Day 8 - Friday (3 April 2020)
Today the focus was on doing some laundry and other mundane tasks. Jason and Alicia decided to make some custard biscuits and they turned out super tasty.
Updated Day 7 of my blog, published and shared it.
I decided to add the date to each day as I am using my blog as a general journal too.
Day 9 - Saturday (4 April 2020)
I am feeling very thankful and grateful that I had a good nights rest for a change. Late morning I made some Crunchies, which is absolutely yummy. You can find the recipe here.
As it was close to lunchtime and I decided to make some flatbread. The recipe was shared by someone on Facebook and unfortunately I can't remember by whom. So if you are reading this, thank you for the great recipe and let me know so that I can give credit to you for this super quick and easy recipe.
I don't have olive oil, only sunflower oil and grapeseed oil as the latter was cheaper compared to the olive oil. I put a little bit of grapeseed oil in the pan and put the rolled out dough in the pan on the gas top. It cooked quickly and after I turned it I sprinkled a little bit of salt and rosemary on top of the already cooked side. On some of the other flatbread I added a little grated cheese which started melting while the underside was still cooking.
My family really enjoyed the flatbread. When the dough is rolled out thinly it would make a super pizza base too. In my humble opinion, another versatile recipe. It will go really well with soup or stew as well.
Below is the recipe that I used.
Bread shortage?
This is the easiest kind of bread you can make. Costs pennies and can get you through these strange times, my family lived off these when the pickings were slim.
Navajo Flatbread:
Makes 6
2 cups flour
1 - 1 1/4cup of lukewarm water
1 table spoon baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 table spoon oil/butter/shortening
Mix dry ingredients together and add some of the water, mix and add water until it has the consistency of tacky pizza dough.
Knead for a few minutes.
Let rest in greased bowl for 30- 60 minutes.
Divide into 6 pieces and roll out on floured surface thin. (Tortilla thickness)
Hear griddle to 350F/180 Degrees Celcius.
Cook until golden brown spots and flip, cooking until done.
They can be made ahead and kept under a flour towel or frozen for later use.
Hope this helps.
This is the easiest kind of bread you can make. Costs pennies and can get you through these strange times, my family lived off these when the pickings were slim.
Navajo Flatbread:
Makes 6
2 cups flour
1 - 1 1/4cup of lukewarm water
1 table spoon baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 table spoon oil/butter/shortening
Mix dry ingredients together and add some of the water, mix and add water until it has the consistency of tacky pizza dough.
Knead for a few minutes.
Let rest in greased bowl for 30- 60 minutes.
Divide into 6 pieces and roll out on floured surface thin. (Tortilla thickness)
Hear griddle to 350F/180 Degrees Celcius.
Cook until golden brown spots and flip, cooking until done.
They can be made ahead and kept under a flour towel or frozen for later use.
Hope this helps.
This photo came with the recipe.
Definitely a winner in my books as it has very few ingredients, it's cheap to make and absolutely delicious.
This afternoon Alicia used the Quick Bread Dough recipe that I published in my previous post. She replaced the flower with Nutty Wheat Flour and baked a bread with it. It turned out really well and is very yummy.
So today creativity was focused in the kitchen with making eats and treats.
Day 10 - Sunday (5 April 2020)
Adrian (my husband) and I only fell asleep at around 3am. I was awake again just after 6am as Da Vinci our kitty cat normally wakes me up for some food. I couldn't go back to sleep and came to the studio to watch some of the free creative retreat videos that I signed up for. Just after midday I couldn't keep my eyes open and went to lie down on the bed to take 40 winks. Naturally Da Vinci and Joey was in seventh heaven as they came and cuddled by me.
Alicia made some soup for supper and I decided to use the now infamous 'Quick Dough Recipe' and try and see how it would react should I use it to make some vetkoek to go with the soup. Vetkoek is a traditional Afrikaner fried dough bread and is most of the time served with a filling. We just had the plain vetkoek instead of bread with our soup. The vetkoek turned out well and was very tasty with the soup, however I would not use this recipe should I wish to make it with a filling as it is not as 'puffy' and bun/bread roll like.
