Thursday, May 7, 2020

2016 - August - Scones - Denmark earrings


August is gone ... Spring is here!!! (Well for South Africa, anyway)

I’m ready for the beach! 

I’ve promised you a Bumper Issue ... and I was right on the scone ... YES YES YES!  We are doing scones in different flavors!  And before you throw your jam and cream onto my face .... MOST of these absolutely delectable, fantastic, flavorsome scones are made with COCONUT FLOUR!  Scones that I’ve made with self-raising flour – substitute with gluten-free.  

8 August 2016
After tasting those scones at Dikhololo ... it really made me wanted to experiment with a basic scone recipe ... I’ve started off with the ‘Lemonade Scones’ (self-raising flour, cream, lemonade.)  and added some ingredients. 

I started a few savory recipes with Coconut flour.  They had fabulous flavor, but didn’t look like a scone.

Pressing my ‘science’ hat firmly on my head (funny thing ... I’ve never taken Science at school!), I made a few adjustments to the basic Coconut Flour recipe and I’m HIGH HIGH HIGH on scones!!!!!

Of course these scones are best eaten within the hour after baking ...  I’m especially proud of the Baklava Scones!!












Boil the water, beat the cream, polish your tea set ... and have SCONES!  Email me and let me know what you thought of them!!!!

Have a Springy September!!
I’ve come to the conclusion that some things are REALLY just better homemade ...  at least you know exactly what’s in it.

A few weeks ago I had a blocked and runny nose (sounds actually quite a contradiction, but hey ... I’m weird) and since I always read about chicken soup that’s good for a ‘sick’ person ... I wanted some chicken soup.  Now I’ve never attempted to make chicken soup, but figured that Woolworths would have a stellar soup!  We bought a big pouch of Fresh Farmhouse Chicken Soup from Woolworths.  All I can say is ... DON’T BUY IT!!!!  I’ve bought some amazing soups from Woolworths before ... butternut and orange;  fish laksa; .... but this chicken one .... yuck double yuck.  It was gelatinous, globby and didn’t even taste like chicken ... at all!!!

So I searched for a recipe.  I knew I didn’t want to use chicken stock granules / cubes ... and then I found a real basic Chicken Broth Soup recipe.  I didn’t feel like using a whole chicken and then have to bother with all the bits and pieces around the bones ... so I bought chicken thighs with bones.

Chicken broth soup

900g (about) chicken thighs, skinned, excess fat trimmed
1 large brown onion, halved, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, trimmed, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 tablespoons finely chopped fresh continental parsley stems
1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves
2 liter water
Sea salt flakes
2 dried bay leaves
Garlic chives, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine chicken, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, thyme, water and peppercorns in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 3 – 4 hours or until vegetables are very tender.
Use tongs to transfer the chicken to a clean work surface. Hold with tongs and cut the chicken meat from the bones. Discard bones. Tear the chicken meat and add to the soup.
Taste and season with sea salt. Ladle soup among serving bowls. Sprinkle with extra parsley and serve immediately.

I bought the ingredients from our local Pick ‘n Pay but really really wanted to have fresh curly parsley ... they didn’t have!  I sms’ed my neighbour, but she didn’t read my sms.  So I stopped at our local (not so great) Spar and wonders ... they had the parsley!  I added everything to a soup pot and let it simmer for 3 – 4 hours.  I’ve tasted in-between and added more celery and parsley.  After the 3 hours, I’ve removed the meat and skin from the thigh bones, mix everything and had it simmered for another hour.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was just amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can’t say it cured my blocked/runny nose, but it was magic!!!!  Such a silly recipe, but sooooooo good!!!!

A few nights ago, we decided to have just veggies for dinner.  I bought fresh cauliflower, broccoli and baby cabbages.  I had LOADS of eggs (from my scone-baking marathon), so I hard-boiled them.  I steamed the veggies and when I drained them, I immediately grated Cheddar cheese on top.  That is just soooo good!!!!!!  With a sprinkle of nutmeg and some salt ....

When I mentioned the ostrich pepper pie last month, I neglected to mention that I actually bought a sachet of pepper sauce.  Luckily I tasted the bought sauce before I added it to my meat ... eeeeuw!!!!  Processed, globby and gross.  So I literally just made a white sauce with loads of pepper in it.

Hein went to Denmark again for a week and looked for keyrings to bring home.  So I can make earrings.  First he found 2 ‘coin-sized’ keyrings ... I took off the keyring-part and added part of a red-button-choker my amazing funky friend Cathy made me ... voila.

Then on his way to the airport, Hein stopped at the Lego head office... and bought me a box of Lego’s.  He told the lady his wife is going to make earrings, so she helped him found lovely Lego’s.  
At the airport, Hein went into a shop to buy a hotdog and saw these Viking ship key-rings ...

For the Lego’s, Hein bought me a drill and I made holes, pressed the smaller Lego’s on the long ones, then removed them and glued them on.  I had this fabric brooch, sewn on the round blue Lego bit and glued the rest on.


For the Viking boats, I used another part of the red-button-choker from Cathy and they came out fantastic!!!!!!

The 3-hour basic jewelry course I took last year is paying off .. big times!!!!!  And it’s really amazing how a key-ring can be transformed!!!!

Well, by now your scones must be ready to be slathered in butter.  Have a fabulous September ... till next month!

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