Friday 20 April 2012

Carrot ball anyone?

Its harvest time in our garden at the moment and I have had some bumper crops of salad greens, bok choy, spinach, silverbeet, cauliflower and broccoli this weekend, but oh boy what a massive FAIL with the carrots!  Oh dear...I didn't realise that you cant grow carrots in a veggie box...the poor darlings need DEEP soil to grow nice and long like a proper carrot.  So we have carrot balls!  It sure did make us laugh.


We have also managed to grow some rather lovely WEEDS - check out this clover!  My son and I spent ages mesmerised by it this morning...trying desperately to find a four leaf clover.


There are some really pretty signs of autumn in our garden now, my favourite in our garden are these gorgeous red berries:


However, first prize for the prettiest garden in our neighbourhood must go to my next door neighbour and this simply gorgeous purple flowering shrub/bush/tree that she has in front of her cottage.  I have no idea what this beauty is called, but I have a plan to bake her something yummy and pop over one day soon to ask her the name of it and if I could please take a clipping, he he!


Inspired by my morning out in our garden, I decided to use some of the freshly picked produce and make some soup for lunch.  So broccoli and blue cheese soup it was.  I am afraid this is not a very good photo, but I do have to admit that it sure did taste great!




RECIPE FOR BROCCOLI and BLUE CHEESE SOUP

2 heads of broccoli - chopped up into small florets
1 large onion - diced
2 medium potato's - peeled and diced
1 litre of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of olive oil
100grams of blue cheese (I used Kikorangi from Kapiti Cheese, but any good blue cheese will do the job)

In a large pot (with a fitted lid preferably), add the olive oil and onion and gently soften the onion (don't brown it).  Next add the diced potato and the chicken stock, place the lid on the pot and leave to cook for ten minutes or until the potato is soft.  Finally add the broccoli and cook in the boiling water for another ten minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the chopped up blue cheese to the pot, stirring it in until it is all melted.  Finally, in batches, place the soup in a blender until a smooth consistency is reached - or use a stick blender if you have one.  This soup does not usually need any seasoning as the stock is quite salty and the blue cheese has quite a strong taste.  Serve with crusty farm house break - yum, yum, yum!

Right peeps, time to go and put my feet up for a bit and relax.  Hooray for the weekend!  May you all have a restful and relaxing one too.  Becks xxx 

12 comments:

  1. Hello lovely!Carrot balls anyone,lol, thats the sort of thing I would do,hehe. Love the clover weeds,I'm afraid to pull anything up in the garden,some weeds are beautiful!The soup looks and sounds yummy and would love to try,thankyou for sharing the recipie.Have a wonderful weekendxoxoxojuliex

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    1. Thanks hon! You know I actually had to google 'clover' in the hope that it was edible (nope!) because its so pretty I didnt want to pull it up...but I did find out it is one of the favourite food supplies for bumble bee's, lol! So there's my excuse to keep it in the garden. xxx

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  2. Hi there, thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your lovely comments. The purple bush is so pretty, hope you manage to get a clipping. The soup looks very tasty, thanks for sharing the recipe:)

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    1. Thank you! I really enjoy your blog and am so pleased you stopped by mine to say hi (and I love the name Rosie - its always been a favourite of mine). Becks x

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  3. Hi Becks - your garden has been much more productive than mine. I had virtually NO harvest from loads of different fruit and veg plants. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong! You can get carrots that can be grown in containers and don't require deep soil. I am jsut about to plant runner beans outside. Another disaster waiting to happen. I sowed them when it said on the packet but they are ready to go outside before the danger of frost has past. I'm just not green fingered - onwards and upwards though!!

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    1. Hi Lily - I know what you mean! I have a whole new world of respect for the veggie growers on this planet...who would have thought it was so darn hard, lol? I think I will have to stick to the local farmers market for most of my stuff...oh dear! Becks xxx

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  4. Hi hon, I absolutey adore your carrot balls - they are fantastic!! What a giggle. We've only ever managed to grow 'carrot fingers' so I know how you feel! Your soup recipe sounds gorgeous, I will most definitely keep that in mind for a cold day.

    Have a fabulous week gorgeous girl. Let's catch up soon once these small folk are back at school!!

    Leah
    xxxx

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    1. Yes please to the catch up! I am off up to Auckland later in the week (takiny my Mum to see 'Jersey Boys' for her 70th), but how about the first week in May we pencil in tea together? Miss you hon. xxx

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  5. lol, I'm loving the look of the carrot balls! I'm sure they will taste good.... I've never made broccoli & blue cheese soup, I think I might have to give that a go. Thanks for the recipe!
    I hope you’ve still got your feet up?

    Lou xxx

    lol

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    1. Thanks hon! A friend told me they are called 'roly poly' carrots and are a genuine product - fancy that! Have a great week gorgeous. xxx

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  6. Great produce! And your neighbours purple flower - amazing!
    I've enjoyed having a peek around your blog - I've popped over from Gingham and Daisies - congratulations :)
    I'm a kiwi too - but living in the UK! Isn't it a round-about world?!

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    1. Thank you so much for stopping by! Gingham and Daises is a brilliant blog isnt it? I wish I was in the UK going into spring - bliss! My hubby is English and is really homesick at the moment, so we just spent the morning chatting about how much we miss it...but when we are there we miss NZ. I hope you are having a great time over there - dont rush home - we have run out of marmite, ha ha! Becks xxx

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