Coco-Choc Souffle

Like I said, the Sunday Dessert is also a big feature on Sundays... I wasn't really in the mood for making something, but my daughter kept asking what is for dessert? And so the bug bit me and the brain started working... what can I make? Making a dessert with flour is easy - through a couple of things together and voila!!... but I was also in the mood for a dessert, and my diet has been coming along so well, I didn't want to spoil it with another carb-loaded dish. So, what can I make that is delicious, that will appeal to the rest of my family members who is NOT on a diet, AND that is something I can eat, too? 

I screened Google... Ah! Cheesecake!! Nope, don't have enough cream cheese... (add that to the grocery list)... My heart started to sink, as all the ingredients required in these recipes was NOT in my house... What can I eat? Cream, eggs.. and that's when the idea struck!!

Preparation time: 20min
Cooking time: 40min
Difficulty level: Easy
Serves: 5 small portions

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated
250ml cream
1t vanilla essence
1/4cup desiccated coconut
1/4cup sugar
2tbs chocolate chips

Method

Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray, or line well with butter. Cool in fridge. Beat the egg whites to form stiff peaks. Beat the cream, essence and egg yolks together. Add the coconut and sugar and mix until most of the sugar has dissolved. Add the chocolate chips. Fold in the egg whites. Do not over-fold. Pour into baking dish. The egg whites will float to the top and the chocolate chips will settle at the bottom. Try to lightly distribute the chocolate chips evenly. Bake in the oven at 140degrees C for about 40min until golden brown on top.

See the melted chocolate, custard and meringue layers...??

I had to very quickly take a photo, before it was all gone!! This was such a tasty dessert... 

Yes, there is chocolate and sugar in, which probably means it isn't really carb-friendly. However, I did have my slice. A little sugar is better than a little flour, I reckon... 

Yours in oil and veggies... and chocolate!

Risch

Dumpling Dough

This dough is quite interesting. It can be used in savoury and sweet dishes. It's very easy to make, and it bakes quickly. Please adjust the quantities to suit the volume you require.

Preparation time: 10min
Cooking time: 20-30min
Difficulty Level: Very easy
Serves: covers a medium pot

Ingredients

1cup flour
1 1/2t baking powder
1/2t salt
1/2tbs butter
1cup water or milk

Method

Mix dry ingredients together. Crumble in the butter. Add the water or milk and mix well to form a sticky dough. Add more water if you want it more runny, add less water to make it more stiff.

Uses:
Add to a savoury dish to form a crust and soak up excess sauce.

Add to a syrup for a quick pudding.
Deepfry for a quick alternative to standard vetkoek.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Stew-Pie

Sunday Lunch... always the kicker!! What to make? It is somewhat of a tradition to eat a decent Sunday lunch, to the point of completely stuffing yourself, and then falling down somewhere for that well-deserved Sunday afternoon "nap"... mostly just waiting for the food to settle and a little space to open up in the very stretched stomach for that sought after Sunday Dessert... 
Well, I decided on a stew thing. With dumplings. So it's almost a pie, too... It's so delicious, you won't care what it is called - as long as you can make it again!!

Preparation time: 30min
Cooking & Baking time: 100min
Difficulty Level: Easy
Serves: 5

Ingredients

500g stew meat / goulash
2l water
1 cube beef stock
1tbs balsamic vinegar
3tbs soya sauce
potatoes - 1 per person
small pickle onions - 2 per person
8 whole cloves
3 bay leaves

Method

Put the meat in a pot - preferably one that is oven proof as well, again I used my cast iron pot.

Dissolve the beef stock in 1 litre of the water and add to the meat. Add the vinegar and soya sauce. Cover and cook for about 40min.

Add the other litre of water, the cloves, bay leaves, potatoes and onions.

 Cover and cook for another 30min.

Make the dumpling dough*, scoop over the meat. 

Cook covered in the oven at 160degrees C for about 30min, until the dough is done.

Serve and enjoy!!

