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Brie & Cranberry Bites

Brie & Cranberry BitesYou know it’s Christmas time when the brie and cranberry starts coming into play. It’s not something we have a lot of at home as my other half isn’t a fan, but brie is the only thing I ever craved in pregnancy!

Come Christmas time, I often find myself simply short of time, and in a hurry. While I’d normally make my own shortcrust pastry – with the Thermomix® it’s just so easy – but sometimes it’s really good to be able to grab a roll of ready rolled pastry and have your snack ready in 20 minutes.

(Do yourself a favour and get an all butter pastry though. They’re so much better!)

Brie & Cranberry Bites
 
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I haven't put much by way of measurements into this recipe since it'll depend on your personal tastes, to a large extent, and how much you're planning on making. A single sheet of 300g pastry will make roughly 18 bites.
Author:
Recipe type: Snack
Serves: 18
Ingredients
  • 300g short crust pastry
  • 150g Brie
  • Cranberry sauce
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 200C
  2. Roll the pastry to a thin and even layer.
  3. Cut the pastry into 18 squares - rounds will do fine too.
  4. Place each square into a muffin case and cook for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown.
  5. In the meantime, slice brie into squares large enough to fit inside the muffin trays.
  6. As the pastry comes out of the oven, while it's still piping hot, drop the brie onto it so that it begins to melt. Top with the cranberry sauce.
  7. These are best served hot, but can be eaten cold too.

 

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DIY Homemade Chai Rooibos / Redbush Tea

A few weeks ago I made a spur of the moment decision to enter a competition in my local blogging network. The competition requires us to come up with a recipe in one of five categories, featuring Schwartz spices and blog them.

Redbush Chai TeaWell, I didn’t read the fine print, and as it turns out, not one of the five categories falls into a strong area for me: I don’t like beans, so don’t eat a lot of Mexican or Brazilian food, I don’t really drink tea, am not a big curry eater and for compact spaces problem of modern living? Well, I use a Thermomix®!

As a result I’ve had to dig deep and learn about a few spices and flavours that are completely new to me. So over the next few weeks, you’ll see a little something different from me.

I’m a huge coffee drinker, and not much into tea at all, but I do have a fair supply of Redbush tea – Rooibos, as we call it – in the cupboard, because it’s good for a number of things, including colic in babies, so the children have it too.

I have had chai in the past, but always bought, so when I looked at some of the spices I was sent, I thought I’d try a spiced tea, using some flavours I do love – cardamom, cinnamon and ginger. I added nutmeg and cloves, two more beautiful spices when used correctly, and hey presto! Beautiful aromatic, sweet chai that even my children enjoyed.

I hope you enjoy our foray into incorporating more spices into our cooking!

*This is not my official entry… that’s coming!

Spiced Redbush Chai Tea
 
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You can use any teabags, but I use Redbush for it's healing properties, and the lack of caffeine or tannins, which I don't enjoy. You can use whole spices or ground. You can also make up a larger amount, and keep them for making a cup or two of Chai Tea at a time. Keep them in an airtight container so they don't lose flavour though!
Author:
Recipe type: Drinks
Cuisine: Asian, South African
Serves: 4 cups
Ingredients
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon cardamom
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon cloves
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • Up to 170g honey (1/2 cup)
  • 500g boiling water (2 cups)
  • 500g cups milk (2 cups)
  • 2 Redbush tea bags (or your favourite)
Instructions
  1. Place the cardamom in the Thermomix® bowl reverse speed 8/3 seconds. Remove the shells.
  2. Add the rest of the spices in the Thermomix® bowl and whizz on speed 10/4 seconds
  3. Add honey, water and milk, and boil on reverse speed 2/2mins/Varoma
  4. Add tea bags boil for 5 minutes 100C/reverse speed 2.
  5. Pour through a sieve or into a caffetier and serve.
Without a Thermomix®
  1. Place the spices in a pot, add the honey, water and milk. Bring to the boil, add the teabags and simmer for 5 minutes.
  2. Strain and serve.

