Granola with Almonds, Dried Cranberries and Honey (Mother's Beekeeping)

This recipe is sweetened with lovely runny golden honey.  

To introduce Granola, I would like to share the recollection of my mother’s attempts at beekeeping in Alaska.  This far north State is where the highest quality, thick darker honey is produced in small amounts. Bees can stay very busy in nightless days.

Mother received the noisy buzzing bees by post at the end of April or early May.  This is when the Willow, Alder, Birch and Cottonwood are flowering.  At first a sugary-soy flour solution is fed because the new bees are not ready to go out to work.  Soon the bees are able to gather nectar from the Spring flowering trees and later, yellow dandelions, wild sweet smelling white clover, hearty roses, deep pink fireweed, and magnificent goldenrod.  There was always some deliberation as to the best position to place the wooden hive she had ready. It was a sizeable square box, but Mother could carry it with two hands. The first year she chose an open disused vegetable garden.  The bees thrived that dry summer and a lot of honey was collected into the hive.  Unfortunately, on separating the cone from the honey by centrifuge, specks of metal lining came loose and contaminated the whole lot!  It had to be discarded.  

Various other locations on the homestead were tried for hive placement in succeeding years; but from wet summers interfering with the bees gathering the nectar, little honey was produced.   My father, reading up on the habits of bees and learning that they sometimes invade hollow trees,  recommended that the hive be placed above ground in a tree house.  He sawed a green Spruce tree trunk off, 15 feet up, and placed a stand with the hive on top.  Mother, dressed in bee keeping protection gear, resembling an invader from outer space, regularly and slowly ascended a wooden ladder to reach the swarming hive.  Still, little honey was collected.  Other ground sites were tried in years following with disappointing results.  Without achieving success on our homestead, Mother decided to move the hive 60 miles south to the hillside of Homer, lying at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula. Here on my vacant plot, six feet tall rosy pink blooming fireweed spears grew densely in late summer.  The bees thrived and produced a lot of honey.  Fatefully, before mother could gather it, black bears with a sweet tooth broke in and stole the honey.  That ended Mother’s interest in beekeeping.  

Kids in my cooking courses have easily assembled the ingredients to produce granola from the recipe below.  Supervision of chopping almonds and using a hot oven is required for younger children.

Ingredients: Oven temperature:  325F/160C

5 cups/14 oz/400g, rolled oats

2 cups/10 oz/300g, raw almonds, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup/4 fl oz/150 ml, honey

4 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup/4 fl. oz/150ml, vegetable oil

2 cups/10 oz/300g dried cranberries

1. Line a roasting pan with parchment/baking paper.
2. Leaving the cranberries aside, put the rest of the ingredients into the lined pan.  Stir 
    until even.
3. Place loaded pan high in a pre-heated oven. Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove and
    carefully stir the contents and replace in oven.  Bake for another 20 minutes. 
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan.  Stir in dried cranberries.  
5. Store in an air-tight container for up to one month.  

© Judy Labi 2013

      

Kew Gardens on a Sunday in February

My husband and I enjoyed an afternoon in this magnificent garden with the camera a couple of days ago.  The orchid exhibition is on.  A true exotic paradise of beauty.

The entry fee was one penny when I came to London 28 years ago.  Now £12.50 for each of us but worth every penny.  Have a look.

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Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Today there is easy access to a variety of fresh vegetables throughout the year. Growing up in rural Alaska on a homestead in the l960s, we grew our own including carrots, potatoes, and cabbages.  We kept them fresh for longer because we had a root cellar.  My parents built this walk-in ‘room in the ground’ by digging out a space in a grassy hillside with large spruce and birch trees nearby.  It was not far from our cabin by the lake.  Roughly hewn logs were used to hold back the earth on the sides and rear wall.  After the roof was in place, we shovelled a mound of earth on top.  A door was placed in the front and, a narrow vestibule created.  An outside door was hung which opened facing the lake. Grass invaded with ferns and weeds, soon grew thickly around. Snow piled high on top in winter.  It was our walk-in refrigerator.  

