tuesday and sick - yuk yuk

So i have been running around and have lots to do until Dec 12 - but today i can't get what i need to get done as i'm sick [cough, cough]. If blogs were audible things then i'd have no voice as my is slowly disappearing into nothingness :( so sad... but it does give me a moment to write on my blog - so happy YAY! i'm not supposed to be in today but out getting stuff and sorting stuff - it will need to be added to tomorrows list [mental note add todays things to tomorrows things and the next days things] anyway enough about me and my wimping.

I can use this time to gather my thoughts eg: Xmas is around the corner with December less than a week away. WOW! and i'm Thinking how i can achieve or make a wheat-free xmas cake. I can see it in my head now, gooey, stickey, moist and fruity... well lets hope it comes out as good :) raisins, cherries, sultanas..... cherries. I LOVE CHERRIES. sorry just got stuck there a moment. [drool]  some rice flour and butter, sugar and spices and we should be sorted. So adding that to my recipe index to try - probably a week before christmas.

what is the rest of the world upto? you are probably all working.... good luck with that :)


so anyways - i should go recover. But what to make for dinner with this little energy? - i think baked potatoes, I saw them as an idea on a bloggers page yesterday. Just wash them and grind salt over them and place in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for an hour or soo mmmm don't forget to turn half way. easy as pie - no even easier. please excuse the silly puns i think it maybe my medication [winks]

[cough cough] my throat hurts


Betty Bake

It's Friday - time for Weekend food :) BURGERS mmmmm

So I am finally finished with my major deadlines and my daughters show is over :) YAY! [jumping up and down]. She was a beautiful flower in a ballet piece in a dance show. She loved every minute of being on stage and every night it finished she wanted to be back on stage to dance some more (it ran for 3 nights). Which sounds so lovely and glamorous but running around doing hair (scraped back with gel) and making sure her costume is clean and being on time back stage. took it's toll on bed times and supper routines and with my deadlines i am so happy it is over. Thats not saying i didn't enjoy watching her perform - she was beautiful :)
So I now feel like i'm on holiday, the sun is shining and i still have lots of odds and ends to tie up but it's friday and i just can't shake this amazing feeling of summer and braai and fun :) I think i will make some super delicious lamb burgers tonight with chips - I made them a while back but had no chance to post the recipe... so here it is.
Hope you have a super fun weekend.

Betty Bake

LAMB OR BEEF BURGER AND CHIPS

500g Beef or Lamb ground mince
1 medium onion (peeled)
1 clove of garlic (peeled) OPTIONAL
1 - 2 Tablespoons chutney
1 teaspoon worcester sauce
1 free range egg
salt
pepper
fresh basil leaves (2 or 3) or parsley
a sprinkle of sugar


In a medium bowl add the mince then grate in the onion on the fine side of the grater. Then finely chop or crush the garlic and add - i didn't bother this time - i only use when i really feel like garlic. Then add ample salt and some black pepper. Mix and add the egg, chutney and worcester sauce. Then add the basil or parsley leaves roughly chopped. Mix all together with your hands and shape into 8 to 10 burger patties. Fry a little piece and test for saltiness - add more if needed and a sprinkle of sugar. Then Fry up your Patties.
Serve your hamburger patties on a nice fresh wholewheat roll and top with a homemade tomato and  onion relish.
*this mixture can also be rolled into small balls and fried for cocktail snacks - serve with a nice sweet and tangy dipping sauce*




RELISH
4/5 tomatoes peeled (place in boiling water then peel). Finely chop 1 to 2 onions then fry in some sunflower oil until lightly golden and add the peeled and chopped tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, basil and oregano and some sugar. Keep adding sugar until the sourness of the tomatoes has been balanced out. lightly simmer for roughly 20 min. And serve on your burgers.
*Goes nicely on boerewors rolls too.*

a personal post

So I am stuck infront if the computer until my eyes turn square. I have a gazillion photos to still edit and my right shoulder is sore from clicking with the mouse plus i have run out of milk so I can't make tea. What is a girl to do? I am not allowed to do anything until all these photos are done besides take my daughter to and from school and ballet rehearsals and go to the loo. I am so craving a creamy grilled chicken of some sort and some nicely cooked home veggies or home made food. But i am not allowed to spent time on such things as i will then miss my 2 deadlines!!!! oh darn ..... i guess it back to the rice cakes for me.

I really should get back to work

 

life at the moment

Things i dream of making and then sitting down with a cup of tea

Life is really busy right now and i haven't had a moment to even think let alone bake or cook much - except for the quick pasta or scrambled egg. So please be understanding of the lack of recipes being posted up right now. Running from rehearsal to rehearsal with my daughter while also working on 2 deadlines also doesn't help the time in the kitchen right now.... alas I dream of the rush being over and sitting down to a good cup of tea and nicely baked new invention [sigh]. Well atleast I have something to look forward to - peace and quiet from mid december :) yay! roll on December 14th.
At the moment i think of concoting things like a wheat-free sticky fruit christmas cake and perhaps a date and chocolate wheat-free brownie. I hope to work on these come December 15th. Also will need to look into coming up with a new kind of trifle for Chritmas with either no cake in it or a wheat free cake version. I'm sure the official sampler (the husband) is going to be happy to try all these out.

