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Today we went to a goat farm to learn about the care and milking of goats as well as spending some time making soft goat's cheese. It was fun and something I had wanted to do for a very long time. So, yes now I am hoping some day soon to move into the venture of producing our own milk!

I am laughing as I write this for a few reasons, one is because this has long been a dream of mine. I remember doing a course back in 1996 on sheep and goat farming - wishing then I could just stay home on the farm and raise little lambs amidst field of herbs. LOL

Another reason I am delighted to be doing this is because I can't wait to have our own milk, fresh from a goat (we don't need much) for my baking, cooking and perhaps making a little bit of cheese for us to enjoy.

To me, at this point with each of the changes we have undertaken in our lives to live sustainably, grow our own food, make everything home made as well as use organic foods and wild harvested herbs - milking our own goat would be the ultimate adventure along this path.

And I am not even certain why. We have had bees for several years now, we have ducks, geese and turkeys and we do our own thing when it comes to food. Perhaps getting a goat drives home the reality of living this way or else it means we have finally arrived in the land of milk and honey! 

Looking after goats with all you have to do seemed to be a little intimidating to me at first this morning, but by the time I came home after the whole day talking goat, milk and cheese - I was feeling a little better about it.

Right now, I am not so much concerned about this next venture as I am wondering where does it end? LOL Perhaps to become completely sustainable - self supporting in every way, finally living the life of your dreams. 

Maybe a little goat's cheese will go a long way....

Have a healthy day,

April

Creating Regular Customers

I have been wanting to address this issue - because it is something that we as a family have noticed quite strongly since we stopped eating processed foods - and I am fairly certain this must be related because they would go hand in hand with each other.

What I am talking about is the phenomena of overeating, or you know how what happens when you buy a bag of salted nuts - you would find yourself eating the entire bag. Or crisps, chocolate bars, sugary treats, you name it - we might be able to lump these all together. 

For us as a family the only snacky food left in our diets which needed to be removed and replaced with a homemade version was the salted nuts. We have long since given up sugar, chocolate and potato crisps. 

When a bag (or a few) of salted nuts would come into the house, it was as if something else took over our brains. We could not help ourselves and could never get enough of these nuts. They tasted great, and were highly addictive!

Once they were left to the wayside with all of the other processed factory made foods, I started to make my own. And the response is entirely different. The roasted salted nuts I make are delicious, very tasty and we love them.

I can honestly say I like them far better then the shop bought nuts because they taste like 'nuts'. However, the one thing we all have noticed is how we are not 'craving' them, we are not desperate to shovel another handful into our mouths...yet they don't last long and everyone enjoys them.

So what is the difference here? Could these processed foods be linking into some addiction centre inside of our brains or bodies (gut?) and placing us on the losing end of a food battle?

This will take some investigation, but at this point I certainly think a couple of things here - one is that there must be other ingredients in the package which are not listed (5% rule) and secondly we are being controlled by other factors. Especially when it comes to our tastes, cravings and diets.

The 5% rule means something along the lines of when a product contains less then 5% of an ingredient at it's final stage, it may not have to be listed on the ingredients. This might mean anything such as MSG...but who really knows anymore!

As for the other factors controlling our tastes and cravings - well this is widely known to be all the non-beneficial organisms living in our guts such as molds, yeasts and nasty bacteria. If there are enough of them in the wrong areas, we can have some gut mutiny taking place. 

Lots to think about here when it comes to processed foods. I mean they are designed to be delicious and consumed in an addictive way - it's called creating 'regular customers'. 

Take matters into your own hands and make something homemade today - something you've never tried before - treat yourself, you are worth it!

April

Path to the top at Lough Hyne West Cork 

Changing Menus with the Seasons...

I realized this week that I hardly ever mention cooking meat on this blog - of course we are not big meat eaters but we do enjoy some lamb once in a while and lamb stew is one of my favourite meals to make. And there are also far more vegetables out in the world that we never use often enough. 

As the days grow darker and somewhat colder our meals take on a different dimension almost as if they also transform into heartier more protein based foods with sustenance. Nothing says winter to me the way a meal of lamb stew, with root vegetables and some warm bread right out of the oven.

This week we had one day where I was feeling wintery enough to make a large pot of this magical elixir and of course there was not a drop left. 

I start a lamb stew in the same way as any other root vegetable soup pot. To a pot of water I add seaweed, sautéd onion, leek and garlic, but with meat I use herbs from the garden such as lovage and French sorrel. 

