BURGERS FOR LUNCH

There's nothing better than a relaxed Sunday lunch with the family. I know some times trying to organize and feed the masses can be a little stressful, but it really shouldn't be. It should in fact be quite the opposite, it should be a very happy time full of fun, laughter and little people.

Yesterday was a very special little girls 7th birthday, and after a big party with all her friends on Saturday, the family was invited over for a fantastic burger braai on Sunday.

The crowds arrived with families and cooler boxes in tow, and were treated to some of the most fantastic burgers topped with melted cheese and an assortment of different burger toppings to please those of all tastes, shapes, sizes and ages.

This was finished off with some Ice-cream cones and apple cake. A perfect family lunch, that is restively stress free(especially for the ladies, seeing as the men braai-Thanks Duncan).

Yes, I'm definitely a burger and beer kind of a girl, so this really was the perfect way to spend a Sunday for me. Food in the sun, with a beerie in hand and the sound of happy children running around.

So therefore I would like to share my 2 favourite burger recipes with you, for you to try at your next family lunch.

Sweet Chilli Chicken, Grilled Pineapple and Avocado Burger.

My Favourite Chicken Burger

This way of cooking chicken is one of my favourites, if you let it cook until the sweet chilli sauce has started to caremelize you will fall in love.

I also love to cut the chicken into strips (marinade and cook them the same way) and use them to fill wraps and to top chicken salads.

The "3" B Burger

Beef, Bacon and Blue Cheese

Best Beef Burger

This is my very own beef burger recipe which I'm sure you will love as much as we all do. If you are cooking for a lot of people though, don't be afraid to get ready made burgers from you local butcher.

Also, if you don't like blue cheese (I know it's not child friendly), don't be afraid to change it for a different cheese that you do LOVE :)

Click here to see these delicious recipes and more...

Happy Cooking! 

RIB HUDDLE

What exactly is a rib huddle?? I don't know, lets find out...

Define Rib:

• each of a series of slender curved bones articulated in pairs to the spine (twelve pairs in humans), protecting the thoracic cavity and its organs.

Define Huddle:

•  crowd together/netsle closel

 

 So, what is a rib huddle? 

To Crowd together/Nestle Closely with some slender curved bones that protect your organs!

NO! Of course not! Rib Huddle is just another amazing Idea that the mega minds behind Clark's Original Recipes have come up with!

 

YOU BETTER REDNECKENIZE!

We arrived to find our drinking tins, and a large jug of Albama slammer on our table, along with some very kitch, southern decor. It looked perfect, and it already smelled delicious!!

Drinking tins and table settings.

 I don't know exactly what was in that alabama slammer, but it seemed to put everyone in great spirits, and the weather played along beautifully too.

The fantastic music was performed live by Lonesome Dave, and couldn't have been anymore perfect, even if we were in the heart of red neck county. Seriously, if you've never heard him before, go check him out!

Lonesome Dave Ferguson and his harmonica

Lisa and I helped a little, by buying the wetwipes and stapling them together in packs for people to use. Lisa thought that this was the greatest thing ever, and that she made the evening with this invention, until we started seeing food arrive. Suddenly our super cool, high-tech, stapled together wet wipes weren't so cool any more. Especially not compared to the amazing boards these girls managed to find to serve the food on.

The First Course: Home made bread and a paprika and corn butter

Corn Bread, Pumpkin Bread and Yum bread

You know when some one spreads their butter so thickly that you can see their teeth marks after they have had a bite?? I'm not normally one of those people, but in this case I'm guilty as charged. The delicious savory butter piled on the sweetish fresh bread... Don't think I need to say more...

A quick Trip to the Clarks Bar

To Fill up my Fancy Wine Glass

 And its time for-

The Second Course: Sweet Corn, with Chilli Flakes, Parmesan, Lime Wedges and Coriander

Meilies with a twist

What a delicious take on a braai/BBQ favourite. You've got to love the places the imagination can take you when it comes to food and flavour combinations. The only limit here really is your mind.

Next up-

The Third Course: Red Cabbage Cole Slaw with radishes, apples and probably some other yummies that I'm forgetting.

Southern Style Slaw!

