Sunday, September 30, 2012

Chocolate banana cake and peanut butter cookies!

Chocolate Banana Cake and peanut butter cookies!

Here are two seriously easy recipes you can bake and enjoy in the blink of an eye!

Cake...

I love cake, and this cake is up there for yumminess! Its also incredibly easy to make. I made this cake for my lovely family when they came over for dinner. I had brown bananas and a craving for chocolate, so found this recipe! I did change the ingredients slightly and halved the recipe.



Here it is. It is good!

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg
1 cup rapadura sugar or brown sugar
1 tbs honey
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Mix everything in a bowl. Pour into a greased and lined tin. Bake at 180C for 30-35 min or until skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Ice with your favourite chocolate butter icing. Mine is 50gms coconut sugar with 50 gms butter and 1-2 tbs cocoa. Mix well in a bowl. Spread on cake!

Icing is optional, as it really is lovely and moist by itself, but I LOVE icing!

 
 

Cookies...

This recipe is amazing because it only has 3 ingredients! We had these biscuits in our mouths in about half an hour from when I started to make them to bringing them out of the oven.

I found this recipe here. You may question how they turn into biscuits without flour, but they do!

You will need
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup rapadura sugar or normal sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt if your peanut butter is unsalted

 
 
mix well...
 
 
 
Roll and place on baking sheet..

 
 
Press with a fork...
 
 
 
 
Bake at 180C for 7-9 min. Cool on rack...
 
 
 
 
Serve and eat!!

 
 
Enjoy!!
 
 
Thanks for reading and happy baking!
 
Taz





Sunday, September 23, 2012

Here Comes the Sun.

Here Comes the Sun.

Yesterday in melbourne, was a delightful 23 degrees! Spring is here and it makes me happy. Although we are supposed to get some cooler days again soon, having warm, sunny days just gets me so happy inside, and I can't wait for summer to come. To make the most of yesterdays sunshine, we went on a lovely drive to......yep, the St Andrews Market! I'm sure you know just how much I love that place, as I have blogged about it here and here.

This time, we had our little Percy with us, aswell as two of our good friends. And, the market did not disappoint! Also bumped into my lovely mother! It really was the place to be yesterday! I bought lots, and thought I would show you!

A wheat and lavender bag handmade by a little 80yr old lady
 
 
 
Lovely soap
 
 
 
Delicious dried organic apricots
 
 
A wooden camera stamp for a certain clever and crafty member
of our family for Christmas
 
 
Seeds to plant in our vegie boxes
 
 
 
A lovely blouse with pretty stitching
 
 
This cute cherry top
 
 
Lollies! All natural and locally made
 
 
 
Here are some photos of us enjoying the markets beautiful surroundings...
 
 
 
 

 
 

All of us enjoying some lunch
 

 
 

 
 
We then headed to our favourite cafe across the road from the market to buy some delicious cake. Look at one of the cute nooks in the cafe you can enjoy some cake...
 
 
 
 
We decided, although this looked lovely, the sun was just so bright and warm, so we headed to nearby Kangaroo Ground war memorial lookout tower and sat on the grass, enjoying the stunning views....and cake!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Percy and dad relaxing
 

 

The city in the distance
 

 

Percy loving the sunshine
 
 

 
 
 
It was just a lovely day in every way, and I hope you take time one saturday this spring to visit this lovely spot.
 
 
Thanks for reading,
 
 
Taz




 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 





Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Maggie Beer is right, gardening is good for the soul!

Maggie Beer is right, gardening is good for the soul!



 
 
Yesterday, was spontanious gardening day. I say spontanious because I was talking to my husband, getting no response, went looking for him and found him almost knee high in soil!
 
Found him!

Working hard!
 
 
He had decided he was going to plant all the seeds and seedlings we have been wanting to plant for months, to start our veggie boxes. I was more than happy for this to be happening, and watched on, as I don't really know much about gardening. But he encouraged me to help, and I did find it very relaxing and excitng about the possible vegies and herbs we will be able to eat.
 
So armed with our organic soil,
 
 
 seeds,
 
 
 
some cute garden pots and watering cans,
 
 


 
 
and jamie olivers encouragment,
 
 
 
 we managed to plant basil, chives, both types of parsely, mint, lettuce and oregano!
 
 







We think(and hope) we have managed to save our thyme that was a bit sad. We transfered it to a new box, new soil and just hope it will survive!

 
 
We now can't wait to head to some farmers markets, or Bunnings, and find more plants to start growing! I would love to find a linseed plant to grow!
 
 
What have you found easy to grow? Any tips?
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Taz



Saturday, September 15, 2012

Spring!

Spring!

Hello! It's been a while since iv'e blogged, so sorry about this! I do have a really really really good excuse.....I've had my baby! You may or may not have known I was even pregnant as I didn't blog about it all that much. I did mention we were expecting a little man in my very early blogging days, in a post about cute clothes I had found for him! Anyway..he is here now, and I am inlove! He arrived on the 24th august. Although not officially spring, he was born at a time when the weather here in melbourne was shouting spring, with the blossom, and warm, sunny afternoons. We have named our little one, Percy Harold Carr. He is cute. He makes us laugh and I still can't get over the fact he was in me for 9 months! I love spring so much, and even more now that I have this little bundle of new life to share it