Rhubarb kissel and semolina pudding

This is another post where I have learned something new about some of my childhood foods. When we were children, we would often have oatmeal for breakfast. Every now and then we would have porridge deluxe, i.e. semolina porridge. It was such a treat. In Finnish semolina is called "manna", and I had no idea what it was called in English, so I just assumed you couldn't get it over here. However through some coincidence or other I learned that it was called semolina and that you could get in pretty much any supermarket. So I got myself a large bag of coarse semolina (it's still not quite the same as the Finnish "manna" but works well enough) and have enjoyed the occasional treat of semolina porridge (or pudding, as I think it's called over here. But basically it's just a porridge!)

Another food I had always assumed was pretty much Finnish was the "kiisseli". I haven't found anything resembling it in the UK. However, for this post, I decided to do some research, and lo and behold, I have learned that "kiisseli", called kissel in English (thank you Wikipedia) is a Slavic dish, and the name (which I always thought was a "real" Finnish word) comes from the Slavic word for sour. I have also learned that according to Wikipedia kissel is a "viscous fruit dish". Basically, it's fruit or berries cooked in a bit of water (with sugar) and then thickened with cornstarch, potato starch or arrowroot. As a child, I remember when I was in daycare, we used to have it a lot as a dessert. Strawberry kissel, rhubarb kissel, blueberry kissel. It's a nice dessert or breakfast, it can be enjoyed with porridge, ice cream, custard or just as is. I really love rhubarb kissel, it's not too sweet (and you can adjust the amount of sugar to make it exactly how you like it) and  it just tastes of summer. It's also ridiculously easy and quick to make.

Semolina pudding (serves 4-6):
1l milk
1 1/4 dl (1/2 cup) semolina
pinch of salt

Rhubarb kissel (serves 6-8):
500 g rhubarb
400 ml water
100 ml sugar
2 tbsp corn- or potato starch
1/2 tsp vanilla syrup

The HowTo:
For the semolina pudding, bring the milk to a boil in a large saucepan (preferably non-stick if you have one, but any saucepan will work). Add the semolina and salt, cook until the pudding thickens, about 15-20 minutes.

For the rhubarb kissel, chop the rhubarb into about 1/2 inch thick pieces. Put the rhubarb, water and sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil and let cook for a few minutes until the rhubarb has softened. Mix the starch with a tablespoon or two of water. Take the rhubarb mixture off the hob, very slowly pour in the starch and water mixture, while stirring. Put the mixture back onto the hob, and bring to a gentle boil for another minute or so to thicken the kissel. You can serve the kissel and pudding warm (not hot) or cold.

The verdict:
I'm  sorry for choosing another one of those foods that just isn't photogenic at all. And I need to get some glass bowls for photography... But as usual, it's not the looks that counts, and I wouldn't blog about it unless I loved it. This is comfort food at it's best. It's perfect for breakfast or pudding. Or why not a light lunch. You can have the semolina pudding on it's own or with jam or fresh fruit. You can have the kissel on it's own, or with ice cream or custard. And with rhubarb season in full swing, this is definitely worth a try! 

Carrot cake waffles

I'm not quite sure what's going on with me lately. My energy levels are non-existant. Today, I woke up at my usual time, had a quick trip to the supermarket and got back. Got into bed and slept for another three hours, until two in the afternoon! I never take naps, they make me feel dreadful, and I'm currently having that slightly hung over feeling of exhaustion you get after a nap that turned out way too long. And for full disclosure, I have to admit, I grabbed my computer and am now doing my blogging in bed. No intention to go back to sleep, but I felt too tired to sit in a chair. I'm sure whatever this is will blow over soon, but it feels very uncharacteristic and strange. 

Probably due to whatever flunk I'm in, I haven't gotten anything done lately. No cooking, no crafting, no blogging, no cleaning and no gardening. Last weekend I oven roasted a leg of lamb in mint and garlic pesto (at least that was home made) and a big chunk of beef silverside. All week, we have been eating meat with various veg. We got a ginormous cauliflower and some sprouting broccoli from the Culinary Consultant's Dad when we visited during the Easter break. That along with the amazing harvest of asparagus and a long forgotten broccoli in the back of the fridge kept us going all week. The Culinary Consultant was thrilled with the amount of meat, whereas come Friday I had all the meat I could take. So for dinner, I had a huge plate of asparagus and cauliflower with a good know of butter on top. One of the perks of being a grown up, you can have whatever the heck you want for dinner!

These waffles were pretty much the only thing I got around to cooking last weekend. The recipe is used without modification as it was published on Adventures in the Baking Aisle.

Carrot cake waffles (makes 4-5):
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups finely grated carrots

The howto:
In a bowl mix the flour, walnuts, baking powder and spices. In another bowl, mix sugar, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and eggs. Mix together, add carrots and give a quick stir. To be honest, I just mixed all ingredients in one bowl, as I couldn't see a point to get two bowl dirty for this. It turned out great. 

Cook in your waffle maker according to instructions. I did mine on 2/3 of maximum heat for about 6 minutes each. Makes 4-5 waffles, for me it made 4 full size and one slightly smaller. Serve with maple syrup or cream cheese frosting.

The verdict:
These waffles are much softer and more cake-y than the Belgian type of waffles I usually make. The crispy crust of the Belgian waffles comes from the butter and the sugar. These waffles are much softer due to the lack of butter and smaller amount of sugar. They are much more healthy as well, although I do love the crusty type of waffles. Not saying these weren't good, but they certainly were different.

