#grandas recipe

[recipesbyamad]

Spiced pear cake with butterscotch sauce

INGREDIENTS:

200g butter, softened

1 cup raw caster sugar

4 eggs

2/3 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp mixed spice

1 cup almond meal

1/3 cup pecans, chopped

2 ripe beurre bosc pears

2 tsp raw caster sugar, extra

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BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

50g butter

1 cup pure cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 170°C/150°C fan-forced. Grease a 7cm-deep 20cm (base) cake pan. Line base and sides with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition (mixture may curdle). Sift flour, baking powder and mixed spice over butter mixture. Add almond meal and pecans. Fold until combined.

Step 2:

Spoon mixture into prepared cake pan. Smooth top. Cut pears into quarters. Remove core and thinly slice each quarter, leaving stalk and top of pear intact. Arrange over cake, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre of cake comes out clean (cover with foil if over-browning). Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn, top-side up, onto a wire rack.

Step 3:

Meanwhile, make Butterscotch sauce. Place sugar, butter, cream  and vanilla in a pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened. Serve cake with sauce.

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[vrianch]

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[eimearkuopio]

Leavened bread needs time to prove, to rise. Leavened bread needs yeast, needs true life (or like my ancestors, you can substitute for a chemical reaction if you know what you're doing and it's still delicious).

Unleavened bread is for times of fear and famine. Times when you need to remember that you should be prepared to drop everything and flee. I can't understand why you would build cathedrals of stone, decorate them with art that transcends your finite selves, but still use unleavened bread. It's an empty symbol to you now, because you kept the words and forgot the Word. I can't remember the whole script, but I've got the gist of it. Some of it, you had to prompt me to remember. Some of you didn't realise you were giving me cues. I really, really hope at least some of you knew something, or this will be a lonelier lifetime than it needs to be; but at least not lonely enough for me to choose my own mercy.

Grandma's recipe for wine might turn out to have Granda's recipe for bread written on the back. My eyesight isn't what it once was, and I can't make out the fine details. I genuinely don't know it by heart, but I know the taste of it. Some of it, you have reminded me of and I am sure it is right. Some of it sounds wrong. Bring me your best attempts and I will taste them. Who knows? Maybe you made something better with what he taught you!

The Reformation was the end of the first prove. It's time to shape this bread and bake it.

[chaotic-stressy-depressy]

Hiiii!

I'm making dandelion syrup today and I thought I could share the recipe with y'all.

You're gonna need:

Enough dandelions to fill a 1l* jar (and really pack them in there, try to fit in as many as possible)**

1l of water

1kg of sugar

juice of 2 lemons

*1l = around 33oz

** Pls be careful where you pick them, you wouldn't want them to be covered in some nasty chemicals, right?

1. Collect your dandelions. I heard you can use stems too but it gives the syrup that kinda bitter taste so I don't use them.

Try to pick flowers in full bloom.

I like to pick them to that cute little bag cause ✨ cottagecore vibes ✨

2. Spread you dandelions somewhere for around 3hrs*** so ants and other little creatures can leave.

*** I spent that time collecting cherry blossom to make cherry blossom infused honey 😌🍯

3. Boil flowers for 20min in that 1l of water

4. Let it cool off and leave it in the fridge for 24hrs.

5. After 24hrs bring it to boil again.

6. Let it cool off and separate the flowers. Then squeeze out every last drop of your future syrup out of them (I wrap them in a clean piece of fabric and just squeeeeeze).

After this you can throw out the flowers.

7. Add sugar and lemon juice.

8. Let it boil until it has the consistency you like. Stir often during this step.

(After 1-2hrs your syrup should be more runny, after 2-3 hrs it should be thicker. Of course, if you care about health benefits, it'd be better to boil it for a shorter time. Be careful to not boil it for too long cause it might harden!)

9. Pour your still hot syrup into jars and close them.

This recipe usually makes 4-5 little jars but I spilled like ⅓ sooo I only have 3 this time.

Have fun!

[beccasblogsthings]

Sticky Toffee Pudding

I want to share this recipe because it is one of my favourite desserts to have. My Granda loved this dessert every time we went out he would have it and I remember it was him that got me to like it because he let me have a bit of his and loved it.Sadly my Granda passed away nearly three years ago and I love to make this in his memory. So in a couple of minutes I will be posting me recipe.