This was really amazing. It had a vinegrette kind of a dressing instead of a heavy MAYERNAZE vibe. Therefore it was really light and yummy, and everytime you bit into a piece of apple it was like there were little southern HOEDOWN fairies line dancing on your tongue.

This being a Clark's Original Recipes event, the real reason everyone was there was for the 4th course. What was this fourth course??

It's apron time everyone, this shit is about to get messy... and sticky... and delicious!

Aprons on, and we are ready!

 

The Fouth Course: CLARK'S STICKY PLUM RIBS!!!

Here they come, on a board bigger than Lisa :)

RIBS!!

Sweet, Juicy, Delicious, Sticky Ribs

 

No Left Overs!

Clean Bones, Sticky Fingers, Happy Sara :)

And the best part is, that wasn't all. My personal Favourite course, the dessert it still coming... What kind of dessert is going to top ribs like that though?

The Fifth Course: Ice-Cream

Dipper Tray of Ice-Cream toppings!

To be honest, when this tray arrived, I though I might have died  and gone to heaven. Even without the Ice-Cream this would have been the best dessert. 

Basically the idea behind this, as you can see is that you get an Ice-Cream cone, and you get to top it with your favourite toppings, or in my case ALL the toppings.

MY ICE CREAM

In my hand you see an Ice-Cream, MY Ice-Cream, and on top of  MY Ice-Cream - Chocolate sauce, barone sauce, honey comb, chuckels, something that tasted like apple crumble and some other chocolatey bits... Yup, I must have died and gone to heaven.

HAPPY 5 YEAR OLD

This night ended of on a very sweet note with a happy little dance, to Lonesome Daves Awesome Tunes.

Now the big question is, where can we get our hands on some of that delicious sticky plum sauce???

You can find their product on the shelves of the Cape Quarter Spar, or you can find it on Yuppie Chef, who will deliver it strait to your door... BONUS!

The next big question is how??? I have high jacked Amy's amazing Clark's Sticky Plum Ribs recipe off their facebook page! I Have made it a few times, and they turn out amazingly everytime!

 Now, if you are super jealous that you weren't at this event(which I know you are) then go like the Clark's Original Recipes Face Book Page. I happen to know that this wasn't the last huddle that they will be hosting, so keep your eyes and ears open for a place at the next one!

Thanks Ladies, for a wonderful event. See you next time!

Peanut Butter Cookies

A month or 2 ago I was so swamped at work that Lisa told me to come up with something super simple for a recipe of the month... We only had one little sneaky day to shoot our entire mailer, which meant a lot of cooking in one day! 

What did I come up with?? 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies of course!

Peanut Butter Cookies

 Yes, only 3 Ingredients. They couldn't be easier if I tried, and judging by the fact that I made them last night, and the cookie jar is almost empty, I'd say they are a big hit!

Even Mr. Floofs (who usually doesn't beg or steal food) thought they were great, he helped himself to 2 while I had my back turned! Naughty dog!

I used the YUM YUM Peanut butter with caramel crunch-the honey comb added a little extra deliciousness to the biscuits, but you could use any kind. The choc-chip one would also be delish!

Yummy for tea time

Another great thing about these, if they aren't already great enough, is that they are gluten free. So all you coeliacs will love this!

Have a look at the recipe HERE, and try it out! You won't regret it!

Best enjoyed with a glass of milk

So the question is, who is coming over for tea??

 

Happy Baking guys, you can thank me later!

CUPCAKE ALERT!!

Every month Lisa and I write a "news letter", where we share recipes, discuss food trends and post pretty pictures of food.

This has become a big part of my job, and was actually my inspiration for starting this blog. Who knew I could actually write?? It's not always easy to find the right stuff to write about, as it needs to be current and some what original, so I spend a large part of every month researching trends and new places, and of course I always have my eyes and ears open for new things.

Last month Lisa suggested show casing some of my cupcakes. I was very excited about this, as it was a chance for me to show something I'm very passionate about to over 900 people in and around our industry.

Click here to see the newsletter on the Web Site and if you like it, please subscribe (we do one every month, and they always have a new theme with new recipes to try, suggestions for new restaurants to visit, and some sexylicious food porn!).

