Marshmallow Mania

*Small Disclaimer*

It's not exactly marshmallow mania since I only made one batch, but I felt manic while doing it.

My youngest son absolutely loves marshmallows, so I decided to try to make them.  Making the marshmallows was easy enough.  Making the corn syrup (they of course don't sell it here) was a pain in the glutemus maximus.  You really have to watch the corn syrup or it gets too hard I wouldn't let it get to the 235° that it suggested, that was wrong.  It just needs to thicken enough to look like syrup, cook it too long and it crystallizes.

Corn Syrup

Ingredients:

3-4 ears of corn or 2 cups frozen corn kernels

5 1/4 cups water (reduce this to 2 1/2 cups if leaving the corn out)

36 oz. of sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Slice or snap corn on the cob into smaller chunks. (I snapped mine into thirds. I cut part way through the cob till I hit the center and then just snapped at the precut line).

Bring medium sized sauce pan with the water and corn to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and let simmer 30 min. or until water is reduced by half.

Pull out your corn cobs from the pan, or using a large strainer spoon(you know the ones with the holes in it!)

strain out all of your corn from the pan.

Add sugar, salt and vanilla to the pan, stir until sugar is dissolved.

Using a candy thermometer cook to soft ball stage (235 °) stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and let cool until ready to use.

Store in refrigerator (it will keep for a long time!, not sure how long though)

When ready to use, if you have a few sugar crystals, microwave it with just a little bit of water to gently melt those sugar crystals before using.

This is the perfect store for me.  I love food.

Let the boiling begin….

Now that, that horrible task is over.  Marshmallows!!!!!

Marshmallows

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water, divided
3 (.25 ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon *vanilla extract
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:

1. Line a 9x9 inch baking dish with plastic wrap and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Spray another piece of plastic wrap to cover the top, and set aside.

2. Place 1/2 cup of water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and sprinkle gelatin on top of water to soak.

3. While gelatin is soaking, combine 1/4 cup of water, corn syrup, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Boil the mixture hard for 1 minute.

4. Carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin mixture and beat on high for 12 minutes with electric mixer, until the mixture is fluffy and forms stiff peaks. Add in vanilla extract and beat until just combined.

5. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the prepared baking dish, using a greased spatula to smooth the top. Cover the candy with the piece of prepared plastic wrap, pressing it down lightly to seal the covering to the top of the candy.

6. Allow the marshmallow candy to rest for 4 hours or overnight. Mix together cornstarch and confectioner's sugar in a shallow dish. Using oiled scissors or an oiled kitchen knife, cut the marshmallow candy into strips, then into 1 inch squares. Dredge the marshmallows lightly in the cornstarch mixture and store in an airtight container.1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Ta Da!!!!!!

My whisk is going turbo speed, invisible to the naked or fully clothed eye.

All done.

Fluffy goodness!

This was my favorite part.

Their powdered sugar spa treatment.

Notice my trusty baking mat? One step closer to a thousand uses.

They kind of resemble small biscuits.

It was really hot outside, so the cocoa was just to get the point across.

I would suggest using 2 cups of confectioners sugar instead of granulated sugar, they were a little gritty with sugar.  I would also suggest not trying to make rice crispy treats with them, bad idea.  So, so very bad.

Happy Marshmallowing!!!!

From South Africa With Love,

C is for Cookie.

We had a Back To School Youth Rally at our church.  The kids are starting school this week, so weird.  I'm used to the kids starting school in September.  So…..  I decided to bake cookies for the event.  So many cookies, so, so many cookies.  I always think that something is a great idea and then I think "Why did I volunteer to do that?". I picked out a few recipes and went to it.  My favorite were the chocolates ones, so that is the recipe that I will share.  They taste like round flat brownies, a piece of heaven.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2½ sticks or 1 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°

In a medium sized bowl whisk the the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt  together, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, roughly 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined, then reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture. Beat until just combined.  (To avoid a HUGE flour cloud in your kitchen.. try draping your mixer with a large hand towel, to cover the side of the bowl with just enough room for the flour mixture bowl to sit at the front and slowly add the flour in.  – hope that makes sense, it makes a huge difference!  Just be careful when removing the towel it will have flour on it!) 

