Cooking with Mother

We seem to do a lot of 'cooking' together at the moment, Rowan likes to get involved and sit in her spot on the kitchen counter to 'help' make cups of tea or lunch!

So I'm trying to do more fun cooking, you know the sort, cakes, biscuits etc!

For ages I've been meaning to try out a new banana bread recipe I'd found while on Twitter, from 'Letters to Elliot'', we tried it and loved it! 

It's much lighter than my usual recipe, it has one less banana and some baking powder in, I'm definitely making it again!

Licking the spoon, it's the best bit, even for Mum's!

Spot the nibble mark?! I left it to cool and when I came back…!

I had to go with the obligatory glace icing and sprinkles, it's not banana bread without it for me!

Apologies for the none styled/harsh flash photos, winter is rubbish for indoor photos isn't it.

Happy New Year!

I don't know where the time has gone but January has been a real write off, the kids have been sick, I had the 'flu, none of the bills got paid after Christmas and the guinea pig died!! 
And now I've just found out that I had this post all written and ready to go but never published it, so better late then never, may I wish you a Happy New Year!

I hope you too had an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas time.

My idea of a good Christmas is a quiet one, with time to relax (sleep-in!), some family and some days out.  Add in a bit of me/craft time and that would make it perfect!
This year was definitely different from last years, I'd forgotten how rushed everything seems when you're working too, having more time in December is the key to getting organised, doing days out with the kids, having time to do Christmas craft activities/presents with the children and also having time to do personal present making.
I'm quite unhappy that I only really made two presents this Christmas, I feel quite guilty that I had nothing as usual for my sister or Mum or even Rowan.

Still I DID do something new....after much procrastination and doubt's that I could have time/should attempt it, both girls presents were finished at about midnight on Christmas Eve.....


Beanbags!!

I got a free pattern online and it was surprisingly easy, just large! I made the child's version but they're still quite big, you need just under 4m of material each for the outer AND inner bag and then you need the filling so they're only marginally cheaper than buying a ready-made one, but you know that's not the point!

The navy material is a double sheet from the charity shop, about £3, this bag used some Ikea fabric I hadn't used for anything and the inner bag was made with another charity shop sheet I had lying around!

So the most expensive thing was the bean filling, which I got on Christmas Eve at Dunelm Mill, I got their largest size bag (10cuFt) for £22 oh and it needed a zip!  You're supposed to use two, one each for the inner andouter but I didn't like the idea of the filling being that easily accessible to my kids! So for the inner bag I just sewed up the gap in the seam after filling and am happy to unpick and re-sew if it needs the filling topping up later. 

The hardest part was filling the bags up! Those damn little beads went everywhere!! I didn't have a funnel to use and any idea of just pouring them in is easier said than done! I resorted to using a jug to fill from the bag and pour into the seam hole, which was rather more time-consuming than I'd imagined but less messy!

The other Christmas makes were culinary, after finally finding some candy canes (Poundland in Oxford) I managed to whip up some Peppernint Bark like last year, and then as promised on Twitter I made up some non-mince pies!
I used this recipe from the Eden Project and adapted it slightly to my tastes.

NON-MINCE PIES

Made about 24 pies

8 oz apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped (I used eating apples, about 4)

1 oz Dried Mixed Fruit (I was going to use 2oz but 1 looked enough, I only wanted a little so the kids wouldn't really notice them and refuse to eat them!)

2 oz Dried Apricots, chopped (app. 14 whole ones)

2 oz Brown Sugar

1.5 oz Vegetarian Suet

Pinch Mixed Spice

1fl oz cold water (just enough to bind together)

Method

Mix well! 

Shortcrust Pastry

1lb Plain Flour

10 oz Butter, chopped

5 oz sugar

1 egg, beaten

Assemble and cook as per normal mince pies

I am happy to report they were really nice, even the kids loved them and are still waiting for me to make some more!  They should be a new Christmas tradition for us.

Now the next thing to do is to try and collate a review of my 2012...wonder how long that will take?!

It's Autumn, crack out the Breadmaker

I've hardly used the breadmaker all summer and then suddenly I have a yearning for some fresh rolls and soup, it must be Autumn! 
I haven't made rolls before, just loaves, but it wasn't too much bother, trying to find somewhere warm to put the dough to rise once shaped into balls was the biggest headache, I tried warm sunshine from the kitchen window, the airing cupboard and a slightly warm oven.  From the look of them after rising, the warm oven got the biggest results!!
Very nice they were too, the girls weren't mad on the soup though, should have been homemade really, fingers crossed for a hand blitzer thing for Christmas, I used to have one for pureeing baby food but it died shortly after and the food processor just doesn't get things pureed enough.
I'm hoping to make my first pumpkin pie tomorrow for Halloween, I'll post a pic if it's successful!

First Bread

IMG_0341, originally uploaded by blackdoganna.

Fingers crossed, the girls and I are hoping to make our first homemade loaf tomorrow!
We will be using a bread machine, I hope that's not too naughty but I think it's a good start.
I just hope it's eatable!
Results will be posted tomorrow!