Roasted Butternut with Cranberry & Feta

This is a wonderful and warm winter side dish. I initially only used to make this on special occasions but we love it so much that it is now a regular feature in our menu.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Bake time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium-sized butternut
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1.5 rounds of feta - crumbled into smaller pieces
• Honey

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 180'C.
2. Slice the butternut into cubes and place it into a baking tray.
3. Sprinkle the spices over and mix it through.
4. Cover the baking tray with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
5. Remove the foil. Give it a quick stir. Then add the cranberries, feta and a light drizzle of honey.
6. Bake uncovered for a further 15 minutes.

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

 Seeing as I don't really have time to bake for orders anymore, I would love to share my sugar cookie recipe with you, so that you can make these yummies yourself.

This recipe makes the softest, almost melt-in-your-mouth biscuits - which my husband calls soft Zoo Biscuits. The icing adds extra sweetness that just blows your taste buds away with every bite. 

I haven't had a single unsatisfied customer (except my dad, who always complains that the cookies are too sweet - is that even possible?!)

Prep time: 30-40 minutes

Baking time: 180'C for 9 minutes
Makes roughly 40 biscuits

 Both recipes for the cookies and the royal icing can easily be doubled or tripled.

INGREDIENTS:

230g butter/baking margarine

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2-3 drops almond essence

2 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups cake flour 

METHOD:

• Preheat the oven to 180'C.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together SOFT butter and sugar. If you're anything like me and always forget to take the butter out of the fridge ahead of time, you can microwave the butter in a heat-safe mixing bowl until soft, NOT melted (usually about 30 seconds) and then add the sugar. Mix it together until soft and fluffy.
• Add the egg, vanilla essence and almond essence and quickly mix it through.
• Sift in the baking powder and flour - I add the flour one cup at a time. By the time you add the third cup of flour, you need to start mixing the dough by hand. The dough should be soft but shouldn't stick to your fingers.
• For this recipe, the dough doesn't need to stand, so you can use it immediately.                                     
  
   
  
  
• On a clean surface, sprinkle some flour and roll out the dough. I divide the dough in half so that it's easier to work with. Roll it out evenly to your desired thickness - I keep it somewhere between 0.5-1cm thick. 
• Press out your shapes with a cookie cutter. You might need to dunk the cookie cutter into flour first so that it doesn't stick to the dough. Gently lift the cut-out shapes and place it on a greased baking tray. (I spray my tray with oil spray). 
• Bake it for 9 minutes for a soft biscuit with crispy edges or longer if you want the whole biscuit to be crispy. 
• Once you take it out off the oven, immediately loosen the cookies (I use a very thin-tipped spatula) and place them on a cooling rack. Be careful when you loosen the cookies coz intricate shapes can easily break.
• While the biscuits are cooling, make the icing. 

ROYAL ICING:

2 tablespoons meringue powder

1/4 cup water

4 cups icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon caramel essence

• I haven't found ready-made meringue powder in South Africa. But it's super easy to make: simply crush the meringues or grind them in a blender. Then sift it to remove any larger particles. I use store-bought vanilla meringues. 2-3 large meringues gives you about 2 tablespoons meringue powder.
• Mix the meringue powder and water together with an electric beater. The powder will dissolve in the water and become bubbly.
• Add vanilla and caramel essence and mix through.
• Sift in the icing sugar, one cup at a time. Mix thoroughly - like for 5 minutes.                    
  
   
  
  
• Separate the icing sugar into however many colours you need, and add food colouring. I love gel food colours but anything is fine. (Add as little colouring as possible to get your desired colour - this will help prevent the colours from running into each other)
• To check the thickness: use a toothpick and draw a line in the icing, then count how long it takes for the line to disappear. I use 25-30 seconds for edges, 15 seconds for words, and 5 seconds for flooding. (If it's too thin, just add some more icing sugar. If it's too thick, SLOWLY add small amounts of water. )
• Then divide each colour into 2 or 3 (for edges, words and flooding).
• I use thick plastic bags as piping bags. Place the plastic bag into a glass to help keep it open, and the add the icing. Use an elastic band or clip to close the end of the bag. You can alternatively use proper icing bags or bottles with nozzles.
• When you're ready to ice, cut a tiny whole in the tip of the bag for the edging and word icings, and a larger hole for the flooding icing.
• Ice away! The icing needs to dry completely between layers (at least 1 hour) - or you can cheat like me, and put the biscuits under the air con to speed up the process. If the icing doesn't dry between layers, the colours will run into each other.
• I usually let the iced cookies stand 24 hours before packaging them. 

