Chocolate coconut sweets

This is a family favourite. My husband makes it and it is a guaranteed request on any and every birthday in our house!


Ingredients:

3 heaped tbsp margarine
¾ Cup sugar
¼ Cup cocoa
1 Cup Milk
1 ½ Cups coconut (desiccated)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 ½ Cups Oats

Method:

In a medium pot on medium heat on a stove plate, melt sugar and butter together. Add the vanilla essence and milk and stir thoroughly. Add cocoa and mix well ensuring all the lumps are gone. Allow to cook, as it starts to boil add the coconut and mix it in. Add the oats and mix thoroughly. Once it is completely mixed remove from heat. Fill paper cup holders with the mixture and allow to cool in the fridge for 2 – 3 hours.

Mmm Delicious!

Toasted Sandwiches

Okay so we all make toasted sandwiches but we don’t use a sandwich maker, we use a frying pan. I love these sandwiches, they have few crusts and turn out perfectly delicious especially with tea.
Ingredients:

Bread
Butter/Margarine
Filling of your choice (we use leftovers every Monday night but cheese is our favourite)
Method:

Spread 1 side of the bread with margarine or butter. Place the buttered sides together and put your desired topping on the unbuttered side. Heat a frying pan lightly covered with spray and cook. Place the sandwich, buttered sides out, into the frying pan. Using an egg lifter flip the sandwich once browned pushing down to ensure the 2 slices adhere to one another while cooking.

And there you have it delicious, low crust toasted snacks. Great ideas for fillings are:
Chicken mayonnaise, Curry and rice, spaghetti bolognaise, mince, cheese and ham or anything else you have in your fridge. It saves me a fortune in spoiled foods!

Fried Toast

On our yacht we don’t have a toaster (220 volts is not really available whilst at anchor) so we make toast like this:


Ingredients:
Bread
Margarine
Method:
Spread both sides of the bread with margarine and fry in a frying pan greased with spray and cook. Cook both sides.

Serve as you would normal toast, with egg or your favourite spread (no extra margrine necessary)

Sausage Stew

This is a winter favourite in my house!


Ingredients

Spray and cook
1 Onion finely chopped
1kg Stewing meat ( I love lamb and use lamb neck)
6 –8 baby potatoes (leave them in their jackets)
Salt to taste
75ml Tomato sauce
30ml Peach chutney
50ml Worchestershire Sauce
30ml Sweet mustard
Steak and chop spice
1 Cup carrots
½ Cup peas
½ Cup sweetcorn
8 – 10 sausages (I prefer pork, but chicken or beef work too)
1 Cup Water

Method:


Coat a large pot in Spray and cook. Fry the chopped onion until transparent. Place the meat and salt into the pot and cook for 30 minutes until brown stirring occasionally. Add steak and chop spice to taste. Place baby potatoes into pot and leave to simmer for 30 minutes. Add the Tomato sauce, mustard, Chutney, Worchestershire Sauce and water. Bring to a boil on a low heat. Cook for 1 hour. Add the vegetables and sausages and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Serve with rice!

Whipped cream

I hated whipping cream with my "quick shaker" but now I do it the simple way with my electric beater.

Ingredients:

125ml fresh pouring cream
1,5 tbsp sugar

Method:

Place sugar and cream in a meium bowl. Beat with electric mixer for 3 - 5 minutes until stiff.

Serve with scones or anything else and enjoy!

Soft Fried eggs

What I really like about this is that you do not use oil to fry an egg, so it is as healthy as a poached egg.


Ingredients:

Non-Stick Spray
Eggs

Method:

Place a large frying pan on a low - medium heat. Spray with non-stick spray.
Crack eggs into pan (No more than 2 for a beginner, but up to 4 for an expert)
Sprinkle with salt
Cover and leave for 2 - 3 minutes.

To test for readiness, touch white area with egg lifter, it should be solid.
Remove from pan with an egg lifter. Serve on toast.

Chutney Chicken

I just love visiting my sister, her recipe ideas are awesome!


Ingredients

1 Cup Chutney
1 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Cup water
1 Packet of Brown onion Soup
1kg Chicken pieces (with bones)

Method

Place chicken pieces in a 900ml ovenproof dish. In a 1 litre mixing jug mix all the other ingredients together. Pour the mixture over the chicken and bake at 180°C for 1 hour.

Serve with rice and vegetable of your choice.
Delicious for the little work involved!

