Bread Baking and Thrifting...

I made an attempt at baking some bread this afternoon. It's ready and waiting to be cut at dinner tonight. It doesn't look too bad, so we'll see how it tastes.

I have to confess, it's a pretty easy recipe that I have a feeling will probably be more like damper than bread. But if it tastes good, then the recipe will definitely be a 'Keeper' in this house. And if it is good, I think it would be delicious in winter with a pot of soup.

Our kids are on school holidays at the moment and they've been pretty good most days, EXCEPT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!! They've spent all day testing my patience!!! So when my mum rang this afternoon to ask if she could have the kids tomorrow to do some cooking with them and go for a swim in their pool, I couldn't say 'Yes' fast enough!!! Sooooooooo, first on my list tomorrow is to go and buy a coffee plunger at the sales (been wanting to buy one for ages) and also I'm on the look out for a muddler to make Lime Caprioscas. When we were away last week, each night my cousin made Lime Caprioscas for us and they are the best!!! If you haven't tried them, YOU MUST!!! In order to make them, you need a muddler for the limes. And lastly, I'm going to have a scrounge at a few Thrift Stores. I took the kids to our local one today for a quick look and decided I won't be going back there again. The prices are ridiculously expensive!!! Seriously, they were charging $28.99 for a scrappy looking doona cover that had stitching coming undone all over it. And $12.99 for a casserole dish....with the lid missing!!!! So I'm off to check out a few others and will hopefully have more luck.

Dinner Party...

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I've had an afternoon of baking/cooking today...some banana muffins for the freezer using my favourite recipe.



A delicious Creamy Caramel Fudge that is still setting at the moment. Can't wait to chop into it and try some...the mixture was delicious!!!!! It's actually a microwave recipe that a friend gave me and it's so easy. And because it's very sweet and rich, I'll chop it into small cubes so should get quite a bit out of this tray.

And lastly, some minature chocolate meringues. We're having a few friends over for dinner tonight so for dessert I'm making a warm chocolate sauce to dip these little meringues into, as well as some strawberries and marshmallows (for the kids)!!!

We're bbq'ing a butterflied lamb leg and some veal and chicken sausages. And I'm making a warm potato salad with mustard dressing and a rocket, pear and goats cheese salad. Will try to remember to take some photos of the salads.

Computer love...

Our computer crashed a few days ago...I turned it on in the morning and was greeted with a blue screen with lots of computer jargon that I didn't understand!!!!!!! I've now found out that if ever you see a blue screen, it's known as "The Blue Screen of Death" in the computer world!!! Luckily we have a very good and clever friend who was able to save all of our photos, documents, favourites etc. and put them onto our new hard-drive. So now we have a lovely new, clean, and non-corrupt hard-drive and I'm hoping to keep it that way for some time!!! And Todd, I promise I will ALWAYS regularly back-up my computer onto disk!!!

On a happier note, it's the middle of winter here and our gooseberry bush is loaded with fruit. It was a cutting from my mum's bush and we only planted it about six months ago. They grow very quickly and the fruit is small, juicy and delicious. I'm really looking forward to re-planting our vegie garden soon. We've already got baby cos lettuce popping up (some of it went to seed last season) and we're going to grow continental cucumbers again (they were brilliant last season), tomatoes, capsicum and whatever else takes our fancy at the nursery.

I know we all make Banana Muffins but the recipe below that I found in our kid's school recipe book is my favourite so I thought I'd share it with you. The pic below is Banana & Choc Chip Muffins.

Banana Muffins

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

3-4 ripe bananas (mashed)

2 1/2 cups self raising flour (sifted)

milk (just a little so the mixture is wet but not too gooey)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Spoon batter into muffin cases. Bake in a moderate oven for approx. 30-40 minutes.

The Recipe Box Swap...and Earrings!!!

Before I begin, I have to say I'm certainly making up for my lack of posting over the past few weeks. I think this is my third or fourth post for this week....hope I'm not boring you!!!

I had a meeting this morning with the past co-ordinator of our Mother's Day Stall so that I can get my head around the running of it and all that is to be done. And I'm pleased to say I've come away feeling excited, creative and not too overwhelmed. I got to work straight away after our meeting and made a few pairs of earrings to sell.

These ones are my favourite...

I've mentioned in a previous post that I'm taking part in The Recipe Box Swap over at I Have To Say, so here is my recipe for this month.....Beer Bread. I don't have a photo to show you, but it's the easiest bread ever!!! Go and visit I Have To Say to check out more great recipes.

