Loving Lentils

I am a Lentil Lover…  I could eat them at every meal, including breakfast.  Being vegetarian, I need to get my protein in ways other than through meat, and as a family we have adapted many recipes to include lentils and other pulses.  Lentils provide a healthy source of protein as well other essential nutrients, depending on the type you choose.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil.

I’ve listed some of my very favourite recipes for Lentils below.  Enjoy!

Spicy Red Lentils

175g Red lentils

¼ Tsp Turmeric

1 Medium Onion Grated

3 Garlic Cloves Sliced

1 Tsp Salt

1 Small Mango

For Tempering

2 Tbsp Ghee (Clarified Butter)

1 Small Onion Sliced

3 Garlic Cloves

1 Tsp Cumin Seeds

1 Tbsp Fresh Coriander

1 Green Chilli

Wash Lentils & Cook with 400ml cold water.

Boil, remove any impurities from the top and allow to simmer for 20mins.

Add Turmeric, Onion, Garlic, Salt and Mango, including the stone.

Simmer for a further 20mins.

Remove from heat, remove Mango Stone and beat Lentils with a handwhisk until smooth.

Melt Ghee in a hot pan, add onion and fry until golden.

Stir in Garlic, followed by the Cumin and Coriander and Chilli.

Stir for a few seconds, add to the Lentils and serve.

Lentil Shepherds Pie

There are definitely some dishes that I miss, being veggie,  and Shepherds Pie is one of them.  On a recent to Edinburgh, I found a perfect alternative to the lamb favourite – Red Lentil.  It is delicious and so simple to prepare.  Try this recipe http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/5122/lentil-shepherd-s-pie.aspx

As we cook BBQ food a lot, in winter and summer, I sometimes miss out on the tasty food that meat-eaters have.  But what to cook as a veggie option can be challenging.  I’ve saved my best until last, because this burger recipe is delicious and even my meat-addicted, ex-butcher husband agrees J

Spicy Lentil Burgers

250g Red Lentils

1 tblsp Oil

2 Sliced Onions

1 tblsp Tandoori Mix Powder

425g Drained, Canned Chickpeas

1 tblsp Grated Fresh Ginger

1 Egg

3 tblsp Fresh Chopped Parsley

2 tblsp Fresh Chopped Coriander

180g Stale Breadcrumbs

Cook the Lentils in a pan of boiling water for 10 mins.

Drain well.

Cook onions in oil until tender and add the Tandoori Powder.  Stir for a couple of seconds.

Place Chickpeas, half the lentils, ginger egg and onion into a food processor and process until smooth.

Add remaining lentils, parsley, coriander and breadcrumbs and combine.

Shape into patties and grill or fry until browned.

This recipe also works well shaped into balls and served as a starter with a spicy dipping sauce.

  

Try serving the patty with some Sundried Tomato Pesto 

Add some veggies

                             

 Put everything into a Tortilla Wrap...

 Toast the wrap and tuck in :)

The Fitness Journey Continues....

On moving to Copenhagen, I was determined that my focus on fitness and health wouldn’t suffer.  Although I had treated short visits like mini holidays, eating lots of Lakrids by Johan Bulow and refined carbs, I had also continued to work-out alone.  I would get up early in the morning and get a workout done before the kids woke up.

The most difficult thing about working out without a trainer, however, is the timings.  Having attended over 50 classes with BodyTransformations in Baldoyle I knew the exercises, the principles and the sequences but I couldn’t possibly remember everything whilst working hard and using a stopwatch. 

I searched for an Application that I could use on my phone and came across Skimble, which was free.  I used it for the first time, and was a little sceptical but I shouldn’t have worried.  It allowed me to search for routines that targeted certain body areas, lasted a particular length of time or used specific types of equipment.  I could mix it up, spending 10 minutes on my arms, 12 minutes on my abs and 30 minutes doing cardio, for example. 

A computer generated voice cued the beginning of the workouts, which for the most part had warm up and cool down exercises included.  There were instructions on how to perform the exercises, should any of them have been unfamiliar, and images of a person performing each movement in the exercise.  The voice would introduce the next exercise and count down from 5 seconds to allow you to prepare for the next part of the workout.  I was in heaven!