The spices give the waffles a flavour of carrot cake, although as the carrot doesn't cook as thoroughly as it would in a cake you can taste the carrot much more. I rather liked it. We had ours for breakfast with some maple syrup, but I would imagine they would also make a great dessert if served with a cream cheese icing, like the one I made for my red velvet cake.

Savoury cornmeal waffles

Finally my holiday has begun!!! I got home yesterday evening after my work trip to Bath, and I was exhausted after a really interesting last day and then driving all the way back. I'm not a very confident driver, so the drive was a bit more exhausting than I had expected. But I had a great last day at work with my wonderful colleague, and we got a lot of work done, but we also had time to chat about a lot of things. I got home quite late after trying to finish off a few last things at the office. Then I got home and just enjoyed the incredible sense of relief that the day I have been waiting for so long had finally arrived. And I ended up in bed asleep before 9 pm. So this morning, I woke up an hour earlier than I usually did for work! I had finished my first crafting project before 8 am. I am hoping this holiday will go on and on, but I am trying to focus on enjoying every moment of it instead of worrying about it ending too soon.

After that random rambling, on to today's recipe. I found these savoury waffles on the Kitchenaid blog. As I am very much in love with Claude, my wafflemaker who arrived to our little family a few weeks ago, I am constantly on the lookout for new waffle recipes. And these sounded perfect for a weekend brunch along with some eggs and bacon.

Cornbread waffles (makes 8):
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cornflour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
1 tbsp honey

The howto:
Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the rest of the ingredients apart from the egg whites. Don't overmix, only mix until batter is smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form, and gently fold into the batter. Cook according to the instructions of your waffle maker. I cooked on about 75% of maximum heat for 6 minutes and the waffles turned out lovely and golden brown. Serve with bacon and eggs.

The verdict:
These were lovely and fluffy waffles. Super quick and easy to make, the batter only takes a few moments to prepare, so they are perfect for breakfast or brunch. They were nicely crunchy on the surface but soft and fluffy on the inside. I think the cornflour adds a nice crunch compared to using only regular flour.

Waffles are not just a sweet treat, there are so many different variations you can make from savoury waffles. As the recipe makes so many waffles, we enjoyed a few for breakfast, and I popped the remaining waffles in the freezer to be enjoyed at a later date. 

Bacon and cream cheese puffsies

So it's the last leg of the move. Well, the last leg of the first move that is. Almost everything is bundled up in boxes, bags or (very glamourously) bin bags. It's always the final stuff that is the hardest. Random things that you know you will need right up until the move, and then some other random bits and pieces which didn't fit into any box and are now just floating around. I have images flashing through my brain of binning it all, but can't go through with it. Even if it's a jug of olive oil which is almost finished, I can't throw it away if it's still useful. So it's time to make yet another box labeled "Completely random stuff" and throw in the loofah, a few jars of spices, a t-shirt and some jewellery in a box along with a bottle of rum, a fascinator and those left over key chains you know you know you will never use but just can't make yourself get rid of either. The funny thing is, I have already packed at least three "Completely random" boxes. And when I unpack them, I will just think "What the hell was I thinking". 

I can hardly fit into my apartment with all the boxes and bundles all around. I have divided the apartment into two parts, the clean part and the stuffed part. The clean part is a small corner that I have vacuumed, mopped, dusted and am now using to pile the cleaned stuff I won't be taking with me (my apartment is furnished). About a week to go before I leave for good, and I just descaled my kettle and cleaned all bread crumbs from the toaster. They are now waiting in the clean pile for the kitchen to get throughly cleaned so that they can go back to where they belong. Then there is the cluttered part. Which is filled floor to ceiling with boxes and weird bags and other bundles of stuff waiting to be moved. I just wish I could get rid of it all so I could get the rest of the apartment all cleaned out. Patience is definitely not my thing. So much still to clean, even if I've tried to do as many bits and pieces as I can along the way. 

I'm also trying to get rid of a few last bits and pieces of food. There is also an embarrassingly large number of boxes and bags filled with food I didn't manage to use pre-move. I think we will be able to live for at least a month, if not more, without grocery shopping with all the stuff me and the Culinary Consultant have stockpiled. And I have hardly bought any groceries at all this month! A few pints of milk, some fresh veg, but that's pretty much it. I have been a bit bad and bought some bread as well, and some evenings I have just eaten bread instead of working my way through my stashes. But at least the beans are gone! Huzzah!!

I had some left over puff pastry in the freezer, so I bought a pack of cream cheese and used up some left over onions and the last of what has turned out to be a huge bacon stash in my freezer. These small cheesy puffs are quick and easy to prepare, you could eat them as a side or as an appetizer or finger food snack. Or as I probably will, as a late night snack when I'm sick of tossing and turning in my bed without being able to go to sleep. 

Garlic, herb, bacon and onion puffsies* (makes about 12):
1 tbsp oil
4 rashers of bacon
1 yellow onion
puff pastry (about a 30x20 cm sheet) I had some pastry that came in two ready rolled sheets, and used one of them here
200 g (150g would be enough) cream cheese (I used Philadelphia garlic and herb)
(1 egg for egg wash)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil, and cook chopped onion until translucent and starting to soften a bit. Add finely chopped bacon, and cook until bacon is cooked through. Spread the cream cheese onto the pastry, leaving about an inch along the longer side of the rectangle free of cheese. Add onion and bacon mixture on top. You could season with some black pepper at this point if you like. Roll into a tight roll, and cut into 12 pieces. I find it easier to pinch using dental floss instead of a knife to keep the filling from oozing out. Brush with egg wash if you want a really golden finish (as usual I couldn't be bothered to do that). Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until golden and puffy. 
*yes, puffsies is a word because I say it is.

