family pictures

Every time we are all together as a family we try to get a family picture. The bigger the family gets, the harder it is to get a good picture of everyone at the same time. Here are some of our more successful attempts...

enjoying the beach with aksel

When we were in Florida for Christmas, we got to spend some time at the beach as well. Both Anders and Aksel enjoyed beach time. This was the first trip to Florida where Aksel was old enough to really enjoy the beach. He loved the sand and water offering lots of smiles and no fear.

wordless wednesday

 

fun with the nephews

We had a great time over Christmas with our nephews, Anders and Aksel. They are at such a fun age - so fun to interact with. I enjoyed continuing to get to know their little personalities. They are so cute and so much fun to play with:) We love them very much!

lots of reading

some serious baking

lots of biking

children's museum

lots of building

fun in west palm beach

milling mondays: homemade falafel

Homemade Falafel

recipe modified from just a taste

Ingredients

2 cups white onion, roughly chopped

6 garlic cloves

1 can (15oz) chickpeas, drained

1 cup fresh parsley

1 cup fresh cilantro

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 + cup whole wheat flour (hard wheat berries)

oil

Directions

In a food processor mince the onion and garlic. 

Remove the onion mixture from the food processor and set aside. 

Add the chickpeas, parsley, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, and salt to the food processor and mix together until roughly chopped.

If you mill your own flour, grind your hard wheat berries. I used my WonderMill on the bread setting. 

Add the flour, baking powder and the onion mixture to the chickpea mixture in the food processor and mix it all together until it begins to come together, but is not sticky. You can add more flour if the mixture is too wet.

Cover the mixture and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

Once the falafel mixture is cold, form the falafel mixture into balls and place them in a skillet with oil on medium heat. Let them brown on each side until cooked through (next time I may try baking them instead for a healthier option).

Once the falafel is done, you can serve them in a pita with a tahini sauce (mix together 1 1/4 cup plain yogurt with 1/4 cup tahini and 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice).

ENJOY!

christmas 2013

I can't believe Christmas was a month ago and I have yet to post any pictures from this trip. We had a lovely Christmas with my family in Florida. I plan to post some more pictures from our time there in the days to come, but here is a sneak peak.

diy thursday: homemade chocolate syrup

 My husband loves chocolate milkshakes. That is his dessert of choice on special occasions. Chocolate syrup is needed to make this lovely treat. In my continual quest to know exactly what is in my/our food and be able to pronounce all of the ingredients, I set out to make my own chocolate syrup and not rely on store bought anymore.  Making this sweet chocolate treat is super easy. As someone who can be a chocolate snob I don't always love store bought chocolate syrup, so my expectations for the homemade were about the same. BUT this chocolate syrup was absolutely yummy ... waaay better than the store bought kind. YUM.


Homemade Chocolate Syrup
recipe from 52kitchenadventures


Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 - 1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions

Stir together the cocoa and sugar in saucepan, getting rid of any big lumps.

Next stir in the water and salt. 

Over medium heat bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.  

Once boiling cook for a couple of minutes until the syrup has thickened.

Let the mixture cool for about 5 minutes before adding the vanilla extract. 

ENJOY!

wordless wednesday

happy birthday sweet brooklyn

this girl turns one today! she is such a happy niece full of smiles and giggles and loves to cuddle.
what a cutie. 

happy first birthday sweet brooklyn. we love you!

milling mondays: sprouted grains

 

i leave you this monday with some pictures of my sprouted grains i sprouted for malt last week.

diy thursday: raw apple sauce

I love apple sauce! Apple sauce is also a great alternative to oil when baking. And since organic apples are a lot cheaper this time of year, I decided to go ahead and turn some of them into apple sauce. 

Homemade Raw Apple Sauce

Ingredients

Apples

Lemon Juice (about 1 Tbsp per 2 apples)

Directions

Cut the apples into smaller pieces. I leave on the peel for added fiber.

Place the the ingredients in the blender.

Blend them together until desired consistency. 

This is great to freeze as well. I freeze smaller portions and use it when I bake .... or just want a yummy treat. 

ENJOY!

wordless wednesday

 

milling mondays: homemade danish wienerbrød - danish pastry

Wienerbrød is a danish specialty. When I visit Denmark I will not leave before I have had at least one piece of freshly baked wienerbrød from the bakery. Wienerbrød comes in many shapes and sizes and can have many different types of fillings. Since wienerbrød isn't as readily available in Phoenix (and most other American cities) then I had to learn how to make this.  Many Americans will describe this type of pastry as a Danish. Unfortunately, the Danishes that you can buy in the States don't taste anything like the real thing ... don't let yourself be fooled (just ask my husband who discovered this tasty pastry for the first time in Denmark a few years ago and will never go back to the American Danish.).



Whole Wheat Danish Wienerbrød
recipe modified from mydanishkitchen



Ingredients

Pastry Dough

225g Whole Wheat flour (75g hard wheat berries and 150g soft wheat berries)
150g unsalted butter, cold and diced
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
60g warm water
58g heavy cream
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, room temperature
25g sugar

Filling
raspberry preserves (or preserves of choice)

Glaze
1/2 egg white
1 Tbsp water
sugar for topping
sliced almonds for topping

Icing
64g powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp warm milk
1/4 tsp almond extract




Directions

If you mill your own flour, grind your soft and hard wheat berries. You may want to grind a little more flour than needed since you will be sifting the flour. I use my WonderMill on the pastry setting.  Sift your flour twice in order to make the pastry less dense. 

Add the flour to a food processor and then add the cut butter. Pulse the flour and butter until it becomes crumbly.

In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

Next stir in the cream, cardamom, salt, eggs, and sugar.

Fold in the flour/butter mixture into the liquid mixture.

Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours (up to 4 days).

Once the dough is cold, roll the dough out on a floured surface into a 16 to 20 inch square.
Fold the dough into thirds, rotate dough a quarter of a turn and fold into thirds again before turning over the dough and repeating the rolling and folding steps another two times (roll/fold a total of 3 times). 

Finally wrap the dough and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes (or overnight). 

Once the dough is chilled, roll the dough into a 9x15 inch rectangle and then spread the filling down the center of the rectangle. 

Then cut slanting strips towards the center along both sides of the rectangle

 

Fold the strips over the filling in a crisscross manner.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Place the pastry onto a baking sheet and let it rise for about 15-30 minutes.

While the pastry is rising, mix together the glaze by beating the egg and water together.

Once the pastry appears puffy, spread the glaze over it before sprinkling with sugar and almonds.

Bake the pastry for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

When you are ready to serve the pastry, mix together the icing. Then drizzle it on top of the pastry.

ENJOY

Wienerbrød is tasty with a good cup of coffee. YUMMMMMMM.