I had promised myself that I would tackle paperwork today but it was sunny so the garden beckoned.  This is the first sunny Sunday in ages so I didn’t want to miss it.  My vegetable garden has been very neglected and I enjoyed working hard in it.

I paused to have some breakfast.  I haven’t had a green smoothies for a while and was feeling very virtuous today. In to the blender went a banana, some kale and spinach (from the garden 🙂 ), almond milk,  almonds and ice.

Quite good.

My green beans have been decimated by the slugs this year.  The slugs leave the beans and eat the leaves but each little plant battled on and managed to produce one bean each.  This is not the bumper crop I had been expecting 😦

I also picked the first crop of spring onions, which I am growing amongst the carrots – apparently that keeps the carrot fly away from the carrots.

They are still small, probably because they are so overcrowded, but they taste lovely and I use the onion bit and all the green.

I wanted to make one of Angela’s recipes from her brilliant blog, Oh She Glows, which I read every day.   I wanted to make the Veggie Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Lime Sauce but we couldn’t find any spring roll wrappers.  So instead I made the peanut lime sauce and mixed it in with noodles and raw vegetables.

Noodles with Peanut and Lime Sauce

Ingredients (serves 4)

Peanut and Lime Sauce

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 inch peeled & roughly chopped fresh ginger
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1-3 tsp water, to thin out as needed ( I didn’t need any)

Method

• Place all ingredients in a small blender and process until smooth.
• Set aside.

Having made the sauce, cook noodles according to manufacturers instructions.  When cooked, run under cold water and drain well.

To assemble the noodle salad, chop up vegetables ( I used cherry tomatoes, red pepper, spring onions, parboiled green beans and carrots), add cooked noodles and pour over the peanut and lime sauce.  Mix well and serve.

This was delicious and we all enjoyed it.  It was good to be able to eat sitting outside too.

Another first from the garden for supper – some broccoli.

It was called “wok broc” and I have been using the leaves in stir fries and smoothies.  The broccoli part looks like purple sprouting broccoli.

Supper was roast beef, with sweetcorn, broccoli, Yorkshire pudding roast potatoes and a port gravy.  Made by James so I could carry on working outside.

We enjoyed dinner in the garden with a glass of red wine.

I feel exhausted.  I have not spent a whole day gardening for a long time and all that stretching and bending has worn me out.  It is very satisfying though, to have a whole day outside, in the sunshine, in the garden.