Apple And Blackberry Crumble, Oh My!

Six months ago we moved house. We left behind a little cottage that sat in a field by the sea, with a marshland spread out behind us, and a clear view to the mountains. A country setting, by all accounts. Our exciting, and thoroughly successful, I might add, move to a town setting, meant, I assumed, that we had left the country behind. But every day I have been reminded by the tenacity of Mother Nature. There simply is no getting away from it, is there? Thankfully!

We were very particular about where we ended up, in particular about staying by the sea, and with some compromise on other things, we now find ourselves surrounded by a neighbourhood of old gardens, dating from a time when people grew their food, and being self-sustaining was just the norm, (and not that long ago, either!)
In the summer it was flowers that did it. A walk around town was a joy from start to finish, a perfumed soliloquy on the glory of the pure, and yes tenacious, smorgasbord we have right here, beneath our feet, spilling over the walls as we pass, nodding to us, brushing our shoulder, whispering in our ears and causing us to forget what we were just saying or thinking, gently persuading us to pause and inspect, or smell, ooh and ahh, and oh, what a pleasure it all was!

And now autumn has arrived, and oh my, it's as though Mother Nature saved the best for last, and has just opened yet another cupboard, beckoning to us in our breathless wonder as we inhale the perfume that is now made into something else, a deep earthy something, born of pollen and spores and the abundance of flora that came together over the summer months, collided in the air, entangled with one another in the tango of love, danced the summer dance before drifting down to settle into the undisturbed sleep of winterness. A potent concoction of humus and decay that reassures the soul.
It's my favourite time of year.

And so, over the last month, a walk around the neighbourhood has been a delight of another, abundant kind. Everywhere you go there is fruit hanging over the walls, apples, pears, and the occasional plum tree. And the blackberries! They are my favourite, just pushing and poking their way through every crack and crevice, through every hedgerow, and the lovely thing is, for all the gorgeousness and pride of these local gardens, there's very few that don't have brambles somewhere amidst the bushes, and there they are allowed to be, undisturbed.
We even have a beautiful big, old walnut tree around the corner, out on the roadside, and not so long ago, before I realised what it was, there was fruit for the taking.
Next year.

So, yes, there is an inordinate amount of pleasure to be had in abundance from an unexpected source. And this apple crumble has been our go to dish when visiting friends, or having people over. The crumble is particularly yummy. It is gluten, sugar and dairy free, of course, though I guarantee just as palatable to omnivores of all persuasions.

Ingredients:

8 eating apples, (or 4 each pears and apples), peeled, cored and quartered,
120ml honey or maple syrup,
60g dried fruit, I used a mix of golden sultanas, cherries, and berries, or a handful of fresh blackberries,
170g fine oatflakes,
30g mixed toasted seeds and nuts,
2tbls unrefined sunflower oil, (I think I'll try coconut oil next time!)

Oven:  Gas 5, 190C, 375F

Method:

As we are using eating apples, due to the fact there is no refined sugar used in this recipe, there is no need to stew the apples first.

1) Roughly chop the apples and lay them out in an ovenproof dish.
2) Drizzle with about 30g of the honey/maple syrup.
3) Sprinkle with the dried fruit.
4) In a bowl, mix the oatflakes, nuts and seeds.
5) Add the oil and the rest of the honey/maple syrup, and mix until all the flakes are coated in the oil.
6) Sprinkle over the fruit.
7) Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the topping is golden, and the fruit mixture is bubbling.

If you can manage to not eat every morsel of this when it comes out of the oven, it tastes even better the next morning, as a delicious, nutritious breakfast.
Enjoy it with yogurt of your choice; dairy, soya or my latest obsession, coconut!

Footnote: The other morning I looked out my bedroom window, down at the dozens of shiny red apples that bobbed against the grey sky, and wondered for the millionth time about how on earth we were going to reach them. The lower branches have been picked clean, but all the rest were far beyond our reach. Later in the day, as I sat in work, putting finishing touches to this post, I got a phone call from our eldest lad saying he was just home, and was I aware the apple tree was lying across the garden? The lovely old thing, our collective favourite thing about the whole package that is this house, top heavy with it's bumper crop, added to which was the weight of days of rain, simply keeled over. Just like that. We are all very sad.

