Delicious homemade marshmallows!

We love them! And they are healthy too!!!

I used this one from mommypotamus and this one for probiotic marchmallows from wellnessmama. Oh and there is this one from anorganic mama too.

Food glorious food

Just skimming over the last couple of posts here and realized that after having announced the holidays in one pic it was over by the next. 

So what did we actually do over the past two weeks here with the kids?

Christmas and palm trees - what a change from Christmas in Vienna!

We did a lot of drawing and crafts, made some Christmas drawings and cards, some bicycling, lots of going to parks (indoor and outdoor), we read and played and got dressed up in party skirts and shoes.

William at kindergarden 

   

William wearing his new helmet on our street (they have nearly finished - the srteet lampsare due up in January)

William at the  park having fun on the sea-saw 

On the food front we tried some lovely new recipes of which the festive and super easy Wibbly Wobbly Clementine Jelly (by Jamie Oliver) and the no less yummy but more refined pear and rosemary crostini on white as snow goat's cheese. Mmmm.
Emma, despite her absolutely maddening impossibly picky attitude to food (But I don't like that Mummy! as soon as she hears we are not having pasta or rice) thankfully liked both. Phew! (more on that perhaps in another post)

We went to the kids first Christmas shows (Emma wanted to be Mrs Claus but ended up quite happy to be an elf), we reassured that Santa did not need snow to come to our home, wrapped presents,  watched Santa videos and opened presents  - Emma opened one before we were all around the tree and then cried and pouted with disappointment for it was not what she had asked from Santa. Luckily we had that one too but it got us off to a rather emotional start on Christmas day.

Emma watching her personalized Santa video before breakfast

My yellow car arrived!

 

Steph bought some new cool eye-glasses

We had some horrifically junk-foodish crêpes

We went to a man-made lake

and saw some reindeer and bambi!  

We attended a Greek Orthodox Christening and after party (I was Godmother to the very cute and chubby baby D. who made it very clear she did not like being dunked in blessed water one bit, but who was over it within a couple of hours whereas both her mother and I needed a stiff drink!)  and I enjoyed a nice girly afternoon bubbly the day before with baby her Mummy and auntie A. 

Baby D. in Mums arms at Salumaio

We had a yummy home-made Christmas lunch (noix de veau with pancetta, lemon and milk, mashed potatoes and green beans) which we all enjoyed except Emma (what child does not like mashed potatoes???); a lovely Christmas tea with friends (Italian style with Panettone and desert wine) and a day-after Christmas lunch (Greek time, meaning we were famished when we sat down to eat at nearly 3pm!!) but it was worth the wait. 

For New Year's Eve we had a lovely catered dinner at neighbour's house and the kids were all very well behaved despite going to bed much later than usual. 

We even managed to have early lunch with the kids at a typical Greek taverna with lots of lovely meze; aubergine cream and tzatziki, zucchini balls, mint meatballs and roasted peppers  and yoghurt with honey for desert. Delicious and garlicky. William absolutely loved it (eating the aubergine cream with a spoon and licking it off the bread) and even Emma had to concede that the tzatziki and meatballs were delicious. (Phew! again!!)

We happily managed to avoid too much hectic shopping and survived the crazy Athens traffic despite 2 Mercedes crashing into our cars in three days! 

So I guess for the most part it was about a lot of food and festivities, creativity (in the kitchen and with the kids), gifts and entertaining and sharing.  Hope your was fun too!

Oh and  Happy New Year!!!

Baking tea biscuits with Emma

An enjoyable activity on cold foggy winter days is baking - and now Emma can participate in other ways than in eating!!

Emma checking on the biscuits

Here's a dead easy recipe for tea biscuits you can adapt using coffee or chocolate chips or whatever else you prefer to tea leaves!

Emma checking out the timer

Tea Biscuits

Makes about 45 - Ready in approx. 1h30 (although I get the dough ready the night before and then it takes way less time to cut the cookies and bake!)

Ingredients

• 200g flour
• 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 115g light muscovado sugar (or mix half muscovado / half white if the taste bothers you)
  
• 1 Lady Grey tea bag (we used Twinings)
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy
2. add the Lady Grey tea leaves and stir until well combined
   
3. beat in the egg
4. carefully fold in the flour
5. roll the dough on a into a rectangular loaf of about 20 cm long
6. wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for 1 hour until the dough is firm enough to slice
7. slice the dough loaf into 5 mm biscuits and place on paper-lined baking tray
8. bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned
9. transfer the cookies to a wire rack and leave to cool before serving or storing in a tin

5. roll the dough into a rectangular loaf ------------ 7. slice the dough into 5mm biscuits

Enjoy!

the weather in Vienna and weekly round-up

The weather in Vienna is nice and bright if you're up at 6am (like when I get up to go to my electric therapy for my wrist)- after that it's just:

Grey

The building en face is nearly finished and so we are hoping for a relatively quiet garden to enjoy this year -once the weather gets better and warm spring starts! (why do we seem to be haunted by construction sites, huh?)

I made the best ever ginger, celeriac and sweet-potato soup! All the more for me, since Emma would not even taste it preferring a "bouillon de poule" (note: she calls soup, "poots" and I don't think that's German).


