Paleo Style Stuffed Peppers

I recently took to following a Paleo-style diet, which mainly involves cutting out as many processed and artificial foods as possible.  I was quite surprised by the number of websites out there and the types of food one can actually eat!  One recipe caught my eye - stuffed peppers!  I have always wanted to make these but never really saw the opportunity.  Now, I hate mushrooms (even though my whole life currently revolves around fungi...) so I adapted the recipe to my taste.

Ingredients:

• Small red and yellow salad peppers
• 1 head of cauliflower to make 4 peppers
• Bacon bits
• Pine nuts (about 2T)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1T coconut oil

 

Directions:

1. Start by cutting off the tops of the peppers and removing the seeds and membrane.  Place them in a colander over a pot of boiling water in order to steam the peppers until they are tender.
2. Mince the garlic and set aside in a bowl.
3. Fry the bacon bits in the coconut oil until crispy.  Add the bacon bits to the minced garlic.
4. Fry the pine nuts in the same pan as the bacon bits until golden in colour.  Be careful as they burn rather quickly.
5. Grate the cauliflower using a box grater or pulse in a food processor.
6. Add the cauliflower to the pine nuts and add the bacon bits/garlic mixture.  Turn off the heat and allow the cauliflower to cook through, stirring constantly.
7. Remove the peppers and stuff the peppers with the cauliflower mixture.
8. Place in an oven proof dish and bake at 180C for 30 minutes.

HandiMania

I just discovered this fantastic site HandiMania (http://www.handimania.com/)!  Or follow them on Facebook for more handy tips, tricks and crafting ideas!

You just have to watch this egg separating video!

Coca-Cola BBQ Chicken

 I am a HUGE fan of Masterchef Australia and during the final master class of Masterchef Australia 2012 (we are slightly behind here in SA...), Matt Preston made these delicious looking BBQ chicken wings!  So as it is new year and I have been given permission by my personal trainer to indulge moderately during the festive season I decided to make these for New Years for a relaxed lunch!  Just a quick note - the chicken has to be in the oven for 3-4 hours, so don't make this dish if you are in a hurry!

Ingredients

• About 1kg chicken wings (I used chicken wings and drumsticks) or just enough to feed the family.
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 500ml Coca-Cola
• 3 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 onion, grated
• 2T lemon juice
• 2T soya sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 140C.  Place the chicken pieces in an oven proof dish.
2. Mix all the ingredients together and pour over the chicken.  Make sure the chicken is more or less completely covered.
3. Bake in the oven for between 3-4 hours, turning the pieces every hour, until the chicken pieces are coated in the delicious sticky marinade.
4. Towards the end of the cooking process watch the marinade carefully as it reduces rather rapidly and can burn.

I served my chicken pieces with some delicious "slap" chips bought at the nearby fish and chips shop!  Perfect paring for any occasion, game day or just a relaxed lunch!

Die Koffiepot, Clarens

I recently went away with my hubby and parents to the beautiful Drakensburg area.  On a particularly miserable, rainy day, we all decided to take a drive through Golden Gate.  This area is a well preserved, pristine, nature reserve, that separates Harrismit from Clarens in the Free State of South Africa.  The scenery was breath-taking and the lighting was perfect for photographs!  

 

The most surprising find of the trip was, however, not a mountain range, waterfall or grassy verge, but a quaint coffee shop called "Die Koffiepot" (The Coffeepot).  Here they serve up traditional "Boerekoffie" that consisted of proper coffee brewed from coffee grounds and served with condensed milk and a soft "Anysbeskuit" (Aniseed rusk).  Delicious!  Even their hot chocolate had a cute twist to it!  Best of all was their traditional milktart - layers of milky custard with thin pastry - need I say more?!?  I was pretty impressed with this little coffee shop that we randomly saw a board for on the side of a mountain pass!  Needless to say, it all went down a treat!

Treatology™ by Wilton

I just came across this website that shares the science behind flavour combinations that you didn't think would work.  Just navigate across the easy-follow-table at http://treatology.wilton.com/

Halloween Spicy Pumpkin Soup

We have never been big celebrators of Halloween in South Africa, but lately there have been many mini celebrations and (dare I say it...) "American-style" candies on our shelves.  Last week, while doing my weekly veggie run at one of our local grocery stores, I came across this pumpkin...

I was so excited that I grabbed the pumpkin, placed it in the trolley and went home...  But then when I got home and looked at this orange basketball shaped vegetable, I realised I didn't have a clue as to what to do with it...

Considering I am one of the clumsiest individuals you will ever meet, as well as not being the most artsy person in the world, I decided against carving the pumpkin...  But luckily that evening an episode of Masterchef Australia aired on tv and guess what they made - PUMPKIN SOUP!  So I trolled the internet for some ideas and came up with my Halloween Pumpkin Soup!  And this is what we ate for Halloween dinner while elsewhere in the world people were gorging themselves on candy and chocolates :)

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin purée
• Tinned pumpkin or roasted pumpkin pieces
• Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and place cut side down on baking try lined with tin-foil.  Bake at 180°C (or 350°F) for about 45 minutes until the flesh is soft.  Scoop out the flesh.  I used a Moulinex to make the pumpkin smooth.

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 to 2 small onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• A bit more than a pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of curry powder
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 to 2 cups of water - check the consistency of the pumpkin and eyeball it for yourself; just remember you will be adding milk
• A splash of milk
• Sugar to taste
• Cream for decoration
• Salt to taste

 

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sized pot and sweat off the onions and garlic.
2. Add the spices and cook them off .
3. Add the pumpkin and stir.
4. Add the stock cube and water.  Allow to simmer gently on a very low heat for about 30 minutes.
5. Add the milk and stir well.
6. Season to taste.
7. If the soup is too spicy you can add some cream to cool it down a bit.
8. Serve in a bowl with a dollop of cream and fresh bread.

 

Chicken Sweetcorn Soup

One of our favourite take-out meals is Chicken Sweetcorn Soup!  And soup is always a winner on rainy days like we're having here across South Africa the last couple of days!  So why not make Chicken Sweetcorn Soup?  I have made this soup before when I still lived with my brother and before I got married.  It was a winner with nothing left over in the pot afterwards!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 chicken breast per person
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped.  I like to mash my garlic with the back of my serrated Victorianox knife - I feel that I can extract more flavour out of the garlic in this way.
• 1 Tablespoon cornflour
• 600ml chicken stock
• 1 tin sweetcorn
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Recipe:

1. Heat the oil and cook the chicken and garlic.
2. Blend the cornflour and some stock and add this with the remaining stock to the chicken and garlic mixture.
3. Bring this to the boil and add the sweetcorn.  Stir continuously.
4. Beat the egg and lemon juice and add this slowly to the soup whilst stirring (this will give you the tendrils you find in the take-out soups).
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.