Musli batoniņi / Musli bars

How I "wasted" expensive musli, but there are lessons learned (recepte zemāk būs latviski). These musli bars are part of my 2015 foodie resolutions, and I'm happy to report that

this recipe checks two resolution boxes: both my "one new sweet thing a month" and "utilize all food".

One of the food items that I regularly throw out is egg white that I have left over after using the yolk. So I had this one musli bar recipe set aside for quite a while because it called for egg whites. I have now tried this recipe, and my conclusion is this: musli bars is not my thing.

 

I would have been so happy to eat this expensive, GI (glycemic index)-smart musli with milk, and I would have been so happy to eat a fig or two with my coffee. But in bar form, this snack was neither here nor there for me. I wanted the bars to taste much sweeter. Dip them in dark chocolate, perhaps?

Bottom line: I love this musli as a treat, I just won't put it in bar form. But I am glad I tried this recipe. Now the recipe in Latvian, and after that some conclusions in English again.

 

Sastāvdaļas:

7 dl (1dl = 100ml) musli (Risenta GI-gudrais muslis ar godži ogām, ķirbju un saulespuķu sēklām, kinoa un griķu pārslām)

12 žāvētas vīģes (apm. 250gr = 1 paciņa)

2 tējk. medus

1 ēd.kar. kanēļa (man bija par daudz, liktu mazāk)

4 olu baltumi

3 ēd.kar. sezama sēklu

 

Darba secība:

Uzsilda cepeškrāsni uz 125C. Sagatavo cepamo plāti ar cepampapīru (es izsmērēju arī ar sviestu, nezinu, vai vajadzēja). Ja muslī ir mandeles vai citi rieksti, nedaudz sasmalcina.

Sasmalcina vīģes, lai būtu diezgan lipīga masa ar vīģu gabaliņiem. Bļodā nedaudz sakuļ olbaltumus, tad maisa kopā visas sastāvdaļas, lai būtu lipīga mīkla.

Uz plāts veido divus kukuļus, lipina kopā, lai sanāk apmēram šādi:

Liek cepties krāsns viducī uz 20 min.

Atdzisušus sagriež gabalos un uzglabā ledusskapī slēgtā traukā.

 

Notes:

Recepte ir no paciņas, no Risenta GI-smart musli.

 

The awesome thing is that one of the egg-whites that I used was over a week, maybe two weeks, old. I am "thorough with hygiene" (such a Swedish saying :), "noga med hygien") when I save the egg-whites, so now I have learned that a chilled egg-white can keep in the fridge for quite a while (do the sniff test, of course, and use common sense).

 

Click here for my 2015 foodie resolutions.

 

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On the road again

One of the best things in life has got to be trains. "Train I ride, sixteen coaches long (...) Train, train, coming round, round the bend." I think of this song almost every day now, and I'd really like to know

where my Elvis records are.
I get a thrill pretty much every single time I get to ride this train, I do.

Have a good day, everyone!

Thank you for stopping by Pieliekamais!

Ko es iemaaciijos par hiacinteem

Man tik ljoti gribejas tadu milzigu bunti hiacinshu. Lai buutu kaa pie florista, kaa filmaas, vai kaadaa greznaa veikalaa. Nevis vienu, vai triis ziedus, bet bunti. Istenoju savu sapni, un luuk, ko es iemacijos:

1. Nekad nebiju redzejusi, ka hiacintes pardod ar vel gandriz visu siipola dalju intact pie kaata. Nezinaaju, ko ar to dariit, taapec nogriezu, varbuut taa bija kljuuda.

2. Sajuuta, katru reizi uz savu hiacinshu bunti paskatoties, pirmo dienu bija vienkarshi nezisakams prieks un laime. Apsedos uz sava mazaa kebliisha un kusu no laimes un prieka par taadu skaistumu.

3. Tachu pec pirmas dienas maajaas hiacintes saaka ljoti smarzhot. Taa, ka atverot majas durvis, mani sagaidiija milziiga medus smarzha, ari tad, kad biju nolikusi vaazi vistalakajaa sturi citaa istabaa un aiztaisijusi durvis. 

4. No hiacinshu kaatiem uudenii bija smiltis, un uudens nedaudz sadulkojaas. Gribeju to nomainiit, un uudens nomainiishanas procesaa rezultaataa notika tieshi taapat, kaa man vienmer notiek ar tulpeem - ziedi pec tam saak sashljukt paari vaazes malaam. Nav vairs tie tikko grieztie, aukstie, skaistie zaldaatinji, kas kaartiigi staav vaazee rindaa.

