I had overripe bananas lying around and I ended up making the best banana bread I've made so far (and I've made many!) Happy days.

BANANA BREAD (sugar-free)

230g light spelt flour
1tsp baking powder
0,25tsp baking soda
0,25tsp salt
0,25tsp cinnamon
3 very ripe bananas
100g coconut oil
80g honey
2 eggs


Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mash the bananas with a work and add coconut oil, honey and eggs and mix. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients and pour the batter into a bread tin greased with coconut oil or butter. Bake in 175 celsius for about 50 minutes. Let cool in the tin on wire rack for a while.

Try this toasted with almond butter on top, oh man!

I love this season I'm in. I've got so much time in my hands: time to listen, time to rest, time to heal, time to dream, time to be with friends and family, time to eat breakfast slowly, time to try out new recipes, time to make music all day if I want to. I really try to savor every day; I know that in time I'll have my hands full again!

In the summer I tend to not add any dried fruits in my granola because I love having it with fresh berries or fruit (strawberries and nectarine are my favorites). I tweaked my basic granola recipe (coming here as well) a little yesterday:

CRUNCHY CHIA GRANOLA

800ml rolled oats
300ml buckwheat
200ml coconut flakes
200ml almonds
75ml cocoa nibs
50ml sesame seeds
50ml chia seeds
0,25tsp salt
150ml sunflower oil
2 heap tbsp honey


In a big bowl mix all the dry ingredients. Heat up the sunflower oil in a kettle, add honey and mix until they merge. Pour the mixture in to the dry ingredients and mix well. Line an oven tray with baking paper and bake the granola in 150 celsius for about 20 minutes; after baking for 10 minutes mix a few times to bake evenly. Let cool completely before storing.

There was no other way to celebrate this new home than with a lavishing brunch (inspired a little by that of Sandro's) and the house full of people I love. The menu had salads (tomato mozzarella salad, sweet potato lentil salad, feta couscous salad, crunchy egg salad and green chickpea cucumber salad), broccoli tuna red onion quiche, salmon, potato & beet wedges, dips (hummus, tzatziki, pesto and beetroot avocado dip), malt bread & no-knead bread and fruits, raw blackcurrant cake, brownies and banana bread for dessert. Happy days.

My new home absolutely bathes in light. I'm in love. It already feels like the most special home I've had. A place of peace. A place of dreams coming true.

Yesterday I made possibly the best tasting cake I have ever made. Today I got the first flowers here. Happy days.

(The pictures lie: boy, there's still so much to unpack and organize..)

 

RAW BLACKCURRANT CAKE

200ml mulberries
200ml almond flour
good pinch of salt
1-3tbsp water, depending on how dry the mulberries are

175ml cashews, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 ripe banana
300ml blackcurrants
1-2tsp organic honey
vanilla powder
90 ml coconut oil, melted

blueberries for garnish


Grind mulberries in a food processor, add almond flour and salt and pulse a few times to mix. Add water while the food processor is running (you want a thick paste). Line the bottom of a springform tin (18-20cm) with baking paper and press the crust mixture firmly in the tin. Place the tin in the freezer to wait. Rinse food processor well. Blend cashews in the food processor until smooth and creamy. Add banana and mix. Add blackcurrants (it can be easier to add them in parts if they're frozen) and honey and vanilla and mix well. Last add melted coconut oil with the food processor running and mix until well combined and smooth. Taste and add more honey and/or vanilla if desired. Spread the topping evenly on the crust and freeze for an hour or two or until served. Remove from freezer 30 minutes prior to eating and top with blueberries.

The Green Kitchen Project, recipe no.6

I am at home and I miss everybody a lot (though most of us live in Helsinki being with the family at our parents is just very different from being with them here). And I miss the countryside and feel a little out of place in the city. But I suppose I'll soon get the hang of this again. There are wild things in the air; I'm excited but also looking forward to things settling down again.

I made these crackers at our parents. Very yummy.

 

ORANGE-KISSED SEED CRACKERS

60g sunflower seeds
60g sesame seeds
40g linseed
60g hempseeds (I didn't have hempseeds so I used 80g of sunflower seeds, 80g sesame and 60g linseed)
100g amaranth/quinoa/almond flour (I used half rye, half oat flour)
1,5tsp sea salt
300ml water
60ml olive oil
2tbsp orange juice
1tbsp clear honey


Mix the seeds together and reserve a quarter for topping. Add flour, salt, water and olive oil and mix. (You should have a loose batter. If it is not loose enough, add some more water; it will evaporate as you bake the crackers.) Line two baking trays with baking paper and pour the batter on them. Flatten them out with a spatula as thin as possible. (I accidentally sprinkled the remaining seeds on them at this point; they were meant to be sprinkled after the first bit in the oven, before cutting the crackers, but I think I'll actually stick to doing it this way.) Bake in 150 celsius for 25 minutes. Meanwhile whisk together the honey and orange juice. Remove the trays from the oven, brush them with the orange glaze and cut them (I used a pizza slicer) into 5cm pieces. Bake for 30 minutes more or until the crackers are crunchy. (I baked the middle pieces for an extra 10 minutes or so.) Cool on a wire rack.

