Recipes

Delicious easy to prepare recipes to inspire the chef in you! "Cooking is love made visible"

Be Inspired, Blogging, Cape Town Lifestyle, Food, Lifestyle, Recipes

a beautiful life

Hi everyone I thought I would give you a bit of a heads up on a website that I am in the process of developing! At the beginning of 2013 I realised that I had come to a bit of a cross roads, in my life and blogging career. Although fulfilling to a point, I found that some of the blogging I was doing was not meeting my need to be creative and express myself. This called for a bit of introspection and re-assessing my long-term goals going forward.

After some very hard thinking and soul-searching I realised that I needed to go in a more creative direction. Those who know me well, know that I have a passionate love of food and this is generally how I express myself, creatively, on a day-to-day basis. Another passion, vague obsession actually, that I have developed is photography – so what better way to express myself than through food-photography.

At the beginning of last year I had a vision of starting an on-line style magazine. At this early point of development, I was uncertain what direction this website would follow but I started it anyway. Well a year later I have found out exactly what it was destined to be, I think the concept was there all along, I simply needed time to realise it!

Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to “a beautiful life”! Yes, you guessed it, at the heart of this website is my love of Food and Photography with a bit of travel thrown in for good measure. If you already follow my recipes this will be their new home, I will not remove anything from Super Mom Lifestyle(SML) but I will be publishing all of my new recipes, food-related reviews etc on “a beautiful life”.

I will in no way be closing down SML, “a beautiful life” will simply be a new addition to the family!

I would love you to pop over and have a look at a “beautiful life”, check it out and see what you think. I would love your feedback, it is still very much a work in progress and I am learning new things each day, which is the most wonderful part of this journey.

You will not find any poncey over the top recipes on the site, I am aiming to share my love of food with you – fresh ingredients, simple easy to follow recipes, delicious food – cooked from the heart – MY JOURNEY WITH FOOD!

I would also like to develop a readers area on the website, where readers can share any recipes that they love but I will let you know when that is launched. To keep up to date with new recipes, news and foodie events please pop over and follow “a beautiful life” on Facebook and Twitter 🙂

FAR Photography, Food, Healthy Eating, Recipes

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Knowing how to make Homemade Tomato Sauce, is a great basic recipe to have in your cooking repertoire! You can use it as a base for so many delicious recipes. It is also something you can make in advance and either store in the fridge or freezer until you need it. You can blend the Tomato Sauce after cooking and use it as an alternative to store-bought tomato sauce.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

This recipe for my Fresh Homemade Tomato Sauce will make quite a large quantity, which is perfect to store for later use. You can use it on homemade pizza or when preparing a quick easy weekday pasta dish. I have used chilli’s in this recipe but if you would like to make it suitable for small children, simply leave them out.

Ingredients for the Fresh Tomato Sauce

1 tin large plumb tomatoes in their juice (or 2 smaller tins)
15ml tomato paste
2 -3 garlic cloves(crushed or finely chopped)
1 Tbsp. fresh or dried oregano (If fresh then chop finely)
1 Tbsp. fresh or dried basil (If fresh then chop finely)
2 tsp. chilli paste or 2 small chilli’s (chopped finely)
1 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
A splash of balsamic vinegar

In a large saucepan heat a tablespoon of olive oil and then add your garlic, chilli and herbs; sauté over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Then add the tin of whole tomatoes to the pan and cook on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. You can begin to break up the tomatoes now, then add the sugar, tomato paste, salt & pepper, balsamic vinegar and stir to combine. Continue simmering for a further 20-30 minutes to soften the tomatoes and reduce the liquid. Once you are happy with the consistency remove from the heat and set aside.

Once the tomato sauce has cooled you can pour it into either glasses bottles or jars for storing in the fridge or into freezer proof containers and place in the freezer. This sauce will store for up to 2 weeks in the fridge and 2-3 months in the freezer.

For more food inspiration and delicious ideas visit our Recipes Page and follow Inspired Living on Instagram.

Food, Healthy Eating, Kids Food, Recipes

Vanilla and Berry Smoothie

I recently published an article on Superfoods, featuring some of the amazingly wholesome foods that should feature in your daily or weekly food intake. With this in mind I thought I would share a few nutritious recipes that are perfect to add to your everyday recipe file.

Todays recipe is for a delicious Vanilla and Berry Smoothie. Smoothies are great for grown ups and kids too, especially if you have fussy eaters. You can cram a huge amount of nutrition into something which is fun to make and yummy to drink, you can even sneak a bit of vitamin C powder in, to help boost your families immune system!

This smoothie recipe, which I am sharing with you, is a firm favourite in our home and was recently featured on Pasella, as part of a healthy lunch box recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Sliced Strawberries

1 Cup of Blue Berries

1 Cup of Raspberries

1 Banana

1 Cup of Pineapple (optional)

1 Cup Low Fat Vanilla Yoghurt (you can add more depending on how thick you want it to be)

Fruit Juice (Apple or grape)

1 Cup of Ice

*Vitamin C powder

Crush the ice in the blender, add the berries, pineapple and banana and blend. Once the mixture is smooth add the yoghurt and a splash of fruit juice if necessary. *You can add Vitamin C powder to the smoothie for an extra immune system boost. Once you have blended everything together either pour into a glass and enjoy immediately or if you are packing it in as part of your lunch, pour into a mini flask to keep it cool. Shake gently before drinking.

