Bircher muesli

Tried making bircher muesli once, ages ago, didn’t float my boat at the time. But since I’ve gotten so into overnight oats recently and we had some apples, I thought it might be worth another roll…

Seems like there are lots of variations out there… I wanted one with minimal prep in the morning, so decided to go with adding the apple the night before along with all the other stuff - more or less this one: 

Mix overnight: 

1 small apple, grated

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp sunflower seeds 

2.5 tbsp raisins 

130 ml oat milk 

 

To serve in the morning:

Skyr

Berries

Maple syrup (optional)

Grate the apple into a biggish eating bowl. Add the oats, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins and oat milk, mix, cover and put in the fridge overnight. Eat with skyr and berries and perhaps some maple syrup in the morning.

Apricot, walnut and honey loaf cake

I love a tea loaf. And anything that involves honey and walnuts tends to catch my eye - since I began dabbling in beekeeping I've always failed to keep up with the honey supplies (I read in a beekeeping book that beekeepers tend to start because of the bees and stop because of the honey - it struck a chord); and we have an epic quantity of walnuts dropping every autumn, that it is hard to keep up with. So I liked the look of this one - also because I liked the idea of cake as a vehicle for cheese...

I convinced s to help me make it this windy sunday afternoon.

150 g honey
100 g light brown sugar
250 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
50 g oats

150 g dried apricots

2 eggs
125 ml black tea, cooled if possible

150 g golden sultanas (used mix of these and raisins)
50 g walnuts

Heat oven to 160C. Grease and line loaf tin. Gently warm the honey and sugar in a small saucepan, without stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and oats in a large bowl. Cut the apricots into small pieces and stir them in. Break the eggs into a small bowl, beat lightly with a fork.

Pour the warm honey and sugar mixture into the flour together with the tea and the beaten eggs. Then fold the golden sultanas and walnuts into the batter. Scoop the mixture, which will be soft and runny, like a gingerbread batter, into the lined tin.

Bake for 60-75 min until risen and lightly springy (mine seemed perfect at 60 min). Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

 

It fit perfectly in my regular sized loaf tin.

Seedy crackers

We've bought seedy crackers a few times, was too lazy to make them. Then realized maybe it was easy. As I trawled Anna Jones recipes, I saw these ones, and decided to add them to the s-and-me morning baking session list.

50 g sunflower seeds
50 g pumpkin seeds
50 g sesame seeds
25 g poppy seeds
25 g chia seeds
100 g rolled oats
1 tsp psyllium seed husk
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil
175 ml water

Optional:
1/2 heaped tsp fennel seeds and a little pinch of dried chilli or
1/2 tbsp raisins, roughly chopped, and a little pinch of cinnamon

Heat oven to 190 C/175 C fan/gas 5. Get all your ingredients together, and line a baking sheet with baking paper (and have a second sheet the same size on hand).

Combine all the dry ingredients, including one of the optional flavourings if you are using them, and stir well.

Mix the maple syrup, coconut oil and water together in a measuring cup. Add to the dry ingredients and mix very well, until everything is completely soaked and the mixture becomes very thick.

Scrape out onto the lined tray and even out a bit, then put another piece of baking paper on top. Use a rolling pin to roll out the mixture until it is about 1⁄2cm thick. Take the top layer of paper off and use the tip of a sharp knife to score the mixture into rectangles.

Bake the crackers for 20 min. Remove from the oven and flip the sheet over, then peel off the paper to expose the underside of the crackers. Put back into the oven for another 20 min (check after 15). They are ready when they are firm and golden round the edges. Allow to cool, then break along the lines where they have been scored.


I did a half quantity of the original recipe - one baking sheet's worth - this is a good amount for us. I also threw in some psyllium husk to help with sticking together. 

I just made them for a second time, this time with raisins. They are good! You have to keep a careful eye on them though - I almost burnt this batch, while the last ones were a bit underdone. Perhaps the exact thickness makes a big difference? s didn't love them sooo much the first time but he seemed more into the raisin variant (despite them being a little bit over).

Chocolate biscuit cake

I have made chocolate biscuit cake before, it's a classic. This one is slightly different - not necessarily vegan, and didn't add milk/cream. Approximately followed this recipe.

