5 mintute smoothie!

I made this this morning for my younger brother and I, and it was fantastic!!!!

I have a Herbalife chocolate shake every morning, and to break the routine today, I spiced it up a bit :)

The best things about this are its healthy, very quick and easy, and it tastes just like a Kuai smoothie!

Usually its just 2 scoops of powder and ml of milk, but I made this for two people, instead of one. So if you're not going to spread the love, halve the recipe.

• 1 tray of ice
• 3Tbsp peanut butter (I used chocolate chip peanut butter, but any PB will do)
• 3Tbsp of chocolate shake powder (it can be another brand, it doesn't have to be Herbalife, or you could use hot chocolate, milo, or nesquick powder, it would be less healthy, but it would taste great!)
• 500ml milk
• 1 banana (i hate banana, so I didn't add this, but for those of you who do, it will taste fantastic!)

First put the tray of ice into your blender and crush it. Then all you have to do is throw in everything else, and crank it up! So easy! Decant into glasses, serve, and enjoy!

So simple, but so delicious! makes a great breakfast, or a healthy snack alternative!

I don't know about you, but I love Kuai smoothies! My favourite is their Peanut butter bomb, which tastes just like this! I will definitely do this again :)

~Keren

Party Cupcakes!

I have absolutely NO pictures from Josh's party :( sorry. I only have pictures of the cupcakes I made, I must admit, they were AWESOME!

We had a great time with all our friends! I will post some pictures (and tell you more about the party) when I get them :)

~Keren

Granny arrives (arrived)

This is VERY delayed since my Granny is already gone back home! She left on Tuesday, it was lovely having her here and i miss her already :(

Zak sweetly made her a welcome sign, it's sort of a tradition :)

I spent the afternoon baking biscuits for when my Granny arrived and my Aunty and Uncle came for dinner.

I made two differnt types of biscuits, Munchies and Coconut lemon Crispies.

Here are the recipes from Lynn Bedford Hall's Biscuits and Breads:

Munchies

Ingredients:

125ml self-raising flour

5ml ground cinnamin (I also put in all spice)

250ml wholewheat flour

200ml sugar

150ml oil

2 eggs

200ml rolled oats

250ml fruit cake mix (if you don't have fruit cake mix, dont worry, substitute raisin and sunflower seeds!)

125ml desiccated coconut

Method:

Sift the self raising flour and cinnamon, then mix in wholewheat flour. Whisk together sugar, oil and eggs. Add to dry ingredients together with oats, fruit and coconut. Mix very well into a soft dough. Push large teaspoonfuls off onto oiled baking trays and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 18 minutes. Using a spatula transfer to wire racks to cool and crisp.

Coconut Lemon Crispies

Ingredients:

100ml oil

200ml sugar

7ml finely grated lemon rind

1 egg

500ml white bread flour

2ml baking powder

pinch salt

250ml desiccated coconut

Method:

Place oil, sugar and lemon rind in a mixing bowl and beat very well. Add the egg and beat until the mixture is creamy and yellow. Silt together the flour, baking powder and salt, add to creamed mixture and mix well, then beat in cocnut. Roll into balls and press flat between palms. Place on oiled baking trays, leaving room for spreading. bake at 180 dgrees celcius for 15 minutes until just browning around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

~Keren

Josh and Dad in the kitchen again!

On Friday night Josh and Dad did their monthly meal! They planned it so that it would happen when Granny was here, she left on Tuesday :( Anyway, Tori was here for the day, so she helped Josh make his part of the meal, a chocolate cake!

Dad did the main meal, Chicken Makhanwala! It was AMAZING!

He also made little roti things, yum!

Josh and Granny

With the meal Dad made Lassie

The Chocolate cake was amazing! I'm going to post the recipes soon!

~Keren

Father's Day :)

Ok so I know I haven't been posting a lot, and I haven't done Father's Day, so here we go :)

I made him this card very quickly on Sunday morning and gave him a body wash.

Mom made a delicious breakfast of crumpets bacon and syrup, mmm! Cant wait to have that again!

Then as a surprise to us, dad made some home made burgers for supper, he even made his own patties! They were AMAZING!

