Humble Mushrooms on Toast & 20% off My Book

Happy Black Friday or Happy Friday as it just learnt that they call it over in Norway, you learn something new everyday, right?

So since you are all probably spending ALL your silvers on other things than food, I thought of giving you a cheap, healthy and fantastically tasty recipe for a humble dish that is easy to forget about sometimes - Mushrooms on toast! Have you got some leftover mushrooms to spare? Mix them up if you have several kinds or just use plain white mushrooms like I did here - frying them until nice and golden releases all the flavours that they hold.

This toast topper is special enough to buy mushrooms for exclusively, I can tell you that much!

Humble Mushrooms on Toast
(Serves 1)

2 generous handfuls of mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp light butter
Salt and pepper
Parsley (freshly chopped or dry)
Other herbs and spices (not necessary, I used some Nigella seeds)
2 slices of toasted bread to serve

- Start by heating the oil in a medium frying pan. Turn it up high, add your mushrooms and seasoning. The pan should be so hot that it literally sizzles from the moment the mushrooms touch the pan.

- Add butter and turn down a little once they start browning and toast until they are the way you like them.

Serve with toasted bread and a little extra butter to serve, and enjoy with a hot cuppa for breakfast, or as a comforting evening snack.

What is your favourite mushrooms, and do you have a mix that works well? I'd love to get some tips and ideas from you!

And since it is Black Friday Blurb the booksite is having a sale as well, and you can now get 20% off my little poetry collection by quoting CYBER20 in the promotion code section!

Earthbound Little Lines by Julie Skogedal Hole | Make Your Own Book

Recipe by yours truly,

- Jules

Pear-Slice Pancakes

Fluffy pancake batter and slices of succulent Autumn fruits - how can you lose?!

This was easy enough to whip up in the morning , and you can mix slices of apple and pear for a bit of a surprise. The cinnamon spice really compliments the fruit, but that goes without saying!


Pear-Slice Pancakes
(Serves 1)

The top fell off a couple of times as I was taking the photos, go figure... I think it looks a little bit like a kiwi-bird...

1 pear (or apple) sliced about 3-4mm thick
1 cup fluffy, thick pancake batter (I used 1 egg, amaranth flour, coconut flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, almond milk and 1 tbsp xylitol - whisk, whisk - leave for five minutes, and it's ready!)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
A pinch of cardamom or nutmeg
1 tbsp butter or coconut oil

Syrup to serve!

- Make the pancake batter and set aside for 5-10 minutes.

- Slice the pear into rings, and heat the butter or oil into a frying pan on medium-high heat.

- Dip the slices into the pancake batter and fry for a couple of minutes on each side until golden.

- Stack them high, and douse your favourite syrup or butter over the top and tuck in!

And on the note of sweets, today my friend Rhea and I went on a little cafê crawl, OK...we only went to two but it was so nice to get to catch up, I hadn't seen her in months!

We came across this tiny little almost Disney-like place where there were three tables, old china plates and saucers hanging on the wall, along with printed fabric bags and cloths, and handmade art for sale. It was great, and as the gingerbread they were selling had come straight out from the oven and had juuuust had the icing drizzled over it, we couldn't help but share a piece. Along with the cake, I had a Mulled Wine latte and Rhea had a deluxe minty hot chocolate.....

Just looks at it! Guess christmas came early ^ ^ What is your absolute sweet Winter comforter? It can be a drink or a cake, or anything else! Perhaps there's a place you visit as a tradition around this time of year?


Original source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheComfortOfCooking/~3/xSfBYbtWrtQ/apple-pancake-rings.html

- Jules

Aloo Gobi

Good morning!

After five days at work, I am finally off, and I am making the most of it! I have already been doing some experimenting in the kitchen, as I tried to make vegan Tiramisu Pancakes, but I find vegan pancakes tend to not set very well, so I ended up with delicious mush instead - I am not complaining, buuut it might not be posted up on this here blog in the future. And will you believe it if I said my stick blender broke when I tried to whizz up the pancake batter feat. diced courgette/zucchini? So I'm going to hunt me down a new one today, haha.
On another note, I have tried a few more of the Oatmeal Artist's recipes which have been a success though, so ch-ch-check her out!

So I settled on savoury for today's recipe instead!

I am used to this being "Gobi Aloo", but I suppose turning the words doesn't make it any less of a dish, it's just "cauliflower potato" or "potato cauliflower" anyway!

This is a dish I used to make when I was working at Babu Kitchen in town, and so I was wondering what Miss Dahl's version would taste like in comparison!

They are both delicious, and fragrant, and definitely worth a try! Serve it with rotis, dosa, flatbread, with rice, or simply enjoy on its own!

Oh, and as I have said before, don't be intimidated by the ingredients list, it's mainly spices and herbs!

