Leftover cookie dough breakfast cake

Yesterday I was in for some baking. I made chocolate chip cookies, our favourite kind of cookies at the moment. We usually have one temporarily kind of favourite cookie and then move on to the next 😂

Anyway, I made quite a big batch, but not all the cookies fit on the two cookie sheets that I used. I didn't want to use yet another cookie sheet just for about half the space they would take on the cookie sheet, not to mention leaving the oven on for just a few cookies. But I certainly didn't want to waste the dough either. I read you can freeze cookie dough but I was in the mood for baking anyway so I thought I'd bake something different with the cookie dough as a base. This kind of baking is what I do a lot and the result is usually a surprise. But what's most surprising is that those spontaneous bakes never disappoint. I always need to be quick to write them down or I just forget all I've used, and I end up never imitating them as good as the first time! 

                                       The cookie dough

  

So here is my breakfast cake recipe, using leftover cookie dough. I was hesitant to call it a cake because it's more like baked oatmeal and not very sweet, but there we go: 

Around 2 cups of chocolate chip cookie dough (I used chocolate chunks instead, as chocolate chips are nearly impossible to find here) 

2 eggs 

Half a cup of peanut butter 

A few tablespoons of milk (optional)

A teaspoon of baking powder 

1.5 cups of oats 

1/3 cup of desiccated coconut 

A pinch of cinnamon 

Crack the eggs over the dough, add in peanut butter and stirr well. Add all the other ingredients. It should have the consistency of a thick batter. I added a bit of milk because my batter was too thick, but if yours isn't there is no milk needed. I didn't use a lot of add-ins because there were chocolate chunks already, but if you like you could add raisins, fresh fruit, dates, or even more chocolate. 

I poured the mixture in a round cake pan and baked it for 45 minutes, 180°c (360° f). I let it cool off completely before I devided the baked oatmeal into 10 pieces. Had one for breakfast and the rest of my family want to try one tomorrow for breakfast, the rest I'll be freezing for a quick and convenient breakfast. 

Try at your own risk 😉

The baked oatmeal ready to go into the oven 

Straight out of the oven. Unfortunately I can't posts smells

        

                                                 Plated up

Who hates cooking?

I recently read something quite interesting. It was about people always "bragging" (as that person put it) they love to cook, and how in reality it really sucks having to cook every single day, again and again. I found it interesting as I'm quite the opposite- I love cooking. I actually can relate to people not wanting to cook everyday, as my health issues sometimes make it difficult to have the same energy level everyday. I might have a few "good days" in a row, in which I do a lot of cooking, which is usually followed by lower energy days in which I'm happy when I have enough energy to reheat the previously batch cooked food, plus the few dishes needed for that. So yes, I get that people don't want to be cooking every single day. 

What I can't relate to, however, is not liking to cook. When my lower energy days are over and I feel better I can't wait to do some cooking, meal prep, or start a new "project" in my kitchen. Or bake some fresh bread- as long as it's kitchen related, I'm thriving! Even on some of the lower energy days- because I like cooking and making things from scratch, it does give me energy (well, not always, obviously). I think it would feel terrible to have to do something everyday that I really dislike. Especially in a country where there aren't a lot of convenience foods, as is the case where we live. And by convenience foods, I don't necessarily mean TV dinners and other unhealthy stuff but even frozen foods, most tinned foods, pre-made sauces etc. It made me think what I would do in such an instance. Would I just accept that cooking is part of life even if I'd hate it? Or live off of instant ramen and sandwiches? Or get daily takeaways, hiring a private chef even? Those last option is probably out of budget to most people and it would certainly make a big dent in our monthly expenses. And solely relying on sandwiches and ramen is just too unhealthy. What's left is accepting that not every part of life is always fun. 