I love my dad very much, and I hope he had a fantastic day. :)

~Keren

Update

OK, this post is going to be a bit all over the place! just wanted to get you updated on what I'm doing :)

Last night I made an Ina Paarman's chocolate cake mix, it was delicious!

On Friday we were going to drama, but were a bit early, so we stooped at Constantia Uitsig to take some photos of the beautiful Autumn vines!

On Tuesday I spent my morning baking, as I had to take tea to Looking Glass. So Mom said I should make some bread and muffins too while the oven was on.

Here is the recipe for the brownies:

• 150 g margarine
• 200 g (1 cup) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 ml vanilla essence
• 30 g (62 ml) cake flour
• 50 g (125 ml) cocoa powder
• 2ml baking powder
• 50-100 g pecan nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180. Melt the margarine in the microwave, set aside. In a separate bowl beat the sugar, eggs and essence until very pale and thick. Beat margarine into egg mixture. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and fold into mixture with pecans. Pour into a greased baking tray and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Now for the Jewish plaited bread:

• 4 cups of flour
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg
• warm water (about one and a bit cups)

Mix all ingredients together. Knead dough until it is well mixed and a pliable dough has been formed. Place bowl in a warm, sunny spot with a tea towel over it and let it rise for two hours, or until double in size. Once risen divide the dough into 3 equal parts, roll into longish fingers, squish the 3 ends together and plait the bread, the squish together at the other end too. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 until browned on the top.

The muffins were from a packet. Enjoy!

A while ago we went on an outing to Soil For Life, here are some pictures...

It was really fun!

Soil For Life is just up the road from Lane Stables. We got to meet some of the horses there, aren't they beautiful?

I am finally done Kade's mobile!

For art we did shadow puppets, Dad helped me make mine, they looked great, thanks Dad!

The cat has found a new place to sun herself now that the sun's rays aren't so harsh, how cute is this????

A few weeks ago it was Monica's birthday, I made her this......

The colours sadly didn't show up so well on the photo.

Mom has been knitting away, preparing for winter...

...She made me some leg warmers...

....fluffy fingerless gloves.......

....and, my favorite, a snood! Thanks Mom, love you!

Here is a pic of Zak's entry into the Chaeli Campaign Art and Poetry Competition! Isn't it great?

We have made a new family tradition, Dad and Josh cook once a month, shopping, cooking, and cleaning up, a meal of their choice. Me and Zak don't get involved since we often help Mom in the kitchen.

For dessert Dad made a lemon cheesecake with a pecan nut praline and biscuit base, delicious! When we asked how he made the base, he replied, with lots of love and patience!

And for the main meal he made paella, it was this first time I had ever tasted it, and I must say, it was amazing!!!!!!

So that's what I've been up to!

~Keren

low GI muesli bars

I know I haven't blogged in ages, but I plan to more frequently now! Today I made some low GI muesli health bars from a recipe in a Your Family magazine. Here is the recipe, I suggest you try it!!!

Makes 16 bars, prep 20 min + cooling

Ingredients:

1 cup (250ml) rolled oats

1 cup (250ml) desiccated coconut

1/2 cup (125ml) oat bran

1/2 cup (125ml) sesame seeds

1/2 cup (125ml) sunflower seeds

1 cup (250ml) raisins

125g butter

1/2 cup (125ml) honey

1/3 cup (80ml) brown sugar

Method:

1. Grease a 16cm x 28cm baking pan

2. Toast the oats, coconut, oat bran, sesame seeds ans sunflower seeds in a frying pan over a medium heat, stirring for 8 minutes or until golden, and transfer to a bowl. Allow to cool then stir in the raisins.

3. In a small saucepan combine the butter, honey and sugar over medium heat, stirring for 3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low. Simmer without stirring for 7 minutes or until the mixture forms a soft ball when a little is dropped into cold water. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.

4. Spoon the mixture into the baking pan. Use a large metal spoon to press down firmly.

5. Allow to coll and then cut into bars and enjoy! These bars will keep well for up to one week in an airtight container.

I just tasted the finished product now, they are great!!!!! The only thing is, you have to wait until they are completely cool to cut them, the waiting is agony!!! I hope you enjoy them!

~Keren