This turns out to be an excellent use-up recipe - it came to mind because I had a pack of biscuits I knew I wouldn't eat before they got old, and then some chocolate that was either too milky or I wasn't that into for another reason, and then some ends of packets of dried fruit and nuts got in there, the end of a pack of butter and a bit of coconut oil, even a few green tea biscuits (these last not entirely recommended)...

250 g / 8 oz biscuits (used mostly havrekiks = oat biscuits, recommended; and threw in a few green tea biscuits, not so recommended)
300 g / 10 oz chocolate (mix of milk and dark is OK, I favour the dark)
100 g / 3 1/2 oz butter (or margarine, or coconut oil)
150 g / 5 oz golden syrup
175 g / 6 oz dried fruit (used a mix of cranberries, chopped crystallized ginger, chopped apricots and raisins; all recommended)
60 g / 2 oz roughly chopped nuts (used a mix of pecans and hazelnuts; both recommended)

Line a 20 cm / 8 in square tin with cling film, leaving extra hanging over the edges. Put the biscuits in a bag and bash to pieces with a rolling pin.

Melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup together in a medium bowl (large enough for all ingredients) over a pan of hot water. When all is liquid and smooth, take the bowl off the heat and mix in the bashed biscuits, dried fruit and nuts. Spoon into the prepared tin and press down / level off. Let cool to room temperature, then put in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours. Then turn them out, peel off the cling film and cut into squares. Store in the fridge.


It is very rich so small pieces are sufficient. This makes a lot - a half quantity would be a good amount for our household. But I am thinking it should freeze well, so put about half in the freezer - let's see how that goes.

If I make this again, I think I'd try reducing the golden syrup, and using coconut oil instead of butter and less of that too - it is maybe a little too sweet for my taste; and starts to get a wee bit melty quite quickly when it comes to room temp.

Best grated carrot salad

I've tried a few grated carrot salads in the past but never got it quite right. This attempt turned out exactly as I wanted; even better... The toasted coriander is key, and came from a Delia recipe (that I then decided not to stick to...).

1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sesame seed oil
2 tsp white/red miso
1 tsp honey
salt+pepper
1 tiny clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp finely chopped onion
c 10 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp chopped chives
1/4 cup raisins
2 tsp black onion seeds

Toast the coriander seeds and then crush them in a pestle and mortar. Put in a medium bowl with the vinegar, oils, miso, honey, salt and pepper (not much salt, miso is salty), crushed garlic and chopped onion. Whisk together with a fork. Add the grated carrots, lemon zest, chives, raisins and black onion seeds and mix to combine. Keeps well in the fridge (the raisins will plump up) for a few days.

Apple muffins

Our apple tree started dropping apples already, so I wanted to make a start on some apple recipes to use them up. I fancied making muffins, even though they are not the most efficient way to use up apples. I liked the sound of this recipe, with grated, diced and sauced apple in it, and decided to give it a go even before I realized it's also a great baking-with-honey recipe - I especially like that it takes into account honey's tendency to dry out / burn.

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup grated apple
1 cup diced (1 cm) apple
1/3 cup olive oil (or veg oil)
1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup)
2 eggs (ideally at room temp)
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1 tbsp demerara sugar to go on top

Heat the oven to 163C / 325F (218C / 425F for maple syrup). Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix flours, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, bicarb and salt with a fork. Add grated and chopped apple and stir.

In a medium bowl, beat oil, honey (or maple syrup) together, then add eggs and beat, then add yoghurt and apple sauce and mix.

Add wet to dry and mix until just combined, adding raisins and pecans in the final few strokes. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for c 25 min (13-15 min for maple syrup), until skewer comes out clean.

Walnut, raisin, honey and oat cookies (no dry sugar, no butter, no white flour)

These were another go at perfect quick cookies using walnuts and honey - pretty tasty, probably the best yet, although maybe could cut down the oil just a bit. This recipe.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup olive oil (or sunflower or vegetable)
1 tbsp mulberry molasses (or normal)
1 egg (beat with 1 tbsp water)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts

 In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (except raisins and walnuts) together. In a medium bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together (note: measure oil before honey so the honey doesn't stick). Mix the wet into the dry. Add the raisins and walnuts and mix. Chill for c. 20 min in the fridge.

Heat the oven to 335F / 170C. Dollop the mixture in heaping teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, and press gently with a fork. Bake for 15-20 min or until golden on the bottom of the cookie.


