Gran’s Milk tart

We had a “Pik & Proe” at our church recently. Basically everyone makes their favourite recipe, it could be bread, pasta, veggies, salad, dessert, whatever you feel like basically. You then bring this dish to the church and everyone can try your dish.

I love it, you get so many ideas and new recipes. I decided to make my Gran’s Milk tart. Okay, okay I might have changed a few things to make it leaner, but it still tastes great!

Gran’s Milk tart

Ingredients:

1 pack short crust pastry (yes, I cheat)

1 litre low fat milk

150g Sugar

½ Vanilla pod

½t Cinnamon

70g Cake flour

50g Corn starch

2t Custard powder

½t Salt

3 Large Eggs (separated)

6T Water

60g Butter

1t Vanilla essence

Method:

1. Roll out the pastry and place it in a prepared 25cm pan. Bake blind at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and bake for another 5 – 10 minutes, until golden brown.
2.  In a pot add the milk, 50g sugar, cinnamon and vanilla (scrape out the vanilla seeds). Heat it until warm and keep it on a low heat.
3. Mix the egg yolk, water and 100g of sugar until it is light yellow.
4. Sift all the remaining dry ingredients into the egg mixture and mix well.
5. Take a cup of the warm milk and add it slowly to the egg mixture, mix well. This will warm the mixture before you add it to the pot. Slowly add the egg mixture to the warm milk on the stove. Stir continuously.
6. Keep the mixture on a low heat and stir continuously until it thickens. This will take some time, be patient. Add the butter and vanilla essence. Remove the mixture from the heat and remove the vanilla pod.
7. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites until it makes soft peaks.
8. Gently fold the egg whites into the warm milk mixture, make sure it is well combined.
9. Pour the mixture into the pan with the baked pastry. Dust with a bit of Cinnamon and bake for 20 minutes in a 180 degrees Celsius oven.
10. Let the milk tart cool completely before removing it from the pan.

There you have it, my Gran’s milk tart recipe. Be warned the first time you make this you will feel overwhelmed and uncertain. By the third time, you will feel like a professional! Don’t give up, it’s worth the effort!

Have a fantastic day!

The Ginger Wonder!

Hey everyone!

Oh my gosh, I haven’t blogged in ages. Loads of things have been happening, but I guess the biggest news is that my husband and I are expecting our first child. This is also why I haven’t been blogging new recipes, cause I couldn’t eat much for such a long time! Only now in the last part of my second trimester I have been able to eat everything again (excluding a few things like tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, chicken etc.)

Let’s look back... Trimester one I basically just wanted to eat starch, red meat and citrus fruit. My poor husband had pasta almost every night! (Morning sickness, is not only in the mornings…) Trimester two I could start eating salads again! I could slowly start adding veggies again. Now on trimester three I feel much better. This means… recipe time again!!

We are so excited about our little baby, and I’m sure there’ll be loads of adventures! Who knows, maybe even a post or two on baby food. I’m pretty sure I’m going to try making my own baby food, rather than buying the bottled mass produced stuff. I’m sure I won’t be the only new mommy trying to figure out what babies should start eating when…

So here’s my first new “recipe” of 2013. Guess what it’s on safe natural medicine you can use while you’re pregnant. :)

I hate the taste of ginger, but I promise you, when you feel nauseous you’ll try just about anything to relieve the feeling. Ginger helps with nausea, heartburn and it is a natural cold medicine. Added benefits are: Ginger improves the body’s absorption of essential nutrients in the body. It helps to keep your sinuses clear. It helps to reduce flatulence, and reduces stomach cramps. It is even a natural anti-inflammatory, this is why I call it the wonder root!

You can use it in different ways, fresh ginger in honey to chew on, you could throw it in your bath water and bathe in it. Or you can do what I did, and make a “ginger tea”.

The Ginger Wonder!

Take fresh ginger and cut 3 or 4 thin slices off a fresh root.

Boil water and add it to the ginger slices.

Let it stand for 5 minutes. 

You can remove the ginger and add some lemon juice and honey.

I was feeling like I was getting a cold, and had one cup, once a day for 5 days. I never got sick! It was the cheapest medicine I’ve ever used, and I shall definitely use it for the rest of my life.

Have a great day!