Vanilla and Berry Smoothie

Recipe Type: Drinks

Cuisine: African

Author: Fiona Rossiter

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 3-4

Smoothies are great for grown ups and kids too, especially if you have fussy eaters. You can cram a huge amount of nutrition into something which is fun to make and yummy to drink, you can even sneak a bit of vitamin C powder in to boast your families immune system!

Ingredients

2 Cups of Sliced Strawberries
1 Cup of Blue Berries
1 Cup of Raspberries
1 Banana
1 Cup of Pineapple (optional)
1 Cup Low Fat Vanilla Yoghurt (you can add more depending on how thick you want it to be)
Fruit Juice (Apple or grape)
1 Cup of Ice
*Vitamin C powder

Instructions

Crush the ice in the blender, add the berries, pineapple and banana and blend. Once the mixture is smooth add the yoghurt and a splash of fruit juice if necessary. *You can add Vitamin C powder to the smoothie for an extra immune system boost. Once you have blended everything together either pour into a glass and enjoy immediately or if you are packing it in as part of your lunch, pour into a mini flask to keep it cool. Shake gently before drinking.

Competitions, Food, Healthy Eating, Recipes

Win a Spar Freshline Voucher

It’s that time of year again, the sun is out and summer is on its way. Time to enjoy the outdoors, especially the long summer days spent eating alfresco, with friends and family. There is nothing better than yummy food, fresh salad and glorious fruit enjoyed outdoors while sipping on something cool. Not only is this way of eating good for your health but it looks good and tastes delicious.

A great place to stock up on fresh produce is from Spar’s Freshline range.

At SPAR, we are committed to maintaining the high standards of our Freshline products in the following ways: We specially select the growers, farmers and producers of our Bakery & produce Ranges. We ensure that they conform to high standards of hygiene and quality in production by using external auditors to perform inspections. We regularly visit suppliers to ensure they maintain these high standards. We check products delivered to our distribution centre’s to ensure that they are of the correct quality and temperature.

One lucky Super Mom Blog reader can win a R300 Spar Voucher! All I need from you is show some Facebook love and tell us what your favourite summer salad is or share your favourite salad recipe with us.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Competition Details:

The Spar Voucher Giveaway will run from 16th October 2012, until the 24th October 2012. The winner/s will then be selected via the Rafflecopter form and announced on my blog and on Facebook. The winners will also be notified via email.
Entrants need to leave a comment on this blog, below the post, stating that you have completed the above, along with your details in the comment section below this post (please use a valid email address). Your details will be used to validate your entry if you are selected as a winner.
Conditions of entry: Anyone may enter this giveaway but please be advised that the various companies sponsoring prizes on Super Mom Blog, are based in South Africa and therefore prizes will only be shipped within South Africa. The prizes may not be exchanged for cash.

Cape Town Lifestyle, Entertaining, FAR Photography, Food, Lifestyle, Recipes

Daily Dish

Last week a bespoke box of a different sort was delivered to my door. Daily Dish is a new on-line service which offers clients the unique service of menu planning, ingredient sourcing and home delivery! Imagine my intrigue when I was offered an opportunity to try out their service. Being an avid cook myself but often plagued by the frustration of not having time to shop on the spur of the moment or not being able to source the necessary ingredients, it was certainly something I was excited to experience.

At Daily Dish, we’re not chefs (or foodies). We were just so frustrated with the last-minute dash around the crowded supermarket after work and bored with the same old meals and sad take-outs every week that we decided to do something about it. So we hunted around for a service that would deliver either fresh ingredients or home cooked meals. On-line ingredient shopping turned out to be a nightmare and “home-cooked meals” looked worse than boarding school fare. ~Daily Dish

My first step was to log on to the Daily Dish website and select my recipe of choice to try; I chose a Sirloin Stir-fry. All that was left to do was to select a day and time for delivery – how simple. My delivery arrived promptly at 3pm last Tuesday in an elegant black box, filled with all the ingredients necessary for me to create the Stir Fry recipe.

I was really impressed with the quality of the ingredients and the fact that items are measured out, which helps prevent waste. All I had to do now was read the recipe and get cooking.

We change the menu every week so you don’t get bored. And we spend loads of time researching and test cooking new dishes to make sure they meet our strict requirement to deliver amazingly tasty dishes in under 30 minutes. Vegetarian options always available. ~ Daily Dish

The recipe was easy to follow, with step-by-step instructions; even the most inexperienced cook would be able to pull it off. Everyone in the family loved the flavours in the dish and it was wonderful to create something different from my normal repertoire.

I think this service is an excellent idea for anyone who enjoys cooking and eating good food but does not always have the time to plan and shop, especially if you feel like whipping up something unique on the spur of the moment. It is also perfect for entertaining and the fact that it is delivered to your door is super convenient.

You can choose from the selection of available dishes on the Daily Dish website and you are able to order up to 3 dishes at a time. Place your order online before 10am Monday to Friday and they will deliver it to you after 6pm on the same day. Daily Dish currently delivers in the greater Cape Town area: City Bowl, Atlantic Seaboard and Southern Suburbs, including Tokai, Westlake and Steenberg.