I made cauliflower and broccolli with cheese and cream to go with the dish. It wasn't even necessary for rice!! The meal was filling, delicious - and healthy! Of course, for the low carb version: don't add the dumpling dough. But if your family loves it (like mine), make it, just don't dish the dough up for you.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

* Find the Dumpling Dough recipe on this blog.

Shortcut "sticky" chicken

So, Thursdays are chicken or fish days, and since last week was fish, this week is chicken!! I am running very low on supplies in my kitchen, and I can only do grocery shopping next week. The added hurdle is that our income is also drastically reduced, so smart and inventive cooking will need to be taken another level.
The one very big advantage of having less money, is of course, the fact that there is less to eat, less temptation and if you're trying to lose some weight, it is actually perfect!! 

Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: +- 40 minutes
Difficulty level: Extremely Easy
Serves: 5

Ingredients

1 piece of chicken for every person eating (we are 5, so we work on 5)
1tbs balsamic vinegar
3tbs soya sauce
4tbs chutney
ground black pepper
water

Method

Place the chicken pieces in a pot. I used an ovenproof cast iron pot. (I just love these cast iron pots, they add another level to the flavour for some reason, it could be all in my head, too!) I used frozen chicken pieces. Add water. Start off with enough to cover the pieces to half way. Cook for about 20 minutes. Turn the pieces over every once in a while. Add the balsamic vinegar, soya, chutney and pepper.

If the water is getting low, add some more. The more water you add, the more sauce you will have. Don't add too much water at the end of the cooking, it dilutes the sauce and you lose some of the flavour. Rather add it now. Cook for another 20 minutes or so, turning over the chicken every now and then. The sauce will be a rich brown colour and the flavour out of this world. 

I served it with some grilled veggies and brown rice. 

Who knew you can make wonderfully tasty chicken with 5 ingredients?

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Sweetcorn Pie

This is another twist on the standard ingredients: mushrooms, onion, bacon and sweetcorn. It came out very nice, and you can actually make it without the dough for a low carb meal! 

Preparation time: 20min
Baking time: +-30min
Serves: 6
Difficulty Level: Very easy

Ingredients

1 410g tin sweetcorn
1/2 punnet mushrooms, sliced
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
250g bacon, diced
1t english mustard
1tbs parsley
4 eggs
250ml cream
olive oil / butter
1 roll puff pastry
2cups grated cheddar cheese

Method

Fry the mushrooms, green pepper, onion and bacon in the olive oil or butter, until nicely browned. 

  
Whisk the eggs, mustard, parsley and cream together. Mix with sweetcorn and cheese. 

Spray an oven proof dish with non-stick spray. Scoop the mushroom mixture into the dish and even out. 
Pour the sweetcorn mix over and even out. 

Unroll the pastry and place over the dish. Cut the dough to perfectly fit into the dish. 

Bake in oven at 160degrees C for about 30 minutes until the pastry is nicely browned.

Dish up and enjoy with a fresh garden salad.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Your Suggestions...

To contribute your recipes, please follow these steps:

1. comment on this post with your name, and the name of the recipe.

2. send your recipe via email, to: maristagrobler@gmail.com - Put your name and the name of your recipe in the description line

3. you will get a reply that I received your recipe in good order, or with questions if I am not sure about something

4. keep a lookout for your recipe on the blog!!

Remember: I need your full name to give you credit for your recipe!!



VERY IMPORTANT: It has to be your OWN recipe. If you want to send someone else's, please make sure to give them due credit. If I decide to post your recipe, I will use the credentials provided, and I do not take responsibility for any false credits.

I am looking forward to seeing your suggestions and recipes!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Mince & Macaroni, with Spinach soup and Spinach salad

Monday. Mince-day. I haven't made pasta in ages, so I decided to make it for a change. We still have spinach in the garden, so I sent my son to cut some leaves. What an absolutely wonderful plant spinach is!! It just keeps growing and growing... straight through our freezing winter, it still just kept on growing!
This is just another normal meal, so I am not giving measurements, just what and how.

Mince - chop onion and mushrooms and fry in a little olive oil. Add the mince and be sure to separate the mince. Add a little balsamic vinegar and more soya sauce. Add Spice for mince. You can add a little salt, but be careful of too much. The vinegar, soya and spice already has a lot of salt. Fry until done. Turn off heat.

