We Grow Our OwnWhat we grow, what we cook, what we eat …

After the overwhelming response to last month’s Cultivate, Click & Cook competition, I have decided to set this up as a monthly competition, to encourage people to cook with whatever is in season.

So, here is a reminder of the rules …

Thank you to everyone who entered and to all those that voted in April’s Cultivate, Cook & Click competition.

I can now announce that the winner of this month’s competition is …

Thank you for all of your entries for this month’s competition, and now it is time to reveal the prizes and the finalists for this month.

As you’ll know by now, two of the things I love doing is growing vegetables and fruit at my allotment, and cooking with whatever is in season.

A few days ago, my better half and I thought why not combine the two, and make it into a monthly competition. Even better, the winner of the competition each month will win some fabulous food related prizes that have kindly been donated.

If you’ve been reading my blog recently, you know that I was roped into entering the North East Chilli Jam Challenge.

You know I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that this year has been a little surreal, well it is good to know that nothing has changed!

Those people who are following me on Twitter will already know, that I have managed to win through two rounds of Britain’s Best Dish cooking my starter of Thai Spiced Mackerel With A Cucumber And Green Papaya Relish.

This year has been a little weird so far. First we got an allotment, then the chickens, then I won the competition to be Wahaca’s Chilli Guru.

However, the weirdest thing of all is that I have made my first appearance on TV!

A little while ago, I was lucky enough to be chosen as a contestant on ‘Britain’s Best Dish’ and I will be appearing on tomorrow night’s show on ITV at 5pm.

I had a fantastic start to my weekend when I received an email from those lovely people at Wahaca to say that I had won their competition to be their resident ‘Chilli Guru!’

I’m looking forward to showing how anyone can grow chillies, no matter whether you have a sunny windowsill, or a garden the size of a small county. I’ll also be showing how versatile chillies can be, and how each variety of chilli is different in terms of flavour and heat, and can be added to all different types of food, even chocolate!

Watch this space for further details …