The Last Strawberries of Summer......

The last strawberries of Summer......that's what we thought on Tuesday when we shared these as a little treat fresh from the polytunnel, but when I went in there this morning to gather some salady bits for my lunch there they were..... four more .... already turning red and looking like we will have some more in a couple of days.  I shall have to think of a suitable dessert that they can grace.

Also picked from the polytunnel on Tuesday were the last of the Chillis and Peppers with a few Aubergines and Tomatoes.

Some Chillis were popped in the bottom oven of the Aga for the day to dry out slowly and are now residing in a jar ready to be used in recipes through the Winter.

The rest have been added to this little hotch potch of ingredients all now cooking away in the Aga to make a rich and concentrated tomato/pepper/chilli/marrow/onion/tomato puree/garlic sauce, now I'll never fit all that on the label when I put it in the jars later!!

These herbs have just been added, Rosemary and Thyme.  I always start my sauces in the top oven, the hottest one, this gives everything a quick blast of heat and starts the flavour mingling and the juices flowing, then I add the herbs and give everything a really good stir to mingle the flavours and then let the heat of the bottom oven, which is much milder, nurture and bring out the flavours for a good few hours.

The 'How Low Can You Go Challenge' is starting to make life interesting now.  In the dish above I had to use garlic from a jar Very Lazy Garlic something I've never used before, so we'll see what happens with the flavour when it comes out of the oven later.  As it is, after moving the dish between ovens the house smells absolutely divine, very garlicky and fresh smelling.

The cupboards are slow to empty because at the moment we are still eating predominately from the Kitchen Garden and using up all the fresh stuff, but the Challenge is just starting to kick in.  I'm amazed at the number of you who are popping by the How Low Can You Go Diary blog to have a peek at what we're chomping threw on a day to day basis.  You're very welcome but I hope you don't find it too boring, yes I DO have the same breakfast nearly every day!!  Spending is being kept to an absolute minimum, but it feels like as soon as I make space in the freezer it is being filled with home grown and homemade foods that I am harvesting for Winter, so gaps are not really appearing as fast as I thought they would.  This is the reason I have not bothered to photograph the cupboards or freezers for a comparison shot yet, it would be too much like a very difficult 'spot the difference' game!

What we have already learnt from this Challenge is how simply we like to eat, and that bodes well for next years main Challenge which will be revealed on the 1st January.......now there's a teaser for you...haha !!

Sue xx