Made my own Tiramisu.

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I decided I wanted to make my own Tiramisu with no sugar.

Ingredients :

5 or 6 tablespoon fuels amaretto liqueur,

1 small tub of mascapone cheese,

1 teaspoon of granulated sweetener – the sort you can cook with (sucralose type)

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon of coffee powder.

Layered on top of bananas ( per person)

Method :

Chop the bananas into slices and put in bowls.  

Put mascapone cheese in a seperate bowl, add 4 or 5 tablespoonfulls of amaretto liqueur. Drizzle half a tablespoon of it onto each bowl of bananas.

Stir the liqueur into the cheese then sprinkle the sweetener, the cocoa and the coffee into the mix. Stir in together.

Sprinkle a little cocoa over the bananas and place half the mascapone mix on each portion of bananas.

Sprinkle a little cocoa on top.

Serve

Hope this is OK, it’s totally made up, but I hope if you make it you enjoy it.

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Trying to make Beetroot Hummus

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Tried to make this from just a list of ingredients.

Beetroot, potato or brown bread, garlic, a little olive oil, walnuts, cider vinegar (I only had malt vinegar). You can substitute bread for potato.

 

Method.

I peeled the five Beetroot and two Potatoes , chopped them, put them in a pan to boil for half an hour.

Then I took four cloves of Garlic and crushed them in a pestle and mortar. Then crushed the Walnuts and mixed them with the garlic. I added a little olive oil to help.

 

Watch the Beetroot and Potato and when you can push a knife into them and they are soft, drain off the water.

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Allow the Beetroot and Potato to cool, then add the crushed Walnuts with the garlic. I had to add a bit more to improve the consistency. I also added the juice of half a lime to give it a kick. _20190811_224230

I mashed the Walnut and Garlic into the Beetroot mix.

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The final result, in a covered bowl in the fridge. _20190811_231423

Meal, jacket potato with coleslaw, chopped tomato, Beetroot hummus and sausages (apologies to vegetarians and vegans). I could have used a food blender, but decided its easier not to have to clean it and waste electricity.

Hungry

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I’m hungry, only had breakfast today, my hubby isn’t interested. He had a big meal and doesn’t want anything, but I’m hungry. Went to the fridge, he’s already eaten something I had bought for both of us. He’s eaten both portions. I told him he’s a black hole, engulfing everything edible in sight.

I have some fresh beetroot and I’m thinking of making hummus with it, with some brown bread. But I have to cook it. He doesn’t really cook, he can do boiled egg on toast. The trouble is I have been so disappointed by his cooking that I take over. Its worrying because if anything happens to me will he cope? So anyway, I’m fed up (not fed). I feel like going on strike!

 

Yesterday was Oatcake day.

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And I forgot! I don’t know if it’s the same day every year. Anyway I’ve written a little poem in its honour. The best Oatcake poem I ever read was by the artist Arthur Berry. Look it up if you can.

Oatcakes are a pancakes cousin,

designed for savoury

not sweet.

Try with cheese and tomato,

can be eaten cold,

but I prefer heat.

Chilli sauce would add a tickle,

beetroot would be neat.

Oatcakes are a breakfast tipple,

with a good strong cup of tea.

Lunch you find with salad topping

grated cheese and pickle too.

Tea for two an Oatcake feasting,

Maybe sweet with cream or jam.

Versatile the little Oatcake,

Made with simple love you see,

Stoke-on-Trents tortilla, tasty.

Makes a meal for you and me

 

Art lunch.

I still feel ill but I was pleased to go to the Art Lunch held at the Etruria Warehouse today.

A lovely lunch was organised by my friend Chris, with mostly vegetarian options. One thing that was really unusual was beetroot hummus. This was made with boiled beetroot and potato with walnuts, all whizzed together with garlic and a bit of vinegar. You could use lemon juice instead.

Sitting in the sun listening to musicians, with a beautiful lunch. Lots of cups of tea. Birthday cake because a friend is due to celebrate his birthday. Plus drawing some of the people who came. It was great fun. Both of us have come home exhausted but I’m glad we went.

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Being mugged by a cat.

In all my years of cat ownership I’ve never been mugged so much by a cat. He’s not ours, he can’t come in as I have two rescue cats that are very happy. They won’t like having another one.

The cat who keeps visiting is getting fed every day. He comes to our back door and miaows. My hubby feeds him and so he’s getting big and fat!

Now I’m happy to look after him outside. But he’s too healthy and friendly to be feral. Perhaps he’s a stray, but if he is he must be being fed by other people to get so big! I’m thinking of putting a paper collar on him to try and see who his owners are? I could do with some advice please.

One tiny, curly, cucumber

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We planted lots of cucumber and squash plants this year. But this was all I managed to grow.

It’s about 7 or 8 centimetres long and curled round with a thin stalk end and a bulbous end where the initial flower grew.

What to do? It’s come loose from the stem so it’s now in the fridge. I’m going to peel off the rough bits and chop it up finely. I might add it to some spicy tomato chutney I’ve got in. Then I will add that as an accompaniment to some cheese sandwiches on fresh brown bread. I hope that is a suitable use of my little friend.

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PS… It was very tasty!

Blueberries

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We have two small blueberry bushes on loan from a friend. They sit either side of the back door. One bush is sad and half died off. The other is healthy.

But it’s the blueberries on the tatty bush that are starting to ripen. As you can see they start out green, gradually swell and then the blue works it’s way over the fruit from the top to the base where it is attached to a stalk. I think they will get darker blue than this.

I haven’t been on line much today because I’ve been tidying up the jungle if a garden we have. Deadheading my hanging baskets. Watering the plants and tidying up the shed. I’m pooped! DSC_2140

Here are a couple of the baskets I’ve been working on. I like the multilayer look. There is ivy growing up the wall so it looks quite nice.

Gooseberries

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The crop! These are off one scraggy bush in the garden that was surrounded by stinging nettles. There is one red one somewhere in the jug from another bush but that one didn’t fruit well and we only found the one. I’m thinking if making a gooseberry and apple pie or cake. I think I’ve got the ingredients in to make one.

Gooseberries are not that popular and have a distinct taste. I can’t explain it, sour, green and fresh? I don’t know if you can buy them from a shop or supermarket, because they are a bit unusual. If I make something I might post a photo.

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Chemicals

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One thing I hear a lot of nowadays is, I can’t eat that it’s got chemicals in it.

I agree that some things are not good for you. But that’s not because of ‘chemicals’. Why? Because unless you try and live on sunshine (some people do, believe it or not ) everything is made of chemicals, that’s because it’s made of atoms and molecules that make up the basic building blocks of the world.

Atoms and molecules? Single chemicals are elements, and if you have more than one sort, joined together they make compounds.

Oxygen is an element, hydrogen and oxygen is water, H2O. The air we breathe is made of chemicals… Nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon and other trace elements.

Food is made of chemicals, mixtures and aggregations of elements and compounds, from meat to yoghurt, lettuce to lemon merangue to coffee or tea. It’s only when things are added that food can become bad for you. Like if you treat vegetable oil (made if chemicals) to make it harder you get hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is bad for you as it can clog arteries.

We have to be aware of what is good and bad for you, but using a generic term about chemicals does not help clarify the issue.