The rest of the evening I tried to catch up on some of the videos mentioned earlier as well as update my blog.
Alicia made some soup for supper and I decided to use the now infamous 'Quick Dough Recipe' and try and see how it would react should I use it to make some vetkoek to go with the soup. Vetkoek is a traditional Afrikaner fried dough bread and is most of the time served with a filling. We just had the plain vetkoek instead of bread with our soup. The vetkoek turned out well and was very tasty with the soup, however I would not use this recipe should I wish to make it with a filling as it is not as 'puffy' and bun/bread roll like.
The rest of the evening I tried to catch up on some of the videos mentioned earlier as well as update my blog.
"Joey" the eldest of our 2 kitties and is 13 years old.
He is a real softy, loves to cuddle and most of the time seeking out a sunny spot somewhere.
"Da Vinci", almost two and a half years old.
He is a real soppy date, talker and a Momma's boy as he is always following me around everywhere.
Day 11 - Monday (6 April 2020)
Woke up this morning and came to the studio to catch up on some videos. I also then tried to Skype with my friend in Germany. During our call the video kept freezing and then drops the call. Eventually our internet just completely bombed out and was off for quite some time.
Today was also cleaning day, you know those normal household chores which everyone loves 😆
Anyhow, emotionally it was not my best day today and I ended up taking an afternoon nap, I suppose using it as an escape in a way. I felt a little bit better after waking up. In the evening we watched some movies which was super as we haven't watched movies for such a long time.
For supper we had home made Hotdogs and chips all made by Alicia and Jason. The hotdog rolls were made with the Quick Dough Recipe and nutty wheat flour.
Today was also cleaning day, you know those normal household chores which everyone loves 😆
Anyhow, emotionally it was not my best day today and I ended up taking an afternoon nap, I suppose using it as an escape in a way. I felt a little bit better after waking up. In the evening we watched some movies which was super as we haven't watched movies for such a long time.
For supper we had home made Hotdogs and chips all made by Alicia and Jason. The hotdog rolls were made with the Quick Dough Recipe and nutty wheat flour.
Day 12 - Tuesday (7 April 2020)
Jason surprised us with a lovely pancake brunch. He found this Eggless Pancake Recipe online. This recipe will be great for people suffering form an egg allergy, yet will still be able to enjoy pancakes.
Jason specifically looked for an eggless recipe because he said that should lockdown be extended and you can't find eggs or alternatively run out of eggs at home, you would still be able to make something that is quick, easy and filling. Well I have to admit that the pancakes were absolutely delicious and the texture was fluffy, soft and light. Jason duplicated the mixture and replaced the second cup of milk (we used full cream milk) with water, which is a saving on milk again. You can also reduce the liquid a bit and the recipe will be perfect to make flapjacks. Definitely a recipe that will be used more often. Great find Jason 👌
We defrosted from the soup Alicia made on Sunday for supper this evening. We decided to have some Vetkoek to go with the soup as we do not have bread on hand. Since lock-down we have been making our own bread, rolls, roti's and more and have also come to the realization that homemade just taste so much better and has more substance to it compared to store bought bread. I went in search of another dough recipe, this time for Vetkoek and found this awesome recipe "The best vetkoek recipe ever". It definitely is the best vetkoek we have ever had! Thank you "Getaway" magazine for sharing this recipe.
We defrosted from the soup Alicia made on Sunday for supper this evening. We decided to have some Vetkoek to go with the soup as we do not have bread on hand. Since lock-down we have been making our own bread, rolls, roti's and more and have also come to the realization that homemade just taste so much better and has more substance to it compared to store bought bread. I went in search of another dough recipe, this time for Vetkoek and found this awesome recipe "The best vetkoek recipe ever". It definitely is the best vetkoek we have ever had! Thank you "Getaway" magazine for sharing this recipe.
The dough after I left it to rise for 1 hour.
