The End

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Pecan Cookies

If there is a nut I love more than Pistachio it has to be a Pecan. The way I eat my pecans is either in my breakfast cereal or baked into a cake or a cookie. This past winter I think I have overdone the pecan cookie recipe. The reasons I went overboard this past winter are, one these cookies smell like Christmas and it's the closest i'll get to a cold Christmas at home and still have my pecan cookie.

They, the cookies, do compose of:

 the said pecan nuts,

whole wheat flour,

a wheatbix,

muscavado sugar,

butter (salted), which no cookie is complete without,

nutmeg, hence Christmas-sy smell

cinnamon, again Christmas-sy,

eggs,

Method:

• So firstly, the butter and sugar are mixed with a wooden spoon until creamy,

• next, the nuts are crushed and added to the creamed mixture, together with the flour and spices and crushed wheatbix. Combine all of the above.

• the mixture is then worked with the hands, wrapped in cling film and refrigerated for two hours.

• once chilled, the dough is rolled into table spoon sized amount balls and placed onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. on this occasion I was out so I used aluminium foil which worked just as well. The the balls are then pressed with the underside of the fork and  baked for 20 to 25 minutes.

• remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes on the tray and place on a wire rack to cool completely. 

As I said, these are one of my favourite cookies and I enjoy them with a glass of ezygest milk. They are not very sweet so sugar lovers will have to play around with sugar types - maybe mix half and half measures of mascavado and white sugar.

Warm Crispy Summer Salad

They say "the more colourful your plate, the more packed nutrients you're getting"!

Sometimes a variety of colours, which means a variety of vegetables and fruit, conflicts with the amount of time you have / want to make a certain dish. I'm one of those people that can cook for hours when in the right mood for it but rather prefers fast meals.

Weird as it may sound, I am one of those people that prefer home cooking to fast- / takeaway food when given the option to pick. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that its hard to find a good vegetarian option outside of one's home - its always a Greek salad, fruit salad, some form of crisp and boiled vegetables - there is nothing wrong with those options but sometimes one prefers variety and one does eat with the eyes first, specifically on days where an appetite is hard to summon.

Long story short, when I want food, I usually want it  NOW!!

So for lunch I decided to make a warm crispy salad. This consisted of button mushrooms, white onion, green pepper, sweet basil, Italian parsley and chilli flakes. Mind you I did have fresh chilli on hand but couldn't be bothered to chop them for two reasons. One, and perhaps the more pertinent of reasons is I have a swollen eye and touch my face quite often, and anyone that has dealt with chilli knows how it lingers and transfers wherever one touches. The second reason, and by no means less relevant, I feel lazy.

I then seasoned these ingredients  with salt and marinated with olive oil and red wine vinegar. In the meantime I turned the stove on high and placed a non-stick pan on the said stove. Once hot, I placed everything in pan (sans marinade) into the pan and reduce the heat to low.

Once browned, I poured in the marinade and switched the stove on high again and closed with a lid.

Once tender, removed the lid, and allowed any liquid to evaporate and caramelised the veggies.

I then tore some lettuce leaves, fresh basil and coriander leaves and placed them on a plate.

And proceeded to top off with the cooked veggies. I then drizzled some, about a teaspoon, of red wine vinegar over the veggies.

Finally I served this with a glass of chilled white wine, namely a Chenin Blanc.

Beer Bread

It is Sunday, six am, and I am sat in bed watching Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking series on YouTube. He, Gordon, begins of, as always, with a breakfast dish which would be followed by a lunch and dinner one later. So I am sat here wondering "why am watching when he is about to prepare yet another non-vegetarian friendly dish?!", but just before I could "change the channel", read that as move on to the next episode, up comes what would accompany the offending, to me at least, dish - beer bread!

Throughout him sifting the flour, salt and whatnot I begin to salivate for want of the opportunity to make and eat this bread. So mentally I begin to recount the contents of the baking cupboard since last I baked. And then it hit me - I once, during winter,  bought a bag of beer bread flour that I'd convinced myself I'd find "the best beer to try it with". With my heart aflutter at the prospect of not having to weigh anything, I quickly paused the program and made my way to the kitchen where I found the forgotten flour, which mind you was nearing its expiry date.

I don't know why I thought I'd have to "hunt" for the perfect beer, especially since I'm convinced Windhoek Lager is pretty much up there on the best beer scale. Luckily there were some bottles left from the previous evenings party to use.

Fast forward me having sat staring at the bread in the oven wondering "why has it not risen yet?" and "will it even rise?" the timer goes off after the allotted thirty minutes. I then brush some milk onto the bread, sprinkle with flour and return to the oven for a further five minutes baking.

I then allowed it to cool in the tin for five minutes before turning it onto a wire rack and letting it cool to a "warm" state.

