PUMPKIN TREATS

You know I like it when something is more healthy than it may seem? These pumpkin treats would be something that fits that description. It is also something you can treat your gluten free friends with.

Totally cake-y with a yummy frosting, they still are kind of breakfast worthy as well.

You know, as the main ingredients are a vegetable (pumpkin) and eggs.
The original recipe is from here, but as usual I always alter things a little bit. I am keen on trying to come up with a vegan version of these. And perhaps to try make a round using sweet potato with / instead of pumpkin.

You will need
2,5 dl mashed pumpkin (or 2 dl + half a banana)
A handful of almonds
3 tbs peanut butter
1 dl honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
cardamom
vanilla
half a teaspoon of salt
3 eggs

Lightly roast the pumpkin in the oven on 175C so it turns soft and then mash it. (As a bonus you can take out and wash and dry the seeds of the pumpkin too, then when dry roast in a pan with a bit of salt. A great snack.)

Put the almonds in a mixer and mix until smooth (or, use ready made almond flour). Add the pumpkin and the possible banana bonus, peanut butter, sweetener and the spices and blend. You can of course do this by hand if you do not have a mixer. Then add the eggs and stir. You will get a quite loose batter.

(Extra hint: If you don't want to or can use nut butters try doing this with sunflower seeds instead, about 1,5 dl. )

Pour the batter in an oiled pan or a pan with baking paper (that's what I do) and bake in 175C for 30-40 minutes until the colour is a soft brown and the middle is firm. Take out and let cool, then do the topping.

For which you need;
1dl pecan nuts
1dl hazel nuts
2-3 tbs cocoa powder
2tbs coconut oil
about 1dl maple syrup
some salt, vanilla
water if needed

Mix the nuts smooth in a mixer, then add the dry ingredients and the oil. Add the maple syrup in a thin line, check the taste to see if the sweetness is of your preference, add more if needed. If the batter is too firm you can add a bit of water to loosen it up. Put the topping on the pumpkin bars, cut into square, serve and dig in!

Store the pastries in the fridge. These will last at least 5 days and, in my opinion, taste even better after a day or two.

ONCE A CAT LADY, ALWAYS A CAT LADY

Some casual evening chilling with a book and my hang-around cats.

Photos by Asko Rantanen / Asko Jonathan Photography
(Actually part of another series, but Lulu was keen on doing some posing as well.)

THIS WINTER'S SKIRT

So far this year I feel I have mainly been living in a turban,  a thin knit and in this forest green knitted skirt with a strechty waist. Easy to pull up over the dance leggings and tops, to add an extra layer underneath to when it got really cold, and good as it is with just tights when it's been closer to zero - winter has been a real yoyo this year.

The top is from Lindy Bop and the skirt was a Christmas clearance piece from Lindex.

I am often asked about where to get turbans; the black soft ones I have are from Kuokkasen peruukkiliike in Helsinki, but Etsy, for example, has a lot of turbans! Apart from the constant black beret, turbans are a must-have; you simply can not have too many of them.

Also this is pretty much the only place in our house where one can take any pictures. Everything else is still full of boxes, in renovation-mode or covered in some fringly sparkly burlesque-project mess. Uh.

HEARTS

It's still Valentine's Day for a while out there somewhere!

Here's a small collection of hearts from earlier years.

Hope you had a good Valentine's Day and remember that you can actually have one all year round, remembering your friends and loved ones no matter what date. Sometimes just a small message to someone you haven't had the time to meet or chat up with in a long time can be a wonderful thing ♥

SKAM

I'm going to end my little blogging hiatus here by telling you that I've been watching the Norwegian teenage drama SKAM a lot lately. It has the unanticipated and dubious effect of me kind of wishing for my late teenage years again, which I guess says quite a lot about the series as I knowingly loathed being a teenager. (But to be fair, the gymnasium years, between age 16 and 18, were rather nice in the end; it was the early teenage years that I nowadays am sure would be one of Dante's levels of hell if one were to actually end up in such.)

The series have been super popular among it's main target audience; the young ones (which, let's face it, I am non longer a part of, something which becomes undeniably and painfully clear when you for example hear yourself telling the soon-to-be 16 year old at home you actually are a pretty cool person, that do know things about life. Oh my.), but on my Facebook feed all my middle aged friends are obsessively bingeing it. It's hard not to.