Ricotta.

Tomorrow I make my first sourdough loaf from the starter we made at the Purple Pear Farm about 10 days ago. I've got a couple of photos from the day but I left my memory card at home and they were saved to the camera and at this point I can't find the plug-in to download them. If I ever find it I'll put them up.

I made some ricotta this morning as we're having home-made Ricotta and Prosciutto pizzas tomorrow. The pizza dough is hand-made, tomato paste home made as well, the baby spinach and other herbs are home-grown, and now the ricotta is made here. The prosciutto is bought and always will be!

                                                                 The ricotta draining.

The finished product; into a sealed container for a couple of hours to chill and it's ready to eat. You can of course eat it there and then if you wish; I know people who do and nothing much makes it to the fridge.   :)

Morning Tea.

Muffin at the ready , waiting for the kettle to boil.

Just out of the oven - banana and white chocolate. One only sadly; the rest can go in the freezer for friends.

Making Stuff.

I've been using my preserving kit lately. I made some Plum Sauce for stir-fries and some wonderful pasta sauce to be put away for winter. I dragged the dehydrator out as well and did some semi-dried tomatoes with fresh herbs in oil.


This is half of the pasta sauce freshly chopped and ready to simmer for 3 hours. I need to buy a bigger pot as I had to do it in two lots!

                                                                   Almost there.

Cooling the second batch of pasta sauce and my plum sauce. The pasta sauce looks an odd colour in this photo; in the flesh so to speak it's actually a lovely red.

New kids on the Block.

We got three new Isa Browns today. These are point of lay so we should see the egg production go up. Cackles and Penny haven't been doing much at all for weeks and Henny is broody so I'm only getting an occasional egg from her. They're all a bit past it I think. A friend suggested I make stock from the ones that aren't laying! I suggested that when she is physiologically unable to produce eggs we might boil her up as well! Said friend thought that was hysterical. Insensitive coot!

 Hyacinth is on the right and Violet and Daisy are on the left. A direct steal from "Keeping up Appearances" an old English comedy.