Tag Archives: Honey

Hardcore Hobbit: Fruit Roll

Posted on September 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

What an exciting week! I was successful at completing the first phase of my training, so I am now a certified pilates instructor. Boldly going where no geek has gone before. Now Isengard is live on LOTRO!! Woot! I myself don’t get to play yet because all this schooling means very little gaming money right now. Can’t go running off and buying it yet. Still all this exciting stuff deserves cake…it deserves hardcore hobbit cake. In the game the fruit roll is made of honey, blackberries, and barley flour. ! It also gives that boost of will power that we all need. This to me says lemon cake with a blackberry cream cheese filling. Shall we?

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup honey or splenda
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
  • 1 tbl fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 blackberries, fresh or thawed
  • 2 tbl light strawberry cream cheese
  1. Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
  2. In another bowl combine the eggs, water, lemon rind, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix until all one colour. Add the honey or splenda and mix until smooth.
  3. Add the liquids to the well in the flour. Add the dry around the sides of the well to the liquids until smooth.
  4. Grease a jelly roll pan very well, for extra care line with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out evenly.
  5. Bake at 350F for 10-15 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure it is done. Immediately loosen the cake from the pan and upend onto a clean tea towel. Roll the cake gently like a jelly roll using the towel. Allow to cool.
  6. Combine the blackberries and cream cheese. I don’t get to worried about a smooth texture. I think its more fun to have little pockets of cream cheese and berry. Unroll the cake. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the cake giving about an inch of space from the edges.
  7. Roll the cake back up carefully. Slice into 16 pieces and serve!

Each slice contains (with honey) 91 calories, 1 gram fat, 19.8 gram carbs, .4 gram fibre, and 1.8 grams protein. With splenda each slice contains 43 calories, 1 gram fat, 8 grams carbs, .3 gram fibre, and 1.8 grams protein. Sure you can frost this cake but with the way that cream cheese berry filling is you really don’t need the extra calories and fat to enjoy.

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Posted in Comfort Foods, Craving Buster, Dessert, The Hardcore Hobbit

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Hardcore Hobbit: Blackberry Jam

Posted on August 31, 2011 | Leave a comment

This tasty jam can certainly be enjoyed in a variety of ways. This is an ingredient recipe in LOTRO. According to the game it is made with blackberries, water, and mixed spice. This then goes on to be the ingredient for so many other hardcore hobbit recipes. I can’t wait! I have been anxiously watching our blackberry bushes all summer. You won’t believe how busy the bees were! Now we have oodles of blackberries and the first thing that absolutely had to be made was this blackberry jam. I like the tartness of the berry so I did not add much sugar at all. If you like a sweeter jam you may want to add more than I did. With the success of this basic jam I am definitely going back to make more. I think the next will be a blackberry lavender jam and a blackberry passionfruit jam. Num! Definitely harvest season around here.

  • 4 cups crushed blackberries
  • 1 cup unsweetened apple juice (I made my own by juicing a few fuji apples)
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp light cooking margarine
  • 1 pkg no sugar needed pectin (I call it insurance in case my apple juice doesn’t come through)
  • 1 cup sweetener of choice (I used splenda but honey would be divine)
  • 4 small canning jars
  1. Boil the jars, lids, and seals to sterilize and prep for the jam. Keep them hot until ready for filling.
  2. Strain 2 or 3 cups of the berries to remove the seeds. Blend the strained liquid with the remaining crushed berries in a pot.
  3. Add the apple juice, margarine, cinnamon, and cloves to the berries.
  4. Stir in the pectin until dissolved.
  5. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Add the sweetner of choice.
  6. Stir constantly while boiling for 3 minutes then remove from heat.
  7. One at a time remove jars from the hot liquid, ladle in the jam, leaving about 1/2 inch from the top. Wipe the rim clean. Top with the sealing disk. Screw down the top. Repeat for the rest of the jars.
  8. Return the filled jars to the boiling water, make sure the jars are covered by atleast an inch of water. Boil for 10 minutes or longer if you are at higher altitudes.
  9. Remove the jars from the water without tilting them. Allow to sit upright and undisturbed for 24 hours.

Makes 4 250 ml jars. 1 tbl of jam sweetened with splenda is 7 calories, .1 gram fat, .5 gram fibre, 2.1 carb, and .1 gram protein. 1 tbl of jam sweetened with honey is 22 calories, .1 gram fat, .5 gram fibre, 5.7 carbs, and .1 gram protein. Contains all the num needed to last through winter for two hungry hobbits.

