With the approach of autumn I seem to have got my Kitchen Goddess on and have been pickling and bottling anything that will stand still long enough. Alas for the modern life and lack of space for a veggie patch and orchard, but we have a wonderful market garden outlet not too far from us….
Saving Stock
I find it very difficult to throw out a chicken carcass once we have picked the bones of a roast chicken. Boiling one up with a pinch of salt and some onion for about 30 minutes, ( no more than that) gives you a perfect base for soups and gravies which saves time when you…
Parmesan crusted pork neck cutlets with Dutch Beansprouts
This is a crib on Woolworth’s Pork Neck Steaks. I think Woolies version is delicious but pricey and so I decided to create my own. This recipe is for two people. For more diners, adjust your quantities accordingly. 2 pork neck steaks, trimmed and butterflied freshly ground black pepper 1 large minced garlic clove for…
Quick & Easy Easter Bunnies
I designed these bunnies to be used as place settings for Easter lunch or to give away to friends and family filled with delectable Easter treats. I got the whole family – my Dad included – involved in making these for the shoot. Everyone got a bunny with their name on it and some felt tip…
EASTER TREATS: Pink and White Coconut Ice
HOMEMADE COCONUT ICE Nothing makes me feel more like a domestic goddess than making homemade sweets. There is something magical about creating something decadent with nothing but sugar and milk. With the Easter weekend coming up there is nothing better than a house filled with tasty treats, I thought that coconut ice would be the…
Easter Craft: Candy-Cones
Easter Craft: Candy-Cones I have made these cones to give away to family at Easter but you can also make them for wedding favours or to hold the confetti. They are really quick to make and don’t cost much at all. YOU WILL NEED: (makes 2) 1 piece of A4 coloured card board cut…
Cheap, Cheap & Easy Easter Craft
Cheap, Cheap & Easy Easter Craft : Cute Easter Creatures YOU WILL NEED a toilet roll tube crêpe paper ( any colour) our free cut out template or white paper with your own characters drawn on it. DOWNLOAD PDF HERE(CUT OUT TEMPLATE) coloured craft paper ( I collect the scraps from my other projects and…
FREE Easter Printables
I have been thoroughly enjoying creating Easter crafts this year. Work (the time consuming stuff that puts bread on the table or in this case Easter eggs) is really busy at the moment, so these little projects give me much needed respite from the daily grind and remind me that there is a big wide…
EASTER CRAFT: Every bunny needs a…carrot
Make this Cute Carrot Especially for Easter YOU WILL NEED (Makes 2) 1 x A4 sheet of orange card (not too thick otherwise it won’t roll nicely) 1x A4 sheet of thin green paper Strong craft glue Easter Eggs INSTRUCTIONS Cut the A4 sheet of orange card in half width wise. Roll it into a…
Wise Words for Women
Happy Women’s Day Fabulous Followers! x Natalie This is my wish for all women… Desiderata – Words for Life by Max Ehrmann Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly…
Our Cheap Luxury Wedding: PART 1
How to have the most perfect day without getting into debt. Steve and I had the tiniest wedding budget – our whole wedding cost what some people spend on a dress and I am not talking couturier here either. Here are some things that we did to stretch our meager budget as far as possible….
A wedding anniversary – a chance to wander back down memory lane…
Wow! the past two weeks have flown by without me having a chance to take a breath or write a post. I am sorry for having been so distracted. We (my dear other half and I) are in a real period of transition along with work and things flying about; it is really hard to…
Sweet Romance – Rose and Strawberry Mess
Finish of your romantic Valentines dinner with a decadent Eton Mess. ROSE AND STRAWBERRY MESS YOU WILL NEED 6 TBS Greek Yogurt 1 Cup (250ml) Fresh Whipping Cream 1 Tin Strawberries in light syrup – Please use fresh if you can find them (1.5 cups of fresh strawberries) 1 cup of crushed meringue – you…
I wrote a letter to my love…
HAND-MADE ANTIQUE VALENTINES YOU WILL NEED: Coffee-stained paper and doilies Coloured craft paper Vintage images printed on contact paper. Get you FREE download here (FREE Valentines Printables 1 FREE Valentines Printables 2) or visit The Graphics Fairy for more beautiful ROYALTY FREE images. Glue Ribbons and brocade A QUICK WAY TO MAKE “OLD” PAPER…
Sweet Romance – Divine Duck
VALENTINES DINNER: ROAST DUCK WITH CHERRY SAUCE YOU WILL NEED: 2-2.5 kg Free Range Duck – This may sound a lot for two people, but there is very little meat on the bird, and of course there will be lots of left-overs. 1 Lemon FOR THE CHERRY SAUCE 1 Lemon Zested and Juiced 4 Sticks…
Sweet Romance – Scrumptious Valentines Starter
So as I said in my previous post Commercialism has Killed Cupid, a far more romantic and far less expensive way to celebrate the day of love, is to stay at home and spoil your loved one with a meal made by your own loving hands. To help you out, we have put together a…
Happy Hour! Make your own cocktails and SAVE!
