December 07, 2016

Chestnut Cookies Sandwiches




These not so little biscuits are divine! And as the main Carbohydrate source in these are ground chestnuts they can easily be made gluten free by using a gluten free substitute for the small amount of flour that is needed.
If you want to learn more about edible Chestnuts click here.

November 09, 2016

Quark Pizza Roll, No-Flour, Gluten-free, Low-Carb yet absolutely yummy

You might remember last weeks post about how to make your own Quark Cheese. I was asked by some if I could also post some savoury recipes using it.
So here comes a rather unusual one, that we have tried, tested and loved: A Pizza Roll! The Twist, its dough is made without flour, which makes it gluten free and also interesting for those that try to eat low-carb. If you wonder about the spuds in the picture, we ate the roll rather because we love the taste and not because we follow dietary guidelines, sorry guys!



November 02, 2016

Quark cheese - A love I thought lost


If you ever lived in one of the following countries - Austria, Germany  or Switzerland, you might have grown fond of a type of cream cheese called Topfen or Quark. If you now live abroad and miss it, you need to suffer no more!

October 23, 2016

Edible Chestnuts

Chestnuts, the edible type, are a tasty treat!
They are also healthy as they are high in Vitamins B1, B2,B5, B6 & Vitamins C and in Potassium and Magnesium.
For me they are the taste of autumn and Christmas!


October 18, 2016

Another Waffle experiment - Apple Cinnamon Waffles

The weather has turned into a crisp damp cold here. Just right for yet again waffles and some hot chocolate. We harvested around 10 kg of the most beautiful red apples last weekend. This made me  experiment a little again.

I present you the Apple Cinnamon Waffles.








September 29, 2016

Chocolate Waffles - A Spontaneous Experiment Involving The Waffle Iron


Today we felt like we needed a little food for nerves, and decided we´d add some chocolate to our waffle dough.


September 22, 2016

Homemade ACV - who would have thought it is so simple to make your own Apple Cider Vinegar?!?



2 years ago I started making our own Apple Cider Vinegar. It is very simple and you actually make it out of those parts of the apples that usually end on the compost!

While preparing your organic apples this autumn for what ever projects you have planned, collect all apple peels and cores from previously washed organic apples that are free of worms and brown bits. It is important to make sure, you do not get any mouldy, rotten  or wormy bits into your mix, otherwise your ACV will get mouldy!

September 13, 2016

Ginger Bug - your first step for homemade lemonade and ginger ale - the old fashioned style




There has been quite a number of Pins on Pinterest showing how to make a ginger bug. It is the base to make ginger ale the old fashioned style.

I did this for about 3 months, but I stopped before our summer holidays.

My verdict: Most likely this is more costly than buying the own brand of some cheap shop, that only costs a few cent per bottle. And it does take some preparation time! It also is a softer kind of fizzy, it is hard to describe! But you know what you drink and don't have added food colouring or taste enhancing and shelf life prolonging additives. And you help the environment by not buying plastic bottled drinks.

September 05, 2016

Blackberry Waffles







The other day I had a few fresh picked Blackberries sitting on the counter while I was making waffles for the boys for our tea break and my little one asked what would happen if we put them in the waffle maker. So here we went and created our new favourite tea break treat!


Go make your favourite Waffle dough  and put a hand full of Blackberries in the waffle iron with every waffle you make. Need a new favourite Waffle recipe? Mine is added below!





Our Waffle recipe:
125gr brown raw sugar
125gr soft butter
3 small or 2 large eggs
2-3 teaspoons of real Rum
250gr of flour
250ml buttermilk
1 leveled teaspoon of baking powder
Mix all together, mix until well mixed, pur into waffle maker and add blackberries (or any other fruit) if desired. 

BTW this recipe also freezes very well (the raw dough) and if you have left over Waffles, you can store them in a container in the fridge for 2-3 days and stick them in the toaster just before you eat them. 

Enjoy!






August 28, 2016

Homemade Vanilla Sugar

Homemade Vanilla Sugar, it is so easy, you will be kicking yourself for having bought the expensive one all those years! It is as simple as my Vanilla extract I posted years ago.

Most commercial Vanilla sugars, don´t really have true vanilla but Vanillin. I added a Wiki link in case you want to find out more about Vanillin. For the ones that have the real vanilla in it, you pay 3-4 times the prize. All Vanilla sugars you can buy here, have the white refined sugar that has been bleached and sometimes contains anti caking agents, all things which I try to avoid (BTW it is the same for salt). I try to stick with raw cane sugar, without additives.  


Here is what you need:
for 500 gr sugar you need
6-7 pods of vanilla
You recognise a good quality pod by its shiny and oily coat.

Cut it length wise in half. No need to scrape out the mark.



Put in your storage container (preferable glas, airtight seal).


Fill the jars with the sugar

Seal and shake it, Baby! Shake it for a good minute.

Store cool and dark for at least 6-8 weeks better 3 Months. Every time you pass your storage, you give the jar a good shake. You can use the sugar as it is or if you have a food processor turn it into powdered sugar. You can put the full pod in and process it with the sugar.
What to use it in:
baking
smoothies, if needed
pudding
custard
and in this heat, foremost ICE CREAM!
The very fine sugar (like icing sugar) that you get after processing it in the food processor is far better if you make ice cream without an ice cream maker. As your ice cream will have less crystals.

And because Christmas is coming up faster than one thinks I made double the amount.

What is your most favourite recipe with vanilla sugar?




August 22, 2016

Home-Made Cream Cheese with the bonus of getting some fresh Whey


Making your own cream cheese is so simple and tastes so good, you will never want to go back to the bought one! And I dare say you have all the ingredients at hand. As this does not require anything fancy like rennet. All you need is yoghurt and some salt.

Making your own has many advantages. Because you use your own yoghurt you control the amount of fat yourself (mine has 3,8% as that is what fat the milk has that I use for making our yoghurt), same for the amount and the type of salt. Lets say you suffer from Hyperthyroidism (use salt, that has no iodine) or heart disease (use less to very little salt). I am also pretty sure you could make this vegan by using a vegan type of yoghurt but I haven't tried it myself.

You need something to use as a cheesecloth. Either a real cheese cloth, which I don't like! It is too much waste for my environmentally friendly taste. I use either thinnish kitchen towels or my by now not anymore needed Burp clothes. It is a great way to recycle (or is it an up-cycle?) these Burp-clothes.
After use I rinse them out, let them dry and then collect them for a hot-hot wash (95C) with washing powder and ACV (apple cider vinegar).

You also need a jug that is preferable not plastic and big enough to hold at least 700 ml volume.

Now line your jug with your Cloth, if it is a very thin cloth, but big enough consider folding it and use it double. Make sure you have enough excess material at all sides of the jug, so you can tie it later without the yoghurt squirting out the sides!

Now spoon 2 jars (each approximatly 200gr) of cold! natural yoghurt (here is a recipe for homemade yoghurt) into the cloth. Gather the ends not too tight, but short enough that there is at least 2 cm space below the hanging cheese cloth construct to let the whey drip out. Make sure at all times that the whey does NOT reach the bottom of your cloth! The most dripping will happen in the first 2h. I usually leave it for a while on the counter and pour the fresh whey straight into a little bottle.
this is the construction that works best for me. I started with a rubber band and a spoon to tie it up, but I find the clip works best, as it just fits over the rim of my jug.

Whey gathered and refilled 

Once it slows down dripping I put it into the fridge for 24h. After that scratch it out of your cloth into a bowel and add about 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of salt to taste ( I have seen up to one teaspoon in recipes, which I tried at first, but I found that it is way too salty). Now my husband (and some of our guests agree with him) wants me to stop here, as he likes his cream cheese creamy and soft. If you feel the same way about the consistency of your cream cheese, fill it into a jar and enjoy.
But, if you like it firm and crumbly get out a fresh cloth and line a very small bowl just big enough to hold the contents of your cream cheese mass. Fill the cream cheese into the cloth lined container. Cut out a piece of card board just a small bit smaller than the opening. Fold the cloth closed tight over the cheese. But your piece of card board on top and then go find some weight that fits on top and pushes the whole shebang down and is not any wider then the opening of your tiny bowl (I used to fill a yoghurt jar with water and screw the lid on and leave it on top of the cream cheese. refrigerate your construction for another 24h. scrape out of cloth into a fresh jar with screw-on lid and enjoy!

The whey contains a lot of the milks protein. I use it mainly for baking bread, but I also used it to start a ginger bug, in smoothies and as a treatment for powdery mildew on my courgettes/zucchinis and pumpkins plants.










August 17, 2016

Let´s talk Mirabelle plums! We harvested 18 kg this weekend and preserved them in various ways.


Mirabelles (I added a link as I have recently learned that they are banned in the US right up there with the Kinder Surprise Eggs and Hagis. Who would have thought?! )










These little plums the size of a yellow cherry taste divine!






Pitting them can be a bit of a chore, if you do it with a little knife like us. The stone comes out a bit easier if you cut a long the line shown in the picture.




And here comes a public service announcement: USE A STAINLESS STEEL KNIFE! If you do not you will have a reaction between the metal in your knife and the acid in your fruit and your fingers will look like mine for a week or longer....Or if you do use that old granny knife in your drawer, just because it happens to be the sharpest in there....well, make sure you are not meeting people for the next week, you´ll get some queer looks or be smart enough and wear gloves....!


Back to the Topic: I read online that if you have a cherry pitter you can use it, but I have not tried this and I believe it will only work if the Mirabelle plums are super ripe!

Every now and then you find a little added 'protein'! You better not be squeamish, as these move faster than you think!


Here are some of the recipes we made this weekend:

Mirabelle Jam
Prepare your jam jars! Either boil them and the lids separated (as in open jar) in a big saucepan full of water for a few minutes, or boil your kettle and fill up the jars and lids with boiling water and let stand for a few minutes. This is the method I have been using for decades now. I have never had a glas break on me while filling it up with the billing water, but I know that that is a fear for some. I once read that you need to do this on either a glas top or a wet towel to avoid this to happen. I have them stand on my ceramic hob which seems to work just fine. It also usually has spilled water on it, which probably helps here, too.

Then empty lids without touching the inside (I just use a big pair of BBQ tongs) and then fill one lid with Vodka. Pour the Vodka from one lid into the  next, until you have them all disinfected. And again without touching the inside! Once the last lid is disinfected I just pour the vodka into the boiling jam.

for 1 kg of pitted and halved fruit you will need
500 gr of gelling/jam Sugar (the one that has citric acid and pectin and you can use a 2:1 ratio of fruit:sugar)
and 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice (optional)
mix well and let stand for an hour in saucepan with lid (the sugar will drain some of the juice out of the fruit in this time) (if you are in a hurry you could also just add a little water or juice and start boiling immediately)
Bring to boil and let boil at full and while stirring for about 5 min. Then whizz the fruit mix until no 'lumps'. pour straight into jam jars (I use a wide mouthed funnel to help with the spillage) and screw the lid on tight, then turn them up side down and let cool in this position. Label and store cool (as in cellar)


I love my Jam with a bit of cream cheese instead of butter. A recipe for homemade cream cheese will follow soon.

Mirabelle & Blackberry Jam
prepare Jam jars as above
for 500gr of Mirabelles pitted and halved and 500 gr of Blackberries
add 500 gr of jam  sugar (see above)
1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice (optional)
 Proceed as above!


Mirabelle and Lemon Jelly 
This stuff is seriously good!

Prepare Jars as above!

Juice 3 kg of Mirabelles in whole just washed (I use one of those saucepans where you boil the fruit and the juice comes out of a nozzle at the bottom) but I am sure you could use a regular juicer too.



mushing the fruit with the potato masher helps speed things up







add the juice and Zest of 4 Lemons

200 ml of orange juice

Weigh the mix and
add half the amount in grams of jam sugar (in my case a little over a kilo of sugar)
also add 3 cinnamon sticks 
and 5 cloves
now boil until it thickens. Make sure your saucepan is big enough as the mix can get a bit foamy and bubbly when boiling. Fill in Jars and proceed as above!

