Red Velvet 'Get Well' Cake

On Monday my sister will be going in for the op she was supposed to have at the beginning of December, before the clever cookie went and got herself sick and they had to postpone….

 

Being the wonderful sister I am, on the day she was supposed to have the op, I decided to full fill her “life long dream” and bake her a Red Velvet Cake…  She has been asking me for one since I started the cupcake thing, but seeing as she doesn’t live with me, always manages to miss out some how.  

I baked her this beautiful cake. To say get well soon in the best possible way I know, only to find out that she managed to get herself sick again and the surgery was postponed.

Red Velvet Beauty

 My first thought was one of extreme excitement- Now I get to eat the cake myself, but really I should have known my little sister better than that… In the end her relentless nagging won, and she got to have the cake despite not having the surgery and my warnings of it being bad luck. Apparently she then proceeded to eat it whole with a fork- though these rumours have not been confirmed yet.

Hope it was worth it Porky, there will be no new cake on Monday ;) If you're lucky, maybe I’ll draw you one!

Pretty Cake Got Massacred by a fork

If you are wondering what I’ve put on top of it, they are these really cool chocolate transfers I found from wizBAKE - You just melt your chocolate and spread it over the sheet, then when it sets the colour/pattern are on the chocolate. They come in all different colours and patterns.

Have a look at my Red Velvet Cake Recipe- This recipe also works really well as cupcake.

Happy Baking :)

Strawberry and Pink Pepper Fro-Yo

Hello all you wonderful food lovers. I’m back after over a month with no phone and internet... I hope that explains my silence, but just because I have been quiet doesn’t mean I don’t have loads to say. In fact seeing as it’s been the ‘Holiday Season’ or as I like to call it the ‘Stuff Your Face Season’ I have more than usual to say, more recipes to share and more restaurants I love to tell you about.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I trust you made it into the New Year safely. I also sincerely hope you were all treated to as much good food and wine as I was. I can’t believe I have to wait an entire year to do it all again...  

Just before my communication breakdown, I tried out my Ice-cream maker for the first time. One of the best things I made was a strawberry frozen yogurt with pink pepper.  So that will be the first recipe I share with you this year. 

I hope you will give it a try, it’s very easy, and far more delicious than any store bought one I have ever tasted!

STRAWBERRY FRO-YO

  

Happy Cooking, Happy Eating and Happy New Year!

3 BOYS LEARN TO COOK

Before I worked as a food stylist, I worked for a catering company/cooking school. I was mainly involved in the catering side, but when they were a little short staffed I tried my hand at teaching and discovered that I really love it. There's just something about passing on a knowledge that you have to someone who wants to know it. Which is partly why I started this blog in the first place...

A few months ago a friend of mine asked me if I could teach him how to cook, I didn't really take him seriously until recently, when I decided to start offering private cooking lessons- so obviously he had to be my Guinea pig:)

After planning a menu that the worlds fussiest eater was happy with, and doing all the shopping, I arrived at his house to find a St. Elmos pizza box on the counter. I made some smug comment and was then informed that all they had eaten for the last 4 days was pizza... 4 DAYS?!?! They really did need my help!

On the menu for my culinarily challenged friends: 

My Famous Pisgetti with Home-made Garlic Bread and Apple Crumble for dessert.

Have a look at how they did below :)

Jp learns how to chop an onion, possibly for the first time in his life, and Martin patiently peels the apples for dessert. 

 Mikey may have chickened out of doing the whole naked chef thing, but I think he pulled that apron off pretty well. He even stirred the "grosse onions and mushrooms".

 Martin, still busy with his apples. That face says it all!

 So I let him swap with Mike...

 Which was around the time I realized that there was no mixing bowl in their house, so Mikey made crumble in a pot.

 Finished making the crumble, but not happy with me. Apparently he would rather have stirred the "grosse onions and mushrooms" because, and I quote "rubbing butter into flour is the grossest thing in the whole world"! I'm pretty sure I could think of worse.

 Jp's kick ass garlic bread is just about ready to go into the oven.

 These guys rival me on the messy kitchen scale.

 Finally food is ready, Mr. Martin looks very please with himself :) 

 YUMMY!!!

 But wait, there's more! What's that smell coming from the oven???

 We may have cheated a little here, I mean what is an apple crumble without Ultramel??? 

All in all I think these 3 did a great job, it was a really fun evening and they made some really delicious food! I'm proud of you guys, and I can't wait to do it again!

These classes are completely private and personalized to your needs. They take place in the comfort of your own home, and can range from an "I don't know how to hold a knife and what's an onion" level to "I want to fine tune my cooking and learn how to make my own pastry" level. Depending on the size of your kitchen you can have 1-6 people learning at a time, and the best part is that afterwards- you can sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy your meal.

For more information you can email me at: saralohmaier@gmail.com

Happy cooking everyone, have a great week!

Naughty Nachos

In the last few weeks Nachos have come up a few times within our different circles of friends. So much so, that in this last week I couldn't get them off my mind, and on Sunday when I opened my pantry the ingredients for them popped out at me as if they had neon arrows pointing them out. Sunday was definitely NACHO DAY!

