Cheese and Vegetable Bake

I found a great recipe today for a vegetable bake which used most of the vegetables I had picked recently from the allotment.  It was delicious and got the thumbs up from my husband, so I thought I would share it with you.


Cheese and Vegetable bake


  Ready in 1 hour 30  mins

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 4 to 5 potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 50g (2 oz) butter
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 (200g) bag curly kale
• 1 leek, sliced into rings
• 1/2 (300g) bag trimmed green beans
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• For the cheese sauce:
• 15g (1/2 oz) butter
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 250ml (8 fl oz) milk
• 200g (7 oz) mature Cheddar cheese, grated

 

Preparation method

Prep:30  mins | Cook:1 hour

1.

Preheat oven for 180 C / Gas mark 4.

2.

Place half of the potatoes in a large baking dish. Sprinkle the chopped shallots over the top, along with knobs of butter. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the curly kale, leek, green beans and cauliflower.

3.

To make the cheese sauce, heat the butter over medium heat in a frying pan. Add the flour and stir with the butter to combine well. Slowly add the milk to the pan, stirring constantly to ensure a smooth mixture. Reduce heat to low and add half of the cheese. Stir until cheese has melted, remove from heat and pour 3/4 of the mixture over the vegetables.

4.

Layer the remaining potatoes on top of the cheese sauce and vegetables. Cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until vegetables are tender and cheese is crisp.

I halved the quantities because there were only 2 of us, but used the same amount of sauce and it was enough but not too much, so you may need to increase the amount of cheese sauce for 4 people.

I didn't have the green beans so I substituted with broccoli.  Also I parboiled the potatoes for a few minutes, just enough to be able to slice them, because they can take some time to cook.  I think you could adapt this recipe to use  any other vegetables.

Roots

The other day when we were down at the allotment there was a family there-- dad and 4 young children  all helping dad to harvest his spuds.  They were very noisy, but full of enthusiasm and keen to help.  The children came over to talk to us and I gave them some of our broad beans. Their dad said he might give them some space to grow their own  stuff next year.  That got me thinking about encouraging children to grow things and  I wondered if  gardening knowledge and enthusiasm is passed on through families.

I've often thought about my own passion for gardening and where it came from.  Well I think that one of my grandfathers was a  gardener. My two older brothers developed a very keen interest in gardening when they bought their own homes and so did I. I think I caught the bug off them.

I remember when we were young we didn't have a garden, just a back yard.  My mum had a hardware and ironmongers shop (my dad died when I was a baby and she carried on running the business) and she sold gardening stuff and seeds in the shop. One year we thought we would sow some flower seeds in a couple of raised beds in the yard. To this day, virginia stock, candytuft, cornflower, larkspur, calendula, nasturtium, all remind me of my childhood.

From the time my twin daughters were toddling around the garden, I tried to get them interested in gardening.  We had a lovely good sized garden and they spent a lot of time out there.  They had to really because that's where I spent a lot of my time.  We sowed flower seeds of annuals together, they helped me harvest fruit and vegetables and they grew things themselves.  I often wonder if they remember the glut of runner beans we once had.  There were so many we couldn't pick them fast enough and lots of them were stringy because we had left them too long before picking.  I've never been able to eat runner beans since!

As the girls got older they were more reluctant gardeners. The first signs of revival I think was when one daughter was at university and sharing a house.  She took a pot of mint back with her for the garden area, which survived all sorts of trauma living in one of the worst areas of Leeds.  The mint is now back home where it started off its life and is still going strong.  The said daughter now has her own home,  garden and allotment and  I was so proud and  quite moved  when I saw the tiny garden in the first house that she and her  husband bought,  which she had planned and designed herself and they built together.

My other daughter was the one who I really had no hope for. She was the clumsy one who was always standing on the delicate seedlings, trampling over plants, just being generally clumsy and not much of a gardener.  That all changed when she had her first house. It just had a back yard, but she filled it with pots of plants raided from my garden. She has since moved to a larger house with a  good sized garden, has some wonderful flower borders, shares an allotment with me and can tell me a thing or two about how to grow tomatoes and courgettes.

