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Post Pesach Yeast Rolls

So Pesach ended, and due to lock down, bakeries were not allowed to start production right away, and also, I didn’t want to brave the shops just for bread or rolls, so I made my own.

I found a simple recipe online, gave myself 2 hours and made delicious, fluffy rolls for dinner.

Rolls
Print
Easy Yeast Rolls
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Resting Time
2 hrs
Total Time
2 hrs 40 mins
 
Course: Side Dish
Keyword: rolls, yeast
Servings: 8 rolls
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups warm water
  • 1 tablespoon yeast (I used instant)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups flour
Instructions

  1. Mix yeast, sugar and water together in your stand mixer bowl, if you dont have a stand mixer then a large mixing bowl.

  2. Allow yeast to start frothing.

  3. Add oil and salt.

  4. Add 2 cups of flour and start mixing.

  5. Slowly add the rest of the flour, half a cup at a time, until the dough starts coming together and pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

  6. Keep checking the dough after every half cup of flour, dough should be tacky but not sticky.

  7. Keep adding flour until you reach the correct consistency.

  8. Lightly spray the bowl with oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a towel and leave for approx 1 hour.

  9. Remove the dough from the bowl and split into 8 even pieces.

  10. Roll the eight pieces into balls and place on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.

  11. Leave an inch of space between each ball.

  12. Lightly cover with plastic wrap and leave for a further 45 minutes to an hour.

  13. Heat oven to 200°C.

  14. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until the rolls start to turn golden brown.

  15. Remove from oven and allow to cool on racks.

Recipe Notes

This recipe was adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Next time, I will brush the rolls with an egg wash before baking.

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Death by Sugar

Last week, Faith asked if we can bake a cake, we decided on chocolate and earlier this week I found a really great, one bowl, recipe that worked a treat.

Now, when it comes to icing/frosting the cake, we usually just do a simple icing sugar and water drizzle, but I had just bought a rather large bag of mini marshmallow and I got a bee in my bonnet about making a marshmallow frosting.

I searched online and couldn’t find a simple recipe so I asked The Cupcake Lady, Angel, if she had any ideas, and she pointed me to a pretty simple recipe that came out great.

So, without further ado, here are both recipes…

chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting
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One Bowl Chocolate Cake
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
 
Course: Dessert
Keyword: cake, chocolate
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 2 cups sugar (I used brown)
  • 1 ¾ cups flour
  • ¾ cup cocoa powder
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 175C

  2. Prepare 2 9 inch round pans or 1 12 inch round pan (which is what I did)

  3. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients

  4. Add wet ingredients except the boiling water and mix well

  5. Once all ingredients have come together. add the boiling water and continue mixing until well combined

  6. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes or so and then remove from cake tin to cool completely

Recipe Notes

This recipe was adapted from All Recipes One Bowl Chocolate Cake III

cake with slice cut out
Print
Marshmallow Frosting
Prep Time
45 mins
 
Course: Dessert
Keyword: frosting, icing, marshmallow
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 1.25 cups sugar (I used brown sugar)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 egg white
  • 18 large marshmallows (I used 180 mini marshmallows)
Instructions

  1. Boil the sugar and water together until they reach 112C or, if you dont have a candy thermometer, a small drop of the syrup forms a soft ball in ice water

  2. Remove from heat

  3. Break up the marshmallows, if you are using large ones, and add them to the syrup, dont stir

  4. Leave to melt for a few minutes

  5. While waiting for the marshmallows to melt, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form

  6. Add the syrup and marshmallows to the egg white and beat well until it is all combined to a spreadable consistency

  7. Mine was runny but if yours is not spreadable add a few drops of water at a time until its right

  8. Spread over your cake or cupcakes

Recipe Notes

Recipe taken from Happy Money Saver – Great Grandmother’s Marshmallow Frosting

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6 months in numbers

Roughly 6 months ago, I was let go from my job of 4 and a half years. In that time I have been job searching, reading a ton and learning front end web development by teaching myself HTML and CSS.