Pasta - Cook in salted water until al dente.

Spinach soup - Cook the spinach in water with a little salt until very soft. Add ground black pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, cream and grated cheddar cheese. Mix very well and cook further. (My idea wasn't soup, but I added too much water in the beginning, and now matter how long I cooked it, it just didn't want to evaporate!!) Put in a blender and blend until smooth. Astonishing creamy, cheesy taste - really great to remember for a different type of soup!!

Spinach salad - I took the baby leaves and flash cooked them for 40 seconds and then dunked them into a bowl of icewater to stop the cooking process. Then I sprinkled some salt over, let it stand a couple of minutes, threw off the excess water, crumbled some feta cheese over, and there's your salad!! Quite an interesting taste... Not as strong as raw spinach leaves, it has a softer taste, but still intense. I almost want to describe it as spicy and sharp.

With this meal, going low carb is easy - just don't eat the pasta!! 

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Cinnamon Bread

The weather yesterday was gloomy.... cold, a bit windy and overcast. Couple of drops fell, but no rain. It was the perfect stay indoors and snuggle up in front of the tv... with popcorn or pancakes... 
But pancakes - bless it, I absolutely love it - is a lot of work!! And it gets eaten so quickly... 
So I began to think if there isn't something a little less work with just as much feel-good satisfaction that the pancakes give, that I can make... and then I remembered Hot Cross Buns! 
I searched the Internet for recipes, and I found a couple, but not one seemed simple or straightforward. So I used their direction, and made my own. Since I used their direction and ideas, I have to give credit: please have a look at Nigella Lawson and Allrecipes.

Preparation Time: 30 min
Baking Time: +- 1 hour
Difficulty level: Easy
Serves: 6+

Ingredients:

6cups bread flour
2 packets 10g instant yeast
3t fine cinnamon
1 1/2t fine ginger
1/4t freshly grated nutmeg
1cup mixed raisins (cake mix)
1t salt
2cups brown sugar
2 cups milk
2cups water
100g butter
1 cinnomon stick
5 whole cloves
Zest of one orange
3 eggs

Method

Pour milk and water and butter in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon stick, cloves and zest. Boil for 10min. Leave to cool a bit. 

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Beat the eggs well. Once the milk mixture has cooled a bit, add the egg while whisking briskly. Pour the milk mixture through a sieve into the flour mixture and mix well. It should be a sticky mixture. 

Cover and let it rise in a warm place to double in size. Mix down. Spray a large bread pan very well with non-stick spray. Pour the mixture into the pan and cover. Let it rise again in a warm place. Bake in an oven at 160degrees C for about an hour, until the testing pin comes out clean. 

Enjoy hot with butter!!

As you can see, my bread pan was way too small!! It actually poured over the edges... But it was absolutely beautifully delicious... 

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Baked Haddock

Thursdays are fish or chicken days. Last week was chicken, so this week is fish. And I decided to make oak smoked haddock. I simply LOVE this fish, it has such a natural rich flavour! Thias is how I make it:

Preparation Time: 5min
Baking time: +-30min
Difficulty level: Very Easy
Serves: 5

Ingredients

5 pieces of frozen oak smoked haddock
100g butter
125ml cream 
3 tbs cottage cheese
Black Pepper

Method

Place the fish in an oven dish. As far as possible that each lies on its space and not on top of each other. Cut the butter into pieces and dot all over the fish. Pour over the cream. Scoop the cottage cheese evenly over the fish. 

Cover in foil and bake at 180degrees C for about 30min. It forms its own extremely delicious sauce... For more sauce, just add more cream before you put it in the oven.

Dish up and enjoy!! I mixed yesterday's leftover rice with pumpkin for the side dish, with a salad of tomato and feta cheese.

