I Promise You

This is probably the healthiest recipe I ever posted!  I have made these Granola Bars many times, and I should share this with you sooner.  I usually bake my home made granola bars when I have trail walks with my fellow walkers. Our trail walks are usually about 13-15km and these are good to fill the hungry walkers' stomach along the way.

Granola bars can be easily baked at home. Made with no added sugar and using only natural raw ingredients, they are a good meal replacement for dieters, and a nutritious snack for growing teens. You can also add milk and eat them like your morning cereal.


Granola Bars
makes about 18-20 bars

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped nuts (any nuts you fancy)
1 cup shredded coconuts

Toast the above in 180C oven for 10 minutes.

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/1/2 cup dried fruits (apricots, cranberries,raisins)

Add these into the hot toasted oats, nuts and coconuts. Stir and mix. Press into a 9" x 11" brownie tray. Press and pack as tightly as possible. Bake in 175C for 20-25 mins. Leave to cool completely before cutting into bars.
Store bars in freezer to keep them crisp.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14

Any serious lemon lovers out there would have baked or eaten a lemon bar once in their lives.
Add a little sunshine in your kitchen today by baking these all natural lemon bars. Bake, share(lemon bars and God's word) and let the sun and son(Jesus) shines. Watch them eat(lemon bars and God's word) and you will feel blessed you have shared. These are good for the body(vitamins only) and soul(God's word).

 Pardon the uneven slices, I was in a hurry to cut and photograph before rushing out to share these lemon bars with friends. All liked them very much.

The base is specially delicious with the added almond meal.  The crunchy texture contrast with the lusciously soft curd.  I would not describe the curd as sour but zingy and zesty.

Heavenly Lemon Bars with Almond Shortbread Crust
Recipe from The Kitchn

For the crust

1 stick(113g) unsalted butter, softened and cut into chunks
1/2 cup powdered sugar(icing sugar)
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup almond meal
1/2 tsp salt

For the lemon curd

4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
zest from 5 to 6 lemons
3/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick(113g) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
Powdered sugar for dusting



Method

• Heat the oven to 350F with a rack in the middle position. Line an 8"x 8" baking  dish with parchment, letting the excess parchment hang over the sides of the pan.
• First, prepared the shortbread crust. Beat together the butter and powdered sugar in a stand mixer on medium high speed until they are completely combined, turn pale yellow, and resemble creamy frosting.Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed while mixing.
• Add the flour, almond flour, and salt to the bowl. Beat on low speed just until all the flour is incorporated and the mixture comes together into a dough. The dough will seem fairly crumbly,but should hold together when squished in your hand.
• Press the dough into the baking dish.Use the bottom of a cup to make sure the layer is as compacted as possible and in an even layer. Prick with a fork all over. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges of the shortbread turn golden brown.
• While the shortbread crust is baking, prepare the lemon curd. Whisk together the eggs, yolks, and sugar in a small saucepan, then whisk in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt to form a smooth, liquidy mixture. Set a small strainer over a mixing bowl and place next to the stove.
• Place the pan with the lemon mixture over medium heat. Stir, gently but continuously, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and registers about 155F on an instant read thermometer. This should take 8-10 minutes. Be sure to scrape the bottom and edges of the pan as your stir. If you notice the mixture starting to coagulate and clump up, immediately remove the pan from heat.
• Strain the lemon curd into the bowl, removing the zest and any clumps from the curd. While the curd is still warm, stir in the butter.Stir until the butter is completely melted.
• When the shortbread crust is ready, remove it from the oven and pour the curd over top. Bake at 350 F until the edges of the curd are set, but the middle is still jiggly, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Cool completely  on the counter, and then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

I am linking this post to Bake Along 'Lemon Bars' with Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Lena from
Her Frozen Wings and Joyce  from Kitchen Flavours

He dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. 2 Samuel 23:4

But When You Give To The Needy

This is so delicious that I'm going to cook it again. Before I do so, I better have the recipe up.
A very robust dish but with delicate flavours. Simple ingredients and straight forward cooking. The star is Guinness Stout but I have never tried drinking stout.  Not even a sip from the leftover.

Creamy potato mash is the best complement to this dish. Unlike tomato based stews, this doesn't go with well with rice.

This is cooked with Campbell's real beef stock commonly sold at supermarkets everywhere. This stew is always better made one day in advance.