These came out good - perhaps a little soft/greasy, try reducing the oil a bit. Also, the recipe said they freeze well - test that next time. The flavour is all there though, and they stick together well despite not containing much flour. Could maybe also try cramming in a few more raisins+walnuts.

Baking with Honey II: Cinnamon honey fruitcake

This was the second of my two cakes last weekend featuring honey (I wanted to have one to keep at home as well as one to take to C's). It uses a lot of dried fruit - we had quite a lot around, I don't think I've been eating as much of it as usual. The recipe was one I'd cut out of the Guardian years ago, and caught my eye when I was browsing my ancient recipe folder. I'd never made it, but why not now? It's one of Dan Lepard's - I used to really like his recipe column.
 
200 g raisins
200 g dried apricots, chopped
200 g dried figs or prunes, chopped
75 g light soft brown sugar
75 g unsalted butter, softened
75 g honey
50 g treacle
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
75 ml brandy or cold tea (used a mixture of honey rum and cold Earl Grey)
200 g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder

Line the base and sides of a 20 cm round cake tin with baking parchment. Weigh out the fruit. Substitute depending what you like / what you have in the cupboard - and include 100 g whole almonds if you like (I used a mixture of dates, apricots, raisins, sultanas and figs).

Heat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Beat together the sugar, butter, honey, treacle, cinnamon and one of the eggs until creamy and smooth. Add the other egg, along with the brandy or tea, and beat well. The mixture will look dark and curdled, but for this fruit cake that's quite all right.

Mix the flour and baking powder with a fork, then fold the flour mixture into the fruit and nut mixture until evenly combined. Spoon into the tin, smooth the top, and bake for about an hour and a half.

Apple cake

The food insert from a copy of the Guardian from February had been lying around since then, unread. I have no cutoff for how old such things have to be before I will read them. I read it a week or two ago, while drinking tea and surveying the apples on the table, and came across this apple cake recipe, which seemed so serendipitous (and a little different from anything I've made before), that I had to try it.

(makes 1 large cake)

200 g dark muscovado sugar
200 g unsalted butter, soft (or use salted and skip the salt)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
150 g plain yoghurt
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
A good grating of nutmeg
4 apples (about 500 g)
2 tbsp demerara sugar

Butter and line a large (900 g) cake tin with baking paper. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

Using an electric mixer, cream together the muscovado sugar and soft butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and yoghurt and mix well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Grate three unpeeled apples (about 375 g) and fold into the cake mixture.

Scrape into your prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Peel and slice the remaining apple and arrange on top of the cake. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake about 60 min, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.


My wholemeal flour was very coarse - this works well. Also, I was unable to resist throwing in some walnuts and raisins at the last minute before putting it in the oven, which I'd highly recommend - it introduces some interesting texture - otherwise the grated apple disappears into the cake - perhaps some diced apple would also add interest. It's dense and lovely though - cooks well but v moist.

Spiced apple, raisin and walnut crumble

Our garden is overflowing with apples and walnuts at the moment, and if the windfall apples hang around indoors for too long they attract too many fruitflies. So we have been eating a lot of crumble. With apples in the filling and walnuts in the topping, this is a perfect summary of our autumn garden (slightly adapted from Delia - I have had to admit that when I improvise a crumble it is never quite as good as when I at least approximate a recipe).

Filling:
2 lb apples
1 oz light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
4 oz raisins

Topping:
6 oz self-raising flour, sifted
3 oz chilled butter, cut into small dice
4 oz shelled walnuts
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 oz demerara sugar

Core apples, and peel if you like (also good with peel left on). Cut into thick slices and toss in a bowl with sugar, cinnamon, mixed spice and raisins, then place in a baking dish. Heat oven to 400F / 200C. To make the crumble topping, place flour in a bowl and add the butter. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs in texture. Finely chop the walnuts and stir them into the flour-butter mixture, together with cinnamon and sugar. Spread on top of the apples, smoothing out and pressing down lightly. Bake for 35-40 min, until the apples are tender and the topping is crisp. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 min before eating - good with some yoghurt.


Note: I have also been enjoying this without the crumble: secretly (cake crisis alert), I often like the fruit part of a crumble the best. So I have been making this just the same - filling a baking dish with apple, raisins, spices and a little sugar, but then skipping the crumble part, covering with foil and baking at the same temperature for the same length of time. It's better than stewing the fruit as it keeps its shape and develops a richer, less watery and more delicious taste - only problem is I eat it so fast! But I guess this is good, considering the windfall mountain.