Then I put in a lot of vegetables such as carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin and this week I had celeriac and sweet corn - which are such great vegetables for stews as well as barley. Each of these would be more winter additions to our diets. 

Root vegetables with celeriac

Once these are bubbling away I get started on the meat part of the meal. We eat meat so infrequently, that sometimes I wonder if I have forgotten what to do with it - but cooking is like riding a bike, there are some things you never forget.

With lamb I have it cut up into large chunks which go into a pan with water, onion and garlic as well as some olive oil. I like to get the meat nicely browned before I add it to the vegetable pot. So, this is usually covered for a little while.

Lamb for stew 

Once the meat is ready the stew is pretty well cooked, the lamb goes in last and I don't leave the heat on for very much longer. I find the flavours blend better when this is allowed to sit and cool for about half and hour - not stirring very much.

This week when I cooked lamb I added extra lovage herb to the meat - this has a taste similar to celery and is very complimentary to lamb. It is also an ancient herb with many nutritional benefits. This particular stew had both lovage and celeriac in it making the taste exquisite - especially if you enjoy old fashioned home cooking!

Next time you use lamb, try it with lovage or sorrel and taste the difference.

Have a healthy day,

April 

Lamb, sweet corn root vegetable stew

Baking with Barley Flour

This past week I can feel how the season is rapidly changing with the cooler weather settling in. We have a fire in most evenings now to keep the house warm enough. After a beautiful few weeks of dry weather, the rain is winding it's way back to us and it's time to hunker down.

This usually means some subtle changes in our diet as well - when the weather turns colder and the dark starts to close in around us for the winter season, it is time to eat more nourishing cooked foods, easily digested stews and soups. As well as to start dipping into some of the foods preserved during the summer. 

One food which I would not eat a lot of in the warmer months would be barley. Once the season leans towards winter or colder weather however, I always think of delicious barley lamb stews, barley and broccoli dishes and barley bread.

Barley is an interesting grain, it has been around forever and used since ancient times. Along with spelt it is one of my favourite grains to use as a flour for baking breads, cakes and other lovely foods. It is also fairly easy to work with.

Barley adds a nutty flavour to a bread, the consistency however is slightly different then using other flours because there is a very low gluten content, making a more cake like appearance. That is why I alway team it up with spelt or some other flour.

This week was a great week with the cooler weather to make some honey barley bread - this is a wonderful tasting bread which is also fairly sweet and is great for breakfasts or as a dessert with butter and jam.

To make barley bread I used 4 cups of barley flour mixed together with 3 cups of whole grain spelt (all organic of course). Then added a little salt and some bread soda. I decided to add in 1 tablespoon of honey per cup of flour to make this a nice sweet bread.

I had wondered about using only water to make this bread - but knowing a few things about milk I decided to use this. Milk adds flavour, improves texture, sweetens the bread and breaks down some of the gluten, it also makes a nicer softer crust - which is what I wanted. 

So, to the flour I added 2 cups of goat's milk and 1 cup of water. Once this was all mixed up it was like a very thick cake mixture- I also put in a handful of sunflower seeds to give it a little more crunch. 

Honey Barley Bread 

This bread also cooks a little faster and was probably done in about 45 minutes or so. Everyone loved it - with its softer crust and sweetness, very much like a little treat! 

Barley Facts:

Barley is an easy to grow grain

It's been used for thousands of years

It has a low GI (glycemic index)

Low starch content, but high in fibre 

It doesn't rise as much as other flours

Good source of magnesium and selenium

If you want to try something different, get some barley flour and use it in any of your favourite recipes or make some lovely soft bread! 

Have a healthy day,

April

Sliced barley bread

Change Your Diet with the Seasons?

Seasonal eating is something we would have found easy to practice way back when we only had access to locally grown foods for the most part and had to preserve as much of our own for use later in the colder months.

Of course there is a fair amount of scientific and anecdotal support as well as common sense in this thinking while adhering to some very simple food ideas as much as possible. Eating organic, local, in season as well as unprocessed will take you pretty far down the road towards healthy digestive function. 

But why is that the case?

First of all organic should be a no-brainer for most of us - of course the presence of far less pesticide is better for you. How would more chemicals and poisons be good in any way? I have heard it said (it was attached to some sort of research) that organic is not any different from conventionally grown produce. I would love to know where they found the organic food used for the testing so I can avoid it, because it should be different. 

And yes, eating locally grown produce as much as possible would also make sense to those of us who consider carefully everything that goes into our mouths. Local food would not have travelled ten thousand miles to get to us, meaning it would at least be fresher. And usually it should contain local soil bacteria commonly found in our guts. All good for us.

