Petro's Meat Sauce

I am not going to call it a Bolognese sauce as it is not a Bolognese. It is simply a meat sauce that I have adjusted over the years.

I also give it to Dylan as dinner with spaghetti broke into small baby pieces :) He absolutly LOVES (oh my here is "that" word AGAIN) it!!

You will need:

500g mince meat
200g bacon pieces
1 onion, chopped fine
2 celery sticks, chopped fine
2 carrots, chopped fine
1 green pepper, chopped fine
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
half hand of fresh thyme, chopped
half hand of fresh organum, chopped
2tbl coriander seeds, crushed
1tbl paprika
1 tin whole peeled tomato's
1 sachet tomato paste
generous splash of red wine
big squish of worcester sauce
100ml the best chutney you can find (mrs balls :))
salt & pepper
big pile of grated parmesan (to throw over before you it it, YUM!!)

• Fry your onion, celery, carrot, green pepper, bay leaves & garlic till translucent
• Add your bacon & fry till golden
• Throw your thyme, organum, coriander seeds & paprika in. Stir well and do not burn your spices!!
• Add your mince, fry a little and stir in your tomato paste
• Add your tinned tomato plus half a tin full of water
• Pour in your wine, worcester sauce, chutney & season a little
• Let it reduce (remember do not over season as the flavours will get more concentrated as your sauce get thicker) until it is a nice thick meaty sauce
• Serve with your favourite pasta and a lot of parmesan cheese

Happy cooking y'all!!

:)

Chili all wrapped up

I love a good chili. Here is my chili recipe.

250g mince
1 tin red kidney beans
1 tin tomato
1 sachet tomato puree
1 onion
1 clove garlic
fresh organum
fresh thyme
1 red chilli
tbl coriander seed (crushed)
tbl cumin seed (crushed)
2 tbl paprika
2 bay leaves
300ml beef stock
a good squirt worcestershire sauce
a big splash of red wine
salt & pepper
coriander leaves

Okay before we begin...
It is always nice when you get all your ingredients ready before you start cooking

It is a good idea to have jars of spices ready to use (i'll post what are good spices to have)

We pick some bay leaves from our tree and let them dry in our kitchen

Chop your onion, garlic and crush your coriander & cumin in your pestle and mortar 

Sweat your onions, garlic & bay leaves till translucent

Add your chili & spices 

Keep on stirring to "cook" the spices but do not let em burn!!

Add your herbs

Add your mince meat and sear off

Stir in your tomato paste & herbs

Then add your tinned tomato, beans, worcestershire sauce, wine, stock and some salt & pepper (do not add too much S&P as the sauce will become saltier as the flavours get more concentrated as it reduce)

Let is simmer until a thick meaty consistency 

Once cooked, chop your coriander leaves and stir through. Serve with a nice salsa, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream all wrapped up in a warm tortia wrap. YUM!!

Happy cooking y'all!!

Chicken Liver for Dylan

I made chicken liver for Dylan for the first time yesterday. I mixed it with squash and he LOVED it!! Actually LoVe is an understatement but anything else like a foodgasm is probably not appropriate for a 9 month old baby.. He could not stop making noises like mmm mmm and njum njum and whilst doing it he would close his eyes and raise his eyebrows. We took a video of it, just to show him one day when he does not want to eat his chicken livers!!

So let me tell you how I made it and maybe your baby will have a foodgasm  LOVE it too! :)

250g raw chicken liver

milk

2x small onions

1 clove of garlic

fresh thyme

Soak your chicken livers over night in milk. It takes away the "bitterness".

Chop your onion and garlic very fine. 

Sweat your onions and garlic in a pan

Add your picked thyme leaves

Carry on sweating your onions till it gets a golden brown colour 

Add your livers and make sure you cook them thoroughly 

Once cooked you can do a quick blend (so it is still chunky) and add some double cream greek yogurt (yummm!!) 