Elderberry and apple chutney

This recipe is from a little book called 'Favourite Country Preserves' that Miriam gave me a few years ago, and I'd never actually made anything from until now, although I'd browsed it with curiosity several times - it is full of interesting things, lavender chutney is most intriguing, or parsley honey.

With both apples and elderberries dripping from our garden, I remembered about this recipe and decided to give it a go. It didn't go great - it takes a looong time to remove elderberries from their stalks, and it look an interminably long time for the chutney to thicken (perhaps because I doubled the recipe below?), and it caught and burnt a wee bit. And this was on a Monday night when I just wanted to go to sleep and the whole house stunk of vinegar - I'd not made chutney for a while and forgotten quite how bad the vinegariness can get. Oh well, I think it tastes OK - moment of truth in a month or so.

1 lb elderberries, washed and stalks removed
1 lb cooking apples
4 oz raisins
8 oz onions, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp mixed spice
pinch of pepper
1/2 pint malt vinegar (used apple cider vinegar)
12 oz soft brown sugar

 Peel, core and chop the apples and put in a large pan with the elderberries, raisins and onions. Stir in the salt, spices and pepper and a little of the vinegar. Cook very gently for one hour until the fruit is soft, stirring from time to time to prevent the mixture sticking and burning. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and the remaining vinegar. When the sugar has dissolved, return to the heat and bring to the boil. Boil steadily for about 30-40 min until thick and all the vinegar has absorbed. Spoon into warm, sterilized jars and seal immediately.

Oatmeal raisin biscuits

S is away for a few days. I don't always deal well with him being away. In that sometimes I try and cram in so much stuff - things he thinks are dull, or just activities to stop me getting bored or missing him. I tend to get back to normal if he's away for more than a few days but the first few days can get a bit nutso. He left for a conference in Heidelberg yesterday morning, and then I... went for my longest-ever run (note to self: sunday around 10am is a bad time - everywhere was full of macho running gangs running three-abreast, elbowing people out of the way, and pissing), washed my hair, cleaned the entire apt including air vents, made marmalade, did some sewing and writing, went shopping... and made biscuits to take to Danish class.

We have something called a Kageordning, where every week someone signs up to bring cake or something sweet and we take a break in the middle of class to eat it. Apparently this is very Danish. I think it kind of is: both the cake-break and the randomly having breaks / holidays all the time. It was high time I took a turn - I hadn't done one at all last term. Since class is on a Monday it was easy enough to find time to bake yesterday, notwithstanding all the other stuff I was apparently busy with. I decided to take oatmeal-cinnamon-raisin biscuits. It was the first time in ages I had made non-vegan biscuits. Went with this recipe.

(makes approx. 30 small-medium biscuits)

1/2 cup / 115 g butter, softened
2/3 cup / 125 g light brown sugar, packed (used white)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup / 95 g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup / 120 g oats
3/4 cup / 120 g raisins

Heat oven to 350F / 175C / 155C fan. Cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix flour, bicarb, cinnamon and salt. Stir this into the butter/sugar mix, then mix in the oats and raisins. Use a teaspoon to put blobs of mixture two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-20 min, taking them out when golden at the edges but still pale on top. Let them sit on the baking sheet for 5 min before transferring to a rack to cool.

Stuffed vine leaves

S+I used to make these a lot. We disagree over the origin - I remembered adapting them from a Delia recipe (where she made them similar to below, but then cooked them in tomato sauce which didn't work for us at all); he claims he's been making them since he was a kid from his German vegetarian cookbook. But then a couple of half-used packages of vine leaves languished in the fridge so long we didn't buy any more for ages. It's quite easy to find vine leaves in brine in Turkish shops. We also tried with fresh ones, and the process is similar - soaking in hot water to cook and soften a bit, rather than to rinse off salt.

We thought of these after feeling a bit like we didn't put in enough effort when we took cauliflower and breadcrumbs to the last work veggie lunch. Once a month we have a potluck lunch with other veggies in our Department. It's kind of a challenge thinking of something that is fun and tasty, travels well in a backpack on a bike, can sit in a box from the night before until lunchtime, and can easily be shared. Today's lunch was supposed to be a picnic, adding the extra challenge of eating outside, possibly without cutlery. These really rise to all those challenges! Sadly the weather didn't though - it looks like lunch will be indoors.

