Homemade Spelt Pasta

Yesterday the children wanted pasta – this is not something I have traditionally enjoyed much myself, however I know they like it – so it gets made for them once in a while.

Of course, now, if we want pasta, it has to be made from scratch (just like everything else!) and that was going to be the fun part. I remember many years ago, making pasta dough and really liking the fact that I could make something very fresh.

I also remember buying freshly made pasta or at least not the dried stuff from the shops – and it was nicer to not have gone through any extra processes. But, for something with so few ingredients, it should be fairly easy to make.

And of course, it is. For the most part it is only flour, water and salt – you can get fancy with your recipe and add things like eggs, flavourings, colours and so much…I wanted to do my own thing and naturally to add my own things too.

For my recipe I just used about 4 cups spelt flour, ½ teaspoon sea salt and 1 ½ cups (or a little more) warm water to make a basic spelt pasta dough. But then to dress it up a tiny bit I added in some dried thyme and finely chopped seaweed.

Then I let the dough sit for about 20 minutes or so to settle and come to room temperature. I cut the dough into about 6 smaller pieces and flattened them out on a floured surface with my hand.

Once they were flat enough I started moving them through the pasta roller to thin even more, gradually getting them thinner until they were thin enough and easy to handle to make the pasta.

We decided to just make a linguine type of pasta – so each flattened piece of dough was now wound through the cutter and long pieces of linguine were pushed out the other end.

It really is a simple process (especially with a hand operated pasta roller and cutter) – the pasta can then be placed directly into boiling water and cooked until the desired consistency is reached.

I like spelt pasta because it is not as heavy as wheat pasta and I like it without eggs, but plan to try making some with an egg in it very soon to see how it turns out. If you haven’t tried making this yourself, you are really missing out on some fun (especially with children) and such a refreshing meal when made from your own hands.

It's too easy not to give it a go!

April 

Home made spelt pasta 

Almond Citrus Cake

For another take on using oranges in our baking I decided to mix two of my favourite food together - almonds and oranges. I wanted to use up some oranges but also to bake using less flour and more of other, different ingredients.

Almonds are lovely because they grind down into a floury powder, yet retain that deep taste that goes throughout a dish. And they pair up well with citrus - especially orange. I also like the texture of cake, cookies or other foods like nut loaf when made with almonds.

Cakes are easy to make with nearly any combination of ingredients and are just as easy to freeze for those days when something a little sweet would be nice with your dandelion coffee. 

This recipe is really straight forward and easy to follow - I had my children working with me on this one too - we usually bake something on Fridays for our home school project....

Almond Citrus Cake

2 cups ground almonds

1 cup whole grain spelt flour (or white spelt)

1 large organic orange

3 eggs (I use duck eggs)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon Apple pie spice

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

pinch salt

7 to 8 tablespoons orange water

Place the orange in a saucepan cover it with water and bring it to a gentle boil for about 1 hour. It should cook gently, otherwise it will be tough. Once boiled, take off the heat and cool. Then cut it open and remove the seeds. The orange then needs to be blended into a pulp together with one or two tablespoon of the water it was boiled in.

Turn on the oven to 180C and prepare a baking tin - I usually use a bundt pan for cakes.

In a deep mixing bowl, place the dry ingredients and sift them together (flour, almond, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt). Break the eggs in a small bowl and whisk together with the maple syrup. Next, add the wet ingredients (including the orange pulp) to the dry almond mixture and start to mix together - you will need to add the orange water here - add enough to ensure it is wet but not sloppy. Usually around 7 or 8 tablespoons.

Spoon this batter into a prepared tin and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. Once a toothpick comes out clean - turn off the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack. This is lovely served with orange sections, or drizzled with maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Almond Citrus Cake

More Adventures in Rebel Cooking...

Today for something different I decided to try my hand at making some Biscotti - of course, I've never made this before and actually, have never eaten it either. But, that matters not - because until I started baking, cooking, growing and canning everything for myself - I never ate half of these foods! LOL

So, I dug around for some older recipes for biscotti and then thought about what it would mean when I had to adjust the recipe for spelt flour, fresh organic ingredients, goat's butter, and no sugar. This means I always end up tweaking each recipe quite a bit.

