The Marvel of Mother Nature......

It never ceases to amaze me how incredible nature is! Now, I can't take the credit for this idea as I have seen a lot of posts/articles about doing this already online - but I thought I'd share it - plus photographic evidence!
I use a lot of celery and Pak Choi, lettuce etc and I read about getting more greens from your stumps! I think at some point (probably in infant school!) we have all had a go at growing a pineapple top? Ring any bells?
Well, did you know you can do it with Romaine lettuce, celery and Pak Choi too? (There are also others including lemon grass).
All you need to do, is keep the base of your celery (or whatever you're using), pop it in a small amount of water for a few days (do change the water daily!) When you see signs of roots forming, pot it up in good quality compost (don't put it in full sun - you'll fry it!) and 'Voila'! Free celery, lettuce, lemon grass or Pak Choi!

And here is the evidence.............

Scrumptious Nibbles!

I am constantly trying to come up with some quick but healthy snacks that I can just grab and go. (I'm a bit fed up of chomping celery sticks and carrot batons!) I made these this morning.....(and I will be keeping a stash of them in the fridge!)

                       

250g mixed seeds (I used sunflower, pumpkin and a good handful of hemp)
50g of finely chopped cashew nuts (you can use your favourite or vary it each time)
6 sundried tomatoes very finely chopped (I used the ones in oil but do dab most the oil off them)
3-4 tbps finely chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley and chives because they're both still growing in the garden!)
A handful of fenugreek sprouts again, finely chopped (don't panic if you have no sprouts - just get your jars out for next time)
1-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped (to taste)
3 tbsp of oil (I used one of hemp and the rest, extra virgin olive oil)
Seasoning; you can use whatever you fancy. If you want a Mediterranean slant, add chopped olives and dried oregano and/or basil. If you fancy them spicy add a little cayenne pepper and garam masala (1tsp of GM - NOT cayenne - you'll only need a pinch of that!) See below for more suggestions....
A dash of lemon or lime juice
1 tsp of veggie bouillon powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (I actually use my homemade herb salt which I will share in a while when fresh herbs are abundant again)
A drop of cold water IF necessary


Finely grind the seeds in your mixer/blender. (Be careful you don't over do it - you'll end up with seed tahini instead!). Place in a bowl with the finely chopped herbs, cashews, and tomatoes. Mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and shape into small balls. If the mixture crumbles you need that drop of cold water.

What I do then is chill them in the fridge as it helps them keep their shape. Serve with drinks, or flatbreads and fresh salad.

Variations on the theme; Don't you just love it when you come up with something that can be changed so much you don't ever need to eat it the same way twice? These can even be made into sweets (healthy ones!)
Instead of herbs, garlic, tomatoes and salt/pepper etc add chopped dried fruit (dates and apricots would be nice) grated coconut, cacao or even dip them in dark chocolate for a really indulgent treat :-) if they're not quite sweet enough (taste as you go along) you could add a little honey or agave nectar. I will use coconut oil instead of olive but you could use a nut oil (walnut) or a bland oil such as sunflower or grapeseed for the sweet version. If you still want to add herbs use one like sweet cicely (when available - mine's still snoozing!)

Above all, have fun - experiment and do please share what you come up with here...........I'd love to hear what you do!

I am sure there are many recipes online similar to this - if anyone has come up with the very same thing - apologies! I'm not stealing your thunder - I'm just sharing what I have made myself.

Hello again!

I know it's been some time since I've blogged on this site. However, I do have a very good reason - I've been busy elsewhere. (No kidding!)

Anyway I wanted to let you know normal service will be resumed shortly. I have been making plans, and this includes running workshops and talks etc. I already have my launch platform at our local flower show. (I'm one of the judges - the herb class being my specialty). I also judge the scarecrows but that's not really applicable here :-)

I have a lot to share as I have been experimenting....yes, you read that right! The results of which I will be sharing on here.

I'll leave you with a photo of something reminiscent of last summer.........

