FAVA BEEN PROTEIN GRANOLA

Alright, don't let the protein -headline scare you away! We are not talking body builder or trendy carb-loathing granola here, but a yummy one with a perhaps somewhat surprising content; fava beans.

This granola is made of organic products that have all grown on our farm. Truly homemade! The recipe was developed by one of the local guys over here who has made lots of breads from our grains and seeds as well. 

Fava beans (bondböna, härkäpapu) have been cultivated in Finland as early as in the 1000th century, and is now making a comeback. It is a good domestic alternative to chick peas or soya beans, as it is rich in proteins.

You will need:
200grams (about 2 dl) fava beans
5 dl oats
approx.1 dl honey

For a vegan version switch the honey to maple syrup! Adjusts the sweetness to your own taste.

Mash the fava beans in a mixer or food processor so that they are crushed into smaller pieces. Let them soak in water for about two hours. The skin of the beans that rises to the surface can be removed. Change the water then cook for about 20 min.

Let the water dry off a bit in a drainer, and put them out on a baking paper on a tray together with the oats. Pour over honey and blend well. Put in the oven preheated to 200C and roast.

You need to take the granola out and give it a mix a few times, so it is roasted evenly. The granola is ready when it has reached a nice dark golden colour and seems "crunchy".

Store in an air tight jar.

You can choose to add flax, pumpkin or sunflower seeds or dried berries as well.

I like my granola with berries on top of porridge (here with lingonberries and hazelnut milk. Plus some mulberries and almond butter and other stuff. Pretentious as hell, I know.), but most of all mixed with kefir!

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FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW

Wearing warm and yellow. That's nice when it's grey and cold outside.

Put together a jar of home made granola from products grown on the farm only.

Our kitchen is full of new herbs and extra plants that the crew left behind after shooting a commercial here last week.

And now it's time to study some more pilates! Have an instructor camp and test coming up next week. (And you know, if you want to come to my classes you can do so Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings at out studio!...that still does not have it's website up and running properly yet. Uaaaa!)

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SUNDAY BAKING: QUICK VEGAN BANANA CHOCOLATE CAKE

I run one of those households that often (or well, always) ends up with a banana or two turned so ripe they're too yucky to eat. But they can happily go in a cake!

So today we decided to bake one with Dag; a quick banana based chocolate cake that is - for being a cake, -not too unhealhty. Kids can easily participate here as things like getting to mash banana is fun and easy to do, and with a big enough bowl not necessarily even that messy.

It's a cake easily altered, for example, I add some more spices to this during the colder season.

You will need:
3 ripe banans
around 50g of dried dates + a hint of water
1dl coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1-1,5 dl cocoa
3 dl spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 dl oil  - I use coconut oil
(+ a dash of cinnamon)

Now, to make the easy things hard, or at least a bit more confusing for you: I have made this with four small bananas and with just two bananas and both versions work as well. The more banans the less dates you need, so when I had four banana-nanas I used just five dates. Also adjut the amount of cocoa powder to your own taste; 1,5 dl of cocoa makes the  rather dark and strong so you can go with less if that suits you better. I have also made this without the soda and it turned out fine. I you don't care about it being vegan or not you will get a nice cake by using butter instead of oil too (and you can of course toss in an egg for more fluffyness but then again that is already another cake). For more spices try some ginger and clover and perhaps a little cardamom.

First,  pre-heat the oven to 200c. Chop the dates and put them in a pan with a hint of water so it covers the dates, and heat up. Let it boil for a little while so you get a sticky paste. Add a little water if needed so the dates don't burn.

Mash the bananas with a fork or a masher. Add the sugar and cocoa, then the date-mass, then flour and finally the oil (in a runny state). Put in a greased cake mold (or fold it with baking paper).

I don't think the batter on this one is very good raw (which is a good thing, because that means more cake later) but Dag was eager to lick the bowl.

Bake for 35-50 minutes in 200C, depending on your oven and the size of your mold. Try it with a stick and take out to cool.

You can eat this warm, as it is or with ice cream. I prefer it after a day or two in the fridge.
Pimp it up with salted peanuts (no that's not crazy!), jam or with a bunch of cherries and some chocolate coconut cream  frosting!

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RHUBARB CHUTNEY

Rhubarb season is coming to an end over here, but as it has been colder than usually (have I said this already here? How many times now? I feel betrayed by my summer!) you can still collect and make use of the stems, especially for jams and such, as it does not matter if they have turned a little more blah and bitter in their taste when cooked with sugar and such.

Although rhubarb actually is a vegetable, it is pretty much solely used for sweet dishes over here.
But it makes a great chutney for salty treats as well! It's a perfect addition to the bbq dinner. It's really good.

It should be really good with meat; I've had mine with tofu and grilled halloumi for example, but also as an addition to nachos and salsa.

You will need:
500g rhubarb
1 (yellow) onion
2 big cloves of garlic
1 chili fruit
about 0,75 dl honey
2 tbs red wine vinegar
a pinch of salt
1-2 tsp fresh ginger
a little turmeric

(A little embarrassing that we have our own honey but it's not pictured here... there is an old saying here that the shoemaker's kids have no shoes. And we've run out of it actually, so I had to buy some.)


Clean and peel the rhubarb, chop that with the onion, garlic and chili into pieces. Put in a pot together with the honey and vinegar and salt and let it boil together for about 20 minutes into a thick chutney.

Add the ginger and turmeric and pour into a hot cleaned jar.

I want to fill more jars so I double the recipe. I can also recommend to chop some rhubarb and put in your freezer, take it out and make this in winter to spice your dinner up on cold days! Because most likely your summer batch will be finished before the leaves fall off.

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AND SO IT WAS SUMMER

Summer had suitable started while I was away so I arrived home to apple blossoms and happy cowns out again after the winter.  Goodbye May and Hello June!

(It also turned out to be the first June in over 50 years when the temperature two weeks in had still not reached over +20 (and even sadly stayed way under), so it has been more jackets and less sumer sandals still..)

Brought my stuff over to the farm and had a couple of days off together with my little soon-to-be-three-years-old-fella.

I made him (oven baked) pancake the first day. That is his absolute favourite. And that little kid can eat pancake I tell you. Several plates!

Picked rhubarb with my eager little helper.


Made, among other things, rhubarb punch. When you make it by soaking and not by cooking you end upwith a beautiful strong pink liquid. I just let unpeeled bits of rhubarbs soak for three days with lemon and a little sugar, then strain and heat up the juice with some more sugar and bring it to a boil (so that the recently added sugar dissolves) and then bottle it.

Summer is so easy! You jsut go out and pick up things from the ground to eat. I made a salad of ground eldre, chives and dandelion leaves from the garden.

And here are some more pictures of the now already faded apple blossom just because.

And an apple tree cat to end this one:

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