Welcome to my Green Kitchen where my aim is to cook food that is chemical-free, in season and grown either by myself or purchased locally and in season…

Produce which is in season has far more taste than produce which is forced and grown out of its natural season …I also think it is the anticipation and the taste of the first of the season’s crops…those first root vegetables…sublime! or those first strawberries there is nothing quite like it!

Bread Recipe for January…

Normally I would give you a tried and tested recipe and then I came across this bread and it was the name of it that intrigued me at first… Ezekiel Bread…

In case you are wondering it is a flourless bread made with sprouted whole grains…Ezekiel bread is flourless bread made from sprouted grains. It’s named after the Old Testament verse Ezekiel 4:9, which reads: “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself…”

 

Here is a recipe I have found to make Ezekiel Beread 

Please let me know if you have baked this bread or tried this bread as it looks quite a loose textured bread and not sure how it would taste or be for a sandwich…Please let us know ????

Kitchen Hack 1…If you’re planning on eating raw kale in a salad, massage the greens beforehand. It may sound odd but it’ll tenderise the hardy leaves. First, remove the stem and add a glug of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt to the leaves. Then gently knead the kale with your hands until the leaves start to wilt a little. Be careful not to overwork the greens as they’ll become mushy.

Kitchen Hack 2…Rescue burnt biscuits/cookies with a grater…

Don’t throw away biscuits that are burnt on the bottom or around the edges, Carefully grate off the blackened bits and they will be perfectly edible. If they are a little misshapen, dip the biscuits in melted chocolate and leave them to cool…icing also covers a multitude of sins.

I love quirk and ideas which make your dinner party or that meal for two at home that little extra special…This is simple to do and one I will try out very soon…So I’ll be dusting off those shot glasses( I) have quite a few stored away from our bar/restaurant days…

Waxed fruit and vegetables…

Artificial wax coating is applied to many fruits and vegetables to increase their shelf life…Most of us have been aware of this for years…

But do we really need artificial wax? Experts Say Yes! But then they would…wouldn’t they?

Don’t they look delicious?..shiny just waiting for you to take a bite BUT before you do… I just do the knife test and take a knife and gently scrape the skin… you will soon see if the fruit has a wax coating…

Are these artificial waxes safe for human consumption? Not all of them!

How to know if the wax on the food you are buying is safe…If natural waxes derived from insects and plants is used then generally they are…

Non -permitted waxes can be quite harmful causing nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

HOWEVER, as long as the waxes used are in accordance with United Nations Standards they are…Check with your supermarket that the waxes used on their products are FSSAI(Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) approved. The FSSAI only permits natural wax coatings. FTIR tested wax coatings applied to food are not considered harmful…

This is why it is important to know where your food originates from and labels often don’t tell the full story…not every source of food will abide by the regulations of the source country…This is why I buy local produce or grow what I can…plus cook from scratch wherever possible as all these instances where the food we eat is contaminated with waxes and chemicals to improve taste and shelf life is directly the cause of many non-contagious lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD), stroke, diabetes and certain forms of cancer are heavily linked to lifestyle choices, and hence, are often known as lifestyle diseases…The saying we are what we eat has never been truer…

I am a huge fan of Mark Weins and although I will never be vegan as I believe we need to eat foods from all food groups for a healthy diet.I also believe we should for our health and the health of the planet we should eat more plant-based meals… Here in Thailand, many Thais follow a plant-based diet and this video shows one of Asia’s biggest plant-based Food Festivals…

I like Mark because he talks to people and asks questions which means there is a lot of discussions and the stall which produced compost from waste in 24 hrs interested me very much…Well worth a watch…Enjoy!

Garden Hack…Micro Greenhouse.

Do you have a hard time starting seeds or cuttings? Try soda bottle greenhouses. Cut the bottom off 2-litre soda bottles and remove the labels. Each seed gets its own micro greenhouse! Remove the greenhouses once the seeds have germinated and cuttings are rooted…Please click here for some more gardening hacks…

I do love a crab Sandwich…

EEEEEEK! She has that look and she has baguettes and I have heard her say….Crab Sandwich…   Surely she is not putting me between that baguette and with a Chilli!

Ingredients:

• 6 individual-sized baguettes or wholemeal bread or your own choice of bread/roll.
• 300gm of fresh-picked white crab meat…..yikes that’s me!
• I red chilli finely chopped, you can remove seeds….she so is and in bed with a chilli! And I can’t scuttle away she has taped my claws together.
• 5tbsp mayo.
• 1 tsp fresh lime juice.
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley finely chopped.
• 50gm rocket
• Butter to spread on rolls.
• Salt.

Lets’s Cook!

Butter your rolls or bread of choice…..I sometimes use cream cheese.

Mix the chilli and lime juice into the mayo.

Gently fold in the parsley and the white crab meat.

Taste and season with a little salt..the salt brings out the flavours.

Put the crab mixture on the baguette and top with the rocket.

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this bit of fun and just to reassure you that no crabs were hurt by me…..

Finally…my good news is that I was interviewed by Rebecca on Tea, Toast and Trivia…my very first toe-dipping into being interviewed live…it was both scary and exciting but both Rebecca and Don put me at my ease and I soon slipped into what I do best and that is talk…I do hope you enjoy it!

Thank you again, Rebecca and Don…

This is the blog where sustainability is on the agenda…Food and jobs are on the agenda…a healthy world is on the agenda…

Are you ready to join me in making your kitchen and garden a little greener, are you ready to cook from scratch more often and to count chemicals instead of calories and cost? Love Carol xx