soft chewy snacks bar

These are delicious, not just for the kids either, On a busy day, your  work load has gone crazy it,s  coming at you from all direction all at the same time, suddenly feel drained your inner battery is beginning to run low, grab a couple of these along with  a quick cuppa, off t you go again, re- energizer.

Ingredients
Make them from organic Ingredients. (chemical free)

4 oz  barley oat flakes  (Porridge oat)
2 weetabix biscuits
2 oz  pumpkin seeds
2oz pistachio  nuts (chopped)
2 oz  sunflower seeds
1 oz white sesame seeds
1 oz  millet
1oz flax seeds
1 oz chia seeds
2 oz cranberries (chopped)
pinch of dried  ginger
pinch ground cinnamon
3 oz  agave  nectar
3 oz butter
3 oz honey

In my recipe  the cinnamon and ground ginger are still non organic as we are still searching for these  locally. 

Preparation.

1.  Preheat oven to 360f - 180 c degrees. In a large mixing bowl  combine  all dry  ingredients, mix well.

2.  In a small  saucepan  melt butter agave nectar and the  honey. Now pour over the entire dry mix and mix thoroughly together, make sure all has and even coat of the liquid.

3. Add mix to your style of baking tray.

 4. Place tray in oven and bake for  25 minutes  remove and allow to cool for two  minutes ,  if your  seed mix is in one big baking tray, use a large sharp kitchen knife and score the surface (only)  of the  mix dividing into the size bar you require. Now  after they have cooled right down,  place your baking tray into the fridge overnight.  

5.  The following morning they are now set, break or cut along score lines,   these will  store in an air tight container for about three weeks enjoy.

 Shown here straight  out of the oven,  1st of two batches.

Blanching broad beans

Not really a recipe but, these things need doing from time to time , bought these this morning from the organic farm shop The green valley last of the season, there a little bigger than I would have hoped for but never mind, they taste delicious.

We have already had a small taster after I finished bagging them a few moment ago, odd amount left over so it had to be tested, well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it,  crunchy and tender, they will be even better when fully cooked.
 
 


Preparation.

Podded and ready for the pot. Bring water to a rolling boil and add salt to taste then add your  broad beans,  Keep boiling for a further five minutes remove with a large serving slotted spoon to allow beans to drain surplus water and plunge them into iced water, this stops the beans cooking further, when cool place onto tea towels and pat dry place into seal-able bags there now ready for the freezer.

Orange marmalade with a twist

Well really its not Marmalade as we know it, In my opinion its far superior than any shop bought  or home made other brands. No added sugars, no fats, low Gi, high in protein.

Ingredients

3 large Organic Oranges
1 fl oz honey 30ml
2 fl oz  agave syrup 60ml


Preperation

Quarter cut all 3  Oranges and feed through  your food processor slicing into thine slices do not remove orange peel. If you don't have a processor then cut by hand as thinly as you can.  Place  into a medium saucepan and add enough water  to fill have way up the pan, cover and bring to a simmer cook for a further ten minutes until the orange peel is softening.

Remove from heat drain and discard  juices, Return orange peel to saucepan add honey and agave syrup mix thoroughly to coat all orange peel.

Simmer over a low heat for approximately 40-45 minutes stirring  occasionally. The orange peel will begin to break down and begin to thicken a little.

Remove  and cool,  spoon into a kilner jar and seal,  stores in a refrigerator for about three weeks .

Delicious with  Organic Bread and ricotta cheese.

Breakfast organic bread and cheese with a twist.

A really nice refreshing taste at breakfast time, in the time it takes for your kettle to boil ready for your first brew of the day the most important one, the life saver, already prepared earlier and stored in the refrigerator  get your  (see) Marmalade out and your ricotta cheese  simply pop in the toaster the  organic  bread slices,  the rest its simple.  Enjoy.

Roast lamb shanks

I had these tucked away at the back of the freezer now for some time  just waiting for a special time which never seem to come round, well,  temptation  got the better of me , I simple love lamb shanks.

 Ingredients

2 lamb shanks
1 head broccoli
2 medium carrots
1 small sprig Thyme
Organic Olive Oil
Black Pepper
Salt.
Mint
Sugar
Malt Vinegar

Preparation

First take the sprig of thyme and De-leaf all leaves from stalks, wash  and chop them as small as you can get them  place to one side, next drizzle lamb shanks with olive oil, shake salt over to your  taste now rub  in the salt and olive oil into the skin of the lamb shanks,  next place  thyme on the shanks and rub in to the olive oil, place in preheated oven  on gas Mark 5  for 2 hrs.

Whilst cooking prepare the veg, broccoli  and carrots along with (see)  mint sauce.

Home made mint sauce.

Now that a lot of my herbs have been replaced this year after so called gardeners who didn't know the difference between them and weeds, Its time to start making home made Mint sauce again.

 


Ingredients.

Mint  leafs, Vinegar, Sugar,  Pinch of salt.

Prearation.

Pick over the mint leave (far left photo), to remove any  that are not 100%  rinse in cold water  remove all stalks and dice  as small as you can get it ( middle photo).  Into a small bowl add I tsp sugar and add a pinch of salt (to taste) add all the diced mint and  slowly drizzle Vinegar to suite your thickness of mint. store in fridge till needed.

Organic Pizza

Hand made organic pizza, well nearly  we never made the bases for  them, but next time they will be made by us,  but that's another recipe.

Organic Ingredients

2 Pizza bases
1Tbls tomato ketchup
2 Tomato 
1 Red pepper
2 Mushrooms
   Grated  cheese
   Drizzle of olive oil

Dressing Ingredients. 

3 Romaine lettuce leaves
1 Bunch of water cress
   Salt and pepper
   Olive oil.

Preparation.

Preheat oven to 360 f / 180 c  degrees. Place the pizza  bases on a large baking tray spoon on one tbls of ketchup into the center of the base  and spoon outwards in circular motion to the outer edge of the pizza base so all the surface is covered with ketchup.  Now sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the  surface till it covers the entire base .  Slice red peepers, mushroom and tomatoes layering evenly over surface.  Drizzle olive oil, add pepper and salt to taste. Place in preheated oven. Cooking time approx  12 -15 mins.

Preparation of  Dressing.
Roll  lettuce leaves  and water cress  together into a tight ball and slice  very thinly  into  strands, toss in a bowl to loosen,  add  pepper and salt  to taste, drizzle with olive oil.

Remove hot Pizza add dressing and serve immediately.

Remember folks tomatoes hot, hot, bloody hot be careful. enjoy.

Accompaniment.

Serve with  chilled Organic orange  squash.