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The Best Treat of the Winter! 

30/1/2015

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The absolutely best part of these cold, snowy, dark winters for me is coming up in just a couple of weeks, 'Laskiainen' in Finnish - Shrovetide. And it is my favorite because of this delicious pastry.
In Finland, Sweden and Norway, these pastries are part of the celebration. Cafes and bakeries sell them a couple weeks before Shrove Tuesday, but never after. They are a bit time consuming to make at home, but worth every minute of your time.
They are made with sweet yeast rolls, whipped cream, and almond paste or raspberry jam, depending on your region and taste buds.
Either way you go, you are in for a treat of the year, just in time for the Shrovetide, fasting before Easter.
~ Cheers!
FINNISH 'PULLA'  / SWEET YEAST ROLL RECIPE
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cardamom seed, crushed (you can use a mortar & pestle or coffee grinder)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
  • 4 1/2-5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Glaze Ingredients
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 Scald the milk in a small saucepan (heat until a ring of small bubbles is visible around the sides of the pan). Remove from heat and let cool.
  • 2 In a large bowl, whisk yeast into the warm water and set aside for 5 minutes.
  • 3 Whisk the milk, sugar, cardamom, salt, and eggs into the yeast mixture.
  • 4 Add 2 cups of the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
  • 5 Beat in the butter and as much additional flour, 1/2 cup at a time, as you can until the dough is stiff but not dry.
  • 6 Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
  • 7 Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes.
  • 8 Shape the dough into a ball, place into a lightly greased bowl, turn it over in the bowl to grease the top, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature 45-60 minutes until doubled in size.
  • 9 Lightly oil a cool work surface.
  • 10 "Punch down" or lightly knead the air bubbles out of the dough on the oiled surface.
  • 11 Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
  • 12 Cover the braids with a towel and let rise at room temperature about 45 minutes.
  • 13 Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F
  • 14 Combine the beaten egg and 1 tablespoon of milk to make the glaze.
  • 15 Brush the egg glaze over the bread (a pastry brush works well for this).
  • 16 Bake 10-12 minutes until golden. Transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature before cutting.
  • 17 The bread is best eaten the day it is made, but can be stored 1-2 days covered in plastic wrap.
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    Slow cooked Peanut Pork 

    23/1/2015

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    I run into this recipe, and it reminded me of a dish I made with a friend of mine, a few years back. I loved it then, and decided to see if it would have the same flavors. Well, when I actually started  making the food, I also started to strain from the recipe a bit. Adjusting it to what I had available, and then added some here and there... You know how it works. And I have to say, the end result was a lovely combination of flavors, both sweet and savory, hot and smooth - just a delight.
    So I post both of the recipes, I don't think you could go wrong with either. So here is the original, and what happened in my kitchen while making it... Hope you enjoy
    ~ Cheers!

    THE ORIGINAL RECIPE

    1 cup of chicken broth
    1/3 cup soy sauce
    1/3 cup peanut butter, smooth
    3 TBSP honey
    6 gloves garlic, crushed
    2 TBSP ginger
    1 tsp red pepper flakes
    2 red bell peppers, julienned
    1 lb/0.5 kg boneless pork chops

    Cooked in slow cooker for 5-6 hours
    After 4 hours, shred the pork apart
    Serve with lime wedge and green onions



    MY VERSION

    1 cup of vegetable stock
    1/3 cup soy sauce, low salt/sodium
    1/3 cup peanut butter, grunchy
    3 TBSP honey
    3 gloves garlic
    2 TBSP fresh ginger, shredded
    1 chili pepper, cut fine
    2 red bell peppers
    1 large red onion
    160 ml/ 5,5 oz coconut milk
    1 lb/0.5 kg pork neck slices with bone