When it comes to eating in season, what could possibly be wrong with eating strawberries in January or fresh peas at Solstice and Christmas when you live in a Northern climate? As an intuitive I would say it has to do with the lining of our guts, the bacteria living there and digestion (back to this again). 

The seasons on the outside of us change (in some locations they do) this also reflects an inner change. Right now for instance the gut is growing thinner towards the darkest time of the year. Until we reach Halloween - a time when we acknowledge the thinning of the veil between the worlds. 

This veil becomes thinner on the inside of us too. Meaning it is a good time to cut back on excesses in diet, hunker down for the winter, eat foods which will keep - root vegetables, a little fruit - and easily digested produce such as preserved foods. As much as possible. 

Gut flora undergoes the same seasonal changes inside of our bodies as the does the environment outside. Therefore, our ability to digest each of these foods changes with each season or at least it should. That is why in nature, the types of produce available for each season are quite different from each other or 'to everything there is a season'.

Your digestion, the foods you eat and the way to eat them will also change throughout the year for a healthy gut - all because of the way nature is reflected in us. Eating in season then, is along the exact same lines as choosing organic foods - it is vitally important. 

Some things just make more sense. 

Have a healthy day,

April 

Lamb, sweet corn and root vegetable stew 

Stuffed Onions - So Tasty!!

I am a big fan of onions, actually anything from the allium family (leeks, garlic, chives, onions, shallots etc.) I really enjoy and would probably used every single day. Since starting this quest to remove processed foods from my families diet, I have broadened my palate somewhat...

These past few days I have had in my mind to make some stuffed onions. I haven't eaten them before or even really heard of them, until once again I came across a mention of this as a side dish with a larger dinner. Of course I don't even remember what they were stuff with, so I decided to wing it and make up my own recipe. Again!

Today I got 5 medium sized onions, but will remember to look for those super large ones for this next time I want to make this dish. And then proceeded to figure out how to scoop out the inside. Basically I just cut the ends off, then cut into the centre with a knife until I could push some rings through.

Onion cups 

Once that started to happen, I was able to get them separated into onion 'cups' and ended up with about 7 large enough to use. In the meantime I had cooked some basmati rice to use for the stuffing and then got a few vegetables together.

The scooped out onions I chopped up with garlic, leek, and grated carrot and put into a pan to stir fry in a little oil. Then in another bowl I mixed a block of feta cheese with about 1/2 cup of walnut pesto I had leftover from Sunday's cooking.   

I arranged the onion cups on an oven dish on which I had put some olive oil. Then I mixed about a cup and half of the rice with 1 cup of stir fry vegetables and all of the feta mixture. I saved some of the feta for sprinkling over top of the onions.

Stuffed Onions ready for the oven 

I spooned this mixture into each onion cup mashing it down a little until each was overflowing - then covered each one in the extra feta cheese. They went into the oven for about 45 minutes or so until they were tender.

Once they were cool enough to eat we all had a taste - it was out of this world! And this is probably my new favourite dish so far. I will definitely add this to my list of must have for Solstice and other big celebrations. 

Very tasty and decadent dish. I loved it!

Have a healthy day,

April

Cooked Stuffed Onions - Yumm! 

Sweet Potato Samosa's

There are a few recipes I have been wanting to make but have been putting them off mostly because I have never made them before and need to have some space to 'create'. Getting the kitchen to myself doesn't happen very often, so these experiments do tend to be put off indefinitely.

Today however, I decided to throw caution to the wind and to get the kids to join in with me as I figured out a recipe for sweet potato samosa's. Once again this is not a food I would have been very familiar with, as I don't eat out or order take away, but, I was fairly certain they appeared to be easy enough to make.

I am still working on overcoming this level of resistance to some new recipe tastes and flavours - you know how we kind of get set in our ways with all our old standby's. Well, time to branch out!

So, the first thing on the agenda was to decide what I wanted to use as a filling for these samosa's - I wanted sweet potato and soft cooked vegetables. But I also wanted veg to be baked and not boiled, so as not to be too watery. Sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and shallots were chopped up, wrapped in foil and placed in the oven for an hour.

Roasted vegetables and stir fry mixed with spices

Next, to make this dish a little spicy I used an onion, a leek and garlic - chopped finely which was sautéd in a saucepan with a little oil. To this I added turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper. I didn't want to go overboard with spices because the children would not eat them.

Once the vegetables were done, I added the stir fry onion mixture in with that to make a lovely fragrant vegetable filling.