To the point that it no longer resembles anything that I might have started out with. In fact - what I ended up doing was combining the advice of several recipes to see what I might end up with. Having not ever tasted a biscotti before might have been a blessing as well....

Because then I could be fully impartial. Or at least I hoped so.

To make these biscotti I decided to have almond and orange flavours as I have this thing for orange right now and I really like the thought of nuts in any cookie. I also knew they needed to be crisp or hardened in order to dunk them in my coffee...

Here's what I did to make these cookies today....

1/2 cup almonds toasted and chopped

1 cup whole grain spelt flour

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 duck egg

3/4 cup polenta 

2 T orange rind

2 T orange juice

1/2 teaspoon gr coriander

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt

First I wanted to get each of the wet ingredients into one place. To do this I blended the maple syrup with the butter, added the egg and then the orange juice.

In a separate mixing bowl, I placed the flours, orange rind, baking soda, salt, spices and some of the toasted almonds. I then mixed this with a wooden spoon until it was well blended - adding the wet mixture slowly until a soft dough was formed.

On a piece of parchment paper I sprinkled some flour and the rest of the almonds. Taking half the dough at a time, I rolled it into a sausage shape taking up the rest of the almonds into the dough. I did this twice with each piece of dough.

Then I just placed each of these long sausages onto a baking sheet and into a hot oven for about 25 to 28 minutes. The oven was around 175C. Once these cookies were a little firm I took them out and let them cool for about 10 minutes or so. Then I sliced them into pieces and placed the pieces back into the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

They turned out nicely - a tiny bit crumbly but really fresh and flavourful. I think I will run through this one again to see if I can get them a little harder like a biscuit....Yummy though!

April

Almond & Orange Biscotti 

Pineapple Walnut Cake

Today has been rather productive for a Sunday and a fasting day! We got a few things done in the herb garden and I also had time to get in some cooking and baking. Of course this is my favourite thing to do  - so I always have time for it.

As a result of today's exploits I made a pot of cream of broccoli soup and a pineapple walnut cake. That was aside from all the work with the herbs....

Of course the cake was the most interesting part - it all started with a tin of pineapple (organic of course) that was left over in the cupboard. I don't have many tins of things here, so this one just sort of stood out all alone.

Today I pulled it out and decided something had to be done with this lonely pineapple and it whispered 'cake'. Actually this is a really easy cake to make and it sort of just fell together in a matter of minutes. 

I always start out with the basic 3 cups of flour, bread soda, salt - to this I added cinnamon, coconut and chopped walnuts. It all looked good so far and I could actually taste the final result. I guess this time I was baking for a certain taste if that makes sense!

Then, for the wet ingredients I put in some agave syrup and apple sauce as a sweetener, 3 duck eggs and oil. It was all quickly mixed together until there was no more flour visible and now I had a lovely cake batter.

For an added twist I decided to bake it in one of my clay pots. After soaking the clay pot in water for about 15 minutes it was ready to be buttered and floured on the inside. I coated it well and then spooned the cake batter inside. 

I was a little worried that I might have just wasted my time (and my tin of pineapple!) because I had no idea how the clay pot would do with the cake - 55 minutes later it came out of the oven and smelled and looks delicious. 

My taste tester, who is 5 approved, but the only description I was able to get was that it tasted like 'cake'. She is right now eating a piece of the cake after I poured some honey over top as a topping.

Can't wait until the weekend when I can eat again! 

April

Pineapple walnut cake 

Cinnamon Cake - Loved it!

A few posts ago, I mentioned how I was having a cake week - it was during my last Master Cleanse, I made a few cakes and put them in the freezer because I was in the mood for baking that week. Well, last Sunday I took out a piece of the cinnamon cake I had made and it was one of the nicest cakes I have ever tasted....

We all enjoyed it - I even kept wondering if it had improved with the freezing process (not likely) but it was so moist, tasty and light.  Well, because of all that - I wanted to recreate it and of course see if I could improve on it. 

You know, make it even better, if that was possible. 

It is a challenge to make these things when I don't use sugar, wheat flour and anything processed - we have become so accustomed to those flavours, we often feel at a loss when trying to find ingredients to use in place of this. 

