Going away at the weekend has helped me remember how much I enjoy eating lots of vegetables.  Since I came back, I have eaten very little else, most of which was home grown which is immensely satisfying.

Sunday night; a salad of home grown lettuce, nasturtium flowers, broad beans and peas with new potatoes.  All from the garden except the potatoes. Monday was a day off for me and a last minute change of plan found me in Epsom, location of the famous racecourse. But mainly well known for being the hometown of Sally :-).  It is a very long time since I have visited Epsom, a town I visited many times in my youth and it was great to see a traditional market stall in the town centre, selling very reasonably priced fruits, veggies and flowers. I had not had time for breakfast so I enjoyed this salad for lunch. This kept me going until supper time. Cauliflower from BJ’s garden.  Lots and lots and lots of cauliflower so I made a cauliflower cheese, took the dogs for a walk and enjoyed it very much when I got back. Today I was at work in London.  I had planned to have a juice for breakfast but had so many meetings I couldn’t get out until lunch time.

I met Zoe and Owen for a coffee which we enjoyed sitting on Monmouth Street, outside Scoff and Banter.  I did eat the 2 little biscuits but at least I had an Espresso rather than my usual Latte. Takeaway salad from Pure for lunch. I didn’t like the dressing so will leave that next time. The salad was ok though. As soon as I got home I was out in the garden, enjoying the last of the evening sunshine.  I decided to only eat home grown vegetables for supper so I picked lots of peas.

This little part of the garden is growing so well.  I collected some nasturtium flowers. First picking of the green French beans. I have eaten these purple beans before this year.  There are so many growing I picked loads. Lots of broad beans too. The peas and beans have grown so well I am delighted. Note to self – the broad beans need to grow with supports as they have all collapsed. I picked all these; lettuce, nasturtiums, broad beans, green and purple French beans, lots of peas and my first courgette. Having gathered supper, Lara and I took the dogs over the road for a walk.  My target is 5 walks a week.We have been walking in these woods for years so were very surprised to see this part, which was a free range chicken farm, has been opened up and the chicken sheds dismantled. Lovely evening for ballooning. The sun was so pretty, illuminating parts of the trees. I did enjoy the walk and London suddenly seemed a very long way away. Back at home we added BJ’s potatoes and cucumber to our supper, cooked the potatoes and beans and ate the rest raw.  One completely 100% home grown dinner, 100 % vegetables/plants.  Well, actually I did add some butter, salt and salad cream but in the main, it was a home grown dinner and it tasted amazing.  Eating home grown and just picked is so fresh and full of flavour, it is definitely worth the time and effort.

This is so much more satisfying than the high fat and high sugar food I have been eating too much of lately.  I hope I continue to remember how much better it tastes and how much better it makes me feel.