Meat and Gravy

This is a great wholesome meal for anyone looking for some home cooked comfort food.

Ingredients:
1 onion chopped
1 packet beef strips (get the appropriate amount for the number of people you are feeding)
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons beef stock powder
Dash of soy sauce

Method:
Fry chopped onion until soft.
Mix the beef, flour and spices.
Add the beef to the pan and stir fry until brown (you may have to scrape the flour mix off the bottom of the pan a few times to avoid burning).
Add recently boiled water from the kettle to the pan until all the beef is covered.
Add the beef stock powder stirring until it dissolves fully.
Allow to simmer until the water has reduced to a thick gravy and the meat is tender.
Before serving stir in a dash or two of soy sauce.

Serve with mashed potato and nice carrots.

Creamy mashed potato

There is nothing better than mashed potato and it is super easy to make.

Ingredients:
Potatoes (generally one per person plus one for the pot)
Large knob of butter or margarine
Dash of milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Peel the potatoes and chop into rough cubes.
Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water for approximately 20 minutes (they are ready when a fork goes into them easily).
Drain the potatoes in a colander and return them to the warm pot.
Add a large dollop of butter or margarine and a dash of milk (if you have any handy cream is even better)
Mash the potatoes with a fork or potato masher until smooth (take special care to mash thoroughly and get rid of any lumps).
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

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!

Fantastic Lemon Cheesecake

This cheesecake recipe is based on my lemon meringue pie recipe. It has very similar ingredients but if anything is actually easier to make because you don’t have to separate the eggs. It produces a lovely light cheesecake with a pleasant smooth texture.

Ingredients:

1 pkt biscuits (I like it with ginger biscuits but you can use marie or tennis)
200g butter or marg melted
1 tin condensed milk
Juice of three lemons
2 eggs
1 tub cream cheese
1 tin granadilla pulp (or topping of your choice)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Crush biscuits to a light rubble. Mix with melted butter and press into the bottom of a pie dish.
Place condensed milk, lemon juice, eggs and cream cheese in a bowl and mix thoroughly (don’t worry if the cream cheese goes a bit lumpy, its fine).
Pour mixture into biscuit base.
Bake in oven for about 10 to 15 minutes until top begins to brown lightly.
Remove and allow to cool then top with granadilla pulp (or topping of your choice e.g raspberry coulis).

Enjoy!

Glazed Beetroot

This is a really easy (although fairly time consuming) beetroot dish which makes a great accompaniment to any meal and can be served hot or cold.

Ingredients:

7 - 9 beetroots, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 of a cup brown sugar
1/3 of a cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons butter

Method:

Place all the ingredients in a pot, bring to the boil and simmer for one hour. (I told you it was easy...)

Enjoy!

Spicy Mince

This is a recipe that I stole from my sister after she did a cooking course. It makes a fantastic spicy Mexican style mince. It is super easy and very adaptable according to what you have on hand. I generally serve it in tortilla wraps with grated cheese and basil, we have also discovered it is great with baked sweet potato and sour cream, but really you can serve it however you want. 

Ingredients:
1 onion
1 pkt beef mince
1 chili
2 cloves garlic
4 or 5 tomatoes chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all spice
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp beef stock powder

Method:
Chop the onion and fry it in a little oil.
Chop the garlic and chili and add to the onion.
Add the mince and brown.
once mince is browned top the pan up with water and add all the other ingredients.
Simmer until the tomatoes have completely broken down and any additional water has cooked away.

You can also add green or red peppers or any other vegetables you like.
If you want the mince to be spicier you can add additional chillies or Perri Perri powder to taste.
If you don't have any fresh tomatoes you can used tinned ones or tomato paste.

Enjoy!

Bafana Bafana Cupcakes!

The other day my sister and I baked some Bafana Bafana cupcakes to celebrate the start of the soccer world cup. They turned out pretty well considering we made up the recipe a we went according to what we had in the house so I thought I'd try and remember it for you

Ingredients

aprox. 400g margarine

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

3 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup milk and water mixed (possibly more)

Method

preheat oven to 180
Cream margarine and sugar together
add eggs and mix well until completely blended
add vanilla essence
gradually add flour, baking powder and milk and water while mixing continuously until you have a smooth batter
full a muffin tray with paper cupcake cups and spoon mixture into them
place in oven and bake for about 15 minutes (you can tell they are ready if they spring back into shape if lightly pressed in the centre)
allow to cool and ice with topping of your choice (we did green and yellow icing to match the bafana colours)

Go Bafana!

They didn't really rise but they tasted very good!