(makes about 30)

2 cups rice (any kind is OK), cooked in 4 cups water
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 mushrooms, roughly chopped
handful hazelnuts, roughly chopped
handful sunflower seeds
handful raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dried oregano
handful fresh parsley, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
salt+pepper
About half a jar of vine leaves in brine

Cook the rice and let it cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook until starting to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are browned. Add the hazelnuts and sunflower seeds and cook to toast a little. Add the cooked cooled rice, along with the raisins, cinnamon, oregano, parsley, tomatoes and tomato puree. Mix well and cook over a medium heat to try and get a little colour and crispy patches on the rice. Season with salt and pepper to taste (remember the brine leaves are well salty if they are in brine so don't go nuts with the salt). When done, remove from the heat and let cool about half an hour or longer.

When ready to assemble, fill a large bowl or pan with nearly-boiling water (just cool enough to put your hand in). Take vine leaves from the package, check they are reasonably intact, and soak in the hot water for five minutes or so to rinse off some of the salt. Then remove, lay flat on a plate or board, with the stem end nearest you. Dollop 1-2 tbsp (depending on the size of the leaf) just next to the stem, then fold the leaves around it at the base and roll up towards the leaf tip. You should end up with a neat cylindrical package. Repeat until you run out of rice mixture or of leaves. They will keep in a box in the fridge for up to a week, and can be eaten cold or at room temperature.

Celery, apple and walnut salad with lemon-tahini dressing

Very simple celery salad, surprised I never wrote it up before. It is good. Tahini and lemon juice make a creamy dressing that coats everything and brings zing.

juice of 1/3 lemon
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tahini
salt+pepper
about 5 sticks of celery
1 apple
handful of crumbled walnuts
handful of raisins

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, tahini and seasoning to make a creamy, thick but pourable dressing. Chop the celery and apple and put them in a serving bowl. Toss with the dressing, then add the walnuts and raisins and mix a bit more.

Grated Petersilienwurzel (parsley root), carrot and apple

I discovered Petersilienwurzel the first time I went to Germany with S, and was instantly intrigued: it's like parsley (+S loves parsley), but it's a root not a leaf. I didn't get to try it that time, but I bought some seeds and tried to grow them back in Norwich. No success.

While M was here we took her to Wegmans to stock up on Thanksgiving in a tin (based on a conversation with our Bostonian friend N, most traditional Thanksgiving dishes involve combinations of things out of tins). She ended up with a good selection - some things Thanksgiving-y (tin-shaped cranberry jelly, tinned pumpkin); also other American / local specialities (Boston brown bread in a tin). While there, S+I accidentally ended up in the produce section, where we came upon chestnuts (kurigohan happened, and it was fiiiinnne), elephant garlic, celeriac, and, resplendent beside said celeriac, petersilienwurzel! Wegmans truly does have EVERYTHING!

We roasted some in chunks with a mixture of other roots (carrots, celeriac, beetroot) and tofu, and it was really delicious - incredibly sweet (reminiscent of parsnip; they are quite closely related), with a delicate, slightly parsley-y / perhaps more parsnip-y taste.

After chatting with S's Austrian friend L, and eating her excellent vegetable strudel and beetroot, horseradish and caraway salad (from her grandmother's recipes), I decided to also follow her / her grandmother's suggestion for petersilienwurzel and grate it with carrot and apple. I threw in a few other things too, and it ended up a really yummy Winter salad - juicy and fresh and sweet.

5 small petersilienwurzel (parsley root), peeled and grated (celeriac is a good alternative / addition)
3 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1 medium apple, cored and grated
1-2 tbsp cider vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
~1 tsp chopped chives
handful of raisins (preferably golden)
handful of pecan pieces

Grate the petersilienwurzel (and/or celeriac), carrots and apple into a medium bowl. Add the cider vinegar, olive oil and seasoning (quickly, to avoid browning) and toss. Add the chives, raisins and pecans and toss. Ideally eat straight away, but it keeps OK in the fridge for a few days (consider just adding the pecans last minute if you want to serve it later).