 

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Winter Spices Sugar Scrub Recipe

winter spice sugar scrubI made this and a peppermint scrub for my friends for Christmas, and while that season is now long gone, I’ve been meaning to share the recipe and I think leading up to Valentine’s Day a no-bake, no fuss, incredibly cost-effective but luxurious and creamy sugar spice recipe is just the ticket. A couple of the recipients of these gifts have come back to me saying that they loved them, so I’m more than happy to share the recipe with you.

As it’s no bake, no boil, no anything, it’s a great recipe for children to help out with, and if you add something or take away something else, it’s not going to cause you any harm.

While you can, of course, use the generic supermarket versions of these products, to really gain the benefits from it, you should use the organic versions.

While sugar isn’t great for anyone’s body, there are actually benefits to using a sugar scrub. (Brown sugar is softer than white, so can be used on the face. White sugar is okay for a body scrub. Always wear moisturiser if going out in the sun after a scrub, as it removes a layer of dead skin.)

Sugar is a natural source of alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) which penetrates the skin and breaks down the “glue” that bonds skin cells, encouraging cell turnover and generating fresher, younger-looking skin. It is a natural humectant, so it  draws moisture from the environment into the skin and make an excellent topical exfoliant, removing dead skin cells.

Winter Spices Sugar Scrub Recipe
 
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This is a body scrub. It's probably a bit rough for the face, although with a soft brown sugar, you should be able to use it on your face. Do not use on broken skin - it will burn! If you're going out in a harsh sun after your body scrub, be sure to use sun block.
Author:
Recipe type: Beauty Products
Cuisine: Non-food
Serves: 1 cup
Ingredients
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground dry ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil (melted)
Instructions
  1. Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl.
  2. Add the coconut oil and mix well.
  3. This will probably set, unless you're in very warm weather, so just soak in warm water to get it to liquid form again.
  4. Store in a glass container.
For the Thermomix®:
  1. Add all the ingredients into the bowl.
  2. Mix on reverse/speed 2/30 seconds
  3. Store in a glass container.

 

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Tabouleh Plus Recipe

Tabbouleh, Tabouleh

I love Tabouleh, Tabbouleh, Tabbouli or Tabouli. Whichever way you spell it, it’s a bulgar wheat warm salad, often made (incorrectly) with couscous. It’s still good though, so don’t be put off using couscous or even quinoa if that’s what you have on hand. I’ve made it with all three and love it still.

If you Google for a recipe you’ll be hard pressed to find two recipes exactly the same, and now I’m throwing another into the fray. But I stand by it. It’s really good.

The basics, the essentials, are the garlic, parsley, mint, lemon juice, onion and tomatoes, but saying that, in the picture you’ll notice no red flecks. I didn’t have tomatoes, so went without.

Anything else is optional though. My guests are big meat eaters, so I added bacon. We’re all halloumi lovers, so I added two blocks, rather than one.  It’s pretty flexible.

Tabouleh Plus
 
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A lovely filling main course warm salad, or a side dish, this adds to a traditional tabouleh. There are a plethora of recipes for tabouleh, but this is how we make it.
Author:
Recipe type: Main, Side
Cuisine: Turkish
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 Red onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 3 large or six small tomatoes
  • Bunch parsley
  • Bunch mint
  • 30g (60ml) lemon juice
  • 30g olive oil
Optional:
  • Pack bacon
  • 2 avocado
  • 2 packs Halloumi
  • 450g Bulgar wheat
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the thermomix:
  1. Add the onion, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, mint, lemon juice and olive oil (and cooked bacon and halloumi, if using) to the bowl. 30 Seconds/Speed 4 - check to see that it's fine enough for your liking.
  2. Add the avocado, mix 10 Seconds/ Speed 3.
  3. Set aside.
  4. Cook bulgar wheat to manufacturers instructions - around 17 minutes, Veroma speed.
  5. Stir together, and sprinkle parsley roughly chopped before serving.
Traditional cooking:
  1. Cook Bulgar wheat according to package instructions.
  2. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion, garlic, tomatoes, parsley and mint and add bacon, halloumi and avocado, if using. Mix in with lemon juice and oil.
  3. Mix in the warm bulgar wheat and serve, sprinkled with parsley.

