Yoghurt Barn Illustration

I had a glorious breakfast on Tuesday morning at the Yoghurt Barn in Utrecht. They really do make the best yoghurt in town. Not that I'm an expert but that merry berry special yoghurt that I ordered was excellent. You know it, I'll be back!

Here is a little illustration of my breakfast:

Oh, and I hope you all have a happy halloween! I was going to try and bake something fun for the kids but I must admit I just don't have the energy for baking today. And you know that I'm a firm believer that your mood influences the results of your cooking / baking. There is a big chance that I might risk making pancakes tonight though... or rather, I'll ask my husband to make them!

Cupcakes

My kids have a really sweet tooth... and I indulge them occasionally by baking something on the weekend with them. We baked cute cupcakes three weeks ago and decorated them with a yoghurt icing. The icing was not quite what I expected but thats what you get when you experiment. 

Luckily the kids were happy with the colour and I managed to get a photo of one before we ate them all...

Basic Scones

In a moment of madness I decided to bake scones for the very first time in my life. Turns out it is pretty easy. The trick is to not overwork the dough. Try and resist the urge to work and knead it. The less you work it, the better they will be.

We enjoyed our scones as lunch with tea, jam, strawberries, blue berries and whipped cream. I also had a lot of fun taking photos of the scones... my poor family had to wait at least 10 minutes before I allowed them to tuck in. Next time I'm going to try to bake savoury scones!

Here is a link to the recipe from taste.com.au and here is a copy of it:

Ingredients:
plain flour, for dusting
3 cups self-raising flour
80g butter, cubed
1 to 1 1/4 cups milk
jam and whipped cream, to serve

Method:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly dust a flat baking tray with plain flour. Sift self-raising flour into a large bowl.
Step 2
Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Step 3
Make a well in the centre. Add 1 cup of milk. Mix with a flat-bladed knife until mixture forms a soft dough, adding more milk if required. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth (don't knead dough too much or scones will be tough).
Step 4
Pat dough into a 2cm-thick round. Using a 5cm (diameter) round cutter, cut out 12 rounds. Press dough together and cut out remaining 4 rounds. Place scones onto prepared baking tray, 1cm apart. Sprinkle tops with a little plain flour. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and well risen. Transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm with jam and cream.

Forest fun

This week we had some lovely weather in the Netherlands. Exceptionally warm weather for this time of year!

On Tuesday we went to 't Berghuis in Amerongen where the kids had a great time running around, eating pancakes and climbing on some pretty cool adventure style equipment for the kids in the forest. They spent all their energy climbing and sliding and crawling around.

Then on Thursday we stayed a little closer to home when my neighbour suggested we join them for a forest walk in de Bilt on the Landgoed Beerschoten. What a find! Who would have thought that within 10 minutes we would be able to take a walk in such a beautiful place. The kids loved it, they ran out into the autumn leaves, imagining fairies and elves and little red riding hood... oh to be that young and innocent.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!!

Bobotie

Funny how when you mention you are from South Africa and the discussion turns to food someone always asks about bobotie. It is a traditional South African dish which is basically a type of meatloaf infused with spices. I must admit that this was only the second time in my life that I ever made it... the last time was in 1993 which is a lifetime ago!

My mom is visiting and my husband got it into his head that he wanted something traditional so bobotie it was. Luckily my mom has made it quite a few times before so I had some assistance in the kitchen.

It is really not that hard to make and after browsing around I found a simple recipe on Nigella's site which my mom agreed is pretty much her standard way of making it. Remember to add some turmeric to your rice for a nice yellow colour and serve it with a big salad.

Here is a link to the recipe (which serves 6) and here is my adapted version which serves 3 - 4 persons:

Ingredients:
500 grams minced beef
½ onion (diced)
15 ml cooking oil
10 ml butter
15 ml curry powder
5 ml salt
15 ml peach chutney (or apricot)
15 ml apricot jam (smooth)
15 ml worcestershire sauce
5 ml turmeric
15 ml malt vinegar
1 handful raisins
2 eggs
190 ml milk
1 slice brown bread
1 pinch of salt
3 bay leaves

Method

Put bread into bowl with milk and leave to soak. Heat oil and butter in large pan and fry onions. When onions are soft add curry powder, salt, chutney, Worcester sauce, jam, turmeric and vinegar. Mix well.
Drain bread, saving milk. Add bread, raisins and meat to pan. Cook over low heat until meat looses its pinkness. Remove from heat and add 1 well beaten egg. Mix well then spoon into greased ovenproof dish and level the top.
Beat remaining egg into the reserve milk, add turmeric and salt, mix well. Pour over meat mixture and place bay leaf on the top. Bake uncovered in 180C for approximately 1 hour or until set (nicely browned). Serve with yellow rice, banana, coconut & chutney.

Stir Fry Illustration

And here is a little illustration of our dinner last night - yes, stir fry!!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my dad's birthday and my mom is not there to celebrate with him since she is visiting us! We had a lot of fun baking some cupcakes to celebrate in his absence.

Have a great day dad -  we miss you!