 

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Posted in Breakfast, Comfort Foods, Craving Buster, Ingredient, Sidedish, Snack, The Hardcore Hobbit

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Garlic Scape Vinaigrette

Posted on June 22, 2011 | 2 comments

A good wander over to the farmers market yielded these tasty little gems called garlic scapes or garlic greens. These are basically the flower stem of a garlic bulb. They give you that garlic flavour without too much garlic bite. They have a really short season though so grab them when you can! They do freeze nicely though. I love garlic dressings, my mom makes a Croatian salad that I just adore that has a lovely simple garlic dressing. In my opinion the bitier the better. For those who want milder garlic joy though a garlic scape dressing would definitely be the way to go.

  • 3 garlic scapes or more, chopped
  • 1 cup vinegar of choice (in this version I used malt)
  • 1 tbl extra virgin avocado oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tsp honey
  1. Add the ingredients to a blend and blend until smooth.

I love how simple salad dressing can be! Makes 8 servings (2 tbl each). Each serving contains 19 calories, 1.1 gram fat, no fibre, no protein, 3 grams carbs. Aren’t those the best salad dressing nutritionals ever? It doesn’t take much to go far with this dressing. Now that salad season is upon us this is definitely the time to hit the farmer’s market and get those ingredients to start making your own dressings and salads!

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Posted in Dinner, Ingredient, Lunch, Sidedish

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Hardcore Hobbit: Bowl of Oatmeal

Posted on June 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

According to LOTRO this simple breakfast dish is delicious and satisfying. I’ll say! I had this for breakfast and I’ve been full for hours. I love having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast on a cloudy morning. Especially when I do it up like this. No boring oatmeal for me. I like to throw as much nutritional num in there as possible. In the game a bowl of oatmeal is made with a bottle of water, honey, and a bunch of oats. As usual I take it a bit further than that. The nuts I put in add this satisfying texture and omega 3. The fruit helps you along with those servings you should be trying to get in each day. Then the fibre! The whole combination to me tastes like a breakfast fruit crumble. Did I mention it is super quick and easy to make? Epic win.

  • 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1/2 cup applesauce of choice (I like strawberry kiwi unsweetened from Motts)
  • 1 tbl chopped walnuts
  • 1 tsp honey
  1. Combine the oats, walnuts and water in a bowl. Microwave for 1 1/2 minute on high. Cover and allow to sit for 2 minutes.
  2. Stir in the applesauce.
  3. Drizzle the honey on top. It will melt and glaze the top. Enjoy!

Serves 1. Contains 230 calories, 6.7 grams fat, 39.5 grams carbs, 6.3 grams fibre, 5.5 grams protein. Remember a solid breakfast helps you fight orcs and cravings later in the day.

 

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Posted in Breakfast, Comfort Foods, Craving Buster, The Hardcore Hobbit

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Teriyaki Beef Stirfy

Posted on June 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

I have mentioned my love of japanese food right? Let’s talk about it some more then, shall we? I find japanese food to be such a comfort. In fact, when I was in getting some blood work done (which I’m a total wuss about) I mentioned it to the nurse when she was asking about my most comforting foods to distract me. Talking food keeps me conscious…is that an obsession? She was honestly surprised. Especially, when I mentioned it was sushi first, then teriyaki, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about the world. She expected to hear mac and cheese or perhaps some sort of pot pie. Nope, if the world has let me down bring me sushi, teriyaki, and green tea….stat! In case of emergency break out the green tea ice cream.

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce (separated into 1/4 cup amounts)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tbl honey (separated into 1 tbl portions)
  • 1 tbl dry sherry
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tbl minced shallot
  • 1 tbl cornstarch
  • 8 ounces lean beef steak
  • 1 cup broccoli
  1. Slice the beef thinly and place in a plastic bag and cover with 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 1 tbl of honey. Allow to marinate for atleast 4 hours, overnight is perfection.
  2. Remove the beef from the marinade. Discard marinade.
  3. Heat the pan or wok to medium high. Toss in the garlic and shallot and stir around for about 30 seconds. Add the beef and cook until almost done.
  4. Meanwhile, combine the remaining soy sauce, honey, water, cornstarch and sherry until smooth. Set aside.
  5. Add the broccoli to the beef with a sprinkle of water. This will give off a bit of steam for the broccoli to cook just slightly. I like my Broccoli barely cooked, if you like more add a bit more water and a bit more cooking time.
  6. Add the sauce and cook until thickened. Serve!

Serves 2 generous portions. Each serving contains 240 calories, 4.6 grams fat, 18.6 grams carbs, 1.7 grams fibre, and 29.4 grams protein. Great on rice or noodles to complete that take out japanese experience.

