West Cork - the centre of the Food Universe

A few of my favourite things….

I remember not so very long ago when I spent nearly a decade sugar, wheat, dairy, wheat, meat and fish free. My how times have changed since I started the fasting, raising my own food and healing my gut properly.

Now, everything we can raise, make, cook, create, grow and catch ourselves is on the menu and since I love this time of the year so much there are so many goodies to choose from….LOL

This year I wanted to share a few of my favourite things with you, of course, it just goes to show, they all happen to be food! But, good foods are often simple things that become decadent once a little bit of this and a little dash of that, is added.

It’s kind of like magic – kitchen alchemy. Especially this time of year, there are so many wonderful tastes, food memories and seasonal offerings to be had. Perhaps we are quite spoilt living here in West Cork too, because this is kind of like the centre of the food Universe!

So now, where was I? Oh yes, my 3 treats of the season so far this year would have to be – Fig & Port Chutney, Brandy & Vanilla Butter and my Gourmet Seaweed Sea Salt blend (each of these are available at my Rebel Foods market stall in very limited quantities). 

Funny how two of those include a little bit of alcohol, but never mind it’s a seasonal thing!

For the Fig & Port Chutney, I slow cooked (food should be handled very gently) figs, apples, red onions, spices and demerara sugar, then added port at the last hour of cooking. This ensures that richness of flavour – can’t wait to try it on our Christmas goose (and turkey, duck, sandwiches, Gubbeen cheese….LOL).

Next my favourite seasonal delight has to be Brandy and Vanilla Butter. This is really a little bit (ok, a lot) my own take on an ancient Victorian recipe. Of course, I am using my own organic vanilla infused Jim Beam that has been aging, just waiting for this season….

Brandy butter is something special, often reserved for Christmas day pudding, it can be heated and poured over the warm pud like a sauce or better yet, a steaming hot pudding and cold brandy butter melting over top can’t be compared to anything else. 

We also love it with a cheese selection and with smoked salmon or other smoked fish. Come to think of it, smoked cheese sandwiches with brandy butter has a nice sound too….hmmm.

Lastly, I have changed my Seaweed & Sea Salt recipe for the holiday season – adding sesame seeds to this unique medley of gorgeous sea salts from around the world. I love salt, it’s healing properties and ability to turn ordinary food into an art form.

My Gourmet Seaweed Sea Salt blend has West Cork sea salt along with French, Himalayan and other Atlantic sea salts. When combined with the seaweeds and infused with thyme – the flavour is exquisite. 

So much to look forward to this holiday season – it’s all in the food! 

April

Magic of Christmas….comes in a jar! 

To Detox or Not to Detox...

So, you spent another Solstice/Christmas/Yule/New Year's laying about, over indulging in sugar, alcohol, chocolate - just fueling some bad habits and feeding the mold, yeast and other nasty critters in your gut. You wake up 2 days after the new year feeling heavy, yukky and wondering how and if you can ever feel 'good' about yourself again.

But right now you feel like a bag of sh** and you are seriously considering doing something about it. Perhaps a change in diet or a detox, or some exercise....

For the life of me, I can't understand why this is such a dilemma! I mean, what on earth holds you back, keeps you stuck in that place and won't let you go? We can read about it, talk about it, cry over it - and yes there are many energetic, spiritual, emotional, fear based reasons that you are still doing all the same things; over and over again.

Ultimately, it is up to you and only you to break these patterns. You are the only one who can stand up (get off your arse) and place one foot in front of the other one and take those first steps towards making the most important decision of your year and perhaps your entire life.

If you are still addicted to anything, you need to detox. If you do not exercise, you must detox. When you spend days, weeks and months over eating the wrong types of foods - your body needs a break, you need to take some time to clean and support your internal digestive functions. 

If you are sick, unwell, have taken anti-biotics (or drugs) of any sort over the last little while - you need to rebuild your system from the beginning using clean water and real food. And you must find a way to exercise, get out side and follow your dreams.

Now, for those of you who are wanting to follow a higher path, pursue your own spirituality and embark on the single most important journey of your life - there is no time like this moment. And no better way to begin then to clean up your diet, start a detox (water fast) and change your life.

What you need, is here

April

The Pagan Diet - a great place to start... also available on Gumroad in pdf 

Happy Turkey - The Land of Plenty....

I love turkey! Well, at least these last couple of days I do anyway. It's not something I can say I have eaten in the past decade or so, making this year quite extraordinary actually. Not only have I eaten turkey, but the ones I did eat, were raised and then (ahem) prepared by me.

In my other life I used to be a Food Hygiene Inspector, what that means for those of you who are unfamiliar with the processes of meat before it arrives on your plate - is that I was the person who carried out an ante and post mortem inspection on animals meant for food.