Probably not a popular opinion, but even the dishes I don't mind, on most days anyway. And I say that as someone who doesn't even own a dishwasher. Some people might see it as bragging but that's really not my intention. I think it would be a good thing if we'd all be a bit less hedonistic. There's nothing wrong with having fun, but not every single thing has to be fun. Sometimes you just do what you have to do, today's society makes it so complicated. 

What I also don't get is people don't want to think in solutions but rather see difficulties. As I mentioned, I find it hard to cook every single day due to health issues (despite actually enjoying it). But that doesn't mean we can't make things easier for ourselves... Why not do meal prep, so you have one day of work and the other days it's simply re-heating or at least be ready faster? Why not just have simple meals? As long as we get our nutrients, meals don't always have to be complicated. Apparently, some people do meal prep for weeks or even a whole month. While that wouldn't work for us (I'd need an extra freezer, lol) it's definitely food for thought and a good idea for those that despise cooking. One day of work, 29 days being free of cooking, sort of of.  It's easy to just nag and see things negatively.  And although disliking certain tasks might be natural, a bit of an attitude change, as well as some practical preparation, go a long way. 

Homemade vegetarian "deli meat"

The other day I baked dinner rolls to have as a simple supper with Gouda cheese that we got from a relative abroad. After being deprived from Dutch cheese for so long, there's nothing better than just a bun or sandwich with cheese! 

And then I thought of something else we regularly had on a bun/sandwich, especially in our leaner periods. That was deli meat. Only, I usually made it myself. "Real" deli meat was quite expensive, especially the ones that weren't heavily processed. And we wouldn't eat just any meat anyway for religious reasons, the ones suitable for us were either ultra processed or expensive. There were also the vegetarian substitutes, which were ok but still quite processed. So after some trial and error I came up with my own homemade version. While we can afford more now, and having moved to Tunisia, there are no issues with supermarket meat anymore, I still like to control what's in our food I guess 😀 So I decided to make us some deli meat to have alongside the cheese. 

It was a long time ago (as in, years...) that I made these and I don't think I've written down this recipe, I tried to do my best to come close to my own original recipe and it really worked out well. 

Here's the recipe: 

Half a cup of water

2 eggs

3 heaped spoons of chickpea flour 

3 heaped spoons of all purpose flour (or whole wheat) 

2 bullion cubes for a somewhat meaty taste (for a stick vegetarian version, use vegetable or mushroom bullion)

1/3 cup of oil of your choice, I used olive oil to make it healthier

A spoonful of tomato paste 

More seasonings: onion powder, ground cumin, dried parsley, black pepper, garlic paste 

Dissolve the bullion cubes in very hot or boiling water. Then add to that the chickpea flour and stirr well (using a whisk) until there are no lumps. Then add the eggs, the oil, seasonings and tomato paste. Mix well. Then add the flour. The mixture should still be a bit liquid but not too runny, probably similar to a pancake batter. Then take some plastic wrap (about 50 cm/19 inch long) and pour it onto the wrap, then wrap it tightly, make a knot on the sides so that no batter can come out. Cover the plastic wrap with aluminum foil, and let it steam for around 45 minutes. Let it cool off completely before taking the "sausage" out of the wrap. 

Then use however you like- it's not limited to sandwiches: I used it a lot in pasta salad, for example. There you have your meat alternative without all the weird ingredients. 

Doesn't it look delicious? 

After slicing

Being poor is expensive

Lately I read something on Reddit which, I must be honest, was a bit triggering to me. I sometimes get triggered when it comes to people discussing poverty, wether that's in real or online. I must say, I've really improved in the past few years and have managed to deal with it better, but sometimes suddenly there's this small thing that can really be triggering. So someone said that being poor is expensive. And of course there were many people disagreeing with that person, claiming that poor people actually are expensive themselves 🙄 (for society). Even though they're just random people online and I should really care about what such people have to say, it did make me angry. Because this is what I've been hearing for years now and it's so wrong. 

