Special Occasions!

Here in Dodoma, it is often the case that if you see something in a local shop and you like it, you buy it. Why? Because it very well may not be there again any time soon ... if ever! It can be very disappointing when you go back another time and it's not there anymore. It's a lesson you learn early on! 

You can work up quite a stash! We have had several things in our pantry that fit that category. That have been saved to only come out on a special occasion! Nutella, dried apricots, puff pastry, chorizo, white cooking chocolate, marshmallows, raisins ... the list goes on!

However things change and now we're faced with eating our way through all these treats and making every occasion a special one for the time being!

Last week, we cracked open the puff pastry and I made a Minced Beef Wellington! Yum! It felt very indulgent, which just shows how differently we value things living here!

Here's the recipe I used, tweaked to what I can get hold of here! ... (serves 4-6)

• 1 medium onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick celery
• 1 potato
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 large mushrooms
• olive oil
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• big handful of frozen peas
• 1 large egg
• 500g minced beef
• sea salt and black pepper
• plain flour for dusting
• 500g puff pastry, chilled

1. Preheat oven - 180/350/GM4
2. Peel, chop and dice vegetables (1cm) and grate/mince garlic
3. Put oil in a large pan, add rosemary leaves and add veg - fry for approx 8 mins until soft
4. Add peas & cook for another minute, then cool
5. Beat egg and add half to the mixture and mince, salt & pepper
6. Scrunch up and mix well together by hand
7. Dust surface, roll out pastry to tea towel size
8. Put mixture along long edge in a sausage shape
9. Brush edge of pastry with beaten egg and roll until covered
10. Dust baking tray with flour, place Wellington on the tray and brush with beaten egg
11. Bake for an hour until golden

Magazines and Whoopie Pies

Have you read a magazine recently? Even just flicked through one in a shop?

It may sound strange to those living in the 'West' but reading a magazine is considered a real luxury here in this part of the world, where they are either completely unavailable or wildly expensive! So much so, that they get passed from person to person to person in the ex-pat community and you often find yourself reading magazines that are a year or two old!

If some of my friends walk into my house and spy a magazine, their eyes light up and they always have a quick flick through, ask if I have read it yet ... and of course, if they can borrow it! So as an aside, if you have friends who are missionaries in more remote locations and you have an old magazine sat around, you may just think of sticking it into an envelope and sending it to them. It may be expensive to post but I can guarantee you it will be read by a whole community!

One that we had passed onto us a couple of weeks ago, had a recipe page that immediately caught the eyes of both my girls, Whoopie Pies! Being the lovely mummy that I am, I promised that during the Christmas break we would try to make them and on the very last Sunday of the holidays I kept my promise!

They were even more of a treat because one of the ingredients, marshmallows, is difficult to get here, usually you have to wait until a trip to Dar Es Salaam to stock up! Admittedly the whoopie pies were a bit more of a faff than I'm used to when it comes to baking, but the girls loved them and from the photo below, you can see they didn't turn out too bad at all! (The recipe is below too!)

• 250g unsalted butter, chopped, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 150g vanilla and strawberry flavoured marshmallows
• 80g white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup hundreds and thousands

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper.
2. Put 200g of the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 5 minutes or until light and creamy. Add eggs and egg yolks, then beat until combined.
3. Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and ginger over butter mixture then fold until a stiff dough forms
4. Divide into 24 pieces and roll each into a ball with your hands. Arrange balls 7 cm apart on trays, bake for 20 minutes or until firm, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. Put marshmallows and remaining butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and cook, stirring until melted.
6. Remove pan from heat, add white chocolate and beat until smooth. Set aside for 5 minutes or until cool.
7. Spread 1 heaped Tbsp of marshmallow mixture onto a flat side of 1 biscuit, then sandwich with a second biscuit. Repeat.
8. Spread hundreds and thousands on a plate, then roll edges of each whoopie pie to coat.

Two for One!

Apologies for the slackness of my blogging for the beginning of 2014 (only one post so far!) but I've been far too busy relaxing on holiday! To make up for it here's the first recipe post of the year with two different versions!

Avocado's are cheap, readily available and HUGE here in Tanzania ... at the moment the ones I am buying are coconut size or bigger. Ready made food or more specifically dips are not available or if they are, are in Dar Es Salaam and not cheap. 

So I asked a couple of friends for their delicious guacamole recipes. I knew I wouldn't be disappointed as they were already tried and tested! The recipes are very different though ... one is a hot and spicy variety that only me and a select few enjoy, that I got from American friends who are third generation missionaries in Mexico, the other one is a family friendly recipe from Swiss friends here in Tanzania!

Hot and Spicy Guacamole ... (pineapple and feta versions!)

• 2 avocados
• 3-5 jalapeños depending on size, spicyness, and desired level of spicyness
• 1/4 - 1/2 of a medium onion depending on how much you like onion
• 1-2 cloves of garlic 
• 7 juicy limes
• Salt to taste

1. Sauté jalapeños with onions, adding garlic toward the end. 
2. Put in blender and add avocados, salt, and squeezed limes. 
3. Add just enough water to allow the mixture to blend.

