Menu - September Harvest

As always on the first day of the month I am sharing with you the menu for the month ahead. But this month there will be more meals and ideas from the specials board as its also Vegan Mofo and I am hoping to post most days throughout September.

I hope the above gets your taste buds tingling but if not come back each day to see what else is being featured from the specials board. There may be quite a few courgette recipes popping up as my courgette plants are still producing lots of fruit!

Each recipe I share will include produce harvested from my garden alongside store cupboard or other bought ingredients. On occasion there may be a recipe using foraged produce too! If I had more time I would also like to provide the cost per portion and the nutritional values of each meal, but unfortunately I don't think time will allow, unless anyone out there can offer their services to calculate the nutritional values for me? Cheeky ;o)

I'll also give you some tips on how to grow the vegetable I am featuring or at least a little tale from its growing life, which will probably be dominated by stories about my battle against the little critters that I have trying to fend off!

August Menu - Tales from my Garden

As my garden is in full swing now providing me with plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs I thought the menu theme for August could be "Tales from my Garden". This month I will be sharing recipes with you that I create with the fresh produce from my small vegetable plot.

Some recipes may include store cupboard ingredients or things I haven't grown but the main ingredient in each recipe will be picked fresh from my back garden.

I love this time of the year and I'm enjoying the sunshine even if it does mean watering my garden with a watering can that needs 30 refills and takes about an hour. I really should invest in a hosepipe!

If only I had more time to give, just imagine what I could grow. If you're thinking about growing your own next year or even this year (yep there is still time) take a look at my post on gardening and the infographic on what to grow when.

And just to tantalize your taste buds here is a few shots of what I've been growing......

July menu

Another month is on us already! I'm positive each month goes by more quickly.

This months menu is full of summer flavours and hopefully my garden produce! My courgettes are all in flower and baby courgettes are starting to grow, I'm run over with broad beans (yum) and my spinach has gone berserk!

Once again July is full of weird and wonderful celebrations and most of the recipes I post will have a healthy angle as I've started my get fit regime. Don't get me wrong I'm not unfit as I have Marco a very energetic border collie who I love to pieces, and he loves his walks. He also loves football and as soon as I get home from work he's ready for a quick game. He would make an excellent goalie.

After a quick kick about I've been changing into my running gear and off we go running, which he loves. There's a knack to running with a dog and at first he was always getting under my feet but he's learning to run next to me rather than in front of me now! I've not been going far (slowly slowly catchy monkey) nor every day as I want to keep it up. I try and go out every other day and build up the distance slowly, so as not to be put off. It's working so far, OK it's only been a week but I seem to be enjoying it, which seems weird should I be? Even better Marco is loving it and he's actually getting tired and wanting to go to bed earlier, which is so cute. Last night he kept nudging me as he wanted to go to bed!

I hope you have a fun packed July, full of laughter and good times...............

June Menu

I can't believe we are in June already, where has the first part of the year gone, it seems to have just whizzed right by! June celebrates the start of the British Summer and this year the longest day is on 21st June. Hopefully this month we will see a lot of sunshine!

To celebrate Summer Solstice I've created a summer solstice salad which is jam packed with fresh and vibrant flavours and with natures helping hand should increase your energy for the longest day of the year.

June also includes some other weird and wonderful celebrations, such as World Environment Day on the 5th June, Pink Day on 23rd and Social Media Day on 30th.

The menu for this month celebrates Fathers Day on Sunday 15th June, Eat your Vegetables Day on 17th, International Picnic Day on 18th, the Summer Solstice on 21st and the fantastic Chocolate Pudding Day on 26th!

June is also Camping Month so the specials this month will be specifically for all you campers out there. The recipes will be easy to make just using a camping stove, quick and just as tasty as home cooked food. I'll let you know my little secrets when preparing for a camping trip.

Want to know what today is................. its go barefoot day, so throw off those shoes and socks and take a wonder round your garden.

May Menu

Hello! It's been a while since I last blogged, but between colds, coughs and spring sniffles and catching up on my gardening, time has been very short!

But I'm back with my menu for May and it has an Italian theme in honour of my two new friends Lenny and Stacy who run the VegItalyGuide and AnyWhereTraveller websites. Watch out for my exclusive BBQ Party menu which I have written especially for them, I'll keep you posted. After all it is BBQ Month!

Without further ado here is the menu for May.....................