To say the very least, I have seen nearly all animals walk into a plant and come out the other side in boxes. As you might imagine, I am fairly particular about the meat I would eat and feed my family and was for many years a strict vegan.

What prompted me to raise my own turkeys this year you might ask - up to now I have been thinking I did not know. But, I really do, somewhere deep inside - it's only now that I have taken the time to sort out how I am feeling about it all.

A turkey for me (and us) is more then representative of being thankful - it also says something far more in our hearts. These turkeys are about abundance, plenty and the arrival on new shores - on our walk of life. 

This year we have spent so much time feeling thankful for our health, all we have and especially the food that takes us there. It has been quite a year this last full cycle of the Mayan calendar - one age has ended and another one is being ushered in. 

Something dark, heavy and old has ceased to exist for us, leaving the door wide open for change. And the turkey is only the start of it - a move into the land of plenty!

Happy Christmas,

April

A beautiful turkey cooked with sage from the garden...

Don't Let Anyone Change Who You Are - By Telling You What to Eat! (rant)

Today I was leafing through the local adverts from a supermarket - it's getting close to Christmas and I would expect it to be full of items people might think they need for these holiday dinners...such as the veg, some kind of meat, flour and fixings for desserts and so forth.

However I was quite surprised at how far away the marketing has come from reality and perhaps how far away I am now from the rubbish they are expecting people to buy and eat (and I have an Honours degree in Food Marketing, so I studied this stuff). The thing that got me going was that there was not one single raw ingredient advertised in over 10 pages of pictures and prices.

Each and every single item was of something prepared, either cooked or ready to put in the oven and cook. So, it seems you are expected to purchase your 'holiday' meals ready to pop in the oven (or microwave?) and just press a button.

Then presto - it's like some sort of magic - you have a ready made already assembled Christmas dinner - all you have to do is fork this into your mouth.

This is not the kind of magic I am interested in at all. Who wants someone else's energy (hung over employee unhappy with wages, co-workers, self and life) spread all over their food? It's more then enough to deal with our own stuff, but at least that's familiar to us!

Oh, but my rant continues! You are not only expected to buy and eat this prepared food (it's cheap), the ingredients are already selected for you. You can have carrots, potatoes, parsnips or 2 other vegetables combinations. With tiny bits of parsley as a garnish.

What happened to the other 90 vegetables in the kingdom? Where are the real herbs? Does everything have to be slathered in butter? Not to mention cooked and then packed in plastic trays (were they cooked in plastic too?).

Probably tastes like garbage bags....

I mean why would they even bother with the plastic trays of 'food' - why not condense it down further and just put each dinner into pill form and we can all pop those. So convenient - we wouldn't even have to taste anything...

Indeed, it seems as if they are busy creating their own reality...with the consumer in mind.

Do yourself a favour this year - find some different vegetables at a Farmers market (organic if you can) look for celeriac, purple carrots, rare varieties of apples, heaps of fresh herbs - and then look up recipes online or make up your own.

Have some fun with your food - but whatever you do, handle and prepare it yourself. Don't let anyone dictate to you what your meals should consist of by cooking them for you....don't let anyone change who you are.

April

Now, we need to get our green branches and it will take shape... table centre piece 

Table Centre Piece - Do It Yourself!

Today I was out and about with the children and realized that I had not given much thought to our table decorations this year...not that we do much to make it fancy - with young children you kind of get out of those habits and never seem to get back into them!

But, as I was walking around and thinking this over my mind was already going into one direction...it has to be homemade what ever it is. Perhaps as an extension of our homemade unprocessed lifestyle there is no way I can go out and buy something 'pretty' for the Solstice table. 

I have to make it myself. 

Over these past few days we have been busy making our yearly decorations for the house and a few for the tree. The children love this part of the holidays and ever since the year I decided to have an 'edible' Christmas tree, we have been making most of our ornaments.

But, I would always get flowers, or something arranged for the table (years ago before the kids!) and tell myself that I was not very good at making up arrangements myself. Not this year - I am perfectly able to make something wonderful for the table and that is exactly what I am working on right now.

Actually my fingers are sore at the moment from poking cloves into oranges while the house smells so nice from all the fragrance. We usually make these oranges and put them in corners for the smell, but this year I am thinking of giving them a more prominent position.

Of course there are loads of ideas now floating around in my head of things I could do with the dinner table and other areas to make them look festive - my main ground rules are that everything has to be natural, non toxic and not really breakable if it hits the floor.

Should be simple, right? I will keep you posted....

April

Lemurs at Fota - keeping warm!

High Vibration Eating & Cooking

Today has been a busy one - just getting a few more things done for the holidays as well as trying to finish up some tasks I have set for myself. It's all good though and I am still working away down my list for our upcoming feast....

