The sunshine we have enjoyed recently has inspired me to get out in the garden.  That and my recent gardening course.  I bought this little box of 5 seed packets.

When I opened it up, inside there was a cute little tin. Inside the tin were plenty of planting notes and recipes plus the seeds.  This would make a great gift as it was so beautifully presented. I only managed to plant out some rocket and lettuce though because hail stopped play! I have been planning to extend my vegetable garden for a while and I have recently found someone to help me i.e. someone to do all the hard work.  This part of the garden will have my new greenhouse, a fruit cage and 2 raised beds. This part is going to be tidied up and then it will all be rabbit proofed.  I am really excited. As promised, George and Dan turned up on Sunday, staked out where the new raised beds are going and the outline for the rabbit proof fence. I can not wait to see this part of the garden being transformed. Now for the eating part.  I have eaten lots of healthy food but have also eaten sugary things.  Not too many but any is too much when you are trying to quit sugar.  So I am doing week 1 of Sarah Wilson’s plan again.

I did make a delicious courgette based recipe from ‘I Quit Sugar’.  I am going to grow 2 varieties of courgette this year so I can make this a lot.  If you are ambivalent about courgettes, which I am, try this.  It is delicious and will convert you in to a courgette fan.

Courgette Cheesecake

Ingredients (serves 4 – 8)

• Coconut oil/butter for greasing
• 2 – 3 large courgettes
• 1 tsp salt
• 550g Ricotta
• 75 g grated Parmesan
• 2 spring onions
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 tbsp chopped dill
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 large eggs, well beaten
• 75g crumbled Feta

Method

• Preheat oven to 170 °C
• Grease a 23cm cake tin or medium sized baking dish
• Grate the courgettes (I used the fine shedding disc on my food processor)
• Combine the courgettes and salt in a colander, leave for 15 minutes and then squeeze out as much water as you can
• Combine the Ricotta, Parmesan, spring onions, garlic, dill and lemon zest

• Stir in the courgettes and eggs
• Tip n to the greased baking dish or tin and bake for 1 hour
• Sprinkle with the Feta and return to the oven for 20 minutes
• Leave to cool so it sets properly

I ate this yesterday with tomato and took another portion to work today which I ate with tomatoes, cucumbers and mixed green leaves.  It is perfect packed lunch or picnic food and is really delicious.  Highly recommended.

This fillet steak was pretty good too – our celebratory dinner to welcome Lara home for Easter.