Parsnips anyone?

So the last week long sit for this year. I had a couple of days home before this one started. Unfortunately it seems that I have fractured one of my metatarsals in my left foot, so I am going around limping again. There isn’t anything to be done, just rest it, at least I can walk and drive. For the TRHA Newsletter my monthly vegetable is Parsnips. I wanted to find something different than soups, roasted Parsnips and so on. I was inspired by the GBBO Autumn week show, where they made cakes with autumnal vegetables including Parsnips. I made two cakes a Parsnip and Ginger cake and a Parsnip and Orange spiced cake. They both turned out well, but really they are just Carrot cake recipes with Parsnips replacing the Carrots. But still fun to make. I have a couple of other Parsnip recipes to try, a Parsnip and Chickpea curry and a cottage pie with Parsnips and Potatoes as the topping.  Here is the Parsnip and Orange cake one.

For the sit, it’s a labradoodle, but its appearance is more poodle than lab I think, she is just over a year old. Luckily they have a friend who can also walk her so I don’t have to do long ones with her. There is none of that business with her sleeping in my bed. For one of the days looking after her, friends asked if I could look after their Cocker spaniel that I know so well, while I am looking after the doodle. I checked with the owner and they said it was ok. I ended up walking the Cocker on his own and we did the Waltham St Lawrence walk, but when we went in the pub, they are not doing sausage sandwiches on Sundays! Disaster! But we did the walk and it was nice. 

For the Autumn half term, a local scarecrow competition has been organised, there are some amazing entrants, really clever. The one above is my neighbours. A friend of mine did a Mr Invisible Man on holiday, with an empty deck chair on their grass, a pair of shoes and a hat and sunglasses, suitably hanging from the tree. The doodle is very well behaved and likes her walks and cuddles. I made the Parsnip and Orange cake with her at our house, we then went to Henley for lunch and a riverside walk, on the way back we did the icing in the cake. The friend of the family took her out later on, when they walked past our house, the dog  stopped and sat on our drive, not wanting to move! 

She is quite a young dog, and likes to play a lot and chew things! So she got one of my socks, and within a few seconds it had a hole in it. When people leave the house, she likes to say goodbye to people who wave goodbye outside so she can see them do that from inside. She has an amazing sets of treats, hooves or horn, rabbits ears, thorax from cows and tripe, all dried and crunchy! Meanwhile it was time to start making this years Christmas cake. The first three days, you have  the dried fruit and orange zest in a bowl with a big glug of brandy. This is given a stir every day, Sunday is when the other ingredients are added, and it’s baked. It then rests until nearer Christmas being fed brandy every few days! 

After this sit finishes, I have some other things to do, tidying our garden and allotment. I have a few odd days of dog sitting, but will have time to catch up on those things. Saturday I am giving my next blood plasma donation after a brief hiatus.