The verdict:
It's puff pastry, cheese and bacon. What's not to love. Apart from the effect it has on my waist. Well, the part that used to be a waist and now is a shapeless ball. I will use my standard response, I'm stressed because of the move, and I have to be at home packing and cleaning (i.e. sitting on the sofa thinking about all the things that need to be done) instead of going to the gym. This is why I need my routines. I can't  live without my beloved routines, it all gets effed up. So, now I will dig into my cheese and bacon puffsies and stare at the mess that is my life. Just another week to go. In this mess. Then there will be a new mess. But I'm just trying to fool myself into thinking this is the only mess I need to get out of and things are getting better after that. Self deception is the best form of deception. 

Card of the day:
This is one from the archives, as I haven't had space or time for crafting for a while. This was a birthday card for a friend. I used the Hero Arts handbag background stamp and coloured it with Tim Holtz Distress markers. I matted the bags onto two different papers from the Dovecraft Back to Basics III set. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz Stampers anonymous stamp which I stamped in Walnut Stain Distress ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I used ink blending foam to apply Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress ink around the edges of the sentiment. I added a pink ribbon, and attached the sentiment using foam adhesive.

Heart attack breakfast

Well, this one is for all my Finnish friends who are hung over from celebrating Vappu, and could use something really substantial for breakfast. Of course, today most of them will be out in the parks, having champagne brunch picnics. But soon, my friends, soon. The hangover is out to get you.

First, to torture you, a random true  story. A few days ago I had the type of day that makes you believe in the good of people. When I was grocery shopping the other day, I lost my gym membership card. It's always in the same compartment with my phone in my backpack (you know that little handy pouch thing on the shoulder strap of the backpack so that you can reach your phone all the time). I got out my phone to check my grocery list. I got my phone out of it's little pouch, and didn't notice that the velcro didn't close properly, and the little pouch-y thing was hanging upside down in my shopping trolley. So somewhere along my trek through the grocery store I dropped my card without realising. I thought I would have to go to the gym today admitting I was unable to take responsibility of my card and needed a new one. But on my way to the gym I dropped by the grocery store, and someone had found my card and handed it in to the lost and found! I was so happy, that really made my day. Ok, random life moment part of the blog is over and done with, so let's get on to the main course now.

To continue with my theme of health food after my mayonnaise extravaganza the other day, I thought I would blog about a breakfast which is guaranteed to clog your arteries faster than you can say chorizo. I realise this is a bit on the heavy side for a breakfast, but in the weekends, I like to replace breakfast and lunch with a nice brunch that will get me all through the day to dinner. And this most certainly is one of those. The little sausages are Mini Chorizos from Morrisons. The culinary consultant loves his chorizo and I thought the little sausages were so cute, although I'm personally not a huge fan of sausage. And let me apologise profusely for the even more horrible than usual photos, as I was taking pictures in suboptimal lighting with my phone. At least soon all my cooking will be done in the same house where my camera is, so hopefully the photos will be a little less horrible.

"Yes please, I would love a heart attack" omelette (serves 3-4):
1-2 tbsp 
1 red onion
5-6 mushrooms
7 mini chorizos (or other sausage)
6 eggs
1 tomato
3 tbsp grated cheddar
salt and pepper for seasoning

The howto:
Slice the onion, mushrooms and tomato. Crack the eggs into a bowl, and lightly whisk with a fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a big skillet and add the onion, mushrooms and chorizos. Cook for a few minutes, keep turning the sausages so that they cook on all sides. When the onion is starting to soften, add the eggs, and add the tomato slices on top. Sprinkle cheese on top, and let cook over medium heat until the eggs set (about 30 minutes). Serve immediately.

The verdict:
This is an easy breakfast, it only takes a few minutes of preparation, and the omelette will practically cook itself while you get back in bed for that extra half hour of dozing off (but if you do that, remember to set an alarm clock so that you don't end up setting your house on fire). If you like hearty breakfasts, this is definitely for you. If you are a dry toast and half a grapefruit type of person, maybe you should skip this. This certainly kept me going all day until dinner. Actually, it would probably make a good lunch too, or maybe a quick and easy dinner. It will certainly please any carnivorous males if you happen to have any of those around.

Card of the day:
Talking about carnivorous males, I tried to create a male themed card. Sure, it's easy enough to make cute cards for children, or pretty flower or shoe themed cards for your mum, aunt or best friend. But the men... Football? Beer? Well at least the culinary consultant loves all sorts of mechanical machine thingys, so I thought the Chronology Cogs background stamp would work. I stamped using Tim Holtz distress ink Walnut Stain, and embossed using Ranger Fine Detail clear embossing powder. I used distress inks for the borders. On another cream card I stamped the clock and cogs from another Chronology stamp set and the compass is a Tim Holtz stamp, all stamped using Walnut Stain and cut them out using scissors. I really like the compass stamp, and the cogs are really fun, I can see lots of opportunities with them.

Amazing Cinnamon Buns

I love buns. Particularly cinnamon buns. And I haven't been able to find any that I really like around here. Sure, there is Cinnabon. But they are ridiculously expensive, and there is something dodgy about them. I just don't like the flavour. But I stumbled across this Cinnabon copycat recipe on Pinterest, and thought it looked quite yummy. The original recipe also has some really good pictures of the whole baking process, so head over there to take a look if you are not a seasoned bun maker. 

I made a few small changes to the original recipe. It used margarine for the bun filling and frosting, but I would obviously never use that stuff in my kitchen. I also added some cardamom to the filling. For a Finn, you can't have buns without cardamom. The other changes I made was using instant yeast instead of active yeast. That way I can skip the step of activating the yeast. And finally, I still don't have a kitchen aid, so I did all my dough kneading by hand. One happy day I will have a shiny and lovely dough kneading machine, but that won't happen until I win the lottery. 

