Hold Your Breath

On the great journey of earning my scuba diving certification, there were two trips planned. The first, a weekend in the supposedly frigid waters of Stoney Cove, and the second at Gildenburgh. Everyone told us that if we could survive our first diving experience at Stoney Cove in January, then we could dive anywhere.... I'm not sure if that includes glacier-fed Canadian lakes? Either way, wasn't as cold as I thought it would be (having swam in those glacier-fed lakes as a child in nothing but a little swimsuit) and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I have now learned that scuba diving is neither a graceful, nor an attractive sport, but its quite fun to sink to the bottom and pretend you're a mermaid....until you realize you just sat on a dead crawfish and then the whole fantasy just comes crashing down....

We do two dives a day, as you can only do so many within a certain time period to keep the nitrogen in your blood stream at a manageable level. Each dive required us to demonstrate certain skill sets, such as taking our face mask off underwater, putting it back on, and clearing the water out by essentially breathing as hard as you can out your nose. They also got us to pretend rescue other people and share air sources, should we ever get into emergency situations. We did also get to do some fun stuff, such as swimming through a double decker bus, that had been sunk in the lake to amuse lowly trainees, such as ourselves.

The weekend we spent in Gildenburgh included two days of diving, so a total of 4 dives, which were to be our last needed to complete the training. We were going to the deepest allowed depths for our level (20 m), and demonstrate more skills, but we got to see a lot more. I got to sit on the wing of a jet plane, swim through another double decker bus, play pool underwater, see sunken fish boats and cars, and get absolutely, irrevocably lost in a bloody lake. The last bit came about when I was doing my last dive with another trainee and the instructor. We trainees were required to show that we could plan and execute our own dives, as dive leaders. He was to lead the dive out, and I was to lead us back. We had planned to pick the rope underwater that led us to the deepest point, but once we got underwater, we (and when I say we... it was actually I) picked the wrong rope and ended up swimming in a straight line forever towards a crappy little yacht. We essentially failed that test because the guy leading the dive swam too far forward and lost visibility of me, so in diving terms he "left me for dead." We found this rather amusing, given that there wasn't any real danger at the time, but were still required to redo the dive to show we could actually do it without failing miserably.

The next time around we were so cautious not to bugger it all up that we got described as an "old married couple", bickering as to which rope to choose once again. And once again, I picked wrong, but thankfully the rope just took a longer route to the same destination and we kept very close tabs on one other so as not to leave anyone for dead this time. The instructor, despite laughing at our underwater bickering, passed us with flying colors...saying we were probably TOO cautious. Just can't seem to win, eh? Either way, I'm now officially certified and intend to take that certification to water that is not so frigid...

See? Attractive, eh? ;)

Muffins for You and Muffins for Me

My mom used to make raisin bran muffins when I was a kid. I would remember waiting for them to come out of the oven, so you could split them open, steam escaping, and put a sliver of butter on both sides. They were so toasty, the butter would melt immediately, but they were too quickly consumed for me to really notice. 

The last week or so, I have been really craving bran muffins, so I went out to H&B and picked up some natural bran, and decided to make some this morning. Here is the recipe I used, I cut it in half and just used a smaller egg. I also omitted the raisins (because my flat mate hates them....weirdo, I know) and put in 1/4 cup of frozen raspberries and 1/4 cup toasted almond slivers instead. I also added about 6 tsp of flaxseed. 

They came out quite good, a very nice texture, but they are not a very sweet muffin, as there is no sugar. 

Bran Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup wheat bran
1 - 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup molasses or honey
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup walnuts chopped

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Stir together the bran, flour, soda and baking powder. Stir in raisins and set aside.

Blend milk, molasses, oil and egg. Add to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.

Spoon into 12 greased muffin tins. Bake for 15 minutes or until muffins pull away from sides of cups.

Makes 12 marvelous muffins! 

Half the recipe made 6 fairly good sized muffins.

Served it up with slivers of butter (of course) and a fruit salad with yoghurt. 

Bread and Jam for Frances

I loved this book as a child. Its about a little badger who only ever wants to eat (you guessed it!) bread and jam. She wouldn't eat the soft boiled egg her mother tried to feed her at breakfast, nor the breaded veal cutlets and string beans for dinner. (But really...its veal. Cut the girl some slack.) I think the reason I loved it so much was because I could relate to Frances. I, too, was once a picky eater. You would think this would be the start of a post about more strange food I am trying, having graduated from picky eater rehab into the fearless beyond of kippers and black pudding, but actually this post is about bread. Even a bit of jam, too.

I found a recipe for muesli bread over the holidays and, having never made bread, decided I wanted to give it a try. It is a mix of rye flour, white flour, muesli (I used my favorite Dorset muesli), nuts (it calls for hazelnuts but I used a mix including brazil nuts, cashews, and almonds, as well), yeast, sugar, salt, water and olive oil.

This was the finished dough. 

Now the tricky part was coming up with an effective and unique way to keep it warm while it rose. Our kitchen is a frigid place and although I could have tucked it in the oven at a low heat (as my mother pointed out after I had concocted my master plan), I instead decided to prop it up against my radiator with a chair. Worked quite well, actually. 