And for me, it has been over 8 years since I ate sugar, wheat, cows milk, caffeine or many other of these foods - and I still have to stop and think about replacement ingredients for certain foods I want to make. Yet, I know that is also part of the process here, find the old ways some of these recipes were made or come up with new ones.

I am never one to back down from a challenge, so in wanting to improve on an already great recipe for the cinnamon cake I decided what it needed was something like a coffee cake crumble over the top. Only it would be without the sugar....

I went back to the drawing board here and made my cake with the standard fare - 2 duck eggs, 1 cup milk, 3 cups spelt flour, 1/2 cup butter, baking soda etc. But then I added in 1 cup of ground almonds, 1 cup apple butter and extra cinnamon with some of our own honey.

These ingredients were all mixed in a deep bowl to form the cake batter which I then poured into a bundt pan. For the topping, I mixed up 3/4 cup oats, butter, milk, cinnamon and maple syrup in a small bowl. It did not look like quite enough, I could have done with more, but I thought it would give me an idea of how this would taste.

I crumbled the topping mixture over top of the batter and then placed it in a hot oven for about 40 minutes or so. Once it was cool I could not wait to taste how this one turned out - I tried to stick to my original recipe (thank goddess I keep notes!) so I hoped it would be as nice as the last one.

It was better! I loved it. Tonight I made a little icing (didn't need it but what the hell!) from creamed goats cheese and maple syrup to drizzle over each slice. It was delicious - my new favorite recipe, for today anyway!! LOL

April

Cinnamon cake with crumble topping

From Leftover Apples to Apple Crumble

You know how I don't like to see old fruit sitting in the bowl going off - it is just begging to have something done with it because I am reluctant to put it in the compost. So, my week has been one of learning to trust myself even more in the kitchen.

I had these very large sweet apples - 5 of them and wondered for a couple of days what to make. We have lots of apple sauce and apple butter so it was decided to make an apple cobbler. But I wasn't exactly sure what the end result would be, so I just started in and where I ended up was a complete surprise!

The apples were cooked with cinnamon, a little lemon juice, maple syrup with a sprinkle of corn starch and vanilla essence in at the last minute. I let them bubble away for about 10 minutes until they were just soft and the liquid had thickened somewhat.

In the meantime I had the oven preheated to about 175 degrees C and a baking dish coated with butter. I spooned with a large ladle the apple mixture into this baking dish, smoothing it out on top. 

Using a deep bowl, I wanted to make some kind of a topping for this cobbler - I ended up with 3/4 cup of spelt flour, 1/2 cup of oats, 3 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup of maple syrup - all mixed and formed into a little ball.

I wanted to cover as much of the top of the apples as possible, so I flattened this dough out and starting at the middle of the dish, I spread out the oat mixture covering the apples until only the edge was left open.

Next, this went into the hot oven for about 20 minutes or so. When I took it out, the apples were were bubbling and golden brown on top. The smell was incredible and the apple sauce had thickened up a little more.

Apple Cobbler or something similar! 

I served it as it was, hot with a cup of dandelion coffee. It was the most delicious tasting dessert I have had in a very long time! Delightful when things turn out well.

Perhaps I should do a little more experimenting...

Have a tasty day,

April

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

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! 

Making Crackers...

If you have never made your own crackers, you don't know what you are missing! Anything else that you might buy from a shop is tasteless and bland by comparison. Homemade crackers are a delightful treat and so easy to make.

This is the number one item on my list (well, next to bread) when I ask myself, where has it all gone wrong for us to believe that we should be buying these foods? Something as simple as a cracker actually has flavour, taste, texture and life in it when it is made by hand and not by some machine. 

This morning I wanted to make a few for our lunch and set to work with a plan to make some spelt and oat crackers which are actually fun to make and everyone can get involved. The wonderful thing about nice crackers is that there are so FEW ingredients. 

Today the sun was shining (this is getting to be rare enough) and I did not want to spend too much time in the house baking - so these were made early in the day.