Beef and Guinness Stew
Guinness Storehouse
Ingredients

200ml of Guinness foreign Extra Stout
400g stewing diced beef, I used beef shin
1 medium onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 large celery, diced
1 large parsnip, diced
1 litre of thick beef stock
sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary

Method

• Stir fry the beef, add the vegetables and cook until tender, then pour the Guinness and reduce by half. Add the beef stock and herbs and simmer very slowly for between an hour and an hour and a half. Serve with the champ potato and honey roast carrot and parsnip.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:3-5

In The Time of those Kings

They look like croissants, don't they? They do taste like croissants but they don't have the texture of a croissant. These are my quick croissants which I have baked for the first time for the Bake Along theme.

I know it is not easy to produce light, buttery crisp type of croissants at home. In fact, I do have a recipe which I think is doable if I have more practices. I will post it here if I can achieve it. Meanwhile, here is the quick version which is not too bad if eaten with jam. It has all the buttery taste minus the tender crisp. There is no melt on the tongue texture. The interior has layers but dense and doughy.  If you're not fussy, I think this is passable. I had worse croissants in a remote international hotel somewhere in China

Quick Croissants
Makes 8 big croissants or 15 mini ones
Homecooking adventure


250g strong breaed flour
150g cold unsalted butter, cubed
120ml lukewarm milk
45g sugar
7g active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
egg wash
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk


Method

• Place yeast in a bowl. Add sugar and milk. Set aside to cool completely

• Combine flour and salt into a large bowl. Add butter and using a fork combine until big crumbles form.

• Add the yeast/milk mixture and gently combine until the dough just comes together. The butter needs to remain in pea-sized pieces. Wrap it with plastic, knead slowly to form a square and freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate for a couple of hours.

• Dust with flour your work surface and your rolling pin and start rolling the dough into a rectangular roughly two  to three times as long as it is wide.The dough is pretty hard to work with at the beginning but will come together while rolling and folding.

• Fold the short sides of the dough into the middle. Rotate the dough by a quarter turn. Roll out slightly to lengthen. Fold the short ends towards the middle.

• Flip the dough over so the seams are underneath. Repeat the rolling and folding process steps three more times, giving the dough a total of four times of rolling and folding.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours or better overnight.

• On a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a rectangular of 16 inches x 10 inches. Cut the dough into triangles, it will make about 8 triangles.

• Score a small slit in the centre of each triangle base, gently stretch the corners and tip, then roll the croissant starting from the wide up to the top giving them the croissant shape.

• Place the croissants with tip side down onto a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2-3 hours at room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 230C. Brush the croissants with egg wash.
• Bake for 8 minutes than reduce the oven to 190C and bake for another 10-15 minutes until deep golden brown.
• Cool on wire rack before serving.

This post is linked to Bake Along hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Lena from

Her Frozen Wings and Joyce from Kitchen Flavours.

In the time of those kings, the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. Daniel 2:44

In My Vision

I am writing this because I don't want to lose the recipe of this lovely banana cake. This was shared to me by a relative. The recipe is from Mary Gomes, a cook book author and cafe owner.

There are many banana cake recipes but I just love this one. This banana cake is also baked by my new helper who bought and paid for the all the ingredients used. She wants to bake a cake to share with her countrymen at a church fellowship and insists on paying for the ingredients. She is really such sweet girl and I am blessed to have her in the house.

I like the light and fluffy texture of  this cake and would not substitute evaporated milk for fresh milk even if I have to go to the store and get a can. There is a subtle difference in taste even though 4 tablespoons is needed. Rum is also not to be missed, and brandy can be used too in place of rum.



Banana Cake

450g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
7 Del Monte bananas

Method

• Sift four with baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Peel and mash bananas.
• Grease a 30 cm or 11 inch square baking tin. Preheat oven to 150C.

360g butter

360g fine sugar (350g)

1 tablespoon rum

4 eggs

4 tablespoons evaporated milk

Method

• Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add rum.
• Add eggs one at a time, mixing each time till batter is well mixed.
• Fold in sifted flour a little at a time.
• Add mashed bananas and mix well. Add milk.
• Pour batter into a greased baking tin. Bake in preheated oven at 150C for 1 1/4 hours till cake is done. Test with a skewer.

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. Daniel 7:13