Peppermint Crisp Tart from South Africa

The best things in life are simple, so this little tart is a winner. Some friends around, cup of coffee? Eclectic music station ok lets begin…

1 packet of Tennis Biscuits

2 cups of cream

1 can of caramel treat 360g

2 large slabs of peppermint crisp chocolate 180g X 2

South Africa Peppermint Crisp Tart ingredients

here is how we make the tart to completion

Place the tennis biscuits crunched at the bottom of your desired dish, any dish, ensuring that the bottom of the dish is covered.

Crush the tennis bisciuts

Place the caramel in a mixing bowl and mix until smooth.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the cream until stiff peaks form, being careful not to over-whip.

Add the whipped cream and 100g of the grated peppermint crisp chocolate to the caramel and combine well.

In the mix

Lets get this layered:

Mixture over the tennis biscuits, then another layer of biscuits, and then another etc. Do this until your dish is full, and then spread over a crumble of biscuits and chocolate. 

Its needs an hour to set in the fridge and thats it.

This will happen, time to lick that up!

The team, Andrea and Chris the creator

Tabbouleh – An awesome couscous salad

I love working with simple things and making amazing results. A friend of mine Mel in Cyprus has inspired this recipe after she raved about her tabbouleh salad.

1 box of couscous

750 ml of water

1/3 cup olive oil

10 ml of cayenne pepper

20 ml salt

1 cucumber

6 tomatoes

1 cup of celery

1 red pepper

½ green pepper

1 cup of lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

30 ml of dried mint

45 ml of dried parsley

Place the dry couscous in a large serving dish. Combine 1/3 cup olive oil, 30ml of cayenne pepper and ¾ cup of boiling water. Pour over the boiling water and cover for 15 mins. Hold separate.

the couscous

Chop up the tomatoes into small pieces after discarding the pips, the red and green pepper into tiny pieces and the celery. Combine all of these cool ingredients together with 1 cup of lemon juice, olive oil and herbs. Toss with a giant spaghetti spoon. Allow the couscous to draw, and fluff up with a big fork. Allow this to cool, and then combine with the salad. And hey presto you have now got a treat for a larger dinner party.

Tabbouleh Salad

 

The Great Vanilla Cupcakes

The Great Vanilla Cup Cakes

It was my birthday this week, so I decided to make some cakes for my granny. I only had an hour to make them so that I was not late for an appointment.

 

–         Lets Go

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a cupcake tray with paper inserts.  Put all your ingredients out in front of you and measure them out. Utensils should be handy: whisk, spatula, two dessert spoons, sieve, measuring cups and spoons, a knife, two bowls.

 

–         The Cake

125g butter / white margarine
¾ cup castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1½ cups self-raising flour
1 t baking powder
1/3 cup milk

Sift the flour and baking power. Beat melted butter with the sugar until creamy. The sugar needs to dissolve totally. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla essence. Fold through the sifted flour and baking powder. Gently mix in the milk.
Place spoonfuls of mixture into regular cupcake cases. Hold two dessert spoons in each hand. Use a heaped dessert spoon full, and swiftly scrape clean with the other hand. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. A knife must run clean when poked inside. Allow to cool on a wire rack before icing them.

– The Icing
2 cups icing sugar
25g melted butter
1 t vanilla essence
To make vanilla icing, mix together icing sugar, butter and vanilla until smooth. Use a knife to easily ice the cool cupcakes. The icing will harden shortly, so add any sprinkles you might want strait away. I found some shocking pink sprinkles this week at the shop, so my next batch will be funky!

 

 

 

The Great Summer Steaks with Kale Salad and Minty Salsa Verde

A few minute steaks – rubbed in olive oil and salt and pepper

A few large kale leaves from the garden, chopped thinly. (I use a Zimbabwean variety called Mustard Rape)

Spring onions, chopped (including a few ends)

Garlic, chopped fine

Squeeze of half a lemon

 

1 cup fresh coriander
1 cup fresh mint leaves
½ an onion
Zest and juice of 1/2 a large lemon
1 tbsp grape wine vinegar
Pinch of cracked black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

The Kale Salad

Make the kale salad first to give it time to relax in the fridge before serving.