This I enjoyed with some home-made, not by me mind you, blackberry jam. Delicious!

 I might just have to try beer bread again but from scratch this time.

Scone-y Breaky

Lately I've been craving a proper breakfast. For vegetarians, such as myself, it means no sausages or bacon but it does include fun things like scones. I love a good scone and especially ones 'spiked' with other ingredients - be it black pepper or cheese - or those with non-traditional fillings such as cream cheese, chocolate, Nutela, etc.

Here's the recipe I like to use and tweek to get different versions of the scone by substituting the mustard and cheese with other ingredients or leaving them out entirely.

You'll need:

• 340g self-raising wheat flour (plus extra for rolling)
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp dried mustard powder 
• 85g butter
• 125ml milk
• 60g yoghurt
• 55g grated cheddar cheese 

1. Start off by mixing the flour, salt and mustard powder in a bowl. Then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
2. Stir in half the cheese, combine the yoghurt and milk and stir into the mixture while working the ingredients together until they form a soft dough.
3. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead gently until the dough is smooth. Roll it out into an even thickness of about 2cm,
4. Cut out into 5cm sized scones (about 12 -14 scones) and place on a greased baking tray. 
5. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese over each scone and bake in a fan oven at 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove, butter and eat while the scones are still warm. Jam will do too. 

Discaimer: I left out step 5. I just added all the cheese to the mixture in step 2 - I am not a fan of crispy cheese toppings.

Tea Crazy

What is the first thing that pops in your head early in the morning just after you wake up?

Mine is always coffee. But on days when I am either sick or just want something light, the first thing that pops in my head is a cup of tea. I like the 'healthy' feeling that one gets from tea, so to add a bit of extra to that feeling I usually buy a selection of teas either from Woollies or the brand EVE (if I want something a bit more strong).

On this occasion it was jasmine green tea (I would suggest regular green tea as the jasmine is bit bleh for me), Lemon & Ginger (the Woolworths' brand isn't quite as good as EVE's version), Chamomile, Peppermint, Cranberry Apple and Cinnamon (this tea isn't everyone's cup of tea, no pun intended. I however love it.), and Vanilla Chai. I haven't been able to have chai tea for months because of headaches I've been having that aren't related to chai tea at all, but when you have headaches black teas (like coffee) are not allowed.

On a lighter note, what teas have you been liking or would recommend even if you might not have liked them!?

Sweet Things from Winter

It has become obvious to many people that I really have a sweet tooth. So, when my cousin suggested we do a bit of baking, I couldn't resist. 

So first of, since I called dibs on the oven first, I made these cupcakes. I made the basic vanilla sponge cake batter 'spiked' with powdered almonds. It was more nuts then flour to be honest, which is something we seem to like.

Delicious looking or Weird?

The icing I made was a basic cream cheese icing, with Amaretto liquor and cocoa powder. To decorate the cupcakes I used flowers and leaves. If you have little ones, or little ones at heart like we are, get them to decorate the cakes. It is much more delicious when you eat something you've made :)

It was so much fun decorating!

Now onto the part I was really excited about. My cousin made a delicious chocolate and orange marble cake for a friend's baby shower and I've been on her case to make it for us ever since. I roped in my sister to join me in the pleading puppy face begging scheme and it finally paid off.

She, my cousin, made the delicious cake for us at last!!!!

My new favourite Winter warming dessert

Her tip for making this cake is 'use the best chocolate you can afford'. So after purchasing a lot of dark Swiss chocolate, and giving me evil looks for wanting to eat up the chocolate (I love dark chocolate) and for hogging the oven, she started with her baking. Be warned, this cake takes 3 hours to make!!

She made separate batters, one made with orange zest and the other with some of the chocolate. I don't  quite remember what she did, it went by in a bit of a blur on account of the chocolate I was praying she'd have leftovers of. After she had baked the cake she then turned it out, cut it up and served with melted dark chocolate. This cake has to be eaten warm - which is probably why it is best for winter.

mmm...

Need I even write the verdict: Yes! Around. This is the type of thing that makes one sound like Oliver Twist.

What is your Winter sweet of choice?

Love for Artichokes

It seems I am always apologising to you guys. Well, here it goes again. I'm sorry for not posting on here in a while. This time I was ill - I've been ill for two weeks and am happy to say I am well now (have been well for the past week :] ). 

As a result, I have quite a number of photos dating back to, let us just call it, a very long time.

One night, when it was my turn to make dinner, I made this artichoke salad for a starter. It had, as most of my food does, mixed reviews. The parents and I loved it while everyone else preferred the artichokes in the wrap.