At this point you can form the dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour until firm.

Scoop cookies out onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are set. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes then remove from the cookie sheet and cool completely.

I had to sift the flour and cocoa with my trusty three layer sifter.  That cocoa was giving me a time,  as you can see it was clumpy and who wants clumpy cocoa cookies.

I love my KitchenAid.

This is actually the next day.  I refrigerated the dough and then baked it.  I skipped a few steps but the end result is the most important thing here  (I was tired and it was late, step by step instructions were out the window at that point).

I made chocolate chip, chocolate chip with pecans, oatmeal, chewy chocolate, and peanut butter 

cookies.

A boat load of cookies.

I said that after this I wouldn't be making cookies for a while.  My children guilted me into making more last night, I officially hate cookies.

Hope that you enjoy them!!!!!

From South Africa With Love,

Pizzeria Villago

First and foremost I want to give a shout out to Apple ,  all of my pictures are taken on my or my son's iPhone.  They take the best pictures.  We decided to check out this Italian place that my daughter had gone to with some other missionary friends that are here in Cape Town also.  I was a bit skeptical because we have been to several Italian restaurants and found them sorely lacking.  This place did not disappoint.

We finally found a really good Italian spot.

It has a variety of specials, you can build your own pasta or pizza.

Bread and I have a love/hate relationship.

I love bread.  It hates my thighs. The head in the picture belongs to one of the chefs, he is not a piece of bread.  Don't want you to be confused.

I ordered a smoked chicken pizza with feta, avocado and calmata olives.  It was delish!!!!  My boys ordered meatball pizza's but neglected to get a picture of it but it was yummy too.

My husband ordered the alfredo with chicken.  My daughter who is a veteran ordered the carbonara with chicken.  Her dish was like the alfredo  just  thicker and she asked them to basically take out everything that belongs in it and just add chicken.

The desserts were almost too pretty to eat.  Almost.

Sigh………...

If you ever happen to be in Cape Town, do drop in.  You will thank me, please do it in the form of a check or money order.

From South Africa With Love,

Hermanus (Yes that's how it's spelled, this is Africa not Mexico)

I have been busy as of late and have not explored or experimented in the kitchen, so there has been nothing to post.  I promise to get out more this year and to keep you people entertained with my wit and   experiences.  Hermanus is located on a mountain but somehow near the ocean (Now that I think about it, it makes absolutely no sense. You can step outside your home and the beach is there.  We must have gone up one side and down the other.  There, now that makes sense.)  On the way there we passed a ton of Vineyards.  I have never seen one before so I was enthralled.  They also have olive trees and signs that promised extra virgin olive oil, cheese makers, bakery's, oh my!…. And let me tell you it was a sight to behold.  It was raining so I didn't get to explore.  I don't drink wine so tasting was out of the question but I am very interested in the process.

My son, who should have a healthy fear of some things but fears nothing.  Look at those waves!!!  Those are not happy waves, they appear to be angry.

Some funky looking algae on a boulder.

Miles and miles of grape vines.

It was very pretty in the rain so it must be beautiful when it's warm and sunny.  We plan on going out again so that I can buy cheese and olive oil (yes I can buy it in the store but I want it fresh off the press).    

Happy Belated New Year!!!!  Let's make this year count, do something that you have never done before.  I have never eaten cow tongue, they love tongue here it's tradition.   They eat it on Christmas and New Years, I was prodded into trying it.  I did and won't ever again.  What is wrong with you people? I took a very small piece, almost invisible to the naked eye and it was still too big.  I even closed my eyes to psych myself out.  There was not enough Coke in that room to remove the taste from my mouth.  I tried it though, something new and unknown.  You should too (not tongue, just something new and unknown).

From South Africa With Love,

Homemade Sausage!!!!