Whenever someone becomes poor it's almost like they've become society's property- you're poor so everyone must have an opinion about you. And you bet they're going to mention every single thing you're doing wrong. Even if you're being a "good poor person", you'll get criticized anyway because why being poor in the first place? (As if that's our own fault...) Fortunately, we've been able to work ourselves out of poverty, living very different lives now- not just our financial situation but also having emigrated to another country. It's still nice and valuable to reminisce every so often. 

And I fully agree with the statement of it being expensive to be poor. Having been there and done that, there's so many things that cost a lot more money to us than it did to rich/middle class people. 

- You can't afford to get a driver's license, so you rely on public transportation. Not only is public transportation not very reliable, it's also much more expensive than it is to drive a car. Fortunately, we were able to cycle, even though we only could afford a crappy bike instead of a nice one, which also cost us more money as it needed repair more often. 

- You're living in social housing (similar to council estate in the UK), which usually aren't of great quality- it's usually old houses, not insulated that good, etc. So you end up having a higher gas/electricity bill than those people that can afford to live in nicer, better houses. 

- Because you don't have a car, you can't always just go to the cheapest grocery store (such as Aldi or Lidl). We were fortunate to live in a smaller town so we could get everywhere with our bicycle, but for people living in bigger cities with only the more expensive grocery store nearby, there are less options. Fortunately, at least there isn't really such a thing like food deserts in the Netherlands. However, where we lived there was no such thing as food delivery at the time, we lived in a kind of remote area and supermarkets back then only delivered in bigger cities. Doing groceries by bicycle wasn't necessarily easy but we did figure out the best way to do it. We bought a bicycle carrier (which officially is meant to transport small children) so we could carry a bit more at a time, and at least take advantage if there were items being sold at a good price. Fortunately, we were able to buy ours second hand, which saved a lot of money. 

- When you're poor/low income, you can only afford to pay the basic, mandatory health insurance. There's no room financially to pay for additional health insurance that covers things like dental care, glasses, physical therapy, dietitians etc. We ended up paying for them ourselves- I did have to quit going to the dietitian as it became more expensive. I never really told her the real reason because I was a bit ashamed. 

- Which brings me to another point: social stigma. This doesn't necessarily always cost money, but ultimately, you're paying the price when it comes to mental health. For me personally, I didn't find it very difficult to discuss our situation with people I knew (and trusted); most of my relatives and friends knew we didn't have a lot of money. But I did find it more difficult when it came to other people that I didn't really know that well. What if they'd think I was a bad mum and call CPS? I think those thought are on almost every poor parents minds in a lot of countries. Fortunately, here in Tunisia, being poor isn't considered a failure or a crime, and poor people aren't treated like they've done something wrong or that they're bad parents, but in most of Europe, that really is the attitude towards poor people.                        In some cases, though, being poor and especially being ashamed of it can actually cost money. People are ashamed and because they don't want their poverty to be apparent, they'll end up buying things with money they don't have, adding more debts and ending up in even more problems. Being poor is mostly perceived as being dumb, lazy and just taking advantage of more well to do people. And that's really hard for low income people that try to do the best they can. Eventually that really backfires on ones health, both mentally and physically. Stress can cause a lot of health issues. 

- Speaking of debts: a relatively "small" debt (unpaid phone bill for example) can end up in outrageously high amounts of money. While poor people definitely aren't always in debt, there are a lot of poor people that are. And all those debts add up. Until you're just drowning in debts... It's really scary, but unfortunately the reality for many people. 

- Poor people usually can't afford to eat as well as richer people. Unfortunately, in many countries at least, ultra processed foods are more expensive than produce, healthy fats and whole grain products. While it might seem a cheaper option to buy cheap processed foods, it usually comes at a price for one's health. Yes, I know there are ways to still eat healthy on a very restricted budget, but generally speaking, not everyone has the time/energy/ability to stick to such a diet, think outside the box (due to bring chronically stressed out in long term poverty, etc). Buying in bulk is another thing not every poor/low income family can afford. Buying in bulk can save money, but initially, you'll need a larger amount of money than your weekly budget allows. 

