Cheesy runner bean cakes

I got the idea for this from Pinterest. The original used broccoli and was a suggestion to get kids to eat their veggies. I'm quite happy to eat my veg and I don't have any broccoli right now but I do have plenty of runner beans in the garden so I thought this might make a nice simple lunch.

Ingredients (serves 1)

6 runner beans, chopped and lightly steamed

1 slice brown bread, blitzed or grated into crumbs

1 egg, beaten

15g grated cheese

Salt and pepper

* heat the oven to 190C

* mix all the ingredients together in a bowl

* shape into 4 cakes and place on a greased baking tray

* bake for around 20 minutes, turning over half way through

I just ate them on their own with some Caesar salad dressing.

Piccalilli

All the veggies I used in this recipe came from our garden and I'm really pleased with the result.

Ingredients (makes 3 or 4 jars)

500g vegetables, washed and peeled - I used onion, cauliflower, French beans, cucumber and carrot
25g salt
15g cornflour
5g ground turmeric
5g English mustard powder
7g mustard seeds
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
300ml cider vinegar
75g sugar
25g honey

* cut the veggies into equal bite-sized pieces. Put into a bowl, sprinkle over the salt and mix well. Cover with a cloth and leave for 24 hours then rinse and drain well

* put the cornflour and spices into a small bowl and mix to a paste with a bit of the vinegar
* put the rest of the vinegar in a pan with the honey and sugar and bring to the boil.
* pour some of the hot vinegar onto the spice mixture and mix well then add back to the pan and bring to the boil.
* cook the sauce for 3 or 4 minutes or until thick
* take the pan off the heat and mix in the vegetables, then put into sterilised jars and seal. Tastes best if left for a few weeks, but we had some the next day and it was really good.

Pickled Jalapeños

Our first year of growing our own food is going very well and the jalapeños are looking great, so I decided to try my hand at preserving some. Good on nachos or burgers, or chopped up in chillies etc.

Ingredients (1 jar)
4 large jalapeños, sliced into rings
70ml white wine vinegar
70ml water
1/4 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled
6 black peppercorns
1 washed jam jar

* warm the jam jar in the oven
* put the vinegar and water in a pan and heat, but don't allow to boil
* pack the sliced peppers into the jar with the garlic and peppercorns and pour over the hot vinegar then add the salt and seal the jar.