When Life Takes Over | Lemony Coconut & Cranberry Macaroons

Wow! Its been about a minute since my last post. Hard to believe how times flies, but sometimes it just can't be helped - especially when life takes over. And in the time I have been AWOL, this blog marked its first anniversary.
In my last blog post, in what seems to feel like a lifetime ago - I confessed how the lovely change in season seems to be an undoing of my self-discipline.
Never mind though, my time away wasn't all about lazing about, but also working on some things that will be shared to all in due course. Watch this space ☺.
The fun part of every changing season, for any foodie, is the thrill of playing on the creativity with seasonal ingredients. So I have returned with a recipe for a quick and easy treat - Macaroons.
This is my version which I have fine tuned from different variations, so feel free to also make something else out of this, if you will.

Ingredients

• 130g Caster Sugar
• 2 Eggs (Whites only)
• 75g Dried Cranberries (roughly chopped)
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 225g Desiccated Coconut
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• Zest of 1 Lemon (finely grated)

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
• Line baking tray with baking sheet
• In a large mixing bowl add sugar, egg whites, cranberries, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and salt, and them mix together
• Add in desiccated coconut and mix together until well coated
• Using your finger tips heap a table spoon size of the mixture
• Mould it into a pointed triangular/pyramid mounds
• Arrange the mounds on the lined baking tray - leaving enough space between each 
• Place in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes until the edges are golden brown
• Remove from oven and transfer on to a cooling rack

Makes 44 macaroons

Tip: Can be stored in air tight container for up to a week

Ingredients :: Rooibos Tea (Aspalathus Linearis)

Rooibos Tea Leaves

Jams have now featured twice on my blog within the last one month; the latest being the Raspberry & Rooibos Tea Jam. One thing both jam recipes did have in common was the mix of the usual jam ingredients with the unusual. As with my first jam recipe of Strawberry & Roselle Jam, whereby I later touched upon the benefits of the Roselle, I am now highlighting the benefits of the Rooibos tea from the Raspberry & Rooibos tea jam I made recently.

Rooibos tea, otherwise known as Redbush tea, is local South Africa - which was precisely where a dear friend sourced the one used for my jam making from. 

Originally frowned upon as "the poor man's tea", the world has now wisened up to the numerous and proven health benefits of the Rooibos tea, with the lack of caffeine increasing the benefits considerably. 

Cancer: 

Experiments conducted on laboratory rats have shown inhibitions in the growth of oesophageal cancer as well as significant reduction of pre-cancerous lesions

Cardiovascular Health:

Tests conducted on humans showed an increase in anti-oxidant levels in subjects' blood who consumed about 400ml/day; which inhibited the angiotensin converting enzyme associated with cardiovascular diseases

Cholesterol:

It's been proven to reduce the level of "bad cholesterol" while increasing the levels of "good cholesterol"

Mental Well-being:

The high mineral content and lack of caffeine helps to reduce anxiety and sleeplessness

Weight Loss:

It reduces the number and size of fat cells as well as lowering the serum cholesterol (fat in the blood)

Intestinal Inflammation:

The antioxidants soothes gut intestinal inflammation such as Colitis (Inflamed Colon)

In addition to the mentioned benefits, researches have also shown promising and exciting results so far in relation to diabetes - although this is more relatable to the Green Rooibos Tea which is unfermented. 

Sources

Komatsu K, Katro K, Mitsuda Y et al. Inhibitory effects of Rooibos Tea, Asphalathus Linearis, on X- ray induced C3H1OT1/2 cell transformation. Cancer Lett. 1994;77:33-8

Bramati L, Aquilano F, Pietta P. Unfermented Rooibos tea: quantitative characterization of flavonoids. J. Agric. Food Chemistry 2003;51:7472-4

Joubet E, Winterton P, Britz T J et al. Anti-oxidant and pro-oxidant activities of aqueous extracts and crude poly phenolic fraction of Rooibos (Aspathalus Linearis. J. Agric. Food Chemistry 2005;53:10260-7

January 2014 | Round Up

Well the "longest" month of the year is finally over. It was a pretty quiet month all round but with a lot of activity in my kitchen.
So as a way of looking over what I got up to, I decided to put it all together as a video montage of sorts. All foods highlighted in it are on the blog, so if you see something that catches your fancy, don't hesitate to go on my blog grab the recipe and have a go for yourself.