Now my daughters have their own children and are encouraging them to take an interest in gardening. I also like to help my  grandchildren to grow  things in the garden.  I suppose it's all about sowing seeds early, which may take some time to establish roots, but which will become strong.  I'm not talking here about the normal types of seeds but the seeds of knowledge, love, enthusiasm.
 

Who taught you how to garden?  Feel free to leave a comment.

What a difference 2 weeks makes

I was longing to see the garden again as we returned from holiday a few days ago.  There were some lovely surprises, the sunflowers, dahlias, heleniums, anthemis, liatris were all flowering.  The helenium and dahlias were new plants this year so it was good to welcome them into the garden.

The pink border was looking pink and the yellow border was was looking yellow, so they were behaving themselves well and I could see gaps where more colour was needed. There are still more plants to flower, like the sedums and the rudbekia which will enhance the colour schemes.  I'm quite pleased that the colour effects I'm trying to achieve seem to be working. Maybe a trip to the garden centre is needed to fill in those gaps.  Some plants looked as if they had grown about 2 feet taller, like the marguerites and the phlox.

At first as I wandered around I thought there was loads of work to do,  2 weeks growth, made the garden a bit jungle like and overgrown.  But on closer inspection everything was doing well and all that is needed is some deadheading.

The only casualty seems to be my 'Margaret Merrill' rose whose leaves have  gone brown and another one 'English Miss' whose leaves are going a strange colour. Don't know what's going on there, but I've never been very good with roses.

The birds seemed to have deserted us.  Before we went away the garden was full of bird life--on the feeders and tables, in the hedge and trees and generally hopping about everywhere.  Obviously once they'd emptied the feeders, they went to find food elsewhere.  But in the last few days since we've returned there are birds gradually coming back.  I've seen blue tits, the robin, the sparrows, doves and the magpie.  And as I write this blog, I can see a lot of activity on the bird table and a female blackbird perched on the garden chair.

There seem to be a lot of butterflies about now, peacocks especially.  We have a buddleia bush which they love and there are other flowers soon to bloom which will attract more.

So generally, everything in the garden is looking good and we can do what one should do at this time of year--wait for the sunshine and sit back and enjoy!

A quiet space

Visiting other people's gardens and reading garden magazines gives me lots of ideas and inspirations for my own garden. And one such idea was for a retreat area. A place to sit, to rest, to think, but also to awaken the senses.

I had a place I wanted to develop in my garden.  It was a seating area, a bit of a mess of crumbling concrete, but which we improved. We gravelled the base, were given a new seat as a gift (thanks to daughter for Mothering Sunday/Father's Day present) and we planted. I wanted scented plants in that area, so I planted lavender at the back of the bench, which tumbles over and releases its scent as we brush against it. In the area around the bench I planted pinks which give off a heavenly intoxicating scent. Around the bench in pots I have aromatic herbs, thyme, rosemary, mints, sage. Plants to just brush your hands across and release the fragrance. And there is also one big pot of Meadowsweet another lovely scent, beautiful but short lived. I just make the most of it while it's in flower. There are also plants in pots with gentle colours which are there to just enjoy.

My scented garden is a place to relax, to think, to take time out from gardening and appreciate the garden,  a place to have a coffee, to read, to watch and listen to the wildlife, a secluded place where I am  not overlooked by neighbours, a place to enjoy.
It is a special place for me.

July in the garden

The garden has looked lovely and colourful this month, in fact it's probably looked its best ever. We haven't had very good weather but on the days when it has been good, I've taken time to sit and enjoy.  Last Autumn we made some of the borders bigger and earlier this year I  rearranged the plants in those borders thinking more about colour.  So one border has a pink, purple and blue scheme and another is mainly yellows and oranges with some blue, which is a good contrast and looks great. We call it the yellow border although it does have other colours, but pink is not allowed there. In some of the other borders there is quite a bit of white from the marguerite daisies and a lovely white lychnis which I divided this year and planted around the garden.