In the meantime I made a dough from 2 cups of spelt flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon bread soda. I added 6 tablespoons of milk and about the same of cold water until it looked like a slightly sticky dough and formed a ball.

Dough forms a ball 

This was then easy enough to roll out flat enough to make round cut outs. To make my samosa's I used 2 pieces of the dough for each one, placing the filling in the centre and pressing it together with a fork. 

Samosa dough ready for filling 

This was actually a very easy to make recipe, tasty and quite filling. The nicest part of this is the way the filling can be nearly anything - rice with vegetables, spicy mince lamb, feta cheese or any different combinations of these.

They were in the oven for about 23 minutes or so and then we got to have samosa's with our dinner. I used my homemade honey mustard sauce for dipping and it was delicious! 

Well, I hope to make another new dish again tomorrow... keep it new and exciting LOL

April

Samosa! 

Making Soft Pretzels

Today I wanted to finish some goodies on my list for the kids - a few foods which we might have purchased only a few months ago, organic, whole grain of course, but nevertheless still from a factory and with preservatives no one really needs.

So, working away from that list, I chose to make soft pretzels for the kids - actually they were far easier then I imagined and turned out nice. I am not a big pretzel eater, perhaps if they were in front of me I might try them, however, a salty snack is always nice.

Once these were made however, we used them for something entirely different! Read on to find out....

To make soft pretzels all you need are the basics - flour, baking soda, salt, something sweet and buttermilk. I think you could probably use milk or water in there with good results as well. 

I would not usually have buttermilk in the house - to make it, you have to pour 1 tablespoon of vinegar into 1 cup of milk. For the sweetener I used some of our own honey, but this could easily be maple syrup, agave nectar or apple concentrate.

Flour for pretzels - 2 kinds of organic spelt

I found mention online of how these turn out best after being dipped into a solution of baking soda (1/3 cup) to 5 cups of water boiled. This solution is brought to a boil and allowed to sit on the side until you are ready to use it.

To prepare the pretzels, place 3 cups of flour (I used half white spelt and half whole grain spelt) baking soda, honey and the buttermilk into a large bowl. Mix this up until a ball forms, taking all the flour with it.

Making pretzels 

Break this ball up into 8 to 10 pieces or turn it all out onto a floured surface. I found breaking off a piece and then rolling it on the flour for a few minutes worked best. Once each piece of dough was rolled out, twist into the pretzel shape.

Next, taking a lifter with holes to drain the water, dip each pretzel into the baking soda water solution and quickly transfer to a baking sheet. Make sure they are not dripping wet - allow the water to run off as much as possible.

Ready for the oven 

This wetness will allow the toppings to stick - I used a Japanese sesame, seaweed mix with some sea salt on mine. Once they were well coated, I popped them in the oven for about 10 - 12 minutes. 

And there you have it! They were soft, chewy and very tasty. We actually used them as mini buns for our lamb burgers (I made walnut pesto and mild mustard for toppings) and these worked perfectly, with the salt and sesame seeds, to provide a nice crunch. 

I made lots of other tasty treats yesterday as well - including another flapjack recipe which did not hold together at all. But, all was not lost, because I used the crumbled oats as a topping for a banana cake with goat's cheese, maple syrup icing. Yumm!!

Have a healthy processed food free day!

April

soft, chewy pretzels! 

Meals on Wheels!

Today was not a big cooking day, Saturday is usually a running around day for us - we get to go see some sights, do the farmers market run and pick up things we need. I also try to schedule the kids extra classes on the weekends to keep things simple and that takes us into the city.

So, in order to leave the house fairly early in the morning I have long been in the habit of cooking a quick meal to take with us. Yes, we are the family in the car or sitting on the bench in a park eating our lentils, rice and stir fry from lovely tiffins...

This morning I was up early to get things prepared so we could get away in plenty of time - but also so I could do a good workout before I left. I don't like to miss a workout and then go and sit in a car for long periods of time, my energy would feel stagnant. 

When you plan for your day, prepare yourself and organize a meal to take with you, there is no hassle, no wondering where to find decent food or worrying about cost and so forth. Your great tasting meal can be with you - and it's easy to bring enough to keep everyone going for the day.

This morning I made a very simple dish which we know travels well - rice, vegetable stir fry and tuna. All of this is mixed together into a pot or large bowl and covered. Then we take some camping bowls and spoons - and there you have it. 

Meals on wheels.

Today, because it was going to be a bit longer of a day out I also packed bread (already buttered), some slices of smoked goat's cheese, slices of banana cake, apples and water. We had a little picnic when we got hungry while everything was finger food friendly enough to eat along the way.

