Food blog event voor september

Dankzij de zomervakantie bleek het even lastig om iemand te vinden die het volgende foodblog event wil organiseren. Augustus was dan ook niet haalbaar maar Maaike van Kessel wil de fakkel overnemen en zal het event voor september organiseren.

Maaike, heel veel plezier en vooral veel reacties.

Nötbröd med fikon (bread with nuts and figs)

Just as some supermarkets in Holland, the local ones in Sweden too have leaflets with all kind of recipes for their customers. I'd promised myself to bake some bread during our stay in Sweden and this recipe of the supermarket ICA was very welcome.

Kneading by hand, instead of the Kitchenaid, was a bit messy because of the wet and sticky dough but on the other hand very suitable to an old stuga. Forming the dough into a tight ball was a bit tricky and I expected it to morf into a flat pancake. Well, that didn't happen and slashing wasn't neccessary because the bread did it himself (or is it herself?).


The result; a dense and not too sweet bread with a nice crumb. Next time I'll use walnuts instead of almonds because they have more taste.

Nötbröd med fikon (bread with nuts and figs)

15 dried but soft figs, small pieces
1 cup almonds (I used 0.5 cup)
25 gr. fresh yeast
600 ml. cold water
1 teaspoon salt
900 gr. bread flour
1 eggyolk
1 tbsp. milk

The best way to divide the figs in small pieces is by scissors. Chop the almonds (or other nuts) in small pieces.

Crumb the yeast above the flour in very small crumbs between your fingertips. Add the cold water and knead it rapidly till all the flour and water are mixed. Add the figs, nuts and salt and knead the dough 5 minutes. Leave the dough in an oiled container till doubled in size.

Give it a businessletterturn and let is proof again till almost doubled in size. Form the dough into a tight ball and leave it covered till almost doubled in size. Glaze the bread with a mixture of the eggyolk and the milk. Slash it as you wish or dare.
Bake the bread in the oven (200 dgr. C.) for 20 minutes and lower the temperature till 200 dgr. C. and bake it another 15 minutes.


This bread serves very nice with cheese.

Coming home and receiving an award

With all the preparations for our journey to Sweden this summer.....

bringing the animals to their temporairy adress,
making reservations for the flight by airplane and the journey by train,
cleaning the house,
leaving adresses for the family and friends,
packing the suitcases and giving a key to that lovely lady that takes care of our plants and the post....
......................... I almost forgot how nice is it to come home again.

Don't misunderstand it; I loved the two weeks in Sweden in an authentic stuga near the river. I also loved the fact that there was a big electric oven in the kitchen which made it possible to bake our own bread or make a nice tender stew. It was just a wonderful two weeks-off with nice weather and a terrific surrounding.


What makes the coming home so special is the reunification with our animals and well.......just being home again and being able to do the things we like as reading, making strolls with the dog, baking and ofcourse blogging.

So much new posts to read and most exciting: the surprise of being awarded by a much appreciated and co blogger Lien of Lien's Notes. Thank you Lien, I'm very honoured and also a little bit impressed.

Getting this award also means a few obligations:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award (who wouldn't?).
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog (look at the right side of the front page of my blog).
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award (check).
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting (oeps).
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers (only seven?).
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate (okidoki).
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated (love this part).

Seven things to know about me:

1. I'm an animal lover and from my childhood on (to my parent's despair) till now, I've always found wounded or sick animals on the street. Well after all, I've been a nurse for 25 years so maybe this was to expect;
2. the little grey sparrows with their round beady eyes are my favourite animals and I'm so sorry we don't see them as much as we used to;
3. one of my aims is to reach the respectable age of 100 as a nice lady without 'forma natura' shoes and blue-coloured hair.
4. which size of handbag I'm carrying; I'm always searching my keys and mobile in it. Maybe a groundplan is the solution?
5. are you familiar with the expression; crying with the wolves? That is soo totally me! As a young child I read a novel about little italian boys sold by their parents to be used as a living sweep. I cried my eyes red and still remember the special part where one of those little ones dies of exhaustion and malnutrition.
6. there is one thing I really don't like, or maybe better: just disgust. Ironing, especially when the weather is warm;
7. I've never been familiar with sports. Swimming; I didn't learn this before I was 15 years old because of ear infections. I'm still swimming as a dog and just manage to keep my head above the surface. Since last spring however, I've discovered the joy of running and now I'm training for the 4 miles run.

The next seven creative bloggers will be nominated:

Anne of Anne's food, a very active blogger with all kind of recipes and information about new products of books. Even a short time after giving birth to her son!

Arden of Arden's kitchen; she always surprises me with not to complicated and delicious recipes. Some of them are my favourite ones.

