Recipe: Black Forest Trifle

My family always makes Black Forest Trifle for Christmas, and this year I was given the recipe by my mother.  I have decided to share it with you.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

The original recipe (given to my mother by Hazel Myburgh):

Here is the recipe in text, easy to copy and paste or print out:

Ingredients:
• 1 tin condensed milk
• 1 x 250g smooth cream cheese ( 1 cup )
• 1 chocolate swiss roll
• 1 tin black cherries (stoned and halved)
• Flaked almonds
• 1 chocolate Flake
• Cream
Method:
• Mix condensed milk, cream cheese and lemon juice together.
• Slice swiss roll thinly and place layer at bottom of dish
• Pour a little cherry juice over.
• Dot with cherries
• Sprinkle with flaked almonds
• Spoon a layer of cream cheese mixture over.
• Sprinkle with choc. flake
• Repeat layers.
• Decorate with cream (stiffly beaten) and chocolate flake

Cinnamon Crumpets

(Note: For plain crumpets, leave out the cinnamon)

Ingredients:

• 250ml (1 cup) cake flour (140g)
• 10ml (2 teaspoons) baking powder
• 1ml (1/5 teaspoon) salt
• 30ml (6 teaspoons) sugar
• 1 egg
• 200ml (4/5 cup) milk
• 15ml (3 teaspoons) margarine, melted
• 5ml (1 teaspoon) cinnamon (optional)

Method:

1. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together.  Add sugar.
2. Beat the egg, milk and melted margarine together and add to dry ingredients.
3. Beat until smooth and leave to stand for 30 minutes
4. Fry spoonful's of batter on a hot greased griddle or frying pan.
5. Fry until golden brown, turning when bubbles appear on the surface.
6. Serve with butter, jam or honey.  (also nice with peanut butter and syrup!)

Carrot Salad

Ingredients

• 1 large carrot per person
• 10ml orange or pineapple juice per person
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar per person
• 1 teaspoon crushed pineapple per person (optional)

Method

1. Grate the carrots into a bowl
2. Mix in other ingredients thoroughly
3. Chill for an hour then serve

Spaghetti With Tuna

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients:

• 250g spaghetti (8.8 ounce)
• 25ml (1 tablespoon) Margarine
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 125g mushrooms (4.4 ounce)
• 1 clove garlic (or teaspoon garlic flakes) – peeled and crushed
• 75ml water (0.3 cups)
• 1 x 410g can tomatoes, chopped with juice (15.8 ounce)
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 x 185g tins tuna, drained and flaked (2 x 6.5 ounce)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Method:

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook spaghetti until tender, (approx. 15 minutes)
2. Melt Margarine and sauté onions
3. Add mushrooms, garlic, water, tomatoes and juice and cook fast for 10 minutes to reduce the liquid.
4. Season and add fish, cook for 5 minutes.
5. Drain spaghetti and transfer to heated serving dish
6. Spoon the fish sauce over spaghetti and serve.

Recipe: Breakfast Scones

Makes:  about 8 (depending on size)

Ingredients:

• 1000ml (4 cups) cake flour
• 2ml (half teaspoon) salt
• 30ml (3 heaped teaspoons) baking powder
• 80ml (4 tablespoons) margarine or butter
• 1 egg
• 250ml (1 cup) buttermilk
• 125ml (half cup) water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 240ºC (460ºF)
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
3. Rub in the margarine, handling as quickly and lightly as possible.
4. In a separate bowl beat egg together with buttermilk and water.
5. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients about half a cup at a time, mixing with hands or a wooden spoon. 
6. Do step 5 until all the liquid has been added or until a medium to firm dough is formed. 
7. If the dough becomes sticky then add flour until it is neither crumbling or sticking to your fingers.
8. Pat or roll (with a rolling pin) the dough on a floured surface and cut scones 3cm thick.  I use a drinking glass coated with flour instead of a cookie cutter.
9. Place on a greased baking sheet some distance apart (the scones rise) and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
10. Take out of oven and allow to cool enough so they can be handled with your hands.
11. Cut in half, spread with butter and serve with jam and whipped cream or grated cheese.

Egg & Cheese Toast

I made these for breakfast some time back. It is really nice, much like a fried egg on toast, but without all the grease from the oil.

Ingredients (this is per person):

• 1 slice of bread

• 15ml Margarine/butter (1 tablespoon)

• 1 egg (separate yoke from white)

• salt to taste

• 25ml cheddar cheese (grated) (about 2 tablespoons)

• Parsley and paprika (optional)

Method:

1. Toast the bread lightly

2. Spread the bread with margarine (or butter)

3. Beat the egg white until stiff

4. Spoon the egg white over the bread, sprinkle with salt and hollow the center of the egg white (like a little valley!).

