Sourdough Bread, Bean Burgers & Fermentation…..Cookery Class 10th November with April Danann

Want to learn some new recipes, cooking from scratch and a few simple meals that will uplift you? If you have been feeling low, heavy, have some health issues or are just sick and tired of feeling sick and tired...then it's time to come out and learn how to cook - like a rebel! 

Perhaps some high vibration foods are all your body needs to restore its' usual vitality and even if this is the first step on a new road - eating well is all about understanding how and what to cook. This upcoming class will be about bread (mainly), fermentation, bean burgers and sustainable eating….. 

For you seasoned foodies out there, are junk and ready made meals creeping into your menu? Maybe a little tune-up and gentle reminder about what to feed your body is what you need...

However most importantly, eating well and renewed health starts with reducing the amount of processed food in your diet. Making more of our meals from basic ingredients is easier then you might think - all it takes is a little push in the right direction.

 As a food rebel you can learn how to feed yourself and your family - make some items you may have thought too difficult and get to know your food on an entirely new, energetic level. There is no time like right now, and no better place to practice being a rebel!

Come out and join an Intuitive Rebel Cook in Leap, West Cork

10th November (Breaking Bread) 11am to 3pm 

Only €35 for class, organic food, recipes & notes!

Contact April on mobile 087 236 1616 or email: info@aprildanann.com to book your place...See you there!

Rebel Foods Cookery Day 17 February in West Cork

Cooking is my stress reliever - I couldn't imagine going a day without spending at least some of it in the kitchen creating a dish out of the things I might have on hand. Of course, it is also the basis for a healthy diet and lifestyle...

So, this is the place for everyone to begin whenever you feel the need to make some positive changes in your life. I have mentioned it before how when I first got going with bringing my diet and eating habits into line, I made one healthy change each week.

And I started out in a simple way - with one meal at a time. For me, breakfast was the most logical place to start while it remains the easiest meal (in my opinion) to alter, while you can have great tasting foods on offer at the same time. 

It was the best place to start because, our first meal had become a disaster. When ever I think of each of the commercial 'foods' being pushed in our directions - and especially those geared towards breakfast - I see sugar, salt and fat filled meals. 

Cereals in a box, for instance, have long been known to be far less nutritious then the cardboard packaging they are in. Yet, how many people (and children) only feel they have time to open a box and little else each morning...

However, no meal has to sink below the water line when it comes to nutrition - and certainly not the first, most important meal of the day. If you would like to make, taste and know what a foodie slash nutritionist eats to start the day....

Come on out to see for yourself! 

Where: Leap, West Cork

When: Sunday 17 February 2013 (11am to 3pm)

How: contact April on 087 2361616

Cost: €40 for the class, food, recipes and notes

Why: Because this is the best place to start!

Perhaps it's time to make a couple of changes to your diet - what better way, than to be motivated with easy recipes, some fun with food and lively conversation.... getting back to what is real with a Food Rebel!

All growth starts with a seed....

Refining Our Tastes...

Yesterday was the second day off the Master Cleanse for us, so we are still getting back to eating regular meals and filling up on good food. When I came into the kitchen to get lunch ready there was a already a plan in place as the children were asking for sushi. 

This is one of our favorite  meals or snacks that takes little time to prepare and is very versatile, it also travels fairly well for small kids. Of course, we don't make this with raw fish - but nearly anything else goes when it comes to sushi in our house.

Usually we make sushi rolls with guacamole, tuna, cucumber and grated carrot. However, yesterday everyone was in the mood for other flavours, so I rooted around to see what we had on hand. I found local crab meat and locally hot smoked tuna -- when mixed together this was a very nice combination.

For the meal I made a vegetable stir-fry and then realized that -- with virtually no processed foods remaining in the house, we did not have a mayonnaise or sauce for dipping. This brought me back to the drawing board and cooking/creating something from scratch.

I have tried my hand at making mayonnaise several times, with some success. However, for small children, I did not necessarily want to use raw duck eggs as part of a recipe. Thus, the sauce needed to be cooked so this was moving into new territory for me.

In the end, I separated the egg yolk and cooked it together with some water, spelt flour and butter. Then added in mustard and spices, vinegar and kept stirring until it was thickening up. After taking it off the stove I pureed it and slowly added some oil. 

To be honest, I thought that it was lovely and smelled nice, but it looked more like hollandaise sauce then mayo, at least not the white stuff you will find in the shops. The one thing I was certain of was that the children would not eat it - but they were the ones who surprised me. Everyone loved it and I don't think there was much left over!

Now, I just want to play around with the recipe a bit more to get it where I really like it and then find a way to preserve it for a couple weeks at a time or perhaps even longer. I mean, we can buy something off of a shelf and it has a date indicating that it can last for quite awhile - how do they do that with such highly perishable food items?

The only method is to use chemical additives, stabilizers or preservatives and so forth. When not using these, perhaps the best way to enjoy mayonnaise sauce is freshly made. The wonderful thing here is it was very quick to put together with just making it up as I went from a vague idea of what should be found in a white sauce that I wanted to become a mayonnaise. 

Perhaps, this is the simplicity of all cooking and preparing meals - they can be tasty, wholesome and easy to assemble and we have somehow been stupified into thinking otherwise. Clever marketing, yes?

Have a great day,

April

Sushi roller, sheet of nori seaweed and lunch!