Lemon Meringue Pie

The other day we had friends round for coffee and cake, they brought along with them lemon meringue. After eating it I thought about making it. I got a recipe from my mum and gathered my ingredients. Although I haven't quite perfected it yet, but I still thought I would share it. Perhaps one of you lovely folks might be able to get it just right. I think I might have had the oven at the wrong temp or taken it out too early, I have a feeling it's more the oven was too hot.

Ingredients
1 egg, separated
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
4 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk, or more if you like your curd really sweet
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 large crackers, crushed
Melted butter

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Create a crust in a muffin tin using the crackers and butter. In a small saucepan on a low heat combine the condensed milk with the egg then slowly add the lemon juice. Put the filling into the

small cracker crusts. Whip the egg whites and add the cream of tartar and sugar. Keep whipping until it forms peaks. Then put the egg white mixture over the curd and put in the oven to bake for 20 min.

Beer Battered Egg

My boyfriend and I decided to experiment with beer batter. We started with just mozzarella sticks, but my boyfriend for some reason was having so much fun beer battering and frying he wanted to try more items. We went on to hot dog sausages and slices of gruyere. Then we got, which came from watching masterchef, it was to try eggs! One of the contestants did some sort of bread crumbed egg so we wanted to give it a try with the beer batter. It was pretty awesome! Haha :)

Ingredients
2 cups flour (divided)
1 egg
1 beer
Salt and pepper
Paprika

Method

Combine 1 cup of flour and all the other ingredients to form a batter. Add the beer slowly because you don't want it to be too liquidy. Stop when you feel you have a good consistency. Then you can dip anything you want into the remaining flour then the batter and deep fat fry it.

For the eggs, boil them for about 4 minutes then peel the shell off and coat it in the flour then the batter and fry it until golden brown and crispy, this should only take a minute or so.

Pork Stew

I made this once a while back and my boyfriend loved it, so did my baby, so he insisted I make it again. So I did. I didn't really remember the recipe of it the first time I made it so I probably altered it slightly. None the less, the enjoyed it just as much :)






Ingredients
Olive Oil
1 lb pork, cubed
Salt and pepper
2 carrots
2 medium potatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
2 leaves basil
2 cups stock
Turmeric
Chili (for adult version, if desired)

Method
Heat a large pot with olive oil and and season the pork with salt and pepper and turmeric then brown

the meat, transfer to a plate. Then add the garlic (and a chopped onion if you like). Then add the carrots and potatoes and let them sweat. Add the tomatoes, oregano and stock and bring to a boil. Place the meat and juices back in and bring down to a simmer. Allow it to simmer until the pork is soft, this can take upto an hour or more. If you're having chili add the chili and mix it then allow it to cook for a few minutes longer before serving.

Mini Upside Down Apple Cakes

My boyfriend wanted to try something new for dessert so I decided to try this recipe my mum had sent me for mini upside down cakes. They came out really well, but must be eaten fresh because by the next day they're not as tasty. So, my boyfriend and I plus his parents and brother equals to 5 people. We each only wanted one so it wasn't necessary to have the whole batch of 12. I halved the recipe to make 6 and we had one left which is why we know the following day they're good, but not as good the day you make them. None-the-less, I decided to post the full recipe so if you want to enjoy all 12 mini cakes you can :)

Ingredients

2 eggs

2/3 cups sugar

4 tbsp milk

2/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 or 2 apples sliced (depends on the size of the apple you're using)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare a muffin baking tray.

Combine eggs, sugar and milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Then slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt and

continue to mix until smooth. 