Take the washed garden fresh leaves and cut into thin pieces, drizzle with olive oil and chopped garlic, as well as a few chopped spring onions and chop a few of the ends as well. Toss everything up for a bit in the bowl, then place into fridge.

The Salsa Verde

In a liquidizer place all the herbs, the lemon, roughly chopped onion, vinegar, olive oil and vinegar. Dice up on pulse mode for a short while and set the sauce aside.

The Meat

Preheat a griddle pan. Make sure the steaks are room temperature, they should take a maximum of 4 minutes per side to cook. Smear both sides of your steaks with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. When the steaks are perfectly cooked to your liking, move them to a cutting board to rest for a few minutes and save any resting juices.

Presentation

Now scatter the chilled rape salad over your chosen serving platter and place steaks across, finish with a few tablespoons of salsa verde and scatter over any remaining fresh herbs. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Yum!

Gluten Free and tasty. Mission accomplished!

The Great Granola Bars

Being gluten free is new to me, so I did some research and came up with these granola bars to eat for breakfast, instead of fruit and more fruit.

Granola Bar

Granola Bar

Dry ingredients:

Dry ingredients before tosating

2 cups of oats

½ cup sunflower seeds

½ cup blanched almonds

½ cup sesame seeds

½ cup shredded coconut

Toast these ingredients in the oven at 180 degrees in a baking pan covered in foil for about 12 mins. Turn this every now and then to avoid burning.

Turn down the oven to 140 degrees.

 

Wet ingredients:

In a small pan, melt:

½ cup of honey

60ml of golden syrup

60ml of peanut butter

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, allow to cool while you work on your fruit, then combine everything.

 

The fruit:

the dried fruit

 

 You can use anything you like, I used the following (and forgot to add my cherries)

½ cup of raisons

½ cup of dried cranberries

½ cup of chopped dried apricots

 

Add the fruit to the mixture and then prepare your pan. Use a baking pan about 8 X 5 inches wide, rub with butter, then line with parchment paper. Add your mixture, aiming for about ¾ inch high or so. Press the mixture down with your fingers until firm and pressed in.

Cook for 35 minutes, and then allow to dry for at least 2 hours. Cut into squares.

Yum!

The Great Healthy Kale Solution

I’ve just started be a health freak, and watching my diet. And one of the recommended things to eat being O blood type is kale. As it turns out this stuff is already growing in my garden, what a bonus. I found this recipe and voila, I now eat this side dish every day with my dinner. A great source of nutrients and vitamins, so try it.

Kale

Kickin’ Kale:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large bunch of curly kale
• 2 or 3 lemons
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 4 small or 3 large cloves of garlic (peeled, smashed and chopped)
• 1/2 to 1 purple onion, sliced very fine

Method:

1. Wash and ‘spin’ dry the curly kale.
2. Remove the stems.
3. Stack the leaves on top of each other and slice them horizontally into fine strips
4. Place the strips into a glass or porcelain bowl
5. Juice the lemons.
6. Peel and cut the garlic cloves into chunks.
7. Put the olive oil, lemon, garlic, and salt into the blender and combine on high to make a frothy liquid.
8. Pour 1/2 the liquid over the top of the kale.
9. Mix well with salad utensils.
10. Pour the remaining liquid over the kale and keep turning and mixing with the salad utensils.
11. Let the mixture sit for at least 2 hours before you eat it as the lemon and olive oil will ‘cure’ the kale so that it becomes much softer and more edible.
12. Garnish with as many of the onion slices as you like.

 

The Great Lemon Chicken to melt in your mouth

Lemon chicken

   This one is so easy, so moist, so healthy and really easy to make.

