RUMBLE-TUMMY TEA

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fenchel_anis_kuemmel_tee

Is there a rumble in your tummy?

Feeling bloated, did you eat something too heavy, or are you having gases? There is no necessity to go for stuff like “Gas X”. Have this simple mixture at home and your tummy (and that of your baby) will feel relieved within 1 hour.

RUMBLE-TUMMY TEA

Mix equal parts:

Fennel seeds (Fenchel)

Caraway seeds (Kümmel)

Anise seeds

Mix to equal parts. Prepare a tee of 2 Tsp of this mixture with 1 cup (250 ml) boiling water. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain through a sieve and drink warm.

PERFECT STUFFED ROASTED TURKEY

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turkey

 

It’s turkey feast season (not only for Thanksgiving) !! It does take a while but it is actually only waiting time and it is soooo worth it! With this recipe you will be the Superhero of your next diner party!

PERFECT STUFFED ROASTED TURKEY

1 whole Turkey (count 1/2 kg per person)

½ cup olive oil

1 Tbsp of each rosemary, sage and  thyme

1 Tbsp salt

1 Tsp pepper

2 chicken stock cubes

1 onion

For the stuffing:

½ kg dried bread cubes

3 eggs

½ – 1 cup milk

1 hand full parsley, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

Salt, pepper

 

Preheat oven to 160°C. Bring water and the stock cubes to a boil and let simmer. Mix olive oil with herbs, salt and pepper. Rub turkey with this mixture from inside and out and also between breast skin and meat by lifting the skin with the fingers and rubbung the mixture underneath. It is pretty gross but it makes the turkey nice and juicy. Place turkey on a rack in a large enough pan to hold the turkey. Mix all the stuffing ingredients and work it through with your hands until you have a dense but not too sticky mass. Stuff the stuffing into the chicken openings as dense as possible.  Pour 2 cups of soup on the bottom of the roasting pan. Place into the oven. I use the rule of the thumb for baking: 30 minutes per kg turkey. It is very important to pour soup over the turkey every 15-30 minutes for the turkey to be delightfully juicy. To test for doneness you can cut the skin between leg and breast. The liquid comeing out should be translucent and not pink when it is done. Or a thermometer inserted into the meat should show 70 °C.

YUMMY!!!!!

CALENDULA-OLIVE OIL CREAM

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calendula creme

 

Does your skin react sensitive to any kind of facial cream? This might be your relief…A completely preservative-free, silicon-free, scent-free simple facial cream that will help your skin heal itself and at the same time moisturizes your dry skin. (This is for a very special new friend of mine!)

CALENDULA-OLIVE OIL CREAM

30 mg calendula-olive oil (make it yourself: see my “calendula oil” recipe at thenicifarm.com)

10 mg bees wax

10 g Tegomuls (the emulator to combine water and oil phase. Sorry, you can’t leave this out)

100 ml distilled water

Put water in one heat proof vessel (water phase) and bees wax, tegomuls and calendula oil in a second one (oily phase). Place both vessels in a water filled pot and heat until the bees wax in the oily phase has molten and is translucent. Take out of the water bath and fill water under a constant stream, constantly stirring into the oily phase. Place cream into a cold waterbath and stir, stir, stir….stir until the cream has become hand-warm. The cream goes through different phases. First it becomes stiff like a pudding, then more liquid and with more stirring the cream becomes creamy. Stir until the cream is completely cooled to room temperature. This process takes about 5 minutes. Now add the essential oils and keep mixing. Now you can scoop the cream into clean containers and close them with a lid. At room temperature the cream can go bad in a few weeks because it does not contain preservatives. If you keep the cream cool it stays good for a very long time.

CHAMOMILE AGAINST CONGESTED AND RUNNY NOSE

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chamille

 

It’s runny nose season! Most people I know have a congested or runny nose or a bacterial infection in their sinuses. Is there green/yellow yucky stuff coming from your nose…

CHAMOMILE INHALATION

1 hand full dried chamomile flowers (or about 10 tea bags)

1 L cooking water

In a large bowl pour water over chamomile. Cover with a large towel and put your head under the towel over the bowl. Inhale deeply through your nose for about 10-20 minutes. Repeat 2-3 times.

Chamomile is antibacterial and will help fight of the infection. After the inhalation your nose could start to run like crazy, this is the process of the body to secrete all the bad bacteria. This way the infection will be over in no time.

HOMEMADE NON-TOXIC GLUE

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Glue

 

My by far craziest self-sustainability experiment….And I want to see your face when you see what I did this time!:

HOMEMADE NON-TOXIC GLUE

½ cup corn starch or flour

½ cup sugar

¾ cup water

½ Tsp vinegar (white or essence)

In a saucepan combine corn starch and sugar and while whisking add water until a smooth paste without lumps forms. Add vinegar. Heat over medium heat while constantly stirring with the whisk until it becomes the thick consistency of glue. Fill into a jar glass and let cool. Close and use as normal glue applied with a brush. At room temperature this will be good for a week and in the fridge for a few months (due to the conserving vinegar).