Despite my fears of totally buggering it all up, the loaves turned out quite nicely! It is a somewhat dense bread, with all the oats and nuts/seeds/dried fruit and was the perfect accompaniment to my new sugar-free Blackcurrant jam from Meridian Foods. Available at my favorite health store, Holland & Barrett, this company makes the only sugar and salt free peanut butter I have been able to find (I have a massive tub of it) and a selection of jams, as well. 

The loaves turned out smaller than I expected and I think next time I may add more nuts, but overall, its a lovely recipe. A bit fluffy, crisp crust, and nicely filling. Just give me a shout if you would like the recipe as I took a picture of it from a cookbook I was reading and can send you the file. 

Decided to have breakfast for dinner and had the bread as a side to yoghurt and bananas. 

The recipe made two small loaves and two baby buns, which worked quite well too. I think next time I will try making spelt bread...or maybe irish soda bread. So many to try!

P.S While searching for an image of the book at the beginning, I happened across a blog by the same name, which has some lovely-looking salad recipes. 

What the Parsnip Said to the Butternut Squash

There was a recipe I'd found on the Riverford Organic website (remember the veggie box I got at the beginning of the year?) that I'd be hoping to try but I never seemed to have double cream on hand. Finally I went out and bought some, with the sole purpose of using it for this recipe.

Its a parsnip and butternut squash bake, and despite the name, which makes it sound rather healthy, its actually very similar to scalloped potatoes. Definitely not something to serve every week but a very rich dish that I would probably make again (but maybe I'd switch to single cream...)

Everything you need. I used half milk, half double cream and still found it ridiculously rich. Just depends how you like it, really, and you only need half the squash.

Slice em up thinly and layer them in a greased pan.

Milk/double cream/thyme/onions slowly coming to a boil.

Once the cream is ready, pour it over your layered veggies and top with cheese. I used my mature cheddar from the Wensleydale creamery. 

After about an hour or so, I used the grill to crisp up the top nicely, because everyone knows the best part of scalloped potatoes is the crispy cheese top, so I figured this wouldn't be very different. 

Serve with a leftover sweet potato biscuit, and a side of Teamwork & Development homework, and you've got yourself a party in the making. 

Sweet Potato Biscuits to the Rescue!

With the promise of having the kitchen all to myself until my flat mates return this weekend, the choice of what to make for dinner can be a bit daunting. There are several recipes I've been itching to try and the one I finally chose did not disappoint. 

I've made biscuits before but never sweet potato biscuits, let alone used wholemeal flour in my biscuits, so this was a bit of an experiment. It was a very simple recipe as I wanted one without sugar so I found a quick and easy vegan sweet potato biscuit recipe on about.com...

- 1 cup sweet potato, precooked and mashed

- 1 cup flour

- 1 tbsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mash it all together, form into 6-7 biscuits and cook in an oven preheated to 375 F for 15-20 minutes, or until done. 

Now I opted to use half wholemeal flour and half white, but next time I think I'll go 100% wholemeal. I was worried about them being too dense but after 15 minutes in the oven, these puppies were nice and doughy in the centre and ready to be served!

They have very little sweet potato flavor so even if you're not a fan of my orange little friends, I'd still recommend giving these a try. All the potato does is keep them soft (and turn them a lovely light pumpkin color.) They do also taste a bit flour-y but I happen to like my biscuits that way so it worked out well for me!

Served em up with a little leftover butternut squash soup from the freezer (with a dollop of yoghurt or sour cream, of course) and sauteed spinach with pine nuts and raisins. To be honest I probably could have just ate the biscuits (but everything else was good too.)

A Note on Jacket Potatoes

Firstly, happy new year everyone! I hope you all made some resolutions you don't intend to keep and sang Auld Lang Syne drunkenly 15 minutes past midnight because you all buggered up and got the time wrong.

Secondly, the last several days I've had a odd craving to try a jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn mayo on it. Must've seen it on a menu of some dirty little chip shop and my brain thought, hey, that sounds tasty. So today, I decided to give it a go.

Now, jacket potatoes, for those Canadians out there, are really just baked potatoes with random crap thrown on em. Random crap traditionally being baked beans and cheese or could be chili con carne, or just about anything really. Just google 'Jacket Potato fillings' for some very long lists of ideas.

Tuna sweetcorn (canned tuna, canned sweetcorn, mayo, salt, pepper) seems to be more typically a sandwich filling here but I felt like a potato so I googled the best way to bake a potato, which it turns out, is at about 200 degree celcius for just over an hour, with a scrubbed potato that's been lightly covered in olive oil to get it all crispy on the outside. Slice that baby open then plop on your toppings and you're good to go.

Feeling as though I should probably include some veggies to round it out, I tossed together a bit of a salad with a lemon vinaigrette (lemon juice, olive oil, thyme, salt, pepper, whole grain mustard) and there you have it - a meal fit for a.... er...well...student.