Blackberry Blondies

Blackberry Blondies

180 grams butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
3 eggs
3/4 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease or line a tin that's about 20 by 30 cm.

Soften the butter in the microwave, then in a large bowl mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs and mix them in well. Sift in the flour and baking soda and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Lay the blackberries on top.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Beef Casserole

Beef Casserole

1 tablespoon olive oil (or other fat)
1 onion, diced
3 clove garlic, crushed
2 rashers of bacon, diced
500 grams casserole steak, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper
1 small sweet potato (about 300 grams), diced
3 carrots, sliced or diced
1 cup peas
1 cup chopped celery, sliced thinly
1/3 cup pearl barley (if you don't have this just leave it out)
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons bisto (gravy) powder, or cornflour
3 cups beef stock

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Fry the onion, garlic and bacon until cooked and soft. Remove from the heat and place the mixture in a large casserole dish (at least 2.5 litres).

Chop the beef into bite-sized pieces. Mix the flour in a bowl with salt and pepper, then toss the meat in the flour.

Heat the pan again and cook the beef until it is brown on all sides. Add to the casserole dish.

Add the sweet potato, carrot, peas and barley to the casserole dish and give it all a stir until it is quite well mixed. Add everything else over the top and give it another stir.

Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven.

Let it cook for about 2 or 3 hours, until the meat is tender.

Curried Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

Curried Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

600 grams pumpkin, peeled and chopped
300 grams sweet potato, chopped
1 tablespoon oil or butter
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 rashers bacon, diced
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large pot and cook the onion, garlic, bacon and spices. When the onion is soft and transparent, add the pumpkin and sweet potato and enough water to just cover the vegetables.

Bring the soup to the boil and let it simmer until the pumpkin and sweet potato are soft, then blend it with an immersion blender. Taste it, season with salt and pepper and add more spice as you like (don't be limited to just ginger and curry powder, you could try tumeric, coriander, cumin, chilli, etc.).

Toffee Apple Cake

Toffee Apple Cake

1/4 cup/60 grams butter or oil
3/4 cup apple puree
2 cups caster sugar
2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
6 egg whites

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees celsius and prepare a 22 cm tin.

Beat together the butter/oil, apple puree, sugar and vanilla.

Add the egg yolks and mix well.

Sift in one cup of the flour along with the baking powder and mix well. When it is combined, add half of the milk and mix again. Repeat with the second half of the flour and milk.

In a seperate bowl, beat the 6 egg whites until they are thick and stiff. Tip a small amount into the cake batter and mix gently, then add the rest and fold them into the mixture. Don't stir the mixture or beat it.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for an hour. Check that it is done by inserting a skewer or knife into the centre and it should come out clean. Leave it to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then carefully transfer it to a wire rack. Let it finish cooling until it is cold, then cut into two layers.

Toffee/Caramel Filling

1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, margerine or shortening
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

Place all the ingredients into a medium sized saucepan and heat on a low-medium heat until it is melted and the sugar dissolves.

Let the mixture come to the boil and boil for two minutes. Remove it from the heat and as the mixture cools beat it with an electric beater until it is cold.

Use the toffee mixture as the filling for the cake, spreading it over one layer and placing the second layer carefully on top.

White Chocolate Frosting

30 grams butter (or shortening, but not oil)
60 grams white chocolate
300 grams icing sugar
4 tablespoons milk (about 60 mL)

Carefully melt the white chocolate and butter together, mixing them well to combine them.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture into a large bowl and begin to sift in the icing sugar, beating well after each addition.

Frost the cake and decorate.

Double chocolate surprise muffins

Double Chocolate Surprise Muffins

1 3/4 cups plain flour (250 grams)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder (25 grams)
1 cup white sugar (250 grams)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (about 100 grams)
75 grams butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk (180 millilitres)
Rasberry jam

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and make sure the oven rack is in the centre of the oven. Prepare a muffin tin by greasing it or lining it with paper cases.

In a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa. Add the sugar and the chocolate and mix well.

Melt the butter. Add the milk and eggs and whisk.

Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and fold the two together gently, being careful not to overmix.

Place a spoonful of mixture in the bottom of each muffin hole. Then you place a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the centre of each. Add another spoonful of mixture on top of the jam.

Bake for 20 minutes. Leave them to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then loosen them by running a knife around the edges of each tin. Hold the tin upside down and give it a tap - the muffins should pop out nicely!

Mango Curry

Mango Curry

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
2 orange peppers, diced
3 mangoes, peeled and diced (about 600 grams)
2 chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces
1 can coconut cream(not the light variety, the proper creamy thick stuff)

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the spices to it, letting them cook until theynare aromatic.

Add the onion, garlic and bell peppers and cook until the onion is soft and translucent.

Add the chicken and cook until you can see no more pink on the surface.

Pour in the coconut milk, mix well and bring it to the boil. Simmer until it is thick and the chicken is cooked all the way through. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

400 grams chicken (cooked or not, either is fine, so whatever you have on hand)
750 grams frozen sweet corn
1 chopped onion
1 litre chicken stock (I used 4 chicken oxo cubes in 1 litre of water)
Salt to season

Pur everything into a large pot, except the salt, do that last. If the chicken is cooked shred it up. If not, throw it in raw and boil the soup until it the chicken is cooked through. Then take out the chicken, let it cool, shred it up and return it to the pot. This soup should be sort of chunky but not entirely so I used my stick blender to half blend it, or pour half into a food processor and then when it is smooth-ish return it to the pot. Season with salt, and pepper if you like, serve.