Its been an extremely wild 6 months. It was fun. It was stressful. It was enlightening. I got to spend time with Paul, even though he was working during the week. I got to eat lunch with my entire family, every day. I played games with the kids, took them to the park after school and helped with homework. I got to spend the entire summer break and all the Jewish holidays with the kids and Paul. I fell into a funk, especially after each rejection email from a potential job opportunity. I worked through each funk. I started running (and need to get back into it). I taught myself a new skill. I read. A lot.

As of today, the job searching has come to an end since I am now employed in an amazing company and am happily working in my new job! And Im going to be utilising some of the new skills I’ve learned!

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

The process of being (f)unemployed and searching for a job was hard. It certainly wasn’t quick and it took a hell of a lot of work and constant vigilance. It was at times demoralising and at times it was quite a bit of fun. I learned a lot and met some amazing people. The entire process is a post in and of itself.

I definitely could not have done it without Paul and the kids support. They held me up when I thought I would never find a job. They encouraged me to apply for jobs outside my comfort zone. They cheered with me for every interview gotten and hugged me for every position lost. And now here we are on the other side.

And now, the numbers:

  • 6 months
  • 90+ jobs applied for
  • 30+ telephone interviews, skills tests, Skype interviews, psychometric tests and in-person interviews undertaken, from the…
  • 13 companies interviewed with
  • 3 offers made
  • 1 awesome job accepted!

In the last 6 months I have also done the following:

  • Read 194 books
  • Averaging 32 books a month (1 a day!)
  • Averaging 9000 pages read in a month

and:

  • Took various classes on Codecademy in HTML and CSS
  • Joined She Codes;
  • Have had 4 groups lessons
  • Completed 6 lessons on HTML and CSS
  • In the process of coding my own cooking site
  • Starting to learn JavaScript
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Thanksgiving and Pie

We were invited for a thanksgiving shabbat this week by American born friends in our neighbourhood. I asked what I could bring and was offered sides or dessert. I chose dessert!

Pie!! I mean who doesn’t love pie?

While apple pie is traditional, our hostess is allergic to apples, so I made two pies. One apple pie and one pear pie. Win win right?

Print
Apple (or pear) pie
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
1 hr 30 mins
 

A traditional and simple apple pie recipe.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • 1 packet frozen pastry dough
Filling
  • 8 apples (or pears), granny smith apples preferable
  • splash lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 egg for brushing the pastry
Instructions

  1. Peel and slice the apples (or pears) into small chunks.

  2. Place apples, lemon juice, sugars, cinnamon, salt and flour in a bowl and toss with your hands until all the fruit is covered.

  3. Cover bowl of fruit with plastic wrap and set aside for an hour or more.

  4. Take your frozen pastry dough out and let it defrost until it is manageable but still cool, I left mine in the fridge for 1 hour and it was ready when the fruit was ready.

  5. When you are ready to assemble the pie, turn your oven on to 180C.

  6. Once fruit is ready, take your dough and roll out a piece big enough to cover the bottom and sides of your pie dish.

  7. Place the pastry inside the dish and push the sides up a bit so they stick to the dish.

  8. Take your fruit and layer it into the pie dish, making sure the entire bottom is covered. Keep layering the fruit until in reaches the top of the dough up the sides of the dish.

  9. There will be some liquid left in the bowl, pour no more than 3/4 of a cup of this liquid over the top of the fruit before covering the pie with more dough.

  10. Roll out more dough and either place a full round piece on top of the pie or cut into strips and create a lattice top. You can also roll out the dough and cut shapes with cookie cutters, then create a patter with the shapes.