Aloo Gobi
(Serves 2-3)

1 tbsp oil or ghee
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 small green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground or fresh ginger
1 tsp mustard seeds
A few curry leaves
250g chopped tomatoes plus 1/3 cup water (I used 400g tomatoes)
4 medium potatoes, diced
1/2 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 tsp sugar
A squeeze or lemon juice
A pinch of cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Dosa, flatbread, raita, natural yogurt, rice or anything else you want to serve it with!

- Start by heating oil in a casserole and soften the onion for about five minutes. Then add the spices, curry leaves and the fresh chilli and fry for about a minute.

- Now, add the potatoes, tomatoes and the water and simmer for about 15 minutes, then you want to add the cauliflower, the sugar and lemon and cook for a further 15 minutes and it is ready to serve up!

I hope you have a lovely day!


Original source:
From Season to Seaon, p. 63

- Jules

Sunshine Sweet Potato

Note to self - when it states "large sweet potato" get a laaaarge sweet potato, especially when you intend to bake it and stuff it with all the goodness of the world. Sadly, I had to leave out some of the goodness in the world here, but worry not, I had the rest in a bowl as I was waiting for the egg to bake.

Note to you - this was really delicious! I used a vegetarian Quorn sausage instead of spicy sausage as the original recipe calls for, but the chilli and smoked paprika added spice aplenty!

Sunshine Sweet Potato
(Serves 1)

1 XXL sweet potato (just sayin')
1 tbsp butter
1 Quorn sausage, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 tsp fresh chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
A good dash smoked paprika
15g grated cheddar
Chopped fresh coriander (optional)
Salt and black pepper
1 egg

- Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. If you want, peel the sweet potato, or wash it and bake for about 50 minutes until tender.

- Once it's ten minutes left of the cooking time, heat the butter in a small frying pan and fosten the onion along with the sausage, once soft, todd in the chilli and seasoning and fry for another minute or two.

- Now, scoop out most of the sweet potato, but making sure the outer layer is intact. In a bowl, mix the excess sweet potato with the sausage mix, and cheese and place back into the potato (if it doesn't all fit, just eat it ^ ^). Make a well in the middle of the mixture and crack the egg into it. Return the potato to the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the egg is cooked.

Serve up and eeeeenjoy! This was so easy and tasty - will definitely be making it again, with a BIG sweet potato next time!

For some reason, sweet potato is one of those vegetables that I prefer peeled, I usually never peel carrots or other potatoes, because - it's good for you, and it doesn't taste any different. I think it's because I went through a sweet potato phase (yes, these exist) and I had it too frequently. Anywho! The one I got in the shop turned out to have white flesh, which doesn't bake as well as the more common orange sweet potato.

Oh and by the way, sorry for the few days' absence, I have been working non-stop this weekend, and on Friday I went to the cinema with a friend. I hadn't been to the cinema since I-don't-know-when - I saw the new Hunger Games movie. Then, yesterday Mari-cat treated me to dinner at her place, which was lovely! She made her now infamous pancake-cake-cake (sadly no photgraphic evidence of this phenomenon. One day though!) I hope you have had a lovely weekend! Have you been up to much?


Original source:
Spice it Up! p. 94

- Jules

Healthy Mutant Ninja Turtles

Candy turtles.. candy..wait, sweet turtles, as a... snack? What? How does this work?

This was pretty much my reaction the first time I saw someone writing up the recipe for these amazing little treats! The first time I made them, I did it with the Rolo chocolate, the "proper" way one might say, but then... THEN, I decided to make some healthified turtles, they tastes just as good as the original, but the "chocolate" is darker - which, in my humble opinion, is a good thing! My flatmate quality checked it as well, and couldn't believe they were healthy!

And the best thing? They're whipped up in minutes, and it hardly takes any longer to double, or treble the recipe, if anything, it might make it easier with a bigger batch of dates to make the chocolate paste - score! These disappeared pretty much the instant they were served up, mainly thanks to me...oops!

Healthy Mutant Ninja Turtles
(Makes 7-10 turtles)

Lightly salted pretzels
Pecan halves
7 dried dates, soaked for five minutes - then drained and roughly chopped
2 tbsp cocoa powder
A splash of water (1-2 tbsp)

- Start by having the cocoa, dates and water in a bowl, or a processor (you might need to make a bigger batch for it to work in a food processor). Whizz until combined, scraping out the stick blender from time to time to make sure it all gets mixed up.

- Once the chocolate paste is done, you're ready to roll! Plate up pretzels, and take some of the date-chocolate and roll into hazelnut shaped balls, place one on top of each pretzel. Once you've run out of chocolate paste, top each of the chocolate pretzels with a pecan and gently press down. You can make them look a little prettier, using your fingers to smoothen out the edges.

What are you waiting for? Serve these badboys up... Perfect with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk, yum!

Aaaaand speaking of chocolatey sweets.....

