are snacks welcomed?

Cupcake Tower

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 30 - 35 min

Ingredient List

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup raisins
1/2 tsp. of baking powder
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk

Cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, vanilla extract and milk. Add pre-sieved and mixed dry ingredients of flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Add raisins last and fold into mixture. Place batter in greased cupcake molds and bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a cooking rack and allow to rest and cool. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and strawberries for an added twist.

hope this is not long

Chocolate Muffin

50 g Plain chocolate
2 Eggs
250ml Milk
125ml Vegetable Oil
100g Granulated Sugar
100g Brown Sugar
400g Flour (plain)
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
150g White Chocolate

Nutmeg {optional}

Preheat the oven to 200°C (gas mk 6, 400°F).
Melt chocolate in the microwave. Use a mixing bowl.

Add and whisk the eggs into the melted chocolate, then add oil, sugars and milk and mix.

In another bowl place the flour, salt and baking powder and mix thoroughly.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces, and stir into the flour. Pour in the liquid, and mix together until just blended.
Line a muffin tray with paper muffin cases, and then fill each case to just below the top with the muffin mixture. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes.

They are cooked when a skewer inserted into one and then removed comes out clean.

This recipe makes approximately 12 muffins. _{dependz on the size of the muffin cases tho}


Easy isnt it?!

Scotch Eggs

Prep Time: 12 min to boil eggs.2 min to encase egg
Cook Time: 5 min

Ingredient List

10 fresh eggs
1 lbs. breakfast bulk sausage
2 cups plain bread crumbs
2 tbsp. whole milk
Canola oil for deep frying

Place 8 eggs in a pot and add just enough water to cover the eggs completely. Place pot on medium to high heat and proceed to boil for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes of boiling, place eggs in ice cold water and remove shells. While eggs are cooling, cut sausage into 8 equal parts and wrap one portion of sausage on one egg. Once all the surface of the egg has been covered with a layer of sausage, place in a beaten milk/egg mixture. After this, roll each egg in bread crumbs. Each egg will be deep fried in canola oil for about 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oil and place on paper towels to remove excess oil. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then serve.

YW. yea, some folks bake theirs though, just that i prefer the fried ones

Mini Meatpies

Prep Time: 20 min for filling, 10 min for dough
Cook Time: 45 - 60 min

Ingredient List

5 oz. top round beef
1 large potato
2 medium shallots (or 1/2 medium yellow onion)
1/2 cup green peas
1/2 cup diced carrots
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick butter
8 tsp. ice cold water
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. of bouillon flavor (Maggi or Knorr)
1 medium egg
2 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. dried thyme

Cut beef and peeled potato into 1×1-inch cubes and place in pot along with chopped shallots (or onions). Season with salt, pepper, bouillon flavoring, curry powder and dried thyme. Add 1/4 cup of water and place over low-to-medium heat for 15 minutes. Mix periodically and allow to cool. In a large bowl or mixer, mix room temperature butter with sieved flour and salt until consistency of bread crumbs is reached. Add water by the teaspoonful while mixing until the mixture clumps together. On a cool, floured surface, roll out dough with a rolling pin, and using a cookie cutter, cut out round shapes. Brush cut dough with egg wash, and place 1 teaspoonful of pie filling. Cover and brush again. Seal with fork. Place in oven at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.

Samosa

Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 50 min

Ingredient List

2 Cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 1/2 tbsp of unsalted butter
2 tsp of Baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Large Egg
1/3 cup of whole milk
oil for frying

Using A mixer, combine flour, baking powder and sugar. Once well mixed add butter and mix until texture of breadcrumbs is reached. mix egg and milk together to make a wash. Add egg wash to flour mixture along with vanilla extract and mix until a ball is formed. Allow dough to rest in fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out dough into 1/8 inch thickness onto floured surface and and cut in diamond shapes. Heat oil for frying to 375 degrees and fry dough balls until golden brown (about 5 minutes). Remove from oil and drain on paper towel. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and serve.

Chinese Chicken Wings

2 pounds chicken wings
2 tablespoons Hoi Sin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 cup ketchup
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Rinse chicken wings and pat dry with paper towel. Tuck the wing tips underneath.

In a large bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Add wings to bowl and stir so wings are covered with sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight for extra flavor).

Place chicken wings on greased grill pan and grill on medium heat for about 6-8 minutes on each side. Brush on extra sauce during grilling.

These wings make a tasty appetizer and can be served hot or cold.

