No. 57 - July 2007 Welcome to the Recipes4us.co.uk free monthly newsletter! If you have any suggestions for additions to this newsletter,   please write to me at Newsletter@Recipes4us.co.uk .
Happy Cooking !        Florence Sandeman, Editor   And I quote......   “Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”                            Jim Davis, 'Garfield'
What's New This Month   Media Some of you (especially in the UK) may have noticed the weekly recipe featured in The Mirror on Saturdays (a UK national newspaper) over the past year. But I've also been busy trying to get more media coverage this year . . . . with a little success.   The following are links to press releases/articles which I've written in the last 3 months, two of which have resulted in press coverage and even a couple of radio interviews.   Press Release 27th June 2007 - One Small Step   Press Release 7th May 2007 National Watercress Week   Press Release 11th April 2007 National Garlic Day ____________________   What's in Season in July   Click here to see what's in season this month and to find a Farmers' Market near you  (UK)..  Lots of seasonal recipes too ____________________   Food in Film     Click the film to see the next in the series. Once again it's a film which heavily features all kinds of food. ____________________     How does your  Kitchen Garden grow   Outdoors Plants such as courgettes, marrows, runner, dwarf and green beans and outdoor cucumbers should be romping away by now. Make sure you keep them well watered and weed free.   Continue to make small sowings of carrots, lettuce, radish, spinach and spring onions to ensure a continuous harvest. although a good alternative is to just harvest every other plant. that way, you can have young small tender veggies now whilst leaving some to grow on. This method works especially well with Carrots, spring onions, turnips  and beetroot.   When harvesting spinach, leaf beet and loose leaved lettuce, only harvest a few outside leaves from each plant, allowing the plants to keep throwing up new leaves.   Check the ties and staking of taller plants such as beans and tomatoes , loosening or tightening as necessary.   Cordon tomatoes Pinch out side shoots which will appear where the leaves join the stems, when they are about 2.5cm/1" long. Once tomatoes have developed on 4 or 5 trusses, pinch out the growing tip.   Aubergines and Capsicums Fine spraying of plants with water helps encourage fruit to set. Limit to 5 or 6 fruits per plant. Once the fruit start to swell, feed with tomato food each time you water.   Courgettes and Marrows Pinch out growing tips of trailing varieties when they reach 60cm/2ft long or have 6-8 leaves. Keep very well watered but only water around the plants and feed with liquid fertiliser once the fruits begin to form.  Continual cropping is necessary to prolong the harvesting period. Start cutting courgettes at about 10cm/4" and Marrows at about 20cm/8".   For detailed growing instructions visit growing herbs and vegetables section   ____________________   For some gardening inspiration click here to visit a new blog created and written by David Jenkins of Hub-uk   ____________________     Find UK Holiday Cottages   A superb site where you can search for cottages by district, price, date and size. And not only cottages in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England ....they have many cottages in France and Germany too.	* * * Winners of  the April and May new subscriber prize draw * * * FB of Dublin, Ireland  and JK of Wokingham, Berkshire ____________________________________________________________   Visit our new smoothies section for an easy way to get your '5-a-day'.   Not only do we have fruit smoothie recipes, but also sections containing vegetable and adult smoothies. Plus the most comprehensive instructions you'll find on the net detailing how to make the perfect smoothie.   To make things even easier, the recipes all state how many of your '5-a-day' each portion contains and if you use it in conjunction with our new 'What's in season' section, you'll also be doing your bit to lessen your carbon footprint.    >>>> more Better late than never!   Perhaps it was just as well that due to technical difficulties there was no newsletter last month because as far as BBQs were concerned, at least in the UK, the weather wasn't up to much.   In the hope that July will bring sunnier days, here's an article which should have appear in last month's newsletter.   The 1st week in June was National Barbecue Week  and strangely enough, it coincided with National Burger Month.   