"MEEEE-LLLEEEEESSSSS"

As a South African, you must have ONCE in your lifetime heard the call from a lady-with-a-powerful-voice shouting MIIEEELLIIIIEEESSSSSSS! Now yes I am generalising when I say that only South Africans have had the pleasure of experiencing this, I could be wrong?

My little sister was actually scared of the ladies who sold mielies...well it wasn't them that she scared of...it was the mieeeliiiieeesss chant that scared her..for some reason she thought they were calling her! hahaha poor child

Yesterday I had another nostalgic moment - seems to be happening often lately..This time however, the women wasn't shouting out mielies but rather sitting on the side of the road quietly with her produce on display..it was cold..and raining..and I was lazy to cook!

~hmmm this pic is making my mouth water all over again!!~

So we had mielies for dinner...Cost me R12 for 2 mielies...cheapest dinner T and I have had in a longgggg time!
Dont know when last we had them..oh it was divine!! So simple yet so...sustaining..I had to add some salted butter though...just to gve it that extra oomph...*licklipsdelisch*

PB and J S...;)

....aka Peanut Butter and Jam Sandwich

My simple pleasure..and oh my simple treasure..

This used to be my moms FAVOURITE meal (she thinks she’s allergic to peanut butter now)! And yes it was a meal...if she had this, there would be no need for dinner or “real” food. If not had as a meal, it would be out late night ‘snack’ while we discussed everything from school, to our futures to life to boys to love to happiness, sadness– basically everything and anything.

So from a young age we got to appreciate the pleasure a simple peanut butter and jam sandwich brings...but oh don’t be fooled, this simple treat can go from hero to zero if not made properly. Of course the word properly is a relative term here!

• My fave way of making it is with a good thick spread of salted butter (the unsalted version doesn’t do much for me)
• A thick layering or BLACK CAT PEANUT BUTTER (I unfortunately or fortunately am a sucker for Black cat and refuse to eat any other brand of peanut butter)
• And finally...a good dollop of jam! My favourites wander between apricot jam and rasberry jam..I don’t do the likes of mixed fruit and marmalade (unless the marmalade is served with figs and good cheese) J

This, was my simple indulgent treat on Sunday morning..enjoyed with a good cuppa coffee, sitting on the floor, with legs crossed....I was 12 again ;)

Some history on peanut butter and jam or rather peanut butter and jelly (as some people refer to it).
For those who care, the calorie count in a PB and J sandwich - everything within moderation I say!!

Side note : I just realised that if I rearranged the letters in the title of my post, they would "spell" out two acroynms that are "commonly" used hahahahahahaha ROTFL

Chocolate Caramel Slice of Heaven

I’m  currently in the middle of writing my 2nd Semester exams and trying to organise 5 events at work while still dealing with my marketing plan for 2011 - PHEW. Needless to say things are rather hectic on my side...;) ;)

Last Friday while on study leave I decided that I needed a  break...and my idea of relaxing, is to make something. So instead of baking a cake -which I know myself and T would not finish- I opted to try out a recipe for Chocolate Caramel Slice. I tasted these pieces of “take one bite and add 5kgs to your waistline” @ work and boy was I impressed. I swore that when I made it at home, I would only have one slice...sherdam that never happened. These slices are SOOO good that you will be forced to share!

I resorted to calling friends and family and offering them caramel slices because I found myself opening my fridge every 2^nd hour to “check on them”...while reading about the economic strategies of our time, all I saw in my head, were the “take one bite and add 5kgs to your waistline” pieces of sweet sticky yummy goodness.

 

Chocolate Caramel Recipe
250ml (1cup)self raising flour
125ml (1/2 cup) caramel brown sugar – I used white and turned out fine
250ml (1cup) dessicated coconut
125g (1/2 cup) butter or margarine, melted
1 can (380g) NESTLE Caramel Treat
150g Dark Chocolate
50g (2Tbl)butter or margarine
1.       Preheat oven to 180 °C
2.       Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl and mix well
3.       Press evenly into a greased 18cm x 28cm lamington pan – I used a brownie tin
4.       Bake for 15mins, then allow too cool
5.       Spread Caramel Treat over the base – go wild and add the whole tin
6.       Combine dark chocolate and butter over double boiler on low heat
7.       When chocolate mixture is melted and at a smooth consistency, spread over caramel base
8.       Refrigerate until set
9.       Cut into squares before serving

~Don’t you want to swim in that chocolate~

As hard as it might be to not let it set, trust me that it will be worth your while to have it set properly before eating. It took about an 1 ½ to set in the fridge..gave me time to study ;)

~So I tried to take a pic of TWO pieces of choc caramel slices but I struggled to contain myself and kept biting into the one piece~

If I had kids and I was throwing a party for them I would definitely make these again! Hell I’m going to make them again just for the sake of making them ;)- I will invite friends over again and we shall accompany the goodness with some Patron (a friend who came by on Fri night to collect some slices suggested we have it with a shot of Patron and I couldn’t say no – trust me...they work well together!!!)