 

I had to pop down to the shops to get a few extra ingredients, which was when I realized... I have never made nachos before. So I did what I do best, I improvised. I got what I thought I needed and made what I thought nachos should be- and I totally succeeded!! (even if I do say so myself)

The perfect end to yet another beautiful weekend. Sitting outside in the glorious sun, sipping a beer and eating mouth-wateringly delicious nachos! The only thing that could have made it better is if somehow the next day could have been Friday!

Try my recipe here:

 

NAUGHTY NACHOS

Bet you're all looking forward to next Sunday now;)

Happy cooking, and have a great week!

Spicey Cous Cous Salad with Roasted Butternut and Feta

I feel like a bad mother who has been neglecting her child. I just saw that it has been almost 2 weeks since I updated... Although in my defense I updated 2 days in a row, and last weekend was Josh's birthday.

I took him for a beautiful weekend on a fruit farm in the Cederberg, where being the smart ass I am I fell into a freezing cold river... But that is another story entirely!

Seeing as I was the organizer of this weekend (it was a surprise for him) I got to choose every thing we were going to eat myself :)

Josh has a thing for ribs, and every time I tell him that the ribs where ever we are aren't up to standard I get a "well why don't you try do better?". I have been threatening to for a while so this was the perfect opportunity. I even did the braaiing myself to make sure they were perfect.

See girls can braai too!

Delicious sticky plum ribs straight off the braai

I have shared this recipe before, so if you have not tried it yet- today is the perfect day!

STICKY PLUM RIBS

However, this is not what I wanted to share on this stunning Saturday in beautiful Cape Town. Today I wanted to share my favourite braai accompaniment. Its a Moroccan flavoured cous cous salad with roasted butternut and feta, that is not only deliciously moreish, its also quite quick and easy to make (much more so than potato salad), very filling and super healthy.

Moroccan Cous Cous Salad

I love this salad so much that it often becomes dinner on its own, I also always have to make extra so that everyone has lunch for the next day.

If you are having a braai this beautiful afternoon, try it out. You won't be disappointed and neither will your guests.

 Moroccan Cous Cous Salad with Roasted Butternut and Feta.

Happy Saturday and Happy Braaiing!

Breakfast at Blue Water

Today Josh finally decided to humour me on my request to go for breakfast and a walk in Kalk Bay. Luckily for him today was also some or the other Sunday Times big walk, and half of the Southern Peninsula's roads have been closed. By the time we got anywhere near Kalk Bay the traffic was backed up so badly that no words even had to be exchanged in the "Never mind that" department.

We took a few minutes to way up our options and then decided that we were bound to find something at Imoff Farm, just outside of Kommetjie. 

In the end we chose The Blue Water Cafe, and wow am I glad that we couldn't get into Kalk Bay. This place is completely sheltered from the wind and 100% child friendly(not that I have any of those, but if I did- I'd definitely want to take them there). They also have a rather large, very delicious sounding menu where everything you read sounds yummier than the last.

We ordered 2 lattes-which I must say were not great, they tasted a little burnt, but we didn't come for coffee. We were there for food.

Seeing as I have big time FOMO(Fear of Missing Out) I chose to order the same thing as Josh because it sounded great and I would have been super jealous if I got a lame croissant or muelsi bowl and Josh had and amazing looking bacony delight of a breakfast.

We ordered the 'ALL DAY BREAKFAST TARTINE'-An open toasted ciabatta with 2 fried eggs,farm bacon, grilled mushrooms, tomato, beef sausage and rocket with a green herb dressing...

Blue Water Cafe's All Day Breakfast Tarting

It was incredible. Hands down the best breakfast I have had in years. Everything was cooked to perfection and the green herb dressing was so light and delicious it cut through the richness of the breakfast perfectly. 

Do yourselves a favour and go there next time you don't know where to have breakfast. There are also lots of other things to do at Imoff, so even if you are coming from a little further away, I'm sure you will find things to keep you entertained: there is a little petting zoo, a snake park, an amazing farm stall, a cheesery, horse rides, camel rides, paint balling, a chocolatier, wine tasting and some really nice little shops.

Can next Sunday just hurry up and get here now??

Summer Time Beetroot Salad

Beetroots are one of my favourite vegetables, with its beautiful rich red colour, dense texture and strangely sweet yet earthy flavour.

I first came across the combination of beetroot and goat's cheese while reading through my copy of The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. If you do not own/have never seen this book, do your selves a favour and get your hands on a copy. Josh bought mine for me as a birthday gift a few years back, and it is pretty much my bible.

Niki mentions delicious things like goats cheese souffle with beetroot ice cream, and beetroot tart with goats cheese meringue-YUM!!! She also shares some wonderful recipes, but still, to me the most delicious and simple way to cook a beetroot is to roast it. With some crispy dark edges and a soft sweet centre (I always have to cook extra because most of it doesn't even make it to the table), paired with a lively stinging goats cheese is pretty much a match made in savoury heaven.

Having said that, who wouldn't love to spend a beautiful summer day, feasting on delicious bowls of guilt free (and delicious) salad and an ice cold glass (or two or three) of crisp white wine?? 

Summer time Al Fresco Style

So we have beetroot, we have goats cheese, we have salad, we have wine, and it's summer... What are we waiting for?!?!

Click here to see my fabulous Beetroot and Goats Cheese Salad Recipe.

Guilt free savoury heaven in a Bowl

Happy Feasting everybody.

Have a wonderful, guilt free Summer weekend .