Morning Scones 

These little treasures are a great treat on a lazy Saturday morning ( best enjoyed with a few good friends, and a  nice cuppa  tea  )

This recipe makes between 8- 10 depending on the portion size.

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1 egg
half a cup of sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 a cup of milk
1/2 a cup of butter

How now?

1. Set the oven to 200' C to preheat

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and sugar together. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a crumbly mixture. Add in the egg and milk and gently mix until a nice dough is formed.

3. Flour a clean surface and roll the dough out to about 1 cm thick. Use a cup to cut out circles. Lay them on a greased baking tin and let the magic begin!

4. Bake for about 15 minutes, until nice and goldeny brown.

All done..!

5. I served mine up with my homemade Almond butter, a few butter cubes and maple syrup! hmmm..I felt like Jane Austin sipping on my cup of tea in the English Country side (:

The Father of Lights

James 1 v 17 says " Every good thing and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shadow of turning" 

Light. It is the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible.

It is  Illumination, enlightenment, revelation, renewed understanding,  

radiance, luster, glowing and beaming. 

In essence it is neither tangible, nor perceptible by touch.

Yet it is easily detected it with our senses. 

It is not palpable, solid or concrete.. 

But,  we can easily identify it, and know the absence of it as darkness.

May we fully REVEL in His illumination, and our colorful existence  knowing that darkness HAS been overcome.. That His light will shine forevermore..!

God by definition is light. He is both the light OF the World, and the creator of the light IN the World. 
How wonderful to be a child of the light. To HAVE A father that is the creator OF light and to be a bearer OF that light. 

1 Thes 5 v 5 reads " Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. "

Ephesians 5 v 8 further reminds us " To For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)"

pIzzChe?

So one day, when I was bored.... and dying for a slice of  P.I.Z.Z.A, and quiche I came up with this nifty recipe....Pizza magically crossed with a Quiche = QUIZZA! Ok so it's not your traditional pizza - but then again neither were my childhood unconventional 'BLUE cakes with green icing" that I used to hand off to poor unsuspecting neighbor (: but still,  I enjoyed every morsel of this pIzzChe (: 

" Pizza Base"

2 Egg whites

2 tins of  Tuna ( I used a "spicy' one - hence the reddish color)

2 handfuls of chives 

half a cup of grated mozzarella cheese / cheddar 

half a cup of flour

half a teaspoon of salt

half a teaspoon of baking powder

Topping

Any veg you like (: 

I added 5 mushrooms, and 2 tablespoons of black beans. 

All finished off with a 'generous' sprinkling of mozzarella Cheese

How now?

1. Set the oven on 180'C to pre heat.

2. Combine all the ingredients for the base until it forms a nice type of dough. It shouldn't be dry , if it is add some milk..

3. Spread the dough onto a greased pizza pan. 

4. End off with the topping . 

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 180 ' C / until the base is cooked.

YUM!

Almond and sesame butter

I must say this one is a first for me ! My only reference to homemade peanut butter is the Zim version I grew up with. Made from roasting peanuts over a fire, and then MANUALLY (or with a machine) grinding the little things to a pulp or paste.. Back home we know it as ' Dovi' . It's salty, delicious and has a distinct 'roasted' undertone.

So I thought hey - I want to try this myself..

Skip the roasting process though, fast forward and find

• 2 cups of Almonds / peanuts / macadamias / cashews / anything that resembles a nut (:   
• 2 pinches of salt / more or less to your taste?
• An optional 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Adding oil is NOT really necessary; you can make delicious peanut butter without it. I just added it for the Sesame falvour.

Now what? SIMPLE!! Just add IT ALL to a blender, and BLEND!! This process does require some patience and depending on the strength of your blender it may take longer.. In general the time is about 12-15 minutes. Give your blender a few breaks / rests inbetween to cool down.

At first the blended nuts resemble a powdery mixture and as you carry in blending the little wonders slowly release their oils and a defenitive smooth paste will develop.

DON'T STOP THERE! Carry on, until the almonds have magicallt transformed into a smooth, salty, delicious peanut butter.. and once you have mastered this easy feat - you can experiment with other types of nuts - and adding different flavours.

A few ideas - Almond and chocolate chip butter, Macadamia and Honey Butter, Hazelnut and Espresso butter.. Cashew and Maple butter ..OOh and the list can go on and on!

See you ladle !
Sanja



Almond and Chocolate chip cookies

               Sorry, forgot to add these photos on the last post. 

                           ( Special request from my sister )



Bazaar Strawberry jam cookies! 

Whenever I think of these little wonders - memories of childhood Church Bazaars at Harare NG kerk are conjured up!! The 'ou tannies' always made the BEST strawberry jam filled cookies... hhmmmm ...i thought I'd give it a go (:

This recipe is easy and very versatile! I made the basic dough and then divided it into 3 cute little dough balls. 1 - I filled with strawberry jam goodness, 2 - I mixed with chocolate chips for some chocolaty goodness, and 3 - I topped with almonds and cinnamon.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup of white flour
3/4 cup of butter
2 egg yolks
1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
Jammy goodness for the filling ]

Makes roughly 28 yummy cookies..

How to ??

PREHEAT the oven to 190' c

1. Cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks.Once it is nice and creamy, add the vanilla essence .

2. Add the flour in a little bit at a time, until a nice dough forms. Roll it into little balls and place on a baking tray. Place them about 2 cm apart. 

 3. For the jam filling - Use your finger to gently press a small 'well' in the center of the cookie. Spoon in the jam ( not too mush or it can boil over in the oven )

4. Bake for 10 minutes, or until they are starting to get golden brown. Place on a cooling rack . and ENJOY with a good cup of Rooibos tea!

 

Delectable Chocolate Protein Peanut butter brownies!

(did i MENTION they are made in the microwave (") quick, easy and ready within 4 minutes!)

oooh, i recently made this for a friend on a lazy Sunday afternoon- and actually wished i had made it one for myself  2.. lol.. Ok, so maybe it's not ranked highly on the 'healthy' scale - but a good treat now and then is a MUST!  ( and hey - it has some good protein in!! )

Here go's

Ingredients

3/4 cup of flour
2 heaped scoops Chocolate protein powder
half a cup of melted butter
3/4 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup of Organic Cocoa powder
2 heaped tablespoons of peanut butter

How to??

1. Mix flour, sugar , baking powder and cocoa together..
2. Melt butter and ons it is soft mix it with the eggs and peanut butter.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
4. Line a microwave proof dish with wax paper, or grease the dish and pour the yummy, rich, chocolatey mixture in!
5. Microwave on high for 3 minutes, check that it does not 'cook over'  .. then nuke it again for 30 more seconds ( so in total 3-4  minutes) it should be ready now- and a knife / toothpick should come out mostly clean .. The brownies will be moist, yummy, and well... GOOD! Even if they are a bit tooo moist, don't worry, when they cool down they will be just right.
6. Allow to cool down completely before taking them out / cutting them into squares.

For added peanut butter power I spread some yummy peanut butter on the top and sprinkled with cocoa..