Ho! Ho! Ho!

merry christmas to all!

….. and to all a good night!

delicious. oxymorons. (sugar-free sugar cookies)

These little guys are sugar free, gluten free, low carb and terribly festive :D  It wouldn’t be christmastime without sugar cookies, so I had to come up with a version we could all indulge in and not feel guilty (and bloated, etc.) about after the fact.  The recipe couldn’t be easier!

Sugar-free Almond Flour Sugar Cookies

1-1/4 cup almond flour
1 cup Splenda, or sweetener of choice (might need to play around with this)
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature OR coconut oil, softened
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat. Stir together flour and Splenda. Blend in butter, egg and vanilla until well mixed. Form into a large ball and chill for 15 minutes or till rollable. Roll out with a rolling pin and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. You know the drill.  I used small ones, which worked well with the delicate almond dough. Bake for 8 minutes or until set but not brown. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet then remove to wire racks to cool.

Happy Holidays, everyone!  I still have more presents to make and wrap, and my dads birthday to celebrate tonight!  May your days be merry and bright…..

elfing around

..

a lot of holiday crafting going on this week, I can’t believe Xmas is nearly here!  I have barely had the energy to spare on uploading photos, but I think I might just squeeze in a sugar-free sugar cookie recipe (oxymoron baking! awesome!) soon… in the meantime, enjoy this photo of Maggie, I know I do :)

snowed in

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on … but I have been busy enjoying the snow, and cooking lots of savoury and warm dishes– jambalaya, cranberry beef stew, and today it’s crockpot italian sausage and peppers. the house smells amazing, the snows falling outside, and it’s the top chef season finale marathon today. I could get used to being snowed in.

3!!!

This weekend, we have been celebrating Maggie’s 3rd birthday. First, a special train ride into Chicago on Friday, a Birthday party yesterday, and were getting ready for a brunch buffet this morning, and a Thanksgiving concert this afternoon. She has been such a darling, and each year gets better and better. What a special girl, we’re so lucky to have her. :) XOX

maggie’s peanut butter cookies

These are Maggie’s cookies, but she won’t eat them.  She likes baking more than she likes eating baked goods!  I get requests from her to make a cake…. and we will.  And then she’ll have two bites and then be done… leaving an entire cake just sitting around asking to be eaten. Trouble.  She had a blast making these little peanut butter cookies: rolling the “dough” into balls, flattening them, and especially pressing the fork into the dough.  I had left the kitchen to grab something from somewhere, and when I cam back, she had prepared a bunch by her self. So cute.

Anyway, these are suuuper easy and delicious.  Unless you don’t like peanut butter, which apparently Maggie doesn’t!

• 2 cups organic peanut butter, no sugar added
• about 2 cups sweetener of your choice,  I used xylitol and only used about 1 1/2 cups.
• 2 eggs
• dash of vanilla
• any other little goodies, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, mini M&Ms…!

preheat oven to 350° F, combine all ingredients, roll into small balls, flatten, imprint with a fork, bake for about 10 minutes until brown.  they will be soft when coming out of the oven, leave to cool on wire rack. i loosely covered them over night in cling-film and they were crunchy in the morning.  with a glass of almond milk, that’s a pretty awesome breakfast.

missing paris…

I can’t believe we were in Paris two months ago.  I’m ready to go back. I think I’ll always be ready to go back there! What an awesome city.  I think the last photo is proof that Paris misses me too…

creamy leek & pumpkin soup

• 1 large pumpkin, pureed, or two large cans of pumpkin puree
• 1 pack of maple smoked bacon
• butter or olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 5 large leeks, mostly white part, chopped and rinsed
• 32 oz chicken stock, plus more to cover vegetables for cooking
• salt and pepper
• cinnamon
• ground cloves
• nutmeg
• almond milk, or heavy cream for stirring in at the end

Almost everything I cook is pretty rustic— meaning I don’t follow a recipe and just add a lot this and that.  Soups are perfect for this type of cooking… I like to blend this one up in to a rich and smooth soup, that is perfect drunk straight from a mug.