Buckwheat breakfast bowl

Our trip to Brattleboro naturally featured a trip to the Coop (best food shop ever)! I tried to be restrained (because of our imminent big move), and just picked up a few favourites (nori cashews, sesame sticks), plus a few random things to make me proud of remembering to bring reusable containers (roasted tahini butter; jasmine kombucha)... and a few things I couldn't resist (raspberry dust chocolate, figs, pecans). It made me realise I still had some stuff left from our last trip there around Easter, and resolve to use that stuff when I got back...

The most notable was raw buckwheat groats. I'd been interested in them but didn't really know what to do with them. I'd sprouted a few, and they were good, with a gentle aroma reminding me of buckwheat honey. But that was about as far as I'd got. I made the amazing seed+nut bread yesterday, and spotted a raw buckwheat porridge recipe on the same blog: tipping point on a recipe I'd seen one too many times - so this time I should make it...

(makes about 3 servings; start the night before)

1 cup raw buckwheat groats
1 tbsp cider vinegar
warm water
1 banana
almond milk
hemp seeds
buckwheat honey
blueberries
toasted flaked almonds
raisins
cinnamon

The night before you want to eat buckwheat for breakfast, put the buckwheat groats in a container with the vinegar and plenty of warm water. Let soak overnight. In the morning, they will be soft enough to nibble. Drain and rinse them. If you want to use them for salad etc just stop here.

To make into a buckwheat bowl (somewhere in between porridge and an acai bowl?), put the rinsed groats into a blender cup and add the banana, about 1/2 cup almond milk and a good sprinkle of hemp seeds, and blend. It should end up about the consistency of yoghurt (except not as smooth, unless the blender is high-speed).

To serve, transfer to bowls and drizzle with buckwheat honey (or other honey, or maple syrup, or no additional sweetener... I had  buckwheat honey though and the combination seemed too serendipitous to pass up). Sprinkle with blueberries (mine were frozen), almonds, raisins and cinnamon. Mix up and eat.


I was amazed by how good this was, and by how much of it I managed to eat!

When I asked S if he wanted to try buckwheat breakfast he was not excited, but he's the kind of chap who'll always give something a go. He did, and he liked it enough to request it for breakfast the next day too (this time mixed with cupuaçu, so even more like an açaí bowl hybrid)! Only downside is, we've now worked our way though that stash of buckwheat groats, so unless another trip to Brattleboro ensues, there'll be no more of this for a while.

Açaí

S's friend Sascha has been staying with us this last week. He has been to Brazil a couple of times so was excited to find a couple of Brazilian grocery stores while roaming around the city (we had to work a bit). He came home with several forms of guarana, cashew and guava juices, and frozen açaí berry. S+I had eaten açaí once before, in Hawaii, so knew it was good and were familiar with the general format of it. But had never thought to look for it at our neighbourhood Brazilian store. It's Sascha's last day here today and at last we got around to whizzing up our açaí bowls.

(makes enough for three)

1 large packet of frozen açaí pulp
maple syrup (1-2 tbsp)
almond milk (1-2 tbsp)
~2 bananas
granola
roughly chopped strawberries (optional)
guarana powder (optional)
cacao nibs (optional)
flaked almonds (optional)
raisins (optional)

Put açaí in a blender with some maple syrup, some almond milk and one banana broken into big pieces. Blend until thick and smooth (add just enough milk to make it thick but smooth, and just enough sweetener to bring out the taste).

Scoop the açaí mixture into bowls and then add the other banana (chopped), granola, strawberries, guarana, cacao, almonds and raisins to taste. Mix up and eat.


I didn't know before that açaí is the fruit from a palm tree that is also cultivated for hearts of palm. It has a wonderfully deep, dark purple colour - almost brownish. It tastes berryish and exciting, and looks beautiful with granola and fruit scattered on top. The from-frozen preparation makes it this into a kind of intense, awesomely thick smoothie that you then pimp with fruit, nuts, granola and whatever else you fancy. The guarana and cacao will help get you going in the morning if that is what you are looking for. A delicious start to today / this week.

Green tomato cake (+gluten-free option)

I had just about dealt with all the green tomatoes from my roof when I was gifted a pile more from ECO (thanks to D, K and A!). I actually still had lots of unrealised green tomato ideas, and ended up going with green tomato cake for these toms - a new one in my repertoire of weirdo vegetable cakes...

