Tomato and herb rolls good with.... EVERYTHING!

Last time I made my Tomato and Herb rolls and tried to upload the picture onto the blog was when things went strange and nothing would work. Thankfully all was OK this time.
I concocted this recipe by combing two different recipes from an old book on bread making. We started eating them with things like spagi bol. or lasagne, (instead of garlic bread). Then we found they were quite nice with all sorts of things!
Recipe for Tomato and Herb Rolls
1lb Bread Flour
Good Teaspoon instant yeast
Half Teaspoon salt
2 heaped teaspoons dried herbs ( Herbs Provencale or Italian Mixed herbs)
2 Big Tablespoons of Tomato Puree dissolved in a little hot water then use cold water to make half pint tepid water.
Mix all the dry things add the water, mix well then knead really well for 10 minutes.
Leave to rise until doubled in size
Knead again but only gently then divide into 8 rolls, put on greased tray, leave to rise again then bake for about 12 to 15 minutes at 200C Fan or Gas 7
Cool on a wire rack

 I also made a quiche using some of the chard we have in the garden. Chard is quite a handy thing to grow because it will sit all winter and then put in a growth spurt of small leaves in the spring ( just in time to help fill the hungry gap) before running to seed.  By which time I have grown from seed again and just last week planted out the new plants which will give us lots of young leaves later in the autumn and will be there for spring  2014. This time of year all the big outside leaves of the old plants are handy for feeding to the chickens. I grow just plain chard  because the although Rainbow mixed coloured Chard looks pretty, it is not so hardy.
While I was busy in the kitchen avoiding the rain, Him Outside took shelter in the polytunnels and removed the side shoots of the tomatoes and tied them  to their stakes. He then unloaded the rollers which were still on the trailer after being used to roll a new grass paddock at a second home nearby and took the chainsaw to bits, gave it a clean and got it working again so as to cut a few pallets. NORMALLY at this time of year we are not using much wood as the water is heated by the Solar Thermal Pipes Thingy on the roof and the living room is warmed by opening the doors to the conservatory. But as its only 10 degrees C and pouring with rain, heating is required!
Despite the weather our campsite visitors for Bank Holiday Weekend have arrived. We were expecting the guys working at Sizewell Power Station to be here over the weekend but they were suddenly called away to go down to Hinckley Point Power Station in Somerset. They don't seem to know from one day to another where they will be working or when they will get a day off. I'm glad Him Outside never had a job working away from home for weeks at a time, but I guess the way things are at the moment they are just glad to be working.
We are still puzzled at the probable Angina diagnosis which was the result of the tests at hospital the other day, as today he has no indigestion and no chest pains - Thankgoodness!

Waiting.................. for better weather and hospital appointments

I have lots of plants sitting in the greenhouse waiting for the weather to get better. We keep being told they we are to get gales and heavy rain, so far we have  had thunder, huge hail storms and showers, so I'm glad we didn't plant out the squash and pumpkins on the field as they would have been ruined by today's weather.
So I'm waiting..... and so are the runner beans, gradually getting taller in the greenhouse, the canes are ready but they would also suffer if it stays like this. I have 5 pots of nasturtiums to put into bigger pots and then to go outside - hail would soon damage them, so I'm waiting.......
Yesterday we spent hours waiting at the hospital for appointments. Now we have to wait again for Him Outside to be referred to a different department.
I'm NOT very good at waiting!!!

Traditional Suffolk Rusk Recipe and pictures.

Yesterday I put a picture of my baking on the blog and Pam From Tydd who lived in or  near Suffolk for a while mentioned Suffolk Rusks and someone else asked what they were. So as I was doing bread today I thought I'd bake and photo the Rusk recipe. When the children were all at home and I did a HUGE bake every week, I would make these while I was deciding what else to bake because I could do them without thinking!

Traditional  Suffolk Rusks Recipe.
8oz SR Flour
4oz Butter or hard spread ( I use Willow)
1 oz lard
1 egg

 Rub fats into flour and mix in the beaten egg.
Roll out to about 2cm thick,

cut into rounds, put on greased tray.
Cook for about 10 minutes at 170 for fan oven or Mk 7 for gas or whatever your equivalent is.
Until just colouring brown

 Tip each on edge and using the point of a sharp knife split into 2 where the crack is.

Pop back in oven

Until golden , about 3 or 4 mins.

These are very short and crumbly so sometimes they break . When this happens leave to cool a bit then eat all the broken bits with a little butter!!!! :-)

Leave them to cool and store in tin, they freeze well. Eat with a little butter and/or cheese and a tiny pinch of salt or dab of chutney. Very tasty. Traditionally  these were once made everywhere in Suffolk and taken by farm workers out to the fields for their morning 'bait'.


Cold and grey here today. The Lightweight camping association have all left. What a handy income that was!!
Also got my pay slip for the Poll Clerk job, which just covered the bill for campsite Electric Hook-Up Testing and Repairs. ( Leaving £4 for me!)
I finished The Light Years which is the  first book in The Cazalet Quartet By Elizabeth Jane Howard last night. My dilemma is do I go straight on to Book 2 or read something else first? Decisions,Decisions !

Monday, Monday

Just a quick post today so as to have more reading time for these.

  Recommended by my friend A in Essex, I wasn't too sure at first as I hadn't read family saga type books for years. I ordered from the library and volumes 2 ,3,and 4 arrived last month so I had to wait for this months library van visit to get hold of volume 1. And once I got into it found it a very good read.
 Next a message to my friend G in Co Mayo. :-)

The reason for sitting down, reading and resting my back  is because I spent this morning baking a big batch of cakes, many will be put in the freezer. These are what I call Man Cakes - plain-ish sort of things that men seem to like best!