This one starts off with frying together the bacon, onions, garlic, and leeks.  Then add the stock, salt and pepper, pumpkin and simmer until cooked.  Add the spices.  It blends easiest with a stick blender; you can use an upright blender as well, but you may need a bit more stock to get things going. Stir in almond milk or heavy cream…. gulp it down or savour… and then go outside and enjoy autumn before the snow comes!! (we might have a snowy halloween here, that doesn’t sound like a good omen to me…. hmmm)

an autumn scene.

umbrella, always. red jacket, of course. smart shoes, definitely. damp air and cozy homes… the best part.

The London Files: The Honest Sausage & Regent’s Park (part 1)

I’ve decided I am going to do some  posts about some of my favorite places to go in London. I am definitely missing ol’ blighty! Hopefully this will help….

The Honest Sausage is a chain of sausage shacks, if you will, spotted around the royal parks in London. They are serve free range sausage, veggie sausages, and a variety of drinks and bakery items. They also do a great breakfast if you can make it there before 11am.

Our last week in England, we went to the one in Regent’s Park.  There’s also a small one in Greenwich Park, but the one in Regents Park is tucked among the trees in an old Tudor-esque type building.

Regent’s Park has an interesting history.  It used to be hunting grounds for Henry VII, and was transformed in the 1600’s by the Prince Regent into  a park with elaborate gardens to stroll and admire– if you were among the elite:

Marylebone Park, as it was known, remained a royal chase until 1646. It was John Nash, architect to the crown and friend of the Prince Regent, who developed Ther Regent’s Park as we know it today.

A vast rounded park was designed by John Nash, surrounded by palatial terraces, a lake, a canal, 56 planned villas (only 8 were ever built) and a second home for the Prince – a summer palace, which was never built.

The Park became the home of several organisations like the Zoological Society and the Royal Botanic Society. It wasn’t until 1835, during the reign of King George IV, that the general public were actually allowed into the sections of the Park and this was only for two days of the week.

The main development in the 20th century was the creation, in the 1930s, of Queen Mary’s Gardens. Of the buildings and monuments within the park, only two villas, St John’s Lodge and The Holme, remain from John Nash’s original conception of the park.

(royalparks.org.uk)

The zoo here is wonderful.  It’s not huge, but well sized for little ones– with lots of hands on activities and spaces to trawl through and explore.  Maggie was a little nervous around the sheep in the petting zoo area, but loved climbing through tunnels and popping up in a plastic dome to be among moles and other burrowing creatures. There’s even an area designed by kids for kids, specifically for monkeying around. She was also entranced by the two tigers (“mommy and daddy tigers”), and of course the carousel and coin-operated automobiles.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2… CAMDEN LOCK AND THE CANALS!!

AND NOW I AM OFF TO GO SEE BOB DYLAN IN CONCERT WITH MERRIE! THIS MERITS CAPS LOCK, I DO BELEIVE!!!

and…

…. it’s the middle of october! whew. we have been living a bit like gypsies since we’ve been back— shuffling between friends, family and hopping all around town.  hoping to post a recipe for leek and squash soup soon– let’s see if I can get organized to do that! it has been a bit surreal being back in the USA, but I think we’ll adjust :)

sesame sweets.

Til Gajak, Pastelli, Delicious.

This is a popular sweet treat in many parts of the world.  There are many variations on it, but the basic version is just honey + sesame seeds.

these are so simple to make, and there is something so very satisfying about making your own candy.

Bring  1 1/4 cups honey to a boil on the hob.  When it gets to a soft ball stage, pour in 2 cups of sesame seeds and stir.  Spread on to a piece of parchment paper, and let cool a bit.  You can then form it into bite-sized pieces, or let cool further and cut into squares.

last days in greenwich.

well, come 11am tomorrow we’re outta here. that is, if the estate agents have collect the keys on time. they don’t have the best track record in the organizational department.  I’m still in shock that a whole year has passed since we moved in.
the last few days have been a blur of packing, coloring, painting, cleaning, using up food (frantic! experimental! baking!), visits to the post office…. general moving mayhem.

my uncle and aunt were so generous in helping us move all of our things out yesterday, and were kind enough to say they enjoyed the very random red velvet cake of sorts I made out of the last of my pantry items– half a jar of green & black cocoa powder, half a jar of strawberry jam, 3 eggs, some baking powder, the last of my vanilla and honey, and red food coloring! a very interesting, but delicious red velvet cake.

we also enjoyed real food at the buenos aires cafe in our neighborhood after all the heavy lifting was done (thanks uncle kelvin!).  this was definitely one of my favorite spots in greenwich– very cozy with old leather sofas, delicious coffees, brioches and flapjacks.   It will be sad not having it just around the corner.