Coconut Cookies

These make a tasty treat at teatime. They are a coconut lovers dream!. I like to make them smaller – they last longer that way.

Ingredients:
Cookies:
250g Margarine/Butter
1 Cup Sugar
2 Egg Whites
3 Cups desiccated coconut
3 Cups cake flour
½ Cup of sprinkle nuts (optional)
2ml grated lemon rind (optional)
Topping:
1 Lightly beaten egg white
½ Cup desiccated coconut
5 tbsp Castor Sugar

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together. The egg whites must be beaten until stiff. Fold the coconut, nuts and lemon rind (I find the lemon rind gives the cookies a sour taste so I don’t use it) into the egg whites. Add the creamed sugar and butter. Sift the flour into the mixture and mix until stiff. Make sausages about 3cm wide and place in the fridge until cold. While cooling, in a separate bowl, make the topping by adding the coconut and castor sugar to the stiff egg white and mixing.

Once cold brush the “sausages” with the topping mixture. Cut the “sausages into slices of about ½ cm thick and place on a greased baking tray. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180°C.

Allow to cool on a rack. Put the kettle on and by the time your tea is made you have great cookies to enjoy.

I normally get about 100 cookies per batch.

Carrot Cake icing

This icing is for carrot cake, but be careful not to put too much on or you will ruin the tender carrot cake taste!


Ingredients:

¼ Cup butter/Margarine
¼ Cup smooth unflavoured cottage cheese
1 Cup icing sugar
1 tsp Lemon juice

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together on a high speed until there are no lumps or bits of powder left. Spread onto each loaf once cooled completely. Decorate with 2 or 3 grated slices of carrot.

Carrot Cake

Light, delicious and really easy to make.


Ingredients:

4 Eggs
1 ½ Cups Castor sugar
1 Cup Cooking oil
2 Cups Cake Flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp Ginger
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp bicarbonate of Soda
3 Cups grated carrots
½ Cup raisins (optional)
½ Cup Chopped Pecan nuts (optional)

Method:


Preheat oven to 180°C.
First beat the eggs and sugar together until frothy. Add the oil and beat well. Sift all the dry ingredients together and add them to the egg mixture. Lastly fold in the carrots (and if you like the nuts and raisins). Pour the mixture into 2 well greased loaf pans and bake for about 45 minutes or until a test knife come out clean. Leave the cakes in the tins for about 5 minutes after you take them out of the oven then remove from tins leave to cool on a wire cooling racks.
I find carrot cake best un-iced but if you really enjoy icing see the next post.

Creamed Spinach

I always bought this ready made, frozen in a box. Reheat and we’re good to go. But today I decided to try the good old fashioned way…turns out it not only looks better it tastes great too. The biggest surprise was that it took no longer than the reheat stuff and the best part was that it cost a third of the price!


Ingredients:
350g Fresh or frozen spinach
1 Tbsp cake flour
150ml Milk
1 ½ Cups finely grated cheese
250ml boiling water
2 x Pinch of salt

Method:
If you are using fresh spinach slice it into cubes roughly 1cm square. If you are using frozen do not defrost before cooking. Place the chopped spinach together with the salt in a strained balanced over a pot with the boiling water. Steam for 3 – 5 minutes or until soft.

Place a separate small pot on a medium heat. Put the flour in the pot and slowly add the milk stirring continuously to make a roux and slowly adding more to make a thick sauce. Once the sauce is thick but still able to be poured fold in the cheese with a pinch of salt.

Place the spinach in a serving bowl, fold in the cheese sauce and serve!

Tart Base

This makes an excellent Milk tart base, but you can use it for jam tarts, apple crumble, or even savoury tarts!


Ingredients:

50g Butter/Margarine
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Egg
200ml Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1 Tbsp Milk
Pinch of Salt

Method:

Cream the butter/margarine and sugar together. Add the egg and beat like a maniac until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients together with the milk to the mixture. Mix until there are no lumps and a soft dough is formed. Grease your tart dish generously. Press the dough out inside the tart dish; making sure every point, edge and surface are covered. Keep smoothing it until you get a smooth even base, you don’t want thick bits when you eat the tart. I like to make the dough form a little edge around the top of the dish so it looks good when serving!