I just finished making cookies for the freezer (no one got to sample them!) as I thought how much easier it would be to have as much as possible made ahead of time. Then I get to concentrate on the main meals while I enjoy a little free time too.

Yesterday I decided to make another pudding for our collection - this one is a Sticky Date & Fig pudding - it took far longer to cook then I thought it would and I was up every hour checking on the steamer last night, until about 4 this morning! LOL

But, I think this one is going to be a winner because it smelled and looked so nice. It was steamed entirely on the wood stove (perhaps that's why it took 8 hours) and it has got me thinking that this slower cooking method might be even better than all of the slow methods I use now.

So with this in mind I only cooked food today for the kids on the wood stove....I made porridge, baked salmon, rice, stir-fry of veggies and some vegetable mash (carrot, sweet potato). All by gently cooking them on a lower heat for a little longer time.

Because I am still fasting, I really don't know if they tasted any better, however, I think the foods were of a higher vibration because they were handled in a gentler manner. And I am not sure I am explaining this very well here!! LOL

All living things have a vibration - food (especially) picks up and retains the vibrations of those who touch it, cook it as well as the methods used to process or prepare it. When it is gently and carefully made into a meal - then this is exactly the energy that you are consuming...

I feel as if I am learning an entire new way of eating and living here....once again.

April

Sticky Date & Fig Pudding 

Making Your Own Holiday Treats - Good Feelings Included

Did you know that you can use sweet mincemeat to make cookies, energy bars, cakes, biscuits, pies and perhaps nearly anything else? To be honest, I have never ever eaten a mincemeat pie...and I haven't even been interested in eating one....

But, yesterday I made up some sweet mincemeat for the holiday season, so that I could give it a go - use it in a few things and see how they turn out. And I am really interested in trying out these new tastes. 

Perhaps this change has more to do with the fact that I have finally fully internalized that I can make anything. And therefore if I can make it myself, I can also make it to taste really good. I love the fact that it's all so easy to prepare as well.

Making mincemeat is as simple as throwing ingredients into a deep bowl and letting them sit for a day, a week or up to months according to some recipes. In keeping with the diversity, I did make up my own recipe as well - but I won't give it yet, because I want to taste it first! LOL

One of the things I am noticing as I am out and about these weeks before Solstice/Christmas is the amount of baking that people are buying. The simplest things are available for sale in the shops, and it seems almost criminal. 

Mostly because the fun of this season is to have the house smell of cloves, nutmeg and spices while something baking or cooking is eagerly awaited. Then the tasting, the sheer enjoyment of making your own festive treats and having everyone feeling good about their food. 

None of this arrives home in a package from a shop at any time of the year and certainly not during this season. The good feelings are something that gets added by the chef - and should be a personal touch for your family to enjoy. 

I think we are missing out on so much when we buy our holiday goodies in the shops. As I am having a completely unprocessed Solstice this year, I admit, it is a challenge to make it all ourselves...but not impossible and I don't want to miss out on anything. 

At the moment I even have a traditional Christmas pudding sitting steaming on the wood stove, it needs to steam for about 10 hours or so....this is going to be interesting... 

So bring it on!!

April

Mincemeat sealed in jars -- ready to mature

Cranberry Apple Sauce - So Easy to Make! (sugar free)

Although this is not really an Irish thing, it has become more popular over the past few years and it seems to be something most people would buy rather than make at home. Cranberry sauce is a staple this time of year for the holiday season as well as anytime you think of eating turkey.

This week we will be having a turkey (the first time in about 10 years!) and it is one of our own. I was delighted that it turned out so well, growth wise anyway and seems to be plenty big. This one dressed out at just under 22 pounds... More than enough!!

Getting back to the sauce... well, I wanted to have a selection of condiments to choose from on the day and that meant getting cranberries. They are readily available in most shops and are also very easy to work with. 

What I like most about cranberries, besides the fact that they are so good for you, is their versatility. You can put many different things with them but my personal favourite would have to be apples. I like apples mainly because they balance the tartness of the berries with a sweeter softer taste.

They also thicken up the sauce very well eliminating the need for any other gelling agents. It's really so easy to make and could also be used as a jam for bread or crackers. Actually with a little cheese....

So, to make cranberry sauce I washed 500gr of berries and chopped up 4 apples (peeled and cored). These all went into a pot with a little water to be boiled down to the desired consistency. I did add a little ground cloves (what's winter without it?) and some agave syrup to sweeten, then blended the results once it was cooked.

Because I was making lots, I also sterilized 2 jars and canned the extra sauce for our Solstice season...and we still have a bowl of it to try in the meantime. It is lovely without being overly sweet or tart - the nicest thing about making this yourself is you can decide on the taste!

April

Cranberry Apple Sauce before blending