But, I will definitely miss Greenwich Park the most.  In all seasons, this is just a stunning park to visit.  Never as crowded as any of the central London parks on any given day, but enough locals and tourists to provide plenty of people-watching opportunities :)

We’ve made a lot of memories in this park… maggie chasing pigeons, stripping down to her diaper, picking up dog poop (not all at once) and eating countless picnics courtesy of marks and spencers.


I did a wild food walk here last month, so today, after  going to the market, and goofing around a bit, I showed noah and maggie some of the wild edibles right in the park– wild rose hips, chestnuts, hawthorn berries, elderberries, beech nuts.   And Maggie and I each found a big shiny buckeye …. for good luck.

Well, there’s still some floors to be vacuumed  (goodbye pink wall-to-wall carpeting! you, I will not miss.) …And some linoleum to be mopped. So, I best be off… on to the next chapter… tra-la-la………

From Greenwich, with love.

Land Girls

Just noticed the new series Land Girls on the BBC iplayer.  Looks pretty good.

From wikipedia:

The Women’s Land Army (WLA) was a British and American civilian organization created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls.

In effect the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers, the farmers being their employers.

I should be packing…. but it’s probably important that I get as much british television as I can in before I leave.  Who knows what shows BBC America will pick up…. other than Dr. Who and Torchwood and Top Gear. ;D

on the move

Paris was awesome. It was everything and more that I hoped it would be. A lot of places in the world are over-rated….. Paris is not one of them!  But that goes without saying, doesn’t it?

We move out of our Greenwich flat and temporarily into my Aunt and Uncle’s this Saturday… I can’t believe a year has really gone by. The rest of the week is going to be crazy– lot’s of laundry and cleaning and packing.

When things calm down, I’ll post more from our visit to Paris, and some highlights of my favorite places to visit in London.

Have a good week, all! :)

bubbles

I have a lot of photos to post from all the fun travel of the last few weeks. Why not start with a post about bubbles? Bubbles and summer… like peas and carrots. But more fun. Definitely.

Maggie figured out how to blow giant bubbles when we were on holiday in Bournemouth.   Bubbles + a 2 yr old girl = photogenic!!! witness:

Django Reinhardt – J’attendrai Swing 1939

Living so close to France this past year and having not visited has been at the front of my mind… well, tonight, we take a coach from Victoria station, and tomorrow morning, wake up in Paris!   I have a feeling it will have been worth the wait.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

makes 4 small, dense, cake rounds (recipe easily doubles)

• about 1 cup or small jar of hazelnut butter
• 3/4 cup of honey (or your sweetener of choice)
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter
• 1 extra-large egg
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Green & Black)
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 4 ounces of  dark chocolate, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

1. Combine hazelnut butter, melted chocolate, eggs, coconut oil, honey, baking soda, sea salt, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
2. Add the cocoa powder and combine well, avoiding lumps. At this point, the batter will taste like Nutella. It is criminal not to have a taste.
3. Stir in chocolate chunks/chips.
4. Spread into 4 3″ round baking molds (or the mold of your choice).
5. Bake for 15 minutes. Check if a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean. Larger pans will take longer, you want the edges dark and the center just a little bit soft.

For the topping: I have made these with or without the “frosting”.  It adds just a little more decadence and another flavor.  Basically just mash strawberries and mix with coconut oil or butter. Yeah, it looks sloppy, but it sure is yummy.

on the road

2 hours south of london, through the ancient woods of the new forest, ponies on the road, grass-fed cattle (80% of cows in england are!), car sickness healed by a fry-up from little chef & a story about snow white, little villages tucked into the trees, the sweet reward of a moody sky and the wide open sea.

to the seaside

Maggie and I are headed to the seaside…

Will be back next week with a recipe for chocolate hazelnut cake. YUM!