Sunday, September 30, 2012

Aged Cheddar and Fig Panini



Sometimes the simple things in life are the best, I have been enjoying panini's with fresh figs. I simply made a panini with an Irish aged cheddar added sliced figs and voila a wonderful sandwich was born. 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Take a Drive in Southern Iceland








Here's a little clip and some photos of the landscape driving in Southern Iceland, and you can see you share the road with some sheep. The sheep roam freely in Iceland, eating the grass and if you visit be sure to try the lamb. Its so good they also have a traditional flat bread that is eaten with smoked cold cuts of lamb. Folks in Iceland also make great woolen clothing they need to stay warm there, but I would say they do it with style. Above you see a black sand beach, it was pretty wild though and rocky hard to access the beach and take a stroll but stunning all the same. 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

African Beef and Peanut Stew




I have seen this stew numerous times on blogs and this version was based on a recipe on the Kitchn, this recipe comes from West Africa its easy to make and packed with flavor, in fact my hubby is asking for it again, always a good sign. I made a few changes mainly adding in extra vegetables including sweet potato and zucchini. As a busy Mum one pot meals are wonderful. 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Braised Tofu with Vegetables and Noodles




Here's another story of noticing a recipe on the back of a packet. I bought some tofu and it had a nice marinade recipe so this dish is inspired from that. All in all a tasty and healthy meal. Tofu is made from soy milk and a coagulate it is a rich source of protein, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Copper and Selenium, and a very good source of Calcium when Calcium is used as a coagulant. 

Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Northern Lights over Reykjavik



We were so blessed to see the Northern lights on our trip to Iceland, in fact every evening I would look and even wake in the night just to check. These magical dancing lights showed up as our baby boy turned one. While not as bright as they are in winter months it was one of life's special moments. Something I will always cherish and I wanted to share it with you all.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

My TV cooking segment debut!!



I had the lovely opportunity to do a cooking segment on my local TV station. I actually left the producer multiple voicemail's to go on he he, be persistent folks and follow your dreams. Fingers crossed they ask me back. Would love to share more healthy recipes from around the world.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Carrot and Corn Fritters



Here is another fritter recipe, its a little late in the season as the corn is finishing as we head into fall, but frozen would work just as well. Its a simple and healthy recipe and I loved the sweetest of the corn in these. 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Brennivin and Shark in Iceland


Here's a fun clip of me sampling some traditional Icelandic food with the lovely Lea of Hesteimar Horse farm http://www.hestheimar.is/, highly recommend a stay here, they have wonderful rooms and cabins and home cooked meals by the family. It is located in Southern Iceland with great accessibility to the coast, the golden circle route and amazing country drives.


The farm is a world class breeding facility for Icelandic horses that haven't left Iceland or been mixed for 1000 years. We celebrated the wee mans first birthday here and sweet Lea made a cake - magic. The farm also offers riding lessons and trail riding. 


me and our darling now one year old

this is traditional Icelandic bread made by Lea, it is slow cooked for 7 hours at a low temperature. In fact in the area's near hot springs, local's bake it in the ground for 24 hrs. Its great with butter for fish. 






Have a wonderful weekend everyone 




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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Scarpaccia Toscana with figs and zucchini





I saw this wonderful Italian recipe on Dajana's blog Baker's Corner its one of my favorite blogs and one of the first one's I started to follow when I started blogging nearly 4 years ago. She is a talented cook and baker and a loving Mum and Wife living in Italy. This recipe intrigued me as its basically a pancake batter baked in the oven, making a delicious and simply tart. I added figs and zucchini blossoms from my garden. 

Happiness is...





Happiness is coming back from a trip collecting goodies from my wee garden and then...

Cooking it and seeing our kids eat and enjoy a healthy homegrown meal - priceless :-)

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Exploring Southern Iceland





Iceland is stunning and if you visit :-) be sure to hire a car and explore outside of Reykjavik. The roads are good and well marked and the locals friendly. We drove about an hour South East of Reykjavik and stayed on a horse farm. I highly recommend farm stays when we visited New Zealand a couple of years ago we stayed on a sheep farm. That one didn't have any heating and despite all the blankets it was a tad nippy in Iceland the homes are heated with geo thermal heat and nice and toasty.




Hestheimar
Website:www.hestheimar.is


We rented a delightful little cabin and celebrated the wee mans first birthday there it was magic. The owners were lovely and happy to chat about Iceland and the local food and culture. Native foods to Iceland include blueberries, barley and fish. I even had the guts to try rotten shark meat there with snaps :-) stay turned for a clip with Leah the owner.








Stunning Icelandic horse




This is the traditional bread made by Leah baked in a milk carton at 200 for 7 hrs I will email her for the recipe :-)




We stopped for lunch at Hotel Anna along highway one headed towards Vik lovely little place in the country with great food.







Arctic char with thyme




Beautiful waterfall complete with a rainbow - skogafoss




Beautiful black beach, unfortunately we missed the puffins as they have headed south to Africa!!





Playing in pebbles








Sheep crossing the road :-)




The mighty gullfoss falls :-) another must see close to geyser




Checking out the water in the area it's hot ;-)





For lunch today we had lamb soup so good and a recipe I will try and re create this fall






As we drove through the national park we spotted an older couple picking something we couldn't resist stopping to ask.

They were foraging for wild blueberries





We fly home on Monday it's been wonderful. The people, landscapes and food are all first class, we hope to visit again one day

Have a great start to the week everyone

Hugs

Rebecca



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Food and Fun in Reykjavik Iceland






Reykjavik is a city I have always wanted to visit, I have heard about its great food scene, funky art shops and of course Iceland's natural beauty.




This is a traditional Icelandic doughnut dipped in cardamom syrup so good.

The first day we ate at a restaurant called Geyser bistro




I had a wonderful seafood soup loaded with shrimp, lobster and shrimp.





This is a rice pudding they give to kids








Here's a cute little coffee house and I must say they love coffee and cake :-)





Pretty church




Super cute little shop, the city has lots of small art and nick nack shops :-)




This is a skyr chocolate cake.
Iceland is famous for skyr yogurt similar to Greek yogurt high in protein and they also sell lovely yoghurt drinks.




This was a Viking sculpture next to the bay with the moon in the distance.




Here's an example of the amazing bakeries here








This was a wonderful salad bar at a local restaurant serving delicious organic world inspired food. As a dietitian I loved this and they grow a lot of vegetables using geothermal heat in greenhouses.





Today's weather was very rainy and gloomy Iceland's weather is unpredictable and reminds me of Scotland where I grew up.

But we hired a car and still had fun getting into the beautiful countryside despite the rain.











Tomorrow we are driving to the country and staying on a horse farm and celebrating our darling boys first birthday :-)




His big sister told him he will be one and she will hug him




Hope your having a wonderful week

Love from Iceland




Rebecca

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