Give-away - Concerti Carrier

Den nye formsydde bæreselen Concerti Carrier er jeg spent på å prøve.



Og nå er det give-away på bloggen deres, så det er bare å prøve lykken!

Sweet tooth

I suddenly found myself in acute need of something sweet.

1/2 ripe banana, mashed with a spoon
1,5 tbsp cashini butter (Artisana - cashew and sesame butter)
3 drops chocolate flavoured stevia
2 heaped tsp cocoa powder

Just mix it all together in a bowl. It tastes like chocolate icing. Yum!

Layered fudge

I came across Chocolate Covered Katie's blog via Hjertemat, and fell in love instantly. Her recipes are so tempting, so yummy! It truly encompasses all things chocolate-y and then some. One of the first recipes I tried from her blog was her chocolate fudge. I played around with it a bit, adding peanut butter amongst other things (which CCK actually did as well - a few weeks later) and it was absolutely delicious! Still is. And since I've played around with it a bit more, ending up with these pieces of layered fudge.



LAYERED FUDGE

5 tbsp coconut butter (I use Artisana)
3 tbsp cashew butter (Artisana)
1 very ripe banana
1 tbsp agave nectar
Pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.


Then remove about 1/3 of the mixture. Add 3-5 tbsp cocoa powder (I use Navitas Naturals) and 2-3 drops chocolate flavoured or plain stevia to the 2/3 and blend until the cocoa is properly incorporated. If you want more stevia, then add according to taste. I prefer this part to be rather dark and not too sweet, as the vanilla/toffee mixture is quite the opposite.


Then add 2 drops vanilla flavoured stevia and 4 drops toffee flavoured stevia, plus a pinch of vanilla bean powder to the remaining 1/3, mixing by hand.

Spread out the chocolate mixture on some cling film and pop it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, just enough for it to harden.


Spread the vanilla/toffee flavoured mixture over the chocolate and place in freezer or fridge until it hardens.


Then cut into pieces and enjoy! I suppose it lasts quite a few days in the fridge, but they tend to disappear rather too quickly here...



PS: As I mentioned in my previous post (in Norwegian), I've decided that this blog will be bilingual. Just like my head. ;)

Popcorn og språkforvirring

Jeg klarer ikke å bestemme meg for om denne bloggen skal gå på engelsk eller norsk, så nå har jeg i grunnen landet på begge deler. Noe skriver jeg best om på engelsk, noe på norsk, og hvilket språk jeg tenker på varierer fra dag til dag. Så da får bloggen bli deretter. :)

Nok om det! Det har vært en lang sommer, på mange måter. Uvanlig lang ferie for meg, siden jeg er mellom jobber for tiden. Jeg har vel knapt hatt så lang ferie siden jeg gikk på ungdomsskolen. Deilig! Samtidig har det vært en vond sommer, med 22.7. Mange tanker og følelser å fordøye. Og en liten jente å ta seg av, en som er for liten til å skulle vite noe særlig om ondskap og forferdelse. En blanding av mye, med andre ord.

En ting har dog holdt seg gjennom hele sommeren, og det er min nyfunne begeistring for popcorn! Jeg har alltid syntes at popcorn var litt kjedelig, litt uinteressant i smaken. Men så plukket jeg opp et tips et sted om å bruke næringsgjær på popcornet - og bang, der var jeg frelst! Så her har det blitt poppet sikkert et par kilo popcorn siden mai. Og alle i familien liker det, både store og små.

Popcornet poppes som vanlig, vi har ikke micro og popper på gammeldags vis på komfyren. Jeg bruker rapsolje til å poppe i, men der gjør man akkurat som man vil. Mens poppingen pågår blander man krydderet:

3-5 ss næringsgjær
1 ts malt spisskummen (cumin)
1/2 ts salt
En liten klype chili - eller etter smak.

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Dette blandes sammen og settes til side til popcornet er ferdig. Når det skjer, har man oppi 1-2 ss kokosolje/smør/annen olje i det ferdigpoppete popcornet og rister godt på kjelen til det smelter og har fordelt seg jevnt på alt. Dette er rett og slett for at krydderet skal feste seg på popcornet, heller enn å falle rett til bunns i kjelen. Deretter rister man på kjelen igjen, atter en gang for å fordele godsakene - og vips, så er det klart.



Næringsgjær er rikt på B-vitaminer av flere sorter, deriblant B-12, som jeg lett får mangel på. Kanskje det er derfor jeg liker det så godt? I tillegg er det mye folat i næringsgjær, så sånn sett er det fint å spise for kvinner i fruktbar alder. Dette er ikke aktiv gjær, så man blir ikke gående med boblende mage av å spise det, bare så det er sagt! Mest av alt liker jeg rett og slett smaken, og koser meg med popcornet mitt.

Disbelief

Friday July 22, 2011 started as a regular day, but by the time it ended, Norway was a different country. And the worst was yet to come. Waking up on Saturday to the news that more than 80 had been killed at Utøya was unbearable. I still don't know if I've really understood the scale of it. I can't let go of a man, a father, who was interviewed on the mainland near Utøya on Friday. At that time no one knew what was happening, no one grasped the magnitude. I feel so deeply for that father. I have no way of knowing if his son made it off the island, but I hope from every corner of my heart that he did. The alternative is simply too brutal to take in. That father's face is etched in my memory.