Get inspired on Pinterest - you can follow me (Fatima Roomaney) and my many party boards with cookies for every occasion.  

Greek-style Roast Chicken

This original recipe is from the My Kitchen food blog: Spicy Chicken and Chickpea Bake

 I've modified the recipe slightly and my version follows below...

Prep time: 5 minutes

Marination time: 1-3 hours

Baking time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 1 chicken - cut into pieces
• Marinade:
• 2 heaped teaspoons finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Sprinkle of salt to taste
• 100ml (3/4 small tub) plain/Greek yoghurt
• 1/2 tin chickpeas
• 1/2 tin brown lentils
• 1 packet (50g) sun-dried tomatoes

 (I freeze the other 1/2 of chickpeas and lentils for later use)

 METHOD:

 

1. Preheat oven to 180'C
2. Mix the chicken and marinade spices in a roasting dish. Allow it to marinade 1-3 hours in the fridge.
3. Just before baking, add the chickpeas, lentils and tomatoes.
4. Bake for 25 minutes. Then turn chicken pieces around.
5. Bake for a further 20 minutes.
6. You can serve it with a flat bread or naan. But I try to keep it low-carb by serving it with a portion of butternut mash. You can use the extra yoghurt as a sauce. 

Wholesome Meat and Veggie Soup

This is my mom's go-to soup. There's just something so comforting about it. It's the perfect winter warmer. 

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 2 hours 

Serving: 6-8 (depending on portion size)

INGREDIENTS:

• Olive oil (enough to coat the pot)
• 600-700g meat (I used lamb knuckles - but beef works just as well)
• 3/4 cup red lentils
• 1/2 cup split peas
• 1/4 cup barley (I always leave this out, coz I find barley way too chewy)
• Whole spices:
• 5 x all spice
• 10 x peppercorns
• 5 x cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 3 cups beef stock
• 3 cups chicken stock 
• 4 large carrots
• 1 potato 
• 1 tomato
• 1 turnip
• 1/4 cup chopped leeks
• 2 dessert spoons chopped  parsley
• Extra salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

Prepare everything first:

1. Very important: rinse the red lentils, split peas and barley; and then throw them into a bowl. Add just enough water to cover it and allow it to soak OVERNIGHT.
2. Grate the carrots, potato, tomato and turnip  - I use my Kenwood electric blender with the grater attachment. I'm very lazy, so the only thing I actually peel is the potato. I wash the carrots and turnip with a brush. And I throw the tomato in with skin and all. 
3. Finely chop up some leeks and parsley. The parsley can be thrown into the electric blender. The leeks tend to get a bit slimy when thrown into the electric blender, so I chop them by hand. I usually buy a bunch of leeks and a bunch of parsley, prepare it all, divide it into portions and then freeze it for later use. You can also freeze the grated turnips in portions.

Let's cook:

1. Use a large pot on high heat. Coat the pot with olive oil. 
2. Add the whole spices, meat, salt and pepper. Braise the meat until all the "rawness" is gone. 
3. Add the stock and all the veggies. Stir it all together.
4. As soon as the soup starts to simmer, turn down to low heat.
5. Cook for about 2 hours, stirring intermittently. I put the timer on 30 minutes intervals, so that I'm forced to get up, stir the soup and reset the timer.
6. Right at the end, taste the soup (don't burn your mouth!) and add extra salt and pepper if necessary.

 

Chicken Omelette

This quick meal is the perfect way to use up leftovers. 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 5-10 minutes

Serves: 1

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk (you can use water for even less calories)
• (Left-over) cooked chicken slices or blocks (you can also shred chicken pieces)
• 1 mushroom - thinly sliced
• A few baby spinach leaves
• Feta - crumbled up
• Cheddar cheese - grated
• About a 1/4 avocado - sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste

The quantity of each ingredient really depends on your taste and how much leftovers you have. I didn't have baby spinach, so I just left it out.  

METHOD:

1. Prepare the egg mixture by whisking together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.
2. Prepare all the other ingredients.
3. Use a medium-sized pan, initially on high heat - pour in the egg mixture and layer your filling ingredients.
4. As it starts to cook, turn the heat down to medium and cover the pan with a lid. Cook covered for about 5 minutes. Check every two minutes or so - it's done when the egg is cooked and cheese is melted. 
5. The last step is to flip the one half over, to close the omelette.

