Listening to the stones

Flapjacks

The world should have more flapkacks: that oaty, healthy, sweet bar that your granny used to make. I'm looking for recipes for a variety of them. I have one or two but it would be great to get a few more. So if you have any, please post them here or email them and we can have a flapjack sunday.

Here's one of mine though I can't remember where I got it from:

300g (10oz) eating apples, peeled, cored and diced

397g can ready-made caramel or make your own

200g (7oz) porridge oats

2tsp cinnamon (optional)

300g (11oz) fresh or frozen forest fruits

For the crumbly topping:

• 55g (2oz) porridge oats
• 15g (½oz) butter, finely cubed
• 55g (2oz) toasted flaked almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4).
2. Put the apple into a pot with 6tbsp of water, cover and cook until soft. Drain the  water and  mash with a potato masher.
3. Tip 200g (7oz) of the oats and the cinnamon into a large bowl and add the mashed apples and two-thirds of the caramel. Mix well.
4. For the base: spread two-thirds of the oat mixture onto the base of the tin and push into the corners with the back of a spoon for a completely smooth layer.
5. Place berries on top of the base. Beat the caramel in the can then drizzle over the berries.
6. Make a crumbly topping: add 55g (2oz) oats to the remaining mixture in the bowl and mix well.  Add the almonds and stir together.
7. Dot the final oat mixture over the berries and press down slightly to stick all the layers together. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden brown. Leave to cool.

Harvest

Harvest Festival this week for us in New Kilpatrick.

We;ll be singing the traditional hymns, some of them at least, which contain words such as 'all is safely gathered in'

Of course it isn't safely gathered in. There is still far more people in the world going hungry than not. And given our 'fields' are not the ones down the road but somewhere on another continent then the theology of 'all is safely gathered in' is even more dodgy because what we gather for ourselves from another's land, leaves the local people hungry.

Harvest is not a ou8t feeding everyone. It is about justice that makes sure everyone has enough to eat and no more. It's not about capitalism and profits but about taking what we need from the land, thanking it, and letting it recover rather than turn it into land slavery producing crops that it really can afford from its own resources and is then given all the drugs/fertilisers it needs to produce what we want without breathing space, without honour, without jubilee.

Harvest isn't an easy time. It is often a time of guilt. Dare we sing 'all is safely gathered in' until all are fed?

The Austerity Sandwich

Here's a new running feature for this blog: feel healthy, spend less. Mrs Beeton created the toast sandwich. Yes, that's correct, the toast sandwich (two slices of bread wrapped round a slice of toast with butter and a little salt and pepper - just in case you didn't quite get the idea). 

On the BBC today it was reported that it had been relaunched and costs only 7.5 pence and offers you 330 calories.

That's pretty good. I'm off to try one right now. But I wondered... can we do better? Can we invent an austerity sandwich? It does't have to be cheeper than 7.5 pence but it might offer a little more than toast. I know, nae I believe in you with this one. I reckon your imagination knows no bounds. Go and design your own version and we may have an austerity picnic over Christmas with all your creations. I've even created a new category for the blog called "The Austerity Sandwich". I'm feeling hungry already. Feed me!