Macaroni bake

Eirik wanted something easy to take to work with him for lunch, so I thought, macaroni bake! Mac and cheese is an all time American favourite. This recipe is more of a mac and veggies topped with a sprinkling of cheese. Healthy, well balanced, and satisfying.

Ingredients
(6 servings)

300g Screw whole grain macaroni
3 Tomatoes
1 Carrot
2/3 Red cayenne chilli
1 Leek
110g Bacon
6 tbsp Grated cheese (I used Norvega, Jarsberg mix)
4.5 dl Low fat milk
5 tbsp Flour
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Sunflower oil
Salt and pepper

• Preheat the oven to 200 C.
• Half cook the macaroni and put in a large dish. To do this, you can boil enough water to cover the pasta, put the pasta in and remove from heat. By the time the water has cooled down abit (while you prepare the rest of the dish) the pasta will be half cooked.
• Prepare the vegetables as shown and set aside.
• Fry the bacon in 2 tbsp sunflower oil and let the bacon drain on some paper towelling. Keep the left over oil.
• In a pot, use the left over oil form the bacon, add the butter and melt it. On a low heat, slowly add the flour, mixing well. Slowly add you milk, mixing well (use a whisk if needed), to make the sauce blanche. When all the milk is added and the sauce has thickened a little, remove from heat and add 2 tbsp cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Chop or break the bacon into pieces (1-2cm squares). 
• Mix the veggies and bacon into the pasta evenly, then pour the sauce blanche over and mix it in, making sure all pasta is lightly covered with sauce (to ensure proper cooking).
• Sprinkle the remaining 4 tbsp of cheese over the top, and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Unethical bananas

Today I watched 'Big Boys gone Bananas!*', a documentary about the documentary 'Bananas!*'. Bananas!* follows a court case against Dole (an agricultural multinational corporation), showing the negative effects on their banana workers' health due to the products used on their banana farms. The workers won the case.

Before the release of Bananas!* Dole wrote threatening letters to the four people involved in making the film, saying that they would sue them if they release documentary, on the grounds of false information. Dole had not seen the film. Though no false information was presented in the film, Dole continued to put pressure on both the filmmakers and the LA film festival that it was to be shown in. Out of fear the festival removed the film from competing, but let it be shown at an out of town theatre, with a declaration before the showing of the film, saying that the festival believed that the information shown was false. Dole thereafter attacked both the film festival and the filmmakers with law suits and demands that the film never be released or even mentioned again. This continued with angry letters and threats, until the Swedish parliament backed the Swedish filmmakers and Dole eventually dropped the lawsuit, but carried on blocking the release of the documentary in the U.S. After a lot of time and work, the matter was brought in court in the U.S. and the filmmakers won... With $200,000 in compensation. The film was finally released in the U.S.

It's crazy to see how far big companies will go just to scare people out of telling the truth. It's even worse to think how many people must be scared right now, and how many terrible things are hidden by huge corporations putting pressure on anyone who finds out.

It's great to see documentaries like this and their journey to defend the truth, freedom of speech, and supporting the use of ethically produced products. Ethical to humans, animals, and the environment as a whole. It's our duty to educate ourselves and support ethical products, which for the most part, are healthier for us too.

Cheers to everyone out there fighting for a good cause!

Breakfast on a budget - Oats, honey, banana & blueberries

Instead buying ready made fruit musli, a healthy, cheap alternative is to use half cooked oats straight from the bag and add you favourite fruit. Eirik likes adding strawberry jam and raisins, today I opted for the below, and I must it was very satisfying and quite delicious.

Ingredients
(Approx Kr 6 per serving)

65g Quick cooking oats
Milk
Honey
1 Banana
1/4 cup Frozen blueberries

Drizzle a little honey over the oats. Slice a banana, add the blueberries, and lastly your milk. If you'd rather your blueberries be defrosted, you can defrost them before hand, or just pour your milk over them and wait about 3-5 mins to eat (as I usually do). The oats will be just as good after soaking for a few minutes :o)

Bon appétit!