5. Hiacinshu ziedi pec nepilnas nedelas saka zaudeet kraasu, palikt gaishi, gaishi zili, gandriiz balti (no kausa viducha uz zieda malaam).

6. For the record, es nopirku 10 hiacintes par 120 kronaam (apm.12 eiro), un shajaa vaazee ir devinjas. Skaitliski man pietika, bija kaa filmaas un zhurnalos, un kaa pukju veikalos :).

Secinajums: kad gribeshu ziedus for stunning visual (or photographic) impact, I will definitely know what to do with hyacinths. Bet savam priekam pirkshu tulpes, kuraam ir maiga, zalja, laimiiga smarzha.

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Warm red beet salad with wheat berries

This red beet salad is part of my foodie resolution plan for 2015-  to respect and use up all food. Secretly I love it that this salad turned out so beautiful and fancy-looking (two people asked whether those were pomegranate seeds in the salad), and even fancy-sounding,

when all I tried to do was use up a bag of red beets that were about to wilt in the fridge.

This is what I did: I cooked the beets (unpeeled), and then the beets sat in the fridge for two days and nothing happened. I decided to fry up the beets (peeled) in some rapeseed oil (similar to canola oil, I think). I chose rapeseed oil over olive oil for the nuttier, richer taste of the former.

If you've ever eaten just fried up red beets, you'll know that it is not a very filling meal in itself. So I started looking for some carbs, and found a can of wheat berries. Canned wheat berries is one of my best culinary finds of last year. I drained and rinsed the wheat berries and added them to the pan, and lowered the heat. 

Then I remembered that I have a tetra of cooked big white beans, so in they went. And since one of the food items that I often throw out is wilted herbs, I decided to go ahead and chop up the whole package of dill that was sitting in the fridge.

I added a little lemon juice, and the final pieces of blue cheese that were also drying up in the fridge, and this turned  out to be one of the loveliest, and prettiest dishes of this year so far. It was also very filling.

There you have it! Now go look in your fridge/freezer/pantry to see what you can create today. And deciding that you'll make do with what you have at home, so no need to venture out to the store today, isn't that one of the neatest feelings ever?

Cozy weekend, everyone! It's snowing and so beautiful outside.

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My 3 Foodie New Year's Resolutions for 2015

Here are my foodie New Year's resolutions for this year:

1. Utilize all food. What this really means is "stop throwing food away". A very popular statistic in Sweden states that every fourth bag of groceries gets thrown out. I'd like to hope that I am not that bad, but I do let some food go to waste. So the idea is to use up everything. I have a few specific ideas of how I'm going to do that. Below is a recent utilization attempt:

I had some button mushrooms that had almost started to wilt/mold in the fridge that I fried up in butter. I added some cooked carrots and chicken fillets left over from rosols (Latvian potato salad). I mixed in some cooked pasta with a feta-cheese like mix, and some sauteed fennel. And I also added some leftover salmon. This mix of "leftovers" was SO good, and so filling.

2. Make one new salty and one new sweet recipe each month.

By new I mean really take a new recipe and follow through. Perhaps a chance to crack open those cookbooks I've bought, but haven't really used.

3. Most importantly, have fun in the kitchen! I love the picture below:

I'd love to learn how to knock out "gourmet"-sounding dishes like chicken cordon bleu and the like, but most of all I would like to have this much fun in the kitchen.

Photo source: buzzfeed

We're going to have quarterly updates on these goals, so if you'd like to do this project with me (any one of the three goals, or all of them), the goal is to have the first update at the end of March.

So summarize: respect food, innovation, and fun!

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In 2015, be you!

What would happen if we threw out (gave away, recycled, let go of) everything that just isn't quite right anymore?

What if we got rid of the items of clothing that make us die a little inside every time we put them on? What if we got rid of that feeling of self-neglect that pops in there for just a mili-second as you notice that you still haven't sewed on the broken hook of the jacket that you wear every day?
I'm not saying get rid of everything. But what I do crave is more order, more purpose, more intention, less auto-pilot.
In that vein, who's with me on writing foodie New Year's resolutions?

It's the first day of a brand new year today. In 2015, be you!

Be the person who photographs a dead snake to learn what kind it was, and the kind of person who regrets not bringing home the skull of a deer found in the woods. Be the person who loves fashion. Be the person who loves to eat. Be the person who gets excited by "odd" things (who gets to decide what's odd, anyway?).

Be proud. Like what you like. In 2015, be you!

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