[samyblresp]

Things I have learned in my stay at Uni (food related)

Vegetables are a luxury, and not something boring.

Fruits are great substitutes of vegetables

Hot milk feels like candy. Againt, it’s not boring anymore.

Meal planning is imposibles if you eat alone. Lots of things come in big cuantities and it’s very hard not to throw things.

Pizza and pasta are not funny anymore. 

I would rather eat rice with vegetables than anything else.

No matter how much spices I use, I can’t make my food taste mama-like.

I won’t never in my life cook lentilles like my granda does. 

sometimes the worst experiments are the best.

Like the best way to make hamburgues not tasting like a dead cow it’s to fry them with sauce and spices. 

Cheap chips are better for tortillas than the expensive ones. 

Some internet recipes are going to be the best thing ever, and other will be terrible.

if you are going to change ingredients from any recipe, keep in mind you may have to change some other things.

How the fuck my brother survived four years etings just four things? 

Cooking is a precious skill and I think it’s undervalued. Not that I didn’t apreciate when people maked food, but like it’s an awesome hability. Like one day I can throw two different things ina frying pan and make something and then you can add spices, or change things, and create new things. I thinks it’s funny and mindblowing at the same time. Like you can feel you mistakes in real life.

Most of the time you can make all the recipes, you just have to think creatively and change some things. For example, you can do any recipe that includes dough with any kind of dough. It won’t taste the same, but who cares? Sometimes it’s even better.

What have you learned when you had place to expriment food? I’m really curios! Have you discovered any special recipe?

[thesundowncrew]

In the words of great, great, great grandma Hallahan, ‘You can get beer anywhere, but what’s rarer is a helping hand.’

Everyone knows the best place to go is the good ol’ corner store Sundown witches shoppe. From charms and crystals to pendants and potions, the Hallahans have it all! Granda Aed runs the store but Granma Moira keeps everything in check and the neighborhood cared for. The shoppe not only has an extensive supply of everything and anything a witch, human and non-human needs but offer services of different niches.

Aedan Connelly - human - charming chap who didn’t exactly know what he was getting into at first when he married a witch named Caoilinn Hallahan, except that they were madly in love. And still are. Aedan helps out with balancing the shoppe’s books when he’s not working 9-5 at his accountancy firm. He doesn’t have a single witchy bone in his body so isn’t able to see their more ethereal clientele. Caoilinn offers tarot and palm readings only when she isn’t too busy with anything else.

Caoilinn thought she couldn’t be happier when she married Aedan, but that day changed when their son Sam was born. Caoilinn named him after her elder brother, Samuel Hallahan. While Caoilinn stayed back to become a full-time mom and help her parents with the shoppe, Samuel traveled to France to study the culinary arts. His specialty had always been brewing, both magickal and non-magickal recipes alike. He visits sometimes and always brings a little something for his favorite (and only) nephew.

Sam Connelly - half-human (halfa) - is known in his family to have the strongest spirit energy and sense of Sight. Not only can he see spirits of all kinds, if he concentrates hard enough, he can even see past certain levels of glamour. The biggest spell-bookworm with a penchant for relics, he’s often consulted for charms, identifying artifacts and just day-to-day advice on how to handle magickal or spooky problems.  Though a family business, Sundown’s a HUGE store and have other hands helping out; Sam’s two oldest friends.

Vali - crow mythos - was found by Granda one day, wounded and ill. The Hallahans took him in and nursed him back to health. Since he needed a place to stay, he offered his services and became the shoppe’s delivery boy. He’s lived with the Hallahans ever since, and has known Sam since he was a kid. Having mastered the more darker arts, Vali’s the go-to guy for the heavier stuff like demonic exorcisms and the more dangerous ghostbusting. Sometimes he takes leave to travel or visit his siblings back home.

Natalie Shadestone - witch - adopted by a pair of bake-neko (goblin cats), Harvey and Kelly Shadestone, and childhood friends with Sam. They grew up together, went to the same school and everything. While she’s studying to be the best witch she can be, she learns whatever she can while helping out the Hallahans. Her best talent is potions and is always eager to help out in that department.

