Creative Cooking 101 - Fish Dish

Yesterday was a cooking day - I just wanted to make things - perhaps I had something on my mind or whatever - either way I ended up cooking several dishes for the children to try and then put the rest in the freezer for when my detox is over.

One of the foods I had on hand was some fish - we have eaten a lot of fish over these last 2 years since we went back on meat sources of protein - and sometimes we get a little tired of it. So with that in mind I did some thinking about the hake I had and what to do with it.

Fish is so simple and easy to work with - it's also very versatile. I like that I can add a lot of other flavours to it as well - such as herbs, citrus, onion and a few more. But I also like it when the dish tastes fresh and is full of interesting tastes...

I finally decided to stew the hake in lemon juice, sautéd onions, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and water (with a little pepper, salt and dried dill from my garden). This all went well and was very savoury smelling - it looked great.

When it was fairly well cooked I poured off a half cup of the fishy liquid and put it aside. Then I let the fish sit for a few minutes in the juices. In another pot I melted some butter added 1 tablespoon of spelt flour and made a little sauce - I poured the fish juice into this.

Once it was heated up again, it thickened and this was spooned over the fish in the other saucepan with more pepper and a little sea salt. My children loved it - however, I have yet to taste it, so the verdict is still out.

It does smell very nice however....

April

Hake cooking in the sauce pan...

A Meatless Sunday Meal....

Not so long ago I was vegan - and had been for nearly 6 years, before that I was vegetarian off and on for a few years (quite a few!). One of the regular foods we ate during those years was some sort of nut loaf.

I say some sort because I would make them with nearly anything that I had on hand - of course your basic ingredients might be ground nuts, however, after that anything goes. These last few days I have been rethinking my nut loaf recipe and decided to make one for the children.

Today I had some soaked mung beans on hand, extra walnuts, some olives, lots of spices and a fresh goose egg. The mung beans had been mixed and ground (after sprouting for 2 days) with fresh herbs from the garden, garlic, onion and leeks.

I then ground the walnuts and just started adding what I could find. One of the nicest things about a loaf of any type is that it will all bake up together with some of the flavours blending throughout the entire dish.

Mung beans tend to stay together quite well when sprouted and blended - earlier in the day I had made a few bean burgers with them, which is one of our favourite foods. But, I do like to create something different from time to time, even when using the same vegetable ingredients.

Perhaps it has a little to do with retaining the spiritual connection with our foods while aligning ourselves to nature's forces - that to me, now means to make the majority of our plates from the vegetable and herb kingdom, but to also be in touch with the meats you are eating as well.

Meat per se is not a negative - what tends to be dark about it, is when it is laced with unknown medications, fed GM ingredients, stressed out and full of toxins. Of course now there is the very real situation of not getting the meat you are paying for....

Vegetables and animals you grow, prepare and cook yourself are a fairly safe bet!! LOL

April

Bean & Nut Loaf with olives and garlic....

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

Herbed Oat Cakes

I just realised I don't often mention Oat Cakes on here - these lovely little crackers used to be a staple in our diets, until I stopped buying processed/packaged foods! LOL So, now they are an occasional treat whenever I make them.

Even though there are so few ingredients and they are tasty, they are far better homemade then anything you can find in the shops. So, please try this out at home - or any variation of this recipe, because they are lovely, good for you and kind of fun to make. Especially if you have children...

When you make them at home you can jazz things up a bit, (which is the same thing we have found out about everything else we eat) and make some different combinations using herbs, grains, nuts, seeds, spices or whatever, to suit yourself.

A basic Oat Cake (herbed) recipe would be:

Thyme Herbed Oatcakes

2 cups ground oatmeal or oat flour

2 tablespoons spelt flour for rolling

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1 tsp salt

4 tablespoons olive oil

9 -11 tablespoons boiling water

Preheat your oven to 180C - in a deep bowl place the oatmeal, baking soda, thyme and some of the salt.

Carefully measure out the olive oil and add to the oatmeal mixture. Mix well - then slowly add the boiling water, 1 tablespoon at a time - be careful around spoon 8 - you might not need much more. If the dough is too dry - add up to 11. 

I usually stop somewhere between 9 and 10 tablespoons of water. The dough will be warm and soft but hold together well. Roll out flat onto a floured parchment to about 3mm thickness. Using a cookie cutter cut into round shapes - sprinkle a little salt over top and place on a baking sheet. You might also want to sprinkle more thyme at this point too. 

Bake for about 15 minutes until lightly golden - then allow to cool and enjoy with nut butter, jam, chutney, cheese, smoked fish or anything you wish. These are lovely on their own too. 

April

**Intuition for Business Class start 5 March in West Cork

Thyme Oat Cakes 

Living Consciously - Higher States of Awareness

One of the things I wanted to mention more of on here, would be based on the theme of Conscious Living (this is the only name I can think of to describe it). Which then begs the question - what exactly is Conscious Living....

So - here is my take on it, right now, from where I am at this point in time. 

Conscious Living to me would entail being fully and completely aware of all aspects of your life. Of course, the most basic and most important of these would be our food and water. The events of late should have people wondering about where their food is coming from and what they can do to improve the situation.

When we are aware of our lives - we tend to take a greater part in it - sort of like actually living. 

Think about the way we are being encouraged to live right now - we have lost out in so many aspects of living in this new century, we don't even have a rudimentary role in most of the food we eat, the water we drink, the clothes we wear, the jobs we do and the thoughts that go through our heads.

We don't communicate with each other, we don't play, we are rapidly losing skills, abilities and general knowledge on how to care for ourselves. For instance, we are not healing our bodies - but encouraged to treat symptoms.

Instead, we have been told to place 'trust' (faith, hope) in others to do each of these things for us. As if this other person (group, business, committee, agency) might have our best interests first and foremost on their agendas. 

When these things (aspects of living in an aware manner) are taken away from us - a form of powerlessness results. Along with powerlessness comes a deadening of the consciousness - when we feel we cannot change something, after a while we give up.

And giving up is not an option....so this has to change. It all starts with you.

April

Food & Herbs - all the medicine we need

Prepare Your Garden for Spring

Even though the days are still damp and cold - now is the time to be getting your garden in order. If your's is anything like mine, you may find yourself standing around scratching your head wondering where all the weeds have come from in such a short space of time.

Then again, you might also find yourself marveling at how some plants have hung on to life - even through some of the most violent rain, wind and winter storms over these past few weeks. Herbs are like that - give them something to struggle for and they will choose life.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind at this early part of spring is to not underestimate how very much is taking place below the surface or behind the scenes, so to speak. Our gardens are accumulating great energy - ready to spring forward into rapid growth.

I hope this sounds a lot like your own life right now. The preparation has been done, the work has been put in and now with the ground ready, your dreams will simply grow up from the roots they have formed. 

We are all very much like our gardens (or our gardens are mirror images of us) going though phases, changes and energy shifts throughout the year as the seasons roll on. But, each year expanding in scope, size and dimension as the garden matures.

This maturation process is a vital aspect of a gardens growth in the exact same way we, as energetic humans develop and maintain our energetic selves. Each year of a clean diet, walking a spiritual path and seeking deeper connections to our selves through our food - we also undergo a transformation.

There is nothing quite as beautiful as a garden in full bloom.

April

Something to look forward to....

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....