*TIP* If you get tired of checking back here for new recipes only to find the same old ones from before - then subscribe- put your email address in the box to the right and then whenever i put a recipe up you'll get it sent straight to your email inbox :) fancy hey. I love the internet.

BISCUITS: Romany Cream like Biscuits but way Better ....

Yum Yum Yum

I stumbled across this recipe and decided to make up my own version - while using some of the basic measurements as a guideline i concocted some very yummy choc biscuits that i must say are soo good.

INGREDIENTS

200 grams Real Butter

1/3 Cup Sugar or Xylitol

1 & Half Cups rice Flour or Wheat flour

1 & Half Tablespoons Cocoa or Carob Powder

1 generous Cup Rice Krispies

1/4 Cup Coconut

a little extra castor sugar if you wish to make it sweeter

50 grams Dark Choc for melting on Top

1) Lightly grill the coconut in the oven until light brown - WATCH IT DOESN'T BURN!!! and leave it to cool.

2) Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3) Stir in sifted flour and cocoa then the slightly crushed Rice Krispies and the toasted coconut

4) Roll into smallish balls and flatten slightly - mixture can be crumbly so press tigether hard inbetween the palms of your hands and then shape

5) Place on greased oven/ baking trays and allow a little space inbetween each biscuit

6) Bake at 150 degrees celcius for +/- 25 min

7) Allow biscuits to cool then drizzle with melted dark chocolate and leave to set

8) serve with tea or Just Eat!

NUM NUM

*TIP* i try to use as little sugar or Xylitol as possible so these biscuits are not to sweet - if you have a sweet tooth add more sugar, prehaps 3 more tablespoons of it!

shortbread cookie shaped biscuits

this is trial batch number 1 - quite a few of the biscuits broke so i ended up making stars

Today i had the pleasure of baking biscuits for my daughters class as tomorrow it will be her turn to be baker-lady for her class. this means she get to dress up and pretend to "sell" her baked goods to her friends in her class for a class fund raiser -which she is ever so chuffed to do. Easy peesy for my little one of 5 years old but not so easy peesy for mommy, as i am the one who has to produce the goods to sell.
Well you see my daughter is Gluten intolerent which means she can't have wheat flour or oats and 1 or 2 other things. So i had to bake something wheat-free which most baked things containing flour and are made out of ... - Wheat! So having done this wheat free thing for a while now (nearly a year). I whipped out my recipes and a packed of rice flour and started trying and testing and concocting biscuits recipes - 3 biscuit batched later.... here is my soft short bread biscuit recipe: Tip use a good quality rice flour that doesn't smell.( I used the brand Entice self raising Rice Flour. but still on the look out for a better brand as they use fructose in the self raising bag that i bought.)

INGREDIENTS
3 Tablespoons Xylitol or Sugar
90 grams Butter (real butter and NOT margerine)
2 teaspoons caramel ess or Vanilla ess (which ever you prefer)
3 Tablespoons Corn Flour
2/3 Cup Rice flour or Wheat flour (if you can have wheat)

METHOD

1) Beat together Xylitol, butter and Essence until smooth and fluffy.
2) Mix in corn flour amd rice flour and make into a ball
3) Roll out between 2 sheets of wax paper until 5 - 7 mm thick.
4) Cut into cookie shapes of your choice or roll into small balls and flatten with a fork
5) Place on a greased and lined baking tray and bake @ 150 degrees celcius for +/- 8 min or until light brown
WATCH AS THEY BURN VERY QUICKLY!
6) take out and leave to cool before using with your choice of coloured icing

Enjoy with a good cup of tea or for a nice treat for the kids

Spaghetti Bolognese (my version)

SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE

1 x  500g pack of free range beef mince
2 x medium onions
1 x 125g button mushrooms
2 x garlic cloves
1 x tin of tomatoe paste concentrate
1 x large jar of organic tomatoe puree or 2 x tins of whole italian organic tomatoes
6 - 10 tablespoons sugar 
basil dried or fresh
oregano dried or fresh
salt
pepper
Spaghetti pasta ( i use wheat free - king soba noodles)



1) Place the mince in a large frying pan and over low heat fry (stirring occasionally) until cooked and changed colour to brown
2) while mince is browning finely dice the onions, thinly slice the muchrooms and peel and crush the garlic
3) when the mince is brown add the onions and cook until onion is translucent
4) add mushrooms and garlic and stir, cook until mushrooms start to soften
5) add the tin of tomatoe concentrate, stir in
6) add the jar of tomatoe puree (if using the whole tinned tomatoes push them through a sieve mashing until all juices are extracted and add to mince mixture)
7) add a little salt and pepper
8) add roughly a teaspoon of basil and a teaspoon of oregano (dried) or a half a hand ful of each chopped (if using fresh)
9) add 2- 3 tablespoons sugar
10) stir and let simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes
11) taste, add more sugar if the mix is still to sour and a little salt of it needs
12) simmer until nice and thick and not to runny then add a bit more oregano and basil to taste
13) cook pasta as instructed on the packet
14) drain pasta and put into bowls - dollop mince on top and grate over a good parmesan cheese

serve warm with some nice soft fresh bread and a salad - or enjoy on its own

Enjoy