SWEET AND SOUR BEANS
250 g sugar beans
2⁄3 cup brown or white sugar
1⁄3 cup brown or white vinegar
2 -3 tablespoons Maizena
salt and pepper to taste (I used freshly black pepper as well as a pinch of white pepper)

Soak the beans overnight in about 4 cups of water.
Cook the beans till soft.
Keep the beans covered with liquid all the time while cooking.
Rinse the beans frequently while cooking.
Mix the maizena with the vinegar and add to the beans together with sugar.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cook a few minutes more to thicken the sauce.
Serve hot or cold, but mine taste better cold!
Photo: Amanda Conradie

BANTING LOW CARB PAMPOENKOEKIES
300 g pampoen
80 ml klappermeel
15 ml Xylitol
knippie kaneel
1 eier

Kook pampoen tot gaar en laat afkoel. Meng ander bestanddele by en bak in bietjie botter tot ligbruin. Strooi Xylitol en kaneel oor terwyl warm.
Heerlik saam met ‘n gebakte hoender borsie (been in en vel aan, besprinkel met sout, peper, paprika, Italian kruie en gebak in oond vir 45 minute) en groen boontjies met spek om (in die oond gebak in hoender se olie/vet vir 30 minute).
Foto: Chireen Buitendag

CHILLY CHEESE DOG
500 g mince
1 teaspoon each of the following:
garlic powder
onion powder
Aromat
oregano
chilly powder/flakes
sugar
3 teaspoons Cayene pepper
1 cup tomato sauce

Fry mince in little bit of oil. When brown, throw in all ingredients, let it simmer for 15 min at least to get full flavour.

Cheese sauce:
Make about 250 ml white sauce
Add:
2 cups yellow cheddar
1 cup white cheddar
salt and pepper to taste

Sausage:
You can use any sausage you want. I used fresh pork sausage – pan fried till cooked.

To put together:
Cut buns. Put slices of fresh chilly scattered over the bun. Put the sausage on top. Cover with the mince. Top with cheese sauce.
Photo: Martin van Vuuren

JOGURT KOOLSLAAI
1 baba kool (so handgrootte) of kwart groot kool, gesny
2 medium wortels, geskil en grof gerasper
1 klein pynappel (soet en geel), geskil en gerasper
Safari korente, na smaak (pasop vir te veel dis soet)
1 klein wit ui, gerasper
Aromat en peper, na smaak
1 koppie ongegeurde dubbelroom jogurt (ek het Lancewood gebruik)

Meng alles saam. Voeg jogurt by en plaas in yskas. Bedien koud as bygereg saam met vis of braai.
Nota: Ook lekker as mens twee gerasperde gekookte eiers byvoeg.
Foto: Christelle van Rooyen

GEKRUMMELDE VARK FILLET
Haal vlies en senings van die fillet af en sny in wiele.
Slaan bietjie plat en marineer vir ‘n uur in balsamiese asyn en soja sous (Ek het meer balsamic gebruik as soja)
Dip in meel, dan eier en dan gegeurde broodkrummels (ek het lemon & herb spice, aromat en swart peper gebruik).
Diep braai tot goudbruin.
Nota: Ek het myne dun gesny en behoorlik plat gekap sodat die vleis goed gaar kan word.
Dit is verskriklik sag!
Sit saam met doopsousie soos tartare sauce neer.
Heerlik!
Foto: Natacha Visagie

MAKLIKE CHOC CHIP KOEKIES
Resep geplaas en foto: Foto: Suzanne Petersen
FOOD LOVERS RECIPES
100 g ongesoute botter
100 g bruinsuiker
100 g witsuiker
1 eier
5 ml vanilla GEURSEL
125 g koekmeel
7 g koeksoda
5 g sout
250 g choc-chips

Room 1ste vyf bestanddele saam in mengbak.
Sif meel, koeksoda en sout by. Meng choc-chips in. Skep met eetlepel op bakplaat en bak vir 15 min teen 180 ºC of tot gaar en mooi kleur.

PITA BREAD
Pita dough can be made from cake or white bread flour, but is more nutritious if part whole wheat flour is used. I used cake flour as per recipe and added about 150ml of wheat bran.
1 x 25 g cube fresh yeast OR 1 x 10 g sachet instant yeast
500 ml lukewarm water
50 ml sunflower or olive oil
15 ml sugar
7,5ml salt
420 g/750 ml cake, white bread or whole wheat flour
+-280 g/500 ml extra cake or white bread flour

Crumble the fresh yeast (or add the contents of sachet) into mixing bowl and add all the ingredients except the extra flour and mix well.
Add sufficient of the extra flour to form a soft dough that can be knead very well by hand on a floured surface for 6-8 minutes. Alternatively knead with dough hook on your electric mixing machine for 4-5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Flour the bowl and return the dough, cover and allow to rise for about an hour or until completely doubled in volume.
Knead down the dough and pinch off balls the size of a small apple for large pitas or the size of a large egg for smaller pitas. Sprinkle with flour, cover with a cloth and allow to rise for 20 minutes.
Roll out the balls on a well floured surface into either round or oval pitas 12-15 mm thick. Sprinkle generously with flour, cover with a cloth and allow to rise for a further 20 minutes.