Once it is blended it will look something like this

Let it cool and portion it into your ice trays

Label, date and freeze

Mix 1 block with some of baby's veggies. Quick, easy and healthy!!

Happy cooking for baby y'all!!

My favourite Caesar Salad Dressing

When we lived in Colorado we ate a lot of caesar salads. I never really ate them when we lived in South Africa. I LOVE caesar salad now. I wake up at night and crave it... Thats bad right??!!

I make my caesar with ice berg lettuce as it is cheaper than cos lettuce. I like to add chicken, bacon pieces, cherry tomato's, avo, croutons, parmesan and LOTS of dressing. YuM!

Here is my caesar dressing recipe:

1tbl Dijon Mustard
1tbl White Wine Vinegar
2tbl Mayo (i love a tangy mayo)
1/2cup Canola Oil
Garlic (as many as you want, i like a lot of garlic)
Anchovies (as many as you like, as usual.. i love em so I use plenty)
Lemon Juice to flavour
Salt & Pepper

Okay so in your little hand blender, blend your Mustard, Vinegar, Mayo, Garlic, Anchovies, Lemon Juice (start with a little squirt).

Keep on blending and slowly add your oil. It will become a thick paste. Taste. Add Salt & Pepper to flavour. Taste. Add more Lemon Juice if wanted. If you want to thin your dressing out a bit add some water and blend until you have the consistency you want.

It will keep in the fridge for at least a week if not longer.

Yum!

Happy eating y'all!!!

Pureed Pear for Dylan

Today I am making some pureed pear for Dylan. I usually give him a fruit & veggie combo mixed with full cream yogurt for lunch. It is quick and easy for me. I make a whole batch and freeze it in ice trays.

I will show you how to make pureed pears. It is quick, easy and cheap (much cheaper and healthier than your store bought puree!)

You will need:
1x bag of pears
a pot
water

                                                                    Peel your pears

Cut them in quarters and cut out the middle part

Put in pot and pour in 500ml of water

Simmer on stove half way covered until pears are soft

Drain the water and puree with a hand blender or simply mash with a fork for a chunkier texture. Dylan is 9 months old so I just mash mine. Let it cool completely in fridge before freezing in ice trays.

Always remember to wash your hands before and whilst cooking. Only freeze once it is cold. Frozen food is best eaten before three months. Defrost in fridge over night to prevent bacterial growth.

I am not a nutritionist or doctor. I am a chef turned mommy. If you are worried about your babies eating habits or health rather speak to your health care professional.

Happy cooking for your babes y'all!!

The Change

Okay so I have decided to change my blog... to a more food orientated blog as I am a chef turned mommy. I still LoVe food and a specially eating it :)

Here I will blog about what I make Dylan to eat (I do not buy baby food from the shops, I make it), what I eat, what I love, where I eat, maybe a few reviews on places I eat at, some recipes you can try ect. You know, whatever.. it will be adventures with food :) YUMMM!!

Happy eating y'all! :)

Babel Restaurant Babylonstoren

I took my hubby to Babylonstoren to go eat at their restaurant Babel for his birthday. We were rather surprised to pay a R10p.p fee to enter the farm as we were going to have lunch at their restaurant.

They have a lovely wine list of local surrounding wine farms. There is a huge vegetable & herb garden where they source their vegetables & herbs from.

The menu is written on the "Bull" board. They have very good ideas it is just not executed well and certain items are rather over priced like R20 for an extra poached egg (that they get from their chickens on the farm for FREE!!). Our food was very bland and had no flavour. Very disappointing!! :( We were wondering why they were not using their "in season" vegetables on their menu and why we received so little of the vegetables on our plates if they farm them right there?!! The menu was rather Summery for a Winters menu.

Dylan slept through most of the lunch.

We enjoyed our Glen Carlou Chardonnay 

We took a stroll in the garden afterwards. It is such a beautiful garden. Found it rude that we greeted the head chef but she did not greet us back.

All in all we did enjoy our day. Loved the garden. We will just not visit them again.