5 Minute Hummus, an inspirational walk and Yvonne's cards

I went for a long walk with the dog this morning, all around Sharkham Point and it was glorious, I do love it there, it's always different. There are so many tracks and paths and they all give you a new view of the place. And now the ferns are growing up its changing again. The Elderflower is coming out which means that it will soon be June and I can start making wine and cordials.
Here are a few pictures from my walk, as ever it was inspirational and I got home bursting with writing ideas.

There was a car carrier coming in to take a channel pilot, I looked at it and thought, "did I really used to drive one of those?"

I've been retired for a year now and I don't miss it yet.

For lunch, I made a 5 minute Hummus, just  a chopped and fried onion, these ingredients and a bit of oil, and garlic.

Soften the onion and mix everything together in the blender with a splash of Lemon Juice.

Blend to a smooth paste and season to taste.

Serve with a Sundried Tomato roll, delicious.

Georgina, our daughter in Australia sent us this picture of her feeding the ducks in Adelaide.

 and Yvonne has discovered this amazing colouring book, cards and colouring together!

She has the cards and the envelopes to do, here's her first attempts.

and the inside,

and the envelopes, absolutely gorgeous!

and finally, a picture of my grandchildren, who we are off to see soon, can't wait.

Something old, something new.

The something old is a sausage casserole, a particular favourite of ours and so easy to do. 
I use a slow cooker (crock pot in the USA) and start it off early in the morning. After 8 hours or so it's just about right and if you make double you can freeze half to reheat for another day.

The ingredients for this, you could add chopped carrots, I didn't bother this time,

and of course, the sausages, browned a little for extra flavour. These are from Evergreen Farm, who have a stall at Totnes Good Food Market

And a sauce made from tomato puree, herbs, garlic, ketchup and passata.

Chop all the veg, and the sausages into chunks,

then mix everything together in the pot.

It's that simple. Just leave it on low setting for 8 hours, give it a stir if you remember.


And the new?

Well if you look at my Pinterest board you'll see a recipe for roasted chickpeas. I didn't have all the bits for this one so I just followed it with Smoked Paprika. 
Here are the coated peas before cooking,

and here they are after 40 minutes at 200°C.

Crunchy on the outside but soft and fluffy inside.

Wordless

Here are a few pictures from our visit to Dartington Hall Gardens and of a squirrel which has been eating the peanuts left for the birds in our garden. Plus a few of the cards that Yvonne has been making.