Kale, Apple & Lemon Juice

I found the recipe for this freshly squeezed  juice from Veikeä Verso-blog (I added one lemon to the original recipe). Veikeä Verso also tells us how to prepare a delicious raw chocolate porridge - among other delicious recipes - Go and take a look!

The whole family is more or less having a cold. Kale, lemons and apples contain a lot of vitamin C - you could say that using them to a fresh makes a real vitamin C bomb! A juice extractor secures that all the healthy vitamins and antioxidants are extracted directly into the drink.

Ingredients ( which makes 2 glass):
2 large kale leaves (remove the major bones)
3 apples
1 lemon

Instructions:
1. Rinse the ingredients. Chop the apples, cut the bone of the kale out and cut it into small slices, that are easy to drop into the juice extractor. Peel and slice the lemon.
2. Place the ingredients in the juice extractor, and press them to juice.
2. Enjoy immediately :-)

Our boys liked the kale, apple & lemon juice - The fresh juice makes a healthy &nutricious morning drink :-)
It's the season for kale and apples now, so the are available in the groceries near by.



I was looking for elderberries in the neighbourhood, but the bushes I was able to reach, had already been picked. I might go for an elderberry-hunt to a real forest next weekend. The elderberry juice and soup tastes lovely, a bit like a black currant juice.

... Here's Jon Foremans cheerful Behind Your Eyes - It makes you smile & brigtens up a cloudy day:

 

Fortryd redigeringer 

A Gift Box of Cardboard DIY

I made three small gift boxes of thin cardboard in the afternoon. Our youngest son has been invited to a "triple-birthday party": Three girls from his class are holding a birthday party for the whole class. The birthday started today at 5 pm and is ending tomorrow at 10:30 am. The party is held by the parents to the girls (6 Adults) in a youth club facilities.

I found these cute mini-purse-shaped lip glosses as gifts, and I made the cardboard gift boxes to them. A couple of years ago our youngest was still willing to be a part of crafting cards etc. to birthdays, but now he is more interested in painting Warhammer figures. Crafting these boxes was fun and relaxing - I folded them in our living room, chatting with my husband - with a cup of tea, off course!

I started by folding to pieces of thin cardboard, making the top and the bottom of the box. The cardboard for the bottom be about 5 mm smaller in all sides, so that it fits inside the top.

Finally, I glued a piece of colored cardboard, both inside the bottom-part, and on the top of the box. This beautiful triangle-board is a print from Bonnie from Going Home to Roost-blog. Bonnie has designed this, and other lovely prints, which I receive in PDF format, being a member of the Roost Tribe. I'll post soon a bit more about the Roost tribe - a wonderful opportunity to get lovely creative and healthy input every Friday!

The boxes were just the right size for the lip glosses. I used embroidery thread as a ribbon.

The Danish flag is used as a decoration at birthdays, as well as at feasts and public holidays. We met the first Danish flags at the club staircase. This magnificent graffiti decorated the youth club entrance.

Our son was wearing a suit - "A Black Tie" was mentioned in the invitation.  A long table was decorated to a fine dinner. Our son was busy admiring the huge aquarium and watching a friend play a rally game, so he barely had time to say goodbye - I'm sure that the children are having a great birthday party today - Tomorrow we'll get a happy but tired boy home :-)

A Spiderweb Picture DIY

Spiderweb Picture I (SunRay group)

Spiderweb Picture II (SunRAY group)

I was visiting a kindergarten today. The last couple of weeks the kindergarten has been working with a Nature-theme, having different about activities earth /soil, water and air.

 
Lovely photo series decorated the walls of the corridor. There were pictures of the children mixing mud and water, and floating their self-made paper boats in the pond. A tiny frog had jumped into one of the boats, which had aroused great joy in children!
 

My attention was drawn to the black spiderweb pictures. The kindergarten leader told me how the SunRay-group had been on a Spiderweb-hunt the other day. These wonderful Spiderweb Pictures were made of the spiderwebs, children had captured! Spiders had crawled away, no lifes were taken - and we assume that the spiders had woven new webs as soon as the children had left.

You can make a Spiderweb Picture together with your child, niece or nephew!

