kareina

While my friends scattered here and there over the planet are complaining about too hot weather, I continue to be grateful that the heat hasn't really made it this far north yet this summer. Sure, it did make it into the mid- to upper- 20's C for nationaldag, which was a bit warm in the sun while wearing wool folk dance costume, but it was fine in the shade, even in wool.

However, I am aware that it could get hot, and, since I like frozen treats, I have prepared:

Fruit and Veg Smoothies

~125 g sunflower sprouts
2 bags baby spinach (65 g each)
2 cucumbers
3 avocados

0.5 to 1.5 cups each frozen fruits & berries (for a total of 5 to 6 cups):
mango
red currants
black currants
strawberries
blueberries
raspberries

plus

3 fresh peaches

Use a food processor (or blender) to process the above in batches. I started by chopping the sprouts, then added one bag of spinach at a time till it was finely chopped, then added a bit of cucumber at a time, and finally the avocado. This pretty much filled the food processor, so I transferred that bright green slurry to a large bowl. Then I processed one type of frozen fruit/berries at a time till fine, added it to the bowl and then processed the next, stirring in each addition after adding it to the bowl. Finally I put chopped the peaches into the food processer, added some of the mixed fruit and veg (which, but that point was rather slushy and purple/red in colour. When the peaches were well mixed in with that portion of the mix, I transferred it to a fresh bowl, and gave a second pass through the food processor of the rest of the mix (it took a total of three batches to blend it all a second time), and then stirred it well together. Then I put it into silicon muffin cups (it filled 36 of them, with 1/4 cup of fruit and veg each) and put them into the freezer.

I know from experience that I can take one to work in my lunch box, by putting it into a little plastic cup with a lid. By 9 or 10 it will have thawed exactly enough to still be able to pick it up with my fingers to eat, but I will be able to easily take bites out of it. Straight from the freezer it is a bit too solid to bite, but that doesn't stop me from happily licking it/nibbling at the edges while it thaws.

A week or so before our housewarming party I felt like making cookies, and felt like experimenting. Since one of our friends needs gluten free food and was coming to the party, we decided on that day to see if we could come up with something yummy he could eat. We did the first draft using the same organic oats I put in my muesli, since he wasn't present to worry about if they were contaminated with gluten or not, and it came out so well that we didn't make any changes to the recipe, other than using oats that are certified as gluten-free and making a double batch for the party.

I have finally remembered to email him the recipe, so I thought I would share it with the rest of you, since he is not the only one who needs gluten free food...

( Coconut-oat gluten-free cookies )

Since we've got a friend who can't have gluten coming over on Thursday for gaming & food I decided to experiment and tossed some stuff into a bowl to make some cookies that she could eat, but that clovis_t would also like. He's pronounced them a success, and this batch is unlikely to surrive till Thursday, so I'd best obtain more rice flour between now and then...

( cookies! )
(My apologies to folks in the US for using untranslated Australian measuring systems--the butter happened to come in a 100 gram packet, and I used half of it--it looked somewhat kinda-sorta like 1/4 cup, more or less, but I didn't measure it. I'm also guessing at the size of the egg--our hens don't seem to lay eggs as large as the "normal" store variety, but they sure do taste better!)