Where to find products or ingredients

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Readers' Recipes 

 TARA'S MUESLI RECIPE

I zest and juice a lemon and orange, then add some
yoghurt I make my own with Easiyo, but natural live yoghurt would be
fine, then I add in some raisins or any other dried friut that you
like, finally I add in some porridge or rolled oats until the mixture
looks right, not too sloppy but not too dry either. Then I leave that
in the fridge overnight and in the morning I raid the fruit bowl and
chop that up and add that. Apples, banannas, any berries, grapes,
although when I have grapes I miss out the raisins. That's it! Eat
and enjoy! You can add seeds or nuts if you wish, also you may want
to sweeten it I liked Joannes idea of pureeing dates I might try that.

This bread is very yummy, very easy to make and very economical.
Please don't be put off by the kneading it only takes about 10-20
minutes (depending on the types of flour I use) and if you've never
kneaded before, you'll catch on really fast. The key to kneading is
what you're aiming for - dough that is not sticky, that is elasticy
and stretchy and smooth.

(This was given to me by a Swedish friend, so slightly unusual
measuring for the flour.)

I vary the flours that I put in, but our favourite is 1 litre of
strong wholewheat, 1/2 litre of strong white, and 1/2 litre
barleycorn or malthouse (this is quite grainy). I also add rye
sometimes. But any mix is good, even just all strong white or 1/2
white 1/2 brown. The only thing it changes is the kneading time. I
also like to add seeds, nuts, raisins, or dried cranberries(YUM), or
olives, sunblush tomatoes - you name it!

It also lasts for ages - at least a week, without going mouldy, and
makes 3 loaves.

2 litres strong bread flour (about 1200g)
1 pkt dried instant yeast
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar
750 mls warm water
3 tbsp olive oil

Mix all the dried goods together in a large mixing bowl.
Mix the oil into the water.
Make a well in the centre of dried ingredients, add the water/oil mix
and stir it in (but don't be too fussy about getting it well mixed).
Leave covered with a tea-towel in a warmish place for 20-30 min.
Then you can knead it 10-20 minutes until smooth, stretchy and
elastic, all the while shaking strong white flour over if it's too
sticky.
Grease the 3 bread pans with olive oil, divide the dough into 3 and
leave in pans, covered with a tea-towel for 3-8hrs, (the longer, the
better).
Bake at 190c for 30 minutes.


If you forget about the bread and it rises for so long that it then
collapses, (have done this a few times!!), take each dough out of
each pan, knead some more, then let it rise for another 3 hours, and
it should be okay. Just check the pans that you don't need to re-
grease them.

It freezes well, too.

 TARA'S MUFFIN RECIPES

Here are two muffin recipes we use, the first one is more bready, we
toast them. I usually make a big batch of them, then freeze them, and
take them out as I need them.

350ml hand hot milk
450g strong flour, I use 50/50 white/wholemeal
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp yeast

ground rice or rice flour for dusting

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the milk and oil,
gradually bringing it all together.

Need the dough for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elasticy.
Leave to rise for about 1 hour.

Then knock back gently, and roll out to 1cm thick. Cut out rounds
with a pastry cutter, and place on a dusted baking sheet. Re- roll
until all the dough is used up. Don't roll too thinly though.

Dust the tops with the ground rice, cover with oiled clingfilm and
set aside in a warm place for 20 minutes or so. I have left them for
1 or two hours and they've been fine.

Lightly oil a griddle pan, you could use a frying pan, but the key
thing is to not use too much oil. Cook the muffins for about 5-6
minutes on each side.

The dough could be made the night before and let the dough rise in
the fridge overnight and then all you have to do is roll out and let
it rise again before cooking. Or if you have a breadmaker, get the
machine to make the dough then all you have is the stamping out to do.

This is a recipe for Apple and Carrot Muffins.

These are the more cakey muffins, they go down a treat with my 6yo.
He thinks it's his birthday when he gets these!

150g plain flour (wholemeal or white)
50g sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
45g dried skimmed milk powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
t/4 tsp ginger
125 ml veg oil
60ml honey
60ml maply syrup
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 large apple, peeled and grated
1 carrot grated
hand full raisins

I've tried to copy the recipe book, but in truth when I make them the
quantities are not that accurate and if I'm missing something I
either substitute or leave it out.

Pre-heat oven to 180 C 350 F Gas 4.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In seperate bowl combine
wet ingredients, beat lightly with wire whisk until blended, add the
grated apple, carrot, and raisins to the liquid and stir well. Fold
in the dry ingredients until just combined, don't overmix or it all
becomes to heavy.

Line a muffin tin with paper cups and fill the muffin cups 2/3 full
bake for 20 -25 minutes, if using fairy cake cases bake for about 15
minutes. These freeze well. Again I bake a batch and then freeze them
and take out a few as needed. I would really struggle without my
freezer!

TARA'S FLAT BREAD RECIPE

Here's a recipe for flat breads, I think these are the ultimate fast
food.

These make 8 tortillas, so multiply as you need.

250g plain flour (wholemeal or plain)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
warm water 150ml

Put the flour, salt in a bowl, add the oil to the water and pour this
into the flour mix. Bring all this together with your hands and knead
it for about 5 minutes, it doesn't need too much needing.

Cover the ball of dough with the upturned bowl, and leave to rest for
about 15 minutes, it doesn't have to be left that long about 10
minutes will be fine. I then get the fillings and salad ready.

When your ready roll out the dough and divide into 8 pieces, roll
each piece into a ball. Then with a floured worksurface roll each
ball into a very thin pancake shape, about the size of a small plate.

I use a small omelette pan here, but a frying pan will do fine. I
heat the pan up on a high heat the turn it down to medium. Then I
cook each tortilla in the dry pan, this is really fun as they take
less than a minute to cook on each side, don't walk away here, you
will see almost straight away bubbles on the surface, once the
bubbles are reasonably wide spread, turn over this side will take
less time to cook, what I like to do for fun really, is then turn
them back over and use the spatula hold them down against the heat
and they puff up, which I find really fun. But they are cooked before
that. If you place a tea towel on a plate and wrap them up they will
stay warm until you've finished them all.

Fill and enjoy.

I'm sorry about the additional probably not needed information, but I
love cooking these, and I love playing with food, as you may have
guessed?!

Have fun!

RUTH'S SOUP RECIPES