Happy winter solstice! We’ve made it. This morning at 4:49 GMT the sun reached it’s most southerly declination. It’s the shortest day of the year and it’s only going to get lighter from here! I love the winter solstice. Having watched the nights drawing in, and the days getting shorter and shorter, all of a […]
Tag: no refined sugar
Honey sweetened cranberry sauce
Happy Monday! This is it, the week of Christmas. The house is full of food, the baking is piling up and the advent calendars are almost finished. Time for some final preparations. And this is one of the easiest and most worthwhile. Honey sweetened cranberry sauce! Here in Shetland cranberry sauce is not really a […]
Sugar-free mincemeat
Well, I think it’s safe to say that the Christmas countdown has officially begun. The time for mincemeat making is upon us. Truth be told, this year I’ve kind of let the Christmas preparations slide a bit. Normally by this time I would have the Christmas pudding made and maturing, chocolate croissants made and frozen […]
Whole wheat raisin bread
Hello!! At long last I’ve got the blog up and running once again under its shiny new name Roots and Wren! I am very excited to be getting back to it. The whole moving to a new name thing has been a bit more of an adventure than I had anticipated to say the very […]
Orange oat and rye cookies
A few days ago we were sitting inside on a cloudy, rainy, windy and generally miserable day. As the grey light lit the room with gloomy rain-streaked light, a glumness and boredom took hold of the household. I got lured, as I too easily do, into aimlessly roaming the internet while convincing myself that it […]
Pumpkin pie
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. It’s a time for family, food, crunchy orange leaves and pumpkin patches, and of course, the most integral part of the Thanksgiving meal (for me anyway); pumpkin pie. I love pumpkins. I love everything about them, the taste of them, their seeds, their beautiful orange colour, their curly […]
Whole wheat spice and prune cake
A couple of days ago I had my first attempt at making a fruit butter. As it’s the start of October, and firmly into my favourite season, autumn, I decided to make a squash butter as my first attempt. It was lovely; warming, soft and a resplendent celebration autumnal spices. Delicious. The creation of the […]
Moroccan mint tea
A few years ago I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Morocco. It was while I was sailing, so I arrived by sea at the fascinating fortified port town of Essaoira on the Atlantic coast of North Africa. It is an absolutely magical place, filled with colour, wonderful smells, music and a […]
Rye and buckwheat granola
I love breakfast. I think it’s probably my favourite meal of the day. I love that feeling of waking up sleepy and hungry, sitting down with my family all together over some delicious food and a cup of coffee with radio Scotland on in the background. Also, you may have noticed, that I love grains. […]
How to make fruit butter
I like the idea of preserves. The thought that you can take the best of a season and bottle it to enjoy months later is lovely. How excellent to be able to bring a little bit of summer with you into the cold and dark months at the beginning of the year, or that you […]