The eclectic learner

Hello! One of my children's favourite treats is a fruit roll, or fruit leather. This is made by preparing any smoothie and then dehydrating it until it's a soft and pliable fruit roll. If by mistake you dehydrate it too much and it becomes too hard, don't worry! You have just made your first batch of fruit crisps - delicious! To make the fruit roll in the photographs, I made two smoothies: one with peaches and one with strawberries (fresh or canned is your choice, of course keeping in mind that fresh doesn't contain added sugar and it's probably yummier). When your smoothies are ready, pick up the teflon sheet of your dehydrator and spread a very, very thin layer of olive oil or coconut oil, using perhaps a silicon brush. Slowly pour one smoothie occupying only one area of the dehydrator tray (the centre or one half). Then pour the other smoothie, avoiding mixing the two. Now to have some fun use a fork or any tool that won't scratch the teflon sheets, and gentl...

Good afternoon! Many people would like to learn how to dehydrate their food so they can preserve it. Others would love to learn some dehydrated raw food recipes. I am posting here some bits from my book, "Back to Basics", where an entire chapter is devoted to dehydrating. Happy reading! How do you use dehydrators? It’s quite simple; there are detailed instruction books, but anyway just slice fruit or veggies to achieve slices of 2 mm, spread them evenly on the tray and keep going until all the food is sliced and ready to be dehydrated. Then plug in/turn on and set the temperature to medium (for most foods), low for herbs and high for meat. That’s it. It’s easier to set the dehydrator before going to bed and when you wake up everything is ready.  Create your very own “ready meals” cheaply Regarding soups, you can prepare a soup roll up, make it really dry and brittle, then put it in a good blender to powder it and then store it. If you are good at cooking you can create your v...

Good evening! As we are soon starting a second round of war  against Candida, I thought we would first of all ditch wheat, the great cause of inflammation in so many people. This is because modern wheat has been crossed pollinated zillions of times, to achieve a highly productive, dwarf plant which is completely different from the ancient wheat that people used to eat, say, sixty years ago. The new wheat we eat now, according to Dr. Davies (author of the best seller "The wheat belly") contains something like 37% of gluten instead of the old,3%, plus it contains a substance called I think glialine, which is an opiaceous. Ooops. This means 'addictive': the more wheat you eat, the more wheat you crave. Now that you know what sparked our decision to ditch wheat for a while, don't feel guilty if you do eat it: apparently not everybody reacts badly to it. So, here we have our recipe for wheat free, crispy and crunchy crackers. Spelt crackers Ingredients: 500 gr. spelt f...

In the last couple of months we have really grown to like this green smoothie, so it's time to share the recipe. Green Smoothie Ingredients: - a couple of leaves of kale (without the hard bit in the middle) - Apple juice or other fruit juice you prefer,  filling 1/4 of the Vitamix jug - 3 ripe bananas - a handful of almonds - optional, 1 bananas and 3 pears instead of 3 bananas - optional, fresh and tender lettuce instead of kale - optional, a bit of crushed ice Preparation: Put kale and apple juice in the blender and mix until the liquid is perfectly smooth Add the other ingredients, then mix If you wish, add a bit of ice but don't crush it too small Pour and enjoy!

It looks like everything I do is for the others and I keep the rubbish stuff for myself. Mmm. Years ago...again.....a friend of mine got married and was about to move to the USA with her young husband, who comes from Hawaii or Tonga, sorry can't remember, just a robust guy with very exotic looks. I got thinking about the beautiful environment where he came from and I chose a fish pattern in a cotton fabric, to make a cute apron for her. I know that she's a good homemaker....and I hope she still wears my apron! I also made a Japanese one but I forgot to take a photo (typical of me!) Franz

When a friend of mine had a baby girl, who then became a pretty toddler and a young girl, I loved making her little presents. This is one of them. It's knitted in acrylic yarn on my Passap Knitting machine (which has  a double bed). I added the fringes and some sequins as this girl loves sparkly things (I do, too). It was fun to make and definitely something that most people can make in one day or two. Franz

Many years ago a friend donated me a strange fabric in a weird violet hue, and it was a really tough fabric. I really didn't know what to do with it. In the end I made a large, embroidered shopping bag, and also a little bread bag (embroidered) where to slid in those French baguettes we used to eat. Sadly, when we were diagnosed with a wheat allergy we found out that we can't eat the majority of artisan breads as they all contain milk in some form. So eventually I gave away the baguette bag and also made 5 more, which I donated to friends. So, fabric can always be used for fun things! Franz

When a friend had a baby girl, I was dying t do something girly for her as I had no daughters then. I had a look in my fabric pile and I found just what I was looking for. Without thinking about measurements I just put together this really silly dress and I sent it to my friend. She actually liked it! I was amazed. Here it is: have a laugh! Franz

Five years ago I designed and made an Indian dress using a white fleece blanket that was on offer in our local supermarket. It was just a fun project but I ended up adding a fringe, beads and the lot, plus some embroidery, and I even lined the entire dress with satin. When it was finished and I tried it on, it was like being enveloped by a warm white cloud. I loved it and I tend to wear it once a year, when it snows. :) Wicked sense of humour, I know. That dress is special to me also because in the month when I worked on it I became pregnant with my now five ear old daughter, Kim. Making the dress was fun and it costed me only £5,00 for fabric and probably £5,00 for beads. There is so much we can do when we have time, passion and a good idea. I'm not saying that you should go around dressed like American Indians though! Franz