Food & Drink

lifestyle Food & Drink

VALENTINE’S DESSERT SORTED!

Chocolate crepes with strawberries and Chantilly cream

12 crepes 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 400 ml milk • 3 large eggs • 50g butter • 2 teaspoon vanilla • 50g brown sugar • ½ tsp salt • 100g flour • 40g cocoa powder

Filling:

• 100g double cream • 20g icing sugar • 1 tsp vanilla extract • punnet of strawberries

Directions:

1. Melt the butter. 2. Place milk, eggs, vanilla, salt, sugar, melted butter in a blender and pulse for several seconds. 3. Add flour and cocoa powder in the mix and blend till smooth. Ensure you scrape the sides into the mix. 4. The mix should be smooth with no lumps; rest the mix for 20 minutes. 5. Heat up a frying pan, brush some butter on the pan, pour a ladle of the mix in the pan and swirl the pan to ensure the mix covers the full surface of the pan. 6. Crepes should cook quickly, only about a minute on the first side and less than 30 seconds on the other side. 7. Don't add too much batter mix to the pan. You want just enough chocolate crepe batter so that it covers the bottom of the pan. 8. Allow crepes to cool, in the meantime make the filling. 9. Pour cold double cream into your mixing bowl and whisk it at high speed. Keep on whisking until it is thick enough that it doesn’t collapse when you lift up the whisk. Add the sugar and vanilla and give the cream one final short whisk. Cut the strawberries and gently fold them into the cream. 10. Take one crepe and gently spread the filling mix on the crepe and fold in quarters. Repeat several times, place on a plate and dust with icing sugar. This delicious recipe was provided by Liv-In Chef - see www.livinchef.com

TOP 10 USES FOR COFFEE

1. Flavour your food: Ground coffee beans can be added to any dry rub for flavouring food. Just add a couple of tablespoons to your dry rub for a smokier flavour for meats, such as chicken, pork, and lamb. 2. Add to baking: Coffee makes a great addition to cakes and other sweet treats. It’s a particularly good accompaniment to chocolate and of course we can’t forget the popular coffee and walnut cake. 3. Unclog your drains: This is a cheaper alternative to expensive drain cleaners and has the same results!

Pour half a cup, along with dishwasher salt, into your drains. Then pour a full kettle of boiling water down the drain. It’s as simple as that and no chemicals are needed. 4. Clean your hands: You can use wet coffee grounds to effectively remove odour by rubbing them on your fingers, then rinsing. It can be used after cutting vegetables, garlic or anything that leaves a strong smell. 5. Repel insects: Coffee’s properties make it a great natural insect repellent. Just sprinkle some into the cracks in walls or anywhere you don’t want insects. 6. Exfoliate your skin: Coffee grounds work well as a face scrub because their texture helps exfoliate the skin and remove dead skin cells. Gently massage ground coffee into your skin and rinse. 7. Enrich your compost bin: Coffee is rich in nitrogen which is a great addition to your compost bin. For an extra potent mix, add one part coffee, one part leaves and one part freshly mown grass. Mix together then add to the pile. 8. Protect your dog from fleas: A good alternative to

a chemical flea repellent. Rub coffee grounds into your dog's fur after giving them a bath then rinse. It will also make your dog smell nice - if you like the smell of coffee! 9. Give your flowers a special glow: Coffee grounds

will reduce the pH level of the soil around your plants, which can bring out their colour. Just be sure that your plants aren’t in need of more acidity. Blueberry bushes would hate coffee grounds. 10. Cleanse your palette for perfumes: Sniffing

coffee beans between smelling scents will make it possible to smell each perfume like it’s the first one.

This way you won’t experience scent overload. Alex Ion, spokesperson for Brewsmartly.com, said: “Coffee can be used in many different ways. The reason these options are preferable is because using coffee avoids the harsh chemicals that many detergents, soaps, and insect repellents contain. By looking to more natural alternatives like coffee we are supporting a more environmentally friendly future.”

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