This is not rocket science - I can't for the life of me think about spending 40 or 50 quid in a restaurant for food that will sit in my stomach undigested for hours and wake me up at 4 am with heart burn. Food that wasn't loved or prepared with gentleness.

This takes work you might say, or planning, or organization or extra time. Yes, it does. However, all it takes for me is to remember what it felt like to ponder my life when I was sick (with cancer) and think about how I would treat myself if only I could live long enough to do it right. 

Don't wait until you are sick or unwell to make some changes - your life is worth so much more.

Have  a healthy day,

April

Red sky tonight over Leap

End of the Week Stew

Tomorrow is market day, the day we buy all our vegetables and fruit for the week. Actually we try to shop as little as we can, producing as much of our own food and growing anything that will grow. That way we have less opportunity to bring home things we do not need. 

So far, we are able to grow all our own herbs, onions, salad leaves, greens, leeks, some carrots, runner beans, peas, and of course we are waiting on a few other little 'crops' to mature. It is the highlight of my day going out into the garden with a basket to see what I can find for our meals.

Today being the end of the week, there is not much left over from our shopping last Saturday - a couple carrots, one leek, sweet potatoes, avocado and onions, garlic and that's about it. When I first looked over the selection, my thought was - we need more vegetables to make a meal.

But then I quickly realized that all I needed was here. Right now I am looking at the meals I have prepared for the day and I am quite pleased with making something from 'nothing'! 

Since I had mung beans soaking for some bean burgers, I took a few beans and put them in a pot with seaweed. To this I added 4 sweet potatoes and one of the carrots all chopped. Then I sautéed garlic and 2 large onions with turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper and this went into the stew.

End of Week Stew cooking 

When the stew was nearly ready I went into the garden, to find French sorrel, chives, Welsh Onion, parsley and some other leaves. I used about a cup all total - chopped up and stirred into the bubbling stew. I only let this cook for another few minutes and then turned it off. It smelled lovely and was rich and thick by now. 

While this was cooking I made some guacamole from the avocado, garlic, lemon, olive oil and fresh parsley. This is one of my favorite snack foods, avocado is so good for your skin, digestion and of course all that raw garlic can't be bad for you either. I usually put extra in mine. LOL

Freshly made guacamole 

I put this together with some crackers and goat's cheese muffins left over from last night and voila! A wonderful meal. 

Homemade crackers and muffins

The rest of the veggies (onion, carrot, leek) will go for our mung bean burgers later tonight and I am off to the garden to gather more greens and herbs for them. Fresh parsley and coriander are always lovely in these burgers. 

Living like this, close to the land, being conscious of our food and taking the time to remain in touch with our bodies brings us back to the basics of what is really important far more then being able to open a tin of soup or order a take away meal. 

Food is life and it feels good to be alive.

Have a healthy day,

April

Mung bean and sweet potato stew 

It's About Time

Today was our first day back to a little food after the Master Cleanse - and some real cooking for me. On the transition days I usually feel pretty good and want to have a little nibble of things as I go. Today, I was busy with a few other jobs around the house, but one thing in particular surprised me...

I was busy in the house with chores, as well as outside in the garden working away on getting my herbs sorted for the winter. I have been cutting, drying and storing herbs for teas and cooking. I was mainly drinking smoothies all day but still had meals to cook for the children.

It always surprises me how much I can get done once I put my mind to it - perhaps this is an outcome from doing these detoxes? But today this went a little further. When lunch time came I was preparing a sweet potato mung bean stew for the kids,  when it was announced they also wanted crackers to go along with it.

My first thought was, no it will take too much time - but then, I quickly let that go and said, ok, why not. While the stew was cooking, I managed to organize, mix and prepare, rolled out and put a pan full of spelt crackers in the oven. 

Then were done in just over 25 minutes - right around the time the stew was turned off to cool down. I was a little amazed it was so quick, so easy! It took me about 10 minutes to assemble all the ingredients and pop them in the oven. The longest part was the baking.

Then later in the day, I had to go out around dinner time, however they had their big meal at lunch so, I wanted something quick to give them as a snack. Once again I looked at the clock, made a quick decision and launched into making goat's cheese muffins for them.

Once I had the ingredients mixed and ready to put into the muffin pan, I made the realization that for some unknown reason, a few weeks ago, I had thought that particular recipe a little complicated. Not anymore! It was so simple and straight forward.

Of course, in less than half an hour (20 minutes in the oven for muffins) there we were waiting for muffins to cool for some tuna toppings. A wholesome ready made snack.