Autumn Spiced Apple Cake.

Many years ago, one blustery, wet autumn day much like today, I found myself surrounded by bags of apples from friends gardens, which, naturally, led to a hankering for apple cake. I was disappointed to discover I had no eggs, and really did not feel like getting in my car, (I think there may have been pyjamas involved), and for the first time I considered how reliant I was on eggs for baking. After rummaging through my various cookery books, I eventually stumbled upon a recipe that did not need any eggs, that was filled with stewed apple, spices, and lots of raisins and sultanas. It was in one of those anonymous baking books you pick up in the supermarket for a few quid, that turns out to be brilliant, and one that is reached for again and again over the years.

After the storm ~ blue skies.

These days I find myself with my own (rather large, and very old) apple tree, and an increasing interest in baking without eggs. The other day, with my dearest sister and her family home from Mexico for a family wedding, I found myself with an excuse to do some baking, (does one actually need an excuse to bake?) and this was the first recipe that came to mind. This is a cake that really only ever gets made this time of year, (I do have a thing for seasonal food), and the last few autumns I have been making it for the family, unable to eat it myself, but this year I was inspired to experiment and see if I could tweak the recipe so I could. Obviously it had to be edible for everyone else, though it's rare they ever turn their nose up at anything sweet I make. Dessert is dessert, after all!
So, here it is, reinvented so that it is both gluten and sugar free, and vegan friendly. And I can tell you it has lost nothing on flavour and deliciousness, and the bonus is that the house smells divine as it bakes, a yummy, spicy wafting that draws people into the kitchen looking to see what's cooking. It's dense and moist, with the nuts adding just the right amount of bite to it.
You'll notice I use eating apples. As there is no sugar in this recipe, using eating apples means it's sweet enough without it. I served it with a choice of Alpro vanilla custard, or natural yogurt, for those who preferred. And if you can manage to save some, it is even nicer the following day.

After the storm.

Recipe:

675g eating apples, peeled, cored and quartered
150ml agave syrup
15ml/1tbsp water
350g flour, I use Doves Farm Gluten Free
1 and a quarter tsp bicarb of soda
1tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger
175g raisins, or half and half raisins and golden sultanas, as I did
150g chopped walnuts, or mixed nuts
225g dairy free 'butter'
1tsp vanilla essence

Oven: Gas 3, 160C, 325F

Method:

1. Put the apples and the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally. Eating apples might take less time than cooking ones. I also found my ones didn't break down into pulp, the way cookers do, though that just might be our variety. Leave to cool.
At this stage you may want to thoroughly butter and line your tin. I used a 9in round tin this time, though a similar sized tube tin works really well too.

2. Sift the flour, bicarb of soda, and the spices into a bowl, making sure to toss in whatever is left in the sieve if using a more 'wholegrain' flour. Remove about 2tbs of this mixture and, in another bowl, toss it with the raisins, sultanas and nuts.

3. Cream the 'butter' and the agave syrup well together. Fold in the apple mixture. Then fold the flour mixture into this. Stir in the vanilla, and then add the fruit and nuts mixture. Pour into your tin, and bake until a skewer comes out clean, although this is tricky to tell as there is so much yummy apple in there.
Roughly about an hour and a half, though it's a fairly low oven so it might take longer or shorter, depending on your oven.
When it's done, cool it completely in the tin before turning it out.

The original recipe, for those who can, just use whatever flour, plain or wholewheat, you usually use, and dairy butter.
For those who can eat sugar, you can replace the agave syrup with about 400g sugar, though a good bit less if still using eating apples. If using cookers, add a tbsp of the sugar to them when stewing them. The original recipe also had a lovely icing on it, that I have yet to figure out how to replace. Visually it misses it, but taste wise, it does just lovely without it.