As a mother I feel an enormous sense of gratitude that my daughter is much too young to be implicated in this, and thankfully young enough to be protected from the images and the horrible truth of it as well. She has naturally noticed that we, her father and I, have been rather unsettled since Friday afternoon, but she goes about her regular business - playing with Duplo, doing jigsaw puzzles, jumping in the enormous puddles from the rain that keeps pouring down. Her very being makes us change our focus, and it helps. Despite the horrible events our life must go on. Yet at the same time there is the sense that things never will be the same. Our nation has been changed for ever.

I have, however, been proud to be Norwegian these past few days. I commend official Norway for keeping their calm and not joining the blame game, and most importantly for handling the situation with grace and dignity. We may have lost our innocence, but we have most definitely proved our sense of solidarity.

Raw ice cream with chocolate sauce

Yum! Raw, healthy, dairy free, egg free (and gluten free) ice cream.



ICE CREAM

2 cups raw cashew nuts, soaked for a couple of hours
1 cup water
2/3 of a very ripe banana
8 drops liquid stevia (I use Sweet Leaf)
2 tbsp coconut oil (softened)
Pinch of salt
Peppermint extract to taste
Pinch of vanilla powder

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. My blender isn't strong enough to get it quite as smooth as regular ice cream, but close enough. I presume you could get it smoother in a Vita-Mix or similar. But my ice cream loving (and slightly milk intolerant) husband really, really liked this! Next, place the mixture in an ice cream maker if you have, otherwise freeze it the old-fashioned, manual way. It needs to come out of the freezer 30-60 minutes before you plan to eat it.


CHOCOLATE SAUCE (well, chocolate sauce for lazy people)

3 tbsp soft coconut oil
Yacon syrup to taste
Raw cacao powder to taste
Pinch of salt

Stir together. I didn't even bother to stir until smooth; as I said, chocolate sauce for lazy people - like me.

Recommendation

Try this with a bit of milk. I used cashew nut milk. Perfect!

Lunch

Quinoa salad: Leftover red onions, leftover red and white quinoa, some feta cheese, chopped flat-leaf parsley and olive oil. And a few chili marinated olives on top. Yum!



And a smoothie for dessert. 1 banana, a handful cashew nut pulp, frozen raspberries, 1 tps maca powder*, 1 tsp lecithin, 1 tbsp hemp protein, cashew nut milk, water.



* If you're in Norway, it's not legal to import maca from outside the EU, so if you want to follow the rules, order from e.g. Goji King. That said, I have ordered from iherb, and got my maca. However, you do risk it being returned to sender.

Chocolate smoothie for breakfast

4-5 unsulphured dried apricots, soaked overnight
A handful raw cashews, soaked overnight
1 very ripe banana, preferably frozen in pieces
1,5 tbsp hemp protein powder
2 tbsp raw cacao powder
A splash agave nectar to taste
2,5 dl oat milk (I use calcium-enriched Oatly or home made)

Place all ingredients in blender, blend until smooth and enjoy!

If you don't have frozen bananas, add a few icecubes. I definitely prefer this smoothie cold. And add superfood powders as desired. Maca, camu camu, mesquite, lecithin powder all work well.

If you're a first time iherb shopper, feel free to use my referral code ISE306 to receive $5 off your first order.

Banana muffins

These were made today for our girl's packed afternoon meal for daycare. She's a bit of a fussy eater and so I try to be creative. These have already proved popular. They can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free oats, and can also be made without added sugar - the palm sugar isn't strictly necessary, but it tastes nice.

INGREDIENTS

A handful almonds
A handful sunflower kernels
2 handfuls rolled oats
1 dl coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
Cocoa powder to taste
1 tbsp palm sugar
2 eggs
2 very ripe bananas
1,5 dl vanilla quark (I suppose regular quark, cottage cheese or fromage frais could be used instead, with a bit of vanilla essence)

Heat oven to 175 C. Place almonds, sunflower kernels and one handful of the rolled oats in a food processor and grind to flour. Place in a bowl along with the other dry ingredients. Mash the bananas with a fork and add to the dry mixture along with the eggs. Stir together, then add the quark and give it another stir. Distribute in muffin cases and bake for approx. 18 minutes. This recipe made 10 muffins.

Rainbow blanket

Our toddler is long for her age and is rapidly getting too long for her baby blankets. Thus I've started knitting a "big girl blanket" for her, using Kauni effect yarn (colourway EQ). I'm not usually very fond of multi coloured yarns, but this yarn is different - the long colour shifts makes stripes rather than chaos. I'm knitting it on the diagonal as I don't know if I have enough yarn. I'll probably need an additional skein as I want the blanket to measure approximately 1,5 m x 1,5 m.

Pretty perfect

I've been on the lookout for a new sunglass case for a while. And just before Easter I found the perfect one on Etsy, from the seller thezakka. It arrived today, and it's quite simply perfect! Not too big, not too heavy, and so pretty!

Living on the edge

... of the step aerobics platform, that is. I basically fell off it last night. Quite embarrassing, really. And rather painful. So here I am with my leg on a chair and a sprained ankle.

Wish list

Ras el hanout

Ah, what a wonderful spice mix! I bought a packet of this on a whim last time I ordered from Seasoned Pioneers. Today it helped create a quick, yet fragrant and tasty wannabe tagine.



What I used:

2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 onion, cut into half moons
A few cloves garlic
1 red chili
A good handful dried apricots, chopped
Roughly 3 dl chicken stock
About 3 tsp ras el hanout
1 red pepper, chopped

Fry the onions, garlic and chili in some oil until soft, add the ras el hanout and fry for another minute or so. Then add the chicken and let it brown. Next throw in the apricots, give it a stir then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil and let it cook under a lid. Meanwhile, cook some bulgur wheat to serve. Add the chopped pepper when everything is nearly done.