Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup

The temperatures are begining to drop here in Johannesburg :(. But the exciting news is that it is going to be soup season soon.....So to get me more excited I randomly made quite a tasty pumpkin soup. The nice part is you don't have to peal this pumpkin while it is dry (what a work out!). Try it out and enjoy:

Ingredients

½ a large pumpkin
3 tbsp Cream cheese
1 tbsp Butter
3 Spring onions chopped
2 tbsp chopped Coriander
250 ml veg stock (alt chicken or beef stock)
250 ml milk
1 potato peeled and chopped (or handful pasta shells)
Chilli flakes sprinkled
Pepper and salt to taste

Directions
1. Sprinkle salt and pepper over pumpkin place 1 tbsp butter in the centre of pumpkin. Cover with foil and place in a preheated oven till cooked and pulp is easy to scoop out of shell.

2. Place Pumpkin pulp in pot with 500mls vegetable stock and remaining ingredients. Mix well and bring to boil.

3. Once the mixture has boiled through and potato (or pasta is cooked), stir in cream cheese.

4. Place all ingredients into a blender and blend well.

5. Place soup back into pot and cook till it thickens to your desire add more milk if you would like to change the consistency.

Lentil Something Something

I am starting to be very creative with my vegetarian dishes. So much so that my husband is actually considering eating only 2 meat dishes a week. Imagine  now that means something must be tasting good. So try this Lentil something something dish it tastes like there is chicken in it …but there is not. The sweet potato and grated apple adds a wonderful flavour to the curry. I just added stuff that I had but wow it tasted amazing. Try it.


1 T sesame seed oil (optional else olive oil)
1 Cup onions
3 cloves garlic
1.5 T ginger
4 cups water or veg stock
1 cup Red Lentils
1t cumin, 1t coriander, 1.5 tsp Turmeric (substitute these spices for 2 T curry powder)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Lemon juice (optional)
1 grated apple (optional)

1 grated tomato

1.5 red pepper

1 cup cabbage

1.5 Cups chopped sweet potato

Coriander to garnish

1. Fry onions, garlic and ginger till onions are transparent

2. Add the spices and mix till you can smell the aroma

3. Add remaining ingredients (excluding coriander leaves), Salt and Pepper to taste.

4. Mix well and simmer covered for 15 -20minutes. Keep checking if more water is needed. The texture should be a thick soup at the end.

5. Serve warm with coriander (can be served with rice or eaten alone)

Moist Chocolate Cake

Notes:

So I had the inlaws visiting for lunch on Saturday and I really wanted to make a special chocolate cake and I found this one on the internet. I didn't make the icing but let me just say the cake was very moist and rich and my relatives were pretty imprest....yey brownie points for me. You can check out the pictures and comments at http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/The-Only-Chocolate-Cake-Recipe-Youll-Ever-Need-Devils-Food-26370. ENJOY :)



Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
1Preheat oven to 325°F
2In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add oil, coffee and milk and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. Expect batter to be thin.
3Pour into a 9" x 13" greased and floured pan or 2- 9" round pans. Bake 9 x 13 pan for about 45 minutes or 9" pans for about 30 minutes. Cool in pans for about 15 minutes and then cool completely on racks.
4While cake is cooling make the icing: Combine the milk and flour in a saucepan and cook over low heat until thick, whisking constantly. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
5In a medium bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add chilled milk and flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes. Frost cooled cake and enjoy! The frosting sounds intimidating, but it is worth it! By the way, for some reason, we prefer this cake chilled, right out of the refrigerator. The rich chocolate and cool frosting just seem to taste best this way.

Peanut-butter Chocolate Chip

Notes:

These are really dangerous cookies because they just taste so good and they tend to be full of fat and sugar. Given that Avon is on a healthy eating diet. I thought I might try my best to make these cookies taste good but with less sugar and flour and more honey and oats (SOOO GOOD FOR YOU J). Here is the Kanya remix!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
  
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
  
• 1 Tablespoon Syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1cup oats
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
  
• Melted chocolate or a mix of 3tb spoon cocoa and icing sugar (to sweeten) Optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
   
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture.
   
3. Use the melted chocolate or cocoa mixture to marble the cookie dough (optional)
   
4. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

After thought:

I might put in even less sugar especially if you put in the melted chocolate swirl. They are nice and chewy but I find that they

are very sweet. But I guess not too sweet for my cookie monster!

Baked Orange Cheesecake

Notes:
This is a very delicious cheese cake which is also very easy to make (if you think whisking eggs is easy). It is originally from the book the Best of South African Cooking. Which is a highly recommended cook book to purchase.

Crust:

• 250ml sweet biscuit crumbs
• 75ml melted butter
• 5ml honey

Filling:

• 250g smooth cottage cheese
• 2 eggs, separated
• 100 ml castor sugar
• 5 ml vanilla
• 10ml cornflour
• 125ml cream
• 2ml finely grated orange rind

Topping:

• 200ml sour cream
• 2ml vanilla
• 10 ml light brown sugar
• 2ml finely grated orange rind
• Ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients for crust. Press onto base of greased 20cm pie dish with fairly high sides. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, then cool
2. For the filling, beat together all the ingredients, except the egg whites, until smooth. Whisk egg whites, fold in, then pour onto crust. Place dish on a baking sheet and bake for 40 min or until just set.
3. Mix ingredients for topping, except cinnamon, pour evenly over cheesecake and dust lightly with cinnamon. Bake for another 10 min, then open the oven door and leave until cold.
4. Serves 8

Moroccan Chicken with Couscous

Notes:
Have you ever had the Moroccan Chicken salad from Woolworth? Its a very tasty dish full of flavor...one of Avons favorites. I did some internet research about the flavors that make it "Moroccan" and tried to imitate the dish and to my surprise it was similar to the Woolworth dish. Its a good lunch dish with a salad or even a main meal with roasted veggies. Try it.... you will be surprised at how tasty you can make chicken. Serves 4 light meals or 2 large.

