Fresh Tomato Soup

This is a great nourishing soup that is super easy and quick to make.

Ingredients:
10 tomatoes
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp dried herbs
1tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Roughly chop the onion and fry in a medium sized pot with the olive oil until soft.
Chop the garlic and add it to the pot.
Roughly chop the tomatoes (it is great if you have a couple of different kinds of tomatoes to add variety of flavour).
Add the tomatoes, the stock and the dried herbs to the pot and allow to simmer for about twenty minutes until the tomatoes are soft and breaking up easily.
Blend the mixture thoroughly with a stick blender until smooth. (If you want to be extra fancy you can pass the mixture through a sieve instead for a more uniform texture.)
Bring back up to the boil and serve immediately.
To garnish thinly slice a couple of basil leaves into ribbons and sprinkle on top.
Another great addition is to add some frozen corn right before serving.

Garlic feta and herb pasta

This is a great pasta dish for when you just want a quick easy meal. it is a ice convenient meal for one or can be expanded to feed as many people as you like.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter (aprox.)
1 tablespoon flour (aprox.)
½ cup milk (aprox.)
50g of feta
1tsp crushed garlic or 2 cloves finely chopped
1tsp mixed dried herbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Pasta of your choice

Method:

You start this sauce by making a basic white sauce. You can adjust the amounts of butter, flour and milk you use according to how many people you are feeding. Begin by melting the butter in a small saucepan on a low heat. Add the flour and mix together until they form a smooth paste. Allow to simmer for a few minutes then begin adding the milk a little bit at a time. Stir continuously as you add the milk until it forms a smooth mixture. Keep adding milk until it you have a good pouring consistency. Then add the feta, herbs and garlic. You can also add a ¼ teaspoon of hot English mustard for added flavour.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Finally cook some pasta of your choice, macaroni noodles or pasta shells work particularly well, pour the sauce over the cooked noodles and serve immediately.

To make this dish even more indulgent you can add some chopped ham, bacon or smoked chicken to the sauce before serving.

Enjoy!

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes With Buttercream Icing

This is the first of what will hopefully be many cupcake recipes. This one is great because they are super chocolaty and also really easy to make. 


Essential skills: none 


Essential equipment: electric beater (or a very strong arm) 



Ingredients: 
(makes 18 large / 30 small) 

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1tsp bicarb

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract  



Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 and line cupcake trays with cupcake liners.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.

Add the egg, water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract and mix with electric beater for 3 minutes.

Scoop mixture into prepared cupcake trays (fill about 1/3 of the way).

Bake for 20 minutes.



Dark Chocolate Buttercream Icing

175g icing sugar

50g cocoa

45ml cold water

115g soft unsalted butter



Sift the cocoa together with icing sugar.

Beat the butter to a cream.

Add water and icing/cocoa, mixing together gradually while beating.

Super easy chocolate chip cookies

This is a really quick and simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. It will make about 12 biscuits but the recipe can easily be doubled.

Ingredients:

60g butter or margarine

1/2 cup Castor sugar

1 egg

3ml vanilla essence

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

200 ml chocolate chips (or one slab broken into small chunks)

Method:

preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
grease baking tray or line with baking paper (I recommend the baking paper, it makes life a lot easier)
cream butter and sugar together until soft
beat in the egg
sieve in dry ingredients
mix in chocolate chips
mix well to form a dough

it should look like this

roll small pinches if dough into balls, place on baking tray and flatten with a fork

Like this

bake for 12 to 15 minutes (Keep an eye on them they burn very easily!)
remove from oven and allow to cool and harden.

Mmm... Cookies....

Enjoy!

Nice Carrots

Need a quick easy side dish that everyone will enjoy? try these nice carrots.

Essential skills: None

Essential equipment: potato peeler

Ingredients:

Carrots (as many as you need, generally 2 per person)

1 large teaspoon butter or margarine

1 teaspoon sugar (preferably brown sugar but not essential)

Method:

top and tail and peel carrots  and cut into strips or rounds

place in a pot of boiling water and boil for about 15 - 20 minutes, until soft

drain off water and place carrots in serving dish. 

add butter and sugar and stir until it is all melted and dissolved and carrots are evenly covered (you may need more sugar depending on the sweetness of the carrots).
Enjoy!

Easy as pie lemon meringue

This is a great easy dessert and is always a big hit when having people over.


Essential skills: separating eggs

Essential equipment: electric beater

Ingredients:

1 packet marie biscuits

150g butter or margarine

2 eggs separated

1 tin condensed milk

Juice from 3 lemons (about half a cup)

2 tablespoons sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade

Crush marie biscuits and place in a pie dish.

Melt butter and pour over crushed biscuits. Mix together and press flat to line the pie dish.

Place condensed milk in a large bowl, add lemon juice.

Separate eggs, add yokes to condensed milk and lemon juice and stir well until blended.

Place egg whites in a small bowl and beat with electric beater, while slowly adding sugar, until it forms soft peaks.

Pour condensed milk mixture over biscuit base.

Gently spoon egg whites over filling.

Place in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until top goes golden brown.

My tip: Rather use too much lemon juice than too little. It is not as nice if it is too sweet.

Variations: leave off the egg white topping, add a tub of cream cheese to the condensed milk mixture and you have a fantastic lemon cheesecake.