Raw coconut lemon bars

Good morning dear friends. The time changed yesterday and we got an extra hour of sleep. It feels quite wrong to
be still sitting at my desks, while it is already so bright outside. Autumn has now officially started, and I am very
much looking forward to the intense blue of the sky, the chill in the air, making fire in the Dover stove, soups,
snuggling up and knitting a blanket.

It is Eva's last day of holidays. Tomorrow morning will be quite a shock to her system. Getting up at 6 instead of
at 11h30... She is such a night owl. Not like her mother, who likes to be in bed by 10.

Last night I got that 'Oh no, the weekend is over already' feeling. Since I get that every week, and since Monday
is probably not going to go away, I decided that I need an attitude change.
So here is my new mantra:

Thank God it's Monday!

(I will let you know how often I have to say it before it starts to feel true :-) ).



And now finally onto the reason for this post:-).
I haven't been eating sugar since the beginning of the year, but on Sundays feel incomplete without some cake.
Yesterday I tried these lemon bars. So yummy AND good for you. Perfect!



Lemon Coconut Bars 

You will need:

1 1/2 cups of pitted dates
1 1/4 cups of desiccated coconut
1 cup of ground almonds
Peel of 1 organic lemon
juice of 1 organic lemon
1 teaspoon of salt
vanilla essence

 

Put the dates and the lemon juice into the food processor and process until the dates are chopped up.
Add the almonds, the salt, the vanilla essence and the lemon peel and mix.
Put the mixture into a bowl, add the desiccated coconut and mix by hand until it all sticks together.

Put some clingfilm into a rectangular form and press the mix into it. Leave in the fridge for about 1 hour, then lift it out
of the form and cut into squares. Sprinkle with some coconut and enjoy!

And now I have to go to Yoga. Thank God it's Monday!



Lots of love,

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Delicious, healthy, vegan, gluten free bread

Self-care is still quite a priority for me.

I have to watch it, because I am such an all-or-nothing person. Which is pretty good when I am in healthy
living mode, but can deteriorate and turn into all things sweet, fatty, salty and alcoholic very quickly.

After living with this pattern for many years, I finally had a little 'aha' moment. How about finding food that tastes
like it is bad for you (that delicious, yummy, want-lots-more taste!), but at the same time actually supports and
nourishes your body.

One favorite such recipe is still the healthy sweets.
I also discovered a brilliant, quick, raw chocolate mousse (recipe coming soon).

And now I have found a bread that is really, really good for you :-). AND it tastes divine!

And as an added bonus, it is very easy to make.


Here is what you need (recipe from My New Roots):

145 g (1.5 cups) rolled oats
135 g (1 cup) sunflower seeds
90 g (0.5 cups) flax seeds
65 g  (0.5 cups) whole hazelnuts or almonds
4 Tbsp psyllium seed husks (if you are using psyllium husk powder, use only 3 tbsp)
2 Tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp sea salt
350 ml (1.5. cups) of water
3 Tbsp melted coconut oil or ghee
1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey, or a pinch of stevia

If you have, use a silicon loaf pan. I didn't have one and the bread turned out just fine using my glass pie dish.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in your pan.
Then put your water into a measuring cup, add the oil and syrup, and whisk.
Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix very well, until everything is soaked. Smooth the top.
Let stand for at least two hours (or over night). This gives time for the seeds to soak.

Preheat the oven to 175 ° C (350 ° F)
Place the pan on the middle rack and bake for 20 minutes. Then take the bread out of your pan, and put it
upside-down directly onto your rack. Bake for a further 50 minutes (the original recipe says 30 to 40 minutes,
but mine wasn't ready yet). Your bread is done when it sounds hollow when you tap it.

Let cool completely before slicing and enjoy!

I ate mine with some self-made hummus. Just put a can of chickpeas into your blender, add lemon juice, salt (and
1 glove of crushed garlic if you like that) 2 Tbsp tahini and a bit of olive oil, and blend until smooth.


Enjoy a wonderful day of caring well for yourself!


Lots of love,

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Baking bread

After letting it all simmer for some time, I now made a decision to change the blog name and url instead of getting
into a potentially costly legal fight.