Beef Stew

This must be cooked slowly for about 2 hours to make the meat soft and draw the flavours out. Half that time in a pressure cooker.
Ingredients
500g Stewing beef (you can also use soft shin or goulash)
1 Large Onion chopped roughly
2 Large Carrots (peeled and chopped into rounds)
2 Medium Potatoes (peeled and cubed)
1 Packet instant soup (Hearty Beef or Brown Onion)
1 Beef Stock Cube
Chopped parsley to taste
Pinch of Salt & Pepper
¾ Cup of frozen peas and sweetcorn
½ Cup tomato paste (last bit of tomato sauce in the bottle mixed with hot water works)
3 Tbsp Chutney
1 Cup water
3 Cups boiling water

Method

Fry onion in a large pot until translucent. Brown the beef. Add the packet of soup mixed with 1 cup of water. Add 3 cups of boiling water. Bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Add Potatoes, carrots and stock cube (crumbled into the pot). ½ hour later add peas, corn, parley, salt and pepper. ½ hour later add tomato paste and chutney. Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour stirring occasionally. The meat should be soft and tender before serving.

Serve with rice and enjoy.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

I am typing this as I bake this wonderful cake…simple, quick and moist!


Ingredients:

1 ½ Cups Cake flour
1 Cup white Sugar
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
½ Cup Milk (or water for a lower fat content)
½ Cup Oil
2 Large Eggs

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 2 cake pans. Mix all the above ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Pour into the two cake pans. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. To test for readiness a knife should come out clean when inserted.

Leave in the pans to cool for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely before decorating as you choose.

Cornflake and raisin Cookies,

This is one of those recipes that you can make at the end of the month when you are out of most ingredients. The final leftovers from the box of cornflakes, the last raisins no-one ate….This recipe is so easy you can leave the kids alone to make it, they have great fun dropping them into the cornflakes!

Ingredients:
125g Margarine/Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2/3 Cup raisins
1 Cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 Cups cornflakes (lightly crushed – use the last in the box)

Handy Hint: “Cream margarine/butter” means beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Cream margarine and sugar together. Add the egg and beat again. Add sifted flour, baking powder and raisins and mix with a wooden spoon (an electric mixer will damage the raisins). Place the crushed cornflakes on a large bowl. Take spoonfuls of the mixture and drop them 1 at a time into the cornflakes, coating well. Place each coated spoonful onto a well greased baking tray. Space them well as they tend to spread. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.

Make yourself a cuppa and enjoy!

Savoury Mince

A great light evening meal!

Ingredients:
500g mince
1 Onion (Roughly chopped)
2 Carrots
½ Cup Sweet corn
½ Cup peas
1 Beef Stock cube
½ Packet soup (Beef onion or vegetable)
1 Potato (diced) Optional
2 Cups Water

Method:
Fry onion until pale. Add mince and brown. Add 2 cups of water and the soup while stirring. Once boiling, add the chopped vegetables and the stock cube. Cook until vegetables are soft and sauce has thickened.

You can eat this with rice, pasta or on a slice of toast. Whatever you like!

Pizza Dough

It’s fun to make your own Pizza. The kids can help too!


Ingredients:

225g bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 tsp instant yeast (about 1 packet dry)
Pinch of salt
1 tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Olive Oil (plus extra for oiling)
150ml warm water (just over ½ cup)

Method:

Oil a large bowl evenly. Mix dry ingredients together in another large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the ingredients and add the olive oil and warm water. Mix the ingredients first with a spoon and then with your hands. Knead dough until you get a soft dough, remove it from the bowl at this point and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. To test if the dough is ready make it into a ball and stick your finger in the middle, if the dough springs back it is ready. Place the dough in the oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm place. It will double in size, don’t be in a hurry – leave it for longer if needed. After rising, test the dough: press it with your finger – it should leave a mark. Knead the dough for about 1 minute (called knocking it down) then cut it as required. Shape into balls and roll out on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Place the bases on a lightly oiled baking tray. Spread each base with tomato paste, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Add the toppings you want and sprinkle with cheese of your choice. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 200°C.

The kids will be proud of their artwork and will eat ‘til they pop!


Handy Hint: If you start mixing the dough with your hands they will get too sticky and the dough will stick to your hands to much for you to able to work with them!

Vetkoek

This is a very easy, very quick recipe that turns out perfect everytime!
This is such a versatile food, savoury or sweet, it is always delicious!

Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1 Egg (beaten)
1 Cup milk or water (Plus a little extra)
250 - 500ml Cooking oil

Method:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Beat the egg nd the milk/water together and stir in the dry ingredients to make a sticky dough.
Heat oil in a deep pot to just below boiling temperature. Drop spoonfuls into the pot. Cook until golden brown on both sides, turning over if necessary.
Remove and allow to drain on a paper towel.

