Cherry Ripe & Bounty Balls

I made these beauties as presents for the teachers at work. They were a huge hit, but are oh so simple to make.

I used to make Cherry ripe slice, however the recipe didn’t always work. Last year a batch crumbled when I cut it, so I rolled it into balls, dipped it in chocolate and VOILA!

I decided to do something similar this year. I took inspiration from a Christmas edition of Family Circle. They had a recipe for coconut bon bons. When I read it, it reminded me of my Cherry ripe balls. Their recipe used icing sugar as well but I felt this was unnecessary.

The original recipe also called for shredded coconut. I made a batch using that, but then I made a batch using desiccated coconut and found I liked the desiccated better.

Cherry Ripe balls

1 Can condensed milk

250g Coconut

30g Copha (I made a batch without this and it worked fine!)

1 Packet Glace Cherries

Red food dye

300g Dark chocolate

1 Tbsp Vegetable oil

White chocolate (Optional)

1. Melt copha in microwave.
2. Mix the coconut, condensed milk, cherries & colouring together. Make sure you mix it well so that the coconut is fully mixed in.
3. Put the mix into the fridge until it is firm (about 1 ½ hr).
4. Once firm roll teaspoons of the mix into balls. Refrigerate again until firm.
5. Melt Chocolate in the microwave. Mine takes about 1 minute, stirring every 10 – 15 seconds. Add oil once melted and stir in.
6. Take balls out of refrigerate and dip into chocolate using a fork. Set back on tray, allowing the balls to set. (Use a tray that has been refrigerated to help the chocolates set quicker). Refrigerate if needed.
7. Once the chocolates were set I drizzled white chocolate on the top to make them look pretty.

To make Bounty

Omit the cherries and red colouring; add in a teaspoon of coconut essence.

Recipe - Herbed pork with roasted pumpkin, apple and onion on a bed of Pak Choy

This morning i went digging through the freezer and spied some chicken breast, which i pulled out to defrost before i headed to work. I was planning on making Honey Mustard chicken, as i have had a masterfoods packet sauce in the pantry for a while and wanted to use it up.

However two things prevented me from cooking that meal this afernoon.

• The first being that my husband called to let me know that he would be home late from work and not to expect him until about 7. Thus meaning that i had alot more time to prepare dinner
  
• The second.. and main reason... was that i realised once home that i had in fact lifted out pork, not chicken. It is a timely reminder to mark my meat next time.

I did a spot of gardeing while i was deciding what to cook, and picked a large bunch of Pak Choy from our garden. I decided that i definately wanted to make something using our fresh Pak Choy.

Once inside i had a fossick through my cookbooks, and came accross a recipe for corinader and garlic pork in my old faithful Donna Hay. This was perfect as i had a bunch of Corinader, mint and basil wilting away in the fridge. I wanted to keep the carbs down so i pulled out some butternut pumpkin, and needed that all important sweet component that i believe is a must for pork, so grabbed some apple and and onion. I was on my way.

Corinader, Basil and Mint marinade (in Donna it is corinader only) with Pork

1 cup of above herbs - finely chopped

4 garlic cloves - crushed

olive oil ( the recipe stated 2/3 cup but i try to keep the fat low so i added about 2 tablespoons)

Mix all of the above together. Add pork, toss until well coated. Set aside.

Once the other veggies are nearly done, i put a frypan on medium heat. Add the pork and cook for approx 3 minutes each side.

Pumpkin, Apple and Onion

For these i peeled the pumpkin, and chopped into chunky pieces.

Took the outer skin off the onion and cut in half

Washed the apple. Took the sticker off (a very important step might i add!)

I drizzled the lot with a small amount of Olive Oil, and also drizzld a cap of Balsamic onto the cut onion. I put it in a Pyrex dish with a lid

Popped in a slow oven (approx 160) and bake for over 1 hr. Take the lid off in the last 15 - 20 minutes and turn up the heat to help it brown a bit

Pak Choy

Chop up leaves into large pieces. Slice the stems. I then popped it into a pyrex bowl with alittle water and some of the pork marinade (before the pork was added of course). I put it in the Microwave and cooked for about 4 minutes.

VOILA!!! It sounds WAY more complicated than it really was. The Pumpkin you could cook for less time in a hotter oven, but i knew i had over 1 hr so just popped it in on low until Hubby was nearly home. It was VERY tasty, with the pungent hit of herbs and garlic mixed with the sweetness of the pumpkin, apple and onion. Yummo!