Please Like, Share & Follow

Succulent Chicken Breasts

The first time I came up with this recipe, I wasn't really sure what I was going to end up with, but chicken being one of those ingredients that even though might seem bland in it self is quite versatile to incorporate into other ingredients to give it some life. As it turned out, it was an effort definitely worthwhile and since then, it has become a familiar dish in my kitchen. This is so easy to make. Infact it basically makes itself, with the effort going only into putting the marinade together.
The fullness of the flavours in the chicken makes this dish easy to pair with a variety of accompaniments such as rice, bread, couscous etc. You decide what works best for you.

Thank You | Happy New Year | 2014

Happy New Year Folks! Here is wishing you all a wonderful and fantastic year ahead. I know I am looking forward to delving in with great expectations.

Its been just over 3 months since I commenced my journey within the blogosphere, and its been 3 months of sheer delight.

When I started, I never thought anyone would be interested in what I had to say or offer - not in a self doubting sort of way - but seeing as there are countless other creative and experienced bloggers out there.

Personally, 2013 was a mixed baggage for me, but as they say "In everything give thanks". I am thankful for every single experience and the lessons learned throughout the year.

Christmas Dinner 2013

Wow! It feels like I have been gone for about a minute.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas? I know I did! It was definitely time well spent with family and friends.
Being Christmas, the food was the absolute highlight. Amazing! This year the decision was made to veer off from the mainstream.The food this year was a reflection of  heritage and culture, which will be familiar to a select demographic of readers, but a new terrain for many others.

Fried Rice, Seafood Salad, Moi-Moi & Stewed Chicken & Beef

Some Loving From My Oven - Apple Pie

I must warn you that before you read any further than this paragraph that this is going to be a calorie packed and scrumptious yummy delight. So if calorie-counting is a concern, then you will probably be disappointed. Sorry! Its just that I feel that this is an appropriately seasonal recipe as it embodies many things autumnal/wintery to me. All things comfort food.

Honeyed Lime and Chilli Skewered Prawns

Honeyed Lime and Chilli Skewered Prawns

Inspirations for my cooking comes from alot of things, places, people and ideas. So a couple of days ago I somehow wandered into Robert Dyas, for a browse through, and I came across some amazing stainless steel skewers. I usually go for the wooden/bamboo ones, which if I am being honest make me feel guilty because I almost never re-use them thereby making me feel so wasteful (now I sound like a tree-hugger)☺.

Stewed Crab

This is the second crab based dish I have posted within recent weeks (see previous recipe here). One thing both dishes do however have in common is that I love cooking my crab meat within the shells just so that the flavours are guaranteed to be absorbed and retained.
As with most of my recipes, this one gradually came together, but it is now at the stage whereby I am happy to put it out there and share it - although I do see myself making the occasional tweak here and there with time.
So get your finger bowls ready when you give this a try.

Stewed Crab - With Cream

Stewed Crab - Without Cream

Autumn/Winter Warmer:: Spicy Tomato and Chorizo Soup

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder (and I can no longer walk through a certain park on my way to work because it now opens later in the mornings) one of my favourite things about this time of the year is the excellent excuse to indulge in my heart-warming soup recipes as well as make up new ones before Spring gets here.

Most of my soup recipes were concocted from whatever the ingredients of the day happened to be. The Spicy Tomato and Chorizo Soup on offer today can be enjoyed anytime during the day, but especially on those cold rainy days. It will quite literally set fire to your veins ☺. I really hope you enjoy trying this out.

Spicy Tomato & Chorizo Soup

Spanish Omelette with Sauteed Chestnut Mushrooms & Peppers

Spanish Omelette with Sauteed Mushrooms & Peppers

So I just could no longer ignore the eggs that kept looking at me every single time I went into the refrigerator. They're actually from the pack of 6 I bought to make my banana bread. And since I hate wasting food, I had to put them to good use. Easier said than done for me, because raw eggs terrify me!

I decided to go with the Spanish Omelette because this version contaons one of my favourite ingredients in it - Chorizo. So that was a motivation to get me going.

Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2013 - The Experience

Even though this was my 3rd year of attending the exhibition, I still felt like a kid in a candy store - rearing to explore as soon as I walked through the doors.
However, learning from the experiences of previous years, I carefully planned my routes this year to ensure I touched base with exhibitors of interest.

For the sake of my sanity, I decided to try sticking with a theme this year - TEAS & HERBAL INFUSIONS. Unsurprisingly, I found myself distracted by some other tempting offerings along the way.




Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2013

Flora Tea

In the very competitive Tea market, Flora Tea have really found a creative niche to establish themselves.