Since we are approaching Mabon and it is the time of  harvesting the fruits of our work, it is the ideal time to prepare real seasonal dishes- and if you like sweet dishes like me and my Minimonsters- those receipes may be the right ones for you.

Here we go:

Scheiterhaufen

500 g Apples
100 g brown sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
Juice and cester of a lemon (organic)
3 Eggs
4 Eggwhites
4 Eggyolks
500 ml Milk
1 Vanillapod
Butter for the casserole

Preheat the oven to 150°C.
First peal the apples and cut out the core, put them into a bowl and add 2 spoons of sugar, the cinnamon and lemmon juice, mix it all together, set the apples aside to rest.
Then blend milk, 3 eggs and 4 eggyolks, the leftover sugar, vanilla and lemmon cester together. Cut the brioche into 1 cm thick slices. Now put brioche and apples in layers into the casserole, then pour the egg- milk over it and put it into the preheated oven and let it bake for about 50 minutes.
Then get the ‘Scheiterhaufen’ out, turn the heat up to 200°C and beat the egg whites until stiff, divide it ontop and put the ‘Schwiterhaufen’ back into the oven until the egg white is golden brown.

Apfelschlangerl

500 g Apples
100 g brown sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 TbS of raisins (if you like)
Juice and cester of an organic lemmon
250 g Curd cheese
4 Eggs
250 g All purpose flour
80 g melted butter

Preheat oven to 160°C, then beat the eggs lightly and melt the butter. Put the curd cheese into your food processor and blend it until smooth, add the eggs (keep a little leftover for lubricating the ‘Apfelschlangerl’ before they go into the oven- will give it a nice crispy and golden brown finish!), blend again until smooth, add sugar, lemoncester and finally the flour and butter. Let the dough be beaten until all smooth and soft.
Now peal and cut the apples, mix them with cinnamon, lemonjuice a little sugar and the raisins if you would like to add them- set aside to rest.
Divide your dough into 3 or 4 ‘balls’ of the same size and roll them out with your rolling pin until each is about 0.5 cm thin and quite rectangular in shape. Now divide the apple filling and put it onto your dough rectangles, wrap it together nice and tight. Lubricate it with the leftover eggyolkes and put it for about 20 minutes (until crisp and golden brown) into the oven.

Enjoy ;-D

Ava’

The Receipes:

Apple- Plum- Cocos
400 g Apple (Gala, Elstar)
400 g Plum
200 g Cocosflakes
1 kg Gelling Sugar 1:1

Take out the apple cores and pit the plums, cut them in little pieces or mix them up, put them into a large pot and add the cocos and gelling sugar. Let it boil for about 5 minutes, while you stir constantly to avoid burning. Make a gelling test- put a teaspoonful of jam onto a small plate and look if it gelantenises. If not cook a little longer. Then fill it into clean twist off glases and put them ‘head’ down onto a clean cloth. Let them rest for about 5 minutes and turn them round and let them cool down.

Woodberry Jam
1 kg Wood berries
1kg Gelling Sugar 1:1

Mix the berries, add the sugar and let it boil for about 5 minutes. Then do as described above et voíla- wood berry jam

Powidl
2.250 g Ripe Plums
Loads of time and patience

Pit the plums, cut them into little pieces and put them into a large pot. Let them boil (under constant stirring- we don’t want them to burn!) until they are softened then puree them with a hand- held blender and keep on stirring. Turn down the heat, so you can leave the pot for a few minutes, but keep in mind to keep on stirring until the Powidl is reduced to about a third of its original volume and dripping  thickly from your wooden spoon. This will take about 8- 10 hrs, but remember good things come to those who wait In the end it will be worth your time and patience, because it will be rich in flavour and naturally sweet- no Powidl you can buy in any shop will come close to this natural master piece!

Have fun trying my receipes and stay tuned for two others which will follow in the very near future.

Cheers,

Ava’

Yes, then: As soon as I put the plates on the table I heard J’s  voice, first quite normal: “Vegetable? I don’t like vegetables!” – Although he’s drinking them in smoothies for a few days now
When I reminded him of the new two- bite- rule we established with a serious handshake on sunday (handshakes seal promises for good with J ^^), his face went scarlett, white, purple, white and back again (he looked like a christmas candy cane), his voice grew louder, more urgent, demanding and finally he lost his manners (no further explanations needed, I gues ^^)…

I sent him upstairs, in a calm and loving way, to cool down, but instead of calming down he went over the top, throwing a tantrum and not stopping it. Cars, pillows, books and other toys flew through the air- (I guess we’re going to have a change of weather- toys are flying low ;-P) – meanwhile KittyKat and myself enjoyed a delicious meal, while J seemed to need to learn it the hard way…

Finally we worked it out after a few ‘up the stairs- tantrum- cooling down- down the stairs- going over the edge again- tantrum- up the stairs- etc…’
At least he tried two bites, just to reaffirm: “Mom, I do not like veggies, they are boring, do  not look good and taste like nothing. But I tried, do I get a sweet now?” (add a mischievious, boyish grin here)
Now I really had a hard time keeping my pokerface straight and told him no, because I do not want him to connect veggies with sweets and off course I do not want to reward tantrums with sweets.
Whatsoever, what totally threw him offbalance was me telling him: “J, I love you.”  J looked at me incredulously and started to cry, tears streaked down his face and  he sobbed into my shoulder: “You really MUST love me.”