500g chicken breasts no skin

6 tablespoons olive oil

4 minced cloves of garlic

2 lemons, one is sliced and the other is juiced

1 tsp salt

pinch of ground black pepper

25ml of a supermarket spice grinder from Freshers with: (Ground cumin, coriander, ginger, chilli, paprika, brown sugar, thyme and origanum)

So marinade the chicken for a few hours by placing the ingredients in a bowl, cover and put in the fridge.

Get cooking:

Layer your baking with with sliced lemons, and put your breasts on top of them. Do not cover.

Pre heat the oven to about 180, and cook until the breasts are tender. You can even turn down the oven to 160, and let them simmer for about 45 mins.

Delicious when served with a fresh garden salad.

mmm.

The Great Chicken Rissoles

So if you want to do some interesting changes to your lifestyle, then make some new delicious recipes. Its a great idea to mix things up a little, with your ravishing appetite.

Easy ingredients:

• 500g chicken mince
• 1 medium peeld and carrot grated
• 1/2 onion grated
• salt and pepper,herbs (I used fresh chopped paresely)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 normal flour
• Butter for the frying pan

Ok lets get mixing:

• Mix ingredients together in a large bowl
• then roll into balls using your hands to the size of golf balls 

mixing up the chicken rissoles mixture

Ok, so now, roll into those bowls and place on a baking tray, and seal with clear wrap and put in the fridge for about 30 mins. Drizzle with olive oil so they don’t stick on the pan.

Then, fry in butter sealing the rissoles on a low heat over a nice heavy pan

• Remove and allow to cool down.

Chicken rissoles frying

You won’t be dissapointed!

The Great Granny’s Ginger Biscuits

So my Gran gave me an empty biscuit tin, and a magazine with tonnes of recipes in it for biscuits. Hint Hint, if you catch my drift. I made these up and it was really easy, and the results, are super yummy!

 

Recipe:

750g of self raising flour

30ml of baking powder

25ml of groung ginger

2.5ml of salt

250g grams of margarine

250g of golden syrup

1/2 kg of soft brown sugar

3 eggs.

Heat your oven to 180 degrees, and grease some baking trays with margarine.

 

First thing: Dry ingredients.

Sift all the dry stuff into a bowl, I always do the sifting twice. Put that aside. If you need to stir this, always use a metal spoon or knife only.

 

Second thing: Wet stuff:

Melt the golden syrup in a small frying pan slowly, and add the sugar. Keep mixing it until all dissolved. Then let this cool.

Whip up your eggs in a bowl, and then add these two ingredients together.

 

Combination:

Add the margarine, which you can slightly microwave to make soft first, and knead in until no specs of the marge are visible.

Add the syrup/sugar mix next in a giant bowl with a wooden spoon. Then use your hands to knead it in. Doesn’t take long until you have a nice soft dough.

Let the dough cool slightly, needs to be a little firm to roll out.

Roll it, roll it!

In sections you can roll out this dough onto a well floured surface, and use a rolling pin, or just a wine bottle, what ever you think works. You’re aiming for about 30cm in diameter at a time, and roughly 3mm thick.

Then, cut out your shapes, and flour them.

Now put onto the baking trays and bake away for about 9 mins per tray.

I went through about 4 batches. When you take them carefully out the pan, use a spatula – they will be soft, but will go hard as they cool down. You’re aiming for a nice golden type of colour, not too dark. And adjust your oven if you think its too hot. I also used the top shelf of the oven, not the bottom.

 

 

 

The Great Cat Food Easy Recipe

Cat

Its now possible to make your own kittie food! Yay. I’ve searched long and hard for the right recipe but this one is so simple. Enjoy!

Ingredients

4 cans of tuna

2 cups of cooked rice

1 pound of chicken liver

12 springs of parsley leaves

 

Chop the parsley finely and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drain the chicken livers in a sieve over the sink and rinse well. Drop into boiling water.
Allow water to return just to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat and cover. Let the livers poach for five minutes.

Drain well, rinse in cold water, chop in processor, and add to bowl with parsley.
Drain tuna, add to mixture along with rice.
Mix and mash until well combined. Fill storage containers and refrigerate for up to one week, or freeze in portions for up to three months.