Yoghurt Sesame Bread

I am back to making my own bread and yoghurt again in an effort to cut down on the preservatives, additives, salt and all the rest of the bad stuff that is found hidden in our store brought food.  Store brought muesli bars, which I was buying as treats for the kids, are a total no go now as well.  I've been making my own Granola Bars (the recipe for these are here - I add LSA and seeds to mine), as well as baking all the kids biscuits and other snacks.  So there are now no longer any prepackaged snacks to be found in our cupboard!

One of the breads I make, for a change from our wholemeal loafs, is a Yoghurt Sesame Bread.  The yoghurt is meant to be a plain, probably unsweetened, yoghurt but I use the Easi Yo Greek Coconut yoghurt in mine, and it tastes great.  The bread is a bit on the sweeter side than normal, and uses only white flour, so its an every now and then treat!  The texture of the bread is slightly denser than a normal loaf, but its a beautiful texture and not at all dry.

The following recipe I use in my Panasonic Breadmaker.  Its an extra large loaf and I cook it on a Basic White option.

3 teaspoons Surebake Yeast
600g White flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup plain yoghurt (or Easi Yo Greek Coconut for something extra special)
200 ml water
50 ml milk

Add all ingredients into your breadmaker in the order shown, and follow your breadmakers instructions to make an extra large basic white loaf.

Imagination Fascination

Our childrens imaginations are limitless.  I love watching them playing, the games they make up and the stories they tell each other. 

A while back I brought a bit of MDF wood from Mitre 10 Mega for $18.  It was what the hubby was going to make a marble run out of, but it was obviously destined for greater things.

It was pouring down with rain at the beginning of the week, and I pulled the wood out so the kids could use it as a ramp to race their cars down.

Then they used it to draw a mural on.

Then Danger Mouse and The Girl used it as a slide inside.

The kids then used it as a table to have their morning tea around.

Then it got used as a spaceship.

And then last night it was being used as a motor for a speed boat.  It needed alot of mechanical work before it was ready to race off the biggest waterfall in the world though.....

This simple, humble piece of wood will now be living in our family room for a bit longer as I await to see what else the children use it for.  I love seeing what they think of next and then joining in on the fun.

Children have the most amazing imaginations and they should be nurtured and encouraged to use them always.  In our house, the most fanciest, brightest, plastic toys are usually the ones that get left unplayed with in the toybox, while cardboard toilet roll tubes and tinfoil have hours spent on them as they are transferred into robots and spacemen. 

I love getting simple with my childrens play.  Although never knew a piece of wood would give me so much peace.....

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a theory on baking with fruit or veges.  With that bit of hidden goodness it has to be good for you, right?  Right?....  My children will not touch pumpkin.  I think even if their life depended on it they'd still turn their noses up at it.  I, on the otherhand, love it.  Its one of my favourite veges, especially when its roasted and it caramelises around the edges. 

So when I came across this recipe at a blog called A Cup of Flour I had to try it and see if I could fool my children into eating pumpkin.  I am not sure if you can strictly call these biscuits, they have quite a cakey consistency.  The spices and hint of pumpkin are really yummy and quite a change from our usual biscuit choices - and so far the kids can't get enough. 

I haven't told them yet whats in them.  Will just keep that one a secret for now!

Chocolate Cherry Slice

Cherry Ripe is my favourite chocolate bar of all time, so when I saw this recipe in the latest Thats Life magazine I had to make it straight away.

Its amazingly sweet, but when cut up into bite size squares its the perfect treat at the end of the day.  And even better, is that it requires no cooking!

250g packet plain chocolate biscuits (I used Milk Chocolate Wheatens)
125g butter, melted
4 cups desiccated coconut
395g can sweetened condensed milk
200g packet red glace cherries, finely chopped
60g vegetable shortening, melted
Rose pink food colouring
150g milk chocolate, melted

Grease and line a 20 x 30cm pan.  Place the biscuits into a food processor and process until fine crumbs form.  Add butter and process to combine.  Press into the base of the pan and chill.

Combine coconut, condensed milk, glace cherries and vegetable shortening in a large bowl.  Add a few drops of food colouring and mix until well combined.  Spoon mixture evenly over the prepared biscuit base and refrigerate till firm.

Cut the slice into small squares.  Spoon the melted chocolate into either a piping bag or a snap lock bag bag with the corner snipped off.  Drizzle over the squares of slice and chill until set before serving.

A Lightbulb Moment

I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately.  Truth be told I have been having some health issues, still unresolved, which have left me with nothing extra to give after my precious family has been looked after.

There has been a very similar theme coming from my mouth lately.  "Im too tired, I'll do it later".  "I can't go out, Im too sick".  "I'll do it tomorrow, Im too sick".  "I can't sew, Im too tired and achy".  "I haven't baked in ages, it hurts too much to stand in the kitchen"...

Well blah blah blah to that!  Im sick of it.  Since when did this illness own me?  It doesn't.  Its a tiny bit of me, not the whole of me, and I am not giving in to it.  God never gives us more than we can handle, so this is my public declaration that I am going to own this, stop wallowing in my own pity and get on with things to my best ability.  Because I can!

So its out the door misery and pity.  You are gone burger.  I've got this, I'm living this and I'm handling this. 

Butterfly Cot Quilt

A very dear friend of mine recently welcomed a new blessing into her family.  I feel its such a privilege to be able to sew for a brand new baby. 

I used scraps from my fabric collection, along with fabric I have picked up from op shops along the way, and backed it with a flannelette sheet my friend gave me for my sewing stash a few years ago.

I followed the tutorial I found here at Sew Mama Sew.