Local green grocer delivers

I have been shopping for veg at Country Produce for a few years. I was dismayed when Tesco express opened on Whitecross road and effectively put them out of business. They have now opened on Milton Road and have been re building their business over the last 12 months.
They have now reached a point where they are able to make deliveries to your door. So shopping for veg can be made even easier.
Not only are their prices more than competitive with the supermarkets but the produce is fresher and tastier. Kieran Morris (owner) is more than happy to receive special requests for particular items such as herbs etc and he will do his utmost to seek them out at the markets.
All you have to do is call or email at least a day in advance of his delivery days, it couldn't be easier!

You can always go and browse in their shop at 252 Milton Road for fresh inspiration. (He also does a bit of cheese!) Service is friendly and helpful.

contact details are:
01934 643343
07974403521
countryproducewsm@btconnect.com

Delivery days are Wednesday and Fridays.

So come on shop local, eat fresh, spend savvy. Join our unsupermarket challenge!!


Cat

Unsupermarket Challenge - May update

I'm trying to remember the last time I was in a shop - I think it was last Wednesday, when we went to the butcher's at the end of Hughenden Road for some sausages, eggs and cheese. We caught him cashing up at half day closing and, thankfully, he served us. Ah, no, that's wrong because on Thursday we were on the A370 and popped into Puxton Park Farm Shop for a loaf and a lavender plant for our patio area; I've always loved the smell of lavender and I hope make a body rub by grinding it together with that coarse sea salt we collectively bought so much of.

What I mean to say is that, since joining this food buying group, ordering in bulk from Essential, having milk and yoghurt delivered directly by the milkman and sharing a fruit and vegetable box, we have had very little need to spend time and too much money in supermarkets. I might have been spotted, on occasion, grabbing a pizza from Waitrose (about four times in four months), but sometimes you just fancy a little of something different and I make no apologies for it.

We always have more than enough food in our kitchen; healthy snacks, hearty soups, jacket potatoes aplenty (why are there so many spuds in these box schemes?) We've recently started going to home-educators play-dates, where we eat communally, each bringing something tasty to the table. It's been an education in recipes and almost-forgotten food pleasures - a brand new sort of learning. What to take? I've been rustling up vegetable cous-cous and fruit flapjacks - ingredients for these are always on hand. It feels good to have taken the effort to cook something from scratch to be enjoyed by so many people.

Today, we harvested some wild garlic by a stream, somewhere near Glastonbury. The younger leaves have already been turned into pesto with olive oil and sunflower seeds, ready for a very quick and yummy meal with pasta. Any edible leaf can make a decent pesto and it keeps for ages in the fridge. The older leaves will accompany a vegetable soup tomorrow and the flowers look ace on a salad, don't they?

And you can probably smell me coming a mile off :-)

April order fast approaching

It's nearly time to place the fourth food buying group order, which is a bit exciting!

I thought I'd do a quick post to explain to anyone who is interested just how easy it is, and maybe a bit about just how positive an effect it's had on our lives.

To order, simply send an email to holly.young@hotmail.co.uk to tell me you are interested. I will reply with an order form as well as log in details to the Essential Trading web site (or get a paper catalogue to you). From here, you have a browse from the comfort of your sofa, fill in the order form - which does all the maths bits for you - and email it back to me by Monday 2nd April. We are trialling giving you the option to order via text this month too.

I will check the order then email you back to confirm prices. The food will then be delivered to our house in Weston-super-Mare on Thursday 5th April, you can pop round that evening to collect it, or you can arrange an alternative mutually convenient time. Please bring cash on collection to pay for your order.

Simple!

So, what are the benefits?

• We are definitely spending less money. In part, probably because we are not tempted by supermarket 'offers' that we only end up throwing away. Also, because we are buying in bulk.
• We are definitely using less packaging.
• We are eating better. Yes, this has meant more time cooking but if that's something you enjoy then welcome to the world of creating delicious wholesome meals!
• We haven't had to endure the supermarket. I can't begin to tell you how much more enjoyable my life is just from not entering Tesco. It may sound really silly, but I enjoy my time on this planet much more because I am spending it doing far more enjoyable things than pushing a trolley around a very large box!

Ok, preachy ranty bit over. Whatever your reasons for wanting to shop differently, welcome aboard!

Packaging

Landfill in Calgary - Courtesy of D'Arcy - Flickr Creative Commons

Yesterday was 'Rubbish & Recycling day': due to good work by the council our recyclable waste is collected weekly but the black wheelie bins containing non-recyclables is only collected fortnightly. This has improved recycling rates in the county, all good stuff.