I was afraid the buns would be a bit of a disaster as I didn't have any strong flour, but was forced to stick with all purpose. With any yeast dough that needs to be kneaded, I have grown to realise strong flour will make the dough easier to work. But this time all purpose seemed to do the trick just fine. I also ended up giving the buns quite a long rise before popping them into the oven because of how the whole day turned out, and I think that did the buns good. 

I apologise for the even crappier than usual photos on this one, as I didn't have my camera with me when baking. But as I found this recipe so perfect, I couldn't let the lack of decent photos stop me from blogging about it. Also, head over to the original recipe here for impressive photos of these doughy lovelies.

Cinnamon buns (makes 12-15):
3/4 cups warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 1/2-5 cups flour

Filling:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cup muscovado sugar
2 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Frosting:
60 g cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp corn syrup (I didn't have corn syrup so I used golden syrup, not quite sure what the difference is)
1 tsp lemon juice (I used a bit more, probably 2-3 tsp)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

The howto:
Start by preparing the dough. Mix water and yeast. Add the sugar and salt. Mix buttermilk, egg and oil in another bowl and add to the to the yeast mixture (or if you are lazy like me, just add buttermilk, egg and oil directly to the yeast mixture). Start by adding about half of the flour, and then add about half a cup at a time until the dough doesn't stick to the bowl anymore and is easy to handle but still soft. Knead the dough for about five minutes and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (1-2 hours, I let mine rise for 1h and 20 minutes). While the dough is rising, prepare your oven proof tin for the buns. You can butter the bottom of the tin, or use a (buttered) sheet of parchment paper. I just dumped the buns straight onto my Le Creuset ovenproof pan without any butter and, apart from some butter sticking to the bottom, had no problems.

When the dough is almost done rising, prepare the filling. Mix sugar, cinnamon, corn starch and cardamom in a bowl. Punch the air out of the dough, and roll to a 20x30 in (50x75 cm) rectangle. Spread the softened butter over the dough, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) at the bottom unbuttered. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar on top, and press into the butter using your hands. Roll into a tight log, and cut into desired number of rolls. I read a tip in a food blog somewhere suggesting you use dental floss to cut your buns. I finally tried this trick, and got the prettiest buns I have ever managed to produce. Place buns in your pan, and let rise for at least an hour, but you can even leave them in the fridge over night and then let them rise the following day. The original recipe says to bake in 175 degrees C (350 degrees F) for about 17 minutes. I was dealing with the temperamental oven at the Culinary Consultant's place, so I baked mine for a bit longer.

While the buns are baking, prepare the frosting. Start by whipping together the cream cheese and softened butter. Add vanilla, lemon juice and syrup and mix. Finally, add the icing sugar and whisk for about five minutes until the frosting starts to lighten in colour. After removing your buns from the oven, immediately spread half of the frosting on top of the buns. It will partly melt and drip into the buns. After the buns have cooled for a while, frost with the remaining frosting. 

The verdict:
As I already mentioned, I just don't like Cinnabons. There is something strange about their flavour, something artificial. Sure, they are lovely and gooey, but every time I have one, after taking the first bite I am reminded why I don't quite like them. So I can honestly say, to me these buns were so much better than Cinnabons. They were like I want Cinnabons to taste. They were absolute perfection. The filling of the buns was lovely and sweet, and the frosting is so addictively delicious. I have to admit the buns disappeared very quickly. The following day I just popped them into the microwave for about 20 seconds to get them lovely, warm and gooey again. This recipe will definitely go into the keepers file. I can't wait for an excuse to make them again.

Finnish pancakes

The Finnish pancake (sometimes I've also seen it referred to as a Dutch pancake in recipes, what's up with that?!?) is very different from the US pancakes. The Finnish pancake has less flour and more eggs, it's not fluffy at all but more dense and a bit gooey (and I'm using the term gooey very lovingly here). And it's much less high maintenance compared to its American cousin, as it's baked in the oven and doesn't require anyone to slave at the stove flipping pancakes while watching the rest of the people eat them faster than you can get them off the pan opand onto a plate.

I know this is entirely a matter of taste and preference, both which are heavily influenced by what you have gotten used to and grown up with. But as much as I love a good stack of American pancakes (with butter and maple syrup) the Finnish pancake just has that special place in my heart which is only reserved for things which make me remember happy moments of my childhood.

When we were kids, me and my sister always spent Tuesday evenings at the stables, as that was the day of our riding lessons. Or maybe it was Wednesday... Anyways, it was the best day of the week, no doubt. My sister had her riding lesson first, and me and my friends had ours after that. And obviously we would sit out there in the riding hall to watch each other's lessons. Which in the winter got really cold, as there was no heating. As long as you were on horseback you were ok (riding really is a physical sport which gives you a good work out, just take my word for it if you haven't had any hands (or legs) on experience). And I still remember that penetrating cold, your thighs would start to tingle and you lost all feeling in fingers and toes. And still it was really sad when my mum or dad would come and pick us up from the stables, as that meant it would be another week before we would get to spend time with the horses again. But when we got home, the sauna was hot for us to warm up our frozen limbs. The fingers and toes would tingle when you had a warm shower before entering the sauna, and then warmth would slowly start spreading over your body until after sitting there for a while, it just got too hot and you had to slip back out to take a cool shower. I still love that feeling of anticipation when you are really cold, but know that soon you will be warm again. Unfortunately I don't get to enjoy that often enough these days, especially as the sauna at the gym is a disgrace and nowhere near warm enough to get to that blissful state of overheating. What has this all to do with pancake you ask? Well, obviously that was what my mum had cooked for me and Sis for supper after the sauna. It was always baked in a large black oven sheet, and the best bits were the edges which were drier and crispier than the gooey middle. It was usually enjoyed with berries and my mum's home made strawberry jam (well it wasn't proper jam, it was more like mashed up strawberries frozen with a bit of sugar, and it was so much better than jam because it tasted more of strawberries and less of sugar). Every time I have Finnish pancake, that is the memory it brings to my mind. And that is why it will always taste better to me than any other pancakes.

