Tons of food and a bigger bump

November somehow disappeared from the Earth, mainly because of sleepiness. Half sleeping for consecutive days makes life just fly by. However, my brain still seems busy as I have the craziest and at times scariest dreams ever - a common side effect of the hormones that are currently occupying my body.

Between sleeping I've not only tried my best to cook and eat, but also document some of my culinary adventures. Let's have a look.

Breakfast; by miles the best meal of the day. One with wholegrain walnut buns and one that was actually more like a dessert. I'd already had yoghurt as a first meal, peanut butter toast a few hours later and then this. It's just how it goes when you wake up starving three times throughout the night.

I was given a bag of homegrown Jerusalem artichokes and learned some new useful stuff. I grated a couple of them to use in potato cakes and roasted the rest with potatoes and lots of garlic. Interestingly they were really gluey, but tasty. Highly recommended.

And yeah, I made that soup again and served it with homemade bread. I just can't get enough.

One nippy Sunday afternoon I went to a charity shop in the Northern Quarter and finished the journey at my favourite restaurant. Apparently they've got a new menu that I just have to check out. Something to add to my imaginary postnatal to-do-list.

Stir fry is exactly the kind of food that's suitable for a sick and nauseous stomach, therefore I ended up having it more than once during this month. Though on one of my better days I finally managed to make a good whole wheat pizza dough, which has been a rather long and sweaty process. I've experimented and failed on a couple of occasions so the satisfaction level was like: enormous.

I paid my neighbour Teatime Collective a visit and had a gorgeous dark chocolate flapjack. Another day I went to another local cafe and had another sort of dark chocolate. The sort of luxury you can allow yourself when you're on maternity leave and not asleep.

One Friday Jon made a dinner of roasted beetroots, sweet potatoes and halloumi with butter fried asparagus and a beetroot dip. Oh, love. And finally, last Saturday we had tacos. Every single time I have it I wonder why I don't eat it more often. Many years ago back in Sweden, when I used to visit my family over the weekends, it was always served on the Friday of my arrival. A very nice tradition if you'd ask me.

Although it's impractical at times (and bigger than the photos tell) I'm slowly starting to become one with this bump. I've also entered a much more relaxed mental phase of the pregnancy where most of the troubles and worries are blown out the window. Finally I can enjoy it to its full extent and grasp what that wonderful blooming is all about.

Food porn and a bump

Congratulations to Roasted Sweet Potatoes which turns one month today. When I started this blog I said I'd keep going for a month and then see how I felt about it. I'm happy to announce that I like it more than expected and I'll keep going for another little while. When I started wrestling I also said that I'd try it for a month or two, and twelve years later I'm still doing it, although I'm having a long timeout at the moment.

Apart from loads of lazy food, mainly consisting of pasta in various forms and green vegetables, there have been some rather good food moments this month too. Let's take a look.

Baked sweet potatoes with gorgonzola, beetroot burger with goat's cheese and feta cheese salad. Oh, cheese love.

Bruschetta with tomatoes and mozzarella, roasted new potatoes, bean burger and garlic bread.

A breakfast of banana yoghurt, eggs, tomatoes, coffee ... and a chocolate ball.

I made flapjacks for the first time ever.

And discovered a new favourite in kidney bean and walnut burgers - here served with baked sweet potatoes and roasted halloumi.

Another breakfast. Homemade bread this time.

Lastly, the least pretentious food you can make, but it's both tasty and healthy, especially with green pesto and chopped walnuts. I just love it.

October was good for other reasons too. Although I'm still haunted by heartburn and vomiting, I've had a lot more days without sickness lately. On top of that I visited the midwife today and it seems like the baby is growing perfectly. Hurrah for you too little champ.

Wholemeal Bread with Apricots and Dates

Chopped dried apricots and dates.

Who thought I would ever post a bread recipe? I never used to make bread. Then last year I suddenly got in a bread mood. At the same time I started to make lots of soups which I think is part of the explanation. In case you didn't know it, homemade bread and soup were born for each other.

Anyway, I found some recipes and started experimenting. I fell for one in particular, that promised to not take any longer than 40 min, which included 30 min in the oven, while you can do squats or something else.

Make the dough, place it in the oven and take it out - and it is really that simple. So is there only one bread you're ever gonna make in your life, make it this one. You'll thank me afterwards.

Originally the recipe (from the Guardian I think) contained nuts, salt and more honey but I adjusted it and like to use dried apricots and dates instead of nuts, and cut down slightly on the honey. Feel free to give it your own personality though.

Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 25-30 min
1 loaf

4 dl wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 dl chopped dried apricots and dates (or more if you prefer)
1 dl yoghurt
1 dl milk
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tbsp rapeseed oil

Heat the oven to 200 C.
Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, apricots and dates in a bowl. Stir.
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir.
Mix it all together and work thoroughly, until you've got a solid round shaped dough.
Spread some flour over an oven tray and place the dough on top.
Cut a cross on top of the dough, about 1 cm deep.
Put it in into the oven for 25-30 min.

Great to serve with a tasty soup, perhaps this sweet potato and lentil one, or just for breakfast.

Homemade muesli

Oats and mixed nuts make a brilliant sugarfree muesli

Breakfast is a passionate subject to me as it's my favourite meal of the day. I mean, what better way to start the day than finally getting to eat after a long night without food? Add a cup of coffee on top and not much can beat it.

The best everyday breakfast I know is yogurt. It's one of those foods that is perfect to always have in the fridge, for small superquick meals when you feel hungry, but not yet dinner hungry.

I use natural yoghurt with live bio cultures, I've got a sensitive stomach so that works best for me, but any natural yoghurt will do. Instead of buying the sweet fruit yoghurts, you can add a teaspoon of jam or runny honey or chop a banana if you struggle with the sourness. That way you can easily control your sugar intake.

Most days I make my own muesli. Now it might sound fancy but it's not at all. In fact, true food pervs would probably not even call it muesli. A bit of oats and mixed nuts and seeds. Simple enough? Nuts are great as it adds protein to the meal which will keep you feeling full for longer. Choose your favourites. I love walnuts, almonds, peanuts and pumpkin seeds.

Preparation time? About 20 seconds.