This is the base recipe to add the pineapple to. If you want to make the feta cheese version, it is just a bit different. Same general ingredients, except in place of limes and water, use milk. Just enough milk to make it blend, then add feta/Bleu/ or other yummy cheese. (Just remember don't blend the pineapple or cheese ... mix them in afterwards!)

REALLY easy family friendly Guacamole ...

The amount of each ingredient will depend on your own personal preference but this is what to mix together in your bowl ... (photo above is this recipe!)

• avocado's ... squished with a fork or blend if you want it smooth
• salt
• pepper
• lemon juice (fresh is best but concentrate works too!)
• tomatoes ... finely cut
• crushed garlic (not too much!)
• grated cheese (quite a bit, helps to get the consistency you want!)

Need to work on a recipe for tortilla chips now, as they also have very limited availability here!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

This morning me and the littlest munchkin made 31 cookies from a new recipe ... we had lots of fun. A little over 4 hours later there are now only 4 left in the kitchen ... an indication of the yumminess! There was no question as to whether this recipe is a keeper or whether it was something I would be sharing! (Just for the record, we did have visitors this afternoon, we didn't eat them all ourselves!)

It was a cookie we'd eater a couple of months ago at a friends house here in Dodoma and thought was delicious ... so really today was just confirmation of something we already knew! What I did notice mid-mixing was that it can be a dairy-free recipe, which is something that I mentioned I was searching for recently ... to stretch our repetoire for a friend here who is lactose intolerant!

We added chocolate chips this time (not for the lactose intolerant!), but walnuts and or raisins I think would taste equally as yummy ... I feel another batch coming on!

So here's the Banana Oatmeal Cookies recipe ...

• 1 very ripe banana
• 1/2 cup canola/vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups oats
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips/walnuts/raisins

1. Mash banana well in a bowl
2. Add oil, sugar, vanilla and mix
3. Add flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until just moistened.
4. Add oats and walnuts/chocolate chips/raisins and mix well (If dough is slippery add extra flour)
5. Roll into balls - smaller than a golf ball (with wet hands), flatten and place on prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart ... it is a bit fiddly!
6. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned at 175/350/GM4
7. Cool for 2 minutes then transfer to a rack

We made about 30 cookies with these ingredients but ... just remember though one batch might not be enough!

Marshmallow Pavlova

Cooking out here produces all kinds of culinary challenges ... sourcing items for familiar recipes is something I have shared about already.

When you are on hospitality for people who are gluten-free, dairy-free or vegetarian (or any other combination!) it pushes you one step further, but as per usual, I'm always up for the challenge, to extend the boundaries of my recipe collection one step further! 

Recently we hosted someone who is dairy-free and while I'm happy to serve up the easy fruit salad option for dessert, I wanted to try something new and something that has been on my recipe 'to try' list for years!

As a child I used to LOVE eating pavlova's but was never a fan of the cream on top ... so would just have the meringue and fruit! (For future reference, I'm happy to enjoy it with the cream and anything else on top nowadays!!) It made perfect sense then for me to serve the meringue, cream and fruit in three separate bowls for everyone to take and enjoy the bits they could eat, so that it would work for my dairy-free guest! (When you see 'cream' read 'dream topping' ... real cream is not available here unless you skim off the top of your milk once it's been boiled and slowly collect it!)

A pavlova is not rocket science to make, I have just never got around to trying it. Having done it once (breaking my own, don't try out a new recipe on dinner guests rule!) and finding that it was super delicious in spite of my dodgy oven, we've enjoyed it a few more times since!

I'm a big fan of the Australian Women's Weekly Recipe Books. The recipes always seem to work first time and so far we haven't been disappointed by any I've tried. I have their Cheesecakes, Pavlovas and Trifles mini book ... and opted to try their 'Marshmallow Pavlova' recipe as opposed the classic one and it was SSSSOOOOOOO good ... the photo above is really a pavlova that we made and ate! Yum ... so here it is, as I have since promised several dinner guests the recipe!

• 4 eggs whites
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1T cornflour
• 1t white vinegar
• cream/dream topping equivalent
• fruit/chocolate shavings ... whatever topping you want

1. Beat eggs whites in a small bowl (an electric mixer makes the process a LOT quicker and easier!) until soft peaks form.
2. Gradually add sugar, beating until dissolved after additions.
3. Fold in cornflour and vinegar.
4. Line baking tray with baking paper and spread meringue in a circle. For best results do not squash or flatten but shape side up and in towards the centre like a mound. Make furrows up the side of the meringue using a small spatula and level the top.
5. Bake in a very slow over for about 1 1/4 hours or until dry, Turn oven off and leave in while the oven cools, (My dodgy oven only needs about half an hours cooking!!!)
6. Top with cream and whatever other yumminess you want!

Revisiting Old Recipes

Life continues to be about sharing time with people over food here in Dodoma.