5. Place the egg yolk in the center/hole and spread the remaining white over the yolk.

6. Sprinkle with cheese.

7. Place the bread under the top element of the oven and toast until brown and the egg yolk is cooked.

8. Garnish with parsley and paprika.

Cheesy French Toast

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bread
• 25ml cheese (grated)
• 2 eggs
• 200ml milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 125ml Margarine (for frying)

Method:

1. Place cheese on 2 slices of bread, sandwich with the other 2 slices.
2. Beat eggs. milk, salt and pepper together.
3. Dip sandwiches into egg mixture.
4. Melt margarine and fry slowly on both sides until bread is golden.
5. Serve hot!

Chocolate Peppermint-Crisp Fudge

Makes: 20cm x 20cm x 1.5cm slab

Ingredients:

• 375ml (1.5 cups) sugar
• 150ml (0.6 cups) evaporated milk
• 30ml (2 tablespoons) butter
• 500ml (2 cups) marshmallows cut into smaller pieces
• 300g (roughly 3 slabs) dark chocolate
• 5ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla essence
• 1 bar Peppermint Crisp (broken or grated into pieces)

Method:

1. Line a 20cm x 20cm (7.8 inch) tin with foil.
2. Heat the sugar, evaporated milk and butter together in a saucepan / pot
3. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly.
4. Boil for four to five minutes then remove from the heat.
5. Stir in marshmallows, chocolate and vanilla essence until melted.
6. Pour into the lined tin and sprinkle the peppermint crisp over the top.
7. Leave to set in the fridge for 24 hours.
8. Remove from tin and peel off the foil.
9. Use a sharp knife to cut into blocks of the desired size.

Creamy Vanilla Fudge

Makes:  20cm x 20cm x 1.3cm

Ingredients:

• 470ml (1.9 cups) sugar
• 150ml (0.6 cups) evaporated milk
• 65ml (3 tablespoons) butter or margarine
• 25ml (1.5 tablespoons) golden syrup
• 1 can condensed milk
• 5ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla essence

Method:

1. Heat the sugar, evaporated milk and butter together in a saucepan.
2. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add syrup and condensed milk.
4. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage.  (Drop a small ball of the mixture into a bowl of cold water.  The mixture should form a soft ball when you roll it between your fingers.)  Stir continuously.
5. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly (1-2 minutes).
6. Stir in the vanilla essence and then beat with a wooden spoon until the fudge begins to form crystals and to thicken (basically – stir until you get to the point that you wouldn’t be able to pour it out the pot if you stir anymore)
7. Pour into a greased square tin (20cm by 20cm or 7.8 inches by 7.8 inches) and leave to set.
8. Once almost set, turn out onto a work surface and cut into squares with a sharp knife.

Note from the cook:

Mine turned out tasting like a mixture of toffee and fudge.  I believe that is how it is supposed to taste because everybody who sampled it says it was the best fudge they have ever tasted.

Recipe: Brown or White Bread

For this recipe you can use brown bread flour or white bread flour.  The images are of brown bread.

INGREDIENTS:

• 7 cups (1kg) bread flour (brown or white)
• 10ml salt
• 10ml sugar
• 10g (1 sachet) instant dry yeast
• 20ml (1 tablespoon) Margarine
• 650ml (2.4 cups) lukewarm water

The ingredients

METHOD:

The bread dough after step 3

1. Sift flour, salt and sugar together.  Add dry yeast and mix.
2. Rub margarine into dry ingredients and gradually add lukewarm water to mix to a soft dough.  Add more water if needed.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed the dough vigorously for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
4. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
5. Knock down the dough and divide into two.
6. Place each portion in a greased 23cm loaf tin, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and leave to rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes, until double in size.
7. Brush top with water and bake in a preheated oven at 200ºC (400ºF) for 35 minutes.

Total time: Approximately 2 hours.

Quantity: 2 loaves

Recipe: Chocolate Oil Cake

All my recipes can be found In Ashleigh’s Kitchen.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 eggs
• 250ml sugar (1 cup)
• 375ml cake flower (1 & a half cups)
• 50ml cocoa powder (2 heaped tablespoons)
• 15ml baking powder (3 teaspoons)
• 2ml salt (half a teaspoon)
• 125ml boiling water (half cup)
• 125ml cooking oil (half cup)

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF)
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Sift dry ingredients and gently fold into mixture, with water and oil.
4. Turn into two lined, greased 20cm cake tims and bake for 20-25 minutes
5. Leave for 5-10 minutes in tins before turning out onto a wire rack to continue cooling

ICING:

INGREDIENTS:

• 125g margarine (half cup)
• 375ml icing sugar (1 & a half cups)
• 30ml cocoa powder (2 tablespoons - not heaped)
• 5ml vanilla essence (1 teaspoon)

METHOD:

1. Beat all ingredients together until smooth and creamy
2. Decorate the cake.  I also used caramel and peppermint crisp (hand grated) to decorate.

Recipe: Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate soda)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted margarine
• 3 tablespoons golden or maple syrup
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (the yellow skin part of the lemon)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF)
2. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or margarine
3. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, syrup and eggs.
5. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients, mix until combined.
6. Fold in carrots and lemon zest.
7. Divide batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups.
8. Bake 20min or until golden brown.
9. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
10. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely before serving.  The muffins continue to cook for a while after leaving the oven.

Recipe: Broccoli Mashed Potatoes

This is another recipe I received on the Yahoo Group: Frugal Friends in the Kitchen

Check out my dedicated Recipe's Only blog: In Ashleigh's Kitchen

Originally it was meant to be a vegetarian dish, or a side dish to be served with meat.  I tweaked it to make it into a 1 dish meal by added bacon… here is my version of the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 potatoes
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 2.5 cups broccoli florets
• 200g (about 1.5 cups) bacon, chopped into roughly square pieces and fried.
• Salt, Pepper, Parsley to taste

Method:

1. Place potatoes in a pan, add water to cover and bring to boil (covered).  Boil for about 45min or until soft.
2. In another pot add broccoli and onion, cover with water and bring to boil (covered).  Boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until broccoli and onion are tender.
3. Drain water off the potatoes and vegetables.
4. Mash the potatoes in a bowl, leaving the skins (I chop them up roughly with a knife to make mashing easier)
5. Mix Cream cheese, Margarine, Salt, Pepper and Parsley into the mashed potatoes.
6. Fold in the broccoli, onions and bacon.

Serves 2
Cooking time roughly 1 hour

Recipe: Mashed Potato and Chicken Casserole

Check out my Recipe's Only blog In Ashleigh's Kitchen for all my published recipe's.

I got the following recipe from a Yahoo Group called Frugal Friends in the Kitchen, one of the members posted it there.  She got it from a lady in another group called Mary's Recipe Exchange.  We have no idea where this recipe originated, but here I am sharing it with you. 
I did make a few tweaks to the original recipe though…

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken (My Tweak, I cooked 2 chicken fillets, cubed, in a frying pan)
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (My Tweak, I made 1 packet of mushroom soup powder, making it as the instructions on the packet directed)
1 10 oz. package frozen baby carrots (My Tweak, I used 4 medium/large fresh carrots)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 cups prepared, instant mashed potatoes (My Tweak, I made homemade Mashed potato from real potatoes … 4 medium sized potatoes work well)
Salt, pepper and parsley to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
2. In a large pot, combine chicken and soup.
3. Simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes.
4. Add carrots, peas, parsley, salt and pepper.
5. Heat thoroughly for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Spoon mixture into a casserole dish.
7. Evenly top with cheddar cheese and spoon mashed potatoes on top.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is bubbly and potatoes are lightly browned.

Serves 4
Approx. 1h to make

Ashleigh’s hot chocolate

Tonight I invented my own Hot Chocolate recipe… it was delicious!

So here are the ingredients:

• 500ml water (2 cups) boiling water
• 1 tin condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

And here is how you make it:

1. Put all the ingredients on a pot on the stove.
2. Heat to just before boiling point stirring continuously.
3. Pour into mugs.

Serves 2

A typical meal

This is a typical meal that I prepare in my home.  It is my lazy meal, the one I make when I don’t really feel like cooking anything special.

I cook these meals in the steamer.  As a rule of thumb I cook the following per person I am feeding:

• 1 portion orange vegetables (carrots, potatoes, etc.)
• 1 portion green vegetables (green beans, peas etc.)
• 1 portion starch (rice or potatoes)
• 1 portion meat (fish, chicken, beef or pork)
• 1 portion salad

Here are the photo’s of my meal:

Those where the veggies, fresh before going into the steamer.

My steamer waiting for the food.

The finished meal.  With this specific meal, I didn’t  make any starch, but normally you would see potatoes or rice on the plate with it.

Recipe: Crumbed Mushrooms

This is the starter I made when I had my friends over last Saturday.

So here is the recipe for my crumbed mushrooms:
Ingredients:

• Button or brown mushrooms (quantity of your choice, amounts below are for 3 cups of button mushrooms)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 clove garlic
• breadcrumbs

Method:

1. Clean mushrooms well
2. Place in a bag with flour and shake well to cover mushrooms
3. Beat egg and add garlic
4. Add mushrooms to egg.
5. Place mushrooms in a bag with breadcrumbs and shake well.
6. Place on a tray and leave for 30minutes
7. Deep fry until golden brown
8. Serve immediately

And the last 2 pictures of the evening, Annalenne helping in the kitchen and my puppy Zoey passed out from all the excitement of having so much activity in the household.

Recipe: Chicken and Pumpkin Curry

I’m sorry that I didn’t take a photograph of this dish, but here is the recipe.
Ingredients:

• 50ml Margarine (2 tablespoons)
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 10ml garlic, finely chopped (2 teaspoons or one clove)
• 10ml ginger, finely chopped (2 teaspoons)
• 25ml curry powder (1 heaped tablespoon)
• 1 chicken, cut into portions (or 4-6 chicken fillets)
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 750ml pumpkin, peeled and cubed (3 cups… but I used 5-6 cups)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 25ml coriander leaves (optional – I left it out on the night I made this)

Method:
(HINT: Chop and cut everything you need before you start.  You won’t have time to cut the chicken pieces and tomato while the onions fry since you have to keep them moving!)

1. Heat the Margarine and fry onions, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes
2. Add curry powder and fry for 1 minute
3. Add chicken pieces, tomatoes, pumpkin, salt and pepper
4. Stir well with a metal spoon
5. Cover pan and cook slowly for 30 minutes
6. Stir in coriander leaves and serve on rice.

And here is another photograph from the evening.  Mark (left) and his cousin Stéfan (right) – pulling faces for the camera – men never really grow up do they?  I think that is why women love them!

Recipe: Apricot Cinnamon Cake

Last night I had some of my friends, Hannes, Maryann (who has been my best friend since Grade 4), Stéfan, Annalene and of course Mark over for Dinner.  The meal was as follows:
Starter: Crumbed Mushrooms
Main: Chicken and Pumpkin Curry
Dessert: Apricot Cinnamon Cake
Over the next three days I’ll be giving you a recipe a day, as well as a photograph taken during the course of the evening.
So here is the first recipe and it is the dessert, Apricot Cinnamon Cake.
Ingredients:

• 250ml flour (1 cup)
• 5ml baking powder (1 teaspoon)
• 125ml castor sugar (1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 150ml Margarine, melted (bit more than 1/2 a cup)
• 1 can apricot halves, drained
• 5ml ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon)
• Apricot jam to glaze

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC (356ºF)
2. Grease a 20cm round cake tin (7.8inch – just find the closes size doesn’t need to be exact)
3. Sift together flour and baking powder then add sugar
4. Add eggs and melted Rama to dry ingredients and beat well
5. Pour into cake tin
6. Place apricots, cut side up, on top of the mixture
7. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes.  Glaze with warm jam.

And as I promised, here is a photograph from the evening, my best friend since Grade 4, Maryann, and her boyfriend Hannes.

Recipe: Cosmopolitan Cocktail

This is a drink recipe for those who are not opposed to alcohol in small quantities.  This is an absolutely delicious and light drink.  You can increase or decrease the alcohol amounts according to your tolerance level, but this quantity works well if you are only drinking one during the course of the evening.
Mark and I made these a week ago instead of going out.  The total price to buy the ingredients (enough to make about 16 of these drinks) was R225-00, where buying 1 of these drinks at a cocktail lounge is about R35-00 - so I'm saving about R20-00 a drink by making them at home.  Naturally we didn’t make all 16 in one night, and still have a lot of the ingredients left over for another time! (so when am I getting visitors?)

For a virgin drink (safe for children):
Replace the Vodka and Triple Sec with Sprite or Lemon Water. 

Ingredients:

• Vodka
• Cranberry / Cherry / Wild Berry Juice (cranberry is the best, but others work alright too)
• Lime juice
• Triple Sec
• Cherries
• Ice to chill

Method:

1. Mix 1 part Vodka to 3 parts cranberry juice in a shaker. (or 1/4 cup vodka, 3/4 cup cranberry juice)
2. Add Ice, a tablespoon of lime juice, a tablespoon of Triple Sec and shake well.
3. Pour out into glasses (strain out ice), add a cherry and an umbrella!

 The meal I served with it will be coming out on my blog at a later date!