For the icing, for those who like:

115g icing sugar
Quarter tsp vanilla ess.
30-45ml milk of your choice

4. Put the sugar in a bowl, add the vanilla, then slowly add the milk, mixing it in thoroughly, until it is smooth and has a thick, pouring consistency. Transfer the cake to a serving plate, and drizzle the icing on top. If you like, you can sprinkle it with some chopped nuts. Allow the icing to set before serving.

Enjoy!

The Journey So Far.

Over the last number of years, I have been on a journey. It took me quite some time to realise I was, and even longer to make my peace with it. For many years, possibly as far back as my teens, my body has been struggling with processing certain foods, and simply out of ignorance, and a lack of information, I did nothing about it. I didn't recognise what was happening.
I had been a vegetarian since the age of 11 or 12, and I was interested in wholefoods and healthy living, thanks to my mother, but, while that gave me a good platform to be jumping from, it wasn't enough, and I didn't know that then.
But along comes the internet, and a whole new world opens up, a world where people can share information so easily, it astounds the mind. Information on whatever it is you need, or want, to know.
And so, things began to trickle into my awareness, and unbeknownst to myself,  I began this journey. I began to recognise myself in things other people were writing about. I began to recognise that I could not continue to eat without awareness, to abuse my body like that, and not have some serious consequences to deal with down the road. Consequences that were far worse than weight gain, bloatedness, tiredness, brain fog, headaches, nausea, indigestion, and other minor discomforts. When I look at that list, I am mystified as to how I lived with that for so many years, but I did, until gradually, around the time I was expecting my third child, ten years ago,  I realised I couldn't any longer. I had three young children, and I wanted to heal myself, for myself, for them, and I also wanted to know why, and how. How to avoid this happening to them. But I had no idea how to go about healing myself, and I quickly realised my doctor was of no help. And if he couldn't help me heal my body, who could?
And then I knew. It was me. I had to do this myself. I knew, somewhere inside me, what I needed. I just had to learn to listen, and to read, and keep presenting possibilities to myself to see if I recognised it as a truth for me. By the time my fourth child was born, three years later, I felt like I had one leg hitched on a wagon I couldn't really figure out how to jump onto fully, let alone steer! But then something changed, and slowly but surely, it began to happen. The more I read, the more empowered I became, the more I understood what I need to do. And while it was, at times, daunting, it soon became clear that things that seem difficult at first, soon become easy, and even, sometimes, a joy.
So, where I am now, another six years down the road, is this: For the last five years I haven't eaten processed sugar, and very little other sugars, or gluten, apart from oats. A year ago, I gave up dairy, and more recently eggs, and I am now pretty much vegan. I admit, this is a lot to carry. It makes eating out reasonably doable, but eating in a friends house very awkward, and I do compromise when that happens!
Obviously all of this means that my focus is very much on what food is prepared in my kitchen, and what we eat as a family. I still feel like I am groping around in the dark, quite a bit, and I still have days when it all goes to pot, sometimes spectacularly. But as time goes by I feel like I am getting the hang of it.  However, I am cooking for a family, and while they are slowly converting to a cleaner, more plant-based diet, (some quicker than others!)  a lot of my recipes and meal ideas here will include options for meals they are all happy to eat, and a variation for those more hardcore like me. So I hope there is something for everyone here, however far along this road you might be.

I began this journey with food and eating habits that has now become a huge part of my life, and for a long time I didn't know how to incorporate it into my blog, Milkmoon, which felt too dreamy to be including recipes for clean, gluten-free, sugar-free, plant-based eating. I didn't want to alienate my loyal readers who came to read poetic musings, and see redwork stitchery, and photographs of life in Ireland. So, I have finally come up with a solution, and I have created this space where I can share recipes and eating suggestions for anyone who is interested. Milkmoon Kitchen is just that, what goes on in my kitchen. And on the Facebook page, I also share reading and viewing material on related topics, which is something I love to do.

