Today I passed the twenty per cent  mark for having 100 salads in my recipe book - this is number twenty two. We are so lucky to have a great Farmers market each Sunday with beautiful fresh produce.  What a difference from the tired stuff of supermarkets.  So this was tonight's:

Farmers’ market salad

Ingredients:

• Carrots trimmed and sliced on the diagonal
• 100g green beans
• Mixed salad leaves plus rocket or watercress
• 250g cherry tomatoes halved
• Radishes sliced on a mandolin
• Mustard cress sprouts

Method:

1. Blanch carrots in boiling water for two minutes then add beans for a further 3 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water
2. Toss in a bowl with salad leaves, tomatoes, radish and sprouts
3. Dress with a vinegar, oil (1 to 2 parts) and mustard dressing

After days of heat and humidity, today is a dull rainy day, ideal for spending the day in the kitchen baking.  Now that most of the Christmas fare has been eaten it is time to fill up the tins, so today I made a coconut biscuits, which I tweaked to use up bits and pieces left over.  The biscuits turned out well encough for the tweaked recipe to be added to my book.  

Orange, mixed peel and coconut biscuits

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup coconut
• ½ cup mixed peel
• 2 tsp orange zest
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• Nut pieces (walnut, pecan, almond)

Method:

1. Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy
2. Beat in egg well
3. Add coconut, zest and mixed peel
4. Add sifted flour and orange juice
5. Mix into a dough and divide into four pieces
6. Divide each quarter into twelve and roll into small balls
7. Place on baking paper on biscuit trays
8. Put a piece of nut on the top of the biscuit
9. Bake at 180^oC for 12 minutes or until brown