4 cups chopped green tomatoes (chop fairly fine)
1 tbsp salt
1/3 cup veg oil
1 1/3 cups sugar (used mixture of white and brown)
2 eggs (or 2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 tbsp boiling water)
2 cups plain flour (or 2 cups TJ's GF flour mix plus 1/4 tsp xanthan gum)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Put the green tomatoes in a bowl with ~1 tbsp salt. Mix and let sit for ~ 10 min, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients and start on the cake. Heat the oven to 350F. Beat the vegetable oil and sugar together in a bowl with a fork. Add the eggs (or linseed mixture) and beat until reasonably well combined and aerated. Mix the flour, xanthan gum if using, 1/4 tsp salt, spices and bicarb in a separate bowl with a fork. Add the raisins and walnuts to the dry stuff and mix. Add the wet to dry and mix until just combined. Rinse and drain (try to get most of the liquid out) the green tomatoes and then fold into the cake mixture. Grease a loaf tin and line the base. Dollop the cake mixture into the tin. Bake for 45-60 min until a skewer comes out clean (exact cooking time will depend on shape of tin used). Let cool in the tin for at least half an hour before lifting out.


This was really, surprisingly good. The green toms are hardly noticeable - visually only if you look for them, and taste-wise hardly at all. So it is basically a moist, spiced cake rich with walnuts and raisins. The GF version was a little bit crumbly when sliced but really just a little bit - quite acceptable in this type of cake (made with eggs; rose beautifully). We took it for D's birthday party, and it went down well (especially with A).

Muesli muffins

I have had to come in to work before 6 am a few times lately. It doesn't make sense to eat my usual muesli breakfast in the wee, dark hours somehow. I just had a brainwave though: what if I transform the muesli into easily-portable muffin form?! It would make a great, practical breakfast for those days and for any other days when I have to have breakfast (or a snack) on the go. My basic muesli bowl contains oats, linseeds, sunflower seeds, flaked almonds, raisins, almond milk, blueberries, banana, a little cinnamon and a splash of maple syrup - I would hardly have to add anything (perhaps some raising agent; perhaps some oil but sunflower oil would effectively be covered already)...

(makes 10)

1 cup oat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar*
1/4 cup flaked almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp toasted linseeds
1 banana, mashed roughly with a fork
2 1/2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/4 cup frozen blueberries

Heat oven to 380F and prepare a muffin tin. Mix oat flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, flaked almonds, sunflower seeds, raisins and toasted linseeds in a medium mixing bowl with a fork. In a separate bowl, mash the banana, then add linseed-water mixture, maple syrup, almond milk, brown sugar and oil and beat together with a fork. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix until just combined, adding the blueberries in the final strokes. Dollop into prepared muffin cups and bake for ~25 min.

*consider leaving out brown sugar and increasing maple syrup


I made these exactly as above and they were dreamy. Exactly as I wanted. Seriously - perhaps one of the best recipes I have ever made up. They held together and rose excellently and were packed with deliciousness. I took them to the woods with D, K and A and we tested them, and they were good. Might reduce the sunflower seeds to 1/8 cup but apart from that wouldn't change a thing.

Edit: Also, I ate one before aerials one night and it gave me loads of energy. I think it was the muffin anyway, it might just have been adrenaline or who knows what. Will repeat the experiment.

Spiced cocoa rice pudding

J left half a bottle of milk in the fridge. I wondered what to do with it, then thought I may as well cook with it. With the days getting crisper and the nights colder, rice pudding suggested itself. And, when it did, I couldn't resist putting all sorts of things in it - I guess I fancied hot chocolate or chai as much as I did rice pudding. I didn't feel like switching the oven on or waiting a long time so used a stovetop method, based on this rice pudding recipe.

150 g risotto rice
500 ml milk
500 ml water
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
pinch ground cayenne
pinch desert salt
1/8 cup raisins
1/8 cup toasted flaked almonds

Put rice, water and milk in a pan and bring to a steady boil. Boil (uncovered) for about 15 min. Add sugar, cocoa, spices and salt and simmer gently for another 15 min, until thick and creamy. Mix in the raisins and almonds before eating. Store in the fridge and eat whenever you like, warm or cold.


Well, it's what I wanted. All those spices and additions might not be everyone's idea of a good rice pudding but I'm enjoying it. I was thinking of the rice pudding at my first primary school - either chocolate (we loved the skin) or plain with jam swirled through (I ate some today with added plum jam). Probably the only thing I remember liking from school dinners.