Sustainable Saturday

2 cups of potatoes (1/2″ cubes)
2 cups of butternut squash (1/2″ cubes)
1 onion sliced
2 garlic gloves crushed
2 cups of cooked pearl barley
small bunch of spinach
200gr diced canned tomatoes
chopped parsley and cilantro
2 tbsp olive oil

Mix the onion, potatoes ans squash in the oven proof dish with crushed garlic, salt and olive oil. Roast in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes until half prepared. Mix in pearl barley, spinach, tomatoes, cilantro and parsley. Add more salt to taste. Cook in oven covered with foil about another 15 minutes until all ingredients are soft. Serve hot.

Makes about 20-24 nice big buns

Sweet Dough:
4tsp of honey
6.5-7 cups of flour
3 cups of water (about 45C warm)
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 tsp of active-dry yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of cardamom
vanilla

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In a bowl mix water, yeast and honey. Cover with a towel and let it proof until its foamy (approx 7-10 minutes).

Add salt, vanilla extract and olive oil. Mix.

Add all the flour and cardamom and knead the dough until its smooth and elastic (10-15 minutes in low-medium speed). Let it raise for 20-30 minutes.

MAKE THE BUNS

Roll the dough about 1/2″ thick rectangle, spread honey and cinnamon on it. Roll it into a log and cut into slices of about 2″ wide. Place on the pan. Let it raise for another 10 minutes before baking.

Bake in the oven at 180C/350F degrees for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top.

This recipe uses no white sugar, no milk, no eggs, no butter..

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground black pepper (optional) – I like it spicy
2 tsp cocoa powder
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of ginger powder
1/2 tsp of cardamom
1/3 cup of honey
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1/3 cup blue agave syrup
1 cup water
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp baking powder

Glazing:
Powdered Sugar
Egg white
lemon juice

Mix all spices with flours until well combined. Add olive oil, honey, syrups & water. Mix into hard sticky dough with paddle attachment. Refrigerate at least overnight for the spice flavors to combine..

Roll thin and cut shapes of your liking. For fast cutting into squares or diamonds I use pizza slicer. Bake at 350F/180C about 10-12 minutes.

For glazing mix up powdered sugar, lemon juice and egg white. Add enough powdered sugar to make a thick paste that holds it shape and does not run. Scoop into a pastry bag (or a zip-lock bag with one small corner cut off). Decorate cookies immediately after taking them out of the oven so the heat from the cookies settles the glazing fast.

Ingredients for 3-4 portions:

• 2-3 leaves of Tuscan kale
• about 1/8 of cabbage
• 2 carrots
• 2 medium apple or 1 extra-large apple
• 2 celery stems
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• salt

Slice the Tuscan kale and cabbage into thin slices. Chop the celery. Grate the apple and carrots. Mix all together with some salt, lemon juice and olive oil.

Enjoy with dinner or a meal of its own (as its quite filling). Optionally you can add some nuts on top for extra protein..

Season for tomatoes and cucumbers is over and time to invent something new. This is a salad from some local organic vegetables which I was able to source. 3-4 portions.

• slice of pumpkin
• 2 medium apples
• approx 1/8 of cabbage
• 1 small broccoli
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt

Grate the pumpkin and apple. Slice cabbage into thing slices. Cut the broccoli into small pieces. If your broccoli has a long stem, peel it so the hard part is off and cut the middle part into thin slices. Add some lemon juice according to your taste, olive oil and salt. Mix all ingredients.

Nice and filling salad.

Recipe for our family favorite bread (makes 2 big loaves):

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
4 cups all-purpose four
3 cups warm water (41-43 C)
3/4 teaspoons of salt
1/4 cup of olive oil + a bit extra for greasing the bowl
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp honey
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In a bowl mix water, yeast and honey. Cover with a towel and let it proof until its foamy (approx 7-10 minutes).

Add salt and olive oil. Mix.

Add 2 cups of whole-wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until well combined. It should have thickness of something like pancake batter or a bit thicker. Cover again with a towel and let it rise for 15 minutes.

Add rest of the flour and knead the dough until its smooth and elastic (10-15 minutes in low-medium speed).

Grease a bowl with a little bit of olive oil and transfer dough into it.

METHOD #1 – FAST RAISE

Cover with towel and let it raise in room temperature for 45 minutes until its double.

Fold the dough gently and let it raise another 30 minutes. Then fold it, divide into 2 and form the breads on the pan. Let it raise another 20-30 minutes.

Score the bread and bake in the oven at 180C/350F degrees for 40 minutes until golden brown on top. Turn the heat off and leave the bread in the over for another 10-15 minutes. Cool down on a rack.

METHOD #2 – SLOW RAISE

Cover with towel and let it raise in the fridge overnight. In the morning take out the dough, fold it, divide into 2 and form the breads on the pan. Let the breads raise about 40-60 minutes so the dough warms up.

Score the bread and bake in the oven at 180C/350F degrees for 50 minutes until golden brown on top. Turn the heat off and leave the bread in the over for another 10-15 minutes. Cool down on a rack.

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TIPS:

Enjoy hot with butter and honey

I do not pre-heat the oven to create a thicker crust on the bread. If you pre-heat the oven, you will need to reduce the cooking time about 10-15 minutes.

Here is a super-simple recipe for delicious organic muffins. This recipes fills 12-tin standard muffin pan exactly.

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 cups of flour (I used 1 cup of all purpose + 1 cup of whole wheat, but you can use anything you have, e.g. spelt flour)
* 2 teaspoons of baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
* 1/2 cop of raisins
* 1/4 cup of chopped nuts of your choice (e.g. walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds)
* 1/2 cup of olive oil (or canola oil)
* 1 cup of juice (apple, carrot, etc) or milk
* 1 large egg or 2 egg whites
* 4 tablespoons of honey
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* lemon rind from 1 lemon
* 1 tablespoon of cocoa (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin pan with oil and set aside. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, raisins, nuts (and cocoa if using) and stir together thoroughly using a wire whisk. In a separate bowl combine the hone, lemon rind, vanilla extract, oil and egg. Whisk until well combined. Add juice or milk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine gently. Scoop into the muffin pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. An inserted toothpick should come out clean.

TIPS:

* If you do not have baking powder in hand you can make some of your own. Baking poder consists of 1/3 of baking soda + 1/3 cream of tartar + 1/3 of starch. I have also used rice flour instead of starch and worked out very well.

* I combined cocoa to the batter after I had scooped half of the muffins into the pan – so I end up with 2 taste selections to put on the table

* to add some moisture to the muffins you can also grate some season fruit like apples or pears and mix it to the batter.

* You can experiment and add different spices to the muffins instead of lemon rind and vanilla. E.g. cinnamon & nutmeg goes well with apple muffins.

Here is a recipe for magic flu or cold tea for the Season:

• Juice one medium-large onion (you can slice it in half and juice it in citrus juicer like lemons)
• Peel two lemons & save the peels
• Juice the lemons
• Put the lemon and onion juice in pot together with lemon peels
• Add water according to how strong you prefer it and boil into delicious tea
• Sweeten with honey & enjoy hot

This tea may make you drowsy, so it the best to drink it in the evening. Safe for kids, pregnant women, etc..