Banana Courgette Curry

 

This is one of our favourite curry dishes.

I read about it in a book a few years ago

(I think, 2 girls who lived in Munich were getting it as a take away),

and even though I found the combination of banana and courgette a bit quirky

but am a rather nosy person,

I started to play around with ingredients

and after a few trials, this is the way I am cooking the curry now.

It's fruity and creamy,

sweet and sour,

spicy and flavoursome.

JUST GOOD!

And prepared in a very short time.

 

You need:

3 bananas

2 medium sized courgettes

1 onion

150g sour cream

50 - 100ml water

juice of 1/2 lemon

coconut oil (or any other frying oil)

curry powder

brown sugar

salt

 

 

Chop the bananas into disks, about 5mm thick.

Cube the courgettes.

Cut the onion into small cubes.

 

Heat frying oil in a pan until very hot.

Place the banana slices into the pan, reduce the heat to medium and

carefully fry the banana slices from both sides until slightly browned.

 

 

Take them out of the pan and set aside.

 

 

Put the courgette cubes and onions into the pan,

add a generous amount of curry powder

(mild, medium or hot... that's up to youself)

and fry from all sides by stirring regularly

 for about 10 minutes.

 

 

In the meanwhile,

mix the sour cream, 2 tbsp brown sugar,

lemon juice and salt.

If you like, you can add some dried or fresh

coriander leaves, too.

 

When the courgettes and onions are cooked,

add the bananas to reheat them.

 

Reduce the heat and stir in the sour cream mixture.

Be careful NOT to bring the curry to the boil

as it might curdle.

 

If the sauce is getting too thick,

carefully add water until you like the consistency.

Taste and season with salt, sugar or more curry powder if necessary.

 

Serve with rice.

Or Naan.

Eat.

 

 

Trust me,

it's GOOD!

 

Lena

But... We LOVE grapes!!!

Klara invited a friend to play.

A lovely girl, I have to add.

And the two are really enjoying each other's company.

I gave them biscuits, drinks and a bowl of grapes.

And they play and run around and chat.

The little boy had just had his nap and is happy.

He sits in the sand pit. Diggin' away.

 

I took out my laptop to work on the holiday photos again.

While the little people don't seem to need my attention.

 

And I found the bowl of grapes on the garden table.

Not even been TOUCHED.

The girls totally ignored the now not very cold and crisp any more

 but rather warm and sticky little things.

As they have been left outside

in the sun

for about 3 hours.

Yes, I had GREAT plans to eat them myself now.

Because I don't want to dump them.

 

And here I sit.

With my laptop.

THINKING I would have a few minutes

to just do some mammy stuff.

Uninterrupted.

But the kids realised that I have THEIR grapes now.

And NOW they want them.

And they come up to me every 20 seconds.

To grab a grape out of the bowl.

And to tell me very important things.

Like

"I like your house!"

(I don't.)

"Look mammy, E. is wearing my bikini!"

(I  bloody saw that.)

"The dog wags his tail!"

(NO WAY!!!)

"My mammy has a laptop, too."

(Do you let her use it at home, though?)

"What does daddy do with the lawn mower, mammy?"

(He'll take the petrol out of it to burn the lawns.

WHAT DO YOU THINK HE COULD BE DOING WITH THE FLIPPIN' LAWN MOWER!??")

"Look at Alfie! He SITS!"

(Oh.)

"Look at the dog! She EATS!"

(Clever pet.)

"Gurglebrlbrlbrlmaamaaaa!"

(Go back into your sand pit, little rascal!)

"We're HUNGRY!!!"

(Well.... you are eating MY grapes! For Christ's sake!!!)

 

Me gives up.

They can have them.

Little monkeys.

 

And I'll bring the laptop back inside.

Before I'm going to loose my sanity.

 

 

There's a bottle of fermented grapes waiting for me in the fridge.

I'll have them tonight.

When the little people sleep.

 

THE END.

 

 

 

 

 



Egg and Spinach Fritters

I love spinach.

So does Gerd.

Klara refuses to eat it.

Every time there's spinach for dinner,

she pulls a face as if I wanted her

to eat a decayed rat.

Alfie had no opinion of spinach at all.

We only presumed he wouldn't like it.

He is the picky one in the family.

As picky as can be.

Spinach is fuzzy fibrous.

Spinach is green.

And spinach doesn't taste like vanilla ice cream.

Therefore, we didn't give it to the little gourmet,
thinking he'd throw it around the place anyway.
He prove us wrong!