 Shortcakes, sultana buns, a vanilla sponge and some shortbread biscuits. The sponge could have done with an extra few minutes as the darn thing sank in the middle after coming out of the oven. Mind you, once a homemade blackcurrant/mixed fruit jam and a little vanilla butter cream was added it tasted very good - Well I had to test it didn't I?
Him Outside is doing his 3-days-a-month inspection job until Thursday so there was no-one else here to try the cake! That's my excuse!
Back Tomorrow ( thanks to all for yesterdays comments about our garden- There are some bits that are not so tidy which I don't take photos of!)

Photos on a sunny day

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday :- Bridget at Malbridge House, Pam in Tydd, Frugal in Bucks and Frugal in Derbyshire and welcome to a new visitor - Rolojo.( also apologies for missing Karen at Chelmarsh, when I was doing replies the other day).
 A warmer and sunnier day today and we got more gardening done, after our usual quick dash to the car boot sale ( £1 spent on two small Christmas gifts.) Plus  a couple of people had Hostas for sale some £5 and some £2, you can guess which ones I bought! I have several various colour combinations now but will still look for a one that has green edges to white leaves. I think they all have different names but the only one I know is called 'White Feather', it starts of almost white in early spring only changing to pale green as the summer comes.It's not very vigorous which must be something do do with the lack of chlorophyll - if I'm remembering Biology lessons correctly. (That sounds too scientific - probably a load of rubbish!)

We got the onion weeding finished, some rabbit fencing and enviromesh over 4 beds of various greens,one lot of supports and canes up ready for runner beans.

 Then Him Outside volunteered to climb up on a pile of bricks to take a picture of the whole vegetable garden.( this makes the pylons look even closer than they are which is actually on the adjoining field right at the top of our 4 acre meadow.)
It was so lovely and sunny I wandered around taking more pictures.
The Lilac, coming out at last.

The strawberry bed

Out of the front gate and over the road, this field is planted with beans, but they look a bit sparse.

And then it was lunch time- nearly all home grown today. Lettuce, mixed salad leaves, various coloured radishes and asparagus with a few cubes of cheese and a splodge of mayo being the only things bought.

That's my lot for today, need some reading time! Back tomorrow.

Saturday at the smallholding

The cold grey weather hasn't put off the Lightweight Camping Club as a few more arrived for the weekend, there are now 10 small tents on the field. This is one corner.

I started the day by making a gooseberry and rhubarb pie and got the things ready for a vegetable curry, with  homemade bhajis and homemade naans. Then I went outside ( fleece and fleece hat STILL required!) I started by sowing some runner beans in trays in the greenhouse then potting up and tidying some more herbs which will go out to sell later. I have several  huge pots of various Hostas, but they have been in the same pots for years and had been infested with weeds - especially this which looks like a harmless violet but BE WARNED, if it arrives in your garden you will NEVER get rid of it.

It must be related to violets but the roots are very invasive and the flowers turn into seed pods which pop and spread everywhere. It would be fine if it just stayed in the flower garden but it gets into every nook and cranny and every pot. I decided that 3 Hostas would have to go, I managed to rescue 3 smaller ones but will look out at car boot sales to restart my collection.
Him Outside did lots of tidying and weeding and prepared 2 beds for runner beans. He also took the fleece off the courgettes, but they do look sad as they got badly damaged by the wind.
Then it was all the normal jobs - cleaning campsite loos, checking bins, collecting, sorting and boxing up 8 dozen eggs.
The doorbell went mid afternoon and a lady asked to look at the campsite, she had clipboard and checklist and I was a bit puzzled, but she was doing an advanced 'reccy' for a possible visit by a group of 6 friends in September. They had come all the way from Leicestershire to look! They admired the bluebells under our Horse Chestnut tree and said that it has been so cold where they live that their bluebells are still not out.

Then it was time to finish cooking the curry, get cleared up and prepare ourselves  for an evening at The Eurovision Song Contest! I doubt UK will win but having grown up watching it for as long as I can remember it is compulsory viewing.We have a packet of chocolate coated peanuts to nibble as a treat! What an exciting life we lead!

New Library books today . Hooray!

Now that our library van only comes once in 4 weeks it is quite an event to look forward to. ( I'm a Simple Suffolk Smallholder - so easily pleased : - ).

 We could  go into the library in Leiston  but books are only on loan for 3 weeks there, which means always keeping an eye on the date they are due, whereas from the Mobile you can keep them for 8 weeks, makes life much easier. I'm sorry to say that Suffolk Library Service has gone downhill a bit since Suffolk County Council passed the running of it to a Community Interest Group, no fault of the staff as they were treated pretty badly and they are all wonderful. ( Many years ago I was  a Suffolk County Council Library Assistant so I have to say that!) But the new computer system is dreadfully slow and longwinded. Books ordered take an age to arrive, less new books are bought so waiting lists are very long. I have a list of favourite authors and check the website at Fantastic Fiction to see when they have new books due, then I order from the library. My Amazon recommendations list is also checked regularly to see if it comes  up any new ideas. When all else fails and nothing much has arrived via books ordered then I can revert to reading my own stock of several 100 books. Having nothing to read is very unlikely here.
Here is today's haul, not enough to last 4 weeks I fear.

So I shall read some of these - just part of the collection!

Whoops, nearly forgot to say thank you to Karen at Chelmarsh ( who might come and stay on our campsite, which will be fun),Bridget at Malbridge House and Dc who is over the border in Norfolk, where they have a football team, that we who live in Suffolk, NEVER mention!! Thanks to you all for yesterdays comments.
I see the comment by "Anonymous" left on My Beautiful Life blog that I mentioned yesterday has been deleted by a moderator!