Today, I saw how I had changed, my mindset has shifted, these things are not a challenge to me or taking up too much time, any longer. This is just cooking, eating, living my life, and I have all the time in the world to live life. 

Have a healthy day,

April

Spelt and oat crackers

Plastic Free Kitchen

By now, most of you probably know how I feel about plastic, this lifeless substance should never be around our food. For me, this is one of the main reasons I don't like processed foods - they are as dead as the packaging they're in. 

These plastics have to be the most lifeless products on the planet. They are completely devoid of any energy of their own and act to disrupt body function with oestrogen like hormone substances such as  bisphenol A. Heating plastic and using it in cooking or anywhere near food is a huge energy drain. Not only is this material toxic, giving off noxious chemicals, this plastic is also a hormone mimic. In a physical and energetic way, it is possible for plasticides ingested in your food, to be taken up into your tissues and then dock onto the cellular receptors for oestrogen and other hormones. 

I think this may be happening to a great extent as plastic is already being linked to weight gain, hormonal cancers, diabetes, heart disease, infertility and all manner of endocrine disruption and I feel to mold and yeast overgrowth.

As above, so below. If it is outside of you, in your house or yard, it is equally inside of you, everything is a mirror. Your home mirrors your inner environment, if it is filled with plastics, then so are you. 

Look around you, start with your kitchen; is all of your food stored in plastic jars? Are the majority of your appliances plastic? Read the labels on your clothing, does it say 100% Cotton or pure Wool or are the words things you don’t recognize or can’t pronounce? What sort of toys are filling your children’s rooms? 

I clued in to the extent of this problem, when I saw my children as well as others walking around with bits of plastic toys in their mouths- the plastic was almost like it was magnetic- it migrates to the mouth (a mirror for reproductive tissue as this is HORMONAL tissue) and the children are showing us the problem.

Get rid of plastic toys, they look cheap and tatty after a short while anyway. Replace them every chance you get with wooden, metal and natural fabric items.

These rooms in your house are all areas of extremely low energy if they are filled with plastic and its relatives. None of this- plastic, petrol chemicals, synthetic fibers and so on, have any benefit for our bodies. These are foreign, toxic, invasive, chemical compounds unrecognizable by any tissue or cell in the human form. In other words, they end up hanging around and accumulating because your body has a hard time getting rid of them. 

Our systems cannot process these molecules as food, or a nutrient, so they get stored in tissues within the body. The important thing to remember is that these are not inert particles harmlessly occupying space in our cells, they interact, radiate stolen energy and affect us in ways that we are still trying to figure out.

A few years ago, I spent a weekend clearing out all the old packaging while I replaced everything with paper, glass, ceramic and wooden containers. This took awhile - for some time our food was in paper or bowls with a lid.

Gradually I gathered a number of jars of all sorts and sizes and now my kitchen is an organized area virtually plastic free. What is nice about this is how it feels, sort of old fashioned, but very alive!

Have a healthy day,

April 

It's Been A Cake Week

This week I have been interested in making cakes and have made three so far - cinnamon cake, a light fruit and nut cake and a banana cake. We have another celebration coming up this weekend and I wanted loads of different treats on hand.

I love making cakes, they are versatile, easy to serve with other things and everyone loves them with ice cream, fruit sauce or a goat's cheese frosting. Cakes are such an old fashioned item, have been made for centuries (or far longer) and are quite the comfort food.

They are also all about celebration - which for us it just what is needed for this coming weekend with the Autumn Equinox or Mabon. I have been looking at older recipes for this occasion with very ordinary ingredients.

Some of these recipes can be the same as traveling back in time - the final outcome has been eaten by our ancestors for as long as we have been cooking. A cake presents a special ending to a satisfying meal and when made for that occasion can lend a great finishing touch.  

For each of these I used white spelt flour for a complete change. I have found it easy to work with, not unlike wheat, however it does soak up liquids a little differently from the wholegrain spelt. I do like the colour of each cake as well, they are lighter with the other ingredients standing out more. 

This week, I wanted to use up the bananas in the house so decided to make a banana cake - but for a little difference I added apple butter in through the top of the batter just before baking it. It smells great, and I can't wait to taste it.

Banana cake with apple butter 

For the fruit cake, I put in lots of fruit and a few walnuts to make it rich and moist. It was sweetened  with apple sauce and maple syrup. Fruit cake would not normally be something I would go for, however as my tastes have changed, I wanted to try to make one.

