Tag: cooking at home

a little peanut butter connection…

the other day alegra and i made peanut butter cookies and read some great bedtime books on instagram…

live instagram, facetime, houseparty, zoom… these have all be hugely important tools for us during these times of self-isolation and social distancing.  honestly, if you had told me two months ago i would be doing at least one live video on instagram every day i would have thought that you had lost your mind!

i am actually terribly shy and really pretty self-conscious too; so the idea of being live daily in front of an audience, even a virtual one, would have been something hard for me to believe.

but i have to say that i am enjoying it immensely. i have reconnected with a lot of old friends and their children, students from my lola days have been hugely supportive, and new followers have found us too!

here is the recipe for the cookies, it is a basic peanut butter cookie recipe that is pretty much foolproof… feel free to add in the chocolate chips at the end like alegra did, or use chunky peanut butter instead of smooth. i am thinking about trying almond butter next time to see how that works- i will keep you posted!

ingredients-

  • 1 cup organic peanut butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 large organic egg (or 1 flax egg)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • optional add ins- chocolate chips, raisins, shredded coconut

instructions-

  • preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius
  • line a baking sheet with parchment paper
  • mix all ingredients together- adding in extras if you want
  • form dough into small round balls and place on baking sheet
  • cook for 5 minutes and make cross shapes using the back of a fork
  • cook for another 7-8 minutes depending on how crumbly you like your cookies- (cook shorter for chewier cookies)
  • remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes of baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack

serve with milk or tea for a perfect afternoon snack!!

hummus cocktails and sunday lunches…

sunday lunch has become one of the major highlights of our self-isolation…we get to sit around and chat and just really relax…

the girls all have midday lessons on sunday, i get to take a nice long shower (and actually wash my hair properly!), and erim does his sunday yoga session… and then we have a late, long lunch. no matter how agitated we all seem to be by the time we sit down to eat, by the time lunch is finished we have delved into any number of deeper issues- talked about some hard truths- or made some decisions that might have been unexpected.

this week alegra proposed a little pre-lunch cooking…

our brand new food processor has been hugely inspirational and so once lessons and showers and all the rest were finished we got to work! here are the ingredients and some instructions- our “cocktails” were perfect and we hope yours are too 🙂

ingredients-

  • 1.5 cups boiled chickpeas (save ½ cup water for later)
  • ½ cup tahini
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 4 tablespoons ground cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • a bunch of your favorite dipping veggies-thinly sliced

instructions-

  • blend garlic and lemon juice in food processor- let rest for 3-5 minutes
  • add chickpea and cooking water and blend until creamy
  • add tahini and olive oil and blend well
  • season with cumin, salt and pepper as desired
  • add extra lemon juice, olive oil and tahini to taste (I LOVE a little extra tahini!)
  • place 3 generous scoops of hummus in a wine or cocktail glass
  • garnish with sliced veggies and enjoy!!!