I used it so often that I decided to pay for the ‘Pro’ version that offered more workouts, video imagery and cues and tips from real Personal Trainers.  Not alone did it offer workouts created by Skimble, it allowed me to create my own workouts and share them with other users.  I could also access workouts created by these other users.

I have used this App for almost six months now, and I can’t praise it highly enough.  If you have only ten minutes to do some exercise every morning, Skimble has something to offer you. 

The best time to use the App is in the mornings.  I find that I function better in the mornings if I have woken myself up with some exercise and a shower before I have to deal with the kids.  It’s hard enough to get ready whilst dressing and feeding a two-year old and organising a seven-year old without being half asleep and in pyjamas whilst doing it all!

If you still need some motivation to get going, why not get some of your friends together and have some fun whilst getting fitter and stronger?  Don’t keep making excuses, the hardest part of working out is making the decision to do it.  Once you decide, don’t let anything stop you – the weather, the kids and being tired are all fantastic excuses not to train…..  But that’s all they are, excuses.  I’ve offered some tips below to work around those excuses:

Weather

Training Indoors - It’s raining or snowing so you can’t drive/bike/bus to class?  Get some waterproofs on and just do it!  You’ll feel so much better afterward.

Training outdoors and the weather is…..

Cold - it’s actually easier to train when it’s cold.  Wear layers that you can remove as you warm up.

Raining - the rain is refreshing when you’re feeling the burn and trees offer protection from torrential downpour. 

Hot - If it’s hot, seek some shade under a tree and try to train as early as possible, before the sun gets really hot.

Snowing – see ‘cold’ above J

Kids

Having the kids around when you want to train is difficult, but there are some ways to work around this:

Get up early and train before they wake up.  You’ll be better prepared to get them ready for the day when you are fighting fit.

Get a friends together with their kids and have all of the kids hangout beside you while you train.  Encourage older kids to look after younger ones and have plenty of snacks and activities for them to do.  This can be done at a local park or at someone’s home.  Take turns hosting the workout group and providing healthy snacks after training.  It’s a great way to keep motivated.

Encourage your kids to join in – it sounds crazy but kids love to be included, especially when it’s something to prove how strong they are.  We have kids from 2 to 12 taking part in our workouts.  They don’t do the whole session or even whole exercises, but they love exercises like Burpees, Mountain Climbers and Jumping Jacks because they’re great fun!

Tiredness

When you’re not feeling great, it’s sometimes your body’s way of telling you to slow down and take a break.  But be honest, have you been pushing yourself really hard or are you tired because this is a new way of life and your body needs time to adjust? 

Don’t put unnecessary strain on yourself or push yourself to exhaustion, but do push yourself.  Becoming more fit and healthy is difficult and training is not pretty.  Even people in great shape look terrible when working out and if it was easy everyone would be doing it!  It will be worth it in the long term and it is a lifestyle choice, not a fad.  Think of how proud you’ll feel when you start to see the benefits of more energy and more strength, not to mention how fabulous you’ll look!

If you are starting on an exercise plan, do chat to your doctor about your general health and well-being to prevent injury.

Good luck J

My Favourite Shakes - A Healthful Alternative

I’ve always loved milkshakes.  I think my love affair started at our bi-annual birthday trips to McDonalds. 

We didn’t have birthday parties like other kids, instead our family would get to go to McDonalds as a birthday treat.  There were three of us, which should have meant three trips per annum, but my brothers were born a three years apart less one day, so their birthday trip was combined.  My favourite part of the visit was always the thick, creamy, icy Chocolate Shakes that would accompany our meal.  I can’t remember the burger I would chose, but I do remember those shakes!

This love of milkshakes has continued into adulthood, but now I understand the high fat and sugar content may not do my body much good.  I’m lucky that I also love healthy food and I enjoy looking for healthier alternatives to naughty treat food.  There have been so many stores popping up over the last number of years that offer ‘healthy’ drinks – smoothies and fat-free frozen yoghurt, for example.  However, there has been a nutrition movement that identifies sugar as the real enemy in our cupboards.  Smoothies and Fat-Free products are often filled with sugar to compensate for a lack of taste. 