I decided to give it a go at making homemade sausage.  My husband is hosting a breakfast for the men in our church and I wanted  to have sausage and bacon but they don't sell the type of sausage that we eat.  So, I did what any desperate woman would do.  I looked up the recipe on Pinterest.   I tweaked the recipe that I found, added some things from another recipe so it's a hybrid sausage.  I'll have to update this post when the sausage is turned into patties and cooked.  Right now it is a seasoned blob of pork.  I didn't grind the pork myself, I need to order that attachment from KitchenAid.  I'm so grateful that the meat is so fresh here and ground in store, so that I don't have to worry about what's in it.  The ingredients listed below are for a pound of pork.


1 lb of ground pork
1/8 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp brown sugar
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried mustard
1/4 tsp ground fennel


In a large bowl mix the seasoning together with the pork.  I recommend letting the seasoning do it's job and wait at least 24 hours before cooking.  I plan on making patties and then freezing them until I need them.

These are all of the seasonings that you will need.

Ever wonder what a pinch looks like in exact measurement?

I love kitchen gadgets.  I found this years ago at Big Lot, I could pinch it with my fingers but some people have larger fingers than other so the size of the pinch varies.  This works for me.

So, I'll be honest. It did not cross my mind to write this post until after I had mixed in all of the seasonings.  The ones above were measured out after the fact.  I did forget the marjoram so that is what's on the pork waiting to be belatedly mixed in.

I flattened the sausage out and used a medium sized cookie cutter to make patties.

I sealed them in an airtight container separated by wax paper.  I doubled the recipe and ended up with 67 patties.  They will reside in my freezer until Monday morning.

From South Africa With Love,

Not Feeling It

I am having one heck of a time trying to get into the Christmas spirit.  It is summer here and there are decorations but, it doesn't feel like Christmas.  I have my tree up but I haven't finished decorating it (it has been up since after Thanksgiving).  This is going to take some getting used to.  That ornament is one of my favorites, I got it from the World Market last Christmas.  I try to buy an ornament or two every year, I don't really have a theme my tree is pretty much a mash up of different styles of ornaments.  I learned early on that if you choose a certain color or theme then you'll have to change it every year and that can get to be pretty expensive.  

I have a thing for nutcrackers, I love them!!! I only have two on my tree though, I would love to do a nutcracker tree.  Not just nutcrackers though ballerinas and teddy bears, just like the ballet.  I need to get into the Christmas spirit.  I wonder if I can rent a snow machine……..

From South Africa With Love,

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens

We decided to visit the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens during the day.  It was beautiful, because of my allergies from hell I couldn't smell anything but everything was beautiful.  This is the condensed version of the tour.

I adore birds of paradise.

Now here was an interesting fellow, not camera shy at all.

Most of the flora can be used for medicinal purposes.

So if I happen to be in the gardens and I have skin eruptions or indigestion, I can just pluck a plant and handle business right there.

Yep, they grow marijuana there too, for medicinal purposes.  I was waiting for the DEA to come and drag us all away, but we're in Africa and I don't know if  it's illegal here.

This tree split smack down the middle and they managed to keep it alive.

This was it in 2005, now it looks as if it is growing into the ground but it's alive!

There was a Bonsai exhibit.  There were so many different species of bonsai that I never knew existed. My friend Kim would have killed the entire exhibit, she is a plant assassin.  She killed a cactus, who kills cactus??????  They live in the desert, they are survivors (just not in her house).

The Protea, the national flower of South Africa.

Extremely cool cheetah sculptures

Poor antelope. The circle of life.

You can see the city from the top of the trail, Table Mountain is located behind the gardens you can hike there in 3-4 hours.

Our wonderful tour guide Trevor Solomons.  

*Side Note:  They actually have a braille trail, so that the blind can enjoy the experience also.  They can smell the flowers and read about them as well, how brilliant is that?  This allows everyone to share in the beauty of the gardens.

Visit Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens!!!!!

From South Africa With Love,