    Assembled in oven dish with a lid
    pork and liquid in the bottom, without the coconut milk
    veggies on the top.
    Set in 150 C / 300 F oven for 2 hours
    For the last 30 minutes coconut milk into the dish
    Serve with green onions, lime, and chopped coriander on top
    I used pork with bone, because bone has the flavor factor. I didn't shred it, cause I didn't want to. Could have thought to make the dish meatless, and use beans instead.
    The dish had enough garlic in my taste, and the heat from the chili pepper was just a little kick, but not overpowering. The peppers were not mushy, just done. All the components together made such a harmony, including the garnish, that I wouldn't change a thing.
    I absolutely fell in love with the dish, it was tasty, took very little effort, and the leftovers were even better than the first time serving. I know will be making this again!
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    Apple Cinnamon Cheese Danishes 

    15/1/2015

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    After having a fun day out in the snow, with a couple degrees below freezing temperatures - nothing better than to come home to  hot chocolate and same fresh from the oven pastries.
    I used some puff pastry dough, that I had in the freezer (and set in the refrigerator before going out). For the filling of six pastries, I used
    2 Tbsp of cream cheese
    1 Tbsp of apple preserves
    1 tsp of powdered sugar
    0,5 tsp cinnamon

    I mixed the filling ingredients together, assembled the pastries, and baked them in the middle of the oven (180 C / 350 F) for about 20 minutes.
    ~ Cheers!

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    Detox Water Ten Day Regimen

    9/1/2015

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    Over the holidays, while I was building the Pinterest page for the blog, I saw  a pin where they talked about detox waters. After spending so many days eating good, fatty foods, desserts, and goodies, I thought it would be interesting to try.
    For ten days, I would every evening make the waters in the fridge for the next day, and then drink 8 oz of it before a mealtime, three times a day.
    The ingredients to mix with the water was all high in vitamins, antioxidants, and tasted great. I used mandarin, oranges, mint, lemon, ginger, cucumber, and green tea. They also recommended pure cranberry juice, but I didn't use that one.
    For ten days I mixed and matched the ingredients to make the detox waters. The ginger I made into a boiling water, letting it cool off before refrigerating, as well as the  green tea.
    Now, are the detox regimens effective? I have read, that just drinking a glass of tap water without anything in it, would do the same. Most likely, yes, but if the flavors make you drink more liquids, then more power to you. I felt great, lighter, and more energized, but this was also during my one week vacation, so the reasons for that could have been many.
    What I did discover, was that mandarin, orange, mint flavored water would be a great alternative when serving, for example roasted chicken with lots of vegetables, and cucumber mint water would be perfect with white fish, so refreshing and tasty.
    So, while I did 'feel' some gain from my ten day detox regimen, without knowing if there were actual benefits, I still took some great perks from the experiment!
    Did you make any New Year's resolutions that are food related?
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    Why I now need a new waffle iron

    2/1/2015

    2 Comments

     
    Many of you might have seen the video going around on social media about how to make cinnamon buns, biscuits, omelets, and brownies on the waffle iron. I saw it on a friend's Facebook wall, and was intrigued. Now, on New Year's Eve, I was planning to have some kind of chocolate dessert anyway, so I thought to give it a try, why not?!
    Make cute heart shaped brownie waffles, with salted peanut and caramel ice cream. Now doesn't that just sound wonderful to you??!!
    That was the plan.
    Well, it didn't work out. At all. Oh dear. What a mess. When the chocolaty dough started to pour out of the waffle iron, and go everywhere, I knew I was in trouble.
    After I opened the lid, and looked inside - YIKES!! All the crumble I could scrape out of the waffle iron was instantly so hard, that I am lucky the piece I tried, didn't break my teeth. Oh, the laughing was endless. Through the clean up. Attempted to clean up. After taking the waffle iron to trash. While the rest of the brownie batter was baking in the oven in the traditional way. Could. Not. Stop. Laughing.
    Yeah, there was some dessert at the end of the mess, but I had lost my appetite. Oh, what an end to the year 2014!!!
    What is your biggest food mess of the past year?
    2 Comments
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