All in all, those are some reasons why being poor costs a lot of money. Which is actually very wrong from many sides- it's as if poor people are being punished (by society) for being in the situation they are in. It's hard to wrap my head around that. Having been in most of those situations myself, I really can't imagine someone disagreeing with it- let's just think those people come from a very privileged pplace. The situation we were in wasn't exactly fun, but least it's something I've learned a lot from. I've learned not to judge, not to think thar just because someone doesn't look poor they aren't (we certainly didn't look poor). And that low income families certainly aren't lazy or dumb. I think that's the most stupid prejudice about poor people out there, to be honest. 

Cucumbers

My father in law regularly gives us leftover produce that he receives from relatives and other people when he visits his village. Because you can not let a guest leave empty handed, no matter the circumstances! So all you have is abundance of produce, that's a perfect gift for your guest. The thing is though, my father in law could never finish all that produce he gets. I mentioned the tomatoes he received the other day, that was around 10 kg and enough for around 6 L of tomato sauce. 

This time he was gifted a big amount of cucumbers. Which, to most people, is a bit more of a challenge than tomatoes, because after all- you're not just eating mounds of salad, are you? It's a challenge for me as well, but not in a negative way. Cucumbers have so much potention! It's been years already since discovering that cucumbers are not merely a salad food; you can prepare them in so many ways. Just because a cucumber is only known as a raw food, doesn't mean that's the only way to eat it. Most people might be unaware of this but you can boil and fry cucumbers; not to mention pickling and fermenting to extend their shelf life even more. There's so much to choose from. This is yet again an instance of having to think outside the box if you want to be resourceful. 

Today, I decided to simmer the majority of the cucumbers in a light broth. Boiling plainly without any seasonings is possible too, but that bit of seasonings make a big difference. I chopped the cucumbers in half circles, washed them, then combined them in a pot with some water and my seasonings: vegetable bullion cubes, ground parsley, ground onion, some red pepper flakes, a spoonful of tomato paste, and garlic paste. I let it simmer for about 20 minutes and let it cool down. 

There are still some more cucumbers left, which, after making more salad, I'll probably pickle. It's been very long since I had a properly pickled vegetable so that might be worth a try. 

Tunisian cucumbers look quite wonky 🙃

I had some of the cucumbers for dinner, with rice and seitan (it was leftovers night today...), and I really enjoyed it. I'll probably have some for lunch tomorrow, but with chickpeas instead of seitan. It does a taste a bit like cooked courgette/zucchini, although not exactly the same, but it comes close. 

Anyway, if any of my readers finds cucumbers at a good price... Make sure to at least try cooking it, especially if you like squash. 

Tunisian kesra bread

I believe that everyone should be able to make homemade bread. Not necessarily difficult artisan bakery style bread; just a simple recipe will do. Baking bread, in my opinion, is an essential life skill or at least something that can come in very handy.

Today I'm sharing my kesra recipe. Kesra is a Tunisian bread that's made on the hob and very delicious. It's also known by other names in some countries, such as tachnift or batbout in Morocco. 

I learned how to make it many years ago from my mother in law and my sister in law, and tweaked it a little bit to suit our taste, but other than that it's the same as theirs. And my mother in law, on her turn, also learned it from her mother- so I'm proudly sharing a real family recipe here! 

For 6 medium sized round breads, you'll need: 

9 cups of fine semolina flour 

2 heaped spoons of instant yeast 

2 teaspoons of salt, or more depending on your quality of salt 

5 cups of warm water (could be more depending on the quality of the flour) 

Oil to grease your bowl 

Some seeds, such as sesame or nigella seeds (optional) 

Start by mixing the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Add the water until you're able to make a dough that isn't sticky. 

