Honey Roasted Plum, Gruyère and Pine Nut Salad

(Photos by Alex Tchouchev)

Plums

Aged gruyère 

Pine nuts (roasted)

Rucola

Baby spinach

Red onions 

Vinaigrette 

Honey

Balsamic Vinegar 

Olive oil

1. Slice the plums and pit them before marinating them in the fridge in some honey and balsamic.
2. In a pan with some olive oil, caramelize the plums and sauté them until they are slightly soft. Place them aside to chill. 
3. Wash your salad greens and top them with sliced gruyère, red onions, toasted pine nuts and the plums before tossing in vinaigrette

Peach-Mango Iced Tea with Raspberries and Mint

1 litre of cold water

1 cup of boiling water

1 cup of fresh mango slices

1/2 a cup of raspberries

Fresh mint leaves

1/4 of a cup of sugar

5 peach tea bags

2 black tea bags

3 mint tea bags

1. Place all the tea bags in the litre of cold water and let the tea soak in
2. Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water and stir it until it is a syrup before pouring it into the litre of tea
3. Finely chop mint and toss it into the tea along with mango and raspberries
4. This tastes best when you leave it for about an hour to really taste all of the flavours 

Watermelon Mint Salad

This is far less a recipe than it is an amazing combination of tastes. 

The next time you have fresh watermelon, try adding some finely chopped mint leaves and freshly squeezed lemon juice. I like to leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the flavour of the mint really skinks in, but in all honesty, this is entirely optional - serving it as soon as you make it is also delicious.

Chocolate Fondant Cake

1/2 a cup of dark chocolate

1/2 a cup of butter

1 cup of icing sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 tablespoons of flour

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius (425 Fahrenheit) 
2. Melt the chocolate and butter and whisk together the mixture (don't burn it!)
3. Beat the eggs until they are frothy and add them along with sugar and mix well before adding the flour.
4. Grease your muffin cups or ramekins before filling them 3/4 of the way up with the fondant mix. 
5. Bake them for about 11 minutes and let them sit for a moment before gently flipping them and serving.  
6. Top them with fruit and or whipped cream!

Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie with Orange Zest

• 1 cup of frozen strawberries
• 2 kiwis (peeled)
• 1 tablespoon of orange zest
• 1 tablespoon of grenadine
• 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt
• half a cup of orange juice 

Combine in a blender and serve :)

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cake

Nom :)

3/4 of a cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

3 eggs

1 & 1/2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

3 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 teaspoon of baking soda

3 apples

2 tablespoons of oatmeal

2 tablespoons of apple sauce

1. Grease the baking tin and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Peel and grate the apples.
3. Mix the softened butter & sugar before slowly adding the beaten eggs, apple sauce, vanilla and apple sauce.
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and oatmeal together and slowly add the dry mix to the wet mix. 
5. Pour the batter into your baking tin and top it with sliced apples and oatmeal.
6. Bake for about 40 minutes! 

Blackberry Mint Passion Iced Tea

Heavenly and so refreshing for summer!

alchamilla tea

mint tea

lemongrass tea

lemon 

blackberries

ice cubes

sugar

water

1. I used a combination of alchamilla, mint and lemongrass tea but feel free to use any you like! In a pitcher of water, leave in your teabags to let the flavour seep in. 
2. In a saucepan, make a sweetening syrup for the iced tea by placing three parts water one part sugar until the sugar is fully diluted. Let it cool before adding it to the pitcher of tea.
3. Toss in mint leaves and lemon slices
4. Remove the tea bags when the taste is right for you. 
5. Allow the mixture to cool and garnish with ice cubes and mint before serving!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

For the cake:

2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Zest of 1 large lemon(outer yellow skin)

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

For the Icing:

¾ of a cup of unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup of freeze dried strawberries

1 ½ tablespoons of heavy cream

2 cups of icing sugar

Fresh strawberries for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius 
2. Combine the wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls before slowly combining them
3. Pour your batter into muffin cups 3/4 of the way up
4. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked on the inside
5. Leave the muffins to cool and whisk together the icing after blending the strawberries
6. Garnish them with fresh strawberries and eat!

Strawberry Lemonade Garnished with Basil

• 1/4 of a cup of sliced strawberries
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/4 of a cup of hot water
• 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 3/4 of a cup of cold water
• Ice
• A stem of basil (Haedar might prefer mint ;] )

1. Leaving a few strawberry slices aside for garnish, mash the others with the sugar
2. Stir them in the hot water until the sugar is dissolved 
3. Stir the lemon juice in cold water and then drop in your ice, lemon slices and strawberry slices for garnish before pouring in your berry-sugar syrup. Garnish with a basil stem!

