Strawberry Biscuits (Cookies)

These Strawberry Biscuits (Cookies) are soft & buttery and the slight tartness of the fresh strawberry pieces inside them make for a delicious treat !

It’s Winter here in Africa, and strawberries (which just happen to be my favourite fruit) are an abundant Winter fruit here, especially during the month of July - I always consider July as being ‘strawberry month’ !

I have featured various strawberry recipes on the blog in the past, but never one for biscuits (cookies) made with actual fresh strawberries, so thought that I would share this one with you, which I made last weekend.

These biscuits are soft and buttery and the slight tartness of the strawberry pieces in them work well with the overall sweetness of the biscuit – and they go perfectly with a nice cuppa tea, of course !


Strawberry Biscuits (Cookies) (Adapted from the ‘Sugar Biscuits’ recipe in ‘Cook and Enjoy It’ by S.J.A. de Villiers)

½ cup Butter
1 cup brown Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
2 tbsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
½ tsp Salt
2 ½ cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder (Baking Soda)
1 cup fresh Strawberries, cleaned & roughly chopped

Cream the butter & sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg, milk, vanilla essence & salt. Mix well. Sift the flour and baking powder in. Mix. Fold in the chopped strawberries. Knead the dough lightly and roll pieces into walnut sized balls. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, press each ball down lightly with your thumb to flatten. Bake at 190’C/375’F/Gas Mark 5 for around 12 - 15 minutes until done. Makes +- 35 biscuits.

Mountain Songs ..... & Ginger Tea

Ginger tea from the Usambara mountains & a CD of traditional Tanzanian songs recorded on Mt. Kilimanjaro - read on if you'd like to stand a chance of being the lucky recipient of these uniquely Tanzanian items !

Sitting here in a remote corner of Africa & often not seeing anyone one other than my husband, kids and staff for weeks on end I am constantly amazed – and delighted – by the number of people I manage to ‘connect’ with on a daily basis from every corner of the world through this blog. I receive emails on an almost daily basis from readers the world over, packages in the mail and numerous comments on each post. All this really helps to keep me ‘connected’ and not feel so isolated or out of touch with what’s going on in the world, and I only have YOU - the people who read this blog - to thank for that ! (Along with the fact that your interest in my blog continues to keep me inspired and encourages me to keep on blogging - no matter what !) As a full time mother and wife, this blog is probably the only thing that I do 100% for myself and for MY own enjoyment - and sanity ?! ha ha ... well, I certainly have no intention of giving any of THAT up anytime soon ;)

I was also honoured to have recently been chosen as a ‘TravelAvenue Favourite Blog 2010’ (you can see the ‘badge’ in my right sidebar) and they are publishing my travel related posts there now as ‘Food, Fun & Farm Life In East Africa ‘ is listed as one of their ‘top African blogs from the travel community and around the web’. What makes me really happy about this, is that I am blogging about East Africa and promoting the beautiful country of Tanzania, and hopefully making more people aware of the fact that Africa really is a fantastic and diverse continent to visit ! (And not only stricken with poverty, war and disease as so much of the international media will have us all believe).

My readership has also grown locally through the South African ‘All For Women’ site which publishes my recipes several times a month in their weekly cooking newsletter, and last week my ‘Fat Free Waffles’ recipe was featured as ‘Recipe of The Week’ in their main newsletter. (Thanks, ‘All For Women’ !)

Afrigator (Africa’s largest blog directory) currently ranks ‘FOOD, FUN & FARM LIFE IN EAST AFRICA !’ as no. 659 in Africa and no. 12 in Tanzania and once again, this blog would not be in those positions if not for all you wonderful people who read me … so, thank you for that !

In appreciation of all my readers, I have decided to have another blog giveaway ….. of 2 uniquely Tanzanian products. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post (or email me via the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the blog if you are unable to post a comment) telling me your favourite childhood food memory before 11 am on Thursday 29th July, when I’ll close comments for this post and randomly draw a winner (I’ll contact you through a blog post announcing the winner, and you can then provide me with your postal details) and I’ll post the ‘prize’ to you - wherever you are in the world !

So, do you want to know (as pictured above) what I’m giving away ?

A 100 gm bag of ‘Lutindi Ginger Tea’ which has been grown in the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania (you can read a post I wrote about these beautiful mountains over here). The tea is grown without pesticides and is handpicked in tea fields which support the Lutindi Mental Hospital (East Africa’s oldest psychiatric hospital). The tea is packaged in a unique cloth bag made from local Kitenge cloth (you can read a post I wrote about Kitenge cloth over here).

A wonderful musical CD recorded live on Mt. Kilimanjaro with mountain guides and porters called ‘Kilimanjaro – A Cappella Mountain Singing’. It has 10 songs on it – all are traditional and well known Tanzanian songs which will enable you to really ‘feel’ part of the spirit of this wonderful country when you listen to it !

So, who knows ? You might be the lucky recipient of these 2 items, just leave me a comment and the winner will be announced in a little over a week …

Good luck, everyone !

An Easy Recipe For Meat Loaf

Great as a main meal, or a light lunch - this meat loaf is also perfect for picnics or lunchboxes !

Meat loaf is not something which I make very often – I’m not sure why not, as each time I make it the family enjoy it and it is so easy to throw together !

It freezes well and can be served either hot (with mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetables) or cold with a salad as a light meal. It ‘travels’ well & which makes it great for lunch boxes and picnics.

Here is a recipe which I came up with some years ago, & which works every time -:


Meat Loaf

1 kg lean Beef Mince
3 Onions, finely chopped
3 Eggs, beaten
½ cup Bread Crumbs
1-2 tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
1 x 240 gm tin of whole Tomatoes, drained & chopped
1 x 45 gm tin of Tomato Paste
1 tbsp dried Basil
1 tbsp dried Oreganum
Salt & Pepper

Extra breadcrumbs & Onion slices for decorating
Olive Oil

Mix all the ingredients together until well blended (hands are best for this !) then place the mixture into a lightly greased loaf tin (the one I use is 23 x 13 cm/9 x 5 inch)– pressing and patting in to shape & to ensure that all the corners of the tin are filled. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top of the loaf, scatter a few thinly sliced onion rings over the top and brush with a little olive oil. Bake at 190’C/375’F/Gas mark 5 for around an hour until done (prick loaf with a skewer in the centre to check that the juices run clear). Allow to cool slightly before cutting into slices. Serve hot with mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetables or cold with salad for a light lunch. This dish also freezes well.