I am so extremely grateful to all those people out there who are sharing their journeys, their information, their recipes. And so, I feel ready to do the same. And if it helps one of you out there to do the same, then I'm happy.
But, I am not perfect.
I'm not a professional foodie, or a professional photographer, nor am I a food stylist, though I wish I was all of the above. Here, you won't find images worthy of a magazine spread. And while I've been practising yoga for a number of years now, which has helped hugely with keeping me mindful about how I treat my body, and what I put into it, I have not done a single sun-salutation all summer. I don't always remember to drink my two litres of water every day. Here, you won't find a perfect body and a perfect yoga practice, or a perfectly executed diet, but you will find intention. And you will find mindful awareness of how we treat ourselves, along with the frailties and faults of human nature when we try. And I can promise you recipes, trials and experiments and a willingness to share all of these with you.
I welcome feedback, and your stories. My aim and intention here, is to create a community, a place to be imperfect, but full of intention. The best kind of intention to be good to ourselves, and to allow our bodies to heal themselves.

Meanwhile over on Milkmoon, the mother of all those various blogs of mine, I will carry on as always, with, I suspect, a renewed inspiration, as there are some exciting things on the horizon, including a new job in the immanent future. I am very excited about it, and it promises there will be plenty of makings and doings to share here, over the next while.

So here we go

Date, Oat, and Orange Squares.

Sweet things. They are the challenge for me, and while I don't have much of a sweet tooth anymore, I still like to provide treats for Jay and the kids that are healthy, and that I can eat, if I feel like it. I have two children who will devour any treats I make, and two who won't, unless there is chocolate involved. Anything too healthy looking they won't even look at. This here is something I love to make when I do feel like something sweet, and even if the two fussy ones won't eat it, the rest of us do, with gusto.

This recipe is from one of my favourite books, Blazing Salads, which is also a vegetarian, wholefood deli at 42 Drury St. Dublin. When we were living in Dublin, they had a restaurant in the Powerscourt Townhouse, and I would go miles out of my way, if I had to, to get some of their pumpkin, sweet potato and almond turnovers, or their brown rice balls with aduki beans. It was our number 1 place to meet certain friends, people who equally appreciated their, for it's time, groundbreaking cuisine. Gosh, I miss that place.... These days, any time I get into the city they are still on my list of places to visit, any time I can.

Dates do have a pretty high sugar content, so have a high GI content, but they have so much other good stuff in them like fiber, calcium and potassium, that it makes them a wonderful, occasional treat.

Recipe:

985g pitted dates
140ml fresh orange juice
240g organic fine oatflakes
120g brown rice flour
90g ground almonds
1 orange
150ml natural sunflower oil
50ml organic apple juice concentrate

Oven: Gas 5, 190C, 375F

Method:

1. Wash the dates, place in a pot and add water up to level with the top of the dates. Place a lid on top, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir 40ml of the fresh orange juice and mix until smooth. Set aside.

2. Oil a 23cm (9in) square baking tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper. Oil the paper.

3. In a mixing bowl mix the oatflakes, rice flour, and ground almonds together. Using a zester, remove the rind of the orange and mix with the dry ingredients. Stir in the sunflower oil, apple juice concentrate, orange juice, and the juice from the zested orange into the dry ingredients. Mix well.

4. With dampened fingers, press two thirds of the mixture firmly into the baking tin. Spread the dates on top. Gently press the remainder of the mixture on top of the dates.

5. Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool and slice into about 12 pieces.


 Even though it has the same mixture on top and on the bottom, baking it makes the top golden and crumbly, while all that orange juice soaking into the bottom makes it deliciously damp and moist.
It keeps for a few days in the fridge, if it lasts that long without being eaten, and is delicious for breakfast the next day, especially with a good dollop of natural yogurt, for those who fancy it.

Enjoy!

It's A Wrap!