While I lugged the boxes out to the roadside ready for collection I noticed our green recycling bin was only a quarter full and the wheelie bin was empty. We only had half a bin bag to get rid of from our kitchen bin. This is great, we haven't really put any effort into reducing waste, over and above the normal that is, with a little bit of effort I think we could probably get to effectively zero waste.

Undoubtedly the biggest factor contributing to this improvement has been the food buying group, buying in bulk has reduced all the silly little bits of packaging that small quantities inevitably lead to, and with either Fair Trade or organic the producers and vendors have usually reduced packaging to that which is necessary.

The veg box we share with Becky & TCO helps too, it is slightly surprising to find that the natural state of a cucumber is not to grow covered in shrink wrap plastic...

Beans and pulses

Ok so what else can you do with beans and pulses? Nina Thomas-Bennett inspired me last night! I am going to sprout them!! It seems this is a favourite with her little people and from the conversation between Mark and Ollie its a man favourite too :). So how do you do it? Nina did give me clear instructions last night, however, I have slept since and forgotten so had to search the good old web. I found a useful link on Youtube which shows it really is so simple I cant believe I forgot.

All you do is soak the beans or pulses in water overnight drain then rinse daily. They show a fancy sprouter but you could just use an empty jar and poke lots of holes in the lid (not so big that the pulses etc can escape) It takes around 3 -4 days or leave them till they are as big as you fancy then eat.

Here is the link, not because you will need it, because the hosts made me giggle ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-1V4vtV8Yo

Happy sprouting.

Cat and Mark

P.S. Thanks Nina :)

Recipe Blog: Oatmeal and Honey Cake

Actually Oatmeal and Honey cake is a bit of a misnomer because what I thought was oatmeal I later realised was oatbran, so my version of this recipe, which I found in the 25 Easter Bakes leaflet that came with the March edition of Cook Vegetarian, is actually Oatbran and Honey Cake.

It's very easy.

Turn the oven to 180C or Gas 4.  Grease and base line a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin.

Melt 100g butter with 100g honey and add 150g regular or jumbo rolled oats, put to one side.

Mix together 50g oatmeal/oatbran, 100g light brown muscovado sugar and 150g self-raising flour (second confession, I only had white bread flour so I used that plus two teaspoons of baking powder).

Melt 200g butter and stir it into the dry ingredients, together with four medium free-range eggs, beaten.

Pour into the cake tin.

At this point the recipe says to sprinkle the butter and oat mixture on top, I tried that and it kind of dolloped, so I carried on dolloping, let it sink into the cake mix and then stirred it about a bit.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted into it comes out clean.

Two questions - do any of you actually beat the eggs before adding them to a cake mix?  Ever?  I tend to crack them straight into the bowl and threaten them gently with a fork.  Do any of you insert an actual skewer into cakes, or do you all just grab the nearest slim-bladed knife to hand?

Veggie burgers are go!!

This first month of my avoidance of supermarkets has left me with a store cupboard full of beans and pulses. I have to admit I don't really like whole beans or pulses :( and have mainly used them in soups which I then puree or make into hummus. I then had a brain wave why not make veggie burgers. I have paid good money in the past for dry mix variety and found that they are a bit tasteless and also that you don't really get much for your money. Feeling like I needed to use what I had rather than add to the bulging cupboard I embarked on making my own recipe!!! A scary prospect and not enthusiastically embraced by my meat eating son.

It was however a resounding success!!! So here it is! I did not measure precisely.

Veggie Burger

Equal amounts of (about 200g of each)

Adzuki beans

chick peas

Cannelloni

yellow split peas

Green split peas

Spelt grain

Smoked paprika

2 clovesGarlic

1 Onion

tsp fennel

jerk seasoning (it was there!)

4oz Gram flour (can use plain flour)

Semolina (optional)

bunch Parsley

salt and pepper to season

Method

Soak all the pulses/beans overnight.

Drain and put in a bowl

fry the onion, fennel and garlic

add to the pulses

add the seasoning and parsley and either mash or blend till fairly smooth (I like a bit of texture but no whole beans)

Add flour and mix

Make into patties and roll in the semolina (it just gives a crispy coating)

Fry in a medium pan on both sides for around 6 mins per side (depending on how thick you made the patties)

Enjoy eating with... well anything :)

We made about 13 in total and we are going to freeze the leftovers uncooked to see how they cook from frozen. I will let you know how we got on.

Cat and Mark