The fish is absolutely heavenly, and so easy... A bit pricey perhaps, but definitely worth every cent!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Cheesy Rice Bake with pumpkin

Ok, today actually has a recipe!! Yeyyy! Wednesday, as you know by now, is meat free day. I wanted to make something low carb, but just couldn't think of anything. Didn't have bacon, couldn't make an Al Fredo.... Couldn't find my yeast, so I couldn't make a cheese bread. (I eventually found my yeast, not in the baking cupboard, in the tins and soups cupboard!!! - I plead the 5th....) So, this is what I came up with:

Prep Time: 20min
Cooking/Baking time: +-30min
Difficulty level:  Easy
Serves: 6 - 8

Ingredients
2cups rice
1 1/2 litre water
1 chickenstock cube
50g margarine
2 onions
1/2 punnet mushrooms
50g butter
1t mixed berbs
1t parsley
1tbs german mustard
3 eggs
125ml cream
salt & pepper to taste

Method

Dissolve the chicken stock in the water. Cook the rice in the water. Do not cook until dry, remove from heat when there is still some water left. Let it stand and loosen with a fork. Add the 50g margarine and mix through.

Melt the butter and fry the onion and mushrooms. Add it to the rice.

Beat the eggs, add the cheese, mustard, herbs, salt & pepper. Mix through.

Add to the rice, and mix quickly, so the egg don't set. Scoop into a margarine smeared oven proof dish. Level, and pour over the cream.

Bake in an oven at 160degrees C until it starts to brown.

Dish up, serve, and enjoy!!! We had pumpkin as a side dish... and of course the two goes very well together.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Tenderised Steak, cheesy broccolli and butter-cinnamon apple

Just another simple every day meal for today. Tuesdays are meat-nights. Have to be meat: stew, steak or tjops. And decentt veggies goes well with decent meat.

Tenderised steak: I marinated it in a sauce made up of: soya sauce, balsamic vinegar, soda water, red wine and chutney. It did not come out  softer than without marinating, so I am not impressed. And I used too much balsamic vinegar. That is really strong stuff, remember: start with rather too little, and add, than too much. Fried it in a pan on the stove.

Broccolli: Cooked it until very soft. Added salt & Pepper. Added margarine to the last bit of water and cooked through. Added grated cheddar cheese and mixed and mashed. The cheese disappears, but you taste it.

Apple: Sliced the apple. Sifted icing sugar to cover the bottom of a dish. Arranged the apple on top in a layer, icing sugar, apple, icing sugar, cinnamon, added butter pieces all over and baked in oven 140degrees C until soft. Scooped some cream cheese over.

This meal is free of all your "white refined carbs", and except for the sugar over the apple, should fit nicely into a low carb diet.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Wors, mash & Tomato sauce with banana salad

Yes, I know. Today's recipe is nothing short of imagineless (if there is such a word....) But, I did say that I was going to make 365 meals - one for each day of the year. I never said it was going to be gourmet cooking for 365 days!! (hiehie...)

In light of this being such a simple dish, I am not going to be very formal regarding the ingredients and method. 

Wors - Fry it in a pan, to your own liking. 

Mash - Cook 1 potato for every person eating until soft. Add salt & pepper to taste. Mash in butter (about 1t per potato) (but I love buttery mash, so make it a bit more), add cream to make it as soft as you like it. 

Sauce - Fry 1/2 punnet mushrooms in butter. Add 1 tin of tomato & onion, and one packet of tomato paste. Cook, but it burns quickly, add water to thin it. Add salt & pepper to taste, 3tbs sugar and 1tbs origanum. Mix well. Add water or cream to make it thinner if you like.

Banana Salad - Slice bananas into wheels. Add mayonnaise to your liking. And mix in a pinch of salt. 

And serve!! This may not be gourmet cooking, but it certainly is a filling and tasty dinner.

My family was very hungry, I had to snap a picture very quickly before it was all gone!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Burnt Pumpkin Soup

This was one of those sundays... I had no idea what to make for our lunch/dinner. I wasn't in the mood for chicken and we don't really have "sunday meat" like a roast. We had the potato bake in the week, so that was taken... And then I remembered my Burnt Pumpkin Soup!! This is a simple recipe, but a lot of work. It takes about 4 hours. Depending of course, on how much you rest inbetween. 

