The appliance of science

After losing around six years of work on my website (I mistakenly thought my back up was backing it all up) I felt a bit down in the dumps yesterday - and not in the mood to cook a fancy Sunday lunch.

So I got out the new steamer that arrived Saturday - replacing our defunct old one and experimented with an all in one lunch




Front left - a parcel of chicken



Front right - one of my ratatouille mixes from out of the freezer




Back carrots, potatoes at far end, runner beans on the shelf



This steamer is almost as clever as me! You can set the timer for each compartment, and content. The vegetables at the back were the first to start steaming, the chicken parcel next and waiting to go is the ratatouille.

I only have a teeny kitchen so every inch of space has to earn it's keep.

This is my gadgets end of the kitchen - steamer, vacuum packer and food mixer. Rack of plates above and in the corner the bantam egg tray, and out of sight the pottery bread container.





Thirty five minutes later - and it is all finished.





The chicken is boneless breasts, which I cooked with two home grown tomatoes diced up, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and a couple of slices of chorizo chopped up which makes a lovely colour and introduces a fabulous flavour.



It's all home grown and I love the colours - OK so it's not as tempting as a Sunday roast - but boy did it taste good, and the sauces from the chicken parcel were amazing.

(For those of you who never got to read my Allotment Lady website - the chickens are not mine - I don't eat my chickens - a friend 'grows' them for me, and plucks them etc, I just joint them all. Well how can you eat one someone who is called Daisy for example).

Talking of chickens, I might just buy myself two more to cheer me up. I would rather have a little dog like Pat Winter's Angell


But can't - so fluffy little bantams are the next best thing!

Daisy and Gozzie - digging over where I was digging - looking for worms and bugs.