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.....

It's been a busy old week here at Nourished by Nature! It's Scotland Food and Drink Fortnight and also Organic September so I've been promoting both of them big-time!

I'm taking part in a My Healthy Breakfast Challenge for schools in conjunction with Food for Thought  and Hamlyn's Oats and my brief was to come up with a few ideas for kids breakfasts with no nuts or expensive ingredients!

So I came up with this rather delicious crunchy oaty granola which is flavoured with maple syrup and cinnamon and packed with lots of healthy seeds which kids should definitely be eating more of! I used my organic maple syrup from Lidl which was a total bargain at £2.99!

Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds are now widely available everywhere from Home Bargains to Lidl, Aldi and all the major supermarkets and are very reasonably priced.

I used a mild flavoured organic Sunflower Oil but you could easily substitute olive oil or good old Scottish Rapeseed Oil.

Oats are a great energy food, packed with complex carbohydrates, soluble fibre, protein and B vitamins supporting digestive and heart health and providing a filling and nutritious base for breakfast for kids and adults alike!!

Sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds add lots of minerals including calcium & magnesium for building strong bones and teeth and good fats as well as fibre and protein.


Dried fruit gives a wee burst of natural sweetness and cinnamon helps the body to deal with the sugar, which along with all the fibre, good fats and protein in this recipe will help to stabilise blood sugar levels for sustained energy and good mood!

Coconut is also high in soluble fibre and is naturally sweet which beats refined sugar any day of the week!

Served with yoghurt and fresh fruit or simply eaten as a snack, this oaty seedy crunch is sure to be a hit with kids!

I've been enjoying it on my smoothie bowls, porridge and just as a wee snack! It's a bit more crumbly than normal granola which I usually make with jumbo oats and buckwheat but it still tastes delicious!

I also added a handful of goji berries and some toasted coconut flakes to mine to add some colour and a bit of extra crunch. The brief was nut free but I love nuts so would add a good handful of almonds, chopped brazil nuts or walnuts to mine! 

Here is the recipe...
 
MAPLE CINNAMON OAT CRUNCH
Ingredients
2 cups Hamlyns rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
½ cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
½ cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons milled flaxseeds (optional )
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Large pinch sea salt
¼ cup organic sunflower oil (4 tablespoons)
¼ cup maple syrup (4 tablespoons)
1 cup of mixed dried fruit, raisins, apricots or dates
 
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
2. Add all the dry ingredients, except the dried fruit, to a large bowl and mix together.
3.  Mix the maple syrup, sunflower oil and vanilla extract in a small jug and pour it over the dry mixture. Give it a good stir to evenly coat the dry ingredients.
4. Pour the mixture onto a large baking tray and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until nicely browned.
5. Check it a few times and stir the mixture to make sure it browns evenly and doesn’t burn.
6. Remove the tray from the oven when nicely browned and allow it to cool.
7. Stir in the dried fruit. If using apricots or dates then cut them into small pieces first.
8. Serve with yoghurt and fresh fruit or eat as a snack.
9. Store in an airtight container.

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