Thursday evening we had four dinner guests for hospitality, one from the UK, one from the States, one from Holland and one from Sweden! All here in Dodoma to do different things for MAF. On Friday we went out for dinner in town with another MAF family who are from Australia. Saturday, we invited some of the teachers from Abigail's school round to catch up for the afternoon and evening. And yesterday, Sunday, we out for lunch, just the four of us.

One thing that I've found that I have been doing recently is revisiting some of the recipes that I used to make while I lived here before and was taught by various missionary friends. For some unknown reason I haven't used a lot of them in the twelve years since then!

At the end of last week, while Abigail was on school holiday's and Naomi was fast asleep. Abigail enjoyed trying out another one of these recipe's with me, Lemon Bars ... cooking still being one of her favourite pastimes. They went down a treat with some of our visitors over the weekend!

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup margarine/butter
• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 eggs - beaten til light and fluffy
• 1 cup sugar
• 2T self-raising flour (or 2T flour + 1/4t baking powder)
• 1/4t salt
• 2-3T lemon juice

1. Combine first 3 ingredients (flour, marge, sugar)
2. Press into 9x9 pan
3. Bake 350/180 for 20 mins
4. Combine remaining 5 ingredients (eggs, sugar, flour, salt, lemon juice)
5. Pour over hot crust
6. Bake for a further 25 mins until crust is lightly brown
7. Cool, cut and serve!

Although we didn't do it this time and they taste delicious either way ... you can also make a glaze (from 1/2 cup of icing/powdered sugar and 1-2T lemon juice, blending till smooth) and drizzle it over the cooled bars before cutting and serving!

Batman Keki

Today is my hubby's 40th birthday! A milestone that we get to celebrate out here in Dodoma! In the 8 years that we've known each other, I've never once made him a keki (Swahili for cake, pronounced kay-key) ... but this year I wasn't going to let him miss out! 

It has been a family tradition since Abigail's first birthday, for me and Mark to make and decorate a fun cake together for the girls. As we now know each other's strength's in the cake decorating department, I couldn't keep his cake a surprise from him, as I needed his help to make it!

He has always been a big Batman Nut, so for this special birthday there was no question about what the cake would be. I think it turned out pretty well ... even if I do say so myself!

Obviously a lot of things we would normally just be able to 'pop down' to the supermarket to buy aren't available in Dodoma. So it did require a little forward planning!! One thing you can't buy is fondant icing but a friend in the States used to make it from scratch with marshmallows ... so for this birthday I thought I'd try it out and IT WORKED!

You can't get marshmallows here in Dodoma either ... but I ordered in 10 big bags when someone went shopping in Dar Es Salaam and they worked a treat!

Here's the recipe ... it's simple and very sticky but totally worth it ...

• 10-12oz marshmallows
• About 1 1/2 lbs icing/powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp water

1. Put the marshmallows in a glass bowl, add water and microwave for 30 seconds. Take it out and stir. Repeat at 30 second intervals until they're melted ... OR ... (without a microwave, as we don't have one!) boil a saucepan of water and put marshmallows and water in a mixing bowl above the boiling water, stirring occasionally until melted!
2. Add about a quarter of the icing sugar and dump the rest out onto the counter.
3. After stirring in the icing sugar, tip the marshmallow/sugar/water mixture onto the remaining sugar on the surface and knead it like you would bread.
4. It is REALLY sticky ... keep going, adding more icing sugar if necessary before you know it though you will rolling it out like fondant icing!
5. Add food colouring as required. 

It's a lot more flexible than fondant icing and doesn't seem to dry out/crack as much either. In my opinion it also tastes better ... which is just as well as it's the only way we'll get to ice keki's for the foreseeable future unless we use butter icing but I don't think it's as easy to be as creative with that!!

I'm so pleased it worked out well ... especially as that's my cake for the decade for my hubby! If my track record is anything to go by he'll be waiting till his 50th for the next one!!

Different Treats

Recently, I’ve been asked by some of the newer missionaries and volunteers what are quick and easy dinners to make here. Getting used to the more limited ingredients and learning that a lot more is possible than you first expect takes time but it’s reassuring to know that others have gone before you!

One friend, when they first got here, came round for dinner and commented ‘I know I was told that there wasn’t very much here ... but there really isn’t very much here. Is that really it?’!!! We chuckled a lot.

Thankfully I've been able to pass on my pasta sauce recipe to others! We use it to go with pasta and veggies, or as a base for chilli, spaghetti bolognese and lasagne! There are a few extra steps to it out here. Blanching tomatoes is a little time consuming, so one of the first things I did was teach my house mama how to make it and she whips up a batch every week that we can use for a couple of meals. (It freezes really well!)

When we lived in the States we were able to go out for a lot more meals and try different things, some of which were very American and not regular every day stuff for a Brit. One place we only went about half a dozen times was Panera Bread. The food was delicious and fresh but the nearest one was over an hours drive away!

I am not a soup person but at Panera Bread, they served the most delicious Broccoli Cheddar Soup. When we had the treat of broccoli recently, we thought it would be even more special if we could have the added treat of the broccoli in that soup. It's amazing how different treats can become out here when simple things aren't available!