Banana Cinnamon Crepes with Maple Syrup

• ·       1 ½ cups of milk 
• ·       1 cup of flour
• ·         2 eggs
• ·        1 tablespoon of oil
• ·       2 tablespoons of sugar
• ·       maple syrup
• ·       cinnamon
• ·       a banana

1.     mix together the milk, eggs, oil and sugar

2.     slowly add the flour while stirring

3.     heat the pan and add some butter, pouring in a small amount of batter and let it spread in the pan

4.     when the crepe is dry on the top flip it

top with maple syrup, banana and cinnamon!

Fluffy Vanilla Strawberry Cake

• 
  
  
  • 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar 
  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened 
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind 
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
  The Icing & Garnish:
  • 8 ounces of cream cheese
  • 1 stick of butter (really healthy, I know)
  • 3 cups of icing sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 a cup of shredded coconut
  • Fresh Strawberries sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Combine the sugar, butter, lemon, vanilla, eggs and buttermilk in one bowl
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients for the cake and slowly mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
4. Pour the mix into two greased baking tins and bake for about 20 minutes. To test if the cake is done stick a knife in it until it comes out clean. 
5. Mix together the icing and slice the strawberries. Line the inside of the cake with strawberries and icing and garnish the top of the cake with icing and strawberry slices

(A song from Brian from Carmen ;])

Light Raspberry Blueberry Tart

• This is a great recipe passed on by a wonderful family friend.
• Tart dough
• 1/3 of a cup of cottage cheese 
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar 
• Fresh raspberries 
• Fresh blueberries 

1. Lay down your dough and pierce holes on the bottom with a fork
2. Mix together the sugar, eggs and cottage cheese and pour it over the dough
3. Sprinkle the top with raspberries and blueberries
4. Bake depending on the instructions for your dough 

Strawberry Cheesecake Tart

• Approximately 15 large strawberries
• 20 ounces of cream cheese
• Just under a cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence 
• Pie dough

1. Grease a pie dish and bake the dough based on the instructions
2. Allow the crust to cool
3. Mix the vanilla, cream cheese and sugar together well and then pour it on to the crust
4. Leave the tart in the freezer until serving, then garnish them with the sliced strawberries, laying them on top of the filling starting from the outside

Macarons

Macarons are a delicious and gluten free desert. You can make them in all sorts of flavours. This one is for strawberry macarons. More flavours to come :)

• 50g ground almonds
• 140g icing sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• Pink food colouring paste
• 3 tbsp good-quality strawberry jam

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius
2. Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
3. Mix together the ground almonds and icing sugar in a bowl. 
4. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites and then combine the bowls and add the castor sugar 
5. Slowly combine the two bowls and add a tiny bit of red or pink food colouring, mix well 
6. Use a piping tube (if you dont have one you can use a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off), place approximately a tablespoon of your mixture onto non-stick baking sheets well spaced apart. 
7. Before baking them, set them aside for about 10 minutes and then bake them for only 5 minutes. Then carefully flip the paper over (the macarons will be stuck to it so they wont fall off) and bake them for another 4 minutes.
8. Leave them to cool before laying raspberry jam in between them and making little sandwiches

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

For the Cake:

• 4 handfulls of fresh raspberries

Dry ingredients

• 1 1/3 of a cup of cocoa powder
• 2 ½ cups of flour
• 2 1/4 cups of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 ¼ of a teaspoon of salt

Wet ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 of a  cup of  warm water
• 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups  of milk
• 2/3 of a cup of coffee
• 2/3 of a cup of vegetable oil

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Grease your baking pans
3. In two separate bowls, mix your dry ingredients in one and the wet ingredients in another
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix them with a hand mixer (or do it old school and get your wooden spoon out)
5. Pour the batter in your 2 cake pans
6. Bake for about 30 minutes and let cool before icing

For the Icing:

• 1/2 a stick of room temperature butter
• 2/3 of a cup of icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons of tepid water
• 1/4 of a cup of cocoa powder

(Line the centre of the cake with raspberries and garnish the top with them as well)

Pineapple Mango Smoothie

1 banana
1 mango
1 cup of pineapple juice
3 tablespoons of plain yogurt
4 ice cubes
1 teaspoon of sugar

BLEND!

Mango Raspberry Yogurt Smoothie

You will need:

• 1 cup of mango juice
• 1 cup of frozen raspberries
• 1 banana
• 3 heaping tablespoons of plain yogurt

Toss everything in a blender and voila! It should make about half a litre of juice :)

Apple Coconut Muffins

Soooo yummy :)

You will need:

• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1/2 a cup of ground walnuts
• 1/2 a cup of shredded coconut
• 1 teaspoon if ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 drops of almond aroma
• A handful of oats
• Some brown sugar (for topping)

1. Preheat the over to 190 degrees Celsius and grease the muffin trays (if you are using cups you don't need to do this)
2. Peel and core the apples, very finely dice them
3. Combine melted butter, eggs, sugar, apples, vanilla, almond aroma, buttermilk
4. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, ground walnuts, cinnamon
5. Slowly combine the two bowls mixing well
6. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 of the way up and top them with oats and brown sugar
7. Bake them for approximately 15 minutes