Don't know about everyone else but I'm rather fed up of all the doom and gloom about Coronavirus, the panic buying and the shocking weather so I've been in my happy place in the kitchen trying out some new recipes! 

I reckon we could survive for months, I have 2 fridges full of assorted seasonal ferments, a cupboard stocked with grains, beans and lentils and a stash of organic flour, not to mention loads of wild garlic growing nearby!

Fermented foods are super fertiliser for our gut bacteria, who are in constant communication with our immune system so for anyone worried about the latest coronavirus, my advice is to eat lots of fibre rich food, which will feed those gut microbes who will then get to work on our behalf. And obviously if you have sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha then make sure you are eating and drinking them! Fermented foods and drinks are teeming with probiotics to support our health on every level and will all strengthen and support our immune system.

I eat fermented foods everyday  so I know my immune system is firing on all cylinders!

I love sourdough bread and I make lots of other sourdough treats and these wee savoury scones are just delicious and so simple.

The recipe is from the Queen of Sourdough Elaine Boddy of FoodBod fame, she is just brilliant and literally makes sourdough everyday and is always experimenting and sharing her ideas!
She has a book coming out this year and I was so touched to be asked to write the foreword for it, which I gladly did! I can't wait to read it!

So back to these wee scones, I added nutritional yeast and some of my dehydrated wild garlic for flavour I also used my homemade organic soya kefir.  No proving time or lengthy waiting required, just mix and bake!

These are really light and delicious and I imagine are best eaten the day you make them, which is never a problem in our house!

If you have extras then freeze them or toast them the next day!

Feel free to add herbs, spices, nuts, seeds or anything else that takes your fancy! I was thinking that vegan pesto or sun dried tomato paste would also be lovely! These are delicious served with soup for lunch or with a dip or vegan cheese! 

Here is the simple recipe

INGREDIENTS - makes around 12 to 16 scones

• 350g SR flour
• 85g active sourdough starter
• 275g kefir, buttermilk or plant milk
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tsp wild garlic or mixed herbs

METHOD
1. Simply add the sourdough starter and kefir or buttermilk, mix together then add the remaining ingredients.
2. Don't over mix just loosely bring it into a soft dough.
3. Turn mix onto a floured surface and gently flatten the dough to around 2cm thick with your hands.
Be gentle, the dough is fairly soft so don't overwork it!
4. Cut out 12 to 16 scones, depending on the size of your cutter.
5. Transfer to a floured baking tray and bake for around 18 minutes, in a preheated oven at 220C for a conventional oven or 200C for a fan oven.
6. Cool then serve with butter, vegan cheese, dips or anything else you fancy!

I also made a lemon and poppy seed version, added 2 tablespoons sugar, zest of a lemon, and juice of half a lemon and obviously left out the nutritional yeast and herbs. The dough is rather soft so I added the lemon juice with the kefir and adjusted the amount to 275g total.
These were delicious served with organic butter/vegan spread and would be fabulous with lemon curd!


                                                                 ....your health in your hands...

​Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes
These pancakes are so fluffy and delicious! You can make the batter up the night before so you can have fantastic pancakes for breakfast with no fuss at all. You can either use active starter or discard from the fridge.
This is a fantastic recipe and so versatile. The pancakes don't taste sweet so can be topped with sweet or savoury toppings. Topped with berries and a drizzle of maple syrup is a delicious weekend brunch or to go in a savoury direction, with poached eggs, avocado and a side of sauerkraut is delicious too!
I tend to omit the vanilla extract so I can have have my pancakes sweet or savoury.
This recipe makes a lot of pancakes, so I like to keep my options open! Excess batter will keep in the fridge for a few days but will become more sour so don't keep it any longer than that.
A good idea is to make all the pancakes, then freeze them.
You can toast them straight from frozen for a delicious treat anytime!
And this recipe also makes wonderful waffles, just thin the batter down a bit with more plant based milk and cook in your waffle maker. The thinner the batter, the more crispy your waffles will be, and the addition of vanilla extract just adds an extra sweetness which kids love!!
I hope this becomes one of your family favourites and go to weekend pancake recipe!

Ingredients

• 300g  self raising flour
• 250g sourdough starter
• 350mls dairy or dairy free milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 eggs or 2 chia or flax eggs for vegan option *
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional and only if you are having the pancakes with sweet toppings!)