After harvesting carrots from our garden, we cleaned and dipped them individually in melted paraffin.  They were ready for storage in one of the wooden bins in the root cellar.   These stores were frequently drawn from to make carrot/raisin salad, cook pot roast dinners, and  delicious carrot cake (recipe below).  Many other garden vegetables plus, eggs, homemade blueberry, strawberry, and red currant jams, cranberry sauce, canned salmon; and purchased case goods were kept there. 

On Good Friday,  27th March, 1964, my younger brothers, Jerry and Brent were in the root cellar gathering eggs to dye for Easter.  The ground started shaking and they rushed out.  There was a massive roar like a speeding freight train descending downhill, as ice broke up around the lake. Trees moved violently from one side to the other.  Brent shouted, “It is the end of the world!”  Jerry replied, “No it isn’t, you idiot, it is an earthquake.”  It was and registered 9.2 on the Richter scale--the second largest one recorded.  The root cellar was destroyed-but not my brothers.  

The carrot cake recipe I share originated in Tennessee but has been enjoyed for years not only with family and friends in Alaska, but also in my London cooking courses.  The cream cheese icing is a wonderful compliment to this dark orange famous American cake with pecans and sometimes, raisins.  Warn the kids to be cautious of their fingers when grating the carrots.  The cake is swiftly assembled following the steps below.

Oven temperature:  300F/150C 

Brush with oil, 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan or 2, 9 inch cake tins

Ingredients:

2 cups/9 oz/250g plain flour

2 cups/12 oz/40 g white granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 eggs, slightly beaten

3 cups/24 fl oz coarsely grated peeled carrots

1 1/2 cups/12 fl oz vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup/2 oz/50g, pecans, chopped (optional)

1 cup/4 oz/10 g raisins (optional)

1. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder; set aside.
2. Combine eggs, carrots, pecans, oil, raisins, and vanilla with a whisk, in a large mixing bowl.
3. Gradually add sifted flour mixture into liquids in large bowl.  Mix well.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan or pans.
5. Bake 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Remove cake from oven and cool before removing from pan/pans and icing.

Cream Cheese Icing: Select a large plate to hold iced cake

8 oz/225g cream cheese

1 pound/500g confectioners/icing sugar (more may be needed to achieve a spreading consistency)

1/2 cup/2 oz/50g, pecans, chopped (optional)

1/2 cup/2 oz/50g, pecans, whole or decoration on top of cake

1. Let cream cheese soften; mix with a wooden spoon until creamed.
2. Gradually add sugar and mix well.  Add more if needed to achieve a spreading consistency.
3. Stir in chopped pecans.
4. For a two layered Cake:  Using a thin spatula, spread icing onto top of one layer of 
    cake; place second layer on top and spread with icing.  
5. Finish by spreading the icing all around the sides of the layer cake.
6. Decorate with whole pecans if desired. 
7. Alternatively, if the cake was baked in one large pan, leave in the pan and spread icing 
    over the top.  Decorate with whole pecans if desired. 
8. Enjoy!

© Judy Labi 2013

Tomato Bruschetta

This beautiful aromatic starter has been a winner with the kids in my cooking courses.  When made with vine ripened tomatoes the deep red colour is very appetizing. The garlic aroma effusing from freshly cut cloves rubbed into crusty toasted ciabatta bread appeals to us all. 

Some supervision of young ones is needed for dicing  the tomatoes.  We use sharp knives and a cutting board to quickly master this step.

