Easy Lentil Bake

Lentils are a very nutritious and grow in pods like other legumes. Lentils are grown widely throughout the Meditteranean and can be red, green, brown or black. The plants frow to about 33cm high and are relatively drought tolerant. Lentil bake is easy to make, very delicious and very rich in protein which accounts for about 30% of their weight  Also rich in iron, zinc, folate and thiamine.

Ingredients:

1.   250g red lentils
2.   2 medium sized onions chopped finely
3.   2 garlic cloves crushed and chopped
4.   2 courgettes sliced thinly
5.   Olive oil for frying vegetables.
6.   Salt and pepper to taste
7.   2 teaspoons of basil
8.   2 eggs beaten
9.   125g of rolled oats
10. 80g of grated hellim or halloumi
11. 1 thinly sliced tomato

Method:

1. Cover lentils with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes
2. Heat olive oil and cook onions, garlic and courgettes until softened.
3. Add salt, pepper and basil to vegetables.
4. Drain any surplus liquid from lentils and stir into vegetables.
5. Stir in oats, beaten eggs and 3/4 of the grated hellim/halloumi
6. Place mixture into and ovenproof dish
7. Sprinkle with the remaining hellim and decorate with sliced tomatoes.
8. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 190c for 30minutes.

Serve with potato wedges and a green salad.

Vegetable seeds

I’ve been looking for a site to purchase some vegetable and herb seeds. I have found one site that offers a wide range of seeds and includes organic seeds. The site also has lots of useful information on companion planting and germination rates. Follow the link to judge for yourself.

VegetableSeeds.net offers great value and has over 400 varieties available.

Shipping to UK addresses is free for orders over £10 and European orders are charged £3 for postage and packaging.

Make your own easy tomato puree

Why not use some of your tomato crop to make your own tomato puree. Puree is a thick, deep red concentrated tomato paste which has been made for generations in Cyprus. The traditional method involved skinning, grating, sieving to remove the seeds and then boiling to reduce the water content until a thick puree was obtained. And, In the days before freezers, the puree was stored in large pots which were covered with a thick layer of olive oil which prevented air from having contact with the food and spoiling it.

The process is much easier now and by using a food processor you don't have to skin the tomatoes and the seeds are pulverized to such an extent that they are not really noticeable in your puree.

Simply thoroughly wash your tomatoes, cut out any bruises or blemishes. quarter and blend in the food processor. Then bring to the boil in a large pan, only partially covered, and simmer for 3-4 hours, whilst stirring occasionally and then more often as it thickens.

Once cooled store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or freeze in useful batch sizes for up to a year.

So many recipes include tomato puree and you will notice the superior flavour of your homemade puree whether used on a pizza, with pasta dishes or to add a rich colour an flavour to soups and stews.

Make your own tomato juice

Tomatoes are now in full production and if you have a glut there are a number of ways to preserve your crop. One way to do so is to make your own refreshing and healthy tomato juice and freeze it. Your juice can be defrosted for drinking or used in cooking.

If you have made your own tomato juice before you will be surprised that the colour is not as red as commercial juice. To redden your juice you can add a cooked beetroot for every 3kg of tomatoes.

Thoroughly wash your ripe tomatoes, cut out any bruises or blemishes, quarter and cook for about 20 minutes in a pan to which 1 cup of water and the finely cut beetroot has been added. Whilst cooking, use a masher to squash the tomatoes. Salting is not a requirement and is entirely dependent on your taste buds.

Once cooled, strain the tomatoes through a cheesecloth or fine mesh to remove all the seeds and pulp from the juice and then squeeze the pulp to ensure all the juice is extracted. Freeze the juice in sterilised containers, leaving enough room for expansion. Or alternatively, freeze into ice cubes to use for cooking. And don't discard the pulp, if you don't want to use it immediately you can freeze it and use it to add to soups or stews.

For a variation to your juice, you can add onions, carrots or celery during the cooking stage.

Vegetables to grow in part shaded areas

It's a common mistaken belief that all vegetables need full sun to grow. Although this is true for vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and marrows, there are others where partially shaded areas will still produce a good crop. Partially shaded areas are those which still enjoy about 4-6 hours of daily sunlight. Thses can be areas under trees or shaded by buildings, walls or fences. As an added benefit vegetables grown in partially shaded areas will not need as much water.

As a basic rule, plants grown for the fruit or roots need full sun but those grown for buds, leaves, or stems are suitable for partially shaded areas.

The following crops will happily grow in partially shaded areas:

1.   All types of salad crops
2.   Broccoli
3.   Cauliflower
4.   Peas
5.   Brussels Sprouts
6.   Radishes
7.   Swiss Chard
8.   Spinach
9.   Beans
10. Kohl Rabi

Knowing these crops will succeed in shaded areas will allow you to better plan your garden to grow the maximum amount of produce.

Make your own marrow and ginger jam

The number of marrows this year has been plentiful and we use them by including marrow or courgettes in lots of recipes but our favourite remains stuffed marrow. If you have a glut of marrows, one useful way to continue enjoying your marrows after their season ends is to make your own marrow and ginger jam.

The basics of jam making can be found at http://cyprusgardener.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/how-to-make-your-own-jam-basics.html

Ingredients:

3kg of marrow (peeled, de-seeded and diced); 2.75kg of sugar with added pectin (or simply add a finely chopped apple for pectin or use homemade pectin - a recipe for which can be found at http://cyprusgardener.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/making-your-own-apple-pectin.html -; the juice and zest of 4 lemons and 5tsp of dried ginger.

Method:

1. Place the diced marrow in a bowl, stir in the sugar, cover and leave overnight in the fridge. This permits some of the water from the marrow to be released.
2. Pour the marrow, add the lemon juice and zest and ginger into a preserving pan and heat to boil, whilst stirring, Continue boiling until setting point is reached.
3. Pour into sterilised jars and tighten lids. Once cooled store in a dark cool place and your jam will keep until your next crop of marrows are ready.

10 Home remedies for bee stings

A bee sting can be very painful but here are 10 home remedies to relieve the pain relief. Before applying a home remedy it's important to remove the stinger, which can be seen as a black spot, do this quickly as you can reduce the amount of venom released into the area. The best way of removing the stinger is by using tweezers to pull it out. Then thoroughly wash the stung area with soap and warm water before trying one of the following remedies to relieve the pain.

1.   Sprinkle the area with baking powder and then spray with vinegar.
2.   Cover the area with honey.
3.   Apply ice to the area.
4.   Crush parsley and basil and apply to the area.
5.   Squeeze an aloe vera leaf and apply the liquid to the area.
6.   Cover the area with mustard.
7.   Rub the area with apple vinegar.
8.   Apply toothpaste.
9.   Rub mud into the affected area
10. Cut an onion and rub into the affected area.