Rainy Day Reads

It can be hard to stay just a little bit healthy during the festive season with all the chocolates, drinks and good food going around. So here are a few ideas to help you out. Just switch these snacks out for some of the cookies and chocolates when you have an evening in or if you need a little something to keep you going in the afternoon. Now, I am not a heart nut, and I know practically nothing about nutrition and such but common sense tells me these things must be better than chocolate.  Hummus: Make a lovely hummus and have an assortment of vegetable sticks to dip in it. I usually just use a can of chickpeas (rinsed), some garlic, some ground cumin, salt and a little creme fraiche to make it smoother. Just blend it all up and you are ready to snack.  Fruit: You can just set out fruit for everyone to choose from, but if you want to jazz it up a little, cut different fruits into chunks and skewer them on a wooden stick. It's always more...

Now this is a recipe for what is directly translated called “Apple slices” (æbleskiver). Traditionally there are supposed to be bits of apple in them, but I don’t like cooked fruit and my family recipe is without apples.   You do need some speciality equipment for these. You need a pan like this:  If you can’t find a pan for “æbleskiver” try searching for a takoyaki pan. This is a Japanese snack, that uses the same sort of pan for little dumplings with squid.  For the apple slices you need: 250 g of flour (glutenfree if you want) 1 tablespoon of sugar 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda 500 ml of buttermilk 2 eggs Mix everything but the eggs to a smooth batter. Add the eggs and mix well.  Heat up the pan on a high heat (but not the highest) and add some sort of lubricant to the pan. I like to use butter. This recipe is not for the faint of heart, as you need a lot of butter to grease the pan, to make sure they don't stick!  ...

I have talked a few times on this blog about being gluten-intolerant, but I have never really explained what that entails and how I found out about it. About a year and a half ago I started feeling sick whenever I ate. In hindsight this makes sense, because I pretty much ate some form of gluten for every meal. Finally, I told my mom about my troubles. She is a sort of nurse and I almost always consult her before I go to the doctor. She told me it sounded like IBS, and I went home and googled that. And became very downhearted, because IBS means Irritable Bowel Syndrome (or something) and it pretty much means you are allergic to 90% of foods*. Gluten and lactose being on top of the list. But I was feeling worse with every meal, so I decided to give the diet plan a go and cut out gluten and lactose and all sorts of vegetables. I bought coconut milk and lactose-free milk and gluten free pasta etc. After a few days I decided I couldn’t live without milk (I love milk!!) and decided to t...

I'm bringing cake to work for my birthday, and since I was baking anyway, I decided I might as well take a few pictures and share this recipe. Now, I didn't invent this recipe, but I regret to say I have no idea who did. It's one of those that I wrote down in my personal little recipe book years ago, and now I have no idea where it originated. But it's too delicious not to share! So you will need: 200 g soft butter 200 g brown sugar 3 eggs 200 g flour 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 2 teaspoons of baking powder 300 g grated carrots 75 g chopped walnuts And here is how you do it: Whisk butter, eggs and brown sugar. Use an electric mixer or some sort of Kitchen Aid-ey machine. Mix flour, cinnamon and baking powder and alternate mixing that and the carrots/nuts into the eggy mix. Bake at 175 degrees C for 1 hour. (But as always, keep an eye on it. All ovens are not the same!) I usually make a yummy cream cheese ...