Ingredients- Chicken Stock

7 soup pieces of chicken (mostly bones and skin)
2 litres water
2 star anise
3 bay leaves
25 black peppercorns (about)

Method

Put everything in a pot, put on the lid, and cook for an hour. If it too watery, cook for another 30 minutes.

Once cooked, strain over a bowl, to remove the chicken pieces, peppercorns, anise and bay leaves. Remove any usable meat you can from the bones and put it back in the pot. The water you strained is your chicken stock.

Ingredients - Pumpkin

3 medium butternuts, quartered

1/4t fine cinnamon

2 onions, chopped

100g butter

grated nutmeg

3tbs sugar

coarse salt

500ml cream

Method

Place the butternut on a baking pan, sprinkle with salt. Bake in the oven at 160degrees C for an hour. After an hour, add a little water to the base and bake for another half hour. Put on medium grill for 10 minutes.

Melt the butter in the pot with the little chicken pieces you could salvage off the bones. Add the onion and fry. Add the sugar and cinnamon, let it melt and remove from heat. Scoop out the butternut into the pot. Add the chicken stock, nutmeg and cream. 

Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Blend it in a blender until smooth. 

The bread next to the pot, is my Baking Powder Bread. It will be in my next post. Goes lovely with this soup!!

Serve it up, and enjoy! 

This is enough for at least 6 people. It is very rich and filling and delicious!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Simple Potato Bake

I don't have any photos for this dish, I wasn't in the mood, and to be honest... I actually thought of closing the blog down. Apparently, like my personality, my food is a bit different, weird and somewhat missing the acceptable social mark. By miles. 
I enjoy my food. And I enjoy my own company. My family says they enjoy my food. And very few people enjoy my company. For short periods of time, yes, but not for an extended period - you know, like more than 2 weeks... 
So, maybe considering these two facts, my dream of opening my own restaurant one day, will never happen. Cause no-one is going to come. 
But I will make my food, and enjoy it. And blog it. For me. 

Ingredients

4 large potatoes
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, chopped
30g margarine
50g butter
salt & pepper to taste
250ml cream
fresh rosemary 
250g cheddar cheese, grated

Method

Using the microwave method, cook the potatoes almost through. (Microwave method: rinse the potatoes, prick them thoroughly with a fork. Place in plastic bag - shopping bags works wonderfully - prick the bag a couple of times. Close tightly. Put in microwave and cook on full power. Time depends on how many potatoes. Careful when taking it out, it is VERY hot and the steam catches you by surprise.)
Melt the margarine and fry the onion and mushrooms until starting to brown. Once potatoes are done, slice them - carefully - and pack a layer in a baking dish. Divide the butter in pieces and place half of it all over the potato slices. Salt & pepper. Add some rosemary. Sprinkle half the cheese over. Spread half the mushroom mix over evenly. Add next layer of potatoes. Butter, salt&pepper, rosemary, mushrooms and cheese. Pour the cream over evenly. Sprinkle some paprika over and bake in the oven at 160degrees C until cheese start to brown. Take it out and let it set for a while. 

Dish up and enjoy! Very filling, and very tasty. This recipe also leaves room for additions, like bacon. 

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Pumpkin Pizza

Yes, I broke the no-carb diet today. How could I not? Wednesday is meat free day, as always, and I was struggling to find inspiration for dinner. And then it hit me: Pumpkin Lasagne!! But this is such a special dish, I thought i will leave it for later in my 365-days-365-meals quest.
So, I thought a little more, and as I was buying the mushrooms (Portabellini's, yumm!) and bacon, my eyes caught the ready made vetkoek-dough. And then I bought it. Still not sure how I was going to make what...
Back in the car, inspiration struck: Pumpkin Pizza!!!
I still haven't worked out all the details, but that happens as I cook. Have a look for yourself, but this turned out perfect. Delicious, creamy, interesting tastes and textures mingling, and surprisingly filling!!

Pizza for me is a very personal taste thing. So the ingredients on here - except for the sauce - is according to our liking, for 2 large pizzas. Please feel free to use the ingredients as your taste buds dictate. And of course it depends on how many pizzas you want to make. The sauce is enough for a generous helping for both pizzas.

