It looks just like Bread

I am amazed at the amount of programs on TV that are dedicated to makeovers. You can have your house made over (read rebuilt) by Ty or your body changed by Gillian. I even saw a guy the other day burning some girls panties on TV, in the quest for her new body image! You get one hour makeovers and people that take their dogs to be "made over".

I have had a make over in my kitchen. It looks identical but the smells coming from the oven have been very different. Bread baking can transform any home into "Country Chic" in a matter of minutes - with out the normal dust and smelly workman!

This white bread recipe has been in my "to do file" for a few weeks now and I finally managed to arrange the time and the ingredients together. The result was very good. It is sweeter than I am used to for bread and reminds me of Kitka in taste (rather than texture).

While it was sitting on the counter cooling, my son walked in and said, " Gee Mommy, it looks just like bread!" and from a teenager that is a huge compliment!

As you know I have the bread bug. I hope it's contagious and that all of you have been infected too. Thanks to Spicy for this wonderful recipe.

White Wonder Bread

• 1 cup water (room temp.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 cup milk powder (not skim)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tsp yeast (I always use instant)
  

Directions

1. Add ingredients in order given (this is for a machine, see below for Kitchen Aid / Hand instructions).
2. Select dough cycle.
3. When done, take out dough and on a floured surface, shape into loaf and place in loaf pan. (Work it as little as possible).
4. Let rise in a warm place for approximately 40 minutes until doubled in size.
5. Brush the top with a mix of beaten egg and milk and sprinkle sesame seeds. (Optional step)
   
6. Bake on centre rack of preheated 180 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.
7. Cool on wire rack before slicing.

Tips because you using kitchen aid (or by hand) add wet ingredients to dry when kneading. It is better to have a sticky dough where you can add more flour than a dry dough as it is difficult to add the moisture back and you will have a dry, crumbly bread. Use instant yeast added to the dry ingredients.

Here is a little teaser for tomorrow's post - Strawberry Jam (with a little twist), served on Homemade Heaven bread.

Walk with Me

My favourite place to visit in Cape Town is Kirstenbosch Gardens. Every time I go there I sit and think just how blessed I am to live in a city that has a place like this. It is what I imagine the Garden of Eden was like before the fall.

The peace you feel when you sit on the lawns and hear the distant laughter of children mixed with birds chirping. The back drop of the mountains and the city spread out before your feet, I wish I was Yeats so I could express the beauty better.

They say a picture says a 1000 words, so I invite you to enjoy this small sample of our beautiful garden. All these photos were taken by my very talented son Markwin (14)!








And of course there is always food.....

Professor Pearson came to South Africa in 1903 to fill the newly established Chair of Botany at the South African College. In February 1911 Pearson hired a Cape cart and, upon the suggestion of his friend Neville Pillans, visited Kirstenbosch to assess its suitability as a site for a botanic garden. On 1st July 1913 the wild and overgrown estate of Kirstenbosch was set aside by the Government with a grant of £1 000 per annum. Pearson was the obvious choice for a director but there was no money for a salary. He accepted the task in an honorary capacity.

In 1916, at the age of 46, Professor Pearson died from pneumonia. This was a severe blow to the garden. Buried in the garden his epitaph is -

"If ye seek his monument, look around".

Grilled to Perfection

I have to apologise for being so scarce this last week. It's been one of those weeks when you don't know exactly which day it is, because the days go so fast you can't keep pace. Like usual once we hit October, everything goes into high gear and it takes a few days to catch your breath.

Even though summer is taking it's right old time in arriving, salads have started to appear back on our table. I don't usually make salads which require lots of time to prepare, but this grilled vegetable salad is a great exception.

Grilled vegetable Salad

Salad
1 large or 2 small Aubergine thinly sliced
5 or 6 Courgettes thinly sliced
12 Asparagus spears
1 Red Onion thinly sliced
1 cup Chickpeas
5 Sun dried tomatoes thinly sliced
10 Mint Leaves torn roughly

Dressing
50ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Garlic Clove crushed

Grill the aubergine, courgettes and asparagus. I use my cast iron griddle pan.
Mix in the rest of salad ingredients in a bowl.
Pour over the dressing and let it rest for at least an hour or over-night.

Slimmers Delight

After loosing 3kgs, I have become very motivated to continue to shed these extra few pounds before summer starts. The secret to a good diet is variety. The minute you become bored, you start to "fall off the wagon". Feeling deprived and hungry is only one step away from a tub of ice-cream and box of smarties!

Keeping your food full of flavour and colour is a great tool to eating healthy and loosing weight. I added this old French favourite - Ratatouille to my menu plan for this week. There are no hard and fast rules to what you should and should not add - it's actually very useful for using up the "odds and sods". It keeps well and is better a day or two after it is made.


Ratatouille

1 large Onion sliced
2 Carrots chopped into dice
2 finely chopped Garlic Cloves
1 large or 2 small aubergines diced
5 Baby Marrow (courgettes) chopped
6 Button Mushrooms halved
1 small chilli (optional) chopped
1 Red Pepper chopped
10 Baby Rosa Tomatoes cut in half
1 teaspoon Sugar
500ml Stock (Chicken or Vegetable)
10 Black olives (take out the pip)
1 bunch Spring Onions chopped
Fresh Lemon Thyme
Salt and Black pepper

Fry the onions and carrots until they start to soften.
Add the garlic, aubergine, baby marrow, mushrooms, red pepper and chilli and fry for another 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, sugar, stock and seasoning and let it simmer until all the vegetables are cooked, but not mushy.
Add the olives, the chopped lemon thyme and the spring onions and stir through.
Serve with rice or pasta.

Spring Feast

On the weekend we went through to the Darling Wild Flower Show. It's like nature's fashion parade.



After Darling we went on to Yzerfontein for a picnic lunch on the rocks. It's days like this that make Cape Town the number one destination in Africa.

We watched the snoek boats come in and then sell their catch.