Measuring all the ingredients into the bowl

The type of crackers I made today are perhaps the most complicated ones that I make and even then there are only a few items that you will need. To make these crackers I used spelt flour, oats, butter, oil, milk, soda and then the toppings (poppy seed, thyme, sea salt).

Cracker dough ready to roll out

The element that I wanted to include here is one of fun - that was the word that I was trying to find for these last few weeks while I have been writing this blog and recording my experiences in the kitchen. Added into the taste, flavour,  and texture of these crackers is the fact that we always have fun making them, with the children watching the oven waiting for them to be done and helping out. 

Many hands helping out! 

Of course you will also get all sorts of interesting shapes, thickness, sizes and variation in the toppings which makes these fun to eat. I think they look great on a plate and at our house, they do not last long. The length of time in the oven will also give variation on the crispness, so each batch is likely to be slightly different, but always good.

Homemade crackers as they cool 

There are many kinds of crackers to make, and I also make a type of cracker from time to time with only spelt flour, oil, sea salt and water as these taste very nice with soft goat's cheese. A few weeks ago I was needing graham crackers for my son's birthday cheesecake, I refused to buy them, so, I made them myself. They were lovely also and I plan to make some more soon. 

When it comes to crackers, you have to give this a try - they really do taste much better homemade.

Have a lovely day,

April

Our Daily Bread

What is so difficult about making our own bread - and since when have we all become so 'fussy' (or whatever it is) that only something that is pure rubbish from a shop can be called bread and even eaten on a regular basis in most people's diets? 

For nearly 7 years I went without bread of any kind in an effort to remove anything that might be causing or contributing to gut and digestive issues (and nearly everything else!) that I was having. And of all the things that I gave up for such a long period of time, bread was the one food that I really missed.

When I started adding foods back into my diet after some level of healing had taken place, I wanted it to be the best and it had to be gut friendly. The best grain for bread as far as I am concerned is spelt (whole grain organic) which is easy to work with but does take some getting used to and is well worth the effort.

Seeds and bread soda in the bread bowl

To make a nice loaf of bread from spelt flour there are only a few rules that should guide you:

-once it is wet you have about 4 minutes to mix (don't over mix) and get it in the oven

-when used for baking (scones, pies etc.) keep the dough cold and it works better

-water is the magic ingredient for taste and texture (clean well water is key)

As well, try not to get into the same rut as the rest of our cooking and meals where bread is concerned, there are so many kinds that can be made at home with common ingredients around the kitchen, so variety is easy to be had.  Below is a list of some of the breads that I would be baking throughout a typical month; 

• Rosemary olive bread (leftover olives from the market are great for this)
• Honey oat bread (use local honey)
• Herbed bread (I often use thyme, oregano and rosemary)
• Cinnamon raison bread (with loads of seeds)
• Plain Soda bread
• Goat's cheese & herb bread (chèvre and thyme, rosemary or tarragon)
• Onion & herb bread (any kind of herb with scallions)
• Naan bread (lovely with sesame seeds)
• Scones (any kind! But I love fruit such as cherry and goat's yogurt)
• Buns and rolls (quickly made for a meal)
• Muffins of all kinds (my favourite are cheese and herb, or sweet ones

When it comes to bread it is nearly impossible to run out of ideas and each day the bread can be made with slightly different ingredients depending what you have on hand. Bread is best made in small batches fresh each day, just a loaf or two at the most. 

Spelt flour being mixed in with the seeds and soda etc

In damp, wet climates such as Ireland, soda bicarbonate has traditionally been used when baking bread and does not cause any of the problems found with yeasted breads. I would recommend using baking soda for all your baking and staying away from yeasts and molds as they cause problems with the gut and digestion.

Another thing that I wanted to mention here as well - bread is usually not the problem when it comes to digestion and gut issues in general. There are far worse 'foods' coming into the diet that can be removed first and improvements will be seen. Start with sugar, caffeine, dairy, wheat, alcohol, Night Shades, processed foods and ready meals if you want to see some immediate benefit to your health - there are lots of ways to make positive changes in any diet.

Herbed bread

Off to make some more jams, 

Have a lovely day,

April

**Believe it or not there are some great quotes about bread, it is that important to us as humans -

"How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?"
--Julia Child

"There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." --Mahatma Gandhi