Summertime, it's a time for keeping things simple, and fresh, isn't it? The abundance of fresh, local grown food is just too inspiring, and needs little other than preparation and a few choice additions. I find if I keep certain items in stock, everything else just fits happily around it, for example lemons and limes, and fresh herbs like basil, coriander (cilantro), and mint. Another staple I make sure I have in my freezer, this time of year, is a bag or two of soft tortilla wraps. I was very excited to find recently, in my local shop, a new range of gluten free wraps, which I have been making the most out of.
In the colder months we do love baked enchiladas, and warm wraps filled with chilli, or roasted veg, but this time of year I find if I put a big bowl of salad on the table, along with a few extras like sour cream, or guacamole, grated cheese, or pickles, the addition of a plateful of soft wraps means it becomes a proper meal that the children fall on with gusto.

Wild rocket, avocado,  drizzled with chipotle oil.

Black turtle beans with feta and roasted butternut squash.

 

The best thing is, we can be as creative as we want, and everyone can choose as much or as little as they like to fill their wrap with.
There are no rules, and anything goes.
What's your favourite filling?

Banana Pancakes And Blini.

I think breakfast may be my favourite meal. At the moment, I am being extra good and having a green juice each morning (recipe coming up soon), and feeling amazing for it.
However, I miss having a good breakfast to get me going in the morning. I'm not sure I could stick to juicing during the colder months, but given the good weather we've been having all summer, it's been far easier than I could have imagined.
However, green juice is not something any of the children want first thing in the morning, so the other morning, minutes after I had been eyeing a bunch of overripe bananas, I got a request for pancakes. Perfect! So banana pancakes it was.
By the way, do yours do that? Go through a phase of eating bananas until they come out their ears, and then, just as soon as you stock up again they lose all interest? *sigh
Anyway, I took this as an opportunity to actually make vegan pancakes, which I had not done before. Usually I'd just make them for the children and skip them myself. But I love banana pancakes, so I reckoned a little treat for myself would also be a chance to try it out.
I don't know what I expected, but I was surprised at how easy it was. I didn't miss the eggs at all, but I suspect this was because of the mashed banana, which added the right amount of body to it.
These are smaller, more like drop scones, as opposed to crepe style pancakes.

Recipe:

175g flour, I used Dove's Farm gluten and wheat free brown bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2tsp cream of tartar (this is optional. In a normal drop scone recipe, it makes them lighter, although I'm not sure it made any difference in this recipe)
1 tsp baking soda
2 small bananas, mashed
300ml milk, I used coconut
A couple of tbsp of oil for cooking, I find coconut oil is delicious

Method:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mash your bananas in a separate bowl.
3. Gradually add your milk to the dry mix, beating it with a wooden spoon, until all of it is incorporated, and it is a good thick batter.
4. Gently stir in the mashed banana, until well mixed in.
5. Heat a small amount of oil on your skillet, and add a ladle full of batter to the hot pan. You should fit two or three on the pan at a time.
6. When they start to bubble evenly on top, flip them over and cook the other side.
7. Serve with a topping of your choice. We love maple syrup and fresh fruit, or peanut butter, yum!

While I am on the subject of pancakes, I'd like to share with your an firm favourite here, and one I discovered when I gave up gluten. Blini. Pancakes made with buckwheat flour. Buckwheat, also known as sarrasin, is not actually wheat at all, but a member of the rhubarb family. It's a staple in places like Russia, and Northern China, and has a distinctive, slightly sweet, nutty taste. They are usually served with sour cream and salmon, or caviar, but not in this house! A lot of recipes you find will use half buckwheat, half plain flour, and yeast too, but we go for the pure stuff here, and we love them that way.
The recipe I use does use eggs, and next time I think I'll try it without.

Recipe:

2 eggs
175g buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder, or, for a fluffier version, 2 tsp cream of tartar plus 1 tsp baking soda
300ml milk, I use coconut
2 tbs oil for cooking, coconut is delicious

Method:

1. Whisk eggs until frothy
2.Mix in flour, baking powder (of cream of tartar and baking soda)
3.Beat well to make a smooth batter
4. Heat a little oil in a heavy pan and drop in tablespoons of the batter
5. Cook until golden and bubbly, then turn over and cook the other side

Some people like them sweet, I prefer them savoury. They really are filling, and make a great open sandwich style lunch plate, or a delicious breakfast.