Pizza - Ingredients

1kg Vetkoekdeeg
1 punnet mushrooms (I used portabellini, but normal button mushrooms will do just as well)
250g streaky bacon, cut into strips of about 5cm
1 onion, finely chopped
500g frozen pumpkin (fresh will work as well)
Paprika
200g cheddar cheese, grated
200g mozzarella cheese, grated
Butter for spreading
Mayonnaise for spreading

Pizza - Method

Roll out the vetkoekdeeg as thin or thick as you like your base. Remember, it does still rise a bit. Cut to size and fit into a sprayed pizza pan. Spread a layer of butter, followed by a layer of mayonnaise. Sprinkle the chopped onion over. Add half the cheddar and half the mozzarella. Sprinkle Paprika over to taste. Place the bacon, then the mushrooms.

Then the pumpkin chunks. Finally the other half of the cheddar and mozzarella.

Sauce - Ingredients

4tbs plain yoghurt
1tbs mayonnaise
1 rind feta (I used herb, plain or pepper will work as well)
about 1/4 cup milk

Sauce - Method

Whisk all the ingredients together to form a sauce. Not to too thin, and not too thick either. About the consistency of thick cream. Add more milk to make it thinner, if you choose.

Then - pour the sauce over the pizza in a spiral formation, covering as much as you can, and not too close to the edges.

 Bake in the oven at 180degrees C for about 30 minutes to an hour, checking to see if it is ok. The edges of the pizza will start to lift and the cheese will start to brown when it is ready.

And enjoy! This is a wonderful twist on a traditional favourite and the kids love it!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Breakfast - Burnt Butter Mushroom, salami & Egg

This is one of my favourites so far. Breakfast with egg without any carbs. And it is absolutely delicious!!

Ingredients:

5 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 green pepper, chopped
4 salami slices (bacon, biltong or ham will work just as well)
50g butter
50g cheddar cheese, grated
1/8 rind feta cheese
salt & pepper to taste
Lemon zest

Method

Melt the butter, and then let it burn a little until it browns. It has to be butter, margarine does not "burn". Add the mushrooms, salami and the green pepper. Fry a little. Put the cheese in a plate. Place the fried mushrooms and green pepper on top. Fry the egg in the same pan, with salt and pepper to taste. Put on top of the mushrooms. Crumble the feta over, with some fresh lemon zest to taste.

And enjoy with a freshly brewed cup of coffee!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Intense Red wine Stew

Considering yesterday's somewhat dull (to my taste, anyway) mince, today's meat stew is exactly the opposite: deep, rich flavours beckoning for you to eat more - taste more - just that one little bite more...

I served it with broccolli and cauliflower with a flourless cheese sauce and the tastes complimented each other beautifully!! The rest of my family enjoyed it with rice. For my carb-free diet, I am not allowed to eat the rice. But it was more than enough - filling, tasty, simply delicious!!

Ingredients

700g goulash  / soup meat
7 pickle onions
1 250g punnet mushrooms, whole
150g margarine
2tbs balsamic vinegar
3tbs soya sauce
3tbs sweet chilli sauce
3tbs chutney
1tb olive oil
3tbs sugar
500ml water
125ml red wine

Method

I used a cast iron pot on my gas stove. It works miracles.!! Melt the margarine in the pot. Add the whole onions and the whole mushrooms. 

 Fry. Add the meat. Fry a little. Mix the vinegar, soya sauce, sweet chilli sauce, chutney, olive oil and sugar in the 500ml water. Add to the meat. Cook with open lid. 

Reduce the sauce until almost gone. Remove from heat. Add the red wine. Let it stand until it you dish up.

These tastes absolutely complimented each other... on the one hand you had the sweet, sour and tangy sauce of the meat, and on the other the cheesy creamy sauce with the veggies. Delectable....

Your family is sure to love this meal. It is tasty and healthy and filling.... Did I mention fabulously tasty, spicey and wholesome? Do try this at home!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch