Waste Free Homemade Popcorn for Movie Nights with a film review from "The inner Circle"

I am very honoured that Michael asked me to pair up with him & the Cheetah for his 100th Film review on the Inner Circle. He is reviewing a real popcorn movie,  a family friendly Hallmark mystery movie that I watched last night on his and Paladins recommendation and I can only agree with them! They reviewed the first mystery of the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries "A bone to pick". Michael & Paladins reviews are non sponsored so you can be sure to get their honest opinion! Michael is very resourceful in finding DVDs on sale ( I read somewhere he never spends more than 1,50$ for a movie). He then puts down 3 dvds on the carpet and lets his ginger cat Paladin, with the personality of a cheetah pick the movie. The movie Paladin sniffs at first is the pick for the next review. So go make yourself some popcorn and enjoy the movie recommended.

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How to make Homemade Ricotta Cheese - simple and fast!

Today I was frantically looking for a kid friendly recipe to use up my left over Rocket salad  (or if you tuned in from the states - you call it arugula) as you know it is a bit spicy. So I came across a recipe for a pasta dish with rocket in it, but it required ricotta cheese, which I didn't have. But I remembered seeing on many pages various recipes for homemade ricotta cheese, stating how simple it is! Well, let me tell you: it is not just super simple but also very fast! If you are not to picky on the consistency you can have it done in under an hour! If you like it more solid it might take 1,5 hours. But as I only needed it for a sauce this was a fast make!

Homemade Potato Chips - an easy and fast guide

Some days just call for not the healthiest comfort food. You agree?
We had more than a hole week of it. And I decided I would share this very simple guide of homemade potato chips with you guys. Shop bought potato chips are often made from mashed potatoes with additives or cost an arm and a leg, when all it needs is a few potatoes! I bake mine in the oven, as I don't have a deep fryer.

I wash the potatoes, if they are new ones, they get to keep their skin, if not, I peel them. Next I chop them lengthwise into chip size.

Apple Harvest, Apple Storage and a Recipe for a Traditional Irish Apple Blackberry Pie

The boys and I were out picking apples this weekend. Unfortunately this years harvest isn't as plentiful as the years before. In early Spring frost hit the trees while they were in full blossom and at their fragilest. I am not sure, if I will have enough to make apple sauce to last for the whole year, but we´ll find a replacement when time comes. The boys still had a blast climbing the tree and picking the apples. What we usually do is we collect them all, including the ones that have fallen on the ground as they only attract wasps and slugs if you leave them there. And we have plenty of those around anyway and we don't need any more.

Lemon and Sage Pumpkin-Pasta-Casserole

My most favourite Carrot Cake Recipe

Carrot harvest has started here. The days got cooler. I have started to light fires in our fire place again.  This time of the year simply calls, no what do I say it cries for carrot cake and some hot café au lait!

How to make your own black Elderberry Syrup

Courgette Soup - super simple and fast made

Here comes yet another courgette recipe, that was handed down by my wonderful sister - it is for a super simple and fast made courgette soup!

Psst - Did you know that Courgette Lasagnes are a great way of using up left overs?

Boost Your Spirits and Immune System with a Blackberry Banana Smoothie

My boys are currently suffering head colds, and while fruit normally disappears into their little mouths faster than you can cut it up, it can be hard enough to get some vitamins into them when they need them most. I usually turn them into smoothies together with a natural yoghurt fill it into a boy approved cup add a reusable straw and voila: even little boys will drink a purple vitamin booster when they aren't feeling so well!

Raw Courgette Salad

No matter what you call these green health bombs in your country - they come in many names: Courgette, Zucchini, green squash (and yellow) and there might be more names - their possible ways of uses are endless! As mentioned this week here I will be sharing a few of ours and my sisters favourite recipes during the following weeks!

This week I will share with you one of my sisters recipe!

Crazy Courgette Time! And a way to treat for Mildew without Chemicals!

Courgette, Zucchini, summer squash, green squash.... it is a green (and sometimes yellow) delicious health bomb that comes with many names.

Courgettes are easily grown in pots or in beds. This makes them probably one of the most home grown veggies around the world.

Peppermint Blackberry Jam - It is refreshingly different!

This will be the last jam recipe that I will share from my crazy jamming session last Monday.
I have used peppermint in jams before and my boys (who are a wee bit peppermint crazy) love this one.

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Making peppermint blackberry jam is super easy:
25 biggish leaves of fresh peppermint (I used moroccan peppermint, it pops up every where in my garden, some might call it a weed the way it spreads, but can anything that is so delicious be a weed?)

1 kg of blackberries

500 grams of gelling sugar (in the US jelly sugar) for the ones new to making jam this one has added pectin that allows you to use only half the amount of sugar.

Bring all to boil, let boil for 5 minutes on a medium setting while stirring. Whizz until most of the blackberry seeds are gone.


Bring back to boil and after positive gelling test fill into sterilised glas jars. A detailed how-to for sterilising jars and any jam making or canning basics you can find here.

I hope you you are enjoying your summer and will leave you to jam making for now!

Blackberry Chocolate Jam - Indulge in this divine combination

On Monday I was in a crazy jamming session. Not the music one but the juicy one! So here I am sharing yet another recipe. This one is for blackberry chocolate jam. I have never tried to mix chocolate with jam before. This was a first and I really like the outcome.

For this nerve balm of a jam, aka blackberry chocolate jam you need:
450 grams of Blackberries
Juice of half a lemon.
100 grams of dark chocolate
250 grams of gelling sugar (in the US jelly sugar). Using gelling sugar will allow you to use only half the amount of sugar.

Bring Blackberries and gelling sugar to a boil, whizz until most of the blackberry seeds are not visible anymore!
Take pot off the hot hob and add chocolate in little chunks. Now stir until dissolved!
Fill in sterilised jars while still hot and screw lids on tightly. Now turn the jam jars upside-down. Let cool to room temperature while upside-down. Label and voilà your Blackberry Chocolate Jam is ready for use!

Preparing your own jam really is no rocket science and well worth the work put into it. Some of the ingredients in bought jam give me goose bumps...like why does it need food colouring? Why would you add 60-70% of sugar? Do you really want to eat jam with corn starch syrup?

A detailed how-to for sterilising jars and any jam making or canning basics you can find here.

I hope you will enjoy your blackberry chocolate jam. If you combine this one with peanut butter on some sweet bread. You should feel heavenly instantly!

Strawberry Blueberry Jam - simple and divine!

Making Strawberry Blueberry Jam is no rocket science. In fact it is so super simple that I was seriously considering it unworthy writing a blogpost. But I thought, what if you have never tried this? Simply didn't think of it? This is such a great combination for a jam jar and if you haven't tried it wait no longer. I made 4 different varieties on Monday and this one is my most favourite! I actually only wanted to write about blackberry peppermint jam and blackberry dark chocolate jam. (they will follow) But over the week I fell in love with the strawberry blueberry combination that I simply had to share. Seriously, try it with a dollop of cream cheese on a pancake and you will understand what I am talking  about.

Easy Carrot Bread Recipe

I have baked a lot of bread over the last 6 years and this easy carrot bread loaf recipes became one of my boys current favourites. That´s why I thought I would share it with you.

Easy Carrot Bread Recipe. Makes one loaf of carrot bread.

This carrot bread recipe is really very simple.

Banana Chocolate Waffles - a good & fast way to use up those giraffe coloured overripe bananas

Are You guilty of collecting some of those ripe bananas and then let them end unused in the compost?

Well, join to the club! I decided I need to fight this wasting! So from now on I will come up with uses!
Here is my first experiment. As so often it involves the waffle iron!

How to make your own yummylicious peanut butter or any other nut butter

Did you ever look at a label of peanut butter and wondered why it needs all those ingredients? Well, it doesn't! It only takes two! Peanuts and a little bit of salt. The salt is necessary otherwise your butter will taste stale. It has the same impact in peanut butter as it has in bread baking. If you get the amount just right, you will not taste the salt but your butter will taste yummylicious! Two little and you have stale tasting peanut butter. And too much, well that needs no further explanation....

Roasted Hazelnut Chocolate Brownies - A gluten free taste bud explosion!

You can make these very tasty brownies out of any left over nut meal from making nut milk. You can also just use any ground nuts or nut flour, if you have no left over nut meal in your freezer.  These roasted hazelnut chocolate brownies were made out of the roasted hazelnut meal from last weeks roasted hazelnut milk post. They are incredibly moist and rich in taste. Roasting the hazelnuts really adds the extra bit of flavour to these little taste bombs.

