Holiday Stocking Stuffers

It's that time of year again. It's the season of indulging in holiday meals (hello, mashed potatoes!), sharing gifts with loved ones, attending holiday parties, and enjoying quality time with friends and family. When it comes to holiday gifts, that old saying that the best gifts come in small packages rings true. I love stylish accessories, beauty products, and jewelry as stocking stuffers because they allow the recipient to add a special finishing touch to their look. Whether it's a furry pom pom bag charm, a personalized pendant, or an animal print scarf, there are endless gifts that exude personality and charm (like this cute cat mug for $20) without draining your wallet. Below are ten of my favorite stocking stuffers under $130 plus other options under $35.
Holiday 2015 Stocking Stuffers gift ideas, holiday 2015 gift guide under $150
1. Smashbox 'step by step' contour kit, $45
2. Toms 'Dalston' 52mm sunglasses, $78
3. Wool blend beanie, $12.99
4. Kate Spade initial pendant locket necklace, $68
5. Faux fur pom pom charm, $15
6. Bow sequin pouch, $9.99
7. Artemis ear crawlers, $50
8. Animal print scarf, $6.99
9. UGG suede gloves, $79.99
10. Fit Bit activity and sleep tracker, $129.95
More ideas under $35:
$28.00
$20.00
$24.00
$25.00
$8.00
$10.00

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW - MESSY, MAGAZINE AND MOROTSKAKA

Trying to figure out what to wear today.
Everything is a mess at home and it seems I have somehow managed to magically hide away all my autumn clothes. The agony of living at two addresses.

But there has been times that it was not messy at home. Proof of that in the latest issue of Glorian Koti for example, where there is a short feature on the farm house. The pictures were taken a year ago.

 Breakfast.

Includes this too.
Carrot-zuccini-date cake (=breakfast worthy.) Not sure if it's very good or just ok; the price you pay when you never measure and just randomly throw things in a pot and stir and bake. After a night in the fridge this could be quite chunky though.

SUNDAY BAKING: QUICK VEGAN BANANA CHOCOLATE CAKE

I run one of those households that often (or well, always) ends up with a banana or two turned so ripe they're too yucky to eat. But they can happily go in a cake!

So today we decided to bake one with Dag; a quick banana based chocolate cake that is - for being a cake, -not too unhealhty. Kids can easily participate here as things like getting to mash banana is fun and easy to do, and with a big enough bowl not necessarily even that messy.

It's a cake easily altered, for example, I add some more spices to this during the colder season.

You will need:
3 ripe banans
around 50g of dried dates + a hint of water
1dl coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1-1,5 dl cocoa
3 dl spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 dl oil  - I use coconut oil
(+ a dash of cinnamon)

Now, to make the easy things hard, or at least a bit more confusing for you: I have made this with four small bananas and with just two bananas and both versions work as well. The more banans the less dates you need, so when I had four banana-nanas I used just five dates. Also adjut the amount of cocoa powder to your own taste; 1,5 dl of cocoa makes the  rather dark and strong so you can go with less if that suits you better. I have also made this without the soda and it turned out fine. I you don't care about it being vegan or not you will get a nice cake by using butter instead of oil too (and you can of course toss in an egg for more fluffyness but then again that is already another cake). For more spices try some ginger and clover and perhaps a little cardamom.

First,  pre-heat the oven to 200c. Chop the dates and put them in a pan with a hint of water so it covers the dates, and heat up. Let it boil for a little while so you get a sticky paste. Add a little water if needed so the dates don't burn.

Mash the bananas with a fork or a masher. Add the sugar and cocoa, then the date-mass, then flour and finally the oil (in a runny state). Put in a greased cake mold (or fold it with baking paper).

I don't think the batter on this one is very good raw (which is a good thing, because that means more cake later) but Dag was eager to lick the bowl.

Bake for 35-50 minutes in 200C, depending on your oven and the size of your mold. Try it with a stick and take out to cool.

You can eat this warm, as it is or with ice cream. I prefer it after a day or two in the fridge.
Pimp it up with salted peanuts (no that's not crazy!), jam or with a bunch of cherries and some chocolate coconut cream  frosting!

RAW MANGO CHEESECAKE

Spring is here, Easter around the corner, pretty much all food featured anywhere is yellow.

So I am not going to be any worse - here's a yellow cake suitable for the season! (Or at any other time of the year, of course.)

You will need:


A couple of mangoes, cashews, pecan nuts and almonds, lemon juice, dried dates, dried pricots and cocoa butter.

This recipe makes for a rather small cake, 20-25cm in diameter.

Let the apricots and dates soak for about 10-15minutes in water so that they soften up.
I used six (small) apricots and 2 dates.