The batch of vetkoek after frying. Next time I will make them a little smaller as some of them ended up being man hand size vetkoek.
So if you like vetkoek, I highly suggest you try out this recipe.
We had another movie night and watched "Madea's family funeral". Love the Tyler Perry movies as they come along with important messages applicable to life in general. After the movie we started watching the Series "The Witcher".
Day 13 - Wednesday (8 April 2020)
I woke up with a migraine this morning. Due to back and neck problems I tend to get these from time to time depending on what I am doing in a day. This morning I was surprised that I woke up with a migraine and once I started thinking back to yesterday, I realized that the only activity I did yesterday that could have caused it would have been kneading the dough by hand for a short period of time. Needless to say that this morning was spend quietly on the bed.
Lunchtime we had the leftover vetkoek with some cheese and jam...always a favourite.
The afternoon was spent quietly on the bed watching movies on the laptop.
Day 14 - Thursday (9 April 2020)
I got up nice and early and thought that I would surprise the family with some scones for breakfast. I looked in my one folder and found a recipe, one that I have never tried before, where the dough is slightly more liquid and you just drop blobs of dough with a spoon on the baking tray and then it goes in the oven for 15 minutes. Well, what an epic fail that recipe was 😂. The dough was so runny, even though I followed the exact recipe, that as I dropped the dough on the baking tray it flattened out almost like flat biscuits. I then added some flour to my dough mix to see if I can firm it up a little bit. Dropped a second batch of blobs on the baking tray and the final result was not much better. I didn't want to discard the dough mixture as we are in financial uncertain times and the recipe contained eggs, which we are running low on now. So I decided to heat a pan on the gas top and that dough made some lovely crumpets in the end.
Moral of the story...if something comes out a failure (in your eyes) or epic fail, do not loose heart, improvise and think out of the box and you might end up being pleasantly surprise with the final result.
In the evening I made more vetkoek, but this time not with yeast, but baking powder. This vetkoek dough is also dropped in dollops in a pan. The above mentioned recipe comes from my trusty cookbook, "The Complete South African Cookbook" by Magdaleen van Wyk and its a recipe I have used many times in the past. I made scrambled eggs and we had the vetkoek as a 'bread base'. I have the 8th impressum of the First Edition of the above cookbook.
VETKOEK RECIPE
Makes 8-10; Prep time 15 min; Cooking time 10 min
Ingredients:
250 ml (1 cup) cake flour
1 egg
125 ml milk
5 ml (1 teaspoon) baking powder
2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) salt
125 ml oil for frying.
1. Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg lightly and add to the dry ingredients. Add the milk and mix the batter until smooth.
3. Heat the oil in a frying-pan and drop tablespoonfuls of batter into the hot oil.
Fry for 2-3 minutes on one side, then turn and fry for another minute on the other side.
Serve hot with butter and jam.
A side note from myself -> The above mentioned recipe is very versatile. What I have done in the past is to either cut up some vienna sausages in rings or 'mini blocks' and add that to my dough mixture. It makes a lovely savoury vetkoek. Some other individual ideas to use instead of adding vienna sausages can be some grated cheese (you can also add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper then as it will compliment the cheese); parsley; olives chopped up; cold meat' cooked onions and/or mushrooms. Just let your creativity flow.
At 20h00 President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to the South African Nation and told us that our lock-down would have ended on the 16th, however an additional 2 weeks of lock-down has been added.
Adrian and I watched the last 3 episodes of Series 1 of 'The Witcher'. Apparently the new Series will only be coming out in 2021.
Day 15 - Friday (10 April 2020)
Today is Good Friday. How blessed are we not that our Father gave His only Son to die for us so that we can be free.
We have had a slow morning so far and discussing some business issues etc.
The rest of the day was spent in the studio where I focused on some ideas that has been brewing for a good couple of days and working on the basic idea of a series of 5 paintings. Interesting how the initial idea started out and how over the days it evolved. The series will follow a story line.