You will need the following materials:

Black cardboard (A 4 size)
a half cup plain flour
lamination film
laminating machine

Instructions:

1. Go outdoors early in the morning or in a rainy weather - then the spiderwebs are visible due to the as tiny raindrops, that are attached to the web.
2. "Capture" spiderweb to the cardboard, by carefully touching the web, so that the spiderweb sticks to it.
3. Back at home / inside, sprinkle some plain flour on top of the cardboard - the wheat flour is going to attach to the spiderweb.
4. Pour carefully the extra wheat flour out, so that the flour attached to the spiderweb remains on the cardbord (at this point it is good that an adult is around to help!)
5. Laminate the board self. ... Such an interesting and fun activity!

Møn

 

Hareskov

Spiderweb Picture III (SunRay group)

Baked Beetroot & Rutabaga Wedges

I made baked beetroot & rutabaga wedges yesterday - a tasty dish, that is fast and easy to prepare. You can use any seasonal roots and vegetables you happen to have in your kitchen. Besides rutabagas and beetroot, I used a fairly large onion, some garlic, broccoli and a carrot. You can vary the dish easily with using different herbs and spices.

It is very seldom I find rutabaga (Swedish turnip) here in Denmark. Last weekent at Møn I found a beautiful rutabaga from a local farmer! I was apparently very delighted having found the rutabaga, and I immediately run to the farmers wife to ask, if they would be selling more rutabagas this fall - I was holding the last rutabaga from the wooden box in my hands. She smiled and asked, if I was from Norway. A Norwegian couple had visited the farm the day before, and they also were fairly excited about finding rutabagas! I told that I come from Finland, where you can find rutabagas from any local store. She smiled and told me, that yes, they are getting more rutabagas this fall.

 
The "Dukkah" seasoning mix suits really well to the baked root vegetables, as well as to bean and lentil dishes. Dukkah-Spice is a blend of sesame seeds, peanuts, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, anise, fennel and thyme. When we visited Camilla Plum's farm this spring, I bought some organic Dukkah, which I use a lot in seasoning.

Ingredients:
 
a half rutabaga (Swedish turnip)
3 beetroots
a half broccoli
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 carrot
1.5 tablespoons Dukkah spice 
some olive oil
a pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Peel the rutabaga, beets, onions, garlic and carrots and cut them into wedges / bars. Cut the broccoli as well.
2. Place the root vegetables in a baking paper-lined baking dish.
3. Pour some (50 ml) olive oil on top of root vegetables, sprinkle the seasoning, and stir the vegetables to mix the oil and the seasoning.
4. Bake in 180 Celcius degrees (350 F.) for about half an hour.

Baked Rutabaga & Beetroot Wedges makes a delicious sidedish or a light lunch. 
A fresh yogurt-based dressing would taste delicious together with the root wedges.
 

Farewell to Summer 1

Many of our special summer memories has to do with the Island of Møn.

Just after the Møn Bridge the road curves to the left.

The trees alongside the road are bending a bit to the left as well,

presumably because of the wind.

It was cloudy as I walked across the field yesterday -

soft raindrops were falling as the clouds covered the sky.

After rain the air was fresh and the sun lightened up the vanilla skies!

On my way back along the sea, the sun was about to set.

It is amazing how fast the form and the color of the skies change.

I saw a flock of geese flying above the sea, and heard a few seagulls from the distance.

The beach has also dressed to autumn - 

The yellow flowers have turned to orange.

The autumn must come, making way to the winter, so that the spring and the summer can come again.

I like autumn, and all the other seasons 

- it is just that sometimes saying farewell to a wonderful summer 

makes me a bit blue.

I'm thankful for all the moments we've had by this beach - the laughter,

the rays of the sun warming our faces, the waves carrying us ...

A song called Høstvise is one of my favourite autumn songs,

I learned to sing it at school.

The melody is beautiful - it is both melancholic and happy at the same time.

Carrot-Spelt Bread

Carrot-Spelt Bread is one of my favorites. It is always a succes, and the recipe is easy to alter. Carrots add some moist to the bread. You can also use the dough to make rolls. 
Sometimes I make the dough in the evening and let it rise in the refrigerator  over night - then I'll use only 15-20 g yeast. 