Emma has had high fever for the past 2 days (too early to know about today yet) and we haven't quite figured out why. Only symptoms are fever, slight crankiness, mild dürchfall (diarrhea) although her appetite is as usual. Could be stomach flu or last teeth coming out. Luck would have it: it's the week-end so I hope it doesn't get any worse!

Yay! She now like clementines! another fruit is always good especially since practically all vegetables are totally "has-been".

Oh, and she now calls her dummy/pacifier the "looola"! Really quite nice, don't you think? but I don't think that's a symptom.

Yummy creative endeavors (recipes)

As I was recently saying to someone, if I'm creative I'm happy. Or at least I'm not in the doldrums. However, my creative juices can be directed towards different endeavors and it seems I am a serial monogamist. At the moment it's cooking. Yeah, cooking.

I understand many people, especially those who have to do it everyday, a couple of times a day, find it a chore and nothing like a creative outlet, but trust me it can be. And it makes it better for everyone, the cooker, the cleaner and the eater(s). And, seriously, there are plenty of things you don't need loads of time to prepare either. Plus, it's another way of sharing love with those you cook for - including yourself!

Here's a selection of my latest favorites.


Waldorf salad variation
Especially loved by those who have a slightly sweet tooth. (original recipe and my version, I'll let you figure it out)

• 1/2 cup chopped lightly toasted walnuts
• 1/2 cup celery, finely sliced (unfortunately didn't have any)
  
• 1/2 cup red seedless grapes, sliced green organic grapes, whole (or raisins)
• 1 medium apple, cored and chopped
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise natural yogurt to taste
• 3 cups of lettuce didn't have any so used endives instead
  
• fresh lemon juice to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix the veggies, fruit and walnuts in a bowl. Separately mix yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Combine the two and sprinkle with some walnuts.
Voilà.

*******

Oven-roasted ratatouille

I got this recipe from Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini

I took this picture just as I was about to place the ratatouille in the oven so as you can see the veggies are still raw, but it gives you an idea of the end result.

I have reproduced Clotilde's recipe below for convenience.


* 2 onions
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1 aubergine
* 1 zucchini
* 2 green peppers (surely, if you have red or yellow it's ok)
* 8 small tomatoes (I use the tastier olive shaped ones)
* 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
* 3 sprigs fresh thyme
* olive oil
* salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Peel and slice the onion and garlic. Rinse and slice the veggies. Rinse the herbs. Combine everything in an oven-proof dish. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.

Cover your dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. By now, the veggies should be cooked but not colored, and there should still be cooking juices at the bottom of the dish.

Remove the foil and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, until the cooking juices have evaporated and the veggies look well roasted.

Remove the herbs and serve now, or later, or keep some for tomorrow's brunch.

*******

Sunday brunch or oeufs cocotte

The key thing here is the oeufs cocotte. Scrumptious.
You'll need:
-a little ramequin per person,
-a larger relatively shallow oven dish,
-fresh eggs
-some sort of soft white cheese or crème fraîche, (or double cream)
-whatever veggies* you have in your fridge and an oven.

It's an easy and quick dish and very versatile so you can add practically anything to it. Plus it's yummy and filling.

I had some organic ham, some cherry tomatoes and mushrooms so that's what I used. However, you can use tuna, peppers, artichokes, onions, gouda, boursault, zucchini or whatever else you have left in your fridge.

1. Turn on your oven to 220°
2. Boil some water in the kettle
3. Place a sheet of newspaper or kitchen paper on the bottom of your shallow oven dish. This will avoid the water boiling over once in the oven
4. Pour the boiled water ("bain-marie" style) into your large and relatively shallow oven dish half way up on to the kitchen paper. This will help the eggs cook.
5. Grease your ramequin and put some crème fraîche, Chavroux, Boursault or whatever white cheese you are using at the bottom of your ramequin
6. Place diced veggies* and other ingredients (tuna or strips of ham etc.) on top
7. Break your egg (I actually use two per person because my ramequins are rather large and we have an appetite) over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper
8. Place the ramequin in the water in the large and shallow oven dish and place in the oven for 10 or 15 minutes depending on how runny you like your eggs.
9. Once done, you may wish to sprinkle paprika, parmesan or herbs (chives are yummy) depending on what else you've used, on the top.
10. Serve with other brunch favorites (cheeses, hams, etc.) or left-overs and bread or toast.

N.B. you can of course combine steps 2, 3, and 4: just place warm water in the oven dish (don't forget the piece of kitchen paper at the bottom of the dish first) and let it come to the boil in the oven. Then place the ramequins in the dish.

* Veggies: if you are using veggies that need pre-cooking, just sautee them in a little oil in your frying pan before hand (not the case of tomatoes for example)

Favorite combinations are: cheese and ham; spinach and ham; tomato and bacon (in this case place the egg at the bottom and bacon on top); salmon and cream cheese with chives . The combinations are truly endless.

Well, that's all for today, but I'll keep you posted soon with recently discovered soup recipes (excellent for Emma's dinner!) and my feta and tomato quiche.

Bon appétit!