We went to bed really early, just before 20h00. Adrian fell asleep just after eight and I tried to watch a movie. Why I say 'tried' is because my eyes were so heavy and when I caught myself off-guard, my one eye is closed already while trying to watch the movie with the remaining half opened one. In the end it didn't register even what was going on in the movie, so I decided to rather pack the laptop away as it was a lost cause. Turned the light off and my head hardly touched the pillow and I was quickly away into dreamland. This was possibly the best sleep I have had in a long time.
We have had a slow morning so far and discussing some business issues etc.
The rest of the day was spent in the studio where I focused on some ideas that has been brewing for a good couple of days and working on the basic idea of a series of 5 paintings. Interesting how the initial idea started out and how over the days it evolved. The series will follow a story line.
We went to bed really early, just before 20h00. Adrian fell asleep just after eight and I tried to watch a movie. Why I say 'tried' is because my eyes were so heavy and when I caught myself off-guard, my one eye is closed already while trying to watch the movie with the remaining half opened one. In the end it didn't register even what was going on in the movie, so I decided to rather pack the laptop away as it was a lost cause. Turned the light off and my head hardly touched the pillow and I was quickly away into dreamland. This was possibly the best sleep I have had in a long time.
Day 16 - Saturday (11 April 2020)
Woke up early as Da Vinci likes to wake me up as he is hungry. Joey was still sleeping all peacefully. I made some coffee and got back into bed lurking through social media to see what is happening around the world.
Got up and came to the studio to write some updates on my blog. Then decided to make some Crunchies (you can find the recipe further up). I made a double batch as the last one didn't last very long. My family enjoys them sometimes as a quick breakfast snack.
I had a lovely chat with my friend Monica on WhatsApp and talked about what we have all been up to during lock-down. It is so incredible how much we are alike, we are soul sisters indeed. We made a coffee date for next week on Skype and I am really looking forward to that.
Day 17 - Sunday (12 April 2020)
Easter Sunday - He, the Son of God raised from the dead so that you and I have the wonderful gift and privilege of eternal life. Today as we are celebrating Easter I am especially grateful and thankful for this gift.
We enjoyed a quiet day and in the evening Jason and Alicia made some yummy pizza's with home made dough and then we watched some movies. Sorry, no photos of the yummy pizza's, the hungry tummies took priority this evening.
We enjoyed a quiet day and in the evening Jason and Alicia made some yummy pizza's with home made dough and then we watched some movies. Sorry, no photos of the yummy pizza's, the hungry tummies took priority this evening.
Day 18 - Monday (13 April 2020)
Monday's are cleaning days and we also caught up with some laundry. I plan to make another bread. This time a different recipe, which I found online yesterday and to go with that some lovely homemade pea soup for supper. We planned to watch some movies this afternoon, thus prior to that I mixed up the bread dough as it needs to stand for 3 hours.
Below is the You Tube video by "Jenny Can Cook"on how to make this yummy bread.
This is the full recipe on Jenny Can Cook's Website. I would also suggest that you take a look at No knead bread solutions prior to making your bread. I for example do not have a pot similar to what Jenny used and I also don't have parchment paper, thus I just used a big glass oven proof dish with a lid which I sprayed beforehand with some Spray And Cook.
Some additional notes: My convection microwave only goes up to 225 degrees Celsius and the recipe calls for 230 degrees Celsius. I thus baked the bread at 225 degrees Celsius, but extended the baking time by about 10 minutes.
Jason and Alicia watched their own choice of movies this afternoon. A couple of years ago we watched "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" with actress Judi Dench with my parents-in-law and thoroughly enjoyed it. I only saw earlier this year that "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" was released. This afternoon I found it online and we were able to watch the second one...absolutely loved it.
Once the movie was finished I got going in the kitchen with making the bread and pea soup.
Below is my result.
Above and below...Hot out of the oven.
Supper this evening...homemade bread and pea soup.
I hope that you have found this blog post interesting, informative and not too long. As always your feedback is welcome and I would love to hear from you. Perhaps you have some lovely recipes to share?
Take care, stay safe, be blessed and sending you love and light as always.
No comments:
Post a Comment