This weekend was another busy one - I mentioned before that we had been discussing National trust membership and we finally have it. As our fourth wedding anniversary traditionally requires gifts of fruit or flowers, I decided to get the membership for us both to enable us to see a lot of both.
We ended up at Hughenden manor, tucked away on the edge of Wycombe. It's quite small in comparison to some of the places that the NT are involved in but it does have an interesting history - home to Benjamin Disraeli and a place where many maps were made during World War II.
The place also has a wide range of greenery to look at - a walled garden, a pretty front lawn and a forest.
After this, we took a hop over to West Wycombe, a drive that my sat nav seemed convinced involved going around in ten different circles. The plan was to go to West Wycombe Park. D declared that the pictures were of Mike the Knight's castle. Turns out it isn't open on a Saturday, so that plan was thwarted. Instead, we ended up having a rather lovely lunch at Anlex Land Garden Centre (brie ploughman for me, welsh rarebit toastie for husband and toasted teacake for D). It's a bit of an odd place with a new section around every corner - a florist, a farm shop, an antiques boutique. I picked up a little gift for my foodie penpal there and a few things to help with the herb garden.
Finally, we explored the Hellfire caves, amazing underground caverns created for meetings of like-minded politicians and influential artists of the time. We got D a little glowstick and he couldn't have been happier leading the way. Even though some parts of the caves were a little dark, he proudly shone his glowstick to all corners and reassured us both that 'I aren't scared'.
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| Some carvings in the walls |
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| In the banqueting cave - amazing space |
Time for the Sunday soup!
The beetroots from this recipe came from a visit to a local pick your own. More of this on Tuesday! Grating beetroot is a bit of a pain in the butt - I'm thinking next time I'll try dicing it finely and see where that gets me. This recipe is earthy, filling and so beautiful to look at.
Stats: -
6 servings, 1 propoint each
20g butter
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
230g raw beetroot, grated
2 teaspoons ground cumin
450g red cabbage, finely shredded
100g baby plum tomatoes, diced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato purée
800ml vegetable stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Melt the butter, add the onion, garlic and beetroot. Cook gently for ten minutes and keep an eye for sticking/browning.
Add the cumin, cinnamon, tomatoes, red cabbage, tomato purée and stock. Simmer gently for fifteen minutes - the vegetables should be cooked through. Add the soy sauce.
Blend until smooth. Could be swirled through with natural yoghurt but does well with a decent smattering of salt.
Weekly plan: -
Monday: - Cabbage and beetroot soup (1pp), Graze herb garden snack (3pp), vegetable Thai green curry with coconut rice (11pp)
Tuesday: - Falafel burger, cucumber yoghurt sauce and chips (11pp)
Wednesday: - 250g Dolmio with extra mushroom sauce, 50g pasta, 100g quorn mince, 10g parmesan (11pp)
Thursday: - Moroccan vegetables with lemon and coriander couscous (7pp)
Friday: - meal out?
Saturday I'm off to a wedding. Very excited! Although a little concerned that the dress I had in mind to wear is out of stock online - really hoping I can find it in store!
How was your weekend?
The beetroots from this recipe came from a visit to a local pick your own. More of this on Tuesday! Grating beetroot is a bit of a pain in the butt - I'm thinking next time I'll try dicing it finely and see where that gets me. This recipe is earthy, filling and so beautiful to look at.
Stats: -
6 servings, 1 propoint each
20g butter
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
230g raw beetroot, grated
2 teaspoons ground cumin
450g red cabbage, finely shredded
100g baby plum tomatoes, diced
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato purée
800ml vegetable stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Melt the butter, add the onion, garlic and beetroot. Cook gently for ten minutes and keep an eye for sticking/browning.
Add the cumin, cinnamon, tomatoes, red cabbage, tomato purée and stock. Simmer gently for fifteen minutes - the vegetables should be cooked through. Add the soy sauce.
Blend until smooth. Could be swirled through with natural yoghurt but does well with a decent smattering of salt.
Weekly plan: -
Monday: - Cabbage and beetroot soup (1pp), Graze herb garden snack (3pp), vegetable Thai green curry with coconut rice (11pp)
Tuesday: - Falafel burger, cucumber yoghurt sauce and chips (11pp)
Wednesday: - 250g Dolmio with extra mushroom sauce, 50g pasta, 100g quorn mince, 10g parmesan (11pp)
Thursday: - Moroccan vegetables with lemon and coriander couscous (7pp)
Friday: - meal out?
Saturday I'm off to a wedding. Very excited! Although a little concerned that the dress I had in mind to wear is out of stock online - really hoping I can find it in store!
How was your weekend?
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