Mirabelle Gin

Get big wide mouthed glas jar and prepare as above.

Wash 250 gr Mirabelles very well. Then pour some boiling water over them. Drain immediately.
Now layer the Mirabelles with
125 gr rock candy (if you use brown rock candy the gin will get brown!)
Stick half a stick of cinnamon in the middle and pour
Approximately 250 ml of gin over the mix.
The fruit should be well covered.


Screw lid on and shake well! Store in dark cool place for 4-6 weeks. Every time you pass give it a good shake. After this time you should be able to enjoy it. (obviously we haven´t tried our own yet as the mix is only four days old so far but we are very hopeful)

Canned Mirabelle halves

prepare jars as mentioned above

Wash Mirabelles very well, half and stone, fill in sterilised jars and prepare canning liquid.


canning liquid:
for 1 kg of fruit
use 300 gr of jam sugar (see above)
and 1 litre of water
add 1 cinnamon sticks
and a 1-2 cloves to taste.
Bring to boil and let simmer for a few minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves and pour hot over fruit. Immediately screw on lids. Put all your jars in a big water bath canner or in my case a huge saucepan and bring to boil. Boil for 30 min.


Let cool on a cooling rack and make sure all lids have popped inwardly. Otherwise they won't keep and can even be dangerous to consume (Botulism would be your biggest fear) if any of your jar lids, even after cooling down, did not have their lids plop inwards store in FRIDGE and consume immediately!

Mirabelle sauce

Prepare jars as above.

Wash and stone 3,5 kg of Mirabelles.
Add 1 tsp of ground cinnamon and
1 tsp of ground cloves.
Add 50 ml rum and
300 gr brown cane sugar (I prefer raw)
Mix well and let stand for a good hour. The Sugar will draw the juice out of the Mirabelles, this way you don´t have to add any extra liquid. After this bring to boil and boil on medium heat with no lid while stirring every few minutes, until there isn't too much liquid left (took me 2h). Whizz it into a homogene mass. Pour boiling hot into your prepared jars (funnels help reducing the mess! They also keep the rims of the jars clean) Close straight away and then boil in water bath as described above. Please check those lids before you stack them in your shelves.


Store your canned goodies cool and dark and before you store them wipe them all clean.
Before consuming any canned product you should check those lids again, and when opening them the first time you want to hear this hissing noise and a plop. this shows that there was a vacuum in the jar all the time you stored it!  Check for discolouration and signs of mould. Only then is it safe to eat! I only ever had a handful of jars turn mouldy, these would have been ones were I worked sloppy hygiene wise. Either not wiped clean enough or the rims of the glasses had spilled jam on them, here those funnels come in really handy!

We also halved, stoned and cleaned several kilos and just froze them. So if you have any more ideas let me know! Thank you for any input!






August 11, 2016

super fast to make sugar and gelatine free healthier jelly bears for your kids or yourself





200 ml orange juice (fresh pressed is more yummy, but from the pack will do just fine)
1 teaspoon of lemon juice (again fresh juiced would be better)
1 package of agar agar/ agartine (10gr)
1-2 tablespoon Honey or any other sweetener of your choice.You could easily make them vegan with rice syrup or agave syrup. I could imagine maple syrup having a bit of a too strong taste, but I have not tried it.

Heat up juice and dissolve honey in it.
Whisk in agar agar.
Whisk until all dissolved.
pour into forms. I used silicon form. If you do so learn from my past experience and put a cutting board underneath.
Chill for about an hour and then dig in. They will be a bit glibbery to the touch, but taste awesome. Even my mom who despises anything sweet, loved them and had not just one, but a few! They supposedly last a week to 10 days in the fridge but they didn't even make it to day 2 in our house as they where all gobbled up in no time.

You can make them in other colours by using different coloured juice/fruit purees. The only no go is pineapple as it won't work.

If you tried an esp. nice tasting  fruit/colour please let me know. Or if you have an idea that makes them less glibbery.