Thanks to Pinterest I found a copy cat recipe and now when we get broccoli (only three times since we moved here, seven months ago) we eat some of it fresh and use the rest to enjoy a bowl of this delicious soup!

Try it ... I promise you won't be disappointed!!

• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups half-and-half or skim milk
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 pound fresh broccoli (florets only)
• 1 cup carrots, julienne
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 8 ounces grated cheddar cheese

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan/stockpot
2. Saute the onions in it
3. Add the flour and mix it in for a couple of minutes
4. Slowly add the milk - mixing the whole time
5. Slowly add the chicken stick - mixing the whole time
6. Simmer for 20 minutes
7. Add broccoli and carrots and cook on low for 25 minutes
8. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg
9. Puree with a blender
10. Heat over low heat and add cheese until melted

Can't believe it's not butter?

One 'delicacy' that you soon get introduced to here in Tanzania is Blue Band. 

To describe it as butter or margarine, would be to do a discredit to both butter and margarine. Just as we expect cockroaches to survive a holocaust, it wouldn't surprise me if we would find them feasting on a tub or two of Blue Band post-apocalypse! That's how indestructible it seems to be!

Real butter is available at a price. Real margarine can also be available from time-to-time too. When I lived here before they were even harder to get hold of and way out of my price range on a teachers budget.

Apart from the price, what then is the draw of Blue Band? It sticks to everything and is difficult to wash off cutlery and plates. Goodness only knows how it's coating everyone's insides. But for this climate and population it works. It doesn't need refrigeration and as a high percentage of people who live here are without electricity, it's perfect.

Needless to say, since we moved to Dodoma, the majority of my recipes that once contained butter, now contain Blue Band ... and to be fair, everything still tastes good!

Here is one new recipe that we've discovered since we got here. When given the chance to buy some lamb, I took it, just to vary the menu. I soon realised though that I hadn't actually ever cooked lamb before. 

A quick trawl on Pinterest sorted me out and we have now enjoyed mouth watering Mechoui-Style Roasted Lamb on more than one occasion. It truly is divine and those who have enjoyed it with us have asked for the recipe ... even though it is made with Blue Band!!!!

• 1 lamb leg
• 70 grams of butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients (except lamb) together and blend into a fine paste
2. Coat the lamb with the mixture and place in a roasting pan
3. Allow to marinate for 1-2 hours in the fridge
4. Remove from the fridge and allow to return to room temperature.
5. Preheat over to 220-240 degrees celsius
6. Put lamb in the oven and lower heat to 180 dgrees.
7. Roast the lamb, uncovered for 2 hours for a 2kg leg
8. Baste lamb every 15-20 minutes until it is browned and evenly covered
9. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving

Optional extra ... use the juices to make a delicious gravy to accompany it.

I usually make up the paste and coat the lamb when I first get it. Then freeze it all together in the marinade so when I need it, I just have to defrost it and stick in the oven!

Kiddie Classic

Now the school holidays have started, I'm trying to be a little bit more proactive at planning at least one fun thing each day to do with the girls. I don't just want us to waste the five weeks and wonder what happened to them when Abigail starts in Standard One at the beginning of August!

Nothing huge and amazing, necessarily, it may be quick or may take some time, just at least one fun thing everyday. Here are a few of the ideas that I have up my sleeve :

Making finger-paints and using them

Inviting friends round to play

Trip to the ice-cream parlour

Cooking/Baking

A couple of days away somewhere

Swimming

Also, HOPEFULLY at some point, unpacking the container!!

On Friday, Day One of the holidays, we made chocolate cornflake cakes. I honestly can't even remember the last time I made them ... years and years ago probably. But they are definitely a kiddie classic! Quick, easy and definitely yummy. Only four ingredients, no baking required and therefore no waiting, either for it to cook or for it to cool down before tucking in. A real bonus with little ones who's patience can often be even less than mine!

The ingredients are easy to get here (one of them, golden syrup, a lot easier here, than when we lived in Ohio!). The only difficult thing to find are the cupcake cases ... so a big thank you to Auntie Amy for stocking us up a little when she sent us a parcel from England!

Makes 12 ...

• 50g butter
• 100g chocolate, broken into chunks
• 3Tbsp Golden Syrup
• 100g Cornflakes

1. Melt the butter, syrup and chocolate chunks in a pan
2. Mix in the cornflakes gently
3. Divide into 12 cupcake cases
4. Leave to set/put in the fridge to set ... or just eat them straight away!!!

We have found that one 120g Cadbury's Dairy Milk bar (which is relatively easy to get hold of out here but still a treat as it can be a bit pricey!) minus one chunk for each of the sous-chef's is the perfect size for this recipe!! Always useful to know!!

Better Than Eating Out

'Better than eating out'. That's the compliment my hubby gave the burgers we made the other day!  Having lived in the States where there are burgers on the menu EVERYWHERE, that really was saying something! They were delicious, I have to admit ... and all thanks to Jamie Oliver! 

We've made burgers before but more as a treat than out of necessity, as alternatives were readily available. Here in Dodoma, it is possible in a couple of places to get a burger but they are not worth the few Tanzanian shillings you pay for them. So, homemade (as with so many other things!) really is the only option!