This glue will take a lot longer to harden than store bought toxic stuff but when it is dry it sticks really good. This is perfect for craft projects with kids, since it is completely made of food products and is in no way toxic.

BAKED BROCCOLI-CHORIZO-PASTA

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Auflauf

 

After these heavy Christmas dinners I am longing for a hearty (because of the cold) yet healthy and light dinner variant. It is possible!

BAKED BROCCOLI-CHORIZO-PASTA

250 g shell pasta, cooked halfway through

250 g cherry tomatoes, quartered

300 g Broccoli, frozen

50 g chorizo, in 3 mm cubes (if you substitute the chorizo with dried tomatoes it is even vegetartian and you reduce even more fat)

2 garlic cloves

125 g low fat cottage cheese

4 Tbsp olive oil

1 ball low fat mozzarella, in thin slices

Salt, pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 180 °C. Mix all ingredients (except mozzarella) in a large bowl and fill into an oven form. Top with mozzarella, a bit of olive oil and pepper and bake for 30 minutes.

How to make a perfect medium steak!

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How to make a perfect medium steak!

Recently I have learned how to make a perfect steak at home that tastes like the ones in the US restaurants. I prefer a piece of beef that has a bit of fat like prime rib (Rostbraten) or rib eye.

With a paper towel wipe just as little bit of neutral oil onto the bottom of a pan so it won’t stick. Then heat the pan to a medium-high temperature. When the pan is hot place the steaks in the pan. The rule is: Fry the unseasoned (!) steak on each side for exactly 60 seconds per centimeter of steak thickness. (A 3 cm thick steak should be fried 3 minutes on each side) Then wrap the steak in double layered aluminum foil and place next to the hot but touchable surface of the stove top also for 1minute per cm. (makes 3 minutes for our 3 cm steak) Now add salt and pepper. Done!

The principle behind this is that the fibers of the muscle contact while heating. While resting at temperatures under 70°C the muscle relaxes again and the meat will become tender. Easy, isn’t it?

EGGNOG BUNT CAKE

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eggnog cake

I love this easy to make, perfect, moist and fluffy bunt cake!!

EGGNOG BUNT CAKE

½ cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups four
1 Tbsp baking powdered
½ Tsp salt
1 cup eggnog

Pre-heat oven to 180 °C. Mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs. Shift in flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. Add eggnog and mix until smooth. Fill into a buttered and floured 20 cm round baking dish with removable sides. Smoothen the surface with the back of a spoon. Bake at 180 °C for 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Done!

ROSE FACIAL CREAM

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Rosencreme

 

I have been longing to make my own facial cream for a long time. The ingredients in facial-creams were the initial reason that I started to make my own products. When I saw a facial cream containing formaldehyde, an agent that we use in cell culture to kill cells, I was shocked. With growing interest (and disgust) I read more and more about other toxic and alarming ingredients (e.g. EDTA, Parabens) in the list of my facial-cream. It took me about 6 month of experimenting to come out with a product that is just as good as a commercially available one. Just for you….

ROSE FACIAL CREAM

10 ml oil (almond, jojoba or rape-seed)

5 g Shea-butter

4 g Tegomuls (emulsifier made of a palm-oil; you will need this for the cream to become smooth)

40 ml Rose water

20 drops 100% essential oil, as desired

 

Put rose water in one heat proof vessel (water phase) and shea-butter, tegomuls and oil in a second one (oily phase). Place both vessels in a water filled pot and heat until the oily phase has molten and is translucent. Take out of the water bath and fill rose water under a constant stream, constantly stirring into the oily phase. Stir, stir, stir….stir until the cream has become hand-warm. The cream goes through different phases. First it becomes stiff like a pudding, then more liquid and with more stirring the cream becomes creamy. This process takes about 5 minutes. Now add the essential oils and keep mixing. Then place into a cold water bath and keep stirring until cold. Now you can scoop the cream into clean containers and close them with a lid. At room temperature the cream can go bad in a few weeks. If you keep the cream cool it stays good for a very long time.

CHRISTMAS EGGNOG CAKE

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eggnog-cake

 

CHRISTMAS EGGNOG CAKE

Cake:

125 g butter, melted

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 cups four

1 Tbsp baking powdered

½ Tsp salt

1 cup eggnog

Frosting:

250 g cream cheese

1 Tsp vanilla extract

½ cup butter, melted

500 g confectioner’s sugar

Food coloring and decoration as desired

For the cake mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs. Shift in flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. Add eggnog and mix until smooth. Fill into a buttered and floured 20 cm round baking dish with removable sides. Bake at 180 °C for 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Meanwhile make frosting by mixing all ingredients. Cut done cooled cake lengthwise in half and spread about ½ cup frosting on bottom half. Place top half back on top and cut off the uneven cake top. Spread frosting all over and decorate as desired.