Make the crust first. Mix almonds and pecans in a mixer; I used 1,5dl of both. You can use just pecans too if you so like (and perhaps live somewhere where pecans are not ridiculously expensive). You don't need to mix them all smooth, leave a little crunch. Add the apricots and dates plus a pinch of salt and mix.


Press the crust out in a baking mold. Add a baking paper or plastic film if the mold does not have detachable edges. I usually put a bit of baking paper in the bottom anyway.

Put the crust the fridge while you make the filling.


First start by puttig the cocoa butter, 1-2 tbs, to melt in a cup or glass placed in a bowl with hot water.

Mix 200g cashews along with some squeezed lemon juice in the mixer (about half a lemon). You can add a few drops of lemon more after a while to make the mixing easier. Use a spatula to push down any cashew crumbs that rise along the edges of the mixing bowl. The mixture has to be very, very smooth. It has to be all smooth before you add anything else; you can not "go back a step with this one".  The mix will start forming a ball when it is ready.


Slice one mango and add it in pieces. Mix smooth.
If you want you can add in a spoon of honey or agave (or some sweetener of your choice), but it will be fine without.


When the cocoa butter has become liquid (add some more hot water to the bowl if it has not yet melted), pour it in a thin string while mixing. Mix for a while so the cocoa butter blends in well.
The cocoa butter is used for firming the filling. You could also do this with coconut oil.

Take a couple of slices of the other mango and put it in the mixer with the filling. Mix for a while so the mango gets a bit chopped up and mixed in, but it does not need to dissolve completely.
(Use the rest of the mango for decoration on the cake or just go ahead and eat it while you wait for the cake to be ready.)


Take out the crust and pour the fill on. Put in the fridge for a couple of hours or in the freezer for about half an hour before serving.

Then enjoy!



Next time I think I will take some bits of dried mango and grate in on top of the cake for some extra mango-ness!

The cake will stay fresh some 3-4 days when kept cool.

CHRISTMAS AND ALL THAT

I know it has not really begun yet * although it is just around the corner, and we had the first little hint of snow now, so I did a little cheating and hung up the first Christmas lights at home already! November is so dark anyway, but I did wait with the stars and advent lights so far though. Plus, I have different led-and fairy lights at home all year round so in some ways I sort of have a Christmas all the time (much to the joy of my husband).
*) other than in all the stores, everywhere,  right after Halloween as usual and apparently, as I heard, at Ikea already in October...


Then, because I had some extra banans hanging around (they sometimes tend to do that, become extras that just stay there and turn way too dark all of a sudden) I baked a chocolate-banana cake. Vegan.  It was good. Had it wit the first glögg (mulled wine/glühwein. Altough -yes really- this was the wine free version. More like spiced warm juice  really) of the year to go along. And as I was in the pre-Christmas mood I put some gingerbread spices in the cake too. Muy bueno. We can have a closer look on the how-to some other time.

I have said it before, I really am a Christmas person. The Holidays could last for at least a month and a half for all that I care. Well it usually does, as we seldom manage to get the Christmas tree out before the end of January. Ehrm. But mostly I am a "Christmas person" on the inside - for the past decade I have always been so busy I never manage to do that whole cal-getting-in-the-mood-and-relax-thing, where I have lights and candles and tingling everywhere and bake and make goodies for weeks and make and sew presents to all of my friends and family (one year I actually did, but that was a long time ago). It's more the thought of it I suppose, the same with the thought of autumn where I always wear knits and scarves and go out on walk in colourful crispy cold woods and come back home and drink cocoa. That which I have done perhaps once the last five years. Perhaps.  As with most other things and times and seasons in life, it comes surprisingly fast and is over before you know it. This year will be no different as I have lots of shows to do and classes to teach ahead of me still, and producing no less than two events within two weeks. But then I will try my best to take it easy and bake and prepare and all that and plan, make and shop gifts; I do love to hand out presents!

Speaking of which. This one here is mainly for my readers in Finland; a little hint if you plan to do some, or even some more of your Christmas shopping online, one that I had almost forgotten about myself but that comes in handy this time of year - do so via Ostohyvitys! Sign up and shop. This of course applies to all your purchases all year round as well, as you get various discounts (money refunded to your bank account) at most major online stores, both Finnish and international ones such as Apple Online store & iTunes, asos, cdon, Finnish Design Shop and The Body Shop to name a few, as well as at various smaller speciality stores, when you shop via the site. That, and discounts on many services and on magazine-subscriptions and at several travel companies etc. The system is very smart and it is easy to use - log in and then navigate to the store you want to make a purchase from and receive the discount in euros to your bonus account (and later to your bank account ). Well, as I do very little shopping nowadays I have forgotten to use the service the times I have actually bought something, so this serves as a good reminder for myself as well!