Knead for 10 minutes. Ideally more, but I've found 10 minutes of kneading to be sufficient. 

It should look like this: 

Then devide it into 6 equal pieces. I don't have a dough scraper or other special equipment, so I just use a good old knife. 

Then I formed nice round balls from the dough, rubbed it with a bit of oil and devided it in two bowls: 

I covered both bowls with big round trays, as I try to avoid disposable plastic as much as possible, but you could also use plastic wrap. Or don't grease it and cover with a clean dish towel. Now let it sit and rise until it's at least doubled in size. The bigger the better, so don't do this when you're in a rush! Since my kitchen is very warm during the summer, it didn't take long. 

It's good when it looks like this: 

(Now compare it to the picture with the two small balls of dough in it...) 

Get the dough out, punch the air out and make two balls again. Now heat your pan on the hob. I have two cast iron pans that are purposely used for baking breads, but you can use a "regular" cast iron pan or just a regular frying pan. Just whatever you have will probably work, although I would recommend cast iron (some people here even bake their kesra in clay pans, especially in the villages)

Make sure there's enough room on your counter and that it's clean. 

I always thoroughly clean my counter after making dough 🙂

If your pan is ready (it shouldn't be really really hot!), you can start to form your bread. Just gently push it down in a rotating way so you end up with a nice round bread. Prick a few times in the dough with a fork.

Now you can transfer it into the pan. I usually fold my bread and then when it's the pan immediately turn back the piece of dough that was folded over, to make picking up the dough a bit easier. 

When it's starting to bubble, it's probably time to turn around the bread. I used a spatula for this.

Then bake the other side as well. 

Then, and this is optional, when the other side has browned enough, it's time to bake the sides. Some people prefer the sides to be more on the dough side but we like them a bit more cooked. 

It's a bit of a blurry picture lol. This was the best picture I could take with using just one hand. Just turn the bread little by little until the whole side has a nice golden brown colour too. 

Now bake all your breads like this. I use two pans at the same time so it's a bit faster, but one pan definitely works fine too. Pile them up on a tray/plate with some towels (I use old t-shirts) and try to let them cool off completely...which is probably the most difficult part! 

Tightwad tip: the broom

It might surprise a lot of people, but I rarely ever vacuum the floors. And it's not that my house is dirty- quite the contrary. You see, I suffer from tinnitus and hyperacusis, which means I'm very sensitive to a lot of sounds. The vacuum cleaner happens to be one of those sounds that I really can't stand. I used to use it for my floors but then just decided to do what everyone else is doing around these parts, which is to use a broom. 

Honestly, using a broom is just so much easier! Our vacuum is quite big. It's a Numatic, the "old fashioned" type of vacuum, so no robotic quality involved, nor is it a stick vacuum cleaner type of model that's rechargeable (which, in my opinion, must be quite annoying). In fact, it's that big that it was hard to find a place where it could sit without bothering us and out of sight. We eventually found a place behind our sofa, and the handle is laying under one of our wardrobes. Every so often it's being used to clean the sofa and that's all. Usually my husband does that when I'm not there as to not get overstimulated by the sound. Like all houses here, we have tile floors, which are easy to maintain and easy to sweep. Owning a vacuum cleaner isn't something very common here- most people just do it the old fashioned way by using a broom and mop. And perhaps in addition to that, a manual carpet cleaner. Some people even borrow their neighbours/relatives' vacuum for those few times year you need one. Most car washes offer services to clean/vacuum cars, so that's not really a reason to own one. 

Using a broom regularly instead of a vacuum cleaner saves me money, by paying less for utilities, plus not having to replace the vacuum itself in just a few years. It also keeps me fit, as vacuuming isn't as labour intensive as using the broom is; I'm using more muscles when sweeping. I know, I know, I'll probably get the "what about allergies"- kind of question. The interesting thing is- I used to have dust mite allergy, but it seems like dust doesn't affect me like it used to when I always vacuumed. Also interesting: my mopping water isn't more dirty compared to when I still used the vacuum. 

