Basil Pesto Sugar Cookies

 27 September 2022

We've had Basil and Cilantro (Coriander) in our garden. This weekend, Hein bought us a curly Parsley and Sage.

 

'Cause you CANNOT (well technically you can) make potato salad without curly (not the flat one!) Parsley!

 

Hein cut me some of the fresh Basil and I made pesto using roasted chilli Corn Nuts (actually quite nice), 

sunflower oil, garlic, pepper and sommer grated Cheddar Cheese.

 

Yesterday I baked these cookies .... Sugar cookies with Basil Pesto in. Oh my goodness!!!! Quite addictive!!!!! Hein loved them as well!!

 

BASIL PESTO SUGAR COOKIES

Makes 12, depending on size

1/4 cup basil pesto

1 large egg

1 cup self-rising flour

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 170 oC. Mix all together, form walnut-size balls and place on greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on sheet.

Recipe and photo: Alma Pretorius 

 

Coriander Pesto Pizza

 29 September 2022

At our Pick 'n Pay Boskruin, you can buy a Sosatie sausage - but it's actually a Bobotie sausage ... flavored with curry and even has raisins in. Delicious!

 

Yesterday, Hein braaied the sausage. From our garden, Hein cut fresh Coriander. I made a pesto - used toasted breadcrumbs instead of nuts, veg oil instead of olive oil and grated Cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan. Delicious!!!!!

 

Spread the Coriander pesto on homemade yeast (I'm getting so clever these days) pizza crust - brushed a mixture of crushed chillies, garlic and oil on the edges - topped with sliced braaied Sosatie (Bobotie) sausage and cheese. 15 Minutes at 200 oC. Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The smell of roasted garlic in the oven ... drool-worthy!!

How amazing that you can use pesto as a pizza 'sauce' ....

 

Muesli homemade

 

In my 20's, I visited a FranschHoek church family over weekends. They taught me how to make Muesli.

 

Have you ever tried making your own Muesli? It really is super easy!! This is the PERFECT gift - or a great snack, breakfast or even a dessert!

 

Last week I made a batch ... but (duh) didn't read my recipe. So I added my raisins with the rest of the ingredients and roasted it in the oven. NO-NO! The raisins were little rocks!!!!!!!

 

Yesterday I browsed the nut and dried fruit containers in Food Lover's Market and chose raw Sunflower seeds, salted and roasted giant Peanuts and dried raisins. But you can use any chopped dried fruits, seeds and nuts.

 

I made my Muesli in the oven - but below is how you can make it on your stove-top in 5 minutes! Why make your own Muesli? You control the salt and sugar level and it's creative.

Or if you want a snack NOW, below is a Peanut butter no-bake Muesli version.

 

We love Muesli with milk ... but you can:

enjoy it with any type of milk

sprinkle Muesli on top of ice cream

sprinkle Muesli on top of yoghurt or stir it into yoghurt

layer Muesli in a glass with yoghurt for an instant dessert! (Photo below)

add Muesli to your smoothie

add Muesli in layers to your trifle

 

HOMEMADE MUESLI ON A BUDGET

Makes about 500 g

2 cups raw oats

100 g sunflower seeds (or mixture of any raw seeds)

100 g salted giant peanuts (or mixture of any raw or salted nuts)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup syrup/honey

100 g raisins/any dried fruit chopped (ONLY STIR IN ONCE MUESLI HAS BEEN ROASTED AND COOLED!!!) 

 

Preheat oven to 160 oC. In a large bowl, mix together everything EXCEPT THE DRIED FRUIT!!!!! Toss to coat well with syrup/honey & oil. Spoon onto a baking sheet and bake at 160 oC for + 30 min, tossing once to ensure that mixture turns golden. Once cooled, add fruit. Store in airtight container for a few weeks.

 

STOVE-TOP METHOD:

In a big pan on medium heat on stove-top, roast everything EXCEPT THE DRIED FRUIT for about 5 minutes – stirring occasionally. LET COOL COMPLETELY! Add the dried fruit. Store in airtight container for a few weeks. 