These days are slow and easy. I love how here and now matters all the more (however ordinary it might be) when you don't know what the future holds.

I have been making granola for a long time (inspired by my friend Maija last summer) but I never used a recipe. I just mix oats, chopped almonds and cashews and then warm up some oil with organic syrup or honey and then pour that on the oats and nuts and stir until everything is well coated (and warm up some more oil and sweetener, if not). I roast the granola in 175 celsius for 10 to 15 minutes or so, turning it a few times with a spoon to roast evenly. When the granola has cooled down I throw in cacao nibs, coconut flakes and dried cranberries (this was my favorite granola for a long time). Sometimes I use olive oil, sometimes canola and sometimes coconut oil. I've found that olive oil and honey are a good pair and canola oil and syrup; with coconut oil I've used no sweetener. Lately I have experimented a little with seeds, and one of my favourite finds for granola has been dried strawberries!

Green Kitchen Stories posted this granola recipe a while ago and the banana in it sounded so enticing that I had to have a go. I've made jars and jars of this during the last two weeks (we are many here at our parents)!

BANANA GRANOLA

(from Green Kitchen Stories)

700ml oats
120ml roughly chopped almonds
120ml pumpkin seeds
0,5tsp salt

3tbsp coconut oil
3tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
2 very ripe bananas


Combine oats, almonds, seeds and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl mash the bananas with a fork until smooth and add coconut oil and honey and mix. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry with your hands. Spread the granola in an even layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in 200 celsius for 15 to 20 minutes, check at around 10 minutes and turn the granola over and break chunks that are too big.

The Green Kitchen Project, recipe no.5

I'd been waiting for strawberry season to get to try this recipe from the book! It was a sunny morning and we had the cake for dessert after breakfast on the backyard. It's good to have family around (some are leaving home soon but then others are coming). Tomorrow we're going to Ahola!

FROZEN STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE ON A SUNFLOWER CRUST

300g sunflower seeds
(2tbsp hemp seeds, optional)
12 fresh medjool dates, pitted (about 225g)
2tbsp coconut oil
1/2tsp sea salt

300g fresh strawberries
juice of 1/2 a lemon
120ml clear honey (or agave syrup, I put 100ml)
500g quark (or greek yoghurt or mascarpone)

250g fresh strawberries for garnish


Toast the sunflower seeds on a baking tray in 180 celsius for 6-8 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and put them (together with the hemp seeds) in a food processor and pulse for about 20 seconds. The seeds should be chopped but not powdered. Add the dates, coconut oil and salt and process until the mixture comes together to a sticky crust. (I don't have a food processor at hand here so I chopped the seeds with a hand blender and mashed the dates with a fork until smooth. Then I first added coconut oil and salt to the dates and mixed them in by hand and last blended the seeds in by hand.) Cover the bottom of a 20cm spring-form cake tin with baking paper, closing in the paper with the sides. Press the mixture firmly over the base with your thumbs. Chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Purée the strawberries, lemon juice and honey in a food processor or blender (hand blender worked perfect), pour into a large bowl, add the quark and mix well. Pour the mixture over the crust and put it in the freezer for about 90 minutes. You can keep the cake in the freezer for a few days but then let it thaw for about a half an hour before serving. Garnish the cake with strawberries (and a couple of edible flowers, as the Green Kitchen does). Serve the cake immediately; you cannot freeze it again and it doesn't really last in the fridge either.

We had the cake in the freezer for 2 days but next time I'd freeze it just before serving, I think the consistency will be better then. (I'm actually intrigued to play around with the recipe in order to just chill the cake instead of freezing it; it would be easier to keep.) Also next time I think I'm substituting honey for some cane sugar in the filling; honey's got such a strong flavour. And fresh blueberries or blackcurrants would make a killer cake I bet! I used 2,3% quark but I'm sure greek yoghurt would work well too. I really like the lightly toasted sunflower seeds in the crust, yum.


Soundtrack for the recipe: Onnellinen by Mikki Kauste

I am not really into raw food but I do like eating things that are healthy and good for me and taste scrumptious. My roommate introduced me to raw chocolate back in the day and it was love at first sight. This is a new recipe I found when I accidentally bought a huge pack of cocoa mass in place of cocoa butter. I'm happy I did. These are amazing. (The recipe calls for ingredients that are rather expensive and some of them are only found in special stores, but trust me, getting them is worth it. In Helsinki you find everything for example in Ruohonjuuri.)

HEAVENLY RAW CHOCOLATE

(makes about 40)

100g cocoa mass
100ml grated cocoa butter
100ml coconut oil
4-6tbsp organic honey
a good pinch of himalayan salt
200ml lucuma
1tbsp maca


Break cocoa mass into small pieces and melt in a bowl over hot water (bring the water to boil and then turn the heat off). Add grated cocoa butter and coconut oil and stir till they melt. Add honey and salt and whisk thoroughly. Whisk in lucuma and maca. Spoon the mixture into two ice cube trays and sprinkle coconut flakes on top. Place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Store the chocolate in the fridge.