Another quick trawl of the internet and we found a recipe, that when our container finally gets here, will definitely be included in my recipe box! We had to make a few Dodoma-friendly tweaks and only added toppings that are available, including our homemade caramalised onions, then served them in Maria's delicious rolls. The result being ... that they were better than restaurant burgers (and I don't mean McDonalds!), we'll definitely be having them again and we can thoroughly recommend them!

It's such an easy, simple recipe that can be adapted and flavoured according to your own preferences. I will just include the base recipe here ... experiment at will! The mince beef we use isn't the greatest and they're still yummy. Once our container eventually gets here, we'll be grinding our own meat, so I can't wait to see how they turn out then!!

• 500g minced beef
• 12 cream crackers
• 1/2-1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 egg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

1. Wrap the crackers in a tea towel and smash until they are fine
2. Add all the ingredients (except the olive oil) in a bowl, scrunch and mix everything up well
3. Divide into 6 and pat and mould into a roundish shape about 2cm thick
4. Drizzle burgers with olive oil and put on a plate, cover and place in fridge, to firm them up until needed
5. Place on baking tray in the oven for about 20 mins, turning halfway through (add cheese then if you want it!) ... Jamie grills but we found baking was a great alternative and kept them juicy!

Finger Painting

School holiday's. We are almost at the end of the first ever proper school holiday in our household. While Abigail had been at pre-school before coming here, it was only a couple of hours a few days a week. School has been a little bit more hard-core since arriving in Tanzania and she's loving it!

To begin with Abigail couldn't understand why she couldn't still go to school over the Easter break, as she has been enjoying it so much ... but soon got into the swing of things, including staying in her PJ's til lunchtime some days. A foretaste of the teenage years no doubt!

I have heard that some parents, dread the holidays and finding things for their munchkins to do. It is still a novelty for me to have Abigail at school, so the holidays feel normal! 

The girls have been enjoying time together, without either TV or all their toys. I had hoped that our container might have arrived by now with extra amusements for the girls or just so Abigail could play a part in the unpacking but it wasn't to be ... and it seems it didn't matter either!

Not only have I turned to the internet for yumminess but I've also used it for some crafty ideas too. One day this week while Naomi slept after lunch, me and Abigail had lots of fun doing some finger painting.

First we made the paints ... yes, from scratch because you can't buy them here! Then we spent quite a long while creating masterpieces together. Abigail loved doing all of it. It was really easy to clean off fingers and the pots, towels etc that we used and had the littlest member of the family woken up she could have joined us, it wouldn't have mattered if she had put her fingers in her mouth, as it was all edible!

As it was our first attempt at making them we just did two colours but next time we'll definitely be making more. It was such a success, from the making to the creating! Here's the recipe, all ingredients are simple and easily available here in Dodoma (although I won't be adding it to the yumminess/recipe section of the blog as I wouldn't recommend serving it up at mealtimes!) ...

• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups water

1. Combine ingredients in a small saucepan
2. Warm until mixture thickens
3. Cool and pour into containers
4. Add food colouring to create desired colours

Today is officially the last day of the Easter break and we've had lots of fun with play dates and homemade crafty things to amuse us but I know one little girlie who is looking forward to getting back to school on Monday!

Too Delicious

I first arrived and lived in Dodoma almost 14 years ago! We had no landline phone, mobiles hadn't made it to Tanzania and internet was so limited that all the staff at the school had one email address between them! To receive messages the sender had to write your name in the subject title and then we would book time slots to read and reply to any messages we had!

How times have changed! Everyone has internet access relatively easily, either through a wireless connection at home or via mobile phones ... which by the way, are EVERYWHERE and are much better than even those we were using when we lived in the States last year!

As you will know if you've been reading this blog recently, all our belongings continue to be stuck in Dar Es Salaam and I have already commented on the fact my recipe book is among those things! The longer the time lasts, the more I'm searching the internet and Pinterest especially, for new recipes or for alternative versions of ones I haven't got to hand. There have been occasions when we've had no internet or electricity that have scuppered my cooking plans but for the most part and if I forward-plan, the internet has been a Godsend in the kitchen, as well as to keep in touch family and friends.

This weekend I was looking for an Anzac biscuit recipe when I stumbled across a blog that I know I will be returning to again and again and again, Butter Baking. I have to admit I got a bit side-tracked because there were so many delicious looking recipes included but eventually remembered what I was looking originally for! The Anzac Biscuits were perfect. My only criticism, if you could call it that, is that they were too delicious and left me wanting more and more!

I got in touch with Natasha, the author of the Butter Baking blog, who like me loves baking but is not a huge fan of cake (finally someone who understands where I'm coming from, strange but true!) and asked her permission to share the yumminess with you and she agreed! Thank you Natasha! While the container is delayed I will continue to turn to the internet for cooking inspiration and for anything sweet, my first stop will definitely be at Butter Baking! Here's the recipe ...

