Christmas Baking Dilemma

I stalled for a long time deciding what to make for my edible gifts this Christmas. The truth is I have a dilemma. I think the gift should be something sweet, but I no longer eat a lot of sweet things and have learned to like less sweet treats. In addition, I have almost completely given up grains over the last year.

Grain-free and low sugar desserts (like grain-free honey cakes) are expensive to make. And, let's be honest, they usually do taste a little bit different than the normal versions. They taste great to me -- but I know that my tastebuds have become accustomed and happy with a less intense sweet.

Chickpea and Chorizo Flatbread

I wrote recently about how I was out of ideas. Not just for blogging, but for cooking as well. Thanks to all of you for your sympathy in the comments on that post and on Facebook. A few days later I was frustrated and feeling like chucking stuff out. I attacked a messy kitchen cupboard and ditched some old, expired flours. I consolidated three bags of almond flour into a canister. Foods I am trying to avoid eating (mostly wheat-based) were put out of reach. And I discovered I had a big container of chickpea flour that I had forgotten about. I was determined to make something interesting out of it.

Cranberry and Walnut Muffins

Here are four things that make me feel Christmassy:

1. listening to Christmas carols while cooking
2. singing along to Christmas carols
3. the smell of baking muffins with cranberries and orange
4. my fingers around a mug of steaming spiced tea

Almond and Orange Cake

Every time I try to eat an orange at breakfast it squirts into my eye. As a result, I have given up on oranges in the a.m. and I had a couple of leftover oranges in the fridge. Luckily, I found a new great use for oranges - make orange puree. I used the whole orange, skin and all.

Amaranth, Raisin, and Nut Loaf

 

I've been struggling lately with blogging. I haven't been posting much lately due to a strange version of bloggers' block. It seems that the food I want to cook and the stories I want to tell don't always match.

I have been cooking as much as always and I have many pictures of things to share with you. I've got creative vegetable ideas, both main dishes and sides. I have some healthy baking (like this loaf), and plenty of tasty meal ideas. So I'm fine with food to post about.

Rhubarb Cake with Cinnamon Topping

On Mondays at work we have a collaboration session. The twelve of us in our department have a scheduled meeting to discuss issues and share ideas. I try to provide a snack at collaboration since it's a rare time when we are all together. I made this cake two Mondays in a row for collaboration.

The first week I made this it was because I was so excited to see rhubarb in my grocery store. The second week it was requested by a British colleague who realised that rhubarb was one part of a UK spring that he had been missing. The crumbly cinnamon topping adds a nice counterpoint to the tart and soft rhubarb.

Mango, Banana, and Coconut Loaf (Sugar-Free)

I first ate mangoes in Mexico as a high school student. They were ripe and slightly squishy, and faintly smelled of pine. Someone showed me how to slice off a slab from the side, and scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon. The juice dribbled down my chin and arms, falling in fat, orange drops from my elbow to the dusty ground below.


There were ten of us high schoolers on an outreach project near Tijuana. We spent the week running kids' programs and hosting evening gatherings at local churches. And every day at breakfast I ate a juicy mango. I savoured every bite of them. I used my teeth to gnaw off the stringy bits of flesh around the huge seed.

Top 5 Easter Recipes

For me, holidays revolve around food. Easter meals are a great time to share with friends and family and reflect on God's gift to us in Jesus. Here are my five picks for making this weekend's food special.


Hot Cross Buns: This whole grain version of the Easter classic is easy to make and a perfect Easter breakfast.

Gingerbread Cake (Whole Grain)

I was a tomboy as a teenager. I refused to wear dresses (sorry, Grammie, you did try to tempt me) and I never owned anything pink. My beanpole body helped, too: I was tall and straight as a board for all of my pre-adult years. Jeans and baggy T-shirts were my uniform, along with chunky boots or trainers. My long (lanky) hair was the only thing about me that could be described as remotely feminine. (Here I am at 16 with my friend Delia. Doesn't she look like a lovely girl?)

Cornbread with Corn

From the "why-didn't-i-think-of that-before?" file comes this recipe idea: adding corn to cornbread. Boy, that's an obvious idea, but it had not occurred to me until recently.

If you are anything like me, you often have some frozen or canned corn around on standby to make emergency meals when there are no "real" vegetables in the fridge. And so it is that I threw some corn into the cornbread recently. Serve with soup for a full meal. (Maybe rocket and goat's cheese soup? Or Mexican soup?)

Zesty Grapefruit Cake (Whole Grain)

My good friend is allergic to milk. She came over to bake with me last week and we whipped up this delicious cake. It's made with grapefruit and is zesty, delicious, and has no milk.

I have never tried a cake with grapefruit before - but it's an inspired surprise. It's a sharper taste than orange and more flavourful than lemon. The springy cake is topped with a glaze made with grapefruit zest and juice.

How to Write Recipes to Make Cooking Easier - Carrot and Apple Muffins

I was making carrot and apple muffins for my colleagues. Every muffin recipe uses two bowls and the recipe is always much the same. Wet ingredients go in one bowl, dry in another. They are combined with a few strokes, then the batter is dropped into the muffin tins and baked. Muffins are designed to be easy; hence the reason I make them so frequently. But the recipe I was (roughly) following for the muffins was making the process harder.

My Sugar-Free Experiment - and Pumpkin and Almond Loaf

The more I read about sugar, the more convinced I am that I should give up sugar. So I decided I would during October and November, as an experiment. I wanted to see if I would have more energy and fewer cravings. Don't dismiss the idea of quitting sugar! Read on to find out more.