  11. If you place a full piece on top, cut a few slits into the dough to allow steam to escape.

  12. Brush the pastry dough with a bit of beaten egg.

  13. Once the pie is ready, place in the oven at 180C for about 30 minutes.

  14. Keep an eye on the pie and if you see the edges starting to burn you can cover them with a bit of foil molded to fit the pie dish.

  15. The pie is ready when the pastry is brown and the fruit is bubbling around the edges of the pastry.

  16. Allow to cool down before slicing. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from Inspired Taste

 

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Black Lentil and Chickpea Stew

We have decided its time to start eating less meat and chicken and try out more veggie dishes. Not only is it healthier but its cheaper too.

This was my first real veggie dish with lentils and it turned out so well. Aaron even went back for seconds when I thought I would have had to bribe him to even try it.

Lentil and chickpea stew with carrots over rice
Print
Black Lentil and Chickpea Stew
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
40 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: Vegan, Vegetarian
Servings: 4
Author: Gina
Ingredients
  • olive oil
  • 1 medium onion roughly chopped
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons ras al hanut spice
  • 2 teaspoons sweet chili flakes
  • garlic crushed, as much as you like
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
  • 2 medium carrots peeled and sliced into thin rounds
  • 1 cup black lentils uncooked, soaked
  • 1 tin ready to eat chickpeas
Instructions

  1. Heat oil in the pot

  2. Add onions, garlic and spices, stir until everything is mixed and the onions are soft

  3. Add stock, water, tomatoes, carrots and lentils

  4. Bring to the boil and then lower heat and simmer, uncovered for about 25 minutes

  5. Add chickpeas and simmer for a further 10 minutes

Recipe Notes

Serve over rice or with naan

I adapted this recipe from vanillaandbean.com

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How I hacked my kids snack for the better

My children love yogurt as a snack. They particularly like a Danone yogurt that has mini Smarties type chocolates added to it.

But… we can only find this particular yogurt at one particular store and even then stock is limited and we may not get.

So today I hacked the snack. Not only did it work out cheaper, it also worked out much healthier and my kids love it.

The original yogurt

The original contains 155g of sweetened yogurt and 25g of generic Smarties. It costs ₪4.30 on average.

Plain yogurt
Brand Smarties
Generic Smarties

The hack consists of a tub of plain yogurt. This is unsweetened, probiotic yogurt and is 200g a tub. Each tub costs ₪3.50.

Then we add a small packet of mini Brand Smarties or generic Smarties. The original Smarties come in a pack of 13 bags, each bag is 14.4g and each bag costs ₪ 1. The generic Smarties come in a pack of 10 bags and each bag is 17g and costs ₪ 1.29.

So I worked out what the cost would be per 100g for a yogurt with Smarties.

SnackCostSizeTotal sizecost per 100g
Original Yogurt₪4.30155g yogurt
and 25g
Smarties		180g₪2.39
Bio Yogurt +
Generic
Smarties		₪4.79200g yogurt
and 17g
Smarties		217g₪2.21
Bio Yogurt +
Brand
Smarties		₪4.50200g yogurt
and 14.4g
Smarties		214.4g₪2.09

Funnily enough, the Brand Smarties worked out cheaper per 100g than the generics. Who knew.

And even better than all the cost saving, is the health saving.

The hack is far healthier than the original, with an additional 45g of yogurt, that’s probiotic and not sweetened, as well as almost half the amount of Smarties.

And my kids are happy to eat it.

I’ve got to admit, I’m pretty proud of myself for not only realising I could hack their favourite snack but for getting it cheaper and healthier too.

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When the husband is away…

…the wife will have to clean out the veggie draw.

The veggie draw that had a bag of manky, rotten cucumbers in it. A bag of manky, rotten cucumbers that had been reduced to disgusting, scummy, smelly liquid. Disgusting, scummy, smelly liquid that had leaked into the veggie draw.

Oh, and don’t let me forget to tell you that the veggie draw has holes in the sides at the bottom, so when I pulled out the draw to dump the mess into the sink, it all drained out onto the floor.