I grew the artichokes last year as part of my wildlife garden, assuming the butterflies and bees would appreciate their thistle like flowers (I left them to flower). They were barely touched, believe it or not! So this year, we're going to eat them!

See you anon.....

The Miracle of Avocados..........

A very dear friend of mine called round Friday morning and amazed me with the following information. Now this is someone I've known for a long time and for the purpose of this post I will call her Joan.

I know Joan has been plagued for over 18 months with trouble with the skin on her legs........She'd been backwards and forwards to the doctors all this time with her skin driving her mad. It was itchy, sore and very hot and uncomfortable. I've spoken to her many a time and she'd been in tears, being driven to distraction. She'd had all sorts of antibiotics, skin creams and goodness knows what but nothing improved it. No-one ever actually gave 'it' a name for a long time...........

She developed a lesion on her leg which became a large open wound that wouldn't heal. With similar happening on her other leg (the other leg had an enormous lump too). So yet again she trundled off to the doctors who offered her yet more anti-biotics. She declined and accepted she was going to have to learn to live with it. She'd been told the hole was her leg being eaten from the inside out by 'a bug'. Not nice!

A few weeks ago, her sister happened to ask her if she'd pick her up a couple of avocados whilst she was out shopping. They were something Joan wasn't keen on but her sister tempted her to try them again and to her surprise, she found this time round she liked them so knowing they are really good for you, Joan started buying them for herself and having one a day.

A week later, she noticed her leg had all but stopped itching..........

Three weeks later - her legs were almost back to normal!!

Joan had done nothing different at all, except eat an avocado every day! And here is the proof - after 18 miserable months Joan is finally free from her distress and you can even see the 'dint' on this leg where the flesh had been eaten.........

Joan's leg, including the hollow from the flesh-eating bug!

Now I recount this story not to encourage you to throw all your meds in the bin! I am NOT a doctor - I'm just someone that believes we can all lead healthier lives if we watch the fuel we take into our bodies. But this certainly highlights for me - food plays a huge part in who and what we are.......and who and what we can be......

Thank you for sharing this Joan (and for letting me photograph your leg!) I'm absolutely delighted you're free of your plight after all this time xx

Now there's food for thought!

(NB. The information given is purely for interest only - if you suffer from some malady - please do see your doctor).

NUTS!!

Hazelnuts and almonds; soaked overnight.

Well, I said we'd go nuts today and here we are! Most people love nuts of one form or another (except, of course, those who are allergic to them). My personal favourites are almond and walnuts.

I have found the best way to eat them though is to soak them. Technically, this is classed as sprouting only they don't sprout - they swell but still undergo the same metabolic transformation as a 'sprout'. Their vitamins increase and they become much, much more digestible. Have you ever noticed with nuts that you sometimes find your mouth 'tightening' inside (like when you eat cooked spinach or rhubarb?)  That's the tannins in them. Soaking/sprouting them overnight removes most of them and they taste really wonderful and creamy. If you don't believe me, try it - I surprised a friend of mine this morning with soaked almonds.

Almonds can be blended and made into a delicious nut milk and are rich in calcium too. Their protein is also of the alkaline type which is better for our bodies. One of my favourite ways of using them is to convert the 'milk' into almond yoghurt using 'rejuvelac' (and what, I hear you ask is that?)............well, we'll come to that in a short while - if you can't wait - Google it. Be warned though - some sources advocate fermenting the wheat berries for a longer period - don't do it! I tried leaving it longer it once and when I opened the fridge I was overwhelmed by the prevailing smell of cow dung! A gas mask wouldn't have gone amiss either! (I didn't even have the heart to pour it on the compost heap - I was so concerned for the worms.....) Yuk! I won't do that one again in a hurry :-) Incidentally, almond yoghurt is fantastic in curries...........

We'll talk more nuts soon but when I'm back next I have a really astonishing tale about the miracle of avocados - seriously, if I hadn't known the person who told me this - I wouldn't have believed it myself. But I even have a photo of her leg to prove it (oh, boy - I can really hear your brain cells going into overdrive now................)