In addition, our bodies don’t deal with liquefied food in the same way that we deal with food we have to chew ourselves.  Think of how full you feel after drinking a smoothie compared to if you had eaten the fruit that went into the smoothie.  We often don’t think of drinks as part of our food intake for the day, but they really count.

Post workout, I’m often craving sugar and need something that I can get into my body quickly.  I still love the taste of chocolate, but I’m willing to substitute the ice cream for something more nutritional. 

I’ve experimented with different recipes (and willing guinea-pigs) and I’ve come up with the following recipe.  Enjoy J

Choc-Banana Avo Shake

1 small ripe banana (the riper the fruit, the sweeter the shake)

2.5ml Agave Syrup (sweeter than sugar, so less is needed.  Honey can also be used)

Half a ripe Avocado

1 dessert spoon of cocoa (unsweetened)

200ml Rice/Soya/Almond Milk (adjust amounts depending on consistency)

Ice

Blitz all ingredients together until smooth. 

Adjust sweetness with the agave/honey depending on your taste.  You will soon adjust to less sweet foods if you give your body a few days to adjust.

The Cocoa can be substituted with Berries or can be left out for a Banana Shake.  Natural Peanut Butter can be used to add some nutty goodness – experiment with your favourite flavours!  Protein powder (available in Healthfood Stores) can also be included to increase bulk.

Kitty Geissler

Aunt Kitty

My mother’s Aunt Kitty Geissler is an extraordinary woman.  It’s difficult to explain how special she actually is – you have to meet her.

It really struck me this week.  We all travelled home to be with my family in Dublin when my grandmother died, and Kitty travelled too.  Not very extraordinary so far, but let me tell you a little bit about her.

She was born in Limerick and journeyed  to New York as a steerage passenger on the Baltic.  Leaving her family at only 16, she was greeted by her aunts who lived in a large apartment building in Manhattan.  She recalls thinking that her aunts must have been very rich if they owned such a large building! 

She worked as a childminder at first and then got married and had her first child, Georgie, with her husband George.  He drove her home with their baby and left for the war.  He was a soldier in the American Army and was in the first draft of soldiers in World War II.  She has an amazing memory, however, she couldn’t recall the name of the beach upon which he landed on D-Day in Normandy.

They went on to have two more children, Alice and Mary, and moved to a beautiful house in Tarrytown, New York, where Kitty still lives.  She sleeps on the third floor of the house and walks up and down three flights of stairs many times during the day.

 

She drives an old car to mass and to the grocery store each day, although her granddaughter has started to drive her around a little now.

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family every year might be a challenge for some people, but Kitty enjoys it.  The table is filled with between 15 and 20 people each year.

She still recalls the names of the people she travelled on the boat with and attended most of their funerals, and the funerals of some of their children.

She just returned from a cruise in the Caribbean and when my mother asked if she ‘would be able’ to fly to Dublin, she told her that if she was able for the cruise, she’d be able for the flight.

She doesn't walk slowly anywhere and she still jumps in and out of cars like she’s a young woman.  She stood greeting mourners at my granny’s funeral for about 40 minutes and was still not complaining of being tired.  She stayed up every night of the trip until after midnight drinking whiskey and chatting.

None of this sounds particularly impressive until I tell you her age.  She will turn 102 in November! 

People queued up to meet her at the mass and in the pub afterward.  They were rubbing her for ‘good luck’, hoping that some of her longevity and energy would rub off on them.

Someone compiled a group of photos from St Patrick’s Day celebrations across the globe and one picture showed a woman of 92 who had travelled from Ireland to be with her daughter in New York.  By coincidence, Kitty happened to be in Dublin for St Patrick’s Day, but it was decided that Dublin City might not be the best parade to bring a woman of 102…  She watched the parade on TV and then left Dublin early the next morning to have an impromptu family reunion in Hospital, Co Limerick where she was greeted by people who probably thought they’d never see her in Ireland again.

It will probably be Kitty’s last visit to Ireland and although tinged with sadness, what a fabulous trip it was.