Lemon & Basil Pasta

Lemon and Basil Pasta with Chicken

(to serve 4 or 5)
600 grams chicken (boneless breasts or thighs)
1 tablespoon oil or butter
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

2 more tablespoons butter.
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon flour
1 can evaporated milk (400 grams)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Fresh basil
Salt and pepper to season

Pasta

First prepare the chicken. Mix together the oil, juice, honey and mustard and coat the chicken in this mixture. Place the chicken on a plate or in a bowl and tip the rest of the marinade on, and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and lemon juice. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Add the evaporated milk and turn the heat down to simmer until the sauce is thick, stirring every now and then. Be careful not to boil it.

While the sauce simmers cook the pasta and chicken. Set aside.

The sauce should be thick by now. Add the parmesan, basil, salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the drained pasta. Add the chicken and serve.

Kumara Wedges

Kumara Wedges

1 large sweet potato per person
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cube chicken or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt (just a sprinkle)


To begin, turn the oven on to about 200 degrees celsius and have the oven rack in the middle of the oven.

While the oven is heating chop the sweet potato into wedges.

In a large bowl or plastic bag place a couple of tablespoons of oil (at least one per potato), crumble in the stock and add the herbs and spices.

Place the wedges into the bowl/bag and mix it well. Try to coat the chips as well as possible. Turn them out onto a large baking tray and bake them for about 30 minutes and serve them when they are cooked all the way through. If you want them to crisp up a little on the outside sprinkle salt over halfway through cooking.

Chocolate Bread

Chocolate Bread

300 ml warm water
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon active yeast
350 grams strong white flour
100 grams rolled oats
25 grams cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt

Combine warm water with oil, sugar and yeast. Leave it to sit for 5 minutes until the surface has frothy bits on it.

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients, then pour the liquid in. Mix with a spoon at first until everything is incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured bench. Knead it for about 10 minutes.

Cover the dough and leave it to rise for an hour or more, until it is doubled in size.

Gently press the air out of the dough. Shape it into a loaf or place in a greased loaf tin. Cover it and let it rise another 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Bake the loaf for 30 minutes.

Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

500 grams (or more) of chicken on the bone (chicken pieces or a part of a whole chicken)
1 onion, diced
3 large carrots, diced
1 cup frozen peas
2-3 cubes chicken stock

1.5 litres water
4 dry lasagna sheets, broken into pieces
Salt and pepper to season

Place the chicken and vegetables in a large saucepan. Sprinkle the chicken stock over the top and add the water. Heat on high until the water boils.

Simmer the soup until the chicken is cooked. Take the chicken out and let it cool while the soup continues to simmer. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and shred the meat. Return the meat to the soup. Add the pasta and continue simmering for about 10 minutes, till the pasta is soft.

Season it with salt and pepper and serve it immediately or keep on simmering it for as long as you like.

Apple Surprise Muffins

Apple Muffins

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup finely chopped apple (2 small eating apples)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1 cup milk
Thick caramel (speculoos spread or dulce-de-leche)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease or line muffin tins.

Combine all the dry ingredients, sifting the flour and baking powder. I used soft brown sugar but any sort would be fine. Make sure that the apple is chopped up nice and small and then toss that through the flour.

Combine the wet ingredients and lightly whisk. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and gently fold in until the two mixtures are just combined.

Place a spoonful of mixture in each muffin hole, so that the hole is about half full. Place a spoonful of the caramel spread in the centre. Then top the muffin off with a bit more mixture so that the tin is about 3/4 full.

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes and then remove from the oven and let them cool for at least 5 minutes inside the tin. Carefully remove from the tin and allow to cool further before cooking.

Shepard's Pie

Shepard's Pie

500 grams beef mince
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion
2 cube beef stock
3 tablespoons bisto (or other gravy powder) or cornflour
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 cups water
2 cups frozen peas
Salt and pepper (if need be)

4 medium size potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
A splash of milk
Salt and pepper
A handful of grated cheese (if you like)

Chop the onion, heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion for a few minutes, until it's soft. Add the mince and cook until brown, stirring with a wooden spoon to seperate any clumps.

Combine the beef stock and bisto (or other similar thickening product) with a little bit of the water to make a smooth paste. Add this, the worcestershire sauce and the water to the meat along with the peas. Turn the heat down and keep it simmering until it is thick. If you use bisto or some other gravy powder you will probably find it is already salty enough but if you used cornflour as your thickener you will want to add a bit of salt and pepper. Just keep tasting it until it is seasoned to your liking.

Chop the potatoes and place them in a large saucepan, cover with water and boil them until they are cooked. When the potato is done add the butter, milk and cheese and mash.

Place the mince mixture into a large casserole dish. Layer the mashed potato on top carefully. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top of the potato.

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for about 20 minutes or so; long enough for the mince to get a bit thicker still and the potato to get brown and crispy on the top.