Saturday mornings always seem so busy in our house and I was popping in and out constantly.  It was one of those mornings when I would be in for 15 minutes before dashing off again, which is not long enough to do anything useful, such as eat breakfast.  Eventually, at 11:30 am I made a very simple breakfast with 60 g yogurt, 6 g sunflower seeds and one pear.

Pears are delicious at this time of the year.  A real pleasure.

I received a cryptic text from Sally this week which just said “P71.  Delicious”.  Say no more, know what I mean?  Oh yes I do.  So lunch today was p 71. i.e. ‘Herby, peanutty, noodly salad‘.  Obviously we are talking about Veg Every day!

Ingredients (serves 4 but 3 of us ate it all today!)

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 a small red chilli (according to taste)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce

Salad:

• 75 g roasted but not salted peanuts
• 200 g Thai rice noodles or fine egg noodles
• 150 g mange tout or beans or a combination (I used 50:50)
• 1/2 a cucumber, cut in half lengthways and then sliced in to crescents
• 6 spring onions, trimmed on the diagonal
• About 12 basil leaves (ideally Thai but I used the usual ones), roughly chopped
• Small bunch mint, roughly chopped
• Small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

Method

• Whisk all the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
• Cook the noodles as per instructions on packet.  Remember to stir them or they will clump together.
• When the noodles are cooked, drain and rinse under cold water and then add to the bowl with the dressing and stir so they are well coated in the dressing.

• Lightly cook the beans and mange tout so they remain a bit crunchy.  I boiled them in salted water, 5 mins for the beans and 3 mins for the mange tout.
• As soon as they are cooked, run under the cold tap.

• Add the mange tout, beans, peanuts, cucumber, spring onions and herbs to the noodles and stir well.  Serve with soy sauce.

I also served mine with the trout leftover from yesterday.

This was refreshing and zingy and an interesting combination of flavours.  The trout went well with it too.  James and I really enjoyed it but Harvey didn’t like it cold so we heated his in a pan and then he enjoyed it.  Next time I will serve the peanuts in bigger pieces.

After lunch, Harvey and I took the dogs for a lovely walk in the woods.

It was busy over there today. We bumped in to Marion walking her dogs with a friend, twice, and a boy walking with his family who Harvey used to go to school with.  We also came across some curious leaf-faced folk.  You never know who you may see in the woods!

We saw lots of mushrooms and toadstools and berries.  This is such an interesting time of year to be outside.  Today was lovely and sunny but it does get dark too early 😦

I am posting the blog early today as I am going to a partay tonight.  Yes, we are donning our smart frock and black tie and heading to Epsom for Sally and Troy’s annual Thanksgiving party. Party on!

Have a good evening,  y’all.