 
 
Method

1. Combine the sourdough starter, flour and milk in a medium mixing bowl. Cover and allow to ferment overnight.
2. In the morning create a well in the batter with a wooden spoon and crack the eggs in, mix in then add the sugar, oil, sea salt, baking powder and vanilla extract. If using chia eggs then make sure to mix them in well, they tend to clump otherwise!
3. The batter should be fairly thick, but pourable, you add a bit more milk if its too thick.
4. Lightly grease a griddle or large non stick pan with oil or butter. Heat over a medium heat and add spoonfuls of the batter to form pancakes. Cook for several minutes until bubbles begin to appear. Carefully flip and cook for a few more minutes until evenly browned.
5. Serve with sliced banana, mixed berries and a drizzle of maple syrup or with savoury toppings.
6. These pancakes freeze well and are delicious toasted the following day!

* a chia egg is 1 tablespoon of chia seeds with 3 tablespoons warm water, mixed and left to sit for 5 mins to form a gel. So you need 2 chia eggs for this recipe, 2 tablespoons chia seeds plus 6 tablespoons warm water. 

 It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, well it is in our house, apart from the fact that we all have a sore throat, so we've not been singing festive songs as much as usual!
I've been having sea salt baths with lavender and tea tree, downing shots of turmeric, ginger and lemon and eating loads of Immune boosting soup and fermented garlic!
I always use drugs as a last resort once I've given all my natural remedies a chance to work! I'm feeling better but now Kathryn and Laura have a sore throat!! Its always the same at this time of year!

Anyway I'm still in full on festive food mood and have a few more brilliant recipes to share before Christmas!

I came across this recipe on the awesome Kellie Andersons excellent blog food to glow
she has some incredible recipes, mostly plantbased and all delicious and healthy.
Her blog is well worth a look, I love her style of cooking and the flavour she manages to pack into her recipes is amazing!

So back to this great recipe... 

These wee crackers would make a great gift, presented in a wee bag and tied with twine or ribbon. You can be creative and cut out all sorts of shapes. That's the brilliant thing about making your own stuff, you know exactly what the ingredients are and you can personalise most recipes to suit your own tastes and preferences. 

Kids would also love making these and they make a nice change from sweet biscuits covered in icing! These crackers actually taste a little sweet and have a lovely crunch and festive flavour. They would be perfect with a Christmas cheese board (lots of dairyfree vegan cheeses around too) or as an accompaniment to dips or just plain as a wee snack!
The recipe makes lots of crackers so I have frozen half the dough and will make more crackers next week when we've eaten all this batch!

I used avocado oil in mine but olive oil or any mild tasting oil would work. Kellie's original recipe added 50 ml orange juice and the zest of a small orange but I didn't have any so I added a bit more water instead and used 1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice instead of ginger.

The trick is to try and roll the dough out fairly thinly for nice crisp crackers. Just be sure to flour your work surface well or use 2 sheets of greaseproof paper and roll the dough on the paper with one sheet on top. You can then put the greaseproof paper directly onto an oven tray.

I just lightly greased and floured 2 baking trays and the crackers crisped up nicely and didn't stick at all!
​
So here is the slightly adapted recipe..

CRANBERRY & HAZELNUT CRACKERS

Ingredients

• 120 g wholemeal flour
• 100g porridge oats
• 50 ml olive, avocado or rapeseed oil
• 50 g chopped hazelnuts, lightly toasted
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds or linseeds
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 25 g dried cranberries, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup, rice syrup or honey
• 120 ml warm water
• 1/2 to 1 tsp mixed spice, cinnamon or ginger

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160 C for a fan oven/ 180 C conventional / 350 F
2. Put the flour, oats, salt, flax seeds and poppy seeds in a large bowl.
3. Toast the hazelnuts for 10 mins in a moderate oven, then cool them and rub them between your fingers to remove the skins. Either put them in a bag and bash them with a rolling pin to break them up. Put a tea towel underneath to deafen the noise!
4. Add the hazelnuts, chopped cranberries and mixed spice to the bowl and mix it all together.
5. Add the oil, syrup and the water and mix until you have a cohesive dough. You can just use your hands for this. Add extra warm water if the dough is a bit dry. Similarly if the dough is too wet or sticky then sift a bit more flour and mix it in until the dough is smooth. It depends on the flour you use, exactly how much water you need but its not crucial to use exact amounts. Just use your own judgement!
6. Put the dough in the fridge for at least 30 mins to firm up and make it easier to roll.
7. Cut the dough into 2 pieces and work with one piece at a time. I actually froze half so just used half the dough which makes plenty of crackers!
8. Dust your work top well with flour and your rolling pin and roll the dough out as thinly as you dare! Cut out shapes using whatever cutters you fancy or if you don't have any cutters you can use the top of a glass dipped in flour or just roll the dough into a rectangle shape then using a sharp knife mark the dough into squares, rectangles or fingers.
9. Transfer your crackers to a lightly oiled and floured baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, turning the trays halfway through to bake evenly. 
10. Cool on a cooling rack then store in a tupperware container, where they will keep happily for around 2 weeks, if they last that long!!

                   .....your health in your hands.....