Fruit, Nut and Grain bars/whatchamacallit

I absolutely love experimenting with oats. The other day I wanted a quick fix. something oat-ey and nutty and fruity but please not a boring bowl of oatmeal.

Whenever I experiment, I simply just keep going and letting things happen rather than actually thinking about what I want to eat.

Thus was born the oat, fruit, nut and grain bars/whatchamacallit. These are very crunchy and  chunky and really good.

What you need:

2 cups of quick cook oats

2 tsp of powdered flax seed (optn)

1 large ripe banana

1 tbs butter

1/4 cup of mixed sliced nuts

1/4 cup of raisins and other dry fruit

Sugar/honey as per your taste

1 pinch of salt

 

What you need to do:

• Preheat oven to 150 C /300 F
• Finely powder one cup of the oats
• puree the banana
• mix all the ingredients together
• add just a bit of water if too clumpy (not too much)
• press mix onto oiled baking sheet
• bake for 30  minutes till dry and flaky.

 

Gr8 with sliced banana or just crushed into yoghurt or milk.

Homemade Pasta

I love pasta.

First of all carbs, cheese and meat make me a very happy person

Second of all I lurve Italian food. For some reason it really goes well with my palette.

If that wasn’t enough if it is… ahem made fresh and with wholewheat flour?? what more do I want in life?

I made this from scratch, by hand, without any machine or anything.

What you need:

3 cups of wholewheat flour
2 tbs EVOO (for those who don’t know/love Rachel Ray, evoo stands for extra virgin olive oil)
2 eggs
Salt as per taste
just a drop of water for kneading (only if needed)
lots of water for cooking

What to do:

1. Mix all the ingredients except for the water and knead for a good 15 minutes to form a reasonably firm dough. If the dough is too firm add a little water (do not over do it)

2. Roll out thinly. Cut into any shape you want.

3. Spread out the pasta onto trays and leave to dry for 2 hours.

3. In a large saucepan heat a lot of water till boiling add salt if wanted. Drop the pasta into the bubbling water and cook for no more than 3-5 minutes. Overcooking will ruin the pasta.

4. Drain pasta and use as desired.

Be sure to consume the pasta within two days. Since it’s fresh and preservative free, it doesn’t keep well for long.

my pasta, drying

The cooked, drained pasta; still steamy.

What I did with my pasta

Sun dried Tomatoes

Have you ever died tomatoes in the sun? We’ll I have and its fun!

I dried some a while back and I have to tell you I loved the results.The tomato miraculously transforms into a chewy candy which has a strikingly intense flavor. It tasted great as a filling for the bread I made and also as a dip.

Its quite simple to do and once you do it this way, you don’t need to buy the oil soaked ones from a store.

If you stay in a sunny place (I do, its even hot in winter) you can do this with such ease its not even funny. But if you don’t you can use an oven to speed up the process.

What you need:

Large tomatoes, as many as you want
Salt
baking sheet/tray
Cheesecloth
The Sun or an Oven

What you need to do:

1. Slice the tomatoes into very thin slices and lay them onto the baking tray(s)
2. Sprinkle salt all over them
3. Cover with the cheesecloth
4. Leave to dry where there is direct sunlight
5. It takes about a 7-11 days depending on the sun but you can use an oven after drying them out for a while. Also make sure to refrigerate at night.

I know, they look fab. They taste even better