Do you have a tired neck?

Here is a tip to help a stiff and tired neck. Roll up a towel and place it across your back (approx shoulder blade area). Lie down on the floor with it still across your back. Hold this position for at least 1 minute. Move the towel either up or down (find your sore bits!) and hold this position for another minute. This will give your upper back a nice stretch.

SPRING GARDEN

I have Colour coded the vegies and their Harvesting times so you can pick them out more easily. I have listed the Temperate Climate below if you want to see a planting schedule for other climates please look in the back of the book or at the Autumn Garden Entry.

TIP - for frost sensitive plants try to plant them in beds under eaves the frost does not settle well there.

Happy Planting!!!

Kerrie

in a Temperate climate

In the Spring, it is time to plant:

Asparagus Harvest 24 months

Basil Harvest Dec in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Beetroot Harvest Dec

Broccoli Harvest Dec in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Cabbage Harvest Dec in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Capsicum Harvest Dec in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Carrot Harvest Jan

Celery Harvest Dec in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Chilli Harvest Dec in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Chives Harvest Dec

Climbing Beans Harvest Dec (sow after frost)

Coriander Harvest in Nov

Cucumber Harvest Dec

Dill Harvest Dec

Eggplant Harvest Jan in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Leeks Harvest Jan in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Lettuce Harvest from Dec

Mint Harvest Dec in seed trays then plant in 4 to 6 wks

Oregano Harvest in Nov

Parsley Harvest Dec

Peas Harvest Dec

Potatoes Harvest Feb

Pumpkin Harvest Jan (Frost Tender)

Rocket Harvest in Nov

Shallots Harvest Jan

Silverbeet Harvest Dec

Snow Peas Harvest Jan

Spring Onions Harvest Dec

Sweet Corn Harvest Jan

Zucchini Harvest in Nov

Spring is in the Air!

After having a house full of guests on a bleak and wet Fathers Day, I wake today to see the sun shining. Grrr....! Spring is finally here which means I have to have a serious think about starting my summer vegie garden. It is time to use the winter vegies up and capsicum is one of my favourites. Eating vegies that are in season is a great tip to save money. Stephen and I love the "Stuffed Capsicums" recipe (page 167) and the "Sausage Pasta Bake" (pg 98) is a favourite with the kids. Happy Cooking! Clare

Goodbye Sarah

Sarah has sadly left us to move onto new things and spend more time with her family. We are sorry to see her go....

AUTUMN GARDEN

Autumn is the time of preparation leading into winter. The soil may need aerating, garden beds rotated, general tidy up and planning.

A word on rotating and resting garden beds

We rotate to prevent disease and to allow the soil to recover and replenish nutrients. Keep it simple, have one empty garden bed at any time so you can always have one resting. There is a natural turning round between warm and cool season vegies in Australia, which assists with this. When your garden bed has been emptied aerate the soil by using a fork and add in organic material.

A good recipe for Autumn cooking as the cold nights start is the Blue cheese, chicken and leek pie

Planting vegies from the book

Autumn Vegies for planting are:

Growing vegies is one of the most satisfying things you can do. If you have children it can be especially satisfying. You can also save a lot of money too, break off the lettuce leaves you need and let the plant continue to grow.

The Herb Garden - Autumn Planting

Thyme – you can grow this perennial herb in full sun as a ground cover or garden boarder. Thyme can be used fresh or dried.

Coriander – full sun for this herb.

Parsley – It likes full sun or partial shade, can be used dried or fresh.

Chives – They like full sun or partial shade and are great in a pot. Chives are great for those to grow who believe they kill everything; they are tough.

Mint – Great in a pot and prefers shade. Try making tea straight from some leaves!

Garlic – You can grow from cloves

Oregano – Needs to be in full sun and kept moist. Use fresh or dried.

Fit for Life!

Last week I was lucky enough to be given a 4kg organicaly grown pumpkin. After roasting it in the oven (in its skin!) I turned it into the most delicious soup. It was promptly poured into my muffin trays and frozen into snack size portions. Quick to freeze, easy to heat and portion controlled. Another healthy meal idea! I love soup......bring on winter. Clare :)

Membership Prize Winner

Congratualtions to Larraine Pope. Her name was randomly selected from our membership database and she has won a hamper full of goodies. Pictured is Larraine's husband Denis collecting her prize. Well done Larraine!

Manningham Cooking Demo Snaps

Cooking Demonstration

We had a great time at our cooking demonstration as part of the Healthy Lifestyle Week. The classes were held over two Saturdays and we had a fantastic attendance. Thank you to all of you who came and participated. Kerrie has some photo's to share and will download them soon.

I just wanted to pass on a couple of great tips I learnt from people who attended. The first is that Nicola potatoes have the lowest GI of all white potatoes. We all know that low GI is great for a healthy diet!

Another interesting conversation I had with someone was about kidney beans. We include them in the meat sauce of the Nacho's recipe (which was demonstrated) and she felt her children wouldn't eat them. So we agreed to both try a new way next time. Mash them up with a fork and mix them in. Hidden from sight but retain the flavour. Great advice!

Manningham Healthy Lifestyle Week 25th February 2010

The Manningham Healthy Lifestyle week was launched on Thursday 25th February. It is local council initiative that involves a week long campaign of informative sessions on living a healthier lifestyle. It was launched with a Healthy Families Expo & Parenting Seminar by Dr Rick Jarman. It was a great night with plenty of tips learnt along the way.

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For Recipe Blocks this event has been a great forum to present the healthy aspects of book;

• low salt recipes
• plenty of fresh ingredients
• portion control
• low fat options
• promoting organic or self grown ingredients
• exercise tips
  

Recipe Blocks is also having two Cooking Demonstrations. We had our first one last Saturday which went really well. We had over 40 people attend and the feedback was very positive. We have our next Demonstration on Saturday 6th March.

Radio Interview in Adelaide

I was lucky enough to be invited onto Gabrielle Overton's talk back radio show on 5aa in Adelaide last weekend. My first time on radio so I was a little nervous! Gabrielle was very generous and gave me an entire hour to talk about Recipe Blocks and to speak to callers. A full hour to talk about how good Recipe Blocks is - I was in heaven! We plan to link the interview to our website soon so you can all have a listen.

Healthy Eating Tip

I heard a great idea this morning when having coffee with a friend. Tired of throwing out fruit close to its use by date she now uses her silicon muffin trays to freeze the fruit. She says it works a treat for strawberries, mangoes, what ever you have. Great for the summer fruits now in season. The blocks of frozen fruit are great to use in smoothies, home made ice cream or simply on their own for dessert. Minimise waste and save money!

First Prize winner!

Hi everyone,

Our First Prize winner was Fiona Milner of QLD! Congratulations.

Fiona had this to say about about her experience of making Recipe Blocks...

"Recipe

blocks really works for me because my daughter normally turns her nose up at vegies and red meat and recipe blocks includes such a variety of options that there is always something that will tempt her. She also really likes the texture of the meals which is something I have struggled with when feeding her red meat."

Thanks to SMASH for providing this fantastic cooler lunch box.

Stay tuned for more to come.

Kerrie