Because the crispy edges of the pancake are much better than the middle, I though the idea of making mini pancakes in muffin tins or moulds was a genius one. This gives a perfect ratio of crispy edge and soft centre. I saw this pin on Pinterest, and it immediately went in the 'has to be tried' pile. And now I had the perfect excuse as I needed some practical take away brekkie for a morning on the go. I decided to reduce the amount of sugar a bit, and add some berries for extra flavour and vitamis. These pancakes only take a minute or two to prep, and can be baked the previous day for a grab and go in the morning. The are nice to eat cold, but I think pancake is best if eaten fresh, not hot out of the oven, but still warm after letting it cool for a while.

 

Mini pancakes (makes 6-8):

1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat)

15 g sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

100 g frozen mixed berries

 

According to my estimate (made using MyFitnessPal) one pancake (1/6 of the recipe) contains 90 kcal (2.9 g fat, 12 g carbs of which 3.5g sugar and 5.2 g protein).

 

The howto:

Preheat oven to 200 deges C. Mix flour, sugar and salt. Add milk and eggs and mix with a fork or wooden spoon. Distribute batter in individual muffin moulds (or pour in an oven proof tin to make one big pancake). Sprinkle frozen berries on top. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown.

The verdict:

I loved them. Loved, loved loved. Also the culinary consultant seemed to enjoy them enough to have two, although he found them a bit tart. I don't think the whole wheat flour made them taste any healthier than regular all purpose flour would as the main flavour comes from the berries, but of course you are free to use any flour you want. I think I will experiment with using some other flours as well, maybe quinoa or spelt, why not even rice flour or some other gluten free variety. And you could add any flavouring you wanted, blueberries, cranberries, chocolate chips, raisins, pineapple, or whatever your heart desires. The traditional Finnish pancake doesn't have any topping at all, and it's really tasty on it's own as well, although for that I would probably add some more sugar. Overall, add more sugar if you find my variation with unsweetened mixed berries too tart, or leave it out completely (or replace by maple syrup or agave) if that's your preference. Or mashed ripe banana would also work perfectly to bring some flavour and sweetness. Ooh, that's my next attempt. Banana and chocolate chip pancake.

I baked my pancakes in my flower cupcake silicon mould. In the picture I turned two of the pancakes with the pretty flower side up, and left the other two upside down so you can see the berries and the puffy golden brown edges of the pancakes.

 

 

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Blueberry french toast and the new year

Happy New Year to everyone! Once again it's the time of year when you need to concentrate when writing the date, as it's impossible to get the year right. It's so very ingrained just writing 2012. I don't know at what point in the new year you finally start getting it right, but it seems like it's right before you need to learn to write yet another new year. 

This year I decided to start the new year with a delicious breakfast. Well, it was more like brunch, as it wasn't exactly morning anymore when I finally dragged myself out of bed. I don't usually drink much (well, any...) and I was again reminded why. I just don't like that achy and nauseous feeling you get afterwards, so why bother. This New Years Eve I did feel like I needed it though. Lately, life has just painfully reminded that most things in life don't last and that you should enjoy the things that really make you happy. Like good food. So, to start the new year off in style, why not try blueberry french toast. The recipe is from Allrecipes, and I have modified it slightly to fit with the amount of ingredients I had access to. Also, the original recipe suggested to soak the bread in the egg and milk mixture over night, but I had no room in my fridge, so I just made it in the morning and popped into the oven immediately.

Blueberry French Toast (serves 4):
6 thick slices of white bread
100 g cream cheese
100 g blueberries
7 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp maple syrup 

1/2 cup sugar (I used light muscovado)
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch
100 g blueberries

The howto:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Cut the bread into cubes, and place half in an oven proof dish. Sprinkle with blueberries and cubes of cream cheese (I used a spoon to drop the cream cheese in small spoonfuls over the toast). Top with the rest of the bread. Mix the milk, eggs, vanilla extract and maple syrup and pour over the bread. Cover with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Take off the foil and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

While the French toast is baking, prepare the syrup. Add sugar, water and cornstarch into a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Gently cook for 4-5 minutes, until the syrup has lightly thickened, and add blueberries. Let simmer on low heat for about 10 more minutes until the blueberries burst. Let cool slightly and serve on top of the French toast.

The verdict:
I think this was the first time I have made oven baked French toast, and I have pinned this recipe ages ago, but haven't gotten around to making it until now. And I'm very sorry it took me this long, because this was so delicious. I used a basic white loaf of bread, and it worked really well. The cream cheese brings a lovely soft creaminess to the dish.

I didn't go for quite the full 3 tbsp of maple syrup, which I think was nice as the blueberry syrup is quite sweet. The syrup would probably look a bit prettier if you would use caster sugar instead of brown, but I like the more intense taste of muscovado sugar so I decided looks be damned. The syrup was really easy to make and turned out really good. I'm not sure if you really need the cornstarch, as you can just cook the syrup for a bit longer to make it a bit thicker. All in all, this was a really great breakfast, and I will definitely make it again, maybe in the summer with raspberries. Or rhubarb and a handful of white chocolate chips. Maybe bananas and caramel. I bet the chocolate cream cheese would work great with bananas as well. Or replacing the cream cheese with nutella. And again, my imagination is running wild...