 

NO-BAKE RAW SNACK!

Use quantities as you wish

Raw oats

Peanut butter

Honey/syrup

Dried fruit, chopped

Nuts and seeds (raw or roasted)

Cinnamon (optional)

Salt (optional)

In microwave bowl, melt peanut butter and honey/syrup. Stir in oats, fruit and nuts/seeds. Add salt or cinnamon if you want.

 

Carrot Hummus Pizza

 3 October 2022

Yesterday I browsed through TikTok and saw a video that immediately inspired me ... use limp carrots to make a fabulous hummus!!!!!

 

Prepared my yeast pizza crust and in an airtight plastic container, placed it in my car to rise. With the last few limp carrots in the fridge and a tin of chickpeas, I made this quick and easy hummus.

 

Hein loves the new 'bare essential' pizzas ... so after my dough has risen, I spread it out with my fingers on a baking sheet (I only used half of the dough). Spread it with carrot hummus, topped it with thawed frozen peas, drizzled over chilli oil, black pepper and added slices of Mozzarella cheese. Fifteen minutes later at 200 oC - pizza!!!!!! 

 

In the afternoon, I used the carrot hummus as a dip for fresh apple slices!!!!

Apparently one can bake brownies using hummus ... hmmm, wonder if there's enough left ....

 

CARROT HUMMUS

Makes 250 ml

2 cups (300g) chopped carrots

1 can (15oz/400g) chickpeas (reserve the water from the can)

2 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoon Tahini (or nut butter)

1 garlic clove crushed

2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper

 

Steam or boil the carrots until soft. You could roast them too.

Drain the chickpeas over a bowl to collect the chickpea water (aquafaba).

Add the carrots and chickpeas, plus 2 tablespoons of the chickpea water, to a blender along with all the other ingredients.

Blend for a few minutes until thick and creamy. You may need to scrape the sides down occasionally.

https://veggiedesserts.com/carrot-hummus/

 

Pilchards and Thyme Pizza

6 October 2022 

 

For years now, I've made us Pilchards pizzas. But mostly I've chopped the tinned Pilchards. Inspired by a photo on https://luckystarsuperlife.tumblr.com/.../sardine-pita-pizza - last night I made a scrumptious pizza.

 

While Hein was at a business meeting, I moved dust around (aka cleaning - hahaha) and the yeast pizza dough I left in the closed study. 

 

Pressed out the pizza dough, brushed on Wimpy Burger Relish mixed with chillies, fresh thyme, grated Mozzarella cheese and raw onion rings. I gently washed the sauce off the tinned Pilchards and baked the pizza at 200 oC for 15 minutes. Absolutely delicious!!!!

 

Chakalaka homemade

 

Earlier this week a friend said she's on a Chakalaka mission. Buys the small tin and enjoys it with every meal.

 

Hein doesn't like the tinned Chakalaka ... so I Googled a recipe ... hmmmm, quite easy.

Yesterday afternoon Hein made us Chakalaka. Oh wow!!!!!!! It is such an easy recipe and tastes amazing!!!!!!!

PERFECT as a gift!

 

How do you eat Chakalaka?

1. As a hot or cold starter.

2. On fresh bread or toast.

3. On stywe pap

4. In a muffin (ask me for the recipe)

5. As a side to any protein

6. Perfect to enjoy with bbq'd steak or boerewors

7. With samp, couscous, rice or pasta

8. Use as filling in a pie

 

Chakalaka homemade

 

3 tablespoons oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons crushed chillies

2 cloves garlic, crushed

50 grams ginger, finely grated

2 tablespoons mild curry powder

1 bell pepper (green / red / yellow), finely chopped

1 large carrot, scrubbed, topped, tailed and grated

1 x 400 grams canned chopped tomatoes

4 tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 x 410 grams canned baked beans

2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until soft and translucent. Add the chillies, garlic and ginger. Add the curry powder and stir to combine. Add the bell pepper and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the carrot and stir to make sure they are well combined with the other ingredients and coated in the curry powder. Add in the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir. Cook until the mixture is well combined and slightly thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the baked beans and thyme and stir to combine; season with salt and pepper. Serve hot or cold. Keep in fridge for a few days - or a few weeks in freezer.

https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/siba-mtongana/chakalaka-2394002

 

 

Fresh mint sugar cookies

 

For the past few years, we've had Mint plants in our garden. They multiply on their own and don't need any water. Before the weekend, Hein picked some of the Mint ... what to do with it ....

