Welcome to the M. Haven

I am one of those people who gains satisfaction from spending time in the kitchen and whisking out delicious simple meals. I call the kitchen the M. Haven or Mineah’s freeing sanctuary and I find it more enjoyable than doing most things. I usually try to spend at least 45 minutes in the M. Have daily, and this is my relaxation time. Sadly, for the past few weeks I have been extremely busy with school work and I have not been able to distress and enjoy my long hours in the kitchen. However, with all the stress that was surrounding me it became apparent that I was in dire need of some M. haven time, so I started making simple 40 minute meals that will not be time consuming and still allow me to get in some leisure activity to balance out my day. I thought I would post 3 of these scrumptious recipes for you guys to try out at home. I hope that you guys enjoy them, and try not to get as addicted to them as I did!!!

 Succulent mouth-watering meatballs

Ingredients

•      Lean or ground beef mince
•          3 grated carrots
•          1 finely chopped or grated carrots
•          ½ block of beef stock cube
•          Worstershire sauce
•          Vegetable and potato spice to taste
•          1 tbsp. peanut butter
•          1 tbsp. pesto
•          2 egg whites
•          Salt and pepper

Method

1.        In a large bowl mix and your ingredients
2.        Use a spoon to shape 18 meatballs
3. Place the shaped raw meatballs in a pan and gently cook.

  Basic savoury vegetable rice

Ingredient

 1 finely chopped onion
½ finely chopped green pepper
 Ginger & Garlic
1 cube Beef stock
  3 cups Brown rice
1 cup mixed vegetable
Salt and pepper
500g Mushroom
1 glug oil

Method

-Boil your brown rice until it is cooked.

-In a separate pan/pot heat a spoon of oil and fry onion, pepper and garlic until soft.

-Add all the remaining ingredients, except peas. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed.

-Add peas and mixed vegetables last and allow to reheat.

-Season and serve.

Lemon drizzle cake

Ingredients For the sponge

225 g butter (room temperature)
225g (8oz) caster sugar

·         275g self-raising flour

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         4 large eggs

·         4 tbsp. milk

·         Grated zest of 2 lemons

For the glaze

•          Juice of 2 lemons
•          175g sugar

Method

1.         Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2.         Mix all your wet ingredients in bowl, butter, 4 eggs, milk and the lemon zest.
3.         Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl, sugar, flour and baking powder.
4.      .  Beat with an electric mixer for 1–2 minutes, or with a wooden spoon for a little longer, until smooth.
5.      . Pour/turn the cake mixture out into a baking dish and use a spatula to smooth and scrape up all the mixture around the sides of the bowl.
6.    Place the mixture into the oven for 30-40 minutes and remove the cake when it feels springy and done.
7. Make the glaze: mix the lemon juice with the sugar and spoon over the warm cake. Leave to cool, then cut into 16 rectangular slices.

2014 Bucket List!!!

I have not posted anything in about 3 months, so I am tremendously excited to be posting something. This year I wanted to do something intriguing, so I thought it would be nice for me to compile a mini bucket list with all the things I want to do in Cape Town before the end of 2014.  I am super-duper excited and I can’t wait to get started with my exploration of Cape Town. My list is still in progress and I will share it once it is completed.

Charly's Bakery

After 20 years of being a cake addict and 3 years of living in Cape Town, I thought it was a great injustice that I had never been to Charly’s bakery. So… I finally had the opportunity to go to their shop and it was so amazing. Initially you are underwhelmed by the size, because when you see it on TV it appears larger than it is in person. However, the cosiness of it takes you back to your childhood and makes you feel like you are about to host a tea party with your cabbage patch kids. The bakery is always quite full, but as you wait in the queue you are able to read the awesome story about how Charly’s came about, thus making it feel like you have not been waiting long. The final thing that makes being at Charly’s such an awesome experience is that, you are able to see the ladies of Charly’s Bakery designing their cakes and having a blasé chat in the back. Charly’s also has a variety of tasty baked goodies and I will definitely be going back there soon.