My Grandmother - A tribute

My granny died this week.  I was enjoying a week with my Aunt, her daughter, in our home in Copenhagen when my mother called to break the news.  Although not entirely unexpected, it wasn't expected at that moment.  We started to check into flying home to Dublin for the funeral on Saturday.
Flights were costing almost €2000 for the children and I to fly home together, as I couldn't leave them with my husband who couldn't take time off work.

I was really undecided about whether I was happy with staying in Copenhagen and missing the funeral, but I knew that Granny wouldn't have been in favour of spending that amount of money for the trip, especially since I would be home two weeks later and would get to see my family then.

However, there was a late flight I could take on Friday night and return on Sunday evening which would allow me to travel alone, which I decided to do.

My Granny's sister-in-law had travelled from her home in New York with her daughters to be in Dublin and my cousin had to take three flights to make it back from holiday in Hawaii, so it was only right that I make it from Copenhagen.

On the flight over, I wrote a little about my granny in order that I could speak about her at the mass.  Although emotional, I was delighted I had done it, so others could have the opportunity to hear a little more about her life before she was ill....

Annie Bagnell, a tribute.

Being the daughter of Annie’s daughter, Sheila, I lived very close to Annie and we saw her all the time when I was a child.  I wanted to remember her as she had been, before she had the fall, before I had children, when she was just my Granny. 

One of my strongest memories is of travelling to Cork with my brother Paul by train when I was about 7 and Paul about 5, because she had won a weekend away in the Imperial Hotel.  We had to move seats on the train because some teenagers were smoking and Granny hated that.  I can still remember being embarrassed when the group giggled at her reaction.  I don’t remember much about what we did on the trip, but we insisted on eating scrambled egg on toast for breakfast when we came home, because that’s what they served in the hotel.  She could have taken anyone on that trip, but she chose to spend it with us, even though we were fairly young and probably took quite a bit of looking after.

I remember Saturday afternoons spent in her kitchen watching sports with Kitty and Liam in a smoke filled kitchen.  My protests as a small child breathing second-hand smoke fell on deaf ears.  Granny would do anything to keep the peace – she’d correct teenagers for smoking, but her own children poisoning her grandchildren was ok! 

I remember eating Sunday dinner there at 1pm where the wine was either blue or black. 

We’d stay until after Glenroe, which signalled the end of a weekend for every young person of that time, when we’d be changed into PJs and driven home ready for the week ahead.

I would spend many weekends there, sleeping over with her, too afraid to sleep alone in the attic so I’d put up with her terrible snoring to stay on a camp bed in her room. 

We would get mass in the Oratory on a Saturday evening as Gaeilge - Granny knew all the songs and prayers - and we’d walk back for a cup of tea and biscuits with Mrs Mac in Granny’s kitchen.

She made great scones, but nothing could beat her Teabrack, sliced and buttered with a hot cup of tea.  She would sell her baking in the staff canteen in Boyers and people still remark on how good it was.

The Christmas season began with puddings being mixed in the yellow baby bath in October and she spent every Christmas day in my family home with either Jim or Hannah or Kitty in attendance, depending on who was living with her or holidaying with her at the time.

We joked about how she was forever grumbling about being better off dead, but she had more energy than most of us could have dreamed about.  She would take the bus into the city centre to get mass in the Pro Cathedral and meet someone for coffee in Boyers. 

If anyone had any shopping to be done in Arnotts, she would collect it for us to get 20% off with her staff card. 

And she loved her holidays to New York to visit Aunt Kitty and the extended family.  She was never happier than when Kitty travelled over here to stay for a month in Artane with her between mine and Conor’s weddings in spring 2005. 

She was always there, in the beautiful whitewashed house on Kilmore road, and I would visit her when I stayed with my friend in Artane, walking from one house to the other for a cup of tea and cheese on toast with herself and Mrs Mac. 

Later, while I studied at DCU I would take the bus down to have lunch with her and when I was on maternity leave with my daughter Rachel, we’d often call in passing from Marino to Donaghmede.

She loved Rachel, who was her first Great-Grandchild and got the chance to be extra spoiled before the others came along. 