Kale frittata

I'm very fickle in my affections. I know me and the slow cooker only just fell in love. And I'm not saying I don't still love it (made a delish pineapple and onion pulled pork just the other night. And when I say night, I literally mean night. I even woke up a few times to the wonderful smell in my apartment. Ok, to be honest, I woke up to leg cramps, but the pork still smelled amazing). But me and the slow cooker are past the initial infatuation, you know when you want to spend every moment together and tell each other everything. I also have to admit, I'm in love. Don't tell my slow cooker, but I found something else. And that something is my brand new shiny, black beauty. My cast iron skillet.

I have wanted to get a cast iron skillet for ages, but I'm still trying not to overcrowd my super tiny kitchen. Apparently I'm very unsuccessful at that... After watching the bakers on Great British Bakeoff make Tarte Tatins I finally cracked. Off to Amazon I went, and ordered a cute little 20 cm skillet of a brand that had quite good consumer reviews. It was also important to me to get a skillet which was ready to use and did not require seasoning as all reviews of pans that were not pre-seasoned said that it makes your apartment smell horrible, and having only just got rid of the smell of smoke from my apartment, I was not too keen on inducing any new smells.

A Tarte Tatin was going to be the first thing I made in my brand new skillet. However, I can't justify that kind of decadence in the middle of the week. But I still wanted to give my new pan a trial run. And I happened across this recipe for Kale Frittata on My Kitchen in the Rockies which was perfect as I had ordered some curly kale and had no idea what to use it for. I modified the amounts of ingredients slightly, and omitted the cheese from the original recipe.

Kale frittata (serves 4):
2 tbsp oil
1 onion
100 g curly kale
1 clove of garlic
65 g pepperoni
6 eggs

One serving contains 285 kcal (22g fat, 8.5g carbs, 14g protein).

The howto:
Preheat the grill. Chop the onion, garlic, pepperoni and kale. Whisk eggs, season with salt and pepper if you want, although I thought the pepperoni was plenty of flavour and no extra seasoning was needed. Heat oil in an oven proof skillet, and cook the onion for a few minutes until translucent. Add kale in two or three batches and cook until kale begins to wilt. After adding all kale, add garlic and pepperoni and cook for a few minutes more. Turn down the heat to medium/low and add the eggs. Stir so that the eggs distribute evenly, and cook until set on the sides of the skillet but not in the middle. Add cheese if you want to, and finish cooking under the grill for a few minutes. Let set for a few minutes in the skillet before serving.

The verdict:
During the last year or so, I have eaten eggs in pretty much any form. Hard boiled, runny yolk, poached, fried, scrambled, in the form of omelettes, mini muffins, oven cooked in tomato sauce, with banana... You name it, if it's got egg, I've done it. So this was a really nice change. I think I have pinned a few different frittata recipes and am excited to be able to finally cook them.

This isn't the healthiest start to the morning, as the pepperoni has quite a lot of fat and salt. But just for a change, this was nice. It can't be helped, but the salty and spicy pepperoni complements the kale and eggs perfectly. Next time I think I might add a bit more onion, as I really liked the combination of kale, pepperoni and onion. Also, I think I might have slight overcooked my frittata, so next time I will leave it a bit more runny in the middle before putting it in the oven. If you don't have kale, I think spinach would also work perfectly, although the kale adds a nice crunch. And replacing the pepperoni with bacon would probably also work perfectly. So as a summary, I now have one more way to cook eggs. And the good thing with the frittata is that leftovers can be re-heated the next day, either for brekkie or as a light lunch together with a green salad. I think my new love will see a lot of use in my kitchen.










 

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Banana breakfast muffins

I constantly keep doing this. I swear in the morning I won't have anything sweet that day. And it always starts innocently with a chocolate after lunch, or some biscuits with tea. Not that I would ever buy any dessert chocolates or tea biscuits, but today when we got off the bus coming to work in the morning we were offered chocolates because it was "travel to work in an environmentally friendly way" day, and in the afternoon we had an afternoon with people from all across our department giving talks with a tea and biscuit break in between. Then I snack on some nuts and dried fruits in the afternoon because I'm so bored at work. And I keep silencing that little voice in the back of my head saying I shouldn't be eating this. After all nuts and fruits are healthy, right? Then I come home, and for some strange reason a big handful of dates or sultanas just fly into my mouth. So I have no chance but to eat them. I mean, they just viciously attacked me. Sometimes I'm so desperate that I go to my baking ingredient stash and eat a few candy melts or some caramel chunks. And once again, the day which started healthily with an omelette for breakfast and a salad for lunch ends up with a thousand calories more in my food diary than was intended. Are there any self help books for developing some self control? Something along the lines of Self Control for Dummies?

Today was one more of those days. When I came home from the gym, I was attacked by a bag of dried dates. And then there was the problem of those two over-ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter. They would not last long, so something had to be done. And that something was of course hitting my Pinterest boards as I knew I had pinned several recipes for banana bread and muffins. After much pondering, I settled on a recipe for Vegan Banana Muffins from Minimalist Baker. And again, I fell deeper into the depths of self deception, convincing myself this recipe is almost health food. I mean it has no added fat and very little sugar. Healthy, right? And replacing the white flour with rye and whole wheat makes it almost acceptable to eat the whole batch in one sitting? Well, health food or not, those bananas had to be used in some way, and this seemed like a decent enough way to help them find the reason for their existence. I made a few changes to the recipe, replacing the flax egg with a regular egg, excluding the butter and replacing the white flour with half rye flour and half whole wheat. I also doubled the recipe to make 4 big muffins as I had two bananas that needed to be used up asap.

