Candied carrot ribbons ...

There is nothing that quite matches the taste of a caramelised carrot, however we don't always want the same old , same old ... it is so much nicer to be adventurous and try something new.

These sweet and tender carrot ribbons are great both hot or cold, they can also be used as a 'side dish' or alternatively as part of a colourful salad.

A little goes a long way so enjoy the rich, sweet and buttery flavours ...

Preparing & Cooking time - 20mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
12 large carrots
1 Tbsp honey
100ml Avocado/ Olive Oil
Cinnamon for sprinkling on top
1 pinch garlic salt

 Method:
- Peel and wash the carrots.
- Once clean using the same vegetable peeler , peel the carrots into strips and set aside.
- Put a saucepan on the stove with the avocado/olive oil to heat up
- Add the carrot ribbons to the hot oil , sprinkle over the salt and hunney and coat all the ribbons
- turn down the heat and do not stir but rather use a lifter and turn the carrots occasionally ( do not OVERCOOK!)
- once the carrots have softened slightly and start to caramelise remove them from the heat and serve  with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Cooks notes -
** these carrots can be used as an ingredient in a salad or on it's own as a side dish.

Don't you just love the way the carrots colour the oil, that's the Beta Carotene which is soooo good for you.
Read more on Beta Carotene here.

Crunchy Green Beans ...




Preparing & Cooking time - 20mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
500gr freshly cleaned Green Beans
50ml Avocado/ Olive oil
50gr Sunflower Seeds
1 Tsp Garlic Salt Flakes
1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Method:
- Steam the green beans, add the bicarbonate of soda to the water this helps keep the lovely green of the beans and also softens them up.
- Remove from the heat and put into a glass bowl
- Add the Avocado/ Olive oil, garlic salt and Sunflower Seeds and coat evenly

Cooks notes -
** you can change this recipe up by adding a splash of lemon juice and using flaked (roasted) almonds in place of the sunflowers seeds.

Here's to keeping it simple and delicious with weekday sides.

Baked Camembert with Cranberry Jelly

Christmas is the time of year where we break out the Cranberries and/or Crnberry Jelly and warm spices such as cinnamon and try to make what is a 'SUMMER CHRISTMAS' in South Africa , usually at around 25 - 31'c somewhat Christmassy and festive.

It was the day after Christmas and I was lounging at home when I spotted the Cranberry Jelly on the table and thought ...hmmmmm 'I feel like some yummy cheesy goodness!' with a touch of decadence. Here is what I made, it satisfied my craving and I'm sure it will fill the gap with you too.

BAKED CAMEMBERT WITH CRANBERRY JELLY
Preparing & Cooking time - 45mins
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
1 Camembert (round)
Ready made Puff Pastry
1 Cranberry Jelly
1 Loaf 100% Rye ( or any preferred bread of your choice) cut into fingers and toasted.

 Method:
Roll out the Puff Pastry, it needs to be fairly thin and my guess would be about 2mm. Cut a large square big enough to enclose the Camembert and fold as below ....

Place on a baking tray and bake at 180'c for approx 35mins or until golden brown and flakey.
Serve immediately with the toasted Rye Bread fingers and Cranberry Jelly.

Cooks notes -
This is not a dish that can be served cold and/or be baked prior to serving. You can however wrap the Camembert and refrigerate until your guests arrive and then bake to serve immediately.

** you can easily use this as a snack or as a main meal with salads.

As you can see this is clearly not limited to Christmas and can be served as a snack at anytime. I used an imported Camembert( Emborg) from #CheckersHyper's Cheeseworld as local cheeses were scarce after Christmas, it was a lovely cheese however my personal favourite #Fairview seems to go more 'liquidey and oozy' which is better suited.

Cookies n Cream Ice Cream ...

Some of my fondest memories of ice-cream are the days when I still worked on the cruise ships , whenever we docked at Puerto Ricoo we used always make a trip up to Baskin Robin's ... my favourite flavour? ....Cookies n Creme

So here I am today teaching you how to make my Cookies n Cream  NO CHURN ice-cream .... yes folks you DO NOT NEED AN ICE-CREAM MAKER!

COOKIES N CREAM ICE-CREAM

Preparing & Cooking time - 1hr 30mins
Serves:  4

Ingredients:
1 carton whipping cream
200gr Marscapone Cheese
200gr Condensed Milk
100gr crushed Oreo Cookies or any cookie of your choice
1 Tbsp Vanilla Essence

 Method:
In a bowl mix beat the whipping cream until it is stiff , really stiff but not butter please. Add the condensed milk, vanilla and marscapone cheese and beat again until evenly distributed and blended in.

Pour the mixture into the desired ice cream container ( must be able to seal it) , now pour in the crushed cookies and work them through this mixture. Smooth the mixture , seal and freeze for a minimum of 1 hour.

Cooks notes -
This is a NO CHURN , NO ICE CREAM MAKER recipe and is super easy and delicious.

** you can change the flavour of the basic vanilla ice cream to anything you desire and even add marshmallows , salted caramel etc.

Enjoy and let me know what you think?
NB. This recipe is LCHF and Banting friendly.

Pumkin Pot Pies to die for ...

Comfort food to me is the food that stimulates your senses and transports you back to another time and place. That mouthful of memories that is kickstarted by the first whiff or bite.

One of my fondest memories are these delicate miniture pumkins called 'Little Jacks' or 'Mini Pudding Pumpkins' or 'Jack O Lanterns', my mumsy used to steam/boil them for us with a dollop of butter in the centre often. The skin are soft when cooked and a great source of fibre and roughage.