Make your own cocktails and SAVE! If you go out with friends this evening and you all order cocktails to celebrate the end of the week, you will pay on average R45 per cocktail. If you have six friends that is a total of R270, plus an extra 10% tip and you get a grand…
Lunch time: Tasty Tuna Pasta Salad
One of my favourite quick and easy lunches, this is only one of its many incarnations. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Tasty Tuna Pasta Salad – with feta and peas (Serves 4) YOU WILL NEED: 1/2 a packet of Gnocchi Pasta shells, or any type of pasta you prefer. 1…
Commercialism has killed Cupid
February is the official month of “luv”, even though the shops have been filled with heart shaped chocolates since they took down the Christmas tinsel. To be totally honest I am not a huge fan of modern Valentine’s day. I think commercialism has killed cupid and given everyone a cop out at true romance. Since…
Crustless Lunch Box Quiches
I used to make these often for school lunches when the kids were younger and we were reminiscing about those days, so we decided to make some for Saturday lunch. We also (erroneously) thought we’d have some left over for Sunday supper…! Make a batch of these and keep them in an airtight container in…
Blissful Berry Breakfast
I am not a big breakfast eater. Unlike the rest of me, it takes my tummy a while to wake up. So usually I make a beeline for the coffee and figure something out when I start getting crazy eyes (what Steve calls the mad look that I get when I need food), I…
RECIPE: Five-a-Day Fritters with Herby Yogurt
These fritters make a delicious lunch dish for Meatless Monday. We just made them and they were fabulous – even if we say so ourselves 🙂 Enjoy! X Natalie & Elaine Five-a-Day Fritters with Herby Yogurt Herby Yogurt (Make this first) YOU WILL NEED 375 ml Dairy Belle low fat yoghurt 62 ml cup chopped…
RECIPE: Moroccan Mint Tea (For 2)
Remember I wrote about a little restaurant in Durban called Yossis? Never mind if you don’t check out the link here. It is the first place I tried this fabulous tea is really to just set the scene. If you don’t want to read and other whole article maybe this will help…think Casablanca (yes,you can…
Packing Up Christmas
Well, the mince pies are eaten, the presents are all opened (well not all! There are still gifts under our tree waiting for the lucky folk who are still enjoying their holidays) and most of the city streets are getting choked with traffic, and shops are full of back-to-school supplies. I’d say that the season…
2013: A Resolution to be Happy
The years gone by are littered with good intentions and unresolved resolutions, so why bother writing them? We all know that in two weeks time the excitement has worn off , the routine has set in and 5am is suddenly so early to go to the gym. Really, what was I thinking? Am I right?…
2013: EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER.
Happy New Year Fabulous Followers!!!! I must be honest I was really happy to see the back of 2012. It was a really hard year for many reasons and I am glad to leave its complicated messiness behind me. What I will take with me are the invaluable lessons that I learnt, the strength that…
The Magic of Christmas Past
The magic of Christmas is made especially for children. No matter how hard I try to capture the magic as an adult, it is just not the same. The sparkling treasure box of the Christmas lights, the excited anticipation of Christmas Eve and most of all the pile of mystery under the tree. We always…
Christmas Mince Pies – With Fat Free Fruit Mince
Christmas Mince Pies – With Fat Free Fruit Mince Christmas isn’t Christmas without my Mom’s Christmas Mince Pies. There is nothing better than indulging in a buttery mouthful with a my morning cup of coffee. Here is the recipe so that all of you can share in the joy: x Natalie PS. The Fat Free…
DIY: Christmas Heart Pockets
My Danish grandmother taught me how to make these. She used to make them fairly small, from gift wrap, and hang them on her Christmas tree filled with sweets for the grandchildren. Take 2 contrasting rectangles of paper of your choice. The ones illustrated here were cut 12cm x 7.5 cms. Experiment with the size…
An Old-Fashioned Christmas
Christmas in South Africa falls in the height of summer, but because we were heavily influenced by the English stories and children’s papers, such as School Friend and others that we consumed as children, we expected the plum pudding and the snow. My mother’s parents were Danish so a lot of our traditions were more…
DIY: Make Your Own Ice Bowl
MAKE YOUR OWN ICE BOWL YOU WILL NEED: 2x bowls, one slightly smaller that fits inside with space 1 x 810g tin of veg or fruit for a weight Pick a selection of edible flowers and herbs. Trim the calyxes short but leave enough to keep the petals together. While I was doing this, I thought…
Christmas Memories
For some of us Christmas memories are filled with dashing through the snow, hot coco and crackling fires, for others it means soaking up the sun, the coconut smell of sunblock and eating watermelon on a cool summers evening. What is your favourite Christmas memory? One of our Fabulous Followers and my dear aunt, Barbara…
Bottling piquant cherry chillies
I am on a drive to get back to making my own sauces and preserves. I am so tired of reading labels that bear no resemblance to what should be in the bottle/package. The manufacturers feel they should just add a wee bit of extra rubbish and preservatives like sodium sorbate, potassium sorbate or some…
Wine stain removal.
Red Wine! In a glass. After supper. Very good. Drinking it in bed on a cool rainy summer’s evening, while watching one’s favourite programme on TV? NOT GOOD! It’s courting disaster! Well disaster came in the form of an annoying mosquito. Beloved tried to smack the critter while he was still holding his glass…
Vegetable Strudel. Or giant baked spring rolls.
This recipe came about yesterday after a bought a large packet of very fresh, julienned vegetables at Checkers. I immediately thought it would make a perfect stir fry supper for us. Unfortunately, I tipped too much of it into the pan, and the meat was a bit swamped. The stir fry was very tasty but…
Fabulous Easter Fun
Last year some friends of ours from Parys organized a Easter Weekend by the river complete with egg painting and Easter egg hunt. I have never seen adults, all dressed as bunnies, have so much fun. Actually we had so much fun looking for eggs that we collected all the ones we hadn’t eaten and…
Cheap Luxury 