A Very Thermie Christmas This recipe features in A Very Thermie Christmas, where you can find it and 50 other recipes perfect for a Thermomix® assisted Christmas. Read more about it here.

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Chicken Soup And Steamed Dumplings Recipe

I’ve had the most awful of colds this week. Normally, I get on with things, but this week I have largely felt like the world was ending and intent on taking me with it. As luck would have it – note the sarcasm – we were also in a hotel at the seaside, and I barely left the room. I’m actually happy to be back home and the first thing I did was make a chicken soup and some dumplings.

If preplanned, I would add ginger (I don’t have any) and possibly noodles for the not unwell members of the family, but I grabbed frozen chicken out of the freezer, and used what I had available to make this sickness comfort food in as little time and with as little effort as possible.

I’ve done this as a Thermomix® recipe, but I’m pretty sure a mildly confident cook would be able to to convert it to a stove top and steamer recipe.

Also, if you don’t have buttermilk on hand – I did left over from butter making before we went away – you can use a buttermilk substitute. (Just short of a cup of milk, and a tablespoon of lemon juice [bringing it up to the 1 cup mark]. Leave it for five minutes and use as buttermilk).

[kitchenbug-your-recipe-appears-here-14841]

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Ghoulicious Carrot And Clementine Soup Recipe

Carrot and Clementine Soup

I remember making this Carrot and Clementine soup almost five years ago, with ordinary carrots and I remember that it was lovely. I found it a few days ago in the bottom of my drafts folder, and decided to make it again soon. As it happens our organic vegetable box arrived this week with purple carrots – the original carrots, apparently – and I thought these would make an eerie, spooky, fun addition to your Halloween festivities.

Carrot and Clementine SoupOf course, you can make it with normal carrots too, and it will be delicious, but not purple.

Also, I like creamy soups, so I add cream before serving. You can add cashew cream instead to make it vegan, or  you can make it without any cream at all, if that’s your preference.

Serve with Cardamom Braid or Soda Bread – both are just as delicious.

Carrot and Clementine Soup Recipe:

Carrot And Clementine Soup
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Soup, Winter
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 600g (+- 5 large) carrots finely diced
  • 1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
  • 750 ml (3 cups) vegetable stock
  • 1 teaspoon (5ml) crushed coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon (5ml) ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon (5ml) grated ginger
  • 2 tbsp (30ml) corn flour or ground rice
  • 6 clementines/mandarins/nartjies or other sweet citrus, liquidised
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • cream to serve
Instructions
  1. Sweat the finely diced carrots and onion in large saucepan with the butter – keep the lid on and keep stirring them until soft, for about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the crushed coriander and heat through for about 2 minutes to release the fragrance, and then add the hot stock, ground cumin and fresh ginger. (If you are using ground coriander add with the other spices and the stock.).
  3. Add the thickening agent (rice or corn flour) and liquidised citrus– stirring well, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then liquidise in a food processor or with an immersion blender.
  5. Return the soup to the pan and reheat for 5 minutes or until piping hot, remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Drizzle with a little cream, and top with dehydrated carrot or twists of citrus zest, and serve with bread.
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Chop the carrot and onion finely, speed 4/ 5 seconds
  2. Sweat for 3 minutes/100C/Speed 1.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the salt, pepper and optional cream.
  4. Cook for 15 minutes on Veroma/Speed 1.
  5. If you like it smooth, pulse on Turbo a few times, otherwise leave it as is.
  6. Drizzle with cream and season to taste. (optional)
Notes
Any left overs can be frozen, and reheated when required.

Find more Halloween Recipes here