Healthy Flapjacks

This is my favourite healthy flapjack recipe and it's so easy to make. Obviously it's not as yummy as a normal flapjack but this comes pretty close.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter (I prefer smooth peanut butter)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tub blueberries

(I usually buy fresh blueberries in bulk and freeze them for later use. Defrosting them is super easy: just add tap water and let it stand for 5 minutes.)

METHOD:

1. Squash the banana into a pulp - I usually start with 2 bananas and use a hand masher. I sometimes add a third banana right at the end, if the mixture is too thin.
2. Add mashed banana, 3 eggs, peanut butter and vanilla essence into a mixing bowl. Mix it together with a whisk.
3. Then add oats, baking powder and salt. Mix it all through with the whisk.
4. Then add 1/3 tub of blueberries. I mix it in with a spoon, trying to squash them against the side of the bowl as I stir.
5. At this point, assess the "runniness" of the mixture - I prefer to make it slightly thicker by adding the third mashed banana. But remember, it will never be as thick as a normal flapjack batter. 
6. I cook the flapjacks on my Breville flat toaster, but you can also you a non-stick pan. Coat the toaster or pan with oil spray. You can make them any size you want - I use 2 heaped dessert spoon scoops to make the size seen in the pictures - and this makes a total of 12 flapjacks. Use another 1/3 tub of blueberries to randomly place blueberries on top of the flapjacks. Cook each side 3-4 minutes. It's ready to turn when the entire flapjack bubbles. Alternatively, if you turn it over and create a scrambled flapjack - it was not ready to be turned yet! (this always happens to me with the first flapjack) I also like to close the flat toaster - but make sure it doesn't touch the top of the flapjack - I find that this help's it cook faster.

If you're having a bad day, you could add chocolate chips instead of blue berries.

 

Making the stack:

• You can use whatever you want. When I'm feeling really healthy, I eat them as is. 
• This is how I stacked them this time round. 
• I used chocolate sauce, sliced banana, the last 1/3 tub of blueberries and ready-whipped cream in a can. 
• Layer: flapjack, chocolate sauce, banana, next flapjack and repeat. 
• Top layer: chocolate sauce, cream and blueberries. 

Pan-Roasted Barbecue Lamb Chops

I grew up eating this style of pan-roasted lamb chops, because it's was one of the meals my dad can cook. His version is usually smothered in oil - which tastes delish but also packs on the cholesterol plaques. So I have healthified his recipe and I'm sharing it with you below. The one thing that has stuck with me from his cooking, is a love for Robertson's chicken spice - if you follow me long enough you will notice that I add it to pretty much everything!

 

Prep time: 5-10 minutes

Marination time: 0-3hrs 

Cooking time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

• 600-700g lamb chops (I used 6 leg chops)
• Olive oil - just enough to coat your pan
• 1 large yellow onion - roughly chopped into thickish slices
  

 Marinade:

• 3 tablespoons Robertson's chicken spice
• 2 tablespoons Robertson's steak & chops spice
• 1/2 cup Lappies original sauce
• 1/4 cup Spur basting sauce
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic (crushed or finely chopped)

** These amounts are more or less what I used, but to be honest - I usually just sprinkle the spices on and actually struggled to put an exact amount to it. The spice combination is very flexible. Sometimes I add tikka spice to make it more spicy; and sometimes I add Wellington's sweet chilli sauce or Lappies sticky rib sauce to make it sweet and sticky - it all depends on my mood!

METHOD:

1.  Marinade the chops with the "marinade ingredients" - this can be done ahead of time or (if you're lazy like me) just when you're about to cook it. You can add more or less (or even other) spices depending on your taste. The longer you marinade it, the better the taste.
2. Coat a large frying with olive oil and place it on high heat on the stove.
3. When the oil is warm, add the chops.
4. Brown each side of the chops (until all the "rawness" has disappeared).
5. Then add the onions on top of the chops - just roughly sprinkled.
6. Turn down the stove to medium heat and cook for 30 minutes.
7. Then turn the chops around and mix the onions around a bit. Cook it for a further 30 minutes. I cook it long, because I like my meat nice and soft.
8. And that's it! I served this meal with a side serving of honey-cinnamon roasted butternut, feta and cranberries.