Friday 7 March 2014

The kitchen and the garden

The biggest boy has gone vegan for Lent.  I'm finishing off some Greek yoghurt, then I think I'll join him.  The middle boy has given up chocolate and the littlest boy isn't quite sure what he's going to give up yet.  He did suggest that vegetables might be a goer.  I vetoed that one.  Truth to tell, he's not really a giver-upper of things he enjoys.  

I've been remembering the things I used to make during the twenty-five years that I was a vegan, and tweaking a few favourite recipes as well.  These are the cookies I always keep in the fridge, adapted to use a couple of tablespoons of ground linseeds steeped in five tablespoons of hot water instead of eggs.



I also made a jar of sunflower and pumpkin seeds sauteed in sunflower oil and shoyu.  Everyone loves these, and they're pretty nutritious as well.  Better than crisps.


They're dead easy to make.  Just heat a little oil then add the seeds and drizzle over some shoyu (soy sauce, but one made without sugar or other nasties).  Keep stirring every minute or so until they're browned.  Brilliant as a snack or sprinkled over salad.


Out in the garden there are signs of life and more than a little sunshine.


The pond has frog spawn, and a spider that's walking on the surface, back and forth, back and forth.  



Apologies if a close up of frog spawn is a little too much for you.  There are buds too.  Much prettier.


This is my little peach tree.  Unfortunately it is used as a football goal post and it's leaning quite a bit and missing a few branches.  I'm not expecting peaches any time soon.

I hear that warm weather is coming.  The guinea pigs have been out on the grass already and washing has been drying on the line.  Shoots are shooting and small boys and woodlice are once more reunited.





In fact, they all are desperate to keep woodlice as pets.  They have an RSPB book called "Wild Things to do with Woodlice" which apparently suggests that it's a fantastic thing to do.  I am trying very hard to stand firm on this one, but they have ganged up on me and they have the RSPB on their side and I can feel my fingernail grip starting to slide.  But really, woodlice, do I have to?

I'm wishing you all a good weekend, in the warmth and the sun.  Sunday in particular looks absolutely stonking.  Enjoy!

32 comments:

  1. Not sure that I could bear the thought of woodlice as pets!! Hope that the lent giving up goes well for you. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I never knew what woodlice were until now but we have them too! I think they're what we call "pill bugs" here. My kids also like them. Your guinea pig house is so cool! I would love to have a guinea pig and I think we may get one in a year or so, when both of mine are old enough to do a lot of the care themselves. Your cookies and seeds look delicious. I've never been vegan myself but I find it very interesting. I love to find healthier alternatives when I cook, and will have to look for shoyu, which I'd never heard of until now. I've learned a lot from this post! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, enjoy the good weather.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whenever I see woodlice round here they are dead. What does that mean??
    Shoyu seeds sound delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yum!! Your recipes look divine friend!! And I love that shot of the guinea pig in the yard! What a cool cage! I was laughing because here we call them rolie polies!! Your shots of spring entering your neck of the woods is just delightful as we are still with snow!! Happy gardening friend and a happy weekend to you!! Nicole xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Every where I look in blogland people have frogs/frogspawn.. we haven't had frogs here now for about 3/4 years and we used to get loads. It's very sad and I miss them.. I used to love watching them, watching the tadpoles hatch and seeing them turn into little frogs. I wonder why they have disappeared on us :o(

    ReplyDelete
  6. Woodlice as pets?? Never heard of that. We have guinea pigs who had their first visit of the year to the outside hutch this week, they were terrified & never moved out of the hay!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Woodlice as pets - perfect!! I was never that keen the worms in my kitchen! But the phase passes. Have a great weekend. X

    ReplyDelete
  8. No frog spawn here yet and although the peach hasn't yet blossomedthe apricot is making up for it

    ReplyDelete
  9. Those cookies look very more-ish;I didn't know you could use linseeds instead of eggs. No frog spawn here yet, but heard a frog croaking loudly yesterday in the garden, so hopeful! Lovely and sunny yesterday - we had 3 grandchildren over, which was a delight, except I now have very flattened crocuses and daffs and a branch snapped off a small apple tree! Have a good weekend. X

    ReplyDelete
  10. My peach tree is protected in the greenhouse no football for my peach tree! Those recipes sound wonderful, I used to be vegetarian years ago & the eldest boy always flits between it. I haven't got any frogspawn, lucky you!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Woodlice should be cheap to feed as pets. Do Pets at Home do food for them? Haven't seen any signs of our frogs yet let alone frog spawn.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A most enjoyable post, and wonderful photos. I don't think that I ever wanted to keep earwigs as pets. I admire littlest boy trying to give up vegetables for lent, it's not not something that I would have tried with my mum. 'Stonking' is such a good word, and one that I've not heard or seen for a while. Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. CJ, this post made me smile! I never knew anyone who put their guinea pigs outside; I am sure they totally enjoy it! And my husband would take the frog spawn to show the little babe, but I'll take the pretty tree buds. I think that what you guys call woodlice, we call potato or pill bugs - a much nicer name! And I didn't know you were a vegan for so long - I'm super impressed! My stretch lasted 5 years until I got engaged - then he stopped eating meat, but I started eating ice cream and cheese!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Boys are so beautiful aren't they? Girls want hair ties, dolls and such, boys want woodlice! I love this post today, signs of Spring, little boy antics, it is just lovely.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love the guinea pig tractor. You can put that anywhere the grass is good! Brilliant!!!! Did you build it yourself?