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup dessicated coconut
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 125g unsalted butter, melted (4.5 oz)
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp boiling water

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and line 2 trays with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, coconut, sugar and salt.
3. Add the melted butter and maple syrup and stir well to combine.
4. In a little bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water. Mix it through the dough.
5. Roll large tablespoons of the dough into balls and place them on the baking trays, allowing room for spreading. Flatten a little for a chewy cookie and flatten right down for a crisp cookie like mine.
6. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, until golden. Makes 16 large, palm-size cookies, but you could always make 32 smaller Anzacs.

Soon after my container does arrive I plan to try out the Butter Baking New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. Why wait for the container? You can't buy chocolate chips here in Dodoma, so I included some in the shipping  ... although I think the heat in the container may well mean they arrive as one big chunk of chocolate anyway!

Favourite Recipes

One thing that I am (selfishly) really grateful for about this blog, is the fact that I've included some of our favourite recipes. 

Why? Because right now, while all our belongings are sitting in a container somewhere between here and there ... including my recipe books ... I still have access to some of the things we, as a family, enjoy eating the most!

Abigail especially, has been asking if we can get the ingredients to certain things out here in Tanzania and has been really surprised (and excited) when I have told her that we can! 

Already we have enjoyed our chicken pot pie, pasta sauce and speedy chilli. Although note-to-self ... the chilli powder out here is a lot stronger than the chilli powder we've been used to! Yesterday afternoon, all three of us girlies made some flapjack too. I'm not sure which of the three of us were more eager for it to cool down once it was out of the oven before we could chomp away on a piece!!

One thing that we have seen on either on Facebook, Pinterest or both recently, was a spaghetti and hotdog variation that looked quite fun to do, especially with little ones. Basically you poke your spaghetti through pieces of hotdog before they are boiled so that it is threaded through once it is cooked (see below).

Admittedly it was a little time consuming to do all the spaghetti threading but the whole family chipped in and had a lot of fun together doing it. Naomi probably ate more dried spaghetti and hotdog pieces than she actually made but enjoyed herself nonetheless!

Abigail was a bit bemused by the whole process but was certainly wide-eyed when she realised the end result as they were served at the table. We just kept it simple with some pasta sauce and peas and corn ... as it could all be cooked up together in one pot. The novelty of the whole experience put a smile on all our faces though!

Something Was Missing!

One of my favourite things about our MAF training at Ashburnham Place (Week 1 in 2008), apart from all the important information and lovely people we met of course ... was the Bakewell Tart!!! 

So, four and a half years later I was really looking forward to having that with one of our meals again! Imagine my surprise ... and sadly, my disappointment ... when I found that when we there for Week 2, it wasn't scheduled to be on the menu! Something was definitely missing!

I thought I'd be a bit cheeky though and see if they might let their little secret out of the bag, so that perhaps I would have the chance to recreate their yumminess for myself sometime. My cheekiness paid off. When we left at the end of the week, I had the recipe in my mitts!!!

Yesterday lunchtime we had a small family get together, with only a few days to go until we fly ... and to my surprise, my mother-in-law had taken the recipe and made it for us for dessert (along with some other yummy stuff!). It was as delicious as I remembered it to be and what made me even happier was knowing that I will be able to make it for my family again too!

Here is the recipe (in a slightly different format from usual, it assumes knowledge of making pastry and frangipane!) ... it is for 4x domestic recipe ... so you will need to adjust the measurements!! Ordinarily I would do it for you but things are a little hectic right now as I'm sure you will appreciate! I promise it will be worth doing the maths for though, if you do attempt it!

Sweet Pastry

- 2lbs flour

- 1.5lbs butter

- 3/4lb caster sugar

- 2 eggs

Strawberry Jam

Frangipane

- 1lb margarine

- 1lb sugar

- 8 eggs

- 0.5lb self-raising flour

- 0.5lb ground almonds

- Almond essence

1. Make pastry and line tins
2. Bake blind for 15 mins at 150 (300 F/GM 2)
3. Cover bottom of pastry case with jam
4. Make sponge (frangipane)
5. Pour sponge over jam
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 150 (300 F/GM 2) until sponge is cooked
7. Cool
8. Choose from one of the following ... 
• Mix some icing sugar with water and almond essence to make icing
• Mix some icing sugar with water and cocoa powder to make icing
• Alternatively dust with icing sugar
9. Ice tart and leave to set

Traditional English Crumpets

One priority on our agenda's when we are visiting the UK, is always enjoying food that we can't get where we have been living. Perhaps our waistlines expand a little in the process but it's definitely worth the indulgence of 'home comforts'!

There are all kinds of yumminess that I personally miss when we're living abroad. Many of the things would be food that I wouldn't necessarily eat regularly if we lived in England ... but it's surprising how not being able to get them for a year or so at a time makes you want to eat them all the more!

As a family we're been enjoying all kinds of things from bacon sandwiches, proper sausages and cream teas to fish and chips, custard creams and a large selection of British chocolate bars. 

I am always on the look out for how I can replicate our favourite treats from scratch ... so that we can eat them even if we can't get them at the local shops wherever we live in the world. Especially looking ahead to our move to Tanzania next month.

