Tasty cornbread

Today I decided to make some cornbread for breakfast. It is a quickly prepared, very satisfying, and actually quite versatile meal. Eat it on its own or maybe with a bit of sour cream on the side. It is also great as a side dish to beef or  vegetable stews (in this case,  I like to reduce the sugar a little bit but, hey, that's just me).

Cornbread
Preheat oven to 375F / 175C

1/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup Splenda
1/4 cup raw sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk OR 1/2 cup sour cream + 1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together all the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, mix together all the remaining ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix and stir it all together for a creamy dough.

Pour the dough into a greased baking dish.
It does not really matter what kind of baking dish one uses, if it's round or rectangular, but I would recommend to use a smaller dish to keep the dough thicker. In my case I used a 5 x 8 in glass baking dish. 


Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Growing Zucchini

Another first for me this year was growing a zucchini plant. 

It sprouted really quick and the young plant developed nicely. Flowers keep coming but until now there is no female flower. Well, at least the color is pretty. I do not harvest the flowers for frying at this point since there is only one at a time blooming and I don't think that warrants to heat up the oil. 

Growing Asian long beans

This was my first attempt to grow those pretty long beans. On the package it said that they would grow from seed to crop within 50 days. Well, it took double than that in my case until I harvested my first bean. I did not mind the delay and enjoyed the simple fact that the plant produced something that I love eating. 

Little Blue Kerchief

This little kerchief I made with a bit of leftover lace yarn. I did not make notes at that time so I don't know how much yarn it took.
I just started at the tip and continued in garter stitch while adding a stitch at the beginning of each row.
To give the little blue kerchief a bit of interest, I added a few rows of yo and also a few "flowers" of yo at the beginning and in the middle section.

Simple wool scarf

This scarf was a birthday gift for a good friend of mine.
I think it was the first scarf I ever knitted for somebody else.

I used 2 skeins of worsted weight 100% mercerized wool and it got pretty long. There was no need for a pattern, since it was knit in a simple k1, p1 rib stitch.

I think the color had a beautiful shine to it.

Aubergine-Tomato Stew

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 medium sized to large aubergines
4 Tomatos
1 small red onion
1 large clove garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried parsil
freshly ground black pepper

What to do with this

• Put the water in a large pot  and put it on medium heat.
• Cut the washed aubergines in bigger junks (they will become very soft and some will disintegrate) and put them into the pot.
• Cut the tomatos in bigger junks, too, add them to the pot with the  aubergines.
• Cut the onion in small pieces, add them to the pot.
• Squash the garlic or cut it in small pieces, add it to the pot.
• Mix everything well.
• Add the spices, mix again.
• Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
• Serve on its own, as a side dish or with toasted bread, rice or couscous.
• Enjoy!

Cocoa-Medjool Date-Walnut Rolls

Ingredients

12 Medjool Dates, stones removed
1.5 cups raw walnuts
dash of salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 teaspoons water


What to do with that

• (Depending on the size of your food processor, you might like to split the nuts and dates in two batches.)
• Grind the walnuts and salt in a food processor until finely ground.
• Add the dates, cocoa powder and vanilla extract and process everything together. It will become a thick mass. Add the water and keep mixing.
• Once everything is mixed together, spoon out the mass onto a plate, wet your hands with water and form a roll about 2 inch thick. Take a knife and cut into as many portions you want to create. With wet hands roll each piece into a ball and put it on a plate or small storage container. 
• Once all pieces are rolled, put the container/plate into the fridge. After about 20 minutes you can cover it with plastic wrap without it sticking to the rolls.
• Let them rest in the fridge for 2 hours.
• Enjoy.

Variation: roll the individual portions in ground almonds or coconut before putting them in the fridge.