Ingredients: Serves 8

8 ripe red tomatoes, diced

Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon each, Salt and pepper
Fresh parsley, about 2 tablespoons, chopped (or use the kitchen shears to simple snip small pieces) 

8 Slices ciabatta bread (or 4 rolls cut in half lengthways)

4 large cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half around the equator of each

1. Place the diced tomatoes in a large bowl.
2. Add salt and pepper.
3. Sprinkle in about two tablespoons olive oil. 
4. Add chopped parsley.   Mix thoroughly.
5. Toast the slices of ciabatta bread.  Rub each toasted slice with the cut garlic.
6. Using a draining spoon, distribute the seasoned diced tomatoes over the 8 slices of garlic rubbed toast.  
7. Serve at the table on a large platter.  Bon Appetit!         © Judy Labi 2013

North African Salad

This crunchy mixed salad is as refreshing as a breath of spring air rustling new leaves on trees lining your favorite family walk.  The spices of coriander and cumin give it just a slight kick which linger favorably with those after eating it.  Kids included.  The creamed spinach crepes (see previous posts) served with this on a plate make a great menu combination.

Make sure that young ones use a cutting board and you should provide some supervision when they  use a knife to cut the baby plum tomatoes and a grater to coarsely shred the carrots.  In just minutes the salad is made.

Ingredients: Serves 4 to 6

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tin/can, 450g/one pound chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained in a colander

2 carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

About 3 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, snipped into small pieces with kitchen shears

1 packet, about 300g baby plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthways

one half cucumber, quartered lengthways and then sliced

Two handfuls baby spinach leaves

Good sprinkling of mixed seeds

Vinaigrette:

One heaping teaspoon of garlic puree

5 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt 

1. Place all the ingredients, except those for the vinaigrette, in a large salad bowl.  Mix with a large spoon and fork.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a small bowl and mix with a hand whisk.
3. Pour vinaigrette over the mixed vegetables in the salad bowl and mix lightly.  Sprinkle a few more mixed seeds on top of desired.  Bon Appetit!              © Judy Labi 2013

Introduction to Pancake Day Cooking Chapter

This is one of the most inclusive holidays in the U.K.  In London, people of all religions and backgrounds enthusiastically pull the ingredients of flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk and lemons from grocery shelves lined up in all stores days before Shrove Tuesday.  It is known as Fat Tuesday or just Pancake Day by us and our friends.  In the U.S. it is not universally celebrated,  except in Catholic communities but it is around New Orleans where it is known as Mardi Gras.  People come from near and far to join in the celebrations.

While my kids were young, it was the one day of the year that we had crepes for dinner.  Truly something they eagerly looked forward to.  I would mix the batter up in the food processor in the late afternoon and leave it stored in the refrigerator at least an hour so that the flour would expand just a little, making a thicker, creamier mixture for baking on top of the hob in our crepe pan.  With my husband Bob, and kids, Suzanne and Adam around the kitchen table, ready with butter, white granulated sugar, and halves of fresh lemon for squeezing, I would stand at the hob. First step is rotating two or three tablespoons of the rich batter in the pan and then cooking it just long enough to congeal and brown the crepe on one side, turning and letting it cook just seconds on the other.  Each family member would ask, “ Is one ready yet?” or, “Can I have the next one?”  No sooner did I land one on a plate than the request for another was made.  It was always a fun, much enjoyed family dinner with a lot of laughter.   My daughter liked the crepes so much that at the age of eight or nine, she had me keep a plate of them stored in the fridge for having one with a bit of chocolate sauce after school.  Easy, nutritious food to have on hand which can be quickly brought up to piping hot in the microwave.  Kids soon manage to make them with only minimal assistance from adults.

In my cooking courses at this time of year we make a lunch with savory, creamed spinach filled crepes.  What a positive way for kids to learn to eat and enjoy these beautiful deep green leaves loaded with nutrients.   First, while the batter is resting we make and sample a few cheese straws sprinkled with sesame seeds. A mixed vegetable salad, like the North African one given on the next post, compliments the main course.  For dessert we either have chocolate sauce on a crepe or go all out and indulge in chocolate fondue with fresh strawberries, thick slices of banana and marshmallows.

© Judy Labi 2013