I have been sitting here all morning thinking up possible titles.

Whenever I come up with something brilliant, I type it into google, and then discover that somebody else thought
of it first. Finally I started using really daft names, and even those are taken...

Obviously a bit more simmering is needed.

But all of this has nothing to do with what I wanted to tell you about.

On Saturday, I went to a bread making workshop. Seven girlfriends, a chef from Chicago on holiday in Nam, and a
couple of bottles of champagne.

We learned to use pizza dough like a frisbee.
We also learned to kneed the dough until it is as soft as a babies' bottom.
We made sourdough starter and baked herb focaccia and ate far too much of the most delicious pizza.


All in all, it was a lot of fun!

Here is the recipe for the sourdough bread:


First of all, you will have to make a starter by mixing a cup of water, a cup of flour and some dry yeast (half a packet).
Let it stand for a day or two but don't close it airtight, as it apparently might explode (if you are the rebellious type,
please let me know if it really explodes, very curious...)

You can keep this starter alive until all eternity. All you have to do is feed it once a week. To do that, you take out
about half of it and throw it away (or bake with it). Then you add a quarter of flour and a quarter of water.

To make the bread, you will need:

750 g (6 cups) white flour
425 g (1.8 cups) of water
150 g (this one you will have to weigh, as the volume changes depending how old the starter is) sourdough starter
15 g (1 tablespoon) salt

Pour the starter into a large mixing bowl
Add the water and stir until integrated
Mix in half the flour
Sprinkle some flour over your mix and only then add the salt (if you put the salt in first, it might kill the yeast)
Add the rest of the flour and mix
Kneed the dough, then let it rest for 15-20 minutes
Kneed the dough for 5 to 10 minutes until soft as a babies' bottom
Cut in half and shape into two loaves
Allow to bench rest until doubled in size, then cut the top three times in one direction and twice in the other
Preheat oven to 250°C (482° Fahrenheit) and bake for about 30 minutes (until nicely brown and until you can hear a
hollow sound when knocking the bread)

Enjoy!

I will give you the (delicious) herb focaccia recipe in a different post.


A beautiful day to you :-).




Lots of love,

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Gingerbread hearts

Right now, most blogs are filled with red and pink, with glitter and love.

It is very tempting to be swept along by this. It is also kind of tempting to feel sorry for myself.
No roses, no love letters, no intimate dinner for two this year.

Until I remember that the last time I got flowers for Valentines was at least 20 years ago.
And until I remember that I have a gorgeous daughter, a loving family, and some wonderful friends.

To show my appreciation, I wanted to make something for them for Valentines.
Something sweet and from the heart.
 
What I came up with are decorated gingerbread hearts. I was born in Munich, and these beautiful hearts where part
of my childhood and my student years (I might still have one or two very old, very dusty ones in my parents' attic).


So yesterday, Eva and I set to work.

 

Unfortunately the first heart was not a big success.

It tastes delicious but looks terrible not quite like I imagined.

Cake decoration is definitely not my strength...

In case you are better with icing sugar and food coloring (all over my kitchen, don't ask...), here the recipe for you.

It is for one big heart (about 30 cm wide and long,) or for several smaller ones.

You will need:

750 g (6 cups) flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

a pinch of salt

120 g (4 oz) butter

300 g (1 cup) honey

150 g (0.66 cups) sugar

3 teaspoons of gingerbread spices (I didn't have any so I just used cinnamon)

4 tablespoons unsweetened cacao

3 egg yellow

some milk

Melt the butter together with the sugar, the cacao, the honey and the spices over low heat, until the sugar has melted. 

Let it cool down.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt and add the butter mix, the egg yellow and a bit of milk. 

Kneed the dough until soft and smooth.

Cover with a tea towel and leave overnight at room temperature.

The next day, preheat your oven to 200 ° C (392 ° Fahrenheit).

Cut a heart template out of paper (about 30 cm (11.8 inches) wide and 30 cm long).

Put clingfilm underneath and on top of your dough, and then roll it out until about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) thick.

Cut into a hear shape and place on greased baking tray. Bake for about 15 minutes, then take it out and let it cool down completely.