Here is the very simple recipe:

Melt 70 grams butter in a saucepan
and add 150 grams of chocolate (I use a mix of 70% and 85% dark chocolate) and stir until melted
add 150 grams of brown raw sugar
and 6 eggs one ofter the other, while risking on high speed for a while after each
and add 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract (find out here how to make your own) Whisk all well
Now gently fold 200 grams of defrosted roasted hazelnut meal (you can add any nut meal here, we have also tried almonds or cashews. Both make very tasty Brownies!) Here you find out how to make your own. You can also use 200 grams of very finely ground hazelnuts (or really any nuts to make a different brownie) if you have no nut meal in your freezer. Be aware if you take ordinary ground (hazel)nuts your brownies will be a little less moist!  Once all is a homogeneous mass pour it into your buttered baking dish (I use a 23cm/9 inch square silicon form that is 4,5 cm in hight)  Now bake in preheated oven at 180C/360F for 15-20 minutes. You don't want to over bake them, rather still have them a little moist instead of bone dry....they should be just about baked.

Enjoy!

How to make your own Roasted Hazelnut Milk - A Step by Step Guide

step by step making roasted hazelnut milk

You might be wondering why adding this extra step of roasting the hazelnuts before making your own nut milk is worth your time. Well, let me give you two good reasons.

 1) roasted tastes so much better and if you add cocoa and maybe a hint of melted nougat you´ll have a vegan homemade Nutella milk and as if you needed more...
 2) roasting hazelnuts helps remove the brown skin around the nuts. This skin is responsible for any bitter taste in the nut milk.

So, now you see why these additional 5 minutes of work are really worth it.

This is what you need:
200 grams of shelled Hazelnuts
4 cups of water + a little extra to soak nuts









Pour your 200 grams of Hazelnuts into your frying pan NO! additional oil. This works fine in my cast iron pan. I have not so good experiences with my ceramic pan!

raw hazelnuts 

Turn the stove on high and keep stirring as they will burn otherwise. Once the smell of roasted nuts has filled your kitchen and the brown skins come off, you can turn the stove off again. This will only take 2-3 minutes at most. Take the pan of the hob and keep stirring ( a normal pan that can´t hold the heat like a cast iron one, you might need to leave on the hob for another minute or two) While you stir the brown skins will start to come off. Enjoy the smell, you are an important step closer to making your own nut milk

roasted hazelnuts with the skins starting to come off

Next, pour your toasted nuts into a sieve and keep rubbing them with a spoon against the mesh to get the remaining skins off.

roasted hazelnuts in sieve 

The very stubborn ones you can rub between your hands and fingers. At this point the roasted nuts should have cooled down enough that you don´t get burned. But be careful anyway.  Thanks to the oils in the nuts your hands will feel really smooth! And don't worry about the discolouration on your skin, it is nothing a bit of soap and water won't fix!

Now, put the nuts into a little bowl, cover the hazelnuts with water and leave them soaking in a covered bowl in your fridge for 12-24h.

soaking hazelnuts

Next morning drain the water off them,
rinse the soaked nuts in sieve under warm water
and then put them in your food processor or smoothy maker,
and add 4 cups of water.

After making sure you closed that lid properly you turn on your machine and let it pulse for a good 10 minutes. You need to do this, for this long to release the oils within the nuts into your milk.
Hazelnuts are very rich in vitamins E, but it is bound in the oils. So if you want to get all the goodness into your milk you need the oils!

I used to make a lot of various nut milks with my Kenwood. The manual said not to let the Kenwood  run longer than a minute at a time in pulse mode, so I did 10 one minute cycles with a 1 minute cooling down pause for my Diva. And you could still get this hot motor smell. I now have a food processor that is better set up for this job and it only needs half the speed setting and still gets a nicer result... What I am trying to say is, you might have to play around a little to figure out what works best with your machine. And make sure not to overheat the motor if it is an elderly machinery or a Kenwood ...

Now for the next step, Pinterest is full of tips and tricks to make your life easier. Let me warn you the one with the french press does NOT work! At least not with my bodum. Maybe the good ones have a mesh that is too fine? The nut pulp plugged the mesh and I couldn't get down more than 1 cm. More force and I would have feared to break my french press.

So here is what I do. I take a burp cloth (I use them instead of cheese cloth as they are washable and reusable) line a jug with the burp cloth and pour the content of your pulsed water hazelnut mix into it.

getting ready to drain the hazelnut milk in a reused burp cloth 

 Get a rubber band and hang it up and drain all the yumminess out of the mix.

draining construction for roasted hazelnut milk

roasted hazelnut milk

Now fill your roasted hazelnut milk into a clean bottle and refrigerate. It will last for about 4-5 days.


You can now scrape the nut meal in your cloth gently into a freezer bag and freeze it. It works great as substitute for nut flour. I collect it until I have enough nut flour to make the most delicious brownies (recipe to follow!)

This is the only nut milk I can drink straight from the bottle. But I also love using it in Smoothies, baking (Hazelnut Carrot Bread) or in my coffee.

Enjoy!