Rachel has always loved dogs and was forever trying to smuggle Granny’s soft toy dog out of the house at every chance.

Granny appeared at Rachel’s 3^rd or 4^th birthday party with a big parcel, which she was very anxious that Rachel open.  Rachel was tearing through presents, throwing paper aside and hardly paying attention to what was inside so I wanted her to open Granny’s present later, with no distractions.  I knew Granny wanted to see the reaction when Rachel opened it and I didn’t want her to be disappointed in case Rachel threw it aside. 

We waited until the end of the party when only my parents and Granny were left.  We were delighted when Rachel eventually ripped the paper off and was ecstatic with a big cuddly dog, which still sleeps on her bed in Copenhagen, where we have since moved. 

Granny then recounted the story of how she had chosen it in the toy shop and placed it strategically into the bag with the head looking out, laughing uproariously has she told us about how all the people on the bus journey home could see it sticking out and shared a laugh with Granny about it.

Since Granny has been ill, Rachel has had a chance to return some of that caring she received.  Rachel was great at making sure Granny was comfortable and had everything that she needed, showing her the framed pictures of the family and talking to her about the people in the pictures.

I had the privilege of interviewing Granny for a radio project I wanted to make, about the strong women I have in my life.  I spoke with her in 2008 and again in 2011, after she’d had her fall. 

She spoke about her childhood and how happy she had been with her parents and three brothers, Michael, Sean and Tom.  She loved her parents, especially her father, who she said ‘ruined her’.  She laughed as she said that she got watches and bikes before any of the children around, including her own brothers. 

She told me about meeting Willie, her future husband, while out cycling in Tallaght with a friend.  He was serving in the Irish Air Corps in Baldonnell and was out walking with some others from the Aerodrome.  She remembered how Willie never came to the house at first and she would watch for him from the side window when he was due to meet her.  She needn’t have worried, however, because when her parents met him, they “idolised him”.  She also talked about how her baby brother Tom, who would have been about 2 at the time, would wait for him at the gate because he’d bring him sweets.

Although life was tough, she was entirely positive about all of her experiences, feeling lucky that both her father and her husband had constant jobs, meaning life wasn’t as tough as it could be.  It was from her father, who planted vegetables in almost all of their land in Tallaght, that she got her great love of gardening. 

She had a great sense of humour and during our interviews, she also told an anecdote about when she had Jim and Sheila living in Limerick.  People loved Jim’s blonde curls, she said, and one woman in particular gushed over him when she’d bring him walking.  However, on one particular day Granny brought a newborn Sheila in Jim’s place and she laughed when she recounted the woman’s disgust as she told her that that baby wasn’t as nice as the other child!

I never knew Granny to be bitter about being widowed at 49, which is testament to her great strength - I can’t possibly imagine sharing my birthday and wedding anniversary with the anniversary of my husband’s funeral. 

I’ll leave you with one lasting piece of advice she gave during her interviews.  She thought it extremely important that young couples spend as much time as possible enjoying each other’s company, as you never know what may happen.  Having received the news of her death on Wednesday, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go ahead with the date night I’d planned with my own husband Will, as my Aunt Hannah was over and had offered to babysit.  However, it was a fitting tribute that we took her advice and spent our first night out together in three months on the night of her death.  She is sorely missed but we can take solace in the fact that she is spending lots of quality time with her husband now.

Dreamy Vanilla-Almond Baked Cheesecake

I’ve always loved dessert – it’s my favourite meal of the day J.  From the day I met my (now) husband, I have been experimenting with cheesecake recipes.  My father-in-law loves cheesecake, especially strawberry flavoured cheesecake, and my dad loves Baileys in his.
I'd always made cheesecake with gelatine, finding the flavours fresher, but on my first visit to New York I had to admit that the baked cheesecake was to die for.

It was something that my husband bitterly disagreed with me about.  He found the texture of the baked variety to be too dry and crumbly – a little like cottage cheese only drier.

That was it, I had to convince him that I could bake a cheesecake as creamy as the refrigerated variety.