Marinate Ingredients:
1/2 tsp Turmeric (if you don't have the follwoing 3 spices use 1 1/2 tbs curry powder)
1tsp Cumin
1tsp Coriander
Pinch Cinnamon
Pinch Chilly (add more if you want is HOT)
2 tb Olive oil (or just normal oil)2 tbs Tomato Paste
1/2 a lemon or Orange
2 tsp Honey
1 onion
2 tsp crushed garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

2 large chicken breasts chopped in large cubes.

Optional:
4 dried apricots chopped
1 red pepper
Fresh corriander to garnish

Couscous
Follow insturctions on package (cook with chicken broth or remaining marrinate)

Directions:

1. Mix the marinate. Add more of the lemon juice and tomato paste if you are trying to stretch the marinate.
2. Add the chicken breast and let it marinate for about 30minutes (or just coat it). The marinating time just allows the chicken to absorbed the flavor but the spices are so rich you can almost skip this step.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Remove chicken from the marinate and fry in pan till cooked. Remember it doesn't take long to cook....so don't dry out the chicken.
4. In your couscous pot fry the remaining marinate and the chopped dried apricots (optional). Then proceed with the cous cous instructions. This step makes the cous cous have colour and taste.
5. Once the cous cous is cooked mix it with the cooked chicken and serve. Add the fresh corriander leaves to garnish (optional)
   

Points:

* This dish can be served chilled as a salad or as a main dish.
* To switch it up you can add chopped red pepper or even baby marrow. Just cook it with the chicken once the chicken has browned.
* If you don't have the first 3 ingredients just use 1 1/2 tbs curry powder (those spices are what are in curry powder)
* Cous cous is also a healthy option and something different when you get tired of cooking rice and potatoes.
* This marinate can be used as a baked dish with chicken pieces. Just make sure you stretch the marinate (double the recipe) and use it all in the baked dish. Also ensure that all the chicken pieces are covered with marinate.

Chicken, bacon Casserole

Notes:
This is an affordable and tasty meal that can feed a lot of people. Increasing the amount or mushrooms and reducing the amount of meat is a good tip for making the meal healthier yet still flavorful. I wanted something saucy and Alfredo like. I made it for our Christmas party yesterday and because of the feedback I thought I would post it. The original recipe is from Exclusively Foods but I never stick to a recipe ....so this is the Kanya version.

Ingredients:
300g Pasta (can use any, I used spaghetti coz that was all i had)
Salt, to taste
15ml (3 teaspoons) oil
1 1/2 onion, peeled and very finely chopped
60g shortcut bacon, finely chopped
350g chicken tenderloins, breast or thigh fillets, trimmed of any fat or tendons and cut into small bite-sized pieces (I used 2 large chicken breasts)
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
250g roughly chopped button mushrooms
7 small Baby marrow
60g (1/4 cup) butter
38g (1/4 cup) plain flour
375ml (1 1/2 cups) chicken stock
335ml (1 1/3 cups) milk
40g (1/2 cup, lightly packed) grated tasty cheddar cheese
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pinch nutmeg (optional)
80g (1/2 cup) chopped tomatoes
1tsp dried oregano

Topping
60g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) grated mozzarella cheese
60g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) grated tasty cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water according to package directions or until just tender. You can boil it in chicken stock aswell...adds flavor to the pasta. Drain pasta and set aside. Rinse saucepan and set aside until required for sauce.
2. Heat one teaspoon of the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned (about seven minutes). Add the baby marrow and fry for 2 minutes. Transfer onion and bacon mixture to a small bowl.
3. Return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining two teaspoons of oil to the pan and add chicken. Fry, stirring occasionally, until chicken is lightly browned and cooked through (about six minutes).
4. Add garlic and mushroom to the pan, stir to combine, and then remove pan from the heat and set aside.
5. Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius (210 degrees Celsius fan-forced).
   
6. In the saucepan used to boil the pasta, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the flour and stir constantly. Once the mixture bubbles, continue cooking and stirring for about 40 seconds.
7. Then add the chicken stock and milk. Increase heat to medium-high. Don't worry about any lumps in the mixture, they should disappear while stirring (if not, they can be strained out once you have finished cooking the sauce). Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. At this point, if you tilt the saucepan and use the spoon to push some of the sauce aside, you should be able to see the sauce bubbling on the base of the saucepan. Remove from heat and add 40g tasty cheese, pinch of nutmeg (optional) salt and pepper to the saucepan.
8. Stir to combine. Add bacon and onion mixture, chicken mixture, and pasta to the sauce.
   
9. Pour mixture into a 2.25 litre (9 cup) capacity ovenproof dish.
10. Place the chopped tomatoes on top of the dish. Sprinkle salt and oregano then remaining cheese.
11. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes, until hot in the centre and golden brown.
12. Allow to stand for five minutes before serving. Casserole
    

Notes:

• You can use just plain cheddar cheese.
• The tomatoes add color to the dish
  
• I added baby marrow as a sneaky way of getting the guys to eat their vegetables, because I didn't have a actual veggie dish prepared.
  
• It is a meal that has all your necessary food groups. If anything I would add a salad to complement it. But hey if you ain't got time just go with the meal as it is.
  

Enjoy and let me know what you think!