So what are you waiting for? Ready to place your order? Step right in, don’t be shy!

[redcap3]

Granma

My granma was born when the Great Depression was still raging. She watched her father go to work designing and building aircraft through the second world war. 

She was there to watch men walk on the moon. 

She traveled to Norway, where she fell in love with the land, the people, and the language. She visited Sweden, the UK, France, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Spain, even the Soviet Union, and returned with stories, photos, and a deep appreciation for each culture she encountered. 

She loved art, music, and theater. She took me to my first concert when I was three. She took me to the Opera for the first time when I was eight. She made sure that each of her grandchildren grew up with a deep appreciation of the arts, and that we would find ways to express ourselves.

She encouraged us to ask Why. She encouraged us to read. She encouraged us to dream.

She was terrible baker but she always made great Christmas Cookies. (I think granda helped with those.) 

She made the most amazing beef burgundy, and one of my most prized possessions is a painstakingly hand-typed index card with her mother’s cornbread recipe.

We had just started our first vacation since Morgan and I got married - basically our honeymoon, five years late, when I got a phone call that she’d collapsed and was in the hospital.

I called her at the hospital and asked if we should come back to see her. She insisted we do no such thing. She wanted to hear all about our vacation when we got home, and she promised that when she was out of the hospital she was going to get us all on a plane to Norway with her no matter what the doctors said.

We were driving home today and I got a phone call. When my mom said “you should get off the road and call me back” I knew it would be bad.

I was sitting in the parking lot of a gas station, two hundred miles from home, when I found out my granma was gone. 

I put everything I had into getting us home safely. There are so many things that will need to be done now and I have no idea where we even start, so I am sitting here writing, because even if she didn’t always get what I was writing, she was always proud that I was writing it.

I miss her already. 

I miss her so much.

[cuckoomagazine]

Interview with blogger Amy McColgan (a.k.a. Green Leafy Gael)

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and bred in Donegal and went to an all-Irish primary school. I went on to study Irish and Spanish in college and then did a Masters in translation after that. Before I went to college I also did a diploma course in TV Production through Irish in the Donegal Gaeltacht. I’m now living in Spain working as a freelance translator but hoping to move to Barcelona soon and get something a bit more secure!

When did you become a vegan and what made you decide to change your lifestyle?

I lived in Spain in 2012/2013 during my Erasmus year. It was my first time owning a smart phone and I took a liking to Instagram. I followed a lot of health and fitness accounts and took a big interest in health and wellness. One week in February 2013 I watched around 6 documentaries about food production, animal welfare and the links between a Western diet and all the most common Western causes of death (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke). The Monday after that was the last day I ever ate meat. Over the course of that year I educated myself on how the meat and dairy industry have essentially paid their way into the food pyramids. There are so many deceiving scientific studies done and articles written to promote this kind of food and it’s tragic because that is the very food that’s killing us. When people from Asian and African countries move to Western countries and adopt the Western diet, they also adopt Western diseases that they wouldn’t have gotten if they continued with their traditional mainly plant-based diets. Learning bits of information like this just astounded me and yet it made so much sense. Never in my life have I understood something so well – the only thing holding me back from going fully vegan was our culture and society. Saying no to family members’ food and learning how to go without dessert in a restaurant is hard work and it takes time to get brave enough to do that! Eventually, within a year I was fully vegan – although at home and when cooking for myself I was always vegan. 

Throughout that year, I allowed myself to learn of the horrors of the animal agriculture industry. Not just the sick conditions of factory farms but standard, legal practices that are done on the most highly praised farms, such as pulling piglets teeth out and castrating them without anaesthesia, dehorning calves without anaesthetic, separating calves from their mothers so soon after birth so they don’t drink the milk meant for us humans, keeping sows in crates so small they can’t even stand up; I could go on. Standard farming and slaughterhouse practices are seen as “necessary and humane” but only because they’re part of the farming business. There’s nothing ethical about it. If someone shot a bolt gun through a dog’s head and then slit his throat and skinned him before he even properly died – the country would be up in arms about animal cruelty because it’s not normal for us to eat dogs. It’s “normal” for us to eat cows so we don’t bat an eyelid when it’s done to them. Knowing all this made going vegan an absolute necessity. I could never ever live with myself if I knew I was contributing to modern day slavery and torture of the most innocent and docile creatures on earth.