I hunted high and low for recipes, looking online and going through all of my recipe books at home.
In the end, I decided on a slightly altered mash-up of three recipes - taking inspiration from Nigella Lawson's recipe for the filling, altering Lorraine Pascale’s Shortbread Recipe and using some of the principles from Avoca.

The result was delicious – even my husband was converted!

We’ve just moved to Denmark and I was worried that I was going to have to compromise on some ingredients, however, my in laws were coming for a visit and I had them package up some Avonmore Cooking Cream to use in my baking.  The positives of this were twofold - my father in law got to enjoy his favourite dessert and I made sure that I had the best quality products in my baking.

I started by making the shortbread from Lorraine, however, I made some slight additions and used all Plain Flour rather than some Rice Flour.  The link to the Shortbread recipe is here -http://fionaobrien7.blogspot.dk/2014/01/snowy-days-in-copenhagen.html - the recipe makes approximately 350g of Shortbread so there is plenty for the base (225g) and also to enjoy a piece with coffee J

I then went about making the filling.  On first attempt, I found the outer edges of the filling to have the dry, crumbly texture.  However, the centre was AMAZING! I decided to remake and to lower the temperature, cooking for slightly longer to achieve the creaminess throughout.  It was a resounding success!

Here's how I did it - 

Filling

800g Cream Cheese at room temperature

6 Eggs

145ml Avonmore Cooking Cream

1 tbsp Vanilla Paste

150g Golden Caster Sugar

100g Dark Chocolate, Chopped (Optional)

Base

225g Almond Shortbread http://fionaobrien7.blogspot.dk/2014/01/snowy-days-in-copenhagen.html

25g Melted Butter (Using homemade shortbread means less butter is needed)

Tin
7" Loose Bottomed Tin lined with reusable lining paper
Cover the tin in a double layer of grease-proof paper and tie with twine

Temperature
140C/ Gas Mark 1/ 275F for 1 hour

Method
Melt the butter and mix with the crushed shortbread.

Press into a lined, loose bottomed 7” Tin and put into the fridge to firm up.

Mix the ingredients for the filling together with beaters and pour onto the base.  Covering the tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper further protects the filling from drying out.

Bake in a preheated oven at 140 C for 1 hour.

Turn the heat off in the oven and leave the cheesecake to cool overnight before refrigerating.
This part is important to ensure the creamy texture.  I find it best to prepare the filling in advance, leaving it in the fridge until everyone is finished using the kitchen and only cooking it last thing at night before switching the oven off.  The cheesecake is then ready the next morning!  Great for entertaining as you have time to clean up before the guests arrive the next day :) 

Dust with icing sugar and decorate with chocolate curls.

Enjoy.....

The texture is so creamy that no additional cream is necessary for serving, however, Avonmore Dessert Cream would be a welcome addition!!

Snowy Days in Copenhagen

It's been one of the mildest winters in Denmark and so the first snow we has only fallen in the last week or so.  Snowy Day activities are generally outdoor - building snowmen and igloos and sliding down hills!

However, when it's -4C and the two year old keeps taking off his gloves, resulting in bright red hands and lots of tears, it's time to find something else to occupy us both.

Shortbread is always a favourite in this house, and making it is literally child's play :)

We made Almond Shortbread - I've adapted a fantastic recipe from BBC chef Lorraine Pascale - but any number of added ingredients will work well - Lemon, Chocolate Chips, Orange....

My little one loves to use the mixer and he's pretty adept.  I find putting the bowl inside the sink helps prevent any spillage catastrophes!  

Almond Shortbread:

Preheat oven to 170C

125g Butter at room temperature

50g Golden Caster Sugar - plus extra to sprinkle

1tsp Almond Extract

50g Chopped Almonds

190g Plain Flour

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy.

Mix in the almond extract.

Add the chopped almonds and flour and fold in until combined with the butter mixture.  It will start to come together after a minute or so.

Press the mixture into a lined 8 inch tin and smooth with the back of a spoon.

Score the round into halves, halves again and halves again, making 8 triangular biscuits.  Prick the biscuits with a fork.  Bake for 30 minutes at 170C. 

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.  Sprinkle with caster sugar while still warm.

Enjoy!