In My Kitchen April 2023

Days are flying by and already entering the second quarter of this year. Our short winter has passed and at present enjoying our beautiful weather, much cooler than past years…long may it last! Thought I would say hello with a few items that have passed through my kitchen.

In My Kitchen…

Hubby wanted to try his hand at growing some home produce (he did a great job) and although gnarly looking, the carrots tasted wonderful. Very satisfying pulling carrots from the soil and bringing them straight into your own kitchen knowing you can’t get any fresher than that. We know deeper pots are needed (next season) but we did however get a few straight looking carrots. 

The tear drop tomatoes were lovely and sweet and at one point we had an excess so pureed them in a blender to make a quick tomato sauce to freeze for later use. Rocket, lettuce and coriander were also enjoyed too. We didn’t have much success with the cucumbers or strawberries but managed to enjoy at least ten strawberries…lol.

Made some lovely za’atar parathas with grated fresh tomato sauce for my ingredient pick over on Instagram…this was my first time making this type of flatbread and they were quite delicious. The recipe was from the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen Cookbook “Shelf Love”, I do love the Ottolenghi way of cooking and have most of their cookbooks. 

So far haven’t baked many sweet goods this year and was missing something sweet with our coffee, so made these apple blueberry muffins. We like muffins as they are not overly sweet and of course lots of variations to enjoy. Most muffins recipes freeze well too.  Also thought I’d use some of the many Ikea muffin cases I bought some time ago…to go with an Ikea muffin baking tin which I also baked these lemon, yogurt, cranberry and poppy seed muffins in. 

And in my kitchen, one of the many rustic sourdough loaves I’ve baked over the years, which I never tire of doing. Never tried the fancy scoring though, will leave that to the professionals.

Although the colorful blooms have faded and withered, I still have photos of the beautiful mothers day flowers that adorned my kitchen…thanks to my wonderful kids. 

This was the first time I grew borage, the violet flowers were so pretty and as they are edible, used them as a garnish on a salad recipe. The leaves are edible too but didn’t get around to trying a recipe with them. The plants grew much taller than the thirty centimeters mentioned on the packet and completely overshadowed the rocket leaves I was trying to grow. Anyway’s, know better for next growing season. 

This post is part of a monthly gathering of “In My Kitchen” bloggers who love sharing their kitchen treasures, please check out the link below. The “In My Kitchen” host is Sherry and her blog is at Sherryspickings  where you will find a list of other IMK participants.