Tuna Potato Cheese Bake

This used to be our family favourite but I have not made it in a long time...my version of tuna bake, made with mashed potatoes, canned tuna in brine and Grana Padano cheese.

Warmed milk and butter are added to the fork-tender steamed potatoes, seasoned with a little salt and lots of pepper, then a whole can of drained tuna is folded in. When all ingredients are well mixed, grate some Grana Padano or preferred cheese on top of the mixture and bake it in the oven at 190C till golden brown and fragrant. It has great taste and texture, especially the contrast of the soft interior and the crispy top! Give it a try!

Homemade Peanut Butter

Finally, success in making my own peanut butter...the right way! This is quite a tedious process as the peanuts need to be soaked overnight, dehydrated, roasted and then pulverized till creamy.

The peanuts or other nuts are best soaked overnight to aid in digestion and to remove toxins, so this step is essential. After which, they have to be dehydrated over low heat in an oven or dehydrator till very dry, as moisture will make the entire batch of nut butter rancid.

After dehydrating, you can choose to process them in the food processor or roast them further. For this batch, I roasted them at 170C with a little ghee for aroma, till the peanuts become golden, then I let them cool before putting them in the food processor.

While processing, I added a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of organic sugar into the food processor. It took a long time before the peanuts started to turn creamy and release their oils. Then a final taste check and into the bottle it goes! Tastes really good and way better than store bought! So happy...:-)

Moist Sunflower Butter and Poppy Seed Cake

I adapted this recipe from Williams Sonoma's Almond Paste Poppy Seed Cake; I did not have almond    paste nor the time to make some, so I used my homemade sunflower seed butter instead. Since almond paste contains glycerin in it, I added a tablespoon of honey to the sunflower seed butter for that extra glide.

The cake turned out really moist despite only having 1 stick of butter in it and the sunflower seed aroma went well with the crunch of the nutty poppyseed.

It's a keeper! I wanted to take pictures earlier but due to busy schedules, managed to take this very last slice...;-)