So yeah. Today, more so than usual, I truly do appreciate my husband. He who cleans rotten veggies out the fridge and takes out the trash and cleans the toilets and cleans up after the dog because he loves me and knows I hate doing that stuff.

I love you husband. Three more sleeps!

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5 Minute Makeover

Being funemployed has left me with some time on my hands. So I figured I would put it to good use.

A few weeks ago, I spotted these self adhesive tiles at the local MaxStock (similar to Crazy Store in SA). At ₪ 10 (R40) a sheet I couldn’t pass them up.

The little corner wall where my stove is, was getting really dirty from food splashes as I cook and I have wanted to create a back splash for ages.

So I cleaned the wall, let it dry and snapped this before pic.

It literally took me 5 minutes to open the packs of tiles, peel the backing off and then place them on the wall. I placed 2 across and 2 up and then cut 1 tile in half to add on to the tiles going across.

They were not as sticky as I would have liked and will probably peel off at some stage (I actually used a glue stick to make one side of a tile stick down) but for now I am pretty impressed with it.

And the best part is if I get bored or they do fall off, I can just pop out and get different tiles and replace them. Easy peasy!

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Zombies! Argghhhh!

Running. Not something I have traditionally been very good at. I recall many tears over athletics in school. Mine and the coaches.

But a little while ago, Wendi mentioned a running app that sounded right up my alley. Zombies, Run! Its a fantastic running app that puts you smack bang in the middle of the Zombie apocalypse. You need to get to one of the last remaining outposts of survivors, and complete missions on the way. As you run, and complete missions, you follow a story by award winning author Naomi Alderman.

I went to download the app and noticed a 5km training version which fits in with one of my 6 before 40 goals of running another 5km. I downloaded the app and went for my first run. Then took 5 days to go for my next one. I was easing my way in, don’t judge!

So, since the 5km training app is a spin off, the first run is an introduction to the original story. Its also a free run, meaning no training, just a run/walk/crawl as you listen to the start of the story.

Today, I did the first actual training run. It took me about 35 minutes and I landed up doing 3km. I was so impressed with myself. It definitely did not feel like a 3km run. Listening to the story while doing the run/walk sprints made it fly by.

A few things that stand out about the app:

  • You can listen to your own music while using the app. Just start your music before opening the Zombies, Run! app. I used Spotify.
  • The app and the story are British, so there are some phrases and words that may be a bit confusing but as an ex Saffa, I followed along just fine.
  • Once you start the app, lock your screen. I didnt and as I was running it paused the app and I was waiting and waiting for my next instruction that never came. Probably added on at least another 5 minutes of running when I should have been doing intervals.
  • The story is NOT scary. Yes, there are zombies, but besides a bit of groaning and moaning and being told to run cause they are near you, its really not scary at all.

I have a rest day today and then on to my second training session the next day. I cant wait!

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Time for a new adventure

Some of you may already be aware but for those that are not and as a recap, the company that I have worked for since making aliyah, recently downsized quite drastically and most of the staff, including myself, were retrenched.

I worked out the months notice that they gave us and as of today I am officially unemployed.

And that’s OK.

I started applying for new jobs straight after finding out, and I have had a number of telephone interviews, assignments and in-person interviews so far. I am confident that I will have a new, super awesome job soon.

In the meantime, I am taking the next few weeks for myself.

I have a few projects I want to work on, including my pallet herb garden, creating a back (side) splash next to my stove, creating throw pillows out of old superhero t-shirts among other things.

Also, Paul and Aaron are heading off to Oz in a week or so for our nieces Bat Mitzvah, so Faith and I are are having 10 days of girl time. I will be home to fetch her from school every day and we will be able to go swimming or to the movies or just hang out.

I also intend running more and taking my yoga mat out to the park across the road. I’m also excited to have time to read more.

For now I am at home, taking some me time and getting ready for a brand new adventure!