In a small sauce pan melt the butter and brown sugar until it forms a caramel. Put the caramel at the bottom of the muffin tray and put the sliced apples on top. Then pour the batter over that and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

Berry Tart

We had some family coming over for coffee and cake just to visit and see the little one. For the cake part of it I decided to make a berry tart. It was a great hit and everyone really enjoyed it. The only problem was I didn't make more! You could use any fruit for the tart, but be careful with which fruits you mix on there because some fruits don't really marry well with others. I'm sure there is some sort of fruit guide somewhere on the Internet though :)


Ingredients
Shortbread Pie Crust
1 cup flour
2 tbs sugar
1/2 cup butter
Crème Pâtissière

50 grams sugar

3 egg yolks

20 grams all-purpose flour

250 grams milk

15 grams butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Crème Pâtissière 

Combine 40g sugar with the egg yolks and whisk. When it becomes pale yellow add the flour and mix until

smooth.

Combine the milk, butter and remaining sugar in a pot and heat. When it comes to a boil remove from heat. Pour the hot milk little by little into the egg mixture, after 1/4 of the milk has been added pour the milk in a slow steady stream while constantly whisking. Don't pour the hot milk in too fast or you will have scrambled eggs. Pour the mixture back into the pot and place on the heat again. Heat and whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and transfer into a bowl. Allow to cool.

Shortbread Pie Crust

Combine the ingredients together into a food processor or pastry blender until it becomes crumby. Put it in the fridge for 30min then press into a pie pan and bake for 10min at 425 degrees Celsius. 

When the pie is ready and cooled you can put the cooled crème pâtissière into the pie shell then top with the fruits of your choice. You can then leave it like that to serve or make a glaze to put over. You can prepare your own glaze or use packet glaze. I used a packet glaze for mine.

Easter Cake

This is the cake I made for Easter which also doubled up as my daughters birthday cake. It was quite yummy and the cake was light and fluffy. Everyone loved it and if I could have, I would have saved it all for me. Instead I'll just have to make it again.





Ingredients
200g Caster Sugar
200g Butter
4 Eggs, seperated
200g flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C.

Whip up the egg whites until they are light and fluffy. Set aside. In a mixing bowl mix together the butter and

sugar until they are nice and creamy then add the flour and baking powder, mix then add the egg yolks. Mix in the milk and fold the egg whites in. Mix the egg whites in properly so that you don't get lumps of egg white. Then divide the batter into two cake tins and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the centre comes out clean.

When the cake has cooled you can decorate it as you desire. I used a cream cheese frosting and decorated it accordingly with Easter eggs :)

Chicken Tikka Masala

I haven't posted in ages because I've been on an Easter holiday. Now my holiday is over and I can get back to posting and sharing. On the bright side I made a few goodies during the Easter break that I can share with you all, but for this post I'm going to go slightly off topic because for dinner I made a really good tikka masala plus baby version that my daughter absolutely loved! It was fantastic :) I served it with rice and a refreshing mango salad! Yum! If you want to make it on the hotter side, just add a couple chopped chillie.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons garam masala 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 ounces chicken tenders
• 2 teaspoons canola oil, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small sweet onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 tablespoons cream
• 
  
Method
Cube the chicken. In a small bowl mix together the garam masala, turmeric and salt. Sprinkle 1/2 a teaspoon of the spice mix over the chicken then put the flour in. Mix well until the chicken is completely coated. Heat a skillet with a teaspoon of oil then cook the chicken until it has browned. Place the chicken on a plate and set a side. Heat the rest of the oil and put in the spice blend, garlic and ginger. Cook for about a minute or less, don't let it burn. Then add the tomato and let it thicken. Mix in the cream then add the chicken back in and let it simmer until the chicken is completely cooked through. Serve and enjoy :)


Baby Friendly Version
You are obviously going to use a lot less ingredients as the little person won't eat this much, so just a couple 

Baby Friendly Version
pinches of the spices will do. Instead of using garam masala I used chicken spice. I am not sure what you could substitute this chicken spice for, but it is a wonderful South African spice we love to use :) technically the dish isn't  really spicy so you could give your kiddo the same as what you would eat, but my little one wasn't to found of the flavours and enjoyed hers A LOT more.