Fruit and nut cake 

Lastly I made a cinnamon cake, this one is just an ordinary cake with the standard ingredients, but I did put in lots of nuts. It should be very spicy with the freshly ground cinnamon as well. 

For a quick frosting, I normally whip creamed goat's cheese with a little butter and maple syrup. This is absolutely delicious with a great sweetness and spreads onto the cake in the same way as any other sugar frosting. 

Well, lots more cooking to do tomorrow - my last day of this 10 day Master Cleanse for this month. Can't wait to eat some food and move onwards and upwards!

Have a lovely foodie day,

April

Banana cake with apple butter on top- it smells lovely! 

Into the thick of things - Hazelnut Butter

I wanted to keep up with making my own nut butters, mainly to keep the jars full, but also to try other nuts to see how they turn out. Probably my absolute favourite nut butter has always been hazelnut, I love the taste of them and use these nuts anytime I can.

To make any of these nut butters is fairly straight forward and hazelnut butter is even easier than the others it turns out! This nut butter is so easy everyone should be making it - it is also nearly the most expensive in the health food shops, so there is another good reason to try making this at home.

The hazelnuts must first be roasted to remove the skins - to do this put them in the oven at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes or so. Then once out, transfer the hot hazelnuts to a rough tea towel (we did this before for making halva) using the tea towel rub them between your hands to get the skins to loosen off.

This method will remove most of the skins. The rest can be pulled off with your fingers if you are very picky about having some skins on. 

Hazel nuts in blender 

Then pour 1 cup of the roasted nuts into a glass blender ( I don't use plastic around food). Have a wooden spoon or scraper handy and turn on the machine, this only takes a couple of minutes and you will have nut butter very quickly.

Hazelnuts just before they turn to butter

These nuts are soft, very oily, then turn to dusty mush and then butter in about 2 or 3 minutes. Any other blending is just to make sure you have all the nut dust mixed in as well. 

Hazelnut butter in blender 

The hardest part was getting all the butter out of the bottom of the blender! Luckily it was runny enough to mostly pour out into the jars. I made two batches of nut butter, but could easily have made it with one.

This nut butter smells delicious and I can't wait to try it, after my cleanse. 

Have a healthy day,

April

Hazelnut butter in jar - Looks and smells great! 

Organising the Kitchen and a New Twist on Rice

Well today was a busy one with getting some gardening done before the weather changes to rain as well as back into the kitchen more doing what I love to do! Now on day 7 of my Master Cleanse and already looking ahead at what comes after. 

Of course, we are all just looking forward to a cup of dandelion coffee first and foremost, however, I am not really craving anything as much as I am looking forward to cooking full meals again. I really do enjoy everything about cooking, the kitchen and all that takes place in there.

Today, since early this morning I have been busy reorganizing the kitchen so it flows better and things are more accessible. You know how we all just sort of allow gadgets to find a space somewhere, and even when it is inconvenient we stick with it because that's where it is.

These last few days I have been looking around at the layout, flow and the fact of my left handedness, to find easier ways of preparing our foods. I have also gathered a lot of different equipment of the years some of which would not be used if it is tucked away.

I spent part of this morning (during the rain) moving things around, cleaning out and putting some things away or creating a space for them. Once this was done, I felt a lot better about the flow of the kitchen - now to get used to new places for everything!

Then I decided to make a quick lunch for the little one and thought of a rice dish I would refer to as Tunisia rice. It has a slightly different take on the traditional way of cooking rice, but is a favourite around here.

To make this rice dish, first chop some veggies you have on hand - a few which can be easily stir fried such as onion, leek, green beans, garlic, grated carrot and so on. Then stir fry them lightly in olive oil in the pot you would cook your rice in.

Some stir fry veggies in the pot 

Once they are nearly done (translucent and tender), add in some spices such as pinch of salt, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric and dash of pepper. Stir this around in the stir fry, add a few drops of water if too dry and in danger of burning.

Stir fry vegetables with spices added in 

Then add in 4 or 5 chopped dried apricots, figs or dates. Or all three. Keep stirring around until well coated and mixed with each other. Next pour in 2 cups of water and bring this mixture to a boil. In the meantime, wash your 1 cup of brown basmati rice. Once the water is boiling, pour in the rice.

Rice mixture with water - starting to boil

Turn this down to low heat setting and allow to cook fully. It will take a little longer because of all the veggies and fruit in there. The smell is fantastic and this is a lovely dish to serve on its own or on the side of fish, meat, or as I did today, mixed with lentils. We love this at Solstice/Christmas time as well

Enjoy!

