Whole grain, sugarfree and still delicious

I have been thinking about baking a whole grain sponge cake, I wasn't even sure that it was possible, but I gathered confidence and finally made it. The outcome was shocking; whole grain flour behaves the same as plain flour. It didn't collapse and it didn't become heavy, it didn't even have such different taste. According to my sources at home, it was "top notch".

Ingredients for approx. 12 pieces:

• 18 dkgs of whole grain flour
• 6-7 cold eggs according to size
• 10 dkgs of sugar

• 1 can of plain greek yoghurt
• 1 can of plain yoghurt, normal
• 10 gr of gelatine
• zest of 1 lemon and some of its juice
• sweetener according to taste
• a bit of grated cinnamon
• a bit of vanilla aroma or extract
• one can of peaches or any other fruit

Separate the cold eggs and beat the whites up along with the sugar. Stir the yolks and gently mix them into the beaten whites. Add the flour in smaller portions, and stir it gently after every portion of flour. Line some baking paper into an oven pan and pour the mixture into it. It needs at least 25 minutes at 160 deg Celsius, you can check if it's done with a needle or a knife. When it's done take it out and let it cool down, then cut it in half horizontally, and put the lower part back into the oven pan (this time you have to line it with kitchen film). 

For the cream, mix the two types of yoghurts together and grate the lemon zest into it, add the vanilla and the cinnamon too and stir it well. You can adjust the taste with sweetener and lemon juice until it's sweet and sour enough. Then dissolve the gelatine in some cold water and put it on the heat until it starts boiling. Take it off the heat, wait a couple of seconds and then add some of the yoghurt mixture to the gelatine. Stir it and then pour it back to the rest of the yoghurt, and mix it well. Slice the peaches and lay them on the lower part of the sponge cake, then pour the cream onto it and put the whole thing into the fridge until the cream becomes solid. Then you can cut it up :)

Turkey leg roast with garlic and red lentil casserole

I haven't posted in the blog for quite a long time, I didn't reallly cook anything new either, but today I managed to go to the farmer's market and buy a really nice turkey leg. Since today isn't that hot, I thought it was time to bring out the more substantial ingredients. I forgot to soak the lentils yesterday, I made this dish with red lentils, but I think this recipe might even work better with them. It's not a very complicated thing to do, although you want to start roasting the turkey because it needs at least 2 hours in the oven to be completely soft. Those of you who like chili con carne, but want to cook something lighter with the same spices, I recommend this recipe.

Ingredients for the turkey: 

• 1 turkey leg, the upper part, without bone
• mustard accodring to taste
•  2 cloves of garlic
• salt

Ingredients for the red lentil casserole:

• a big cup of red lentils
• 2 corns on the cob or 1 can of corn
• 1 carrot
• 2 onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 can of creamed tomato
• salt, pepper
• 1 coffee spoon of chili powder or cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of grated cumin
• 3 bay leaves
• water

Take the bone out of the turkey leg and put it into a fireproof dish with the skin on the bottom. Cut match sized pieces of the garlic and cut little wholes into the meat and push the garlic into the wholes. Sprinkle salt on the turkey and spread the mustard on it. Cover it with tin foil and roast it at 200 deg Celsius at least for 2 hours. Pour some water under it from time to time to avoid burning the bottom half of the meat (this will become the gravy for the meat in the end). 

For the casserole, chop the onion fine and start cooking it with the cover on because we want to cook it, not to fry it. Chop the tomatoes fine and add them to the onions after 15 minutes. Add the bay leaves too and cover the dish. Cook it until the tomato becomes totally soft. Meanwhile dice the carrot and chop the garlic fine. Cook the corn on the cob for 10 minutes in boiling water and then cut the grains off the cob. When the tomatoes are cooked, add the carrot and cook it until it's half done. Pour some water in it, and then add the corn and the seasoning. Pour approx. 1/2 litre of water into the dish and finally, add the lentils. Keep stiring because the lentils can stick to the bottom of the dish. The lentils will soak most of the water so you will have to pour some more into it in the end. Add the creamed tomato and some more salt and seasoning if neccessary.