I finally got around to uploading some new photos on my little digital camera, and so I can show you my first creation in the chocolate factory! Spiced apple. Originally, I had toffee apple in mind, then when I tasted it - I thought about apple crumble, but the others thought the cinnamon was a little too powerful for it to be called that, so it ended up being Spiced Apple. It has a light crunch when you bite into it, pretty all right for a first I thought!


And I will finish off posting a picture of little Morrow, a lurcher who was waiting for his owner (who when turned up, told me that the dog's name was Morrow ^ ^).

Such a beautiful scruffy thing, with one brown eye and the other icy blue! I keep telling myself - when I win the lottery....Then I'll finally get a dog. One day! For now, my loyal little goldfish - Seamus and Finnegan will be there by my sice, I cannot believe they're five and a half years!

Do you have any pets?


Recipe by yours truly,

- Jules

Chilli Sin Carne

You might have had chilli con carne plenty of times before, but have you tried a good chilli sin (without) carne? It's cheap, healthy and really easy to whip up using store cubboard ingredients!

Chilli Sin Carne
(Serves 2-3)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400g tin white beans (I used broad/fava beans)
400g tin kidney beans (or black beans)
1 tbsp tomato purée
1/2 green chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp (smoked) paprika
1 tsp oregano
1/2-1 tbsp cajun seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Tortilla chips or good bread to serve, optionally top with a bit of cheese, or serve with guacamole!

- Start by heating the oil in a medium-sized casserole, add the onion and garlic and soften for about 5 minutes before adding the fresh chilli.

- Now, add the remaining ingredients and heat through. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with whatever you want, or just the way it is. Perfect for a chilly Autumn day *smiles*

Also, last night I was so lucky to go to my friend Rowan Ross' second album launch, this time for his album "Fireflight" - check it out!
It was another friend who did the support act for it, and his performance was magic as well. I have to go to more local gigs in the near future, it's too good *smiles*

Today I am off and having a few friends over for dinner in the evening. I hope you have had a leisurely weekend and a great start to a new one!


Original source:
Sunnere & Sterkere med Proteinrik Mat, p. 104

- Jules

Spiced Kale Crisps (Not for Rabbits)

Kale crisps, whether it's "in" or out, I don't really care, because I reckon it is flippin' deeelicious!

The first time I tried it was in a wholefoods here in Glasgow, they had tasters by the counter and I could not help myself - and that I discovered was with good reason. The lovely greens, that taste nothing but the greens you were scared of as a child, but crisp, lightly salted, and so so sooo good!

I have been meaning to make it myself for some time, I mean... it's kale crisps, how hard can that be? The prices they charge for them in the shops can be extortionate, so why pay more when you can pay less, and make them fresh at home? Beats me.

There are various ways of doing it when it comes to the baking of the crisps; some take a handful of minutes, and others... slightly longer, I decided to go for the latter version, as I had a bit of time in my hand and the brain behind the recipe, who seemed like an experienced kale-crisper-upper recommended allowing them to bake on lower heat for longer.

Spiced Kale Crisps (Not for Rabbits)
(Makes 1 large cereal bowl)

1 small packet/ 1/2 large packet of fresh, green kale, roughly torn
1/2 tbsp olive oil - or coconut oil

1 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper (optional)

- Pre-heat the oven to 150ºC.

- Mix the seasonings together in a small bowl.

- Have the kale in a large bowl and pour the oil over it. Massage the kale until all of it is nice and shiny. Pour over the seasoning and toss well.

- Transfer to a baking tray and place in the middle of the oven. bake for 10 minutes, turn the tray, and bake for a further 15 minutes. If they still haven't crisped up properly, toss a little and keep baking for five minutes intervalls whilst checking on them.

- Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving, and enjoy!

Have you tried kale crisps before, aaaaand do you have a favourite? Be it home made or bought, I'd love to hear it!

Aaaaand speaking of green stuff, as I mentioned yesterday I did a little "gardening" in the kitchen, and after having tended to the herbs in the windowsill, I took a few snaps of my carnivore plants, they're of the specie Nepenthes Alata, and I got the biggest of them from a dear friend about four years ago when I was working with him in an office and there were some flies buzzing. The plant didn't really do a good job as far as fly-catching went, but I reckon it looks beautiful! The little one is a cutting from the bigger one, I reckon it's fascinating how plants can multiply like that, and I remember when I was young, my grandmother would give me lots of "baby plants" that she would show me how to take care of, I used to have quite a collection. Yes, I was a geeky child, I guess some things never change....

Anyway, I hope you have a fantasmic weekend! I will spend most of it in work, but hopefully that'll be all right, and then I have a friends's album launch. You can check out his first video here starring yours truly in the beginning, and his brand new single Heavy Rain here! What have you got in store for the coming days? Hopefully something nice ^ ^


Original source:
http://ohsheglows.com/2014/03/12/6-tips-for-flawless-kale-chips-all-dressed-kale-chips-recipe/

- Jules