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My dear friend Miranda recently got a really cool job elsewhere and had to relocate. Obviously I am very happy for her, not to mention proud, as it is such a great opportunity for her. However I really do miss her company. I am very lucky though. Before Miranda moved abroad Brian and I inherited part of her cook book collection. Miranda is excellent in the kitchen. Amongst other things she makes a Carbonara to kill for and a pork roast that would convert vegans into carnivores.

Yesterday after work I sat down with a cup of tea and one of her cookbooks to gather inspiration for some new culinary experiments. I opened the book on a random page and there it was. Staring back at me. A giant slice of banoffi pie with fluffy cream, smooth golden caramel and beautifully swirly chocolate shavings. It was like a calling from the great Goddess of Sweet tooth. So I jumped on my bike and pedalled vividly to reach the grocery shop to fill my basket with bananas, condensed milk and dark chocolate from Ghana.

Back home I got started on the base, which is the same as the one used in cheesecake recipes. Then I boiled the caramel and poured it over the base. The shiny caramel on top of the base looked so delicious. I just about managed to prevent myself from taking a spoon and attacking it. I licked the bowl though, that caramel sauce is dangerously yummy!

I want to eat you now cake!

Then I sliced the bananas which were perfectly ripe, not too soft, and tossed them in lemon juice. I tried one of the lemony bananas and oh how good they tasted. At this point it was very difficult not to eat them all. I managed to behave myself long enough to put the bananas on top of the caramel.

How about now cake?

Then it was time for the whipped cream. So white. So fluffy I’m gonna die!

Cake, can I please dig in?

Topped with another layer of lemony bananas. Delish!!!

This is not fair! I cannot stand it any longer!

I received expert help at covering the whole pie in grated dark chocolate.

Cake, come on, get in my belly!

Brian continued by topping it with cinnamon scented chocolate fairy dust.

Mmm....the sweet mix of cinnamon, chocolate and banana scent...

And finally, it is ready to eat!

I am in dessert heaven...nom, nom, nom...

To recreate this banana experience in your own home, please find the recipe below. This is a slight modification of the recipe in the book Café Classics by Kitchen Library for Marks and Spencer.

Yummy Ingredients

• 250 g Digestive biscuits
• 125 g butter, melted

• 175 g of butter
• 400 g condensed milk (one small can)
• 175 g sugar
• 4-5 bananas
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
• 150 ml whipping cream
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 50 g dark chocolate, grated
• 1/2 tbsp Whittards cinnamon hot chocolate powder (optional)

Creative Creation

Turn the biscuits into fine crumbles with the help of a food processor. Mix them with the melted butter and cover the bottom of a pie dish that is 20 cm in diameter large. Press down firmly until the surface is flat and smooth. The more you press now, the better it will stick together later. Refrigerate the base until the caramel sauce is ready.

In a small pan, mix condensed milk, sugar and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and then let it simmer over low heat until it turns golden and thickens up. This takes about 5 minutes. Stir constantly. Pour it over the base. Let the cake cool down and refrigerate it for a few hours (or over night).

Slice the bananas and mix them with 1/2 tbsp lemon juice per banana. Cover the caramel layer with bananas. Add 1 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla essence to the whipping cream and whip it. Spread it over the banana layer. Add a second layer of bananas on top of the cream and cover it with grated chocolate and cinnamon hot chocolate powder (optional).

Happy birthday Hazel, Lizzie and Chris!

Today is a gorgeous day to have a birthday! The sun has been bright and shiny since sunrise and it has been really warm. I started the morning with some sea rowing. The waves were quite big and it was quite windy so we got a good workout. Then I went home to start the production of Swedish birthday brownies (aka kladdkaka). I like putting fun little surprises in them so today’s style was toblerone and marshmallows. Does that make it a rocky road brownie?

For the basic Swedish brownie recipe to which you can add chocolates, nuts and marshmallows (or whatever you like really!) click here.

If you want to eat a really hearty meal, this is a good choice. The cider and thyme blend together in this creamy sauce and the apples add a bit of unexpected sweetness. I found it in the book My favourite recipes – delicious chicken which I picked up at a charity shop in Torquay in the south of England. It was quite rainy at the English riviera so we spent a lot of time rummaging through shops. It sure was one very well invested pound. The book also has another recipe which I am longing to make, a chicken and parsnip stew with mushrooms. The recipe for the creamy cider chicken is below, although I have slightly modified it from the original.