Weekend Links #24

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--A useful post about speeding up weeknight dinner preparation (from The Kitchn). There are lots of good ideas in the comments.
--Why you should be making your holiday cookie dough now, and freezing it (from The Kitchn, again!).
--Mark Bittman takes on the common statement that "junk food is cheaper than cooking at home" (from the New York Times). What does it cost to feed a family of four at McDonald's and at home?
--I want to get a copy of Ruhlman's Twenty - a new cookbook whose thesis is that there are twenty basic techniques to master to be a good cook. The book includes 100 recipes and lots of photos for each technique (from Michael Ruhlman).
--Furthermore, there are almost 200 cookbooks coming out before Christmas. Here's a list of most of them (from The Eater). It includes one Hong Kong book (Hong Kong and Macau Magic) and a culinary history of Canada (Canadians at Table). I bet the list has a holiday present for every foodie.

Strawberry and Nutella Muffins (Whole Grain Baking)

What could be better than strawberries and Nutella together? These whole wheat muffins are stuffed with strawberries and each one contains a dollop of smooth chocolate and hazelnut spread. I adapted this from the wonderful blog Two Peas & Their Pod; the main difference is that my muffins are whole wheat; theirs use white flour. To accomplish this without drying out the recipe, I added some orange juice. It's indiscernible at the end, but it keeps the whole grain flour moist. And the acid in the juice means there's no need for buttermilk, which is good, because it's too complicated for me to buy here in Hong Kong.

These muffins were set upon with eager hands just after baking. If you don't have Nutella, what else could you use? You could just put a square of dark chocolate in each muffin, halfway up the cup. Or peanut butter, perhaps?

Weekend Links #22

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--An analysis of the recent media coverage of Bill Clinton's veganism and other nutrition in the media (from Small Bites).
--A five part series about food photography by Gourmande in the Kitchen caught my eye, thanks to my brother sending me a link. I love the pictures which show balance in food photos, seen in part two.

Whole Wheat Courgette (Zucchini) Buns

If this blog had a different title, it would probably be: For the Love of Veg. I do love everything about vegetables. They are so versatile and tasty. I try to fit vegetables into everything. This month's Fresh from the Oven challenge was perfect for me: bread with vegetables. I made these hole wheat courgette rolls and I want to make them many more times in the future.

However, I had a major mishap along the way; shall we say it was an extreme case of "user error"? It was my own fault. My buns were much too big for the pan I had prepared, and as a result they didn't bake as quickly as expected. But I was too intent on following the recipe directions and I took them out of the oven only half baked. Sadly, I didn't notice this until an hour later, when they were cool. What was I to do at that stage?

Weekend Links #21

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback. This time, the links are heavily recipe focused. What new recipes have caught your eye?

food reading links:
--Do you need to tweet, check the internet, and fiddle with your phone/computer/tablet while on holiday? Dianne Jacob offers some thoughts. (Bonus: baking tips and pictures from an amazing baker's kitchen.)
--An article about how to blog like a journalist, based on a talk given by Fiona Beckett at the UK Food Blogger Connect conference (from Food & Wine Finds).

recipe links:
--This tempeh stir-fry recipe looks easy and delicious. The post also explains why you should choose tempeh over tofu (from Healthy Green Kitchen).
--A recipe (a method, really) for dried cranberries (from About.com).
--Strawberry pizza with goats' cheese and walnuts (from Not Martha).
--MKF Fisher's instructions for how to fry the perfect egg: it's extremely easy to do (from The KitchenMaid).
--Pink and white marbled cupcakes, fittingly called "blushing beauties" (from Spoonful of Delight). There is a tiny bit of beetroot puree in the pink batter.
--This Indonesian shredded fruit salad is made with rose apples, jicama, pineapple, and green mangoes. The dressing is lime, sugar, tamarind, and chilli. I can't wait to try it (from Mochachoclata-Rita).
--Here's a video of 15 minute ice cream, made in a zip lock bag. (Have you seen this before? Am I slow?)

off-topic links:
--"How do I know if I have enough ideas for a blog?" Daniel at Quick Writing Tips gives a good answer and also some great advice for cranking out more content.

What engrossing things have you seen around the internet?

Or tell me... What is your best blog post these last two weeks?

ginger and peach muffins (whole grain baking)

I think peaches may be my favourite summer fruit. And summer is the perfect time for eating juicy peaches in every way possible! How about these ginger and peach muffins? They are made with oat flour and whole wheat flour.

weekend links #17

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--Does being a food blogger lead to a book deal? An article from The Guardian exploring the idea of bloggers versus "expert" book writers.

recipe links:
--Pizza dough made with white wine; what an interesting idea (from Suzie the Foodie)!
--Four new ways to drink gin and tonic (from The Kitchn). G&T is my favourite after-work drink. I think the lime and cilantro version might be enjoyable.
--This cottage cheese and mint flatbread sounds exceptionally easy to make (from Lite Bite).
--Chocolate chip cookies that are gluten- and sugar-free (except for the chocolate chips)--sweetened with bananas (from Gluten Free A-Z Blog).

off-topic links:
--I've been researching camera handbags. I really want a girly bag for my camera and laptop. VeraLana posted a great list of women's camera bag options. At the moment, I'm leaning towards an epiphanie bag called Clover.
--An article about the correctness (or lack thereof) of meta-anaylses of scientific studies. If you read only one article about scientific studies, this is my suggestion (today, anyway!).
--Why we find things annoying and how to cope (from Sarah Wilson). An insightful and funny article.