Raspberry Lemonade

My great friend D was sorting through her collection of newspapers and newspaper cuttings, when I happened to visit yesterday.

She poured me my usual cup of peppermint tea, offered me some toast and we settled down for a few minutes gossip and chat.

I was browsing through the old newspapers on her table, and found a page that she had cut out for some reason. It was from the Galway Advertiser maybe, but I can't be sure. Anyway, it had a few recipes for Christmas drinks. It was dated October 29th ! Nothing like being prepared.

One of the recipes caught my eye and D promptly said that the cutting was now mine...

So here it is...

Raspberry Lemonade

3/4 cup fresh Raspberries (or defrosted frozen ones)
9 cups Water
2 cups freshly squeezed Lemon Juice (about 12 lemons)
2 cups Castor Sugar

1. Puree the raspberries in a blender - or with a hand blender.

2. Strain the pureed raspberry through a fine sieve, into a large jug. Throw what's left in the sieve into the compost bin.

3. Add all the other ingredients to the jug of raspberry puree.

4. Whisk them together until the sugar is dissolved completely.

You can serve this over crushed or whole ice if you like...

Photos of my Garden Today

This is my tarragon hung in bunches to dry beside the fire just a few days ago. The stove is in my office and the turf gives a nice gentle heat for drying.

Turf dried tarragon....

It will take a few weeks to dry totally.

















Now I went out to feed and water the donkeys, came back in to my office and these 2 were on the chair....

How on earth did they get up there ? !!!!!

The runner beans are always prolific and long lasting. They are still flowering and producing beans, and will do so long into November around here.

These are my Autumn fruiting raspberries... the bushes were new in last year so are still baby bushes as raspberries go...

However, during one of Thomas and Aoife's escape adventures, they munched all the top leaves from at least half the raspberry bushes - See the very sad bush on the left ! They ate the leaves off and left the growing fruits !

The bush on the right they didn't touch...

These Alpine Strawberries are incredibly prolific fruiters, well worth growing in anyones garden. They are perennial for a few years, and fruit all summer and autumn.

The berries are Oh So Sweet - exactly like the ones we used to pick in the hedgerows when we were children...


I am busy planning a full website to host this blog in, complete with a recipe database, conversion charts, tips and answers to all those questions you always wanted to ask.

I am also planning a series of foolproof instructions for basic meals for the human being who us allergic to kitchens and cooking !

Happy Sunday ! Fake Strawberry Ice Cream

Welcome to my Sunday !

I have had an extremely lazy day - apart from building a Forum for my other blog www.rheumatoidarthritisireland.blogspot.com , watering the polytunnel and picking more tomatoes, all I did was lie in bed reading until 11am ! I finished the book so I will have to find another for tonight in bed.

One of my kittens (Sooty) decided to figure out the cap flap last night... and he hasn't appeared today... I'm a bit worried, but he has been out overnight before (when he has refused to come in at night), however that wasn't alone, it was with his brother, Sweep.

Tonight I am making more pasta sauce with the tomatoes, cooking roast pork (which I got as a bargain in SuperValu for €2.99 !!) and creating the body beautiful for my date tomorrow.

Hard work that. Lots to do to get it into shape and I only have 15 hours... I've been sidetracked growing veg this summer and things have started to fall apart a tad. I need to make my nails look like nails (rather than garden picks), de fluff my shins (in case the sun is out and I wear a long skirt, and it is also windy), and finally find something to wear.

What to wear... I could definitely do with some help there. Is it possible to make country 'flitting around the garden and picking blackberries in the lanes' clothes look chic, sexy and the kind of thing a guy looks at and says, 'I want that woman', dashing out to buy a bunch of roses, then parachuting down to her and declaring his undying love ?

I don't think so.

Ok so I will go for the 'Summer breeze, wind blown, seeds in the hair, natural earthy look'... and I won't have to bother getting ready even. I like this idea.

Well that being settled, here is a luscious recipe idea for a yummy ice cream.

Fake Strawberry Ice Cream

1 2/3 pints (2 US pints) Strawberries
2 cups Greek Yogurt (plain)
0.5 cup Maple Syrup
1 cup Sour cream

If you can get organic fruit, Greek yogurt and sour cream it would be fantastic. I have a thing about organic food, and always use it when I can.

1. Squish the berries well, into a pulp.

2. Mix the maple syrup into the mushed berries.

3. Next mix in the Greek yogurt and the sour cream.

4. Put the mixture into a shallow pan, and place in the freezer.

5. Stir it every 30 minutes for 2 hours.

6. Eat !

You can easily use raspberries or blueberries instead of the strawberries for this fake ice cream.

News Flash

The wandering kitten has just returned and is sat in front of the oven watching the joint of pork cook.

His sense of smell obviously works.