A healthy start to the year

In early January I embarked on a knitting project, perhaps the first serious knitting I've done since 2014. I used to be able to knit whilst watching television but I must be out of practice. Either that or I am currently just watching things with subtitles and/or complicated plot lines, because I'm just not managing to combine the two. Or should I say, three, since there is invariably also a cat on my lap either wanting attention or trying to 'catch' my wool. It is for this reason that I have nothing yet worth sharing.

Meanwhile, I have begun the year trying to be more healthy. This means preparing food to take to work and so keeping me away from the, usually not-so-healthy, temptations of the cafe below my office. This has meant Sunday cook-ups of soup and snacks. Last week's snack was a delicious Apple and Raisin Quinoa Slice and I've just made some nut and date energy bars.

To make these, place 250g pitted dates, a 100g mixture of raisins and nuts of your choice, 50g cornflakes or gluten-free equivalent, and 50g nut butter of your choice into a food processor.

Blitz for a few minutes until everything is beginning to form a paste.

Line a 450g loaf tin with clingfilm and sprinkle with 1.5 tablespoons of sesame seeds before pressing the mixture into the tin and pressing down well. Sprinkle over another 1.5 tablespoons of sesame seeds before wrapping the clingfilm over the top and chilling until firm.

Slice into about 10 bars and place in an airtight container.

The sesame seeds give a wonderful crunch.

Meanwhile, I came across this article about gut health. Already a fan of kefir, which I have with nuts, seeds and fruit for breakfast, I was keen to try something else. And with dense, pale green cabbages arriving regularly in the veg box at the moment, attempting Sauerkraut seemed like a good place to start.

The recipe calls for 2kg of cabbage and makes 2 litres of sauerkraut. I opted to make just half as I'm conscious that it may go horribly wrong or I may not be that keen on the end result. 

Let me assure you, finely shredding 1kg of cabbage creates a lot of shredded cabbage! It says to place in a non-metallic bowl and 'massage' in the salt. I ended up using my largest plastic mixing bowl and my largest glass salad bowl to mix my meagre 1kg. I think I would have had to resort to a bucket if I'd opted to make the full recipe!

I was also worried that it wouldn't fit into the 1litre jar but I just kept packing it in. The key is to keep the cabbage fully submerged in the brine, which it produces itself. Any cabbage left sticking out of the liquid will go mouldy and contaminate the whole jar, so I'm going to be watching it like a hawk for the next week as it slowly begins to ferment. To say that I'm nervous about the whole venture would be an understatement.

My next blog post will either be a tale of woe - mouldy cabbage or of the jar exploding in the cupboard followed by an enormous clean-up exercise - or I'll be showing you pictures of delicious sauerkraut and, hopefully, making you all want to rush off and make some of your own. I really hope it will be the latter.