Serve hot with butter and Jam for sweet or mince/curried mince for savoury!

Cornish Pasty Filling

Perfect to go with the pie pastry recipe!


Ingredients:

500g Cubed beef (cubes to be 1cm)
2 Medium Potatoes
1 Medium Carrot
Frozen peas (optional)
1 Onion
1 packet beef soup
Pinch of Parsley
Salt to taste
Black pepper

Method:

Brown onion and beef in a frying pan. Add the beef soup powder and use approximately ½ the recommended amount stated on the packet to make soup, this will ensure a good gravy. Dice your carrot and potatoes into 1cm square pieces and add to the beef mixture. Add the peas if you want to, parsely, salt and pepper and cook stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens. The mixture should be thick enough that when you place it in the middle of the pie cases it doesn’t run away.

Handy Hint: The beef will cook further inside the pies in the oven so the beef need not be soft!

Homemade Pies

I like to make Cornish Pasties. They seem to be the most popular with a lot of people.

Shortcrust Pastry:
This makes 22 small pies (basic recipes will tell you only 8 but I like less pastry and more filling!

Ingredients:
500ml Cake Flour
2ml Salt
125g Cold Butter or Hard margarine (Buy the cheapest block and use that)
125ml Ice Water
5ml Lemon juice (you can replace this with vinegar or brandy for a similar result)

Method:
Sift flour and salt together. Cut butter/margarine into smallish pieces and rub into the flour using your fingertips. When the mixture looks like bread crumbs, mix in the water, lemon juice and knead until it makes a soft but not sticky dough. Cover with plastic (or a dish towel for the environmentally conscience) and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Pies:
Take some dough and roll out to about 3mm thick using a rolling pin on a well floured surface. Decide on the pie size (smaller works better) and cut our suitable sized rounds, remembering the pie will be half the size of the round cut out. Brush around the edges of the inside of the pies with and egg/milk mixture (I use an egg mixed). Add the filling of your choice to the centre of the pie. Be careful not to overfill your pies as it will leak out during cooking. Seal the pies and press down the pie edges using a fork or the handle of a spoon to seal them well. Brush the top of the pie with the egg/milk mixture and bake at 200°C for between 20 and 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Handy Tip: When making pastry, always keep your hands, tools and ingredients as cold as possible.

Crusty Home-made White Bread

This is a substantial tasty bread – no airy-fairy loaf! Delicious when sliced straight out of the oven with butter.

Ingredients
1kg Cake/White bread flour (about 7 cups)
2 tsp salt
2tsp sugar
10g Instant dry yeast
4tsp Margarine/butter
650ml (+/- 2½ Cups) Luke warm water

Method:
Sift the flour, salt and sugar together. Add dry yeast and mix. Rub in the margarine or butter. Slowly add the luke-warm water to make a soft dough. This is the tricky part. Too much water will make it sticky and it won’t rise properly (it sticks to the side of the bowl). Too little and the reaction to the yeast won’t happen properly – it won’t rise properly either.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. Don’t be gentle! When finished the dough should be smooth and elastic.
Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover it well. Leave in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. Use a large bowl, the dough can rise to more than twice the size. You don’t want it to stick to the cover or overflow.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface, knead again for a few minutes.
Split the dough into two equal pieces. Place each piece into a greased loaf tin and cover with some oiled plastic wrap or clingfilm. Leave it to rise in a warm area again for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Once risen brush the tops of the loaves with a little water and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for 35 minutes.
Once cooked leave the loaves in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out.

Now for the best part – deciding on what you want to put on it before devouring!

Handy tip: Yeast (which makes the bread rise, is alive!It needs to be kept warm and toasty like a new-born baby. Careful – too hot and the yeast will die.

Handy Tip: Bread and Cake flour are almost identical. Cake flour has been refined a little further. It is quite safe to use.

Pumpkin Fritters

We made this for dessert last night. Wow, has it been a long time since I had these and wow again, we they awesome! The perfect way to feed yourself and your kids pumpkin without knowing. So close to pancakes you would think they had no pumpkin in them.

Ingredients:

2 Cups cooked mashed pumpkin*
½ Cup cake flour
1tsp baking powder
2ml salt
2 beaten eggs
Cinnamon Sugar mix§

*To cook the pumpkin boil in a little water with no salt, sugar or any fancies, once soft, mash with a potato masher.