May also celebrates some weird and wonderful days, including some yummy food celebrations such as Chocolate Chip day on the 15th, Pizza Party Day on 16th, Pick Strawberry Day on 20th and Macaroon Day on the 31st. There is also a celebration day for us gardeners with Learn About Compost Day on the 29th! 

The best day of the month is today as it's Eat What You Want Day! Yay! So I hope you enjoy a feast today what ever you are doing,and if you'e stuck for dinner ideas why not try; a lentil roast, a casserole, or a pie? Here are a few to choose from.

Spinach & Mushroom Pie

Mushroom Wellington

Sausage Casserole

Lentil & Kale Loaf

                                                           





Here's to a good month which hopefully will be full of sunshine to help with the vegetable plot and warm enough to get those BBQ's burning. Cheers!

April Menu

I'm a little late posting the menu for April, but life has been rather hectic recently (again) but as always, in a good way. The clocks have gone forward and the nights are lighter, we just need the weather to warm up a little now. 

April is "Garden Month" and there will plenty of people like me making the most of the lighter evenings and getting out and about in the garden. Late March and into April is the time to sow and by the middle of the month you will start to see those seedlings breaking through the soil, always a glorious site. "April Showers" are part and parcel to this month and the garden needs the rain to help encourage the growth of your seedlings so rather than let those showers get you down, celebrate them and enjoy a rainbow salad.

Easter is just around the corner and I will be sharing my Easter Sunday lunch recipe with you, I hope you've ordered those vegan Easter eggs!

April also celebrates the fantastic and fabulous bulb; the garlic so I had to include garlic bread on the menu, but their may just be more garlic recipes to follow. 

Have you tried greenwheat freekeh yet? It's an ancient grain which is gaining popularity by the second. It is absolutely delicious and so easy to use, if you've not tried it yet then check out my recipe for Freekeh pilaf later in the month and see what you think.

Of course, there will also be the specials board which will feature recipes from around the world, so look out for them too.

March Menu

I can't believe that as from tomorrow we're already into the second month of the virtual cafe! March is full of celebration days, including St. David's Day (1st March), Shrove Tuesday (4th March), St. Patrick's Day (17th March), French Bread Day (20th March) and of Course Mothering Sunday (30th March).

But did you know that "French Bread Day" is also the same day as Proposal Day and Kiss your Fiancee Day. So why not propose, kiss your fiancee and serve up French Bread Pizza for dinner?

Mothering Sunday lunch is a three course lunch which is full of flavour, but not full of time! You will easily knock up all three courses in no time at all and some can be made ahead to save on time. The meal will spoil all mums out there, and whether you make it for yourself or someone else makes it for you, I hope you all have a fantastic day.

Of course, there will also be the specials board which will feature recipes from around the world, so look out for them too.

Tomorrow will see the first of March's Menu recipes; Welsh Rarebit with a Leek & Thyme Garnish to celebrate St. David's Day. Welsh rarebit, I believe was first introduced in the 18th Century and is also known as Welsh Rabbit. My vegan version of this classic dish is garnished with leeks to give it that extra Welsh touch. 

Grand "Virtual Cafe" Opening

As my regular readers already know I’m passionate about food, growing and eating it! I had been a vegetarian for 27 years and at the very start of 2013 I transferred to a vegan lifestyle. I now feel healthier and I have more energy, so my first veganniversary was definitely one to celebrate.

One of my passions is to open my own vegan bistro to show people how tasty vegan food really is. So many times I hear people saying “eww, vegan – no thanks” they really don’t know what they are missing out on. Not only is vegan food tasty it is far healthier for you too. Until such time I can open my very own vegan bistro I decided to showcase my recipes on my blog. 

My food knowledge has grown enormously since transferring to a vegan lifestyle, and I regularly use ingredients that I never knew existed, like nutritional yeast, miso and weird looking or sounding fruit and vegetables. The world really is your vegan friendly oyster, full of exotic foods just waiting for you to try.

Another passion I have is to become self-sufficient, hence the name of my blog, but becoming totally self-sufficient isn’t easy to do and from what I can gather it requires money and lots of it. However, one thing I can do is grow my own fruit and vegetables and trade with family and friends who have bigger gardens or allotments. Any fruit or vegetable is greatly received and in honour of such wonderful food I create recipes with love and thanks.

And so to it, the grand opening of Self Sufficient Cafe, well in the virtual world anyway. At the start of every month I will post the menu for the month ahead and share with you 1 recipe from the menu each week. As the menu suggests I will also share with you other weekly specials. 

So without further ado - here is the menu for February.