Dairy Free Choc Coconut Sponge Dessert

Choc Coconut Sponge Dessert

100g dark chocolate

1 tin coconut cream

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1 packet sponge finger biscuits

about 200ml black coffee

Dry fry the coconut until browned (making sure it does not burn)

Melt the chocolate

Whisk the coconut cream into the melted chocolate

Pour a thin layer of chocolate mixture in your serving dish

Quickly dip the sponge biscuit in the coffee (one at a time)

and layer it in your dish

Sprinkle a layer of coconut

Continue layering chocolate, biscuit and coconut

Finishing with chocolate and coconut sprinkled on top

Set in the refrigerator

The Fruit of the Spirit is Love

My daughter and I finally finished our second book.

It is the first in a series on the Fruit of the Spirit.

Hope you enjoyed it :-)

Boys treat girls gentle...

I have quite a boisterous little boy who, in all of his exuberance, tends to bash into anyone or anything who lies within his intended path. Unfortunately, my daughter is usually the one who is in his intended path.

I am so thankful for a family we knew years ago who trained their boys with this simple phrase:
"Boys treat girls gentle,

because God made girls special!"

I have taught these words to my 'almost three year old', and I tend to have to remind him quite often.
I usually start off saying 'Boys treat girls...' and then he fills in 'special', I continue with 'because God made girls...', 'special' comes his reply.

He usually goes on to tell me that his sister is special and that I am special too - so sweet. So I know that he at least grasps the concept of 'girls'.

I have found that this positive training method to be a whole lot more effective than simply;
"Don't hit/push your sister!" (said with a stern voice).
This type of rebuke just focuses on the hitting/pushing and does not give an alternative to the rough action.
Teaching him to be gentle is far more beneficial than just telling him to stop being rough.

The aim is also to give him a high regard for girls (and women), by reminding him that God made them special.
They are to be treasured as the beautiful creations that they are.

Please note that my son is very far from having mastered this principle. His toddler temperament gives little control over his testosterone filled actions. But hopefully in time, and with much prayer and training, he will be 'a man after God's own heart'. A man who, like Christ, displays strength under control.

Dairy Free Scones

Dairy Free Scone Recipe

Ingredients:

300ml coconut cream

1 egg

3 cups sef-raising flour

2 tbs castor sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 deg C.

Whisk the eggs and coconut cream together.

Combine flour and sugar.

Mix the egg mixture into the flour.

Once sticky, kneed into a soft dough.

Roll out onto floured surface untill about 2cm thick.

Cut out scones from dough and place on a greased and floured baking tray.

Brush the tops with a little left over coconut cream and thn sprinkle with castor sugar.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.

Enjoy hot with jam, cream and cheese.

Stick to non-dairy margerine and honey for the dairy free option.

Spiced Apple Scrunchie

I made this for the Mum's Bible Study today, it was a total experiment but it worked - YAY!

It is not entirely 'dairy free', but I have added a 'how to free it from dairy' insert at the end of the recipe.

Spiced Apple Scrunchie

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Ingredients:

Phyllo pastry

2 Tins pie apples

Half a handful of raisins

Handful slivered almonds

Handful oats

A good dollop of butter (about 50g)

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

A pinch of all spice

1 Teaspoon sugar

Method:

Dry fry the almonds and oats until slightly browned, leave to cool.

Melt the butter.

Prepare the Phyllo Scrunchies by brushing a little melted butter on one side and then scrunch.

Add ginger, sugar and cinnamon to the remaining butter and stir in until mixed through.

Mix the ingredients together in an oven dish (except for the phyllo scrunchines).

Place the phyllo on top of the apple mixture.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until crisp.

Sprinkle icing sugar over and serve hot with cream.

Dairy substitutes:

The butter can be replaced with dairy free margerine.

The phyllo can be sprayed with oil or the brushed with margerine.

Serve with Soy Ice Cream.

Oven Timer

A very wise and godly older woman gave me this advice a number of years ago.

It seems universal that children lack the urgency in getting themselves ready in time.

In time for school, in time for church, in time for breakfast, in time for bed.

It also seems universal that we as parents work ourselves into a slight frenzy as we continually repeat the same instructions to get ready over and over and over.

Ultimately we get angry and our children suffer our sinful wrath.

A very simple yet effective technique to overcoming this frustration is using an oven timer.

We can train our children that we expect them to obey after just one instruction, if they struggle with doing so timeously, we can set the timer explaining to them that they now have '10 minutes' to be dressed and ready for breakfast.

If they fail to be ready by the time the alarm sound, there should be appropriate consequences.

This tool has helped me many times to keep a peaceful atmosphere in the home, there are few things worse than a nagging mother.

I found it very useful when my daughter went through a daydreaming phase during dinner time, I would set the timer and my daughter would be finished eating in no time.

We should just be aware to give a reasonable amount of time for the children to achieve their set task.

Moist Chocolate Cake

You might have noticed that I love chocolate, well here is a recipe for a dairy-free chocolate cake that my Mom receved from a friend of hers many years back.

430ml flour

375ml sugar

4 eggs (seperated)

200ml oil

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cocoa mixture: mix 125ml cocoa powder in 250ml hot water

METHOD:

Sift dry ingredients together.

Beat egg yolk, oil, vanilla essence and cocoa mixture together.

Mix into to dry ingredients.

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Bake in a pre-heated 180 deg C oven for 30 minutes

(or until skewer comes out clean)