Ginger Beer

Tags

ginger, Ginger beer, Lemon, recipe, sugar, water, yeast

Ginger and sugar in boiling water

Lemon Slices

Yeast starting to activate

Mixture maturing

 

Making your own home made Ginger Beer is really easy.

Ingredients : 

• 4,5 l water
• 28 g whole ginger
• 2 cups sugar
• 10 g active dry yeast
• 1 lemon

Method : 

• Boil the water, bruise the ginger and add to hot water with the sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
• Pour into an enamel jug or pail and allow to cool until lukewarm.
• Combine the active dry yeast with 1 teaspoon sugar and add 1 cup luke-warm water. Put aside in a warm place for 5 to 10 minutes or until it starts to ferment. Add to the sugar-water
• Cut the lemon into thin slices and add.
• Allow to stand for 24  hours. Strain through a damp cloth.
• Pour into bottle and cork tightly. It will be ready for use in 1 – 2 days.

 

Corn Bread

Tags

Corn Bread, Pinch of salt, recipe, self raising flour, tablespoon oil

Ingredients :

• 500 g Self Raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tin corn kernels
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• Milk
• 1 tablespoon oil

Method :

• In a large bowl place flour, sugar, salt, and egg.
• Open tin Corn and drain off liquid into cup
• Add oil and milk to cup to make up 250 ml
• Mix into the flour and egg

Mix until the mixture is a soft dough. Place into well greased bread tin

Bake in oven 180 deg for 60 minutes.  Use a knife, by stabbing the bread to test if done.  If knife comes out clean your bread is done.

 

Bon Appetite

Pickle your sweet Peppers

Tags

Bell Pepper, Bell Peppers, recipe, sweet pepper

Bell Pepper

Bell Peppers ripening

Bell pepper, also known as sweet pepper or a pepper. Peppadew is the brand name of sweet piquanté peppers (a cultivar of Capsicum baccatum) grown in the Limpopo province of South Africa.

Although the pepper is sometimes described as a cross between a pepper and a tomato, this description is not botanically accurate, and refers only to the resemblance in color and size between peppadew and cherry tomatoes.
Applications have been made by the various owners of the brand to secure international breeders rights.

The following recipe was taken from the Angela Day Cookery School.

• 1.5kg Peppers
• 250 ml coarse salt
• 2 litres cold water
• boiling water
• 750 ml white wine vinegar
• 15 ml mustard seed
• 4 whole cloves
• 5 ml peppercorns
• 2-3 Bay leaves
• 2-3 red chillies
• 250 ml
•  sugar

Make a slit in the peppers and remove seeds.

Dissolve salt in cold water and soak peppers overnight. Weigh down with a plate to keep them under the water.

Drain and rinse in fresh cold water, drain again.

Pour boiling water over peppers and allow to stand for 29 minutes. Drain.

Pack into sterilized jars

Heat vinegar and add remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Pour over peppers

Seal jars and leave 2-3 weeks before using.

Raw Tomato sauce in a jiffy

Tags

Cook, food processor, garlic, home, home grown, honey, olive oil, organic, Pizza, raw, raw unfiltered Honey, recipe, Ripe homegrown tomatoes, sauce, sundried tomato, tomato, Tomato sauce

Invariably at this time of year I have a glut of tomatoes, so here is an idea to use up that extra surplus.

Ingredients :

Ripe homegrown tomatoes – 1 cup ( cut in half)

Sun dried homegrown tomatoes – 1/2 cup (softened in a little hot water)

Large clove homegrown garlic – (processed)

Glob of raw unfiltered Honey (from your hive)

pinch of salt.

Method : Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend.

This tomato sauce is delicious on Pizzas, toasted sandwiches, crackers, chip dip. In fact let your imagination be run wild as to how you use this tasty sauce. The sauce stores well in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 5 days.

This post was shared on Wild-crafting Wednesday 

Green Fig Preserve

Tags

carbonated soda, Christmas, christmas puddings, cooking, Ficus, fig, food, fruit, gardening, home, Lemonade, pantry shelves, preserve, recipe, Syrup, vegetarian

Most Afrikaner grew up in homes where rows and rows of jams, pickles and chutneys were stuffed into pantry shelves, jostling for position – a legacy of an era where everything edible had to be preserved in some way or another. Groenvyekonfyt (green fig preserve) may not have originated in the Afrikaner kitchens but almost every home had a couple of jars squirreled away for special occasions and it was served with cheese or bread and butter, turned into cakes and tarts and at Christmas, became an essential ingredient in the trifles and Christmas puddings inherited from the British.

1. Select figs which are plump, with no cavity inside.

2. Scrape and wash the figs. Make an incision in the shape of a cross at the blossom end of the fig. Weigh.

3. Soak over night in a solution of  Bi-carbonated soda, 2 (T) soda to 3,5 liters of water.

4. Rinse fruit, place in boiling water, and boil for about 15 minutes until tender. Use the water to make the syrup.

5. Press out the water and gradually put figs into boiling syrup. Use 2 cups sugar for every 500gs fruit, and for extra syrup 1 cup per every 375ml water. Prepare 1,5l (6 cups) of extra syrup to add when necessary.

6. Add a few cloves, cinnamon sticks and bruised pieces of ginger and 3 to 4 teaspoons lemon juice for every 3kg fruit.

7. Boil rapidly for about 2 hours in the syrup until the fruit is clear and the syrup thick.

8. Pack into clean sterilized jars, fill with syrup and seal.

Tip: Test the syrup by allowing a little to cool in a spoon and then pouring it from the spoon. It should stick together and not fall in separate drops.

Allow to mature for 6 weeks.

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Raw Lasagne

Tags

almond, basil, basil sauce, Cashew, cashew nut, clove garlic, food, garlic, lemon juice, meat free monday, mushroom, olive oil, organic, raw, raw almonds, raw cashew nuts, recipe, rosemary, sun-dried, sweet basil, Tahini, Tahini sauce, tomato, Tomato sauce, tsp lemon juice, vegan, vegetarian, Zucchini

Just reading this recipe makes my mouth water.

Cashew Cheeze

1 cup raw Cashew Nuts

1 cup raw almonds

1 onion, peeled and sliced

1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced

2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in food processor and blitz, tamping down the edges  until it resembles dough.

Tomato Sauce

1 cup sun-dried tomato reconstituted in warm water

1 small tomato

1 sprig rosemary

1 clove garlic

1 tsp lemon juice

1 chili (optional)

glob of honey

salt and pepper

Process all ingredients until a smooth paste forms.

Basil Sauce

1 cup fresh sweet basil

1 clove garlic

olive oil

Blitz all ingredients until a smooth paste is formed.

Other

Soak thinly sliced mushrooms in Tahini and Olive Oil for 1 hour

Mandolin a baby marrow. If you do not have a mandolin, use a potato peeler.

slice 1 tomato finely.

Construction

In a lasagna dish start with a layer of Cashew Cheeze, then tomato sauce, then mushrooms, baby marrow and tomato. Alternate layers. Top with basil sauce. Leave in refrigerator for an hour, to set.

My neighbor had this to say about it… WOW, such a fusion of delightful tastes.

Raw Lasagne

Featured on Wildcrafting Wednesday

 

Meat free Monday – Raw Cheesecake

Tags

Berries. Strawberry, Berry Cheesecake, Blueberry, Cashew, Cheesecake, Coconut, coconutoil, cup lime juice, food, Lemon Cheesecake, Macadamia, macadamia nuts, Raspberry, raw, raw cashews, Raw Cheesecake, Raw foodism, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

Fresh Strawberries from the garden

Raw Cheesecake

RAW CHEESECAKE

Ingredients:

100g macadamia nuts

100g raw cashews

1/2 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup dried coconut

6 tablespoons coconut oil melted

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 cups mixed berries such as blueberries, strawberries and raspberries for garnish

Method:

1. Soak the cashews and Macadamias in water in separate bowls for at least 3 hours.

2. Pulse macadamia nuts and dates in food processor to a sticky crumb-like consistency. Sprinkle dried coconut on bottom of 8-inch pie pan. Press macadamia nut mixture onto coconut to make crust.

3. Place cashews, coconut oil, lime juice, honey, vanilla and 6 tablespoons of water in a food processor and process until smooth fluffy puree texture.

4. Pour mixture onto crust, and freeze 2 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer, slice while frozen, and serve with berries!!!

Let it defrost to get soft or eat it as a hard slice!

Raw cheesecake is high in calcium, magnesium, protein, and rich in mineral copper. It’s great for hair and skin, weight loss, and preventing gallstones!

And the picture tells all,  – delicious

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• In a positive limbo and raw cacao, macadamia, goji and coconut balls (sproutsandstilton.wordpress.com)
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• Raw Lemon Cheesecake (ricassweettooth.wordpress.com)

Meat free Monday – Baby Marrow and broad bean salad

Tags

baby marrow, Bean, broad beans, food, garlic, home grown, lemon juice, meat free, meat free monday, olive oil, organic, pecan nuts, recipe, vegan, vegetarian, Zucchini

I picked these wonderful broad beans from Bonnie’s garden.

 

I shucked the beans and look what I was left with. I poured boiling water over the beans and left them to stand.

I chopped up some Baby Marrow at an angle and lightly fried them in Olive Oil.

I chopped some Garlic and Pecan nuts and mixed them with the marrows. I removed the water from the broad beans and mixed them with the marrow. I also added a dash of mixed herbs.

I gently fried the mixture, then turned it out into a salad bowl.

A vinaigrette of Olive oil and lemon juice was then mixed into the salad.

The result – totally delicious.

Variations : add sliced mushrooms

add chopped onion

RELATED ARTICLES :

Meat free Monday…. Sweet potato pasta with basil pesto

Meat free Monday – Egg salad

Meat free Monday –  Macaroni Cheese

Raw Lasagne

Moroccan Butternut stew

 

Christmas Cake

Tags

almonds, bicarbonate of soda, brandy, butter, Cake, Castor, cherries, Christmas cake, Cook, eggs, Flour, fruit cake, glace cherries, mixed fruit, recipe, salt, sugar flour, Wax paper

You might say Christmas cake now? Christmas is still four months away.Yes I say now so it has time to mature into the cake it should be.

I share with you today a very old recipe which has been passed down through 4 generations.

Ingredients :

 1 kg mixed fruit

60 g Glace Cherries

125 ml + Brandy

110 g butter

110 g Castor Sugar

110 g Brown Sugar

5 eggs

550 ml (265 g) cake flour

5 ml Bi-Carbonate of Soda

pinch of salt

5 ml mixed spice

60 g whole Almonds

 Method :

Soak fruit in Brandy for 2 days or more.

Cream butter, brown Sugar and Castor sugar – well.

Add eggs one at a time mixing in well.

Sift flour,bicarbonate of Soda, salt and mixed spice.

Add dry to butter/sugar mix a little at a time, alternating with fruit mix.

Turn into cake tin lined with wax paper. Newspaper on the outside of the tin.

Cook 3,5 hours on 259 F or 130 C. Start testing after 3 hours.

Tips :

If butter and egg curdle – add some flour.

Peel of wax paper, add Brandy and wrap in a Tea towel and then in newspaper. 

Feed with Brandy often

Enjoy!

Meat free Monday – Egg salad

Tags

basil coriander, eggs, meat free monday, parsley, recipe, rocket, sprouts, sweet basil, tomato, vegetarian

Ingredients :

Tomato chopped

Eggs hard-boiled and chopped

Handful mixed sprouts

Rocket leaves

Flat leaf parsley

Sweet Basil

Coriander leaves

Salt and pepper

Mix all together, enjoy!