Have a healthy day,


April

Tunisia Rice! Yumm!

Bulk Buying, Flour and Cinnamon Cake

Today, in my wish to get a little organized for next week and indeed the coming winter season, I did a large bulk shopping trip to build up our own stores here at home. What I found were some different flours I would not usually use too often.

I now have oat flour, more gram flour, barley flour, white spelt and lentil flours. A few years ago, when I was gluten free, I did use more of these. At the time our digestive tracts were still in recovery phase, so we did not eat bread and certainly not cakes.

Now, we are well past that (a few years in fact) and I have been making lots baked goods for us to enjoy. Mostly I use organic whole grain spelt flour for nearly everything. But it is nice to branch out now and again into some different tastes.

When I came home I wanted to try out my white spelt flour in a cake recipe I have been working on and hope to make a few of these cakes in the coming weeks. Tonight I made a cinnamon cake that was supposed to have an almond crumble.

However, at the last minute I thought the almond crumble might not keep frozen, so I ended up mixing the almonds into the batter. Of course, I always start with my standard - 2 cups of flour,  baking soda and a little salt.

Next I wanted the cake to be sweet but am no longer using commercial apple concentrate, so I made some apple sauce from 2 apples with cinnamon and nutmeg mixed in. To this I added 1 cup of butter and two eggs. 

Steamy apple sauce with lots of cinnamon and nutmeg

Using my blender I ground up 1 cup of almonds fairly fine which went into the flour mixture. Then I folded in the apple sauce-butter-egg into the flour mixture. As I was stirring it, I added 1/4 cup of maple syrup and a little more flour.

Cinnamon cake batter in pan

At this point it smelled very almondy so I added more cinnamon! 

Of course, the entire house now smells like cinnamon cake, it looks divine and we are fasting until Thursday... LOL

Into the freezer it goes until next weekend. I hope to have a couple more made by then, perhaps something very different from what I normally make - with all these nice flours to try. 

Hope you have a lovely day!

April

Cinnamon cake, just out of the oven

Homemade Herbed Vinegar...

The one thing I enjoy perhaps the most about my days spent fasting is the level of creativity I always feel. Today I was itching to cook and just wanted to relax - of course the only way for me to do this is to spend some time in the kitchen.

I ended up making roasted salted cashews, because these jars were empty. I also have a banana bread made and now in the freezer. Then made a honey oat bread for my daughter... as well as puy lentil soup - her favourite meal.

As I was looking around at all I have on hand, I decided the one thing missing was some herbed vinegar. This might not be something we eat a lot of, however, when you make all your own sauces, stews, soups, dressings and so forth from scratch, they might come in handy.

I had always wanted to try making tarragon garlic vinegar as well as some others. The only vinegar I had on hand suitable for this is an oak aged apple cider vinegar, so I hope it turns out all right. It seemed so simple to make, almost as if it was too easy. But then, I have been finding out most of this homemade food is quite straight forward.

To make the herbed vinegar, I first washed, heated and then poured boiling water over the bottles I wanted to use, as they were too long and large to place in a boiling water bath. 

Bottles heating up, washed

Next I went into the garden to gather my herbs - I decided to make two different vinegars today, one with the tarragon and garlic and the other with rosemary, thyme, sage, and parsley. I cut sprigs of each of these herbs and brought them in, washed and then dried them lightly, bruising them a tiny bit to allow the flavour to come out.

Herbs drying on towel

Using a wooden skewer, I gently pushed each herb into the bottles towards the bottom. Since the pieces of garlic were too big to fit, I peeled and cut them, then pushed the smaller pieces into the bottle. 

Herbs in bottle 

Once that was done, I poured boiled apple cider vinegar into each jar, filling it to about 4 cm from the top. Apparently, they may need a top up because the herbs will absorb some of the liquid. This is then left to sit for about 2 weeks or so and then is ready to use. 

The herbs can be removed and fresh ones put in or any number of things. According to the information I have, this is a fairly versatile process, and now any number of ways can be used to enhance the vinegars.

I also want to try some spiced vinegars - for this I need to get a different type of vinegar solution, perhaps a white or red wine vinegar to start with. Lots of plans here. I will let you know how these turn out. I want to use them for making mayonnaise, mustards, salad dressings and marinades. 

I also love flavoured oils, so will perhaps get to those this week too. 

Well, that's me for Day 5 of my Master Cleanse - looking forward to getting ready for next weeks' Autumn Celebration (Mabon). 

Have a healthy day!

April

Three jars of herb flavoured vinegar