§ Mix Cinnamon and sugar together in the ration 1 part cinnamon to 3 parts sugar.

Method:

In a large mixing bowl mix pumpkin, flour, baking powder and salt together. Slowly add eggs while mixing to form a thick batter. Heat a large frying pan coated with non-stick spray. Spoon amounts onto hot surface. When bubbles appear on the uncooked side, flip over. Cook both sides to golden brown.(I like them to be about the same size as a flapjack).

Place cooked fritters on a paper towel and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix.

Go on you can lick your fingers, just this once.

Roasting Pan Gravy (Chicken)

This gravy is perfect whenever you have used a roasting pan to make meat. No waste and it even makes the roasting pan easier to clean!


Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Corn flour
11 Tbsp water
1 Chicken Stock cube
1 tsp parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Remove meat from roasting pan and place the pan across 2 stove plates. Turn the stove plates to a medium heat. In a cup mix the corn four with the water and stir to make a paste. Add the paste to the pan and stir. Pour ½ cup of the water used to boil your vegetables and add the chicken stock cube. Mix to make a stock liquid. Pour the stock into the pan and stir. Add parsley, salt and pepper. Stir continuously. The gravy will continue to thicken on boiling. Stir continuously to avoid lumps. Stir to desired consistency and reduce heat. Cook for 5 – 10 minutes on a low heat. Remove and pour into serving bowl.

Mmmm….delicious!

Chocolate Butter Icing

Perfect for all chocolate cake recipes!

Ingredients:

50g Butter/Margarine
375ml Icing Sugar
5ml Vanilla Essence
100ml Cocoa Powder
Milk as needed

Method:

Cream the butter cocoa and icing sugar to using an electric beater. Ensure there are no lumps. Add vanilla essence. Add milk a little at a time mixing until the mixture is smooth and soft. (Too much milk and the icing will become runny). Decorate as desired.

Handy Tip: After icing, place the cake in the fridge for 1 hour. The icing will set perfectly.

Butter Free Chocolate Cupcakes

These are quick to make and turn out light and fluffy everytime. The perfect lunchbox snack for a limited budget. This recipe can be made in a “Sandwich cake” (2 layer cake) same recipe different tin.


Ingredients:

4 Large Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 ½ cups Cake Flour
4 Tbsp Cocoa powder
3 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of salt
½ Cup Boiling water
½ Cup Cooking Oil

Method:


Preheat oven to 180° C. Grease 2 Cookie trays very well. Beat Eggs with Sugar until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl mix water and oil together. Sift all dry ingredients together. Gently fold in the egg mixture alternately with the oil and water mixture until smooth. Pour into pans to fill each “cookie area” ¾ full. Place in oven for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from oven, leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes. Remove from trays and cool on a cooling rack.

Once completely cooled ice and decorate as desired.

Handy Tip: I always heat the oven 20° C higher – you lose heat when you open the oven door. Once you close the door don't forget to turn the heat back down to the correct temperature!

Green beans in Mashed Potato

I am not a green bean fan, but this way they taste great! It is also an easy way to add vegetables into your diet without too much notice.


Ingredients:

200g Green Beans (diced)
6 Medium Potatoes (diced)
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
Pinch of Salt
1 Tbsp margarine/Butter
Milk

Method:

Place beans, potatoes, bicarb and salt in a pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes (until potatoes are soft). Drain and place back into pot. Using a sharp knife, slice the potatoes and bean pieces finely. Add the margarine or butter and mash using a potato masher. Once all lumps are removed, add a small amount of milk and mix to look fluffy.

Serve as for mashed potatoes.

Handy Tip: If you want a green vegetable to retain its colour add a ½ tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda during cooking.

French Toast

This meal is so versatile. Eat it with Syrup, Tomato sauce, Salt, Cinnamon Sugar, butter/margarine or plain. Eat it hot or cold. Today or Tomorrow. For Breakfast, Lunch or as a snack. You decide.

Ingredients:
2 large Eggs
150ml Milk
Pinch of salt
8 Slices Bread (halved)
Non-Stick cooking spray

Method:
Coat a frying pan in non-stick spray and allow it to heat up before cooking. In a shallow bowl mix eggs, milk and salt. Coat both sides of bread in egg mixture. Fry until golden brown, flipping half way through.

Handy Hint: I find you need to watch the temperature of the stove, too hot and the toast burns, too cool and it takes ages to cook, vary the temperature to get the best results.