 

Mint pesto will go well with lamb ... and then I thought of a Virgin Margarita ... sugar, lime, mint, salt on the glass rim ...

 

The first batch of cookies went well, but before baking I rolled it in a mixture of sugar, lime zest and salt ... bleh - the salt was too much.

 

So yesterday I added the salt to the cookie mixture. Also mixed the fresh mint leaves with sugar in a small blender - and rolled the unbaked balls in the mint-sugar and lime zest mixture .. WOW!!! Absolutely yum!!!

 

VIRGIN MARGARITA COOKIES

Makes 12, depending on size

 

1 cup self-rising flour

1 large egg

1/2 cup mint sugar (see recipe below)

2-3 teaspoons lime zest

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons vegetable oil

 

MINT SUGAR

1 cup white sugar (castor sugar)

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

 

Blitz sugar and mint leaves together to a lightly-green-colored sugar. You’ll use 1/2 cup of this for the cookie mixture and the rest to roll the raw cookie balls in.

 

Preheat oven to 170 oC. Mix together the oil, 1/2 cup mint sugar, egg and salt. Add the flour. Roll walnut-size balls with your hands, roll it in the rest of the mint sugar mixture. Place on baking sheet (not too close to each other) and bake for 12 minutes.

Recipe and photo: Alma Pretorius

 

Quick stiff porridge (stywe pap)

 

No more cooking 'stywe pap' (stiff porridge) for hours ... with the White Star Quick maize you can literally have 'stywe pap' in 5 minutes!

 

Hein lit the braai for boerewors. I quickly made 'stywe pap' with maize on the stove. Absolutely delicious!!!! You can either make it in microwave or on stove. Directions on back of package.

 

 

Healthier Carrot Cake Frosting

 

Decided I'll bake muffins - it's just a much easier bake for me than a whole cake. I wanted to add banana and pineapple, so I thawed out frozen pineapple chunks. The recipe apparently I've used before, but yikes! It asked for 1 cup of oil (for 12 muffins) ... the muffins were very flat and over-baked. 

 

Made another batch with only banana (didn't have any pineapples left). It came out pretty! For the icing, I Googled for a healthier option. I think it's yummy! Of course since there's no butter in it, it's not as stiff as your usual cream cheese icing.

 

Healthier icing for carrot cake

1 x 250 g tub smooth low-fat cottage cheese

1 x 125 g Greek (double cream) yoghurt

¼ cup castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla

 

Blend till smooth.

 

 

Sage butter spaghetti

 

With Sage in the garden, I knew: Butter Sage Spaghetti! Fried the chopped Bacon in butter with garlic, crushed chillies and chopped fresh Sage leaves. 

 

Cooked the spaghetti - spooned some of the pasta water into the bacon mixture, added the drained Spaghetti, sprinkled with Parmesan and Cheddar cheese .... WOW WOW!!!!!!

 

 

PUFF PASTRY PIZZA WITH MEATBALLS

Serves 4

1 roll puff pastry, defrosted, kept in fridge

450 g Eskort mini meatballs, defrosted

Pizza sauce

Fresh baby spinach leaves

Sliced mushrooms

Fresh basil leaves

Grated cheese

 

Preheat oven to 200 oC.  On a floured baking sheet, unroll the puff pastry – DON’T ROLL IT OUT WITH ROLLING PIN – just unroll it from the blue plastic.  With a knife, LIGHTLY (NOT THROUGH TO THE BOTTOM) score a border on all the sides – prick the inside part of the pastry, brush with pizza sauce.  Place meatballs on top, then the baby spinach leaves and sliced mushrooms and top with grated cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Top with fresh basil leaves.

Recipe and photo:  Alma Pretorius