Good Things: J - N

Jamie Oliver

Kisses

Love Letters

Masala Dosa

Nutella

Good Things: F - I

Foxenburg Estate's Goat's Milk Strawberry
Fromage de Chevre

Greenness

Hats
Ixia

Good Things: A - E

Awesome views

Butterfly tablecloths

Cacao nibs
Dachshund bookends

Eccentric toys

More cinnamon please...

This has got to be one of my all-time favourite healthy gluten-free breakfasts/desserts/snacks, which when made by my sweetie-pie hubby always tastes a million times better than if I had to make it myself (it must be the love).

It consists of:

• slices of organic banana;
• lots of cinnamon;
• crushed pecan nuts; and
• a dollop of double-cream plain yoghurt.

Go ahead and try it - you might just be pleasantly surprised at how tastily it destroys sugar cravings!

HB Pencils and Nostalgia

My thanks to Miss M over at About Last Night for inspiring today's post...
I used to collect pencils when I was little. Everywhere I went, I collected decorated HB pencils. My parents continually bought me whole sets of stationary after a new Disney movie had come out just so that I could get the one or two pencils included with the themed ruler, eraser and pencil bag.

This particular collecting-mania stopped around the age of eleven (end of grade five/beginning of grade six), the fateful age where my dolls were packed away because I considered myself a 'big girl' now. So, too, the pencil collection met the same fate and was packed away into some dark recess of my childhood bedroom cupboard.

At around the age of twenty, I found my collection of around 80 or so pencils during a cleaning spree and decided to donate them to my Mom, who at the time was teaching life-skills classes at underprivileged schools where kids couldn't even afford a pencil. Out went the pencils without a second thought.

Eight years later, at the age of 28 and now a teacher myself, I often find myself bemusedly scrounging for an HB pencil to correct Biology drawings with in practical classes because I now only own one (and I often forget it at home!)

Reading Miss M's post, I thought back with nostalgia to my quirky pencil collection...the Tiggers and Poohs, the hedgehogs and horses, the Mickeys and Donalds and Pocahontases. I thought about how often over the years I had purged items from my past to various charities, only to think back about it with a twinge of regret; while at the same time knowing that in the moment, it was the best decision to get rid of the extraneous "stuff" in order to feel lighter.

I like to think those pencils went to good homes. That they were sharpened and chewed and dropped and broken and used down to little stubby stumps of lead, instead of just being kept in a childhood cupboard. But most of all, I like to think back to the fact that each one had a story attached from my childhood without the new owner even knowing it. And even though I may not have the pencils now that I need them, I do have the memories of how I came to own each one, and that's enough.

Red

I love the colour red.
It reminds me of passion; vibrance; romance; and daring;
as well as the very essence of our life-force, our blood.

Homemade tomato soup

As a child, I used to adore instant tomato soup with slices of buttery toast as lunch after school. As a teenager, I became wary of preservatives and MSG and started avoiding packet soups (reading the label can be quite scary!)

It was while training as a chef at Prue Leith's in Centurion that my love of making homemade soup emerged. I guess it's because making a soup is the antithesis of the type of food I would spend my days preparing, namely simple; quick; easy; delicious and comforting.

So here is a fat-free recipe I threw together the other day from ingredients on-hand. It turned out to be oh-so-good, and churned up a bevy of childhood memories of many a day spent sitting at my parents' kitchen counter with toast and soup mug in-hand.

Homemade Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 tomatoes
  
• 6 sweet potatoes
  
• 1 large red pepper
  
• 2 tsp dried rosemary
  
• salt
  
• black pepper

Method:

• Keep the sweet potatoes unpeeled if you are using the whole, fresh kind but just make sure to scrub them well, so that you don't get any grains of sand in your finished product.
  
• Roughly cut up the sweet potatoes and red pepper, and get them on the stove boiling in just enough lightly salted water to cover for 10 - 15 minutes or until soft.
  
• Add in your tomato chunks and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Take the pot off the heat, add the rosemary and then blend everything together.
• Once blended, season the whole batch with salt and pepper to taste.
• Estimation: this should be enough to serve three people as a deep-bowl main course, and six people as a shallow-bowl starter.
  

As always, born-up-a-tree! :-)

Veggie Kebabs

If you're looking to braai this weekend, or are just feeling lus to up your veggie quota in an uber yummy way, then I have just the thing for you.


These pre-made skewers are part of the Freshline range from most Super Spars. They include butternut, red pepper, yellow pepper, onion and zucchini pieces. The package includes instructions for both braaing and oven-roasting.

I roasted these with a basting of olive oil, lemon juice, olive salt and fresh rosemary at 180 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.


Delicious doesn't adequately begin to describe how they turned out!

For those readers who are interested in knowing more about celiac disease, here is a link to a concise and informative article in the Huffington Post. Who knows, you may even discover that those achey-breaky symptoms YOU'VE been feeling for years are related to gluten too!

Beautiful broccoli

Image from thenewwellness

Today's blog post was inspired by two things:
1 - How beautiful and green gardens and grass look in Pretoria at the moment after all the rain the city has had; and
2 - This post by Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.

I thought I'd share two recipe ideas for making this simple and often-hated green vegetable shine epicuriously.

Recipe Idea Number 1:
Broccoli and Blue-Cheese Soup

This is a dish best kept for those Wintry days when you need something warm and comforting. It languishes on the tastebuds and tempts you to have yet another bowlful.

Ingredients:

• Oven-roasted red onions
  
• Steamed/boiled broccoli
  
• Blue cheese
  
• Seasoning
  
• Cream

I have purposely left out exact quantities because soup is one of those magnificent things that you can add and take away from depending on what YOUR fave ingredient is and how many people you are cooking for, and it rarely ever flops. My only tips are: to save the boiling water from the broccoli to use for blending the soup together (unless you want to use a seperate stock); to add the blue cheese off the heat to the soup (at the blending stage); and to add the cream very last to the blended soup.

Recipe Idea Number 2:
Broccoli with Flaked Almonds and Caper Vinaigrette

I made this recipe up one day when my tastebuds were craving a zing-experience. It can be served hot or cold because either way - it's sublime!

Ingredients:

• Broccoli florets (steamed/boiled till al dente)
  
• Flaked almonds (dry pan-fried till slightly browned around the edges)
  
• Vinaigrette (made from balsamic vinegar [or lemon juice], olive oil, capers, salt and black pepper)
  

It just occurred to me that peppadews would be yummy chopped up into the vinagrette too, if you like them. So just toss the ingredients together and munch with all your might.

I hope these ideas inspire you to eat and enjoy these green little trees which pack a fantastic anti-cancer punch!

Hillcrest Berry Orchards

Situated just outside Stellenbosch lies this berry orchard gem - especially so for the magnificent views, contemplative environment and delicious gluten-free deserts.

Their crustless cheesecake is a must, topped with your fresh berry coulis of choice (I love the cherry topping) and served with cream or ice-cream (the cream is decadently thick). I dream of this cheesecake - if I close my eyes I can imagine the melt-in-your-mouth smoothness and accompanying berry tartness to balance the sweetness.

If you're craving something chocolatey, their gluten-free torte is rich, heavy and comforting.

Their menu is well-stocked for a variety of options, service is good (and friendly) if you go when it isn't packed and the shop is full of tempting treats such as jams, honeys, frozen berries, etc.

I highly recommend this for an outing the next time you are in Cape Town. It's lovely.