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Posted in Comfort Foods, Dinner

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Hardcore Hobbit: Hornblower’s Pie

Posted on March 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Holly Hornblower certainly does make one tasty pie. In the game she uses that fabulous pie crust and blueberry pie filling. Blueberry pie filling takes honey and blueberries. Well, I decided to add a bit of naughty to this pie. Blueberries are awesome with a bit of spice so after taking a sniff of the chai tea I was thinking of having with this pie, I added some chai inspired spices right in that filling. The end result is a tasty venture away from the same old blueberry pie…perhaps this is why those Hornblower pies are in such high demand! The unspoiled ones ofcourse. I had a lot of fun making the topper design for this pie too. We figured it takes a village to make a pie this tasty…so we put the village on the pie. Buahaha. More fun than lattice work and my husband came up with scandalous stories for some of the residents of this pie. Tsk, tsk some hobbits.

  • 1 Hardcore Hobbit Pie Crust (instead of vanilla extract use lemon extract if you can)
  • 2 1/2 cup blueberries (frozen works just fine too)
  • 2 tbl honey
  • 2 tbl cornstarch
  • 1 cardamom pod, ground
  • 5 cloves, ground
  1. Prepare crust, roll out and place in pie pan. Cut off excess. Use the excess to make a cute topper for the pie.
  2. Combine the blueberries, honey, cornstarch and spices in a pot. Heat on low until the honey melts and coats the blueberries easily. Do not let those blueberries lose their shape!
  3. Pour the filling into the pie shell. Top with topper of your choice. Bake at 375F for 40-50 minutes.

Isn’t pie just fantastic? Especially a healthy pie like this. This pie serves 8. Each serving contains 147 calories, 3.7 grams of fat, and 1.7 grams of fibre. The filling itself is just 98 calories, no fat, and 1.2 grams of fibre for those who decide to use a different crust.

Oh the humanity! Especially delicious with a low fat whipped cream topping of choice. Sooo good.

 

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Posted in Comfort Foods, Dessert, Ingredient, Snack, The Hardcore Hobbit

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Beef Bulgogi

Posted on February 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

When I was in my second year of university this korean restaurant opened. I was absolutely delighted. Korean food was something you had to get out to Toronto to have for the longest time before that. My mom’s favourite dish is the ever popular Bi Bim Bop but for me I have to say it’s the bulgogi. I’m still amused by the childhood memory of my mom talking about getting some bim bop and seriously thinking she had made up such a fun sounding dish. Sure, korean food is everywhere now but it can still be pretty high in fat and calories. You shouldn’t have to give up healthy food just to have those fun korean dishes. Ofcourse, I’m in no way traditional this is just my attempt.

  • 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbl honey
  • 3 garlic cloves, pressed
  • 4 green onions, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
  • 1 tsp ground pepper
  • 300 grams sirloin cut thinly into stir fry strips
  • 5 cup savoy cabbage, sliced
  • 1 tbl toasted sesame seeds
  1. Combine the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, garlic and pepper in a large bowl. Add the beef strips, stir until well coated. Allow to marinate atleast 4 hours, overnight is best.
  2. Heat a wok or frying pan to medium. Add cabbage and 2 tbl of water. Stir fry until soft, usually just a few minutes.
  3. Heat the pan to medium high. Spray the pan, remove the meat from it’s marinade and add to the wok. Don’t cook in the sauce just yet or the meat won’t have the greatest consistency. Stir fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the sauce, cabbage, and onions. Cook for 2 more minutes. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Doesn’t take much to get your bulgogi on does it? Serves 4. Each serving contains 242 calories, 7.3 grams of fat, and 3.6 grams of fibre. This is great served on rice. Like your bulgogi a bit hotter? I highly recommend adding some of that chili garlic sauce to your marinade at the beginning. You know, the one with the rooster on it. Num!!

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Posted in Comfort Foods, Dinner

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Hardcore Hobbit: Honey Cake

Posted on November 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

I have been eyeing this honey cake in game for awhile. I love honey, I love cake (especially when it is delicious and moist and game related. The cake is a lie.). O.k. so the cake isn’t a lie this time. It is delicious and moist though. The batter is too…yes, I engaged in illicit bowl licking. It’s honey!!!! In the game the honey cake calls for clover honey, ball of dough, and mixed spice.

  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup light cooking margarine
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  1. Combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda in a bowl.
  2. Cut in the margarine until you have a coarse meal.
  3. Beat in the honey, egg, and applesauce until well blended.
  4. Pour into a loaf pan and bake at 375F for 50-55 minutes. Once that knife test comes clean you are done!

This looks really pretty when you dust it with confectioners sugar. Makes 12 servings. Each serving contains 153 calories, 2 grams of fat, and 1.1 gram of fibre. This is an awesome dense cake and can be used in the place of pound cake for some desserts.

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Posted in Dessert, The Hardcore Hobbit

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