Yummy Ingredients
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 10 chicken portions, thighs and drumsticks
* 2 small onions or 1 large, finely chopped
* 2 small apples, cored and sliced
* 2 tbsp flour
* 350 ml cider
* 150 ml chicken stock (or water +stock cube)
* 2 bayleaves
* 2 tsp thyme
* 4 tbsp double cream
* salt & freshly ground pepper

Creative Creation
Heat the oil in a casserole and brown the chicken. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside. Fry the onion in the remaining oil until soft. Add the apple slices and cook for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and apples and cook for 1 minute. Add the cider and the chicken stock and bring it to boil. Add the bay leaves, thyme and chicken. Let it simmer for 20 minutes, covered by the lid. Add the cream and simmer without the lid for 5 minutes. Serve with rice and a side salad.

The clean program pretty much forbids you to eat all the carbohydrates that you normally eat like white rice, couscous and pasta (including wholegrain). So what is left to eat? The following: brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth and buckwheat, all gluten free. Most people have come across the two former, but what on earth are the three latter? At least I would like to know.

Apparently a healthy diet should contain three servings of whole grain which equals 55 g, which is about 6 tablespoons of brown rice or 3 slices of wholegrain toast. I am pretty sure millet, amaranth and buckwheat also fall into the wholegrain category. Therefore, detoxing or not, I figured it can only do good to learn more about what they are and how to cook them. Let me share with you what I have learnt.

Millet

If you trust everything you read you will be happy to hear that millet is super healthy and is believed to prevent esophageal, colon and breast cancer. It is cooked and eaten like rice. It can be bought online and comes out really cheap at £1.45 for 500 g. What I found really cool is that if you pan roast millet, it apparently tastes like toasted cashews! You can also eat it raw, like sprinkled over a salad for some added crunchiness. I have written the recipe for how to cook millet here. If you find millet flour you can use it in baking.

Amaranth

If millet was described as healthy, amaranth is described as an ancient Aztec superfood in this great article in Forbes. Here is a compelling list of 10 reasons why you should eat it. Amaranth can be popped into miniature popcorn, although I recommend using a very deep pan otherwise you will create the same mess as in the video. The popped amaranth can be used as a topping for salads, or as shown eaten as a snack with a spoon. I am hugely excited about this as I am a popcorn addict. It can also be cooked and eaten like rice. Amaranth is more expensive than millet, you can buy it online at about £2.50 for 500 g. I have written instructions for how to cook amaranth here.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is also considered a superfood, check out this site for a list of its many health benefits. I was trying to find a clean, filling, breakfast alternative for my hungry boyfriend who loves cereal. This seemingly delicious buckwheat granola may do the trick! Buckwheat can also be bought online and is the cheapest of the three at £1.38 for 500 g. Tesco sells it as well. Buckwheat can be prepared in many different ways, for some inspiration and instructions see this site.

I have been researching where to buy Swedish food in the UK. You can buy many things at IKEA, but they do not offer home delivery for food items which is inconvenient. Therefore I wanted to find some online Swedish food shops. Here are the ones I have found so far:

Scandinavian Kitchen: offers free delivery if you order for more than £60, otherwise delivery of non-chilled items is £3.50 and refrigerated delivery is £6.50. They also sell food from other Scandinavian countries.

Sverige Online: offers also other Swedish items such as magazines and souvenirs, but the delivery cost depends on the weight of the order which therefore can add up to quite significant amounts.

Whilst at it I also found these two online shops that sell Swedish food in the US.

Sweden’s Best: online shop which appears to deliver to all US states and to Canada, at a cost of the US postal shipping fees. As with Sverige Online this could potentially turn out to be expensive for large orders.

Anderson Butik: online shop which also delivers to all US states, which ships either with UPS or US postal service, as well as to foreign countries. The shipping cost is a percentage of the total order cost and they have a handy chart that you can look at before starting to shop.

Please let me know if you know of any other Swedish food online stores in the UK, US or elsewhere and I will try to update the list.