And ahoy! As a reader of my blog you will now get a 10euro gift card to use at any of the S-group stores (S-ryhmä) when you sign up and make your first purchase at any of the stores and services via the site (within 90 days).
Sign up here for more info and in order to receive the gift card: Ostohyvitys / S-ryhmän lahjakortti

Disclaimer: nothing in this post is in any way sponsored or paid for by Ostohyvitys but I am part of their affiliate network and can thus offer you the chance of to receive the gift card.

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW: CAKE AND MUSCLES AND LIVING ROOM DANCING

Sunday. Humid and misty outside, warm and cosy inside. Inspite of that I made it out for a late morning run. Brrr.

Then I cleaned up a long-coveted family item of mine, and old chess-table that now found it's way to the farmhouse. A closer look on it some other time.

Did some work on a set of pictures I took for a sports team's calendar that they are making to raise money. It was quite hilarious to do.

Took a break from the abs and baked a mud cake with lingonberries to take along when popping by for afternoon coffee at Eddi's brother's at the other house on the farm.

But first Dag wanted to do some dancing to whatever was on the radio, and so we did.

FRESH APPLE CAKE WITH CINNAMON

Then apple season came and went by. We picked apples and I made apple mash and apple marmalade and apple cakes... and then decided I wanted to try out something different and new - which turned into a raw food apple cake!

I used almonds and sunflower seeds for the crust but you can make this with just either one, or hazelnuts and walnuts for example. I used one of this dried pressed packs of dates (250g) that I soaked in water; 2/3 for the crust and 1/3 for the filling.


For the curst:
4dl almonds
2 dl sunflower seeds
200g  dates
a handful (about 0,5dl) dried apple bits, soaked

Filling:
2 dl cahsews
3-4tsp cinnamon
1tbs melted cocoa butter or 2-3tbs coconut oil
100g dates
7 small apples

The apples on our trees over here are rather small so 2-3 equals one store bought regular sized one.


Mix the nuts and add the dates and the apple bits. Press the curst out in a cake mold (I put baking paper underneath to get it out easily), then proceed to make the filling.


Mix the cashews smooth. You can add a few drops of the water you soaked the dates or dried apple in, (or some apple juice) after a while for easier mixing. Then, add the cinnamon and the dates in small portions. Pour in the cocoa butter (or coconut oil; you won't taste the coconut); this will firm the filling once you let it cool afterwards. Chop the apples (peeled or unpeeled, your choice) and add the bits to the mixer. Pour the filling in the crust, smooth out and let the cake cool for an hour or two before serving.

Enjoy with a cup of fruity tea or coffee. Or some apple lemonade!

RAW CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

I had the idea to use the "magic chocolate mousse" for a cake for a long time, and this summer I got around making one first version of it!

The cake did not turn out super-perfect,  but it was one step int he right direction, and was highly approved by the ones sharing it. A bunch of kids also had this and they were totally fooled, thinking they were eating “conventional” chocolate cake. Ta-da!

I make a lot of raw food cakes and bars and goodies. I do bake a lot of sweets in the oven too, somewhat healthy and then not so healthy, vegan and non-vegan as well. With raw food I like the fact that you can make something taste totally chunkadelic while it is still basically full of only healthy ingredients. (Raw food cakes are of course not light in calories, with lots of nuts and seeds and dried fruit, but you also tend to eat less of those as they are rather heavy. And, for most people they still don’t make you feel as stuffed as after having ‘normal’ cake). Sometimes healthier versions of the "real thing" mostly taste good only because you tell yourself it does, but with raw sweets I don't think that is the case; they taste just as good, sometimes in their own way, sometimes in the same way as with butter and sugar.

Most of the time when I cook and bake I add things a little so-so, making it up as I go along or working from memory. I think it works well especially for raw food sweets, as it is the texture that counts, and dried fruit may vary in consistence. But lately I’ve been trying to write down amounts as many don’t like to play around with measurements the way I do. Here’s how this version turned out and what it consumed:

I made a crust using nuts, seeds and dried prunes(plums).

3 dl of sunflower seeds and 70g of nuts (I had walnuts) and 12 plums.

I like walnuts in the crust for raw food pies, they make a good base.)

Sunflower seeds give a full, kind of butter-like feel to the dough. I have made raw brownies using only sunflower seeds as I was serving it to a person with nut-allergies. it works very well.

Most raw food sweets contains dates in different form. If you grow tired of them you can try using other dried fruit instead, plums, figs or apricots etc. I love dates, but sometimes change them, mostly just for variation in recipes. These plumes were not very sweet so I added a spoon of coconut sugar.

Then in with 1,5dl of coconut oil and 2dl of cocoa powder. -personally I think regular powder works as well as raw - and a little hint of good salt.

I personally think this recipe will work better with cashews tor almonds han walnuts, as cashews are more mild. So I will opt for such in the version to come. The cocoa together with the walnuts made it rather bitter;  I came to the conclusion that  walnuts works better in a crust without cocoa. I will also try to make the next version with dates anyway, or a mix of dates and plums for more sweetness. But many will prefer a less sweet version, so stick with the plums and walnuts then. 