These little pumkins can be served in a multitude of ways, but I personally love to make little pot pies with them when they are in season and I am entertaining vegetarian guests.

Give them a try you'll be back for more ...

PUMPKIN POT PIES

Preparing & Cooking time - 1hr 30mins
Serves:  4

Ingredients:
For The Pie Casings:
4 Jack O'Lantern /  Mini Pudding  Pumpkins

For the filling:
4 baby marrows/ Courgettes
3 small sweet potatoes/ yams
3 large tomatoes or 6 small tomatoes
2 Tbsp Double Cream Yoghurt
150ml full cream milk
300ml vegetable stock
Salt & pepper to taste
2 Tsp Eleven in One Masala
1 Tsp Nutmeg
1 1/2 Tbsp Coconut Oil

For the crust:
Ready made Puff Pastry

 Method:
For the pumpkins:
Boil the mini pumpkins in a pot of boiling water , add a Tbsp salt to the water. You will need to boil for 30 mins and turn over , boil the second side for half an hour.
Test with a knife to ensure they are soft but firm. DO NOT OVERCOOK!
Set these aside.

For the filling:
In a pot pour in the 300ml chicken stock and allow to heat up. Rinse the sweet potatoes and Courgettes and chop into chunks. Rinse the tomatoes and cut into chunks, put all the veg into the the pot with the veg stock and bring to the boil. Cook the veg until soft but firm. Add the milk , spices, coconut oil and double cream yoghurt. Turn down and allow to simmer on low heat.

Assembly of the pumpkins:
Place the pumpkins on a cutting board and carefully cut the top of the pumpkin so that you do not penetrate the bottom of the pumpkin, but allowing you to remove the pips and excess flesh (place this into the pot with the veg to thicken the sauce).

Stir the pumpkin flesh into the veg , remove from the heat and spoon into the pumpkins , ensuring to push it into the entire hollowed area and add enough of the sauce.

From the Puff Pastry you will need to cut 4 circles large enough to cover the top of the pumpkins ( there is no need for butter or egg , unless of course you would like to brush this on the pastry). I like to cut little diamond shapes or leaf design and place these on top.

Bake on 180'c for 30mins and serve immediately.

Cooks notes -
This is a vegetarian and banting friendly recipe.

** you can easily use these as a soup starter by liquidising the filling and thinning it down with milk until the desired consistency is achieved. In this instance you can make cheesy fingers from the puff pastry for dipping.

The 'Dirty Biscuit' a refreshing summer drink ...

It is sweltering hot here in Cape Town at the moment , today alone it is 31'c ... this calls for 'cold drinks' that refresh and revitalise.

When a good friend dropped in yesterday evening to catch up after the holidays it was an obvious choice to choose something cold and then an idead popped into my head ...*ping* and a new summers drink was born , I call it the 'DIRTY BISCUIT'.


Preparation time : 15minutes
Serves : 2
Difficulty : 1/10

You will need:
150ml Sally Williams Biscotti Liqueur
700ml Milk ( I use Easygest Low Fat Milk by Parmalat here in SA , it is lactose free)
3 Tablespoons Cocoa
Crushed ice and Ice Cubes

Method:
Fill your drinking tumbler 1/3 of the way with crushed ice , pour 75ml of SALLY WILLIAMS BISCOTTI LIQUEUR over the ice , top up with milk leaving space for a few ice cubes.
Add approx 3-4 ice cubes.
In a small bowl mix the cocoa with 50ml water until a rich chocolatey liquid is achieved.
Spoon the Cocoa mix over the ice cubes and watch it creep down the glass in rich chocolatey fingers...


** cooks note - 
- You can sweeten this up with a little condensed milk added to the cocoa if you like.
- You can make this more decadent by adding a splash of cream.

I hope you enjoy this refreshing drink!


** The liqueur in this drink was sponsored
For more info : www.tnb.co.za/sallywilliamsbiscotticream

Stuffing Balls ...

This last Christmas I decided to break tradition , I love the taste of stuffing but to be honest I really don't enjoy the idea of it being all squishy.I prefer fragrant , warm slighty spicy, with a gentle crunch ...hmmm sounds more appetising to me.

After very little convincing ( my dad loves a savoury nibble, rubber arm and all that) I was given the 'go-ahead' to make stuffing balls for Christmas dinner. I must however say that these are by far not limited to accompanying a roast ... but in actual fact are rather versatile especially when you have a vegan guest dining at your home.

Here is a fun idea and alternative to stuffing that chicken or pork, rather serve your stuffing on the side!

** WARNING! These are addictive!

STUFFING BALLS
Preparing & Cooking time - 1hr
Serves 8

Ingredients:
For the filling:
1 box ready made stuffing mix (I love Ina Paarman's Sage & Onion mix)
2 Tbsp butter
1 Extra-large egg
1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese

For the coating:
1 sachet fried chicken coating/cornflake crumbs or breadcrumbs ( I love Hinds Garlic & Herb or my own homemade crumbs)

Method:
For the stuffing mix:
In a bowl mix together the box stuffing , butter and cheese. Add 1 cup boiling water and mix well , once it is all combined add the egg and mix well ( do not add the egg before the boiling water as the boiling water will cook the egg and separate the mixture).


Roll into balls and then roll in the crumb coating , set these onto a baking tray.

Refrigerate for 20mins.

Deep fry until golden brown , place on paper towel to absorb excess oil and serve immediately.

Cooks notes -
These can be served as part of a roast dinner or alternatively as snacks with humus as a dipping sauce.

Oh yes , hide the left overs or else they will disappear...I all but had fisticuffs with my dad at Christmas *tee hee*

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