The Re-Mannings go Green!

Today I have realised how difficult it is to be environmentally friendly and live in a sustainable way. Very. Of all the shopping we did, all of them had some form of plastic - some of them more than the others. Pears were in a plastic bag, potatoes in a plastic bag, carrots in another plastic bag...What will I do with it? I'm deeply troubled.

Maybe I could go armed with my old brown paper bags, which are also very pretty I must admit, and buy loose fruit and veggie. But what about cheese? And milk? And fish? Should I go to the counter with my glass bowls? Or perhaps I could shop sustainably and go to the local butcher (specifying not to wrap the fish and meat in plastic), the local cheese shop, and the local grocer. I still have the problem of the milk. What if I buy a cow from the commons?

Well at least I am proud to announce that we have conquered a piece of land - a nice allotment at the back of the stadium. I can see myself sorrounded by pumpkins, courgettes, tomatoes and lettuce. All the plots looked so inviting. But I am sure it looks easier than it is and might be very tedious indeed, especially when handling manure (or horse shit - or any other friendly animal), digging covered in mud, and moving little gems with frozen fingers.

But hey, will courgettes and pumpkings not taste a lot better?

I am also proud to tell about my organic apple tart I made last night for our friend Andrea who was celebrating her 35th birthday. The apples came from the in-laws tree. So, reliable.
It is actually a variation on the well known Cherry Clafoutis (see a few blogs before). Everyone seemed to love it as it got yummed up in 10 minutes. And I received many praises from all those who knew the Clafoutis - I suspect because they were so sick of that! So this came as some fresh air. But I trust it was also very good - I didn't manage to get round it.

Apple Tart

Ingredients

>4 big apples (mine lost a few corners as they had worms, truly organic apples!); 80g flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; zest of 1 lemon; 80g sugar; 3 eggs; 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Preparation

> Grease a dish (18cm diameter) with butter. Pre-heat the oven to reach C180.
> Peel the apples and cut them in small cubes. Put them at the bottom of the baking dish and sprinkle some sugar and lemon juice.
> Mix well the eggs with the sugar, the zest and the vanilla. Whisk well.
> Add the milk and whisk.
> Mix the baking powder to the flour. Add slowly the flour to the mix.
> Pour the liquid mix onto the apples.
> Place in the oven and cook for 30minutes.

I suspect that this recipe works well with any fruit. It's your cake.