Press out the crust in a non-stick cake mold (or place a baking paper underneath).

Put it in the fridge to firm up while you make the fillings.

The first filling will be the instant marmalade. I made mine of raspberries, red wineberries and dates. About 1,5 dl of berries and 3 dates.

Mash and mix it together and spread it over the cake.

The second fill/ topping is a variation on the magic chocolate mousse, the whole idea of the cake. I have started to add half a banana to it, as sometimes the avocado tastes trough and makes the mousse taste too “green”. For an even smoother mousse I also add creamed coconut.

Here’s what goes in it:

1 ripe avocado

1 ripe banana

20 dates

8 tbs cocoa

1-1,5dl creamed coconut

Creamed coconut is not the same as coconut cream; it is firm as a paste.

Spread the topping out on the cake and put the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Raw cakes are said to not, like many other cakes, not get ay better by waiting over night or so, but in this case I still felt the cake tasted better the second day!

I might try this with a pale crust (dates and walnuts), no berry filling and fresh fruit on top instead the next time. And then I am sort of dreaming of making a triple chocolate version with a dark crust, this chocolate mousse filling but sans the coconut cream, saving that for the third topping; he coconut-chocolate one I used for my raw muffins.  But we’ll get back to those once the experiments have been conducted!

BANANA-PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

 Here are some quick soft cookies I've made a couple of rounds of the past weeks! They're a somewhat healthy option to serve along other cakes at a party but also functions well as an afternoon snack or to put in the picnic basket.

 You will need:
2 very ripe bananas
2dl dark sugar of your choice (for example coconut- or muscovado sugar)
1,5- 2dl peanut butter
2 dl rolled oats
4dl spelt flour (or flour of your own preference)
a hint of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mash the bananas and add in the sugar (I use coconut sugar which actually isn't sugar but dried nectar from the coconut flower. It sounds very pretentious I know.).

 Then add peanut butter and the rest of the ingredients.  The dough is pretty thick.

I've used both store bought peanut butter (organic, with peanuts plus hint of salt only, no extras) for these, and self made*.

Scoop out the dough with a spoon on baking paper and flatten with a moist spoon or moist hands.


Bake in a 225C oven for about 8-12 minutes until the cookies have risen a bit and got a slightly darker colour. Let cool a little while (or a lot) before eating.

I am pretty sure these would work without the baking soda as well - they will most likely turn out a little more compact - so I will try that the next time!


*) You can make your own peanut butter by mixing peanuts in a mixer forever. Either of raw peanuts or roasted; I mini-roasted mine for a few minutes in the oven when I was preheating it for baking at around 200C until they let some oil out. You can mix them when warm but not while they are hot. Mix for a minute or two at the time and take a break in between so that your machine does not over heat. The peanuts will first turn into flour and then slowly start forming a paste after about ten minutes of mixing. Add a little oil -peanut oil if you have, I used coconut oil. No it will not make the peanut butter taste like coconut oil - while mixing and some good salt, perhaps something sweet too if you prefer (I put about a teaspoon of coconut sugar). Or cocoa if you want chocolate peanut butter! Mix for a few minutes more and your butter is done!  Store cool in an air tight jar. How much you use  of each ingredient is up to you; I pour out peanuts to cover about 3/4 of a regular oven tray and for such an amount I added around 2 tbs of the oil.

DAG'S CAKE - A QUICK ALMOND AND FRUIT CAKE

Here's a quick cake I made for Dag', not for his birthday actually but for his name's day some time ago.

The original recipe uses apples and marzipan (or, actually almond mass, which is almost the same) but I made my own by mixing almonds and sugar; then you can choose how sweet you want it, and added nectarines and strawberries.  I used so called Indian Sugar which is a little bit healthier than regular, white sugar. (I would have done this with coconut sugar but didn't have any at home). The cake is basically just marzipan and eggs. So it's gluten free for those who can't have it. We buy our eggs directly from an organic farm.

You will need:
3 eggs
300 grams of marzipan store bought/home made
2 nectarines
Fresh strawberries

Mix the almonds with the eggs in a kitchen mixer or by hand, using a fork at first and then a wooden spoon.

Pour the mix in a cake mold and decorate with thin slices of nectarine.

Bake in a 200C oven for 10-15 minutes.

 Let cool and decorate with fresh, chopped strawberries.
(See the small impatient hands in the background, waiting to grab the cake. Aaaw.)

Serve with something white with vanilla - I mixed some real vanilla with thick Turkish yoghurt.

And enjoy!

I'm thinking a version with our sugar, with an almond-date mix instead could work too.
I would also like to make a vegan version out of this, perhaps with some soy yoghurt instead of the eggs. Let's see what I come up with!