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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Grass Roof and my chicken and pesto sandwich~

 Port Elizabeth is bursting at the seams with good restaurants and we are certainly spoilt for choice!
Here's to  trusting that  they can all sustain themselves!
The latest addition to the scene on the Seaview Road ....is the Grass Roof with its quaint and rustic flair!

Unfortunately for us, they were chock 'o block full!! We sat in their hothouse and had a great sauna before opting for a stunning ciabatto loaf and 2 orange juice 'to go' and headed home!




 And here's what I did with that ciabatto loaf! Hmmmm......delicious!

A great "little" chicken and pesto sandwich.....

Recipe~
Skinless chicken breast grilled with salt, pepper and a hint of garlic
Chargrilled peppers
Sour cream and mayo
Pesto
Fresh greens....I have an abundance of frilly lettuce and rocket almost going to seed in my secret garden...
Avocado pear

Assemble as your own creativity permits and savour!!
 

 
 




Perfect way to enjoy that loaf!
 
See you soon!
Shel

Friday, October 18, 2013

Cheats Chicken Pot Pie and Dainty Strawberry Flowers~

Missing my Jozi boy and his little friend  ♥ ♥ :-(  Supposed to get easier as the years go by!!!)
Here is a quick and easy recipe for the young ones~

Chicken Pot Pie~


Here goes the recipe~
One whole chicken that has been lovingly bathed in boiling water together with celery, carrots, an onion, bay leaf and salt and pepper~ Let this gently simmer until tender and the meat is cooked through~
Debone and dice into bite size pieces once cooled.
Fry leeks, garlic, celery, button mushrooms  and cooked carrots in a few tablespoons of olive oil.
Once the leeks are soft and translucent...add one packet of Knorr Chicken Ala King dry mix made up as on the instructions of the packet.....
I then add 250ml of cream and the diced chicken.....
adjust seasoning~
Spoon the mixture into oven proof dishes and top with puff pastry~ Cut a slit in the pastry to allow steam to escape~
Refridgerate whilst the oven is heating to 200deg C
Bake until the pastry is golden brown and flaky!











Strawberry cakes......from Ideas October 2013

Makes 6 small cakes or 1 20cm ring cake~
270g cake flour
30g cornflour
4ml bicarb
5ml baking powder
210g castor sugar
125g butter, softened
2 large eggs
250ml sour cream
130ml milk
Strawberry sauce~
125g fresh strawberries hulled and sliced
30ml sugar
Icing ~
250g icing sugar
freshly squeezed lemon juice
pink food colouring

For the strawberry sauce~ Heat the strawberries and sugar with 30ml water. Simmer for 20mins until thick. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
For the cakes ~Sift together flour, cornflour, baking powder and bicarb.
Beat the sugar, butter and eggs together until creamy.
Fold in the cream and milk into the sugar mixture alternately with the dry ingredients.
Spoon half of the mixture into 6 mini cake tins. Make hollows in the batter. Spoon some of the strawberry sauce onto the hollows.
Top with remaining batter and bake for 25mins depending on the size....
check with a skewer. Cool and remove.
Icing~ Mix the icing sugar with a little lemon juice to make a glace icing. Add a touch of pink food colouring and spoon over the cakes.



Met the most gorgeous girl this past weekend.....full of " chutzpah"........crossing fingers...
No pics yet!! soon soon....I promise!




Have a happy one!
Shel! xx

Friday, October 11, 2013

Our boy is home again~

I truly cannot believe how awesome it always is to have him home~
and this time with a little sweetheart ......
nothing beats a mother's love for her children....

here's my chocolate cake (a little dry-oops tired so overbaked)
but nothing with chocolate can be a flop~



Recipe~

560g cake flour
800g sugar
160g cocoa
20ml baking powder
4 eggs
7ml salt
500ml buttermilk
500ml cooking oil
10ml vanilla
500ml boiling water

and the best part
Add all the ingredients to your mixer and blend well on medium speed.
Bake at 150deg C for 1hr and 15mins....my oven (1hr....hence the dryness)
Leave to cool and decorate as desired.




A couple of quiches ready in the freezer! and you all set to enjoy your the kids! (and a few good glasses of wine of course!!)
Bon Weekend~
Shel

Monday, October 7, 2013

Another week at Solomon

Just a lot of food for my soul this week~
We are painting and renovating here...so long overdue ....
I'm feeling much the same as my home.....in need of a makeover :-)
but more important things in life than that!....like travelling, good food, good wine and spending time with my dearest people who care as much as I care for them.....



Spring in my garden.....



My tissue paper roses have started flowering in the garden again...... 




Spring bunch from a friend far away.....



Fresh Tomato and thyme tarts from my herb garden....

 
 

I tried out a healthy cake this weekend...full of rooibos, dates and apple.....
I will share the recipe on my next post.....
 lots and lots  of preparation for unexpected visitors this weekend....we are so looking forward to .......



“I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.” - Elizabeth Gilbert

See you all soon soon xx