Who would you consider to be your biggest influence?

I really admire Dr. Michael Greger who runs the website nutritionfacts.org and wrote the book “How Not To Die”. His selfless contribution to the health of the world and sharing true and factual scientific studies has made it so easy for everyone to learn about food and how it impacts out health. He makes complicated scientific studies make sense to the layperson through his short and snappy videos on the NutritionFacts.org YouTube channel. He does all this for free and even the proceeds from his best-selling book went to back into the nutritionfacts.org non-profit.

 How do you source content for your blog?Do you stumble upon recipes or create your own? 

I don’t source content no. I just write about different vegan products that I might have tried or different tips or tricks that I think might help people on a vegan journey. At the start my recipes were inspired by my local Ballyholey Farm in Donegal. They grow a vast array of vegetables completely organically and every week they’d throw me some random veg and say “do something with that” – so a lot of my recipes are purely experimental! They always turn out surprisingly tasty though!

 What would you consider to be the main purpose of your blog & YouTube videos?

To inspire people to go vegan or to assist people through their vegan journey. I want to educate people on the true effects of the food we’ve grown up eating. It’s not something you can learn about in the mainstream media (although slowly but surely that’s changing). I like the idea of leading by example so I just try to share my life experiences and show people what I’m doing and why I’m doing it – that way is the least “preachy” I find. People are always interested in other people, so, if I can get people interested in my way of life, they might end up saving their own life. Also, I feel it’s my duty to the animals. I can’t sit back and do nothing about their suffering. If I can get someone to buy a cruelty-free and vegan foundation the next time they are buying make up instead of an animal-tested one – I’m happy. If I can get someone to choose a soy milk latté instead of cow milk the next time they order a coffee – I’m happy. If someone tells me they’ve decided to cut out meat altogether – I nearly cry with delirious excitement.

Do you find it easy to maintain your blog while living your daily life?

Not when I’m working a full-time job -  it’s very hard to find the time to work, eat, sleep, blog and vlog. Often times, social interaction with friends suffers! But now since I’ve lived in Spain I’ve been working at home on a freelance basis. So, when the work is quiet that means I get more time to focus on editing videos and writing blog pots. However, it also leaves me stuck financially which in turn leaves me with no nice ingredients to make nice recipes! I’d absolutely love to be able to focus on my blog and my channel full-time. As well as being beneficial to people’s lives, it’s also really fun to do and I get to use skills I’ve always loved using as a child such as taking pictures, editing pictures, making videos and acting the eejit in front of a camera!

 Is there a particular vegan dish that stands out as being the best you have tried?

No – because there are too many. Think of all the vegetables in the world (not just peppers onions and carrots), and all of the fruits in the world, and all of the grains, beans, legumes, spices, and herbs. Now think of a combination of each and every one – we’re talking millions upon millions of options! I’ve made some delicious meals in my life but as soon as I’ve made them I move on and try something else. In restaurants (that serve vegan food) I always try and get something different. I absolutely love weird combinations of food. I used to put random things in sandwiches and my mum said I get that from my late Granda. My mum is the complete opposite to me though and makes the same dinners every week – all are fantastic. But I have to say her lentil shepherd’s pie is a winning family dinner. It really is delicious and nutritious. (recipe on the blog if anyone’s wondering!) The meal I had in Sova Vegan Butchers in Dublin was one of the best vegan meals I’ve ever had. They’re so innovative and creative and it’s such a good experience eating there. I had the “scallops” and a “schnitzel” – 100% vegan, 1000% tasty. Recently I was in London and that whole day of eating was probably the best day of eating I’ve ever had – from breakfast to brunch to lunch to dinner. The Ethiopian food I got at Spitalfield’s Market was phenomenal. I have a vlog on my channel from that day again, if anyone’s interested!

 Tell us a little about the fashion side of your blog. You mention you like to buy clothes that are not brand new and ethically produced. Can you explain that a bit more? 