Banana muffins from Minimalist baker (makes 4 big muffins):
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda (I didn't have any soda so I used baking powder)
pinch of salt
2 ripe bananas
3 tbsp dark muscovado sugar (the original recipe had 3 tbsp sugar for two muffins, but I reduced it a bit)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste
4-5 big pieces of crystallised ginger
about 10 pecan nuts, coarsely chopped, for topping

The howto:
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Use a fork to mash the banana, and mix in baking powder, salt and sugar. I used a fork to mix. Then mix in the eggs, ginger and vanilla paste, I gave them a good swirl with the fork. Last, work in the flour. The batter was still easy to mix with the fork even after adding all the flour. Pour into single serving ramekins or big muffin moulds, and top with the coarsely chopped nuts. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

The verdict:
I have never been a big fan of banana bread. At least not until I made this chocolate and banana bread, which I pretty much ate in one day. Every time I passed by the bread, sitting there all innocent on the kitchen counter, I couldn't help but to have a slice. And another. And another. It was just so moist and soft and decadent. And with some butter on top... oh that was good. That also encouraged me to try some other banana recipes, despite my prejudice.

This recipe does bring out the taste of banana. I was first thinking of adding some cinnamon, cardamom or dried ginger, but I'm glad I didn't. I did add some finely chopped crystallised ginger though, as I have a bit of an addiction to it right now. Chocolate chips would also be a great addition.

The only thing I will do differently next time I'm baking these muffins is I wouldn't bake them in my rose cake moulds, instead i would make them in ramekins as was done in the original recipe so that you would get that beautifully risen domed top of the muffins up on top. I really can't figure out what to bake in the rose moulds, it would have to be something that doesn't rise too much so that you would get a flat bottom to your rose cakes. I'll have to experiment, and I'll get back to you.

I'm really surprised how high the muffins rose in the oven. I probably measured my baking powder a bit on the generous side, but I think that was necessary because I was using rye and whole wheat flour, which don't naturally result in light or fluffy muffins. But I actually think the texture of these muffins was spot on, not too fluffy, but still light and moist. Of course with rye flour, you will always get a somewhat more dense texture compared to all white flour, but I like the almost nutty flavour it brings. And these muffins actually didn't taste healthy, they tasted really good. These muffins were perfect for breakfast, they are on the large side but at least you are not left hungry. And they are perfect to take along and enjoy while sifting through your morning emails at work.

 

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Baked autumn apple oatmeal

Last week, instead of going to the grocery shop, I ordered delivery. That's one of the things I consider an absolute luxury in this country, ordering groceries to your front door and only paying a few quid for it. Obviously the delivery price varies depending on your time slot. Fortunately the cheapest ones are the ones late in the evening, which is the only time I am at home anyways. So delivered groceries always mean too much groceries. As I don't have a car, weekly grocery shopping for me literally means some heavy lifting. So when I'm ordering online, I tend to pile on anything stockable. Beans, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, flour... If it keeps, I will order it.

Sometime (ok, ok, every time...) I go a bit overboard with my grocery delivery orders, just out of the joy of not having to carry it all home myself. Currently my kitchen is stocked with several kilograms of flour, several kilograms of chopped tomatoes, half a dozen packs of chickpeas. And right now, also at least three weeks worth of eggs. I mistakenly ordered two 15 egg cartons, when I was going to buy two 10 egg cartons. So right now I'm trying to come up with lots of recipes which require eggs. For some strange reason I only come up with super-unhealthy foods... Pasta carbonara, meringues, custard, lemon curd, macarons. I also managed to completely overdo the fruit order this week. A big bag of pears, apples, bananas and two big bags of satsumas. The bananas are no problem, I will ignore them until they are over-ripe, at which point there is only one alternative left - banana bread! But the apples and pears... They will keep for a while, but I'm trying to use them up as much as possible. I would love to bake something and pop it in the freezer, but my tiny little freezer is packed to the brim with salmon and chicken from said grocery delivery. And my slow cooker is loaded with mustard and chilli flavoured pork loin with pineapple, vinegar and onions. It will be slowly bubbling away all night, which means that when I wake up in the middle of the night to my inevitable leg cramps, I will also have to fight the urge to pick up a fork and just start chewing away on that lovely smelling porky pork.

And off I went on a tangent again. Back to the apples and pears. I've been working hard trying to get rid of them, I made a wonderful apple and pear crumble for two and some pear and chocolate scones. But there was still more. And I have been wanting to make baked oatmeal for quite a while, ever since the almighty Pinterest threw this recipe at me. It's a recipe for almond and blueberry baked oatmeal and it's from a blog called Healthy Food for Living. I don't like almonds, and I don't have blueberries, but I do love the idea of baked oatmeal. It's almost like a healthified version of my earlier crumble. And I got another chance to use my lovely pink single serving ramekins, which I love love love.

Baked apple oatmeal (serves 2):
50 g porridge oats
1 cup milk of choice (I used skimmed, although I guess almond or rice milk would also work)
1 egg
2 tbsp maple syrup (can be halved or omitted if you want to be super healthy)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 apple

The howto:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Mix oats, milk, egg, maple syrup and spices. Chop the apple into small cubes and add to the oatmeal. Divide into two single serving ramekins and bake for about 20 minutes.

