which also sounds good.
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/21971/plum-liqueur.aspx

Courgette, potato and cheddar soup;

• 
• 500g potatoes, unpeeled and roughly chopped
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 1kg courgettes, roughly chopped
• bunch spring onion, sliced - save 1 for serving, if eating straight away
• 100g extra-mature cheddar or vegetarian alternative, grated, plus a little extra to serve
• good grating fresh nutmeg, plus extra to serve
• 
  

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1577642/courgette-potato-and-cheddar-soup

Is it a soup - or a pudding - we liked it as both 

From the book Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania 
(traditions: ingredients: tastes: techniques: over 60 classic recipes)
by Silvena Johan Lauta

450ml (3/4 pt semi-skimmer milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg
250ml vegetable stock
400g/14oz butternug squash, cubed
Creamy Butternut Squash and Semolina Soup
30ml/2 tbsp semolina
s&p
30ml/2 tbsp golden syrup (to serve - we didn't and still loved this)

1. Bring the milk to the boil, add nutmeg and stock, and season.
2. Add butternut squash and simmer until it's nearly cooked.
3. Sprinkle the semolina over, stirring constantly.
4. Cook for 5 minutes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Food-Cooking-Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania/dp/1903141664

My easy-going chocolate-based diet

... or how I have lost one pound a month whilst still eating lots of chocolate

In the nine months since we've moved house I haven't been watching my weight, just getting on with sorting, unpacking, getting to know the area, making friends, improving the garden and planning what we'd like to do to make the house ours.  Oh, and looking after a 1+year old one day a week - exhausting but good fun!

Strangely enough, all this activity hasn't involved a great deal more exercise than before ... so how come I've steadily, if slowly, been losing (some of) that extra weight?

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps our diet is now more sensible - except for the chocolate.
  

So here's a sample of what I eat in a day:

• First thing: hot water with a teaspoon of honey and one of cyder vinegar.
• 8.00am: Breakfast:  a small helping of shreddies or shredded wheat, with two spoonfuls of mixed seeds, bran and nuts, served with soya milk.  (+ a piece of 70% dark chocolate)
• Mid-morning: a cup of real ground (decaf) coffee.
• Late-morning:  a small glass of almond milk or real fruit juice.
• 12.30pm: Lunch:  home-made vegetable soup* with one or two slices of wholemeal bread, with lots of cream cheese (not low fat). (+ two pieces of 70% dark chocolate) Sometimes, as a treat, I have sardines on toast or scrambled egg, with some salad.
• Afternoon:  a cup of coffee.
• 5.30pm: Dinner:  lots of steamed vegetables served with some meat, fish, cheese, beans or eggs. (+ a piece of 70% dark chocolate)
• Mid-evening: a cup of coffee or cocoa (no sugar)
• Evening: natural yoghurt (not low fat). (+ a piece of 70% dark chocolate)
• In between: at least a pint of water or herbal tea.

At the moment I'm on about stage two of this five-step process

* home-made vegetable soup: fry an onion in olive oil, add lots of vegetables, some meat- or vegetable-stock and cook, then whizz.  Could add beans or lentils, and possibly bits of bacon or chicken.  Whilst cooking the addition of a bay leaf or other herbs improves the flavour no end.

Perhaps if I ate less chocolate then the weight would fall off faster, but a few treats really do help.  

Incidentally, I didn't mention above but I do have one or two half-glasses of red wine a week, not sure if that's good or bad.

Ah, a sudden thought: Cutting out the chocolate and eat low-fat versions of the cream cheese and yogurt, will mean the weight would fall off much faster.  
But I'd feel deprived.  
Low-fat yogurt and cream cheese are grim and, as anyone who's tried to diet knows, feeling deprived is one of the first ways to fall off the diet and into the arms of excess!

Here's an apparently easy way to lose weight in the winter - shiver.   

​

It may be the world's easiest weight loss plan, involving no exercise or dieting. Scientists claim you can shiver yourself slim simply by turning the heating down.  Most houses in the winter are heated to around 69F (21C) but researchers at Maastrict University medical Centre advise turning the thermostat down to between 59F (15C) and 62F (16F).

If we follow this diet we'll not only save money on eating less foot, we'll also use less energy heating our houses.

"A recent study has found women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it."

and here are a few more weight-related quotations:

http://funnysayings.webs.com/dietsbirthdaycake.htm#Diets