It's redcurrant season again

Yep, it's currant season again. I spent an hour picking yesterday - 2.4kg later and I couldn't really tell where I had picked from - and that was only 1 of our 2 plants!

I love my steam juicer at this time of year because it makes perfect juice to use as the jelly base with no fiddling with muslin, draining, and no chance of cloudy jelly. For this first batch I made redcurrant and mint jelly.

Redcurrant Jelly
Bring the redcurrant juice to a boil, then for every 600 ml of redcurrant juice add 450g of sugar. Stir until dissolved, bring back to the biol and boil until setting point is reached (about 10 mins for me). Add in a few tablespoons of mint (I used 5 cause I like it minty) 2-3 minutes before the end of boiling. Pour into warm sterilised jars and seal. 2.4kg of currants gave me 1.8l of juice and 8 jars of jelly.

I also made a batch of Julie's honey toasted muesli but using sunflower oil,  no nuts or coconut, but with rolled oats and rolled spelt as the base. For fruits I added in home dried apples and pears, currants and raisins. Smells great!

For dinner we had some local grass fed beef (check out the marbling!) with home made low fat oven chips, and char grilled courgette and asparagus. Followed by rhubarb crumble. Lovely.

 Low fat oven chips (recipe by Ainsley Harriot)

• Cut potatoes into chips
• Bring a pot of stock (best) or water to the boil and cook chips until JUST tender.
• Drain (save stock for the next batch if you're making a lot)
• While still hot toss in a small amount of oil (olive, sunflower, canola)
• If cooling straight away spread on a tray and into the oven for 10-15 minutes at 220 until golden and crisp on the outside.
• Otherwise let the chips cool completely after tossing in oil then bag into serving sizes and put into the freezer. If cooking from frozen allow 15-20 mins

Et voila! Healthy oven chips....Mmmmmmmmmmmmm chips.