Recipes for Gorgeous gallets, sugar free muffins, and seaweed recipes.

An other glorious Autumn day is upon us,

Recipes for Gorgeous gallets, sugar free muffins, and seaweed recipes.

No gathering herbs today as on a train into London. Still do get a little of my herbal fix getting glimpses of glistening silverweed by the side of the track and the trees heavy with russet hawthorne berries. I picked about 1kg of those same berries last week with a hope of making hawthorne berry leather. Not some credit crunch related economy exercise to patch up the hole in my boots. Rather it is the desiccated pulp of this supper berry (goji move aside. What I should have produced should have ended up something like those pure fruit bars you can buy. Unfortunately the instructions I was following of using a low oven were erroneous and when I eagerly opened the oven I was faced with chared edged glup. Please let me know if any of you do have a desicator as I will forward the recipe. I did use the rest of the hawthorne puree, that was supposed to be my second batch of leather. I added it to apple sauce and eat for breakfast mixed with oats so at least got some benefit! (btw the picture is actually of the berries I picked, note a few rosehips in the mix!)


For those who are interested:

Hawthorne berry puree

• Pick ripe hawthorne berries (see picture), wash and place in


• Cover with water and boil for 15-20 mins until soft.


• Pass through metal sieve.

The last stage sounds easy but is not! Hawthorne’s have a lot of fibre and seeds and it makes the sieving process a labour of love. This puree is not sweet so add to apple sauce and use as desert. Also freezes well.

Hawthorne berries are rich in antioxidants and are used in herbal medicine as the main heart herb in its armoury. The flavonoids it contains increase energy supply to cardiac muscle cells, relax the blood vessels supplying the heart so increase blood flow, reduce heart rate while increasing contraction. This makes the heart more efficient. And it can lower blood pressure. All in all this makes it an excellent heart tonic, and is safe to take every day. If you are on hear medication already or suffer with low blood pressure do check with me first.

Gorgeous Galettes

For anyone who has been on holiday to Brittany you will already love these. These buckwheat based pancakes make a great supper and are rich in rutin that guards against varicose veins. No a grainand related to dock, buckwheat is gluten free and a great alternative to wheat . This recipe the meal is low GI and yeast free.

Galette

• 225g oz Buckwheat flour


• 1.5 ozMelted butter/ olive oil


• 1 pint Water


• 2 egg
  

Filling

• Spinach


• Sheep’s cheese (ouseray) Can have with no cheese


• Eggs

How I made it:

• Combine all the ingredients for the gallet in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Leave for 1-2 hours.


• Cook spinach and drain off any excess liquid.


• Heat frying pan and brush with oil. Pour 1 ladle full of batter and swirl pan around until coated. When little bubbles appear and top is set flip pancake


• Straight away crack egg into centre of galet while it is still in pan. Add thin layer of cheese (if using) and sprinkle with cooked spinach.


• Carefully fold up pancake. I do this in package style so I and up with a four sided squarish shape. Don’t worry it they crack a bit, this is normal. Give it a little pat if not quiet brown cook for until it is.


• Transfer to oven proof dish and cover with foil. Put in warm oven and start process again.
  You can make these with ham, but cured meat, like ham, but it is full of sulphites (even organic) and carcinogenic so only have occasionally. I serve this with a green bitter leaved salad.

S.A.D.

As the days start to draw in you may have noticed your resolve to avoid sugary teats wanes with the warm weather. This is due to the effect of plummeting serotonin levels brought on by milky autumn sun telling our body we really should just stay in bed more, stop shaving your legs and eat cake. There are herbs like St. Johns wort and Rhodiola that boost the happy hormone levels and for those suffering badly this is an option. I must admit I am not sure how I would survive January without my daily shot. Also sunlamps and exercise have been shown to ward of the winter woes. But for those of you who do have a sweet tooth but don’t want the sugar here is a sugar free muffin. (It does take honey though!)I make these for my son and have been asked for the recipe buy practically all the mums I know. So this is for them too.

Honey and Yoghurt Muffins

These are not a health food! So only once in a while.

• 225 g spelt flour


• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder


• 1tsp. bicarb.


• pinch of salt


• 1/2 tsp. mixed spice


• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg


• 50g of medium oatmeal


• 50 g of light muscavado sugar (can use maple sugar or fructose here)


• 225g of sheep yoghurt (can use soya or greek here)


• 125ml soya milk


• 1 egg


• 50g butter melted (can use dairy free margarine)


• 60 ml runny honey

How I made them

• Pre-heat oven to Mark 6/ 200 Celsius


• Line 12 hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases. (I use a silicone one so no papers!)


• Sift flour, the bicarb. and baking powder, salt, and spice into bowl. Stir in oat meal.


• Mix yoghurt with the milk and beat in the egg. Pour into dry ingredients quickly, do not over mix.


• Divide mixture evenly, you can sprinkle with a little oatmeal if you wish. Bake at Mark 6 or equivalent for 17-20 mins. They should be well risen and firm to touch.