    Enjoy spring!!!! I think it may be arriving at our house too. I've seen shoots on the bushes and the sun in shining today.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yes we have been seeing heaps of woodlice out here too. What a lovely idea to become vegan for lent. I am now a week into being vegan, not really adviced for people with ME, but I thought I would have a little cleanse for 21 days, so far soo good. Those biccies look yum. I intend to share another recipe at some point, which I think you might like! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love the idea of a vegan cookie. I assume you use margarine instead of the butter? I a not vegan but I am always curious how to adapt old favourites to other types of diet. Frog spawn is really interesting, I hope there will be lots of little tadpoles later in the spring. I am sure my kids would be in with the fun of keeping woodlice.... Enjoy your weekend. Cx

    ReplyDelete
  18. I cannot imagine my son wanting to keep woodlice my daughter on the other hand......

    Hope you got the warm weather :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hope your Sunday has brought the promised nice weather, here it's rather gloomy! All the more enjoyable to see your signs of spring. We have loads of frog spawn, too, I love looking at it developing and can't wait for the tadpoles to emerge. I'm sure we could never grow peaches here, even if we protected them from soccer balls! Our (one) guinea pig also loves to be out on the grass, we'll have to repair her hutch soon, so she'll be able to enjoy it when it gets a bit warmer.
    I'm glad none of mine has decided to go vegan, I find it hard enough with one vegetarian, and one coeliac/nut allergy... but those biscuits look lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Noo, not woodlice. My boys once kept spiders ... they found a clutch (is that the right word for spider's eggs?) and kept them until they hatched ... it was fascinating. But I'd have drawn the line at woodlice. I miss having guinea pigs though ... such perfect pets for kids.

    Hope you're having a perfect weekend in all this sunshine :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. I remember Eleanor coming home from school one day after spending some time on the school 'farm'. She'd been holding Hissing Cockroaches and asked if she could have one as a pet. I'd say woodlice are preferable. Spring has definitely sprung here today, it's glorious. I hope there's more of the same on the way.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I hope all goes well with giving up favourite food for Lent. I've always been interested in a vegan diet although I'm not ready to give up fresh eggs just yet. But the cookies look delicious. It is wonderful to see the frogspawn. I still haven't got any frogs visiting my two ponds so sadly no frogspawn here.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It is hard to give up good things ;-) Yes the weather has been fantastic the whole week, and it looks like Spring is ready to land... Some of my tulips, which I thought would never come out, seem to be willing to give it a go... I also have things that are coming out, from "old" plants, and so far, I have no clue what it is... Have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  24. This post has brought s much needed grin to my face....cookies, seeds to eat (yum!), frog spawn (so exciting), blossoms and Guinea pigs ( I had two myself when I was a kid). Great post...though woodlice, not too sure about that, haha! xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  25. All that sunshine looks beautiful! I especially love that little lady bug. They’re supposed to bring good luck, and I always seem to have one pop up around me when I need a reminder that brighter days are up ahead. I’m going to try those seeds. They look delicious and something good to have on hand. I hope you’re having a wonderful start to your week, CJ:)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thanks for sharing the recipes! With my lenten promise being to eliminate processed foods, these came at the perfect time. I definitely want to try both of those. I like anything cooked with shoyu :) The wildlife pictures are beautiful. They allow me to feel like I was there too.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Your cookies and seeds look delicious. I will enjoy trying them. What a difference a bit of sunshine makes the guinea pigs look as if they are loving it. Sarah x

    ReplyDelete
  28. Squealing with delight that you have frogspawn in your pond, I'm watching everyday to see if ours is blessed with some.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thank you so much for these glorious photos of spring!!! ;I needed them today as we just got 2 feet of snow dumped on us overnight. The frog eggs remind me so much of being a kid...I always used to collect a bunch and watched the little creatures hatch. I love the sound of the peepers in the spring...probably one of my favorite sounds.

    ReplyDelete
  30. My five year twins had some woodlice as pets last year, they were great, very little hassle

    ReplyDelete
  31. So, you were vegan for 25 years! Goodness. Those cookies look very tasty but the soy coated seeds definitely get my vote, yum. I could nibble of those for hours. x

    ReplyDelete
  32. Just happened on your blog from your comment on ...the sight of morning. Lovely posts and gorgeous pictures. What really caught my eye, apart fromt he memories of my small boys and woodlice, was the white and blue spotted plate - Habitat circa 1982 - I have most of it still intact!

    ReplyDelete