Beat the left-over egg whites with icing sugar until stiff and decorate your heart. 

You can also add food coloring to the egg sugar mix.

Lots of love,










Ps: I am linking to these lovely parties.

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Rain and a healthy recipe

One of the loveliest things in the world: Waking up to the rain drumming on the roof...

Finally!

Everything relaxes and breathes more easily. The leaves of my lemon tree are uncurling, the chickens scratch
and cluck with fresh enthusiasm, and the people are smiling.

 

To celebrate the cooler weather, here a delicious, healthy, feel-good recipe. I was in doubt what Eva would think of it, 

but she ate without complaints.

Couscous Salad

Wash and slice any fresh vegetables. I used tomatoes, green pepper, onion, carrots, sprouts and mint leaves, and
added sliced dates, pineapples, a can of chick peas and some sliced feta.

Make a dressing out of olive oil, balsamico vinegar, honey and mustard, add to the veggie mix.

Then prepare the couscous and mix it all together.

A wonderful day to you!

Lots of love,

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Happy Christmas!

A very Happy Christmas my dear friends!

 

It is wonderful to have spent time with you over the last year, to have gotten to know some of you better, to have read
your lovely comments and your beautiful blogs!


Even so we are far apart physically, I so often think of you and feel connected with you.

All you wonderful women looking after your children, cooking meals, cleaning, working, having fun, spending time with
your men, crying, battling with difficult decisions and difficult situations...


Being happy or tired, being loving or sad.


But getting up again every morning to do what has to be done.


I love women, the world is a better place because of us!

Here some pralines for you:


Heat up some cream, put chocolate in (broken into equal pieces), and let it melt. Put into the fridge until cool and
slightly hardened.

Roll into little balls, putting a nut in the middle. Then roll in unsweetened cacao powder and enjoy!

A big big big hug, be nice to yourself!




Lots of love,

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Peanut brittle

Eva is on a horse riding course until the end of the week, and consequently there is nothing sweet in the
house.

In general I can live quite well with little sugar, but yesterday I suddenly got a serious sweet craving.

What I had in the pantry cupboard was sugar, spirulina powder (probably the yuckiest thing there is), lots
of different teas, and peanuts. It might be time that I get over my aversion to shopping and stock up...

After an online search I found a recipe for peanut brittle here. I used more peanuts and less sugar than in
this recipe, and it turned out fine.

You will need:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of peanuts
1 pinch of salt
1/4 cup of water


Prepare a baking tray by covering it with baking paper.

Put the sugar and the water into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil, without stirring.
Then stir occasionally until the mix has turned a golden amber color (takes about 10 minutes).
Stir in the cup of peanuts and spread immediately out onto the baking paper.

Let it cool down, brake into pieces and enjoy!

After my sugar craving was pacified, there was still a lot of brittle left over.
Perfect as hostess gifts, teachers gifts, or to give to your neighbors:

Have a gorgeous day!



Lots of love,

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Best brownies ever - a recipe

Yesterday Eva told me that she volunteered to bring brownies to her class party today.
I told her that I am volunteering her to make them.

Isn't it lovely when kids get bigger?

Although they maybe shouldn't do it quite so quickly....


Anyway, this brownie recipe (from a Marie Claire book) is absolutely delicious!
Crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside and full of chocolate!

I had to give myself a serious pep talk before being able to surrender them to her this morning.


Here is what you need:

250 g (9 oz) of butter
325 g (1.5 cups) of sugar
90 g (3/4 cups) of cocoa powder
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
4 eggs
125 g (1 cup) of chopped nuts (opitional)
200 g (1 1/3 cups) of chopped chocolate

Sugar addict...

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F). Grease and line a 23 cm (9 in) square cake tin.
Then melt the butter with the sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Sift the flour, baking powder, cacao and salt into a bowl.
Make a well in the center and add th e butter sugar mix. Stir it in, then stir in the 4 eggs.
Add the nuts and the chocolate bits and bake for about 25 minutes.

 

 I can't even reprimand her for that, seeing that I am often doing the same...

 

 

Will it be good?

Oh yes!

 

Enjoy (or hand over to your child :-) ).


A lovely day to you!


Hugs,

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