Last week, my dad treated us to what was described as his new 'party trick'! Homemade crumpets, see them cooking below. (For the non-Brit readers among you, click here for the Wikipedia description.) It's been something I've wanted to experiment with for a while and just never had the chance to get round to it ... but now I have a full-proof delicious recipe from my dad!

Here it is ... very British and very yummy!

• 250g sieved strong white bread flour
• 1x 7g sachet dried active yeast
• 1/2 t sea salt
• 1 t sugar
• 1/2 t bicarbonate of soda
• 100ml water
• 275ml milk
• Butter for greasing and to serve
• Crumpet Rings to cook them in

1. Heat the water and milk together until lukewarm
2. Sieve flour into mixing bowl, add yeast, sugar, bicarb & salt
3. Mix in warm liquid to flour mixture with wooden spoon, then whisk for a few minutes until a batter is formed
4. Place damp tea towel across the top of the bowl and leave in a warm place for about an hour, til risen and full of bubbles
5. Grease crumpet rings and add butter to pre-heated non-stick frying pan
6. Put rings into the frying pan, add approx 2 teaspoons of mixture into each ring ... just under half full
7. Cook on medium-low heat, approx 10 mins until surface has bubbled, formed holes and dried out
8. Remove rings (carefully ... they're HOT!) then flip crumpets for a few seconds so the tops can brown
9. Serve immediately with butter, jam, melted cheese, syrup or something else ... or save and toast later

This recipe makes approx 12 crumpets. It is possible to stir in some extra ingredients just before the cooking stage ... the ones we enjoyed had chopped walnuts and raisins in them!

Good Friends and Good Food

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in the States and we've just got back from spending a few days with some good friends in Indiana (hence the day's delay on this post!). 

This was our fourth and final Thanksgiving here and my favourite. We got to take a trip to a new State to us, enjoy time with good friends who we haven't seen for a while and who are like family, eat some total yumminess, relax a little in the midst of the craziness of an international move, get some good deals in the Black Friday sales on things we really needed to buy before we leave ... and lots more! What was not to love?!

Thanksgiving is often stereotyped as an excuse for gluttonous feasting ... and to be fair, I haven't gone hungry any year we've celebrated it out here! There is a lot of pumpkin involved, as well as other combinations of food that wouldn't necessarily feel natural to me to put together on a plate but it has always been delicious!

Thanksgiving Dinner

This year, the day after Thanksgiving I got to treat our hosts to another yummy feast, this time one of Thai food. When I was studying at All Nations, I had a really good Thai friend, who taught me to cook 'real' Thai food, rather than a westernised version (much to my husband's delight!). We often enjoy a Thai meal at home but from time to time I'll cook three or more dishes when we entertain and give our friends a real 'party in their mouths'!

One of my favourites is the Matsaman Curry, so I always include that ... here's the recipe according to my wonderful Thai friend! Serve with basmati rice.

• Matsaman Curry Paste (approx 1Tbsp ... sometimes more!)
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• 500g beef or chicken, inch cubed
• 300g potatoes, inch cubed
• 1 cup milk
• 1 onion, cubed
• large handful of peas or green beans
• 50g salted peanuts
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp fish sauce

1. In a large saucepan, bring half coconut milk to boil and mix in paste
2. Add meat & when cooked, add extra coconut milk
3. Add potato (& water if necessary to cover potato)
4. Add milk
5. Add onion
6. Add peanuts
7. Add brown sugar and fish sauce
8. Boil/Simmer til it's all cooked

Banoffee Pie

Living in Tanzania, the ingredients for 'cake' were relatively easy to come by. It did make having a cake on birthday's a little less exciting though ... when you regularly eat it all year round!

In order to make birthday's a little more special, I started to make friends a Banoffee Pie instead. A mixture of banana and toffee and total yumminess! My aunty used to make them for family gatherings when I was a lot younger and then when I was a student, we used to have them during regular weekly meals at church.

The ingredients weren't so easy to come by in Dodoma, which made it all the more special to celebrate birthday's and special occasions with! We used to get the digestive biscuits flown down on a MAF shuttle from Nairobi or brought out by visitors. Making the cream was also difficult, so sometimes we substituted a packet of 'dream topping' instead. (My mum would send them out in a little package in the post, along with the Angel Delight to make butterscotch ice-cream ... always an exciting parcel to receive!)

When I started adding recipes to this blog, it wasn't long before a few of my friends, especially those from my time in Tanzania, were asking about my Banoffee Pie. For one reason or another, I've only just gotten round to including it ... so apologies if you're one of those who have been patiently waiting! 

I have always thought it was an American recipe but now that I live here I realise it most definitely isn't, the majority of my friends have never heard of Banoffee Pie! Earlier this week we went round to a friends for dinner and were asked to bring dessert. I made a Banoffee for the first time in forever, which went down very well and my mother-in-law (who apparently doesn't do 'sweet things') enjoyed tucking into three helpings over the course of just one evening!

Here's the recipe ... the wait is over!!