Our very handy carpet cleaner

A broom definitely takes up less space! 

Zero waste-y kitchen activities

Time for an update on what I did to save some food from being wasted. I know i could always do better, but I'm still pleased with these accomplishments. With photos this time- I decided to get out of my comfort zone a bit 😂 

Fermenting watermelon rinds: this is what I do each summer. It works best with watermelons that have a thicker skin, thinner ones work too, but it's just a bit annoying to peel. This year I'd like to try to pickle some too. 

Two jars, one large and one small, of fermented watermelon rinds 

Melon ice cream: we bought a few very bland tasting melons, and upon some googling I found recipes to make melon ice, without an ice cream maker. Since I don't have an ice cream maker, nor am I planning on buying one, I decided to give it a try. It was so worth it, the ice cream was delicious and I didn't have to waste a melon. I think i should add that i'm not the biggest fan of ice cream so that must have been really good. 

Doesn't really look like it contains melon though, nor does it taste very melon-y, but it's still good!

Onion powder: as I was decluttering my kitchen cupboards I found a big bag of dehydrated onion peels. Probably a project I once started but then forgot about it, lol. So I figured it was best to finish it or it would never happen. So I ground the onion peels in my coffee grinder. That's all you have to do for homemade onion powder! It adds a nice, somewhat sweet onion-y flavour to many dishes. 

My homemade onion peels. It has quite a dark colour as the majority of the onions I use are red onions. 

Rendered chicken fat: 

I usually collect chicken fat/skins in the freezer until there's enough for a nice batch. So a few weeks ago it was finally time to render some skins.

I don't have a picture of the final result - it's still liquid here. But once it solidifies, it becomes a bit more light yellow. I love using rendered chicken fat for frying eggs, potatoes etc. Gives the food a nice almost buttery flavour. Or sometimes I just add it to random foods as a flavour enhancer. 

Banana peels mock pulled chicken: 

Isn't it nice to see all this food that would otherwise have gone to waste? Most of these are made with by-products such as peels, skins etc. I think it's good to realize that in most cases, everything of that particular food can be used- not just what's commonly known. Just think a bit outside the box and of course, internet helps a lot too. I really don't think I would have learned all these things without the internet, I'm definitely grateful for this modern convenience. 

That's it for now. I hope I can give an update soon with other nearly-wasted food tips. 

What if electricity was free?

The temperature is increasing almost per day now, yesterday was the first day above 40° (104° f), 42 degrees to be precisely. Today was around 45°. Yes, that's very hot! Fortunately, we live in a dry semi desert climate, which makes it a lot more bearable. Humidity makes the windchill a lot hotter. 

Despite the hot temperature, we still try to be moderate with the use of air conditioning. It's set on 26° c, and it's not on for the majority of the day. It's not that we cannot afford running the airconditioner all day long, we can, but I really don't see the need to pay that much for utilities.  And not just because of finances, although that certainly plays a role too. My first and foremost reason is the environment, then our health. Yes, I don't think airconditioners are good for our health - especially if there's a huge gap between outdoor and indoor temperature. The other day I read an article written by an pulmonologist about that, and how it can trigger issues for asthma patients. Both my oldest daughter and me happen to have asthma... We're not with a lot of issues during the summer drought, fortunately, but anything we can do for our lung health is a win. 

But something got me thinking: what if electricity was completely free? What would I do in such an instance? I need to be honest with myself (and my readers 😉). I'd probably use it a tad more than I do now. Not necessarily all day long, and I wouldn't mess up with the temperature setting, I still want summer to feel like summer. And I still value protecting the environment, within my limited means anyhow. It doesn't really feel hypocritical to be honest, because I just don't want to spend fortunes just on getting our house cold enough so I can wear sweaters at home (lol). So I would still use it moderately even if electricity were free. 