Chrisie of Almondcorner; I just love her hungarian recipes. The lekvaros bukta is on top of my to do list for the coming fall.

Karen of Bake my day because she always makes me laugh and I'm still grateful for her scheme for making a starter.

Gabriella of Gabriella's creative kitchen; not only delicious cakes and pies but also a variety of hungarian recipes that look sooo tempting.

Maaike van Kessel; I just love the honest and fresh look of her website and her recipes. No fancy widgets just a fine selection of recipes.

Elle of Feeding my enthousiasm; she even has a special link for al breadblog with wonderful breadrecipes.

Potato pesto pie

Sometimes the spontanious ideas for recipes are the best. It's the same with this pie. The mille-feuille dough was bought without any specific aim: just in case of. Maybe as a base for a nice pie with fresh fruit or to be filled with fresh salmon, dille and creme fraiche.

A left over of Opperdoezen (a very special kind and protected dutch potato) and a recipe of a gourmet magazine made me decide something else; a pesto potato pie.


mille-feuille dough, one sheet ready-rolled
goat cheese, crumbled, 100 gr.
peppadews, just a few
pesto verde, two tablespoons
cooked and thinly slices potatoes, 400 gr.
basil leaves
1 egg, beaten
italian herbs

Heat the oven to 180 dgr. C. (356 dgr. F.).

Take the dough and fold the edges to make a border. Spread a thin layer of pesto over the base (not the edges).
Cover it with the slices potato and peppadews.
Spread the crumbled goatcheese over it and season with italian herbs.
Glaze the borders and the potatoes carefully with the egg.

Bake 25- 30 minutes in the oven until golden and crisp. Sprinkle a few basil leaves over it and serve the pie with a nice green salad.

(from Olive; august 2008)

Afsluiting foodblog event van juli: recepten voor een krappe beurs

Dat was het dan weer: een maand gaat snel voorbij en voor je het weet zit je achter je PC voor de afsluiting of de round up. Hartje zomer, komkommertijd, maar toch zijn er nog een paar dappere bloggers die klaar staan met recepten voor een krappe beurs: soms zelfs meer dan één recept!


De eerste en hele snelle reactie kwam van Martijn Verschuur met een heerlijk pastarecept: Pastatino. Heerlijk met een grote bak vol groene salade en een lekker wijntje.


Edith van www.koken.blog.nl kwam met een wel heel originele bijdrage; courgettebloemen, maar zij bedacht ook dat wij meer van een plant kunnen gebruiken dan wij nu doen. Zo kun je van het blad van radijs heerlijke soep maken, van bietenblad een kleurrijke salade en van druivenblad dolma's. Je moet wel even verder 'linken'maar dan vind je deze bijzondere recepten al snel.




Op de Turkse linzensoep van Maaike heeft mijn echtgenoot al meteen een optie genomen. Die zal ik binnenkort wel moeten maken maar dat is geen probleem. Een grote pide erbij van de Turkse toko met een schep harissa en smullen maar.



Silke van de weblog met de mooie naam Pottenkijker heeft er meteen een weekmenu van gemaakt met haar vijf recepten waar een paar echte originele belgische recepten bij zitten.

Echte belgische videe met zelfgemaakte frieten,


tomaatfarci,


echte zelfgemaakte loempia,


provencaalse steak met gepofte aardappelen en courgettekoekjes,



en tenslotte scampi marseillaise,





En zo net, nog even op de valreep, kwam Aranka van Koken in de buurt met een echt low budget recept. Aranka heeft gebruik gemaakt van seizoensgroente en een vriendelijke buurman. Haar aardappels uit de oven met courgette en een heerlijke yoghurt dipsaus passen goed bij de zomer. Helemaal low budget wordt het als je het recept voor de volgende dag maakt van de restjes.


Zo al met al een leuke verzameling aan gevarieerde recepten die niet al te veel geld kosten. Binnenkort verschijnt de engelse vertaling (dit kost mij even wat extra tijd) en dan hoop ik dat wij een bescheiden bijdrage te hebben geleverd aan die mensen die met een krappe beurs toch proberen nog wat lekkers op tafel te zetten.


Als afsluiter kom ik zelf met de koolgehaktschotel uit de oven. In mijn gezin een favoriet die iedere winter regelmatig op tafel verschijnt.


Nu dit event is afgesloten zal ik onder het item; 'krappe beurs' op mijn eigen weblog verder gaan met goedkopen en voedzame recepten.

Tsja, en dan is het vakantie en kun je niemand meer bereiken met de vraag om de event in augustus te organiseren. Zodra ik een enthousiasteling heb gevonden, zal ik dat meteen door middel van een berichtje laten weten.