Blogtober 2024 : Day 21

Hello, hello, it’s a new week – and blog post 1,001!  Thank you for your lovely words on yesterday’s post, I’m still grinning and eating cake 🙂

It’s been a bit of a foodie day for me today.  I had a really good conversation about diet and hormones with big daughter yesterday after our dinner.  She’s training to be a nutritional therapist and although she’s always been interested in food and how she eats, she’s found it fascinating to learn more about certain foods affect our bodies.  Our conversation last night included talking about high oestrogen which can cause anxiety and is something that can affect women of any age, and she has just learnt that eating more fibre can be a way to help it – and which vegetable is surprisingly high in fibre?  Peas!  I LOVE peas!  I could eat them till they come out of my ears so any excuse to eat more of them is definitely a good idea in my book!

We were also talking about hummus because I had had another go at making it.  My first attempt didn’t turn out so well and I’d been chatting with a friend about it.  I happened to mention that I like the one I buy from Aldi, but it goes off really quickly and I don’t feel well if I eat it when it’s a day or two old.  She said that she’s read that it’s something to do with the rapeseed oil that it’s made with (a cheaper alternative to the traditional olive oil in hummus) and that it’s not always very good for us to eat rapeseed oil.  I’ve got to say, it’s not something I had particularly thought about but I’ve since done an internet search and found a range of websites that say it’s healthy or it’s terrible (as you’d expect) … and then this one from the Food Standards Agency which warned about the dangers of using rapeseed oil instead of sunflower oil, and that did cause me to think about it.  It’s hard to get the balance right sometimes – everyone is busy so it’s easy to buy food that is pre-prepared in some way rather than always make it from scratch, but what’s in those foods isn’t always good for us and we wonder why there are more people who have gut issues or weight issues or any other kind of medical issue –  much more so than what people of my age might have recognised growing up.  On the other hand, there are now so many books and websites that have recipes and videos to help us to make our own meals and accompaniments in the shortest possible time that it’s not hard to at least investigate them from time to time.

Back to the hummus, though …

Ta-dah!  If you’re thinking it’s not the usual hummus colour, this is because my friend shared her hummus recipe with me and it’s got turmeric in it, so it’s a lovely golden colour and has a bit of a kick to it as well.  It’s got olive oil, cumin, tahini and garlic in it as well as the chickpeas – and that’s it.  No other preservatives, but my friend said that it will last for a good few days in the fridge and that’s all I need.  I really like hummus and am very generous with it on my plate, so it won’t last beyond a few days anyway 🙂

I was all set to load up my plate today when I realised that we’d run out of bread.  I do keep a sliced loaf of my own bread in the freezer now but I didn’t really fancy toast – so I decided that I would have a go at making flatbreads instead.  As you do, on a Monday afternoon when you’ve run out of bread!

I found this recipe for no-yeast flatbread which was apparently quick and easy, and set to work.  Flour, baking powder and salt …

Then maple syrup … I’ve got to say that I wasn’t expecting that but luckily, we still had some in the fridge that my cousin and her husband brought over from Canada when they came to visit.  My cousin’s husband sets to work in their garage during maple syrup season and produces bottles and bottles of the stuff, and it was nice to be able to admire it in real life rather than just in photos!  He puts it in his tea instead of sugar and if you like sugary tea then it’s good and sometimes I do drink tea with sugar in it if I’m feeling that way inclined, but I did start to think that my teeth would drop out if I carried on at the rate he was spooning it in, so I’ve gone back to just plain old tea now 🙂

Oil and water, and then give it a mix.  That’s it!

I did think I had overdone the water as it seemed a bit sticky but it was nothing that a bit of extra flour on the working top couldn’t sort out.  I think I’ve mentioned my whisk before but it’s easily one of the best things I have ever bought myself for the kitchen.

It’s called a Danish whisk (this photo is from a post about bread that’s coming soon!) and you can get them with one or two of the loops – I chose one because I thought it would be easier to clean.  I use it for everything that needs whisking that doesn’t need to go in the food processor, and I think it must be some kind of magic wand the way it works so well!  The one I bought is like this one here (Amazon link) in case you want to look.

The dough does look a bit sticky, doesn’t it?!  My red dough scraper came from my Dad when he went on a bread making course years ago, but that’s another piece of kit that is used every time I’m baking bread.  I’ve had mine for years now and it’s still as good as new.  It’s a plastic one like this one (Amazon link) but you can buy metal ones and wooden ones, and I wouldn’t be without mine for saving sticky hands!

It didn’t take long for the dough to look like it did on the website …

and then it needed to rest for 10 minutes.  I had a rest for 10 minutes too 🙂

Then it was time to divide the dough, and my dough scraper was back in use again.  It’s got an edge to help cut through the dough, although I might have to work on getting all the pieces the same size!

I also might have to work on rolling out round shapes!

Now the next surprise – you fry the flatbreads in oil in a frying pan.  You can bake them as well, but I just followed the recipe instructions and this is what they did.  I think I would have assumed that you put them in the oven like a regular loaf of bread.

And in a few minutes, I had a plate full!

Now the moment of truth.  I’ve been caught out by something that looked and smelled great before but then tasted like a flour and water blob – but oh my goodness, these were really good!

Look at me with my home made hummus and flatbread!  The website says that the rest of the flatbreads will keep for a couple of days, and I’ve just started a new loaf so it’s all good in the bread department in our house again now.

I like being able to make my own food rather than buy it, and now that I have a bit more time, I am discovering that it’s nice to be able to do these things without the same sort of time pressure that I had previously.  Not so small daughter has been to see a friend at St Andrews University in Scotland this weekend, she’s currently on the train back trying to persuade me that we need a Highland cow in the garden.  It’s not happening!

I’ll see you tomorrow … and I can promise you there will be no Highland cow update! 🙂