Beer Bread

Ingredients:-

3 cups self raising flour

2 Tbspns brown sugar

375ml full strength or mid-strength beer (at room temperature if possible)

2 Tbspn water (if necessary)

Method:-

1. Combine SR flour and brown sugar in a large bowl.

2. Make a well in the centre and pour in a can/bottle of beer.

3. Mix to a smooth consistency and pour into a greased and lightly floured round cake tin.

4. Bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until golden.

5. Remove from tin to cool and then slice with a serrated knife.

6. DELICIOUS served warm with lashings of butter and a lovely soup for dunking!!!

The Recipe Swap Box - Money Saving Recipes

I've just joined a recipe swap group over at I Have To Say so here's my 'Money Saving Recipe'...

Quick Quiche
Serves 6

4 eggs
3 rachers bacon, chopped
1 cup grated cheese (add extra if you want it to be really cheesey)
1 small finely chopped brown onion
1/2 cup SR flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 Tbspn chopped parsley

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a square cake tin that has been greased lightly.
Bake at 190 degrees for 40 minutes or until set.
Serve with a green salad and crusty bread.

Optional - This quiche is lovely topped with circles of tomato before baking.

This is a very basic recipe, so you could omit the bacon and add whatever you like instead...eg. spring onion, cherry tomatoes, chives.

Afternoon Tea...

I've just made some afternoon tea for the kids today and thought I'd post the recipe. It's super-quick and easy (I think that should become my motto!!!).

Quick Anzac Slice

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup self-raising flour, sifted
125gm butter
2 Tbspns golden syrup

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line an 18cm x 28cm slice pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, sugar, coconut and flours. Mix well.
3. Heat butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan on low until butter has melted and mixture is well combined.
4. Make a well in centre of dry ingredients. Add butter mixture and mix well.
5. Press firmly into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool in pan, then cut into squares to serve.

Yum Yum!!!

Recipe Sorting...

Here's where my free time was spent on Monday and Tuesday.....sorting out my recipe files.

They were in such a mess, with loose recipes stuffed into the files everywhere. The old files were looking really scrappy and dirty so I bought two new files, some dividers and plastic sleaves and got cutting and glueing. I have a 'Sweets' file and a 'Savoury' file and this time I also made one more smaller file with weeknight dinner recipes in it (forgot to photograph this one).

The weeknight recipe file is working really well. I've only put dinner recipes in there that I know my kids enjoy and that are healthy and fairly quick to make. So now there's no more searching through dozens of recipe books and files to find that perfect dinner.

Tonight I've got some girlfriends coming over for our monthly craft group called 'Staple & Sew'!!! I'll try to remember to take a few photos tonight.

And lastly, some Amy Butler fabric I bought from Reprodepot....how cheap is that place!!! I LOVE this fabric. I'm thinking of using the blue to cover a huge blank canvas I bought for our bedroom. We've got a bit of pale blue, beige and white colour scheme in there so I think this will work nicely.

Mmmmmmm Lemon Slice...and Decorations

The kids and I went to my mum and dad's for afternoon tea today and mum made the most delicious (and very easy!!!) Lemon Passionfruit Slice. My kids have a definite weak spot for Lemon Slice so it went down a treat with them.

I'm sure mum won't mind if I share the recipe with you (it's not like I've tried to pass it off as my own.....I would NEVER do that!!!).

LEMON PASSIONFRUIT SLICE (mum didn't use passionfruit 'cause she didn't have any and it was still yummy)

1 cup SR flour
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup caster sugar
125gm butter, melted
1 can sweetened condensed milk
juice of 2 lemons and finely grated rind of 1 lemon
pulp of 2 passionfruit (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line the base and 2 sides of an 18 x 27cm slice pan. Combine flour, sugar and coconut, add butter and combine well. Press firmly into the pan and bake 12-15 minutes until golden. Cool slightly. Combine condensed milk, juice and rind with a whisk and pour over the base. Sprinkle with coconut and bake for a further 12-15 minutes until set. Cool in the pan and chill until needed. Cut into squares and store chilled in an airtight container.

Sorry, no photos....we ate it too quickly!!!

On a craftier note, I made some lovely simple Christmas decorations today. In the latest Better Homes & Gardens magazine they had some free wrapping paper. I used it to cut out little Christmas shapes then stitched them together so they hang in long lines. I've hung two strings of them at the front door (we have glass front doors) and they look really sweet. Here is a photo of one set (they were really hard to photograph as it was so bright). These particular ones I actually stitched to some very thin white ribbon so I could leave a gap between each one.