Show and Share: Painting Biscuits

This week Miss two and two thirds would like to share how to paint biscuits with a pastry brush.

We hope you enjoy sharing this idea and movie with your little people.

Our Bumble Bee and her Fluffy Bunny

Our little bumble bee Elidi is just over three months old.  Every day we are enjoying her gorgeous personality unfold just a little more.  She is loved very dearly by her sister, who cannot wait for her to grow big enough to play with - KB is ever so patient regarding the importance of Es sleep "Babies are like bread Mum, they need to rest to grow".  In the meantime, KB gives her lots of cuddles, joins her into her imaginary play and reads and sings to her.  E loves every minute of this.  I do so love watching the love they already have for each other.  After KB's day out with her grandparents they both love seeing one another again.  E searches with her eyes and head for her sister upon hearing her, and KB always greets her with a big kiss and cuddle before Mummy these days!

It is a real pleasure to watch a special relationship grow.

On the note of resting.... it seems I have rested a lot from posting...it's not that I don't have a lot to post about...quite the opposite really as I have a lot.  What I don't have so much of is hands free time!!

I have been busy getting back on track with preparing wholesome food for our family therefore doing much less of the "just add" stuff as we did to get by with the arrival of E.  This has involved using the great meal planning idea from Madeline at ecoMILF, as well as recipes from her blog and Emma at My Darling Lemon Thyme.

And I am on target to reach my goal of at least 80% of our Christmas gifts being handmade.  So we have been using natural dyes, making solar infusions, quilting and sewing up a storm.  I cannot wait to share these and our family advent calendar.  Here's a peek...

My man has been working longer hours too, and these will increase as the school term comes to an end.  This means I really need to pace my self and rest too.  So here I am resting and so I shall leave you to rest more with my next goal of posting at least twice a week from now on xx

With all the strawberries about.... you really must give this delish tart a go.  I did in the weekend and we all loved it to pieces.

Photo borrowed from My Darling Lemon Thyme blog to tantilise your taste buds in the hope you will visit  Em and gives this a go!

Buttermilk Pancakes and Blueberry Sauce

What one does with one's buttermilk from making butter..........

Recipes can be found here:
Blueberry Sauce
Buttermilk Pancakes

Homemade Butter and Quick and Easy Bread

There was quite a bit of cream left over from our pavlova making adventure and usually it ends up going off in our fridge.  Fortunately I had just received my copy of Wendyl Nissen's "Mother's Little Helper" and I was inspired to make butter.  Such a great scientific change effect for Kaea to see, especially since it involved butter her most favourite spread.  Sometimes she even has a small piece of toast with her butter!

We chose Wendyl's suggested method of beating the cream with a little salt to the point of butter with its whey or butter milk separation. Then squeezed the butter milk from the solids, drained off the liquid and continued to squeeze under a tap of running cold water.  Hey presto - butter, real butter!!

Of course you cannot have such a high quality butter without bread.  Kaea and I used to make bread often, but have had a lapse with my second pregnancy and arrival of E.  As much as I love kneading and proving, E is not yet three months old and I feel like I don't quite have the time or energy for proper bread making.

Annabel Langbein has a very, very easy bread recipe.  No kneading required, simple list of ingredients, and the proving is done in the oven.

We loaded our bread dough with sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds.  It is delish and reminds me of vogels bread.

We gave it at least ten minutes out of the oven before slicing and lathering in our homemade butter. Yum.

Another fantastic way for the kids to make butter is with a glass jar and a marble.  With marble (sterilised) in jar, add cream and salt if you'd like (it helps with taste and preservation) and shake, shake, shake.  A good work out and lots of fun.

Thanks for the photos Ms Dunn

Here is Annabel's Easy Bread recipe sourced with thanks from "So, So Simple Food"

4 teaspoons honey
2 cups very hot water
2 cups cold water
7 teaspoons yeast

2 3/4 cups whole meal flour
2 3/4 cups strong white flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 cups sunflower seeds

Handful of pumpkin or sunflower seeds to topping (Optional) 

Into a bowl add the honey and the hot water.  Dissolve the honey and add the cold water.
This should now be hand hot water, perfect for yeast to work.  If it is a bit hot, let it cool a little.
Sprinkle yeast on top and let it bloom.
Set aside 5 minutes
In another bowl place the flours and the salt and the sunflower seeds.
Add yeast and water.
Mix and pour into 2 greased loaf tins.
Sprinkle top with Pumpkin or Sunflower seeds if you choose too, I didn't.
Snip top of loaves with scissors or slash with a knife.  I missed this bit.
Into 80C oven for 20 minutes to help rising
Then turn up to 210C and cook a further 30 minutes or more until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

All Blacks and the Little Blue Duck

"The little blue duck with a passion to cook, was busily searching her recipe book.  I'll make a pavlova that beaut kiwi treat, lighter than air and perfectly sweet"

These words are read often in our home at bed time from the story "The Little Blue Duck".  To Kaea I guess the pav has been a mystery and a promise that one day we would make one.

