Taste-and-Treats on the West Coast

Being a Granny to a 2 year old has certain duties attached to it... one of them is the making of a birthday cake! I love birthday cakes, especially those that don’t come from some shop but are homemade. So there I was last week with the task to produce a “beach cake”.. as Connor and his family live next to the beach it was definitely the way to go. I am fortunate enough to live in Cape Town where we have a shop that just does baking stuff and equipment! ( Baking Tin in Claremont). Having scoured the shop for anything beachy I started the elimination of my chocolate recipes in the many books lining my shelves. I decided on the absolute yummiest one I could find which is David Lebowitz. This recipe comes out of his wonderful book called “The Sweet Life in Paris” and can be bought here from Amazon.com. For the beach cake: 250 g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate ( I used half & half) 8 tbsp ( 120 g) unsalted butter 1/3 cup ( 65 g) sugar 4 large eggs at room temperature sepa...

Pork Fillet is a low fat meat . Combined with herbs and spices and roasted in the oven it makes a very delectable meal. I have one of those small Romertopf clay pots which can do this sort of meal perfectly well. The way I did it last night was as follows: 2 tbsp olive oil into the pot mixed with Nomu pork rub ( about 1 heaped tbsp). Rub the porkfillet with this all over. In the space left over in the dish I cut a bunch of vegies, using yellow pepper, baby onions, tomato and courgette, as well a a few self=sprouted chickpeas for the crunch :):) I also love adding cut up cucumber and celery as these are what the diet people call "free  vegies" ... and for anyone who thinks that cucumber does not do well cooked..... Its Delicious ! I then sprinkled roast veg herb mixture over the vegies and another dash of olive oil. Into the oven at 180 deg C for about 45 minutes, leaving the lid off for the last 15 minutes.

Beetroot Mousse December 7, 2011 in Uncategorized 2 Comments » Tags: beetroot , mousse , verrine Last night I hosted another dinner for 14 Americans and as a couple of them were vegetarians I did not do my normal “fishy” sort of starter. I am currently reading loads of recipes on verrines from books a friend of mine lent me… Oh so many incredible variations are there and all are easy to make and delicious. What appeals to me particularly is that the quantities are small, basically just a taste and not any more these huge quantities of food from yesteryear… Look at these awesome colours !! Ingredients: (for about 10 smallish glasses/portions) 1 pkt Beetroot ( about 8 pieces) 1 tub Creme Fraiche 1 tub Cream Cheese Juice of 1 lemon Salt & pepper Boil the beetroot the night before. Peel and cut into quarters. In liquidizer mix beetroot, creme fraiche and cream cheese to a smooth consistency. Add lemon, salt and pepper… and that’s it ! Let is go very cold in th...

Pizza at Home December 3, 2011 in Uncategorized No Comments » A couple of months ago my son was asked by an old friend of mine to do a promotional dvd for his new Earthfire pizza oven that is now also available at Yuppie Chef . They decided that my home is the right place to film it and many hours and many pizzas later I was hooked and bought this amazing contraption and have never bought a pizza again from anywhere else!… It is so easy and quick and I think the best and cheapest fun way to entertain during this time of the darn recession !!! So today is another one of those days that boys have invited their mates to come and “do” pizzas. I agreed to make the tomato base with those lovely fresh herbs from my garden and also supplied the pizza topping for the Dessert Pizza : Ingredients for Dessert Pizza: Sliced banana ; pieces of Camambert, chopped walnuts, dabs of sweet chilli sauce, NOMU chocolate sprinkles :) totally awesome ! To see just how easy it is to ...

What a week it has been..   rather bizarre..  but a good thing has come of it and that is that I am finally in the very very near future moving back to my home to Hout Bay. So excited that I could platz ! So here for a healthy weekend snack the recipe of Raw Hummus I have been given by a friend. Just made it for a friend's birthday party tomorrow and it tastes amazing..  Very fresh and definitely more healthy than the one made with cooked chickpeas. I am going to try a different version as well next week maybe with added cucumber.. we'll see and I shall let you know how it works! INGREDIENTS • 1 cup dry chickpeas • 2 tablespoons ground sesame seeds (tahini) • 1½ teaspoon salt/pepper • 1 lemons, juiced • ½ cup olive oil • 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or to taste • ¾ cup water • 2½ tsp (or to taste) paprika • ½ cup fresh basil • ½ cup parsley • Chives to taste DIRECTIONS 1. Soak the chickpeas in water overnight. In the morning dr...

Yes I know...  its been 3 months of silence... ! so very sorry !  Now I have moved home back to Hout Bay and am ready to tackle the world of blogging once more in a big way ! Also joined SureSlim again and even better am going 3 times a week to water arobics ! so 2011 will definitely be the year of health and happiness ! So looking forward to Sunday at the food bloggers conference in Monkey Valley which is really just around the corner from me. Seeing that these coming weeks / months will be more on the skinny food side here is an amazing recipe for a dressing that i found and tried out: Tapenade Dressing This super-easy dressing will make even the most boring of lettuces taste amazing, but it would also be great on arugula, spinach, for just about any salad green.  Garnish with toasted pine nuts, tomatoes, and feta cheese or hard boiled eggs ( for the protein)  for a more substantial salad.  Grilled or marinated vegetables would most certainly be a...

I love Iced Tea but don't want to buy the commercial stuff that is full of sugar. So I make my own..  at a fraction of the price and a whole lot healthier as well. In fact I make and drink about 2 to 3 liters a day as when it is not so hot I don't really like to drink water and also if the hunger pangs hit  before another meal is due..  this is the perfect alternative to circumvent the fridge !   HOW TO: In a BIG jug add 4 tea bags Rooibos and 1 teabag Mint Tea 3 to 5 slices of fresh ginger 1 table spoon of Advantage ( aspartame free sweetener) juice of 2 lemons Add boiling water and let the tea bags sit until the tea has gone cold and then store in fridge.  If its cold and raining :):)  its also delicious  when you drink it hot !