• 6oz Digestive biscuits - crushed (approx 12 biscuits) ... British 'biscuits' (cookies) not American 'biscuits', available in Walmart
• 3oz butter - melted
• 14oz tin condensed milk
• 2-3 bananas - sliced
• 1/2 pt double/whipping cream - whipped
• A little grated chocolate (I put a lot on this last banoffee pie!)

1. Boil sealed tin of condensed milk for 2 hours in a pan of water to make 'toffee' - cool before opening (make sure the water stays topped up and covers the tin. If you're living at altitude you may have to boil it for 3 hours!)
2. Combine biscuits and melted butter. Press into an 8" pie dish. Cool in fridge.
3. Spoon out toffee onto the biscuit base.
4. Lay out the banana slices to cover the toffee.
5. Spoon cream to make the top layer.
6. Sprinkle the grated chocolate on top (I got carried away with the one in the photo ... I was chatting to a very good friend in the UK on the phone at the time!)
7. Refrigerate until serving.

Oodles of Noodles

What is it about little people and pasta? It seems that in my experience, pasta is universally inhaled by babies and toddlers ... and really quick and easy to prepare. 

Mac'n'cheese is a staple dish out here in the States, in fact I had never realised just how HUGE a dish it is, until we moved here. There are loads of variations to flavours and you can find a whole area at the supermarket devoted to all different sizes and brands of instant mac'n'cheese, really!! It did actually make us laugh a lot when we first arrived in the States!

While we do eat mac'n'cheese from time to time, more often we like to have something a little healthier. One family favourite of ours is garlic chicken stir fry with bok choy or spinach. While the original recipe I found was designed to be served with rice, we use a 'secret' ingredient that we can't get here in Coshocton but have visitors bring from the UK, udon noodles. The noodles are delicious and are Japanese wheat flour noodles ... much more delicious than traditional pasta. It does mean we can't eat it as often as we would like as we're often waiting for a new 'shipment' to come!

The amounts in this recipe feed the four of us ... so probably about 3 adult portions! We all LOVE to eat this meal from the youngest to the eldest in the family, Abigail in particular loves to slurp the noodles.

• 1 Large Chicken breast (the ones we buy here are at least twice the size we get in the UK!!!)
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 2 Tbsp peanut oil
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 6 spring onions
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 4 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 500g bok choy (chopped coarsely) or baby spinach
• Udon noodles or rice as you prefer/is available

1. Thinly slice the chicken and coat in flour - shake off the excess
2. Heat oil in wok, stir fry chicken in batches til browned all over & cooked through (remove)
3. Add garlic, pepper and spring onions to the wok, cook until pepper is tender
4. Return chicken to wok with stock, soy sauce & peas
5. Stir fry til sauce boils and thickens slightly
6. Stir in noodles and cook for 3-5 mins
7. Just before serving, add bok choy/baby spinach until it wilts

(If serving with rice, don't forget to put it on to cook at the beginning, skip No 6 and then serve the stir fry on a bed of rice!)

Home Grown

One thing we've had lots of fun doing while we've been living in the States is having a small garden. 'Garden' in the American sense of the word, what us Brits would call a 'veggie patch'. 

While none of us profess to have very green fingers or thumbs (depends which side of the pond you live on as to which digits you use apparently!), we thought we'd give it a go. There is only a small strip in our back yard that we could actually cultivate but from the first summer we lived in the States, we cleared it and experimented. It's been so much fun for all members of the family too.

We've only planted four or five things each year but have enjoyed small crops of peas, carrots, parsnips, butternut squash, basil, peppers, carrots, spinach and onions. A packet of seeds costs nothing, which has meant we've managed to save a little on the grocery bills too, last Autumn we didn't have to buy carrots til Christmas time!! Below was this years first crop of peppers ... and there are plenty more ready and waiting to be picked, perfect for our crock-pot stuffed pepper recipe.

We have been enjoying the home grown food and also eating less pre-packaged stuff filled with preservatives. I'm sorry to say it but in the States, food we've bought has lasted a ridiculously long time after opening ... unhealthily, preservative filled, lengths of time! 

Knowing that some simple things will be less easy to come by once we're in Tanzania, I've been perfecting a few basic recipes for us to enjoy, like a homemade tomato sauce I found in a book from the library, which is a much better, fresher and yummier alternative to any pasta sauces we've found here. It's great with pasta, as a dipping sauce for our pizza homemade pizza rolls, or as a base for other sauces (in lasagne's or bolognese's) and freezes really well. You can alter the taste and make it sweeter by caramelising the onions a little at the start if you have the time but you can also use the 'chuck-it-all-in' method in too!

1 large carrot

2 ribs celery

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

1/2 cup/120ml extra virgin olive oil

2x 28oz/794g cans diced tomatos

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar (if necessary)

1. Chop the carrot, celery, onion and garlic

2. Heat the oil and add the chopped veggies til soft

3. Add tomatoes, salt and sugar (to taste)

4. Bring to the boil and simmer for ??? ... it depends how long I have!

5. Let it cool, then blend in batches 

6. Mix it altogether and re-heat/freeze as required