• Leave in tins for 5mins before turning onto cooling rack.

Can omit honey and use 1 small ripe banana.

Enjoy

I must write a book 101 ways with seaweed! This is such a healthy addition to any diet rich in macronutientsinclude sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur and phosphorus; the micronutrients they contain include iodine, iron, zinc, copper, selenium, molybdenum, fluoride, manganese, boron, nickel and cobalt.

Seaweed salad:

• Buy dried sea weed soak in water for ten minutes then drain. Dress with sesame oil and soya sauce.

Another seaweed salad:

• Same as above but add 1tsp. Tahini, ½ tsp. Of honey or fructose and 1tsp. Of lemon juice to every desert spoon of soya sauce and sesame oil dressing.


• Slice thinly cucumber (same amount as seaweed) and mix with seaweed and dressing.

Sea weed sprinkle:

Buy sushi nori in supermarkets. Toast under grill and crumble over food. You can add toasted sesame seeds to this.

Sea weed stock:

Add one piece of wakame seaweed to any meal that benefits from stock. Will still need additional flavouring so either make own stock base or add to marigold organic stock powder and boiling water. Boil for 10-15 mins.

Autumnal soul food

As the wind starts howling and the autumn rain blows wind off the trees we all need some comfort food. Here are a couple of healthy recipes that should do the job. As you will see I have changed the format a little to help you decide if this meal if for you.

Fish pie:

This is great British classic and high in omega 3 oils. I make this with out dairy and my dairy eating family love it!

Low GI if uses sweet potato, high in omega 3 and protein, dairy free option, high in zinc.

Sweet potatoe and potato cause wind, can make with out topping and serve with rice.

Ingredients. Serves four

• 3 handfuls of fish pie mix. Equal quantities of white fish, smoked haddock and salmon cut in two inch chuncks (I get my fish monger to do this)
• 1 handful of prawns with there shells on.
• 1 tbs. Capers
• 1 fennel bulb
• Chopped fennel herb from top of bulb, if any.
• Small handful of parsley chopp
• Small glass of white wine
• 2 tbs. Of flour/ (or corn flour if you are wheat free)
• Fish stock cube
• Back peppercorns
• Mace blade or powder (you can use1/4 tsp of nutmeg here)
• 1 Onion
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt
• 1 mug full of milk (1/2 cup of unsweetened soya milk, ½ cup soya cream if dairy free)
• Potatoes for topping, equivalent of four large baking potatoes.( If low GI use sweet potato).
• Olive oil/ butter

How I made it:

• Peel potatoes cut into 2 inch cubes and boil in salted water.
• Put 3/4 back pepper corns, 1 mace blade or ¼ tsp. Powder, 1 onion cut in four, 1 bay leaf, a pinch of salt, the parsley stems in a pan with the milk (or soya alternative) simmer with lid on until onion soft.
• Meanwhile chop fennel and soften on gentle heat in a 1 tbs. of oil or butter. When soft add white wine and fish stock cube and boil for 5 mins. to reduce by half.
• Potatoes should be ready by now, pass through potato ricer or mash by hand with a little butter/ olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
• The milk mix should also be ready strain and add to the wine fennel mixture. Pour this into a bowl to cool a little. Take a little of the cooled liquid out and mix with flour/ corn flour to a smooth paste then return to the rest of the milk/ wine mixture.
• Place the fish and prawns in a casserole dish. Pour sauce with fennel over the fish and mix gently. Should be cool enough not to cook the fish.
• Stir through the chopped parsley, fennel herb if using and capers.
• Top with the mashed potato and bake in a hot oven (gas mark 6) until crispy on top (about 30mins)
• Serve with peas and spinach.
  
  Spicy pinto beans: (frijoles de charros)

Low GI, high in fibre, high in phyto-oestrogens, rich in vitamins and minerals, yeast free, wheat free, dairy free, vegie option.

Not good for poor digestion.

This is a nutritious one pot meal that can be served with rice and vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 500g of dried pinto beans soaked overnight (you can use two cans or pre-cooked ones)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 whole dried smoked chillies (unsmoked fine) – don’t use if suffering with heat signs (yellow coating on tongue)
• Smoked paprika
• Chorizo sausage (optional, delicious as vegetarian meal)
• 1 small onion
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes

How I made it:

• Drain soaked beans and put in sauce pan with 1.5 l of water and simmer until soft (about 1 hour). Do keep checking I regularly burn beans!
• Peel and dice onion and fry in 1 tbs. Of olive oil until golden, add chorizo (if using) and 2 tsp. of smoked paprika and stir for 1 min. Or so.
• Then add tomatoes, bay leaf and chilli.
• Simmer for 5 mins to combine the flavours.
• Add the cooked beans with 500ml of beans cooking water and cook for a further 10 mins.
  
  Serve with brown rice and vegetables of your choice. These beans freeze well too. Enjoy!