Well I’ve always heard about sweat shops and child labor, all my life. I don’t think that side of fashion has ever been unknown to anyone, but we definitely do just turn a blind eye to it. I did most of my life, but then when I went vegan, I kept thinking to myself that I shouldn’t be ignoring the plight of these poor sweatshop workers. I didn’t know too much about it though, but it was on my mind. I shopped less in fast fashion places because of it, but, only in the last 2 years have I completely quit fast fashion. I decided to become a minimalist 2 years ago and with that I learned a lot about the environmental impacts of clothes production, the vast amount of waste and pollution it produces, and the working conditions of the garment workers. 

The factory collapse in Bangladesh that made headlines should have caused a worldwide shift to ethical fashion but profits of the big companies actually went UP that year! Shocking. I would recommend anyone interested to watch the documentary “The True Cost” – it’s extremely interesting. Since I quit fast fashion I’ve obviously still had to buy clothes. My budget hasn’t exactly allowed for me to buy better quality and sustainably-made clothes because they tend to be more expensive, so, I tend to focus on second hand clothes. This is even better though because it reduces waste and doesn’t use any resources. I love using Depop and Ebay, and I absolutely love vintage shops like Nine Crows in Dublin. Etsy is a great place to get handmade and vintage items as well. My proudest purchases, though, have to be the ones I’ve found in local charity shops. It literally is a case of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

For people out there who are looking to start their own blog, what advice would you give them?

Being Irish I think we have a tendency to get embarrassed about promoting ourselves or speaking up online. There’s something about our culture that makes it slightly weird for us to see someone doing their own thing and being different in public/online. I’ll admit, even I find it strange sometimes if I see someone I know doing something a bit “different” online. It’s in our nature and I’ve no idea why. That said though – this is changing fast! One good thing about globalisation is that some of our very Irish ways are dissipating and more people are deciding to do what they want and put themselves out there. So, I would say to anyone who feels like they want to speak out through a blog or share anything through a blog, try not to be embarrassed or scared about what the ones down the road will think of you! If you have a good message to share people will benefit from it. I was terrified about putting myself out there – especially on YouTube – but I felt the message was too important not to share. Some people definitely thought I was mad, but I’ve had more people tell me that they’ve changed because of my blog/channel, or thank me for sharing what I’ve shared. So, you could be shocked at the impact you could have!

What is your proudest moment to date?

The Irish language is a big passion of mine and I love to promote it, so, when I was invited to be on Róisín on TG4 I felt like that was a big moment for me. Speaking Irish, working with the media, and promoting veganism all in one day – it definitely was one of the highlights! I also loved being in my local paper, The Donegal News, last year, as I grew up reading this paper every Thursday night when my Dad would bring it home. Plus, the title of the piece was “Champion of health” – that was cool! But, one of the best things that has happened since I started trying to spread this message was my family, one by one, ditching meat. My mum is vegetarian, my dad is vegetarian (sometimes pescatarian) and my younger brother is also vegetarian. Having that burden of worry off my shoulders is a great thing – now I only need to worry about my youngest brother whose diet gives me anxiety!

 Have you any particular goals for the future?

Get my youngest brother to go vegan! It’d do wonders for all his football injuries…No but really, I’d love to be able to work full-time on helping people go vegan. I’d love to take people shopping to Dunnes or Tesco and teach them all about what they can eat and what recipes they can make for their families. I find blogging and making YouTube videos really enjoyable so it’d be great to somehow be able to do it full-time. I’d love for veganism to grow massively in Ireland over the next 5 years and I’d really love to have some part in it.

To find out more about Amy’s blogs, recipes and vlogs, follow her below on the following links:

www.greenleafygael.com

@greenleafygael

YouTube

Facebook

[syrahqueen]

Exploring the Prosecco Pyramid with Masottina Wines

Exploring the Prosecco Pyramid with Masottina Wines

Photo Credits – Masottina Wines

A glass of Masottina Prosecco represents the unique nature of the terroir and the embodiment of a traditional production method which sees man and man’s wisdom as the key to superior quality.

Just north of Venice, there is a magical place that produces some of the most beloved sparkling wines of the world.  Prosecco is the bubbly of choice for most Italians, and if…