Failed breakfast bars

My failed breakfast bar tray makes a great bowl of baked muesli.

A hop, skip and a jump

A hop, skip and a jump from September to November, it's almost as though October never was. So here is just a short recap for October. If there are any typos in the text please forgive me. No need to highlight them and send me a message, like all good mistakes, I cannot go back and undo them.

Delicious carrot cake

I found a recipe in the WW Taste magazine (page 70, October 2016) but it's pointless reproducing their recipe on my blog so I adapt it a little to make it my own. In the Taste recipe they take care care in mixing things up separately and then combining but I just put everything in one whole and whip it together. Ha, ha, you may prefer to rather the original method.

I wanted to add cranberries but dried cranberries are always too hard when everything else is soft so I heat them up in a little red wine. I decided to leave the sugar out of the batter and add a cream cream and honey topping.

Honestly, I  thought two carrots wouldn't be enough but it's plenty. Also I don't peel the carrots.

In the original recipe it instructs to preheat oven to 175° but I always use 180°. My mother baked everything at 180° and I am sticking to that too. Everything she baked was fantastic.

I think if she had written a cookbook its title would have been 180degrees.

Naked Lamingtons

Crunch, munch, munch, munch

Happy birthday

My niece turned 7 and we ate the cake before the guests arrived. Wait until you taste the frosting, white chocolate ganache, you will also have a second slice (or a third).

February catch-up

It's March and I haven't even blogged February. So, just a short summary, because really, it's already all in the past. Liam and I baked cookies for Valentine's Day and distributed them to everyone in the office. Then there was the one special Valentine delivery ;-) Went into Newtown to see the development around the Market Theatre - Newtown Junction. I bought a few things at the Work Shop and and lunch at the PotatoShed. We visited the Gwefey Tea House in Sandton City. I baked a cheese cake and topped it with stewed peaches, that Lettie provided. It was delicious, had it for breakfast for a week. Come play with me! BJ could play all day. These worms ate up the entire plant, argh! Went to see Singing in the Rain - wonderful. A bunch of flowers to celebrate payday. Thank you.

And so ends February.

Vegetable pie

Baking and caking

My sister-in-law made this delicious lemon drizzle cake. We also got some slices to take home.

On Saturday for lunch I made the roasted vegetable tart, which we had for supper as well.

Food and thoughts

White cake

I have made Karen Dudley's white cake twice now and every time its a hit! From her new book: Another week in the kitchen.

Making bread

Great idea from a colleague. M'wah!

I love baking

Savoury scones

These savoury scones are best cut open, spread with butter and stuffed with cheese.

Beef stir fry phyllo parcels

So, just make the stir fry as you normally would, allow it to cool slightly. Cut the phyllo pastry into square, using 4 sheets at a time push into large muffin tin cavities. Scoop a generous amount of the stir fry into each parcel, add a piece a camembert on top for some extra richness and flavour. Close the parcel by gathering the corners of the phyllo squares in the middle and forcing them together without tearing the phyllo. I don't brush the sheets of phyllo with butter and everything still turns out alright. Bake until the phyllo pastry is golden brown, consult the instructions on pack. Serve with a salad or not. Enjoy.

1 September - Spring day

A get-together. A pot of flowers for each guest to take home.
Baking up a storm. Simple lunch - boerewors rolls, prego rolls, hamburgers, served with mushrooms, tomatoes, caramelised onions and a selection of sauces. DIY fruit salad for dessert. Yum.

Baker, bread maker

Sunday morning I baked 2 olive + garlic + onion + herb breads and half dozen spinach + mushroom + blue cheese pies. Yum.

Fresh-baked, home-baked

I love baking. My mother used to bake every Saturday morning, cakes and biscuits that would last the week. It was wonderful. Saturday and Sunday afternoons we had kaffee und kuchen! Every night at 8, during the week, we would have coffee with a slice of cake.
This weekend I baked garlic and herb bread. Herbs from the garden. Biltong and blue cheese tartlets. Cranberry biscuits and a chocolate cake.

Coconut lemon syrup mini

Savy turned 50 so she gets a coconut, lemon syrup mini cake, or giant muffin, depending on your point of view. Happy birthday, Savy!