Saturday morning

Courgettes (etc) Galore (with thanks to DD for letting me use her photograph)

After we got home yesterday, one of the first things DD did was check out her allotment.  A while later she was hammering on my door, begging me to  adopt a couple of her courgettes.  What's in the photo is the rest of what she picked.  She's going to do well on the courgette eating this week, she and DG, and my dehydrator is really coming into its own again.  As for me, I shall be making courgette bake, some courgette muffins, maybe chocolate courgette loaf as shown on the Frugal Girl blog (if I can translate the USA way of giving amounts) and use some in a sort of tomatoey, mushroomy, red peppery mixture that I can freeze.  There's a limit to what one person can get through but as they are fresh picked they should keep for a while.

Apparently the ones along the window ledge, which are called Honey Bear squash, are very sweet and can be used in sweet dishes as well as savoury.  I have one, left over from some we took on holiday but didn't get round to eating, so I shall have to do an Internet recipe hunt.

Although I really didn't want to leave Streele Farm, it was nice to get home again and I certainly slept very well in my own bed.  This morning I am looking forward to a nice long bath (last week showers were more convenient), followed by a baking session.  Courgette muffins and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies.  They both look jolly tasty, not too difficult to make and the muffins, at least, should freeze fine.  There's a bit of holiday washing to do and then some holiday ironing.  Not a large amount as there was a very efficient washing machine and a tumble dryer at the barn so we did a wash half way through the week.  After that I need to sort out a couple of lists for a friend and then the weekend's my own.  I want to catch up on the Hairy Bikers' programmes where they adapt recipes to make them more healthy (I gather they are on iPlayer) and I need to do just a little bit more shopping at some point as DD and DG will be over for lunch on Sunday and DD has made it clear that she expects a courgette free meal!  I think I will make home made pizzas - they always go down a treat - and then a Streele farm blackberry and apple crumble.

One of the highlights of Streele Farm has always been picking the blackberries.  Year after year we have come back with bag loads which we have turned into seedless jams, flavoured vodka, etc.  This year - well, it was a poor and sorry show.  There were a few ripened fruits but generally they are weeks behind where they should be and we came back with a very small amount, just enough to make a couple of blackberry and apple crumbles and no more. 

Too many courgettes and not enough berries.  That's nature for you!

Edited to add:  Just opened the blinds and it's chucking it down out there.  Won't DD's courgette plants love that!  :0)