No added sugar granola bar

Yesterday I had a "make loads of different granola-bars" attack. One recipe I had floating around uses prunes and date puree. Where I live, date puree is something of a staple. Prune puree is something that I usually make.

These are supper sweet and very filling, but have no added sugar (except what is in the chocolate chips). My kids loved them.

• 1 cup each dried pitted prunes and dates (with pits removed)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup each old-fashion and quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a ca. 23cm by 23cm baking pan with baking paper (I use a standard sized pyrex form).

In a large food processor, combine the prunes and dates. Pulse until roughly chopped. Add the water and peanut butter and blend on medium to high speed until well pureed.

Depending on what food processor you have, take out the "knife" and, using a spoon, mix in the chocolate chips and oats. Mix until well combined.

Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
TIP: If you use ready made fruit puree, use about 3/4 cup. Don't use baby food, it is too watery. If you want to reduce the sweetness, don't use chocolate chips but baking coco powder

Pumpkin spice mix

In the States, many recipes, especially towards Thanksgiving, use a spice mix they call "Pumpkin spice mix". It is used in pumpkin pie (obviously), but also to season cakes and cookies. Just by the way, the Germans have a similar mix that is used during Christmas times.

Where I live, you can't find it and anyway, most store bought spice mixes are, for some (for me) mysterious reason, bland.

This spice mix takes literally 1 minute to put together and makes 8 teaspoons – enough for a few batches of cakes and cookies.

4 tsp of cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground allspice (in Hebrew it is called "English Pepper")

1 tsp nutmeg

Mix all together in a small bowl. Store in an airtight container (e.g. an old jam glass or something alike)

My first picture!!!!! And Glycerin

Dear all,

today I made the granola bars using the recipe of the Basic Granola Bars (told you I make them all the time). Today I added half a cup of "some sour berries" (not joking, that's what I have written on my container... but I think it is cherries), half a cup of sunflower seeds, 1 cup of choco chips and 2 medium sized eggs (instead of one XL egg - which has become the standard size in this country).

I decided to make pictures of it. They came out really bad :(  Here are the two that I think came out ok - but you'll be the judge of it.

Actually, my hubbi and I had a discussion earlier on about granola bars. He had checked at work some and saw that they were full of unwanted ingredients.
By chance I had bought some (yeah, I know) for convenience purposes (they are about 100cal each... takes the thinking process out). I had checked them and didn't see anything that was totally obvious. So, I gave DH the package and told him that theose are fine. There was however, one ingredients that I didn't know what it was "Glycerol". I thought it was some kind of sugar (it was right next to sorbitol). Well, we checked it out and turns out that it is Glycerin.

Now, before you jump the gun, glycerin is not dangerous for you (well, are we not relieved) but it is just something that is totally beyond me why people would choose to eat it. Here are just some foods you find it in: Mentos (sadly enough for me as I LOVE them), tortiallas (don't ask me why) and now, as I had to find out, granola bars... Oh, and usually you find it in soaps and medicines next to being used to make nitroglycerin...
Again, glycerin is something very usefull, but not something I wish to digest.

Mix-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake

This is a standard cake that I make when I am running low on eggs as it doesn't need any. Quick to make  

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1c. granular sugar

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. white or cider vinegar (something that doesn't have a strong flavour)

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/3 c. oil

1 c. water

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Prepare cake mold.

Combine all ingredients and mix together; the batter will be almost smooth, a few small lumps are ok and will disappear in baking.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Remove the cake from the oven, let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a rack. 

Tip: You can add chopped nuts, fruits or chocolate chips

Turkish Bulgur Salad

I originally come from Berlin which has a large Turkish population. I love Turkish salads. They are quick to make and usually quite healthy.

Bulgur salds are just one example of it. In fact, Bulgur is used quite a bit in Turkish cooking. Since it is Ramadan at the moment, I thought it would be nice to add something from around the globe that is quick to make, taste great, is lean on the waist line and my bank account.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes  Cook Time: 15 Minutes            Ready In: 1 Hour

Servings: 6

3 tbs olive oil

1 onion, cut very, very fine

1 ripe tomato, cut into small cubes

3 cups broth

2 cups bulgur, rinsed

1/2 cup cooked green lentils

1/3 cup cooked chickpeas

1 bunch fresh mint, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for an addition minute or two. Add the broth and bring the whole mixture to a boil.

Stir in the bulgur and season. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook at a simmer until the bulgur begins to soften (takes about 5 minutes). Add the lentils and chickpeas and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes – the bulgur needs to be tender and the liquid should have evaporates.

Remove from heat and cool for about 30 minutes. Fold in the mint just before serving.

Angelic pudding

I am preparing for Master Chef. Yes, my dream is to actually get in J I know that this season is already closed (I was too busy with other things) but hopefully next season I will make it.

One of the things that you need for Master Chef are quick but tasty dishes. The judges always throw a surprise challenge your way. You just HAVE to be prepared.

This one is a pudding that, unlike rice pudding, is made with Angle Hair pasta (Vermicelli) and cardamom. Cardamon in Arabic and Hebrew is called הל (Hel – pronounced like Hell just with a long E). It can also mean halo or aurora …. Thus the name

I personally use a light cardamom infusion as I am not the biggest fan of cardamom…

You can eat it both warm or chilled – which makes it great to take with you to work or a pot luck.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes            Ready In: 40 Minutes

Servings: 4

  

1  l milk

5 tbs white sugar

5 cardamom seeds

1 (500gr ) package Angel Hair/vermicelli pasta, broken into small pieces

1 handful of raisins

Mix the milk together with the sugar and the cardamom seeds (slightly crack them if you want a stronger taste) in a saucepan. Bring to a near boil (careful that the milk will not over boil) then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes (make sure that the milk will not burn at the bottom). Stir the pasta and raisins and continue to simmer until pasta is tender and the cream sauce has thickened, about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until warm, about 15 minutes. If the pudding is too thick you can stir in a little bit more milk

Please tell me what you think of it.

All out onion pie

I have started on a 1200-cal diet and finding recipes that fit the bill is sometimes a bit of a struggle. The diet I follow has 3 meals and 3 snacks, where dinner is made up of about 300 cal (give or take…)

This is an onion pie that, including a salad, has about 300 cal. I adapted to meet my dietary requirements and with whatever is available in this country.

My kids LOVED it (they asked for seconds) and so did my husband.

2  large onions – 1 normal and 1 red, cubed or sliced

  2 leeks - white part only, sliced

 8 green onions, chopped

 1 bunch of chopped chives (either the normal one or the garlic ones)

4 tsp. oil

 250 gr 5% white cheese (or cottage)

 2 tablespoons of natural yogurt

 4 eggs

 4 tbs all purpose flour

 1 tsp baking powder

   1 tbs mustard

 3tbs soup granulates

Salt and black pepper to taste (I don't use any salt as I think the soup bouillon is salty enough)

 Preheat the oven to 180 degrees medium heat.

 In a large frying pan, sauté all the onions and the leek in the hot oil for about 10 minutes – stir frequently. Don't put the heat up too high so that it won't burn. Add a little bit of water as needed.

Add the green onions and chives and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the flour, the soup mix, the baking powder and the flour. Turn down the heat completely and gently fry for another 4 minutes.

In a bowl, mix the eggs and cheese together and season to taste.

 Mix the cheese-egg mixture into the onion mix and mix well. Put everything into a baking or pie form and bake for about 45 minutes until golden.

For a 300 cal meal you need a fifth of a pie and a side salad.