home made foodie gifts

Delight yourself and your loved ones with the gift of nourishment this holiday season.

DRIED FIG COMPOTE

You will need:

• 2 pounds dried figs, stemmed and quartered

• 1/4¼cup bourbon

• 8 whole cardamom pods, lightly crushed

• pinch salt

• Peel of 1 lemon, plus 1/4½cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 Tablespoons raw honey

Place figs, bourbon and 4 cups boiling water in a large, heatproof bowl; cover surface with a plate to submerge figs. Let sit until figs are plump, about 1 hour; set aside.

Heat cardamom pods in a saucepan over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add figs with their soaking liquid, salt, lemon peel, and juice.

Bring to a boil and cook, stirring often, until mixture has thickened, 20-25 minutes.

Add honey.

Divide finished compote into prepared half pint jars, apply clean lids and rings and place in an oven, heated to 180 degrees and turned off immediately before adding jars.

Let stand in closed oven overnight. Voila! These will last on the pantry shelf for 8 months.

NUTTY CRACKERS

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

In a spice grinder, grind:

• 1 cup sweet nuts (almonds or pecans)

• 1 cup savory nuts (walnuts or hazelnuts)

• 1 cup seeds (pumpkin or sunflower)

Mix together in a bowl with 1 cup leftover oatmeal, quinoa, rice, or millet. Make sure you have cooked the grains down into a porridge-like consistency before mixing them in with the nuts and seeds.

Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and any spices you like.

Try one of these combinations: cumin, coriander, turmeric OR thyme, coriander, oregano.

If mixture is a bit dry, add a few splashes of olive oil. Mix well before adding any additional oil – the nuts already contain oil.

Grease a cookie sheet with oil and spread mixture in a thin layer.

Bake at 200 degrees for 1 ½ hours. Allow to cool completely before breaking into cracker pieces and storing in plastic bags.

energy bites

based on a recipe by Rosemary Gladstar

• 1 cup tahini (roasted sesame seed butter)

• 1/4 cup cashew or almond butter

• 1/4 cup honey (more or less to taste)

• 1 teaspoon each: cinnamon and cardamom powder

• 3 Tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds

• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix tahini, nut butter and honey until smooth.

Add coconut and nuts - mix in well.

Mix in enough coconut to make dough thick.

Roll the dough into small balls. You can also spread the mixture onto a baking sheet and cut into squares.

Store the morsels in baking tins in a cool place. They will last for 3 weeks.