The bread revolution – baking with alternative flours

The bread revolution began a year or so ago with bakers, health specialists and independent shops starting an uprising against supermarket bought bread.

The thing is bread should only have 3-4 ingredients and no artificial adjectives however, if you look at the back if your shop bought loaf you’ll see a list of 8-10 so called ingredients (say what?!?!).

Azodicarbonamide (even the name scares me) for example is used in the food industry as a food additive, a flour bleaching agent and improving agent – these type of adjectives can be harmful and cause deceases which you don’t want to have. I’m not a preacher of health as I believe it’s a life choice however, I do think that as we have one life we might as well do our best to stay here for as long as possible – to me that means treating my body right!

Also my philosophy in life is if I can’t pronounce a word I shouldn’t go near it – now, this proved fun in our each for a house as I implemented the same philosophy. That’s a perfectly insane sane one right 😉 anyway each to their own!

I attended an alternative bread making class by thehornbeam bakers in the winter where we made a variety of breads with alternative flours and I was hooked!

Now that I have my own little kitchen I tested out my skills last weekend.
This one is spelt, cinnamon, honey and chia seed cookies – I’m not the best baker but they tasted better than they looked 🙂

You know my obsession with rye bread so I had to try and make it myself – It turns out my rye and flaxseed bread was out of this world!

These flours are no more expensive than the normal white nutrition less flour you get in the shops so next time you want to bake maybe try the flour next to your usual buy. It’s so worth it!

What’s your favourite bread?

Herbs – growing my own

I love herbs, I put anything from tarragon to paprika in my scramble eggs, love a good flavoured water with mint and cucumber and my homemade guacamole is full of coriander and chilli! I don’t go a day without adding a herb or five to my meals.

It might come as no surprise that I couldn’t simply stick with the shop bought dried herbs and had to not just buy fresh ones but actually grown my own too!

First things first – select your herbs. Then all you need to do is get some soil from the garden, find a pot to grow them in and remember to water them. That’s it!

I picked mint (because it’s just fab), parsley (because I need to eat more of it) and oregano (because I love Italian food) – all perfectly fine reasons right?!

Here’s how they looked at the beginning:

The good thing is that herbs are incredibly low maintenance so after a few weeks we got to this stage:

We’re currently at this stage and I’m hoping to start using them in two weeks time 🙂

Which are your favourite herbs?

My food obsession – rye bread

You should think that after having lived in London for a good eight years I shouldn’t have cravings for Danish food any longer and I don’t, apart from rye bread and pickled herring (who would gave guessed that one).

I absolutely love food and don’t stick to one particular type or culture of food however, when I want something comforting I always go back to what made be happy as a child. So it’ll probably come as no surprise that the two things I always ask my parents to bring is pickled herring (any variety) and rye bread:
</
Rye has been named part of the world’s healthiest foods due to it’s nutritional benefits and disease preventing goodness. I believe that every body reacts differently to food however, my body loves rye bread as it keeps my cravings at bay, keeps me fuller for longer and it helps my digestive system. I like a healthy selection:

The only trouble is that it disappears too quick when I have it in my house so I’ve decided to start making my own. So today I started the ‘starter’ and will keep feeding it 25g rye flour and 35g water each day until it’s ready to use.

I admit it’s not the most attractive thing in the world but it will be worth it. I will of course keep you updated with how it turns out – what’s your good obsession?

The fruit of our labour – eating what nature has on offer

The whole idea of moving to the house on the lake was to enjoy the outdoors a bit more, live a healthier and happier lifestyle and have more space. We have all of this but what I didn’t foresee was all the wonderful fresh food readily available on our doorstep – by the way, this is now our doorstep ;-):

As you know from my recent thoughts on how to destress during the evenings I love I good walk around the lake. Recently I’ve indulged in these tasty blackberries:

which I incorporated into my breakfast (yum):

These delicious little plumbs were a welcome surprise and were enjoyed as a snack:

However most incredible of all was these delicious crayfish, which Welly turned into an oh so tasty pasta dish with a crayfish bisque:

Knowing that the nature around us is so full of life and goodness makes me even more aware of how important it is to be living an eco friendly lifestyle and using natural products!

I can’t wait to see what else is around the corner as the seasons change.

Deliciously Ella reblog: How to Eat Plant-Based Protein

I love Deliciously Ella’s blog and when I saw her how to eat plant-based protein blog post I immediately knew I wanted to share it with all of you 🙂

I’m not one of those people who NEED meat at every meal but Welly is so when I’m home alone, do breakfast or even a snack I often don’t include fish or meat.

I loved this bean stew:

Or my banana, cinnamon, egg and flaxseed pancakes:

And even my simple breakfast:

However, I’m not a vegetarian or vegan as you can tell but I love getting inspiration from people who know what they’re talking about – so here goes, enjoy!

Advice: How to Eat Plant-Based Protein

…../

What is the difference between plant and animal protein?
Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids. There are 20 amino acids in total and our bodies are able to produce some of these for ourselves (non-essential amino acids). However, there are 9 that you can only get from the food that you eat. Most people seem to think that plant-based protein sources don’t provide you with ‘complete’ protein sources and that you need animal protein for this, but there are several foods that include all 9 essential amino acids, so they are complete protein sources – these include quinoa, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas and black beans . Then there are lots of plant-based foods that contain a mixture of the essential amino acids, so by eating a variety of these delicious foods you can eat all the essential amino acids and your body will have everything that it needs! Animal protein is also harder to break down and digest and it moves through the digestive tract much slower, so a steak won’t make you feel as energised as a bowl of hummus, plus animal protein is much more acidic and the more alkaline the food we eat is the better we feel!

…./

Where can I find protein?
There’s protein in so many different sources, the list below outlines the best protein sources – all of which are so delicious! My advice would be to try adding at least one of these sources to every meal, you should find that it really energises you.

Beans and Pulses

Kidney Beans
Chickpeas (think lots and lots of hummus)
Black Beans
Lentils
Bean Sprouts
Grains

Buckwheat
Quinoa
Oats (a great excuse to eat bowls and bowls of porridge!)
Brown Rice
Vegetables

Broccoli
Peas
Avocado (hello guacamole for every meal)
Spinach
Kale
Any other green leafy veg, swiss chard, cavelo nero etc
Brocoli
Nuts & Seeds

…./ continue reading at deliciouslyella.com