Meat Loaf

1 pound ground beef
1 slice of bread
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, shredded
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

ketchup or barbeque sauce

Put the ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Soak the piece of bread in some warm water, then squeeze the water out with clean hands. Break up the bread and add it to the bowl. Add all the other ingredients except the ketchup. Mix it all up. Put it in a loaf pan patting it down. Bake for 35 minutes in a 350F degree (175C degree) oven. Then take out the meat loaf and cover the top with ketchup or barbeque sauce. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Grilled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze

* 2 garlic cloves
* 3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
* 3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
* 1 tablespoon dry white wine
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
* Nonstick olive oil cooking spray
* 6 (6 to 8-ounce) salmon fillets
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 6 lemon wedges

Directions

In a mini food processor, combine garlic, rosemary, thyme, wine, oil, Dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon of whole-grain mustard. Grind the mustard sauce until combined, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of whole-grain mustard to the sauce and stir to combine. Set aside mustard sauce.

Preheat the grill. Line a heavy rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with nonstick spray. Arrange the salmon fillets on the baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Grill for 2 minutes. Spoon the mustard sauce over the fillets. Continue grilling until the fillets are just cooked through and golden brown, about 5 minutes longer.

Transfer the fillets to plates and serve with lemon wedges.

Shrimp fried rice is a great recipe for nights when you're looking for a quick way to use up leftovers. Feel free to experiment with using fresh mushrooms or other vegetables in place of the mixed veg, and to double up on the ham if you don't have frozen shrimp.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
• 4 ounces frozen uncooked shrimp, unshelled
• Marinade:
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons water
• Other:
• 4 ounces cooked ham
• 1 medium onion
• 2 green onions
• 1/2 cup mixed veg
• 4 cups cold cooked rice
• 4 to 5 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
Preparation:
Run the frozen shrimp under warm running water, pat dry with paper towels, shell and devein.
Chop into small pieces.

Add the marinade ingredients and marinate for 15 minutes.
Dice the ham, onion, and green onion. Add 2 tablespoons oil, or as needed. When oil is hot, stir-fry the onion and shrimp on high heat for a few moments, remove and set aside. Do the same for the veg, and then the diced ham.
Add 1 - 2 tablespoons oil, turn the heat down to medium and stir-fry the rice. Add a bit of soy and oyster sauce if desired. Add the other ingredients and combine thoroughly. Serve the fried rice with the green onion as garnish.**

serve with grilled chicken

Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Garlic powder
Paprika
Pepper
1/2 cup lowfat milk
1 egg white
Flour, as needed
Low-calorie vegetable oil spray


DIRECTIONS:
Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap.
Pound each piece until flattened.
Unwrap plastic and sprinkle each breast on both sides with garlic powder, paprika and pepper.
Dip in milk mixed with egg white
lightly flour and fry over medium to medium-high heat in a pan coated with low-calorie vegetable spray.
Pan fry until golden brown, about 8 minutes per side.

NOTE

If you love fried chicken but are watching your cholesterol and fat intake these days, try this version.

French toast

Ingredients:

* 4 eggs
* 1 teaspoon sugar, optional
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup milk
* 10 to 12 slices white bread
* butter

Preparation:
Break eggs into a wide, shallow bowl or pie plate; beat lightly with a fork. Stir in sugar, salt, and milk.

Over medium-low heat, heat griddle or skillet coated with a thin layer of butter or margarine.

Place the bread slices, one at a time, into the bowl or plate, letting slices soak up egg mixture for a few seconds, then carefully turn to coat the other side. Soak/coat only as many slices as you will be cooking at one time.

Transfer bread slices to griddle or skillet, heating slowly until bottom is golden brown. Turn and brown the other side

Fish 'n chips

Beer Batter Fish
Ingredients:
• 4 pieces of Cod, Flounder or Haddock roughly 1/3 rd lb each
• 1 sprig fresh parsley
For the batter:
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup heavy beer (Guinness is best but any heavy beer will work)
First, make the batter and let stand. In a bowl, sift the flour and salt. Next crack the egg into the bowl and whisk the mixture. Next, slowly add the beer, whisking all the time. Keep adding the beer until the batter is a thick consistency. Set aside.
Place the oil in the pan, no more than a third of the way up the side and heat
Now, wash and chop the parsley finely. Next, sprinkle some flour on the cutting board and sprinkle the parsley over the flour.
Next, wash the fish under cold water and roll in the flour/parsley. It should now be coated in flour and parsley. 
Make sure the oil is hot.
Dip the fish pieces, one at a time into the batter and drop into the oil.
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown.
Remove and place on a paper towel to drain and serve immediately.
These will not stay crispy and must be served straight away.
Serve with chips, salt and vinegar or tartar sauce.
If you want to be really old fashioned, serve them on paper.

Chips are actually different to French fries – they are fatter. A good chip has the following qualities:
Crisp on the outside
Soft on the inside
They are dry, i.e. not soggy

Ingredients:
• Potatoes
• Oil 
• Salt

First, peel the potatoes and slice them into chips. Cut them lengthwise, about ½ inch thick, and then cut them into slices about ¼ inch wide.
Fatter is healthier.
Put the sliced potatoes in a bowl of cold water to cover them
We will wash the excess starch off in the water.
Leave them to soak while the oil is heating.
Now, pour the oil into the pan, making sure that it doesn’t come more than a third of the way up the pan. This is also important – If there is too much oil in the pan, there is a risk of the oil bubbling over the top. This we do not want.
Next, heat the oil on a high heat to around 375F. If you do not have a thermometer, just drop a small piece of potato in the oil – when it floats, the oil is hot enough.