Unfortunately, and luckily I didn't have any beautiful photo's of my cupcakes, so we booked a shoot with the super talented photographer Sean Calitz.

Have a look at the stunning photo's he took!

Vanilla Bean Cupcake with Marshmallow Icing and a Hand-Made Rose

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Butter Icing, Chocolate Shards and Gold Dust

Hidden Center Lemon Meringue Cupcake with Candied Lemon Zest

Rose Piped Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Icing

Beautiful right?? Thanks Seany!!

Please check out Sean's Website to see some of the other beautiful stuff he shoots.

...And if you like what you see, have a look a my Facebook page to see some more, or order your own.

Happy Drooling ;)

1, 2, 3 BISCUITS!

I just realized it's been almost a month since I last shared a recipe... 

Yep, I totally agree. That is a long time, so I better get on it! 
A lot of people have commented on my beautiful background picture, and for those of you who were wondering, YES- I did make them. 

This is literally one of the easiest, and completely fool proof biscuit recipes you will ever try, and with a name like 1 2 3, I doubt you will ever forget it either.

Wondering why 1 2 3???

1 CUP SUGAR, 2 CUPS BUTTER, 3 CUPS FLOUR.

Yep, that simple!!

Click here for my 1 2 3 RECIPE, and instructions on decorating these pretty heart cookies :)

Beautiful heart shaped 1 2 3 Biscuits

Another really cool thing you can do with this recipe is make glass cookies.

Glass biscuits

All you do is cut stars and hearts out of round biscuits, and fill them with crushed sparkles or boiled sweets before baking. The sweets will melt and become flat and glass like during baking.

Make sure you bake them on a well greased baking tray covered in foil. I didn't and I couldn't get my first batch off very easily. But they are very impressive and yummy. 

These are also very cool for Christmas, make a little hole in the top and thread a piece ribbon through it, you can then hang them on the tree :)

Plain Round 123's

However, the simplest thing you can do with these, is roll the dough into a log before resting it in the fridge. Then when you want to bake them, you just cut the log into disks and place them on a baking tray. Sprinkle them with a little castor sugar and bake until golden. .

This dough also freezes really well, so don't be afraid to make lots and keep if for a rainy day, or when that unexpected visitor pops by for tea :)

Happy baking..

Dinner at Il Leone...

Last week, after a very hard month of work, Josh finally received his first pay check... YIPEEEEE!!!

To celebrate he took me out for a wonderful day at the V&A Waterfront, where we ate a lot, drank a few cocktails, walked very far and laughed a lot. Then he bought me some pretty shoes(I think that was so he wouldn't have to feel bad about wanting to stop somewhere to watch the rugby), and took me for dinner at Il Leone.

Spoilt right??

My Completely Irrelevant, but Very Pretty New Shoes :)

Tea Time, Primi Style!

I have never been to Il Leone before, but I have heard that it's supposed to be one of Cape Town's TOP pasta restaurants. I don't know if they were having a bad night, but what a disappointment...

We booked a table quite early, but when we arrived at 18.30 they were hardly ready for us. We were seated in the upstairs area, where it was freezing cold, and right smack bang next to a 12 seater table.

Luckily we arrived and managed to order before the big table arrived, because after that, our waiter lost all interest in us. I was not offered another glass of wine after my first and couldn't even get his attention for long enough to ask.

That said, our starters were magnificent. After being told my original choice in starter was not available, I had a chicken broth with chicken tortellini. I don't know how they packed so much flavour into a little bowl of soup, but WOWEE!

My Chicken Broth, Not Much To Look At But So Yum.

 Josh had the Carpaccio and was also very happy with it, though I doubt it was as good as my soup :)

Josh's Carpaccio

 Then after waiting a while for our plates to be cleared, our main course arrived almost too quickly. Again, we were not offered more wine, and by this stage the big table next to us was getting loud and rowdy. So much so that I could hardly hear or concentrate on what Josh was saying. 

We both chose to eat one of the dishes recommend by our waiter, A tomato based Penne, with prawns, chilli and cream. Doesn't that sound yum?? Well yes, but it didn't live up to my expectations. 