The white looks lovely at night as it starts to go dark

I'm loving the blue of the veronicas and their pointed fluffy flower heads.

 One plant which had been lost at the back of the pink border before we extended it is the tradescantia.  I dug it up, divided and replanted it in a group in the middle of the border where it can now be seen, and it looks great. The astilbes have been good this month, I have white, dark red and pink ones and they smell lovely too.

The crocosmia lucifer is now in flower and looks very striking in the yellow border with its tall arching stems.

The recent rain has caused some of the plants to flop and look messy.  Even though I love the cottage garden style of planting, when it's wet outside there's nothing worse than trying to avoid getting drenched by wet plants overflowing onto the paths. So I shall have a good cut back of some of these plants in an effort  to tidy up.  I have been doing a lot of deadheading and cutting back as plants go over and I'm trying to keep the garden tidy looking as we shall be off on holiday soon.  Hopefully then the garden will not look too overgrown when we return.

My morning walk

When I've dropped my grandchildren off at school in the mornings I don't walk straight home down the road I walked up. I do a little detour  which takes me past our local park and playing fields. It's a little further than the direct route, but it's quieter, there's very little traffic, and it's more scenic.  There are views across fields over to the hills in the distance. I meet people as I walk along, some walking their dogs, some running, others walking. Probably  like me attempting to do a little  more exercise. It's a lovely little walk and the views are stunning, especially on a sunny day.  It makes me more aware of what a lovely area I live in and how lucky I am to have this only a few minutes from my back door. It's also a chance to think, clear my head of the busyness of the past hour or so with the grandchildren and plan my day.
Sometimes all that is needed is 10 minutes in the day to pause and reflect and then we can be on our way again.

Embarrassing moments

The other day our local radio station was asking people to phone in and tell them of any times when they had been embarrassed by their parents. This got me thinking about whether I have embarrassed my own children. Well actually I know I have.

One of my daughters who I regularly go out shopping with lives in fear of me knocking things off shelves with my bag, to the point where she often will not go in some places with me because of the fragile items on display.  And then there was the time last winter when we were in the Clarks shoe shop looking for boots.  Rummaging along the line of boots, I spotted a pair I liked then looked at the price tag. "A HUNDRED AND TWENTY POUNDS!!" I shrieked. I looked up to see my daughter looking horrified and embarrassed and realised there were only about 2 other people and the assistant in the shop who were all looking at me too. I had a laugh with them about me getting my own back on my children now I'm old, for the times they have shown me up when they were little.

I won't embarrass my children further on this blog by retelling stories of their childhood, but as I write this I realise that now I have grandchildren I'm experiencing all those funny moments again.

A few months back I took the 7 year old and 5 year old to our local flower shop.  All I wanted was a  bunch of spray chrysanthemums. I chose a bunch from the bucket outside the shop and whilst I was still looking at the other flowers, the two scamps had taken the flowers into the shop, plonked them on the counter and by the time I'd got into the shop they were in deep conversation with the shop assistant.  Having made friends with her, they proceeded to try to wangle all sorts of fancy trimmings from her like wispy sparkly thread stuff  (the sort that they decorate expensive flower arrangements with). I made a mental note not to take them in that shop again!

But the worst atrocity was recently on a family trip to visit the Cathedral in town. We were looking round an exhibition there when my 5 year old grandson grabbed my hand and said,
"Look, Nana." pointing to the shop area.
All I could see was a display of key rings.
"Err the key rings?" I asked, wondering what a 5 year old would want with a keyring.
" No, Nana!" he said exasperated with me, "That funny looking man!"
I looked across the the shop to see a man with a big bushy beard, nothing strange in that, but to a 5 year old maybe he was a bit 'funny looking'.
Engulfed with embarrassment, I took my grandson's hand and moved him quickly away, hoping that the 'funny looking man'  hadn't heard him.

Have you any tales to tell of children or parents embarrassing you?