Recipe: Black Forest Trifle

My family always makes Black Forest Trifle for Christmas, and this year I was given the recipe by my mother.  I have decided to share it with you.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

The original recipe (given to my mother by Hazel Myburgh):

Here is the recipe in text, easy to copy and paste or print out:

Ingredients:

• 1 tin condensed milk
• 1 x 250g smooth cream cheese ( 1 cup )
• 1 chocolate swiss roll
• 1 tin black cherries (stoned and halved)
• Flaked almonds
• 1 chocolate Flake
• Cream

Method:

• Mix condensed milk, cream cheese and lemon juice together.
• Slice swiss roll thinly and place layer at bottom of dish
• Pour a little cherry juice over.
• Dot with cherries
• Sprinkle with flaked almonds
• Spoon a layer of cream cheese mixture over.
• Sprinkle with choc. flake
• Repeat layers.
• Decorate with cream (stiffly beaten) and chocolate flake

Menu Plan #1

I trust that you have had a wonderful Christmas and new years!  I am blogging again and I can guarantee that this year’s recipes are going to be better than ever.

Without further delay, here is the menu plan for the week ahead:

Day:	Breakfast	Light Meal	Tea	Main Meal
Sunday	Cheese Puffs	Easy Savoury Tart	Pancakes (South African Style)	Star Studded Hake Steamed Vegetables (Carrots, Peas, Baby Potatoes)
Monday	Banana Honey Muffins	Macaroni Cheese	Ashleigh's Hot Chocolate	Chicken and Pumpkin Curry
Tuesday	Breakfast Beans	Left Overs	Creamy Vanilla Fudge	Mashed Potato and Chicken Casserole
Wednesday	Carrot Muffins	Left Overs	Left Overs	Broccoli Mashed Potatoes
Thursday	Cheesy French Toast	Left Overs	Chocolate Oil Cake	Spaghetti With Tuna
Friday	Egg and Cheese Toast	Left Overs	Chocolate Peppermint-Crisp Fudge	Left Overs (or Take-Out)
Saturday	Farmhouse Omelette	Shell Noodle Salad	Apricot Cinnamon Cake	Potato Bake T-bone Steak Carrot Salad

Because every day is different, and some days I have more time than other days, this is just a menu plan of what I would like to make each day for each meal.  I will be sticking to it roughly. 

If you plan to follow this menu plan in your own home, feel free to add and remove as you wish.  Maybe you don’t have any time in the morning to make a full breakfast, that’s okay, just substitute with Cereal and Toast if you need to.  I might even do this depending on what time I wake up in the morning!

Cinnamon Crumpets

(Note: For plain crumpets, leave out the cinnamon)

Ingredients:

• 250ml (1 cup) cake flour (140g)
• 10ml (2 teaspoons) baking powder
• 1ml (1/5 teaspoon) salt
• 30ml (6 teaspoons) sugar
• 1 egg
• 200ml (4/5 cup) milk
• 15ml (3 teaspoons) margarine, melted
• 5ml (1 teaspoon) cinnamon (optional)

Method:

1. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together.  Add sugar.
2. Beat the egg, milk and melted margarine together and add to dry ingredients.
3. Beat until smooth and leave to stand for 30 minutes
4. Fry spoonful's of batter on a hot greased griddle or frying pan.
5. Fry until golden brown, turning when bubbles appear on the surface.
6. Serve with butter, jam or honey.  (also nice with peanut butter and syrup!)

Carrot Salad

Ingredients

• 1 large carrot per person
• 10ml orange or pineapple juice per person
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar per person
• 1 teaspoon crushed pineapple per person (optional)

Method

1. Grate the carrots into a bowl
2. Mix in other ingredients thoroughly
3. Chill for an hour then serve

Spaghetti With Tuna

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients:

• 250g spaghetti (8.8 ounce)
• 25ml (1 tablespoon) Margarine
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 125g mushrooms (4.4 ounce)
• 1 clove garlic (or teaspoon garlic flakes) – peeled and crushed
• 75ml water (0.3 cups)
• 1 x 410g can tomatoes, chopped with juice (15.8 ounce)
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 x 185g tins tuna, drained and flaked (2 x 6.5 ounce)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Method:

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook spaghetti until tender, (approx. 15 minutes)
2. Melt Margarine and sauté onions
3. Add mushrooms, garlic, water, tomatoes and juice and cook fast for 10 minutes to reduce the liquid.
4. Season and add fish, cook for 5 minutes.
5. Drain spaghetti and transfer to heated serving dish
6. Spoon the fish sauce over spaghetti and serve.

Cooking Hints and Tips

A few things I learned this week:

• If you find a recipe with anchovies in it, but don’t like anchovies, you can swap them for sardines and vice versa in most cases.
• Crushed Cream Crackers can replace breadcrumbs in a recipe.
• Got lots of leftovers bits and pieces of fresh foods?  Stir-fry it in a wok and serve on cooked rice with salt and pepper.
• Minced/Ground beef can be replaced with vegetarian mince in any recipe, and vice versa.
• Tomato Soup can be switched for Cream of Mushroom Soup in most recipe’s to vary the flavour a bit (and vice versa).
• Marinate meat the night before use (and store in a fridge) to allow it to fully absorb the flavour.

Grocery Cupboard and Fridge Basics

Today I was reading a magazine which listed a couple of basic items that should be in your grocery cupboard.  I noticed a few differences on that list compared to mine, so I thought I would share my list with you.  With these items you will be able to make at least 3 decent dinner meals from scratch…

Freezer:

• Frozen vegetable mix
• Frozen stir-fry mix
• Minced / Ground beef
• Chicken Fillets
• Fish Fillets

Refrigerator:

• Milk
• Cheddar Cheese
• Eggs
• Bread
• Margarine / butter
• Tomato Sauce
• Mustard
• Mayonnaise
• Fresh Baby Potatoes (they last a week or two in a fridge)
• Fresh Carrots (also last a week or two in a fridge)
• Lemon Juice
• Peach Chutney

Dried Herbs and Spices:

• Italian Herbs
• Thyme
• Sweet Basil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Garlic Flakes
• Mild Curry Powder

Pantry:

• Can Shredded Tuna
• Can Tomato and Onion Mix
• Can Peach Slices
• Spaghetti
• Ramen Noodles (two-minute noodles)
• Macaroni
• White Flour
• Sugar
• Baking Powder
• 1 Box long life milk (for emergencies)
• Peanut Butter
• Bovril
• Honey / Syrup
• Custard Powder
• Jelly Powder
• Can Condensed Milk

And with these items I can make the following meals:

• Stir-Fry with Chicken Strips
• Spaghetti Bolognaise
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Star-Studded Hake with vegetables
• Egg and Cheese Toast (Breakfast / Light Meal)
• Cheesy French Toast (Breakfast / Light Meal)
• Cheese Puffs (Breakfast / Tea-time treat)