Besides fine spelt flour, I use some  rolled oats, durum or rye, barley or kamut flour (about 20 ml / 0,8 cups). Kamut is an ancient, protein-rich grain with lots of protein (15 g / 100 g). The dough has a somewhat loose consistence. I let it rise for an hour or so in a bowl, and another half hour in the bread form.

Ingredients:

0.5 l of lukewarm water 
50 g yeast 
2 tsp salt 
1 teaspoon of honey / syrup 
2 dl finely grated carrots (about 0,8 cup) 
2 dl  coarse spelt flour (about 0,8 cup)
2 dl durum flour or kamut flour (about 0,8 cup)
0.5 dl canola or olive oil, or 50 g soft butter or margarine (0,2 cup)
5-6 dl fine spelt flour (2,5 cups) - you may replace the spelt with fine wheat flour

Instructions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Add the salt, honey and the finely grated carrots. 
2. Add the coarse spelt flour and durum / kamut flour, thereafter the fine spelt flour. Knead the dough and add the oil / butter in the end. The dough should be somewhat loose in it's consistence, it may be a bit sticky. 
3. Let the dough rise about an hour under a kitchen towel. 
4. Knead the dough slightly by pressing the air out of the dough. Then place the dough in a baking tray, that is lined with baking paper. 
5. Let the dough rise about a half an hour. 
6. Bake the bread in 170 degrees C. / 340 degrees F. in a fan oven for 30-35 minutes (in a conventional oven in 200 degrees C./ 390 degrees F.) 

The dough is fully risen and ready to be baked.

According to a Danish breakfast tradition, you add a teaspoon of jam on top of a cheese sandwich - this highlights the flavour of the cheese in a pleasant way.

My husband's grandmother served us often black currant jam & cheese sandwiches ... Perhaps this is why I fancy most the black currant jam and cheese combination?!

Healthy & delicious Muesli Bar

This delicious Muesli Bar is surprisingly easy to prepare: Mix the ingredients in a blender, spread the mix evenly to a baking dish, freeze and then cut into pieces.

Muesli Bar is made of almonds, pumpkin- and sunflower seeds, soy / rolled oats, dates, and hemp powder. That makes the Muesli Bar a healthy, protein-rich snack that is high in omega fatty acids. This recipe is modified from Green Kitchens Stories' lovely and practical App.

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:
1 cup / 160 g pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup / 80 g of sunflower seeds
1 cup /100 g dried, shredded coconut
1/2 50 g hemp protein powder (a green powder, which is sold in health food stores)
6 tablespoons soy flakes (The original recipe uses oatmeal flakes - both will do)
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Wet ingredients:
20 dates, stoned (according to the instructions fresh dates, I used dried dates, that were soaked in water about an hour)
6 tablespoons coconut oil
4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Instructions:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pulse carefully to keep the consistence crunchy. 
2. Place the mixture in a bowl and set aside.
3. Mix the wet ingredients in a food processor to a smooth paste. This might take some time - you may need to add a little water to make the food processor run properly.
3. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, either by hand or with a fork.
4. Spread the batter evenly into a 28 x 18 cm baking dish.
5. Set the dough in the refrigerator or freezer for about 30 minutes.
6. Cut into bars.
7. Wrap them in  paper and store in an airtight container. Muesli bars will keep for about a week in the refrigerator.

I packed a few Muesli Bars with us to the swimming hall

- A nice and tasty snack after swimming!

I gave some Muesli Bars to my friend and her daughter - they fell in love with the wrapping, 

the green thread reminded them of Christmas gifts :)

The Lucky Winner ...

... of my Giveaway in Mietteitä Matkan Varrelta is Paula!

 

Congratulations to you, Paula!

 

I'll be sending the kitchen towels & printed cupcake and candy forms to you
as soon as I get your postadress :-)

Saturday behind the lens

The Carrot-Spelt-bread is rising

A sweet snack for the early birds

A special treat :-)

Warm bread

Bread with cheese and my husbands blackcurrant jam -mmm!

The favorite tea of our son

Matcha-yea has a deep and mild taste

It was getting dark as we went for a walk

Wind in the willows

Street lights and dark blue shadows 

Rowans

Pancakes for a late supper

A base for granola-bars