In the meantime place ungreased, firm baking trays which will not warp, into the oven while preheating the oven to 200°C and place the pitas on the hot trays to ensure that they will puff up and become hollow during baking. Place the pitas in the hot oven and reduce the heat to 190°C and bake for about 8-10 minutes or until puffed and just discoloured, but not brown.

Yields: about 16-24 depending on size.
Storing: best if served soon after or within a day of baking or toast or fry in shallow oil.
Freezing: freeze in large containers to prevent breaking. Thaw and treat as above.

Fillings: pitas can be filled with a variety of meats like beef or chicken strips, mince (curried, spicy Cajun or savoury), pulled pork, lamb or chicken. Add salad ingredients as preferred. Cottage cheese, mayo or hummus (chick pea dip) and tzatziki (coarsely grated cucumber and yogurt) is ideal to spoon inside the pocket before adding the rest of fillings. Grilled veggies (especially brinjal) and falafel (chick pea croquettes) makes a great vegetarian option.
Photo and recipe posted by: Elsabie Templeton

SUKSES SOETKOEKIES
Foto: Melanie Tolmay
2de foto: Johann Barnard
6 koppies meel
2 koppies suiker
4 teelepels bakpoeier
4 eiers
2 koppies sagte botter (unsalted botter werk die beste)

Meng botter en suiker saam tot romerig.
Voeg eiers by.
Voeg droë bestanddele by en klits tot stywe deeg.
Rol deeg uit op meel oppervlakte as jy vorms gaan gebruik.
Pak op gesmeerde oond pan.
Bak in voor af verhitte oond teen 180 ºC vir 10 – 12 minute.
Lekker maklik en smelt in die mond heerlik.😁

Nota:  Vandag het ek lekker gespeel en 80 Kersfees sterretjies gebak. Wat die versiersel betref, ek maak dit soos wat my moeder my geleer het. Slegs versiersuiker en melk. Ek begin met ongeveer 125 ml versiersuiker. Dan voeg ek in veelvoude van halwes, elke heer ‘n halwe teelepel melk by en roer dit goed. As dit lyk of die versiersel te styf is, voel ek weer ‘n halwe teelepel melk by. So is dit maar bietjie van die melk, en bietjie van die versiersuiker, todat dit net net van ‘n teelep afloop in ‘n lint.

SPICY CHICKEN AND FETA SALAD
chicken breast (1 per person), cut into bite-size pieces
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chicken spice
pinch of salt (to taste)
1 teaspoon of sugar

Fry the onion and garlic with a bit of olive oil. Add the balsamic vinegar, sugar and Worcestershire sauce and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Add your chicken and the other ingredients. Do not let the mixture get too dry. Fry till chicken is cooked. Set aside.
On a plate place butter lettuce (or any other of your choice), a few slices of cucumber (quartered), cherry tomatoes (halved), onion rings (not too many of it will overpower the salad). Add vinaigrette by mixing olive oil, white vinegar, salt and fresh parsley. Add your chicken next. Crumble some Feta cheese on top and add olives.

Note: I made my own beetroot so I added a few pieces of beetroot to the salad as well (optional). Another option is to also add some avocado. This salad can be changed according to your liking and favourite vegetables. You can also add some corn kernels (cooked fresh – not from the can as it will become soggy).
Photo: Paula DaSilva du Plessis

MAROKKAANSE STOKVISFILETTE
600 g bevrore of vars stokvis filette (ek het haddock gebruik en dit was gevries en het nogsteeds lekker uitgekom)
30 ml olyfolie
10 ml fyngedrukte knoffel
7.5 ml fyn komyn
5 ml paprika
‘n knypie rissiepeper
1 bossie koljander blare, fyngekap
30 ml suurlemoensap
60 ml water ( om sous te verdun indien nodig- ek het nie water bygegooi nie)

Voorverhit die oond tot 200 grade.
Rangskik die vis op ‘n liggies gesmeerde bakplaat. Meng die olie, knoffel, komyn, paprika, rissiepeper, koljanderblare en suurlemoensap in ‘n bak. Voeg die water by as die mengsel te dik is om oor die vis te smeer ( soos bo genoem, het ek die water gedeelte uitgelos en die mengsel het nogsteeds goed gesmeer oor die vis). Smeer die speserymengsel egalig oor die visfilette. Plaas die vis in die oond. Verlaag die temperatuur tot 180 ºC en bak vir 15 – 20 min tot die vis maklik met ‘n vurk gevlok kan word.
Ek het die voorgesit met ‘n gekookte aartappel in die skil met ‘n eetlepel vetvrye maaskaas en ‘n bietjie sout, country crop groente gekook met tannie Ina se groente speserye en ‘n paar skyfies avokado met sout en peper.
Nota: as ek dit volgende keer maak, sal ek eerder die stokvisfilette gebruik, want die haddock se gerookte smaak kan dalk bietjie oorheersend wees. Lekker eet!
Foto: Juanita Vermeulen