He LOVED them!
And while he gobbled down fritter after fritter,
his sister pulled a face.
As if Alfie was eating a decayed rat.
With mouldy worms.
She was disgusted.

But HEY!
They ARE nice, the little fritters.
And easy to make.
And... TADAAA!!!... Healthy!

Here's the recipe for you:

You need
300g frozen spinach
4-5 eggs
100g cottage cheese
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
ground nutmeg
salt
pepper
olive oil


Defrost the spinach, squeeze out any excess liquid and chop thoroughly.
Cut the onion into small cubes.
Chop or crush the garlic.

Mix spinach, onion cubes, garlic, eggs and cottage cheese.
Season generously with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Over medium-high heat,
fry in small batches in olive oil until cooked through.

Enjoy hot or cold.
I don't know if you can fry and defrost them.
We ate them before I could find out.

 

I had them with some salad and Spanish goat's cheese.

 

Njummy!

 

Lena

Wholemeal Breakfast Pancakes

Who doesn't like pancakes for breakfast?

 I think everybody does.

And so do we.

But because Klara shouldn't have 

a lot of plain wheat in her diet

and because I try to feed my beloved ones

with rather healthy food than junk

I made pancakes from wholemeal spelt flour 

this morning. 

And everyone loved them.

Here's the recipe:

- 150g wholemeal spelt flour

(I used Odlums, bought at Tesco)

- 1 tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp salt

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

- 200ml milk

- 1 large egg.

- 2 tbsps melted butter or coconut oil, slightly cooled

-butter or coconut oil for frying

To serve:

- Maple syrup

- Nut Butter

-Fresh Fruit and Cream Cheese

-Jam, Chocolate Spread, Golden Syrup, Lemon Curd...

Sieve the flour and the baking powder,

add sugar and salt.

In a seperate bowl, beat the egg

and mix with the milk.

Add eggmilk and butter/oil to the flour and whisk.

Let stand for a few minutes.

Fry from both sides in a frying pan with a little butter or coconut oil until golden brown.

Now.
This is my favourite topping.
It's quite far away from being healthy.
So maybe you don't want to tell your kids
and eat this when they're in bed.
Or at school.
Or you tell them it's something only adults can have.
Like whisky or Guinness.
I don't know if that would work, though.
Anyway:
It's crunchy peanut butter,
chocolate spread
and Golden Syrup.
We call them "Snickers Pancakes".
Try this!!!

Lena

From a Toddler's Perspective

I took the camera out in the garden and laid myself flat on the grass to take some photos in another way than usual.

I like the result a lot.

The Swing.

The Sandpit.

T

The Toys.

The Lawns.

The Animals.

The Boy.

The Trampoline.

Try this yourself! Find out how a mini-human sees the world.

It's fun!


Lena



Hello from Germany!

The kids and I are currently visiting

our family in Germany.

And we're having a lovely time!

Klara and Alfie have been just SO good at

Dublin Airport and during the flight.

Yes, I was quite surprised myself.

We've spent the first 2 days in Cologne

with my sister Kicki and Ralf,

 my brother-in-law-to-be.

It was sooooo hot. 

But wonderful!

We bathed in the River Rhine.

We got to know "Espresso de Luxe",

Kicki's new pet.

And Klara test-drove it.

There was a pet farm...

...and fun time in a pretty little park.

We stayed up late 

as it was too hot to sleep

before 11pm.

We splashed with buckets of water

on the balcony.

We had some ice-cold beer

and German fast food.

And we realised,

how childfriendly Ireland is

compare to Germany.

Enjoy your summer!

Lena

Fresh Cheese Strawberry Tart

Make a sweet short crust pastry dough.

I used THIS RECIPE and it turned out very well.

Roll it out and put it into a greased, round baking tin.

Bake in the oven until its edges slightly browned.

For me, it took about 20mins at 160 degrees Celsius

in the Fan assisted oven.

Let it cool on a rack.

In a small bowl,

mix 3tbsp cream cheese with

3tbsp fromage frais.

Add a tiny bit of Vanilla Powder

or any other vanilla flavouring you like.

And if you have a sweet tooth

add some sugar.

Wash a punnet of strawberries,

cut off the green bits

and slice or cube or chop them.

Whatever you like best.

Spread the cream cheese mix onto the baked, cooled tart base.

Toss the strawberries on top.

Slice.

Eat immediately.

Enjoy!

Lena