Have a good weekend - and get sprouting!!

A single renegade nasturtium makes a take-over bid for the garden... 

Microgreens......

Wheat sprouts at the top and beneath green peas - I'll be growing the peas on for shoots.

Today I said I'd talk about microgreens. Most people may be familiar with them from MasterChef and its ilk. Those lovely little bits of green that brings the plate to life...........
However, microgreens are now hitting the supermarket shelves and a while ago I bought some garlic chive micros from Tesco. Did I eat them? Not a bit of it! I planted them and grew them on and I now have a big clump in the garden............well, someone else had done the work starting them off for me and for £1 something or whatever they were - it was a bargain!
It would not have been a bargain however, if I had wanted them for eating! Heavens there wasn't so much as a mouthful................
Microgreens are easy to grow (like sprouts) and are extremely nutritious. Think about it; sprouts put all their energy and enzymes into the first big push of growth - microgreens are the next stage and we then gain by having chlorophyll rich leaves. What's not to like?
The two books I'd recommend (and there are many out there now) are;
Microgreens; A Guide to Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens and also Microgreens; How to Grow Nature's Own Superfood.
For me, these two say it all and what I do like about them is they're sumptuously illustrated with the sort of photos that make you want to get your compost and pots out!

I posted a photo yesterday of sunflowers greens - well, they are doing really well and I'll be really generous to you all, and let you see them before I eat them (just, of course, so you see the size etc to use them at).

I will, of course, be talking more about the goodness in sprouts and micros as we go along but the first few posts are hooks - to get you interested and keen to stay with me and get sprouting!

Tomorrow, we'll go nuts...............(if I haven't already ..............)

Recommended books......

Sunflower greens - one of the absolute best sprouts!

Today I promised you some good books to read. The first one I ever read and it really got me hooked, was this one; The Sprouter's Handbook by Edward Cairney If you only want one book this is it. I have read this one so often I can probably recite it word for word (and I must ask my other half if I do so in my sleep - I know I do often witter away in between the Z's..........).
It's not an expensive book but it is worth it's weight in gold! It's practical, no nonsense and what I like most is Edward doesn't advocate going out spending a fortune.
Dr Gillian McKeith did much for sprouts in her TV series and books i.e. You Are What You Eat and I have those too but for sprouting guides another very highly recommended author is Sproutman! (AKA Steve Meyerowitz). His famous Book; Sprouts the Miracle Food -The Complete Guide to Sprouting is also very good. However, for me there are several things wrong with this book (just personal observations here). I don't like the fact he (obviously) recommends his own way of sprouting (and I can understand that) but despite being a Sprout Nutter I don't want bags of dripping sprouts hanging from my taps, thank you very much - I like doing it My Way! (Mainly because it works.......)
But in Steve's favour (and he knows much more than me!) he has done excellent research and really knows his stuff so if you want the nitty gritty on sprouting (and maybe are happy having bags of sprouts around the place) he's your man! (Steve also uses baskets for sprouting which again, although it works really well - space really is a premium for me and I don't want baskets all over the place either!)
I know some time back there was a lot of controversy over alfalfa. Steve blew that one apart (good on you Steve!) Although for myself I always believe in 'moderation in all things' - and that includes how much alfalfa I eat!
Another great little book albeit not a sprouting book but one for anyone with very limited space is; The Window-box Allotment and having just checked it out on Amazon for the link - it seems to have been upgraded so I can feel a new copy coming on. It's a delightful little book.
More books tomorrow and we'll also move on to books on the next stage of sprouting - Microgreens!

The photo above is of my newly hatched sunflower greens. (The shells will drop off as they grow). For these you do need unhulled sunflower seeds like these Organic sunflower seeds  don't try this with the shelled ones you buy for nibbling! If you want to sprout those (and you can) do so overnight only. They will turn brown and won't be very pleasant after that!

Sunflower greens are absolutely delicious - trust me - lettuce will never taste the same again but we'll reach that point in due course, so stay with me and you too can become a Sprout Nutter!