This salad consisted of char grilled artichokes (with garlic, salt and pepper), baked aubergine (seasoned with salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil), blanched carrots that were seasoned with salt and a bit of lemon.

The Salad

If you would like to give the salad a go, you can purchase artichokes already char grilled at Spar or fresh ones again from Spar.

Artichoke, aubergine and carrot Salad

Let me know what you think. What is your favourite salad?

Overdue Breakfast

Saturdays, well many Saturdays ago, around here are very slow. One wakes up late and then one is even much more lazy to even make breakfast. 

Where am I going with this you might ask? Well, "one" is me, and I was very lazy one Saturday. I awoke late and found my cousin had made a scrumptious omelette for breakfast. Each person in the house makes their own breakfast, since we are a bit picky and one never  knows what each person is in the mood for. The eggs I make are always sunny side up, since I like a runny egg, but that day I just wanted my cousin's breakfast. Knowing very well I couldn't replicate what she made, she very kindly allowed me to share her breakfast. 

This omelette treat consisted of Gouda cheese, ham, yellow peppers, sweet onions and parsley. 

Delicious Omelette

Seeing as she wasn't going to eat the omelette by herself, she then added two marmalade rusks (one for me and the other for herself), avocado and an extra slice of Gouda (we love cheese :p).

Yum!

The verdict: absolutely delicious!

Happy cooking (non-lazy breakfast!). Do you eat someone else's breakfast too when you are hungry?

Chicken Wrap and Cookie Dinner

First, I would like to apologise for not having posted here in ages. I have been so busy, and tired, lately. I hope to post here regularly from now on.

Weigh-less Sun-dried Tomato wraps

Speaking of me being tired, I wanted a fast and easy dish to make for dinner today, so I opted to make a wrap dinner. Since we've never made wraps before in the house, my sister and I bought some ready-made wraps from the local Spar. The ones we bought are a sun-dried tomato version and are weigh-less. We didn't mean to buy weigh-less ones, but they were the ones we found and the organic herbs side.

The Nice thing about these wraps is they come with instructions of the various ways you can fold your wraps.

Instructions on backside of wraps

To make the wrap dish, I began by making the filling which consisted of:

Chicken

I used three chicken breasts. These were fried in olive oil with sun-dried tomato paste, soy sauce, salt, and sweet Thai chilli. 

Fried Chicken Breasts

Mushrooms

I used four large Portobello mushrooms. These were first cut up and then stir fried in olive oil with some soy sauce and sweet basil leaves.

Fried Portobello Mushrooms

Black-eyed Bean 

The black-eyed bean were soaked in hot water and their skins removed. These we store in the freezer until needed.  The beans were defrosted and then cooked for hours in a pot by our housekeeper with some salt and onion, to make the Owambo traditional dish 'oshigali' .

To make the paste, I added sun-dried tomato paste, basil pesto and dark soy sauce and reduced it down  until a paste-like consistency was reached. 

Black-eyed Bean paste

Artichokes, Cherry Tomatoes and Chinese Sinach 

The artichokes were bought from Spar already char grilled.

The cherry tomatoes were sprinkled with fresh parsley and coriander leaves.

The Chinese spinach was prepared by frying it in olive oil with some dark soy sauce. once it was cooked, basil pesto was run through it.

From top, clockwise: Cherry Tomatoes, Chinese Spinach, Char Grilled Artichokes

Method

1.  Place the wraps on a flat surface

2.  Place a small leaf of lettuce on top of each of the wraps

3.  Place a few Chinese spinach leaves on top of the lettuce leaves

Chinese Spinach Topping

4.  Next top with roasted artichokes

Roasted Artichokes Topping

5.  Add on the cherry tomatoes with parsley and coriander leaves

Cherry Tomatoes with Parsley and Coriander Leaves Topping

6.  Top with fried portobello mushrooms

Mushroom Topping

7.  Add on the Chicken

Chicken Topping

8.  And finally finish off with the bean paste

Bean paste topping

9.  Fold the two sides of the wrap over the filling

Finished Wrap

 10.  "Tighten with the plastic sheets that separated the wraps from one another

'Wrapped' Wraps

I bought some coconut-oatmeal-wheat cookies from the Fruit Lovers Market, which I served as a dessert.

coconut-oatmeal-wheat cookie

I then served the wrap together with the cookie in one package. You can tell I was feeling very lazy by the fact that I didn't even serve in proper dishes! These we recycled after eating as opposed to loading the dishwasher.

How I served the wrap and cookie - Home-style take away?

Finished Packaged Dinner

 With the wrap and cookies we drank cranberry and kiwi juice.

Cranberry and Kiwi Juice

That's a wrap! Pun intend :p

Am I the only one that has been feeling tired and lazy lately? What do you cook on days when your brain just wants to shut down?

Happy cooking.