There's a reason why that came to my mind. Somebody I know is married to a man who works for the electricity and gas company. There's just one such a company here, owned by the government. Their employees get the privilege of having free electricity- and also for one extra house of their choice, for example their parents home or whatever other home they wish. I think that's pretty cool. Without wanting to sound too socialist, it seems like things like these usually stop when those companies are being privatized, sadly. As soon as it's being privatized, company greed changes a lot. My grandfather also worked for the electricity company in the Netherlands, before it was being privatized, and he had exactly the same privilege. I remember my grandmother using only an electric hob, which was a bit rare, and I only ever saw it at her house, not anywhere else. Apparently, now it's getting more common to use an electric hob but at the time it wasn't- she even got hers from Germany as they were better available there. Interestingly enough, my grandmother was one of the most frugal people I've ever known, despite her electricity bill being zero regardless of her use. She didn't have a lot of electric guzzling appliances, such as a dryer or even an electrical lawn mower (despite having a big garden). So basically, electricity being free didn't affect her use at all - she could have taken advantage of that privilege but didn't.

And to get back to my acquaintance I was referring to, it happens to be the same with her. I was visiting her recently and noticed that she still hadn't installed her airconditioner. She owns one, but having moved to her current house around a year ago, the airconditioner being installed apparently wasn't a big priority. She said they didn't really miss one and that her fan was enough. I must add that she lives in a house that stays relatively cool during the summer, but still, most people in her situation probably have taken advantage of free electricity. Also, like most people here, she's frugal by nature. She doesn't necessarily call herself frugal but she definitely is. 

And of course, then there's people who have plenty of solar panels to have enough electricity during the summer for all their appliances. That's a bit of a different story. I wish we had solar panels, but unfortunately they're so expensive! That might be a disadvantage of the grid not being privatized... it's still a future goal of ours to have enough renewable/sustainable electricity. Not necessarily going offgrid, but to have our "own" power for the majority of the time and to still be connected to the grid as a backup. I think probably when one has solar panels, that's also a way of being more mindful of your usage of electricity. Because you never know when you run out. 

I guess the moral of this story is that we should always be mindful of what we use, regardless of its abundance, it being free of charge, etc. In the end, even "free" stuff is never totally free- someone or something is paying a price. In this case, that something is the planet. 

Very easy pancakes recipe

I like pancakes for breakfast, all kinds. American style pancakes, poffertjes (tiny Dutch style pancakes), baghrir (north African style pancakes also known as a thousand hole pancakes), crêpes, etc. It's just that some are so nice, I tend to overeat them. I want to be able to portion and freeze pancakes to avoid over indulgence. Unfortunately, not all pancakes are freezable, especially crêpes. It's also nice to have a go to breakfast waiting to be thawed in case there isn't anything else to eat. So I prefer freezable pancakes. 

Also, since I'm trying to lose weight, I'm always looking to decrease my calories without making too much sacrifices (if that makes sense, lol). Typically pancakes contain milk, eggs and fat - in addition to be cooked in yet more fat. Substituting white flour for whole wheat (and/or oat flour) is something I've been doing for a long time already, but I was looking for a solution for the eggs and milk. Don't get me wrong, I'll still consume eggs and milk, but I just prefer them as is, not as an ingredient just adding more calories. So after some googling and trial and error myself, I came up with partially whole wheat pancakes that don't contain any milk or eggs- and STILL taste amazing. 

For a large batch (around 16-19 pancakes), you'll need: 

2 cups of whole wheat flour 

2 cups of fine semolina (can be substituted for white or whole wheat flour)

1.5 tablespoons of instant yeast 

Half a teaspoons of salt, or a bit less or more to taste 

A tablespoon of vanilla sugar/vanilla flavour/extract (I don't use extract because of the alcohol it contains, but apparently alcohol free extract does exist) 

As much warm water as needed to create a pancake batter- I used around 5 cups 

Oil or butter to cook your pancakes in 

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well using a whisk. Then add the water, not adding all the water at once to avoid a batter that's on the runny side. If you find it too thick just add a bit more gradually and mix well using the whisk. Mix until there are no more lumps visible and it's a smooth batter. Then cover your bowl, I use a bowl with a lid to avoid using unnecessary disposable plastic. 

Let it sit for around 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on your room temperature. If you've got enough time it should even be possible to let it rise in the fridge. 

If the batter has doubled in volume and is bubbly it's done and ready to bake. Heat up your skillet, and use about one ladle or a bit less (depending on your preferred size of pancakes) of batter per pancake. Cook them as you would regular pancakes and let them cool. 

These pancakes might seem a bit flavourless, but trust me, they're so yummy! The semolina gives them that rich flavour and so does the yeast. There's absolutely no need for eggs or another ingredient for binding, which makes these pancakes not only easy, eggs allergy-friendly, vegan and lower in calories, but also WAY more affordable in this economy 😉 

Some notes: 

I made this the night before breakfast and kept the ones I was planning to eat in a container, the others went into the freezer right after cooling down.  

Keep in mind- both semolina and whole wheat flour absorb more water than white flour does, so keep in mind you'll need more liquid than when making regular pancakes. You can make this batter with whichever flour you like, making it 100% whole wheat or 100% white. 

Back at blogging and some updates

I can't believe it's been almost 5 months since I posted here! That wasn't quite planned but I guess there were other things to do besides blogging. I really want to keep up with my blog but sometimes it's just a bit difficult. 

Despite our summer break, we're in the thick of it! With abundance of summer produce, there's so much to do. 

Homemake-y updates: 

We home butchered a goat. 

My father in law gave us a box containing well over 10 kg (22 lb) tomatoes, which he in return also got from someone but didn't know what to do with it. I turned the majority of it into marinara sauce, which is now in the freezer.(and a bit stayed in the fridge to use within a few days)

Also made a big pot of fig jam, my husband's all time favourite jam. 

I finally found the courage to make my own sourdough starter. It's still intimidating to use it, I must admit, but at least now I have the starter... 

Made homemade onion powder with onion peels. 

Rendered a big bag of chicken skins and I now have a lovely jar full of rendered chicken fat! 

Cooked a lot from scratch, as usual. 

General life updates: 

My oldest daughter finished middle school. Youngest finished her second to last year of elementary school. 

We have a new cat to take care of, a beautiful Siamese girl. She's VERY talkative- I had to get used to that amount of meowing! She has a defect in her tail - it has a bend in it, which is probably the reason why she was roaming around in the streets. Unfortunately, some people want to get rid of "imperfect" pets, and it's not very common to see breed cats on the streets. 

A very sad one: just one week ago, our ginger cat died 😥 We all loved him dearly and are heartbroken. He lived here for three years and a half and I'm just so grateful we could give him the best home possible for him for that long, and save him from the streets. He was buried in our garden this past Friday. The other cat doesn't really understand that her bigger brother is gone, although she's coping quite well with it, but it's noticeable she's missing him a lot. 

Health updates: 

Just finished a two weekly high iron diet. My iron was super low, and i'm feeling much better now. I just don't want to see liver for the next couple of months, lol (I actually do like liver but after eating it every day for two weeks long... it certainly gets boring!). 

I'm steadily losing weight, so far lost 27 kg and I'm not there yet, but certainly proud of this accomplishment. 

I started walking again. I walked daily but then fot busy with other things. Which is now excuse, so I really try to make time for walking daily, even if it's just 20 minutes. My muscles were so stiff without walking (I have fybromyalgia) and I definitely feel better with walking daily, even if it's not a lot- I probably don't reach the 10.000 steps a day, but it's better than nothing. 

I think that's it for now! Trying to blog a bit more regularly from now on 👋

The last picture I took of our beloved ginger cat 😿