When the oil is hot, dry the potatoes thoroughly, place in a frying basket and lower them into the oil slowly. When the chips are covered, and the bubbling has stopped, cover the pan and cook the chips for about 6 minutes.
This is to blanch the potatoes and do the actual cooking. They should not be brown when you stop this, just cooked.
Now take the chips out of the pan and allow the oil to heat back up to around 390F.
When the oil has reheated, put the chips back in the pan to brown.
This should only take a couple of minutes.
A soon as they turn golden brown, remove them and place on paper towels in the serving dish.
After a few seconds, the excess fat will drain of into the towels.
Remove the towels, sprinkle the chips with a little salt and serve hot with fried fish

babyback ribs

These are tender and the meat falls right off the bone. Generally, people think of baby back ribs as a meal they would only order when at a restaurant, but they are so easy to make at home. This recipe could not be any more simple.

    *   2 pounds pork baby back ribs
    * 1 (18 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce

DIRECTIONS

   1. Tear off 4 pieces of aluminum foil big enough to enclose each portion of ribs. Spray each piece of foil with vegetable cooking spray. Brush the ribs liberally with barbeque sauce and place each portion in its own piece of foil. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
   2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
   3. Bake ribs wrapped tightly in the foil at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from foil and add more sauce, if desired.

Lemon porterhouse steaks with spicy mash

Ingredients

Mash
30 ml sunflower oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 fresh chillies, finely chopped
4 large potatoes, cooked and mashed
30 ml lemon juice
handful fresh coriander leaves, chopped
olive oil

4 thick porterhouse steaks
freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon (juice only)

Method:
In a pan, heat the oil over medium heat.
Cook the garlic and chillies until the garlic just begins to colour.
Whisk in the mashed potato with a fork, adding the lemon juice and coriander.
Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside in a warm place.
Rub olive oil on to the meat, enough to make it shiny and slightly slippery all over.
Coarsely grind a little black pepper over the steaks.
Cook the meat for 5 minutes on each side, a little less if you like it rare.
Put the steaks on warm plates.
Squeeze a quarter of lemon over each steak and sprinkle with a little sea salt.
Serve immediately with the spicy mash and steamed greens

Grilled Lamb Chops With Rosemary and Thyme
Ingredients:

      2 garlic cloves
      1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, coarsely chopped
      1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
      2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
      8 lamb chops, about 3/4 to 1 inch thick (about 1 1/4 pounds)

Instructions:
Preheat a lightly oiled grill to medium-hot.
In a food processor, with the motor running, process the garlic, rosemary and thyme. Add the oil, and pulse to combine. Season generously with salt and pepper. Rub over the lamb chops and marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.
Season lamb chops with salt and pepper and grill for 7 to 9minutes per side for well done

To round out the meal: Corn on the cob and mixed green salad

Per serving: 221 calories (percent of calories from fat, 56), 23 grams protein, trace carbohydrates, no fiber, 13 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 74 milligrams cholesterol, 110 milligrams sodium.

simple shrimp pasta

Ingredients

* 200g linguine or spaghetti
* 25g butter
* 200g raw peeled prawns , preferably tiger prawns
* 1 garlic clove , crushed
* 100ml white wine
* squeeze lemon juice
* small handful flatleaf parsley , roughly chopped


Method

1. Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling, salted water according to pack instructions.
Meanwhile, heat a small knob of the butter in a frying pan.
When it starts to sizzle, add the prawns and fry for 1 min until they start to change colour.
Add the garlic and sizzle for 1 min more, splash in the wine, then bring to the boil.
Swirl in the rest of the butter, season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, then stir in the chopped parsley.
2. When the pasta is just cooked, drain and toss through the prawns.
Divide the pasta between 2 bowls, pour over any excess sauce and serve straightaway.

Woah! I'm trying the French toast this weekend.

AMAKA ONE ! AMAKA ONE !! AMAKA ONE!!!
D GRE8T!!!!!

spikedcylinder:

Definitely trying this.
Can one substitute the butter for sunflower oil though?

I think the butter adds to the flavour of the dish.
There's not much more seasoning than the garlic, S&P, lemon and the parsley.
If you're worried about transfats, you could use light or low fat soft tub (not hard/brick) margarine as a substitute for butter.

This is great, i have started building a recipe book from this. Will try out the french toast and samosa this weekend.

Amaka'

Are you a cook?

Cos you sure sound like one but

you don't look like one

get yourself a website ,

Gerald

@Gerald,

How do you know what I look like?

to answer your Q, No I'm not a chef, just like food