It hardly tasted like tomato, mostly cream, there was definitely NO chilli, and the prawns tasted as if they had had better days.

Our Very disappointing main course with my very empty wine glass

 Needless to say neither of us finished our food, and our waiter didn't bother asking if we enjoyed our meal.

After about 20 minutes of sitting around with an empty table, plates cleared, no dessert menu and no drinks (by this stage my wine glass had been taken away by a runner without being offered another. Their loss really, at almost R40 a glass, they could have made some good money off me), I eventually got up to find our waiter and ask for the bill.

All in all, even though my starter was out of this world, my over all experience, from the ambiance, to the service, to the food itself was horrible. I will not be returning and I won't be recommending it to anyone.

 That said, if you do go, or have been I really hope you have/had a better time than we did. They must have done something right to get their good name in the first place.

The Foodbarn

OK, I know I'm back tracking BIG time here, but Braai Day was just so amazing I had to write about it IMMEDIATELY, and my Foodbarn experience was so fabulous(as always) that I couldn't just not write about it.

So as I promised, here is my report on what I must say was an absolutely incredible birthday celebration at Franck Dangereux's beautiful restaurant "The Foodbarn" in Noordhoek.

Yes, I am a birthday person. I love love love birthdays. Your birthday, my birthday, or even your uncles dogs birthday, I will be excited about it. This year however, I have been so swamped at work I didn't even get a real chance to plan mine. Luckily for me, this was no problem for The Foodbarn, even when I wanted a table for 18 pax.

We were given the upstairs area, where our rather large table was beautifully set. We were served just as quickly and efficiently as if we were just another four seater, and it wasn't even a problem when half way through another guest arrived and we quickly had to make space. Some how they even figured out where all the orders went, even though we were playing musical chairs. I must say, we didn't make it easy, but luckily our waitress was super woman!

Supergirl herself

My Friends and Family at our nice table

My Mommy and I

I hope you all know about the amazing specials that they are running at the moment, Steenberg Menu, which is what we all had. It's basically 3 courses, with 3 options for each course, with wine pairing for R185.00. Can you say bargain? Never mind that this is all coming from one of South Africa's greatest chefs kitchen. 

I'd love to be able to write about everything on the menu, but unfortunately I only know what I ate, and my oh my was it good.

My starter, my main and my dessert came in at a 3 way tie for the best dish.

My starter was a duck breast salad, with beetroot, sweet potato, hazelnuts and a completely out of this world sauce.

Duck Breast Salad with Beetroot, Hazelnuts and some other yummies

Seeing as I was the birthday girl, and certain folks don't drink wine, I had lots of extra glasses of yummy Steenberg flavoured liquid courage flowing my way. No complaints there! Thanks Sarah!!

My main course was grilled line fish with a charred corn and smoked tomato salsa, and if I remember correctly, a basil sauce. WOW am I glad the fish was recommended to me. It was so tasty and full of flavour. I'm pretty much drooling just thinking about it.

Line Fish Main Course

Unfortunately, I heard some of my friends saying the sirloin was a little tough, but luckily that wasn't my problem, mine was fantastic.

When our desserts came, I was sitting in a friends chair and all of a sudden everyone was oohing and aahing over a plate, it took me a while to realize what was going on.

My dessert had arrived with a special Foodbarn style birthday message...

Just for me

Never mind the beautiful personalized plate(which made me feel super special by the way) this dessert was amazing, and even though as was so full I would happily have scoffed another 10!

Rhubarb Compote,with Chantilly Cream, Meringue Disks and Fresh Strawberries. Do yourselves a favour, go there and beg them to feed you this! You will not regret it.

So basically I had a fantastic birthday, with the most amazing friends and family, at my favourite restaurant, with delicious food, yummy wine and awesome service!

Yes, I agree I am a lucky girl. What more could I possibly want?? 

Other than a fancy sports car, a private jet, my OWN pony(no, I haven't outgrown that yet), a rich husband, a very full bank account and a super skinny body of course! :)

Thanks Foodbarn for an evening I won't forget soon, and thanks again to all my friends and family for celebrating with me on my special day...

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22 ;)