As well as the main BBQ and Picnic section,  I've set up an additional page just for  National BBQ week which contains a wealth of information to make your barbecue a success from safety to planning plus, of course, lots of recipes including a few new burger recipes by way of a joint celebration > > > > More Other food dates in June included:-   7th National Chocolate Ice Cream Day 17th Eat your Vegetables Day 22nd Chocolate Éclair Day 26th National Chocolate Pudding Day National Papaya Month National Dairy Month National Seafood Month National Soul Food Month _______________________________________________________________ July is National Ice Cream Month (USA)   Whilst some modern commercial ice creams such as Haagen Dazs are very good, there's nothing better than home made ice cream. . . . and you don't have to have an expensive ice cream maker to get excellent results.   In keeping with our new 'What's In Season' section, below are just a few of the many ice cream recipes on the site using produce in season in July in the UK. Photo ©Liv Friis-larsen - Fotolia.com   You can also visit the "National Ice Cream Month" page for some history, information on types of ice creams and more recipes   Happy Ice Cream making! Apricot Ice Cream Cinnamon Plum Ice Cream Loganberry Ripple Ice Cream Fresh Mint Ice Cream Strawberry Yoghurt Ice cream Strawberry Ice Cream _______________________________________________________________     Whether you're looking for everyday,  exotic or unusual food and drink,  visit UKFoodOnline.co.uk  Food shopping has never been easier ! _______________________________________________________________   Other notable food dates in July include:-   30th National Cheesecake Day 15th National Ice Cream Day National Salad Week (UK) National Hot Dog Month National Pickle Month _______________________________________________________________   Recipe of the Month   Grown Up Jelly This fabulous jelly dessert is beautiful and  "adult" enough for any grown up. Makes a great to end any dinner party. Easily made with ordinary "kids" jelly but with the addition of raspberries, pomegranate and  lots of port! Serves 4 - 6 Prep Time:  10 minutes plus setting   Ingredients 1 x 135g tablet Raspberry Jelly 60ml/2fl.oz. Boiling Water 1 teasp Sugar 480ml/16fl.oz. Port 100g/4oz Fresh Pomegranate Kernels 100g/4oz Fresh Raspberries Double Cream to serve Basil Leaves to garnish   Instructions   1. Cut or tear the jelly tablet into squares, place in a heatproof measuring jug or bowl together with the sugar and water and  microwave on high for 1 minute.   2. Remove from the microwave and stir until the jelly is completely dissolved. If you don't have a microwave just stir until the jelly is dissolved.   3. Add the port and mix well.   4. Divide the fruit between 4 serving individual glasses then slowly pour in the liquid jelly  until 2/3rds  full.   5. Refrigerate to set (about 3 hours). If you want the angled effect, simply  tilt the glass at an angle when placing in the fridge, making sure they are secured sufficiently.   6. When ready to serve, pour some double cream over the top to create a layer then garnish with a spring of basil.   The basil should be eaten with the dessert - goes beautifully.

Food in the news.......   EFSA seeks cloned animal studies ? The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has called on industry and other groups to submit scientific information as part of its review on cloned meat. > > > > More  External Link _______________________________________________________________________________________   ? Readers' Questions Question I printed out 2 recipes and I noticed in the recipe for treacle tart and walnut and coffee meringue pie and in both recipes it states line a flan tin with greaseproof paper, fill with baking beans. Can you tell me what type of baking beans they are, and why baking beans. other recipes I have come across do not mention baking beans.   Answer The reason for using baking beans is because when unfilled tarts are partly baked before filling ("baked blind") the pastry tends to rise off the bottom creating an uneven base and the possibility of the raised base cracking when filled which may leave a hole through which the filling can escape onto the tray or oven floor. You can buy ceramic "baking beans" but I don't bother. I just use any type of dried bean such as black-eyed beans or kidney beans. The greaseproof paper is just to protect the pastry from the beans otherwise the beans would cook into the pastry. Use enough beans to fill the greaseproof lined pastry case to the top. I have a jar of beans which I have used for years - the same beans every time. When I've finished with them I just allow them to cool and put them in a jar ready for next time.

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