The verdict:
I try not to eat oatmeal too often, as I'm trying to minimise the amount of grain in my diet. But I absolutely adore all forms of porridge. I love rice porridge, semolina porridge and oat porridge. And this is definitely pimped up oat porridge. Baking it in the oven, and adding egg really gives it a wonderful texture. Also, this is much easier to make in the morning, as regular oatmeal needs stirring while it's cooking (unless you use those pouches of microwavable oatmeal, with all that added sugar and whatnot) but this just needs a quick whisk and can be left in the oven while doing whatever it is you do in the mornings.

The spices and maple syrup gives the oatmeal a wonderful flavour that complements the apples really well. And the apple goes lovely and soft, but still retains a bit of chewiness giving the dish a wonderful texture together with the soft oats. I will definitely be making this specific oatmeal again, and also develop other flavour combinations. Blueberry, strawberry, pear, possibly even banana (although I'm slightly suspicious about banana, but will probably try it at some point). Maybe banana and almond butter? I think berries probably release enough liquid to justify decreasing the amount of milk a bit to make sure the oatmeal it doesn't get soggy. Next week I'll probably do an pear and vanilla variation. Oh and maybe at some point do a weekend version with chocolate chips. There we go, chocolate is back in my thoughts. But I'm quite proud of myself, I think I made it through several posts without a single mention of chocolate. Could I be starting to heal from my chocoholism? Meeeh... not going to happen. Ever!

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Roasted Figs and Quorridge

I'm always on the lookout for new ideas for brekkie. Muffins, scones, home made bread, french toast, omelettes, smoothies... But sometimes you want something really different. Which is where this lovely post from Joy the Baker comes in. I immediately fell in love with the idea of roasted figs. Figs are amazing, and seem to be so juicy and ripe at the moment. Yesterday I was strolling through the marketplace and the figs just kept calling out to me; "Take us home and make something amazingly good out of us". I totally fell in love with roasted strawberries earlier this year, so I thought roasted figs must be really tasty as well.

I'm sure roasted figs go together lovely with oatmeal. However, I have been making a lot of refrigerator oatmeal during the summer, so I thought something slightly different might be nice. My bootcamp nutrition plan had cooked quinoa as one breakfast option. I hardly ever used to eat quinoa for breakfast, partly because the bootcamp morning quinoa was served with rice milk, which I think is vile. But after finding this recipe on Eat Yourself Skinny, I thought quinoa would make a great porridge with the right spices. And because fall is so clearly here with crispy cold evenings and even the first signs of Christmas appearing (they are selling tickets to our traditional Christmas lunch at work...), I thought some warm spices such as cinnamon and cloves would make a tasty quinoa porridge. 

This could make a great weekend breakfast recipe, but to be quite honest, it's so quick and easy that you could even manage it on a weekday morning. Get out of bed, turn on oven, splash ice cold water on your face, blow your nose to get the smoke and soot out of your nose. Oh wait, that could just be the small minority of people in this world living upstairs from a flat that burned to a crisp. Anyways, after making sure your nose is smoke free, use 10 seconds to cut the figs in half, another 30 seconds to sprinkle with seasoning, and pop into the oven. Measure quinoa and spices into a pan, add water, let bubble away while getting dressed. Add milk to the quorridge, slap on that make up, remove figs from the oven, skip doing your hair and just tie it back in a ponytail. Because who has time to bother with the hair, really... Serve your brekkie, check what's going on in the world (i.e. Facebook), enjoy your hot spicy porridge while having a glance at what horrible disaster awaits you in your inbox, get so lost in the amazing flavour of roasted figs that you almost miss your bus. What a perfect start to a morning!

Roasted figs and quorridge (serves 2):
4 figs
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pomegranate balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

90 g (1/2 cup) quinoa (dry weight)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar
3/4 cup milk

The howto:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Cut the figs in half, and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic. Sprinkle the sugar on top. Roast for 8-10 minutes.

Measure the water, quinoa, spices and sugar in a pot and heat until water is boiling. When the quinoa has absorbed most of the water, add half of the milk and let boil gently until the milk is absorbed. Keep adding milk in small quantities until the quinoa is cooked to your liking. Serve with the roasted figs, drizzling the syrup that has formed on the bottom of the roasting tray on top of the figs.

The verdict:
I'm in love with figs. They are so juicy and sweet just as they are. But roasting them just takes them to a completely new level. They get soft and mushy, and even sweeter. The balsamic adds a nice little sharpness to the flavour. And the quorridge. That certainly is a winner! Cold, crisp fall morning, and all those lovely spices. They make your kitchen (or all of your tiny little shoebox of a studio) smell like fall, gingerbread, sweet buns and all wonderful things. Obviously you can use any spices you like. But I thought ginger, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon would be perfect and very seasonal. Candied ginger might also be worth trying. Or maybe boiling the quinoa with prunes and raisins, a bit of cinnamon. That would also go perfect with the figs. And the great thing, roasting the figs will work perfectly when the best fig season has passed, and the figs are no longer juice dripping ripe. I made a batch and ate half one morning, and re-heated the rest in the microwave the next morning. Admittedly the texture of the figs is not quite as perfect when re-heated, but still very nice. And very practical. It's not like you have time to cook brekkie every single morning. Like those mornings when you have to spend 20 minutes in the shower to get the smell of smoke out of your hair. Oh wait, so that's not what normal people do every morning? Only the people who live in a flat which smells like a smokery. That's probably not a real word. Well, smells like whatever that place is called where things like hams and bacons are smoked. Oh, and if you think this moaning about the fire is getting a bit old. But it's not every day you almost lose all your worldly possessions because your neighbour is too ignorant to put out his cigarette. Which he was not allowed to smoke inside the flat in the first place. But everyone got through it unhurt, as did my shoes. So I will be complaining about it until kingdom come. But I promise, there will always be a delicious recipe attached to my moaning.