Friday’s simple sushi making went well and loads of kids now know how to make Kappa Maki and even better, just about everyone tried some! Emi reminds me of two things. Make sure your rice is evenly spread to the left and right edges of your nori seaweed and that you use a wet knife to gently cut your sushi! It does really, really help if the knife is very sharp as well. Thanks for all the help from teachers and parents – I really enjoyed it and hope everyone else did. Our next workshop will be fresh soups for year 5!
We have some pretty fussy (or shall we say discerning) eaters in our house. Cereals can be tricky. Three of us love porridge. One of us loves Special K with red fruit. I find it way too sugarly for my tastes. Some of us quite like the Dorset Cereals – one of us picks out all the raisins. What I really like is to make my own cereal. I make it mainly for me in a purely selfish sort of way. I put everything in it that I adore. My Museli is cram full of my favourite dried apricots, roasted hazelnuts, shreds of coconut, dried mango and cranberries. And organic rolled oats, bran flakes and maybe a shredded weetbix or two. I put in dried bananas or almonds if I fancy. Blend it up to ones desired consistency and bingo – the best museli in town (for me). Occasionally I ask a (really loved) friend if they want some and then it’s all gone again. Julie asked me for my recipe and I could only be rather vague. That’s because I don’t really have one. I encourage you to try loads of things: spelt flakes (buy at health food or “natuur” winkels) bran flakes etc and make up your own. It will be good I promise. I try to use organic everything and sometimes roast it for a short while in a low oven – around 130 as nuts, fruits burn quickly.
My Museli (or Brian’s, Julie’s, Bob’s or Mike’s museli)
2 cups dried dark apricots
one third of a cup coconut shred (buy at nut shop)
2 cups roasted hazel nuts or almonds etc
half a cup dried bananas or mangos or cranberries, apples etc
grated cinnamon or nutmeg (a bit of what you fancy)
2 cups organic rolled oats, some bran flakes, rice crispies, corn or spelt flakes – add more to taste or a mixture of all!
Chop nuts and dried fruits in the blender – make them as coarse or fine as you wish. Powder is not great. You may need to cut your dried mangos using scissors – tough as an old boot!
Add the oats and flakes, grate in the spices. Can drizzle a tiny bit of maple syrup over but you don’t need to, really. Bake for approx 15 minutes if you wish in a very low oven. Check frequently to avoid burning fruit. Serve with low fat quark, greek yoghurt, fresh strawberry sauce and fruit. Yum! Keep in an airtight container. It lasts about 4 days in this house.
Here’s a great tip from Deirdre, the senior sleep consultant at Dream-Angus.com about combining another of my favourite fruits, the glowing Pomegranate – cut the pomegrante in half and give it a sharp tap to remove seeds over a bowl. Use the juice with strawberries – it adds a wonderful new taste dimension Or use a reduction of the juice over couscous or bulgar to make a lovely salad. Now, it’s time to stop cooking for a week or two and become an impresario as the fabulous frockaholic and performance storyteller Tanya Batt graces our flatlands. Book one of her children’s matinee’s via http://www.theenglishtheatre.nl or join us for her Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups on May 20-22nd. Tanya will be working very hard at schools over the next week and that energy giving museli will be just the thing to start the day! Have a go – create your own brand!