And so we finally made one as a contribution to our Kiwi Dinner to celebrate the World Cup Rugby Final.

For every game the All Blacks played we dined on the delights of the "other" team.  From savoury crepes, and fruit tarts, to turkey sandwiches, pecan pie and pancakes, to takeaways (we had those when we played Tonga!).

We beat the egg whites and sugar for 10 minutes as suggested by a few Pavlova websites.

We also built walls up around the outside to stop the flat Pav thing from happening.

Kaea was in charge of the eggs.  "We whipped and we beat till the white of the eggs were perfectly peaked".  The funniest part of our pav making was when Kaea asked to go and find a cow to milk so we could make the cream.  We explained that we would go to the supermarket for cream.... to which she replied "To find a cow".

The outcome of our pav was somewhat like the game really..... a bit touch and go but overall pretty sweet!

Gorgeous Handmade Apron!!

Our little KB has a talented crafting Aunty who lives just out of Christchurch.  For her birthday Aunty Pam crafted this simply gorgeous apron - which we all love, especially KB!  Thank you so much Aunty Pam.

She looks super in the kitchen and seems to want to bake more often now that she has her apron from Aunty Pam to wear!

The colours and fabric combo are lush, the frills are perfect.  I could never imagine being able to sew so well.  I have not photographed the very personalised tag tucked inside with a message to KB along with a scanned photo of her too. Amazing.

For this fashion shoot KB was keen to cook with marshmallows so we attempted a modified hedgehog recipe with almonds, marshmallows, coconut and biscuits.

She is mastering her knife skills.  As well as her ability to actually put the ingredients in the bowl, rather than her mouth!!

All was going swimmingly until Mum put it in a too large tin for setting.  However it has been a hit with visiting family members.

For hedgehog recipes try these:
                                
                                  Cadbury Bournville Cocoa Hedgehogs
                                  A pure chocolate version of Hedgehogs

Banana Choc chip Muffins and a Delissimo Cake!

Delissimon's Double Chocolate Mocha cake was today's inspiration for baking.  Perfect for a friends birthday and just the right type of baking for a wet and windy morning.  This will be served with a dollop of cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

You can find Monica's deliciously easy recipe here.
The tissue paper flower is a decoration I slightly modified from this pattern here found on Prudent Baby.


We followed this event with banana choc chip muffins.  Recipe courtesy of NZ's Womans Weekly.
This is a great recipe - very sweet.  We used less sugar and only a third of the choc chips recommended and they were still very rich.

Then my lovely sister arrived with loads of her 'Breastfeeding Bar' - which I just love, love, love.

Clearly all of the chocolatey baking was enough to set off the terrible twos in our house.  I am exhausted from exercising all of my patience and consequence today!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and get the chance to make one of these scrumptious recipes x

Easter Biscuits and Rupert Rabbit

 

I love Afghan biscuits - mostly when others make them.  Our friend Lee makes the most amazing Afghan's with caramel hidden under the icing!  Oh my gosh!  These helped me through the first few days of breastfeeding - so delicious.

She shared this idea with us too - Afghan's topped with mini easter eggs.  I must admit I was reluctant to make these as no Afghan measures up to the Caramel version and I often end up with the mixture which becomes too crumbly to eat.  Fortunately, K adds the magic touch when she bakes (many touches actually!) and they turned out just right.

It is quite challenging for a nearly two year old to decorate this type of baking without the eggs being mysteriously redirected to her mouth rather than the biscuit.  I guess you might expect that from a little girl deprived of many sweet things - she has a boring old Mum!!  K did struggle to eat her bikkie at the end of her hard work - over the sugar I think?

We have had a wee visitor turn up too.  He is a little shy.  Rupert the Rabbit is warming to the camera.  I will tell you more about him when he relaxes a little!

Tuesday is Bake Day - Hot Cross Bun Practice

We have been refining our ability to make hot cross buns with the goal of eating many delicious home made  buns on Good Friday.   I just love baking with K - she is so passionate about food.

It can get quite messy - flour on the bench, floor, ladder, face, Mum's poking out tummy!

This weeks recipe is an apricot and currant version, which we soaked a little in water before adding.  Last week we used raisins.

There goes the face!  I tell K that the dough needs to sleep, because when we sleep we grow, and look at how our dough grew!!

Crossed, baked and glazed.  All shiny and sticky.  This batch was "painted" with a milk and sugar glaze, last week we "painted" with plum jam and hot water.

Mmmmmm the final product ready to eat.  These are amazing.  The currants are definitely the go.  So fluffy and soft and delectable.  Really happy with the glaze too.  Shame K is  a sleep now and husband is at a meeting.... I wonder how many of the two dozen will be left!