And yes, I DO love him- and his little, cheeky sister too- they are just irresistable!

Cheers

Ava’

P.S.: I just hope it will get better! By the way, while J lamented on the meal, KittyKat just loved it So much for it did not look and taste good

P.P.S.: J even managed to tidy up his tantrum mess without me telling him to… Sometimes miracle DO happen!!!

It was worth all the money we’ ve spent and even more! Fun & relaxation, happy & self confident kids!

J tried all water sliders except the Kamikaze and even Kitty Kat did most of them on her own!

Up & down they raced, grinning, laughing and enjoying themselves… And D and me had a great day too!

Just one more word for you “Landratten”- hooray!

Blend together, add water to your liking and enjoy!

cheers
Ava’v

But now I found a good way via Veg Kitchen and Green Smoothies – good advices and really tasty receipes, especially the smoothies So I started yesterday and we already got a ranking:

1st place: my Avocado- banana smoothie.
2nd place: my cellery- nectarine smoothie.
3rd place: cucumber- apple smoothie.

Here are the receipes:

Avocado- Banana Smoothie
1 banana
1 avocado
1 nectarine
a handful grapes
1 glass of water

Cellery- Nectarine Smoothie
1 cellery bar
1/2 a carrot
1 nectarine
1 banana
1 handful grapes and some cocos flakes
a glass of water

Cucumber- Apple Smoothie
1/4 cucmber
1 carrot
1 banana
1 apple
1 shot of native olive oil
a glass of water (I took less than a glass and the smoothie got too thick for their liking)

We also established two new rules.
1. At least two bites of every new dish have to be tried. If J does not wish to try he can leave the table, if he tries he gets applause
2. Everyone gets to choose a meal over the week (so maybe everyone finds at least one dish to his/her liking)

I am so excited and feel so positive towards the future of J’s eating habbits, I just wish it will work on the long term… My last hope would be otherwise a pediatric who would set him into trance to overrule his fears of unknown food, veggies and fruits- it’s a shame he is so scared of such delicious food and tastes…

I’ll keep you updated on any change and improvement

Cheers

Ava’

merry, happy? I don’t know right now. First I got two cables chewed through by Churchill- despite the fact he got loads of carrots and even a twig to chew on. Second the cats got grazy about our dog’s new food and chewed their way into the plastic bag and cast the contents all over the room. And last but not least and maybe even the worst of all, my elder brother got himself finally thrown out by his partner after a really long time of her trying to keep it going.

So he is already on his train from northern Germany to us and will arrive tomorrow morning- early in the morning- and he will be moving in on us, because my mom’s got no room to spare and he’s got no money for his own accomodation. We’ll see how this will work out…

So much new work to do, so many new situations- geez, right now I’m feeling like taking a one way ticket to the Bahamas! Mom’s feeling depressed and destroyed- no wonder- he is acting like nothing off the beaten track has happened (ack!) and the rest of us will have to adjust.

I never thought I could be THIS glad to be back at work on monday, even if this means a whole new level of stress due to our peak days- at least I know what will be expected of me there and I know what to do…

I hope your Christmas holidays are much merrier and peaceful than mine right now

Have a very merry Christmas and enjoy your holidays with your beloved ones!

Ava’

Yesterday I lay on my couch watching Supernatural- yes a chick like me just LOVES THAT IMPALA!- with my dog at or better, on my feet, I felt another of our pets hop on the couch. First I thought ‘oh nice, Garfield or Mrs. Odie come for a stroke’- but then I took a look and realised who visited me: CHURCHILL!

He hoped up on the couch, resided shortly beside Isis, my dog to sniff at her and then jumped over my knees and cuddled between me and a cushion and turned into a ‘real’ pet for about 15 minutes! *hooray*`Well I really got adopted by a rabbit! They have more in common with cats than anybody would give them credit for (including me).

The way to a rabbit’s heart? Salad, carrots, food, fresh toilets and then? Nothing, just let it be and some time later you will be interesting enough to be noticed and even adopted

It is funny, now I am followed by:

KittyKat, Julian (except when he is playing), Isis, Mr. Garfield, Mrs. Odie and Churchill

wherever I go within our apartment- I LOVE my family!

Cheers’

Ava’

Garfield, my cat, decided to hop into his cage and inspect his new ‘toy’, guess what happened?

Churchill fled? WRONG! Garfield cleared the field, almost immediately, because Churchill hopped at him and scared apperently the ‘shit’ out of him! Thast was hillarious, a black cat running from a grey wool- ball and wool-ball sniffed after him as if to say: “Leave my home and me alone!”

What happens when rabbit meets Isis, my dog? He hops at her and she retreats- funny how a vegetarian makes a carnivore jump ^^.

Cheers,

Ava’

To be honest, he was not all alone. He was attended by two of his friends and I had my lookout posts from which I observed them and I must say I am proud of him! He’s doing more than fine on his own, he is much more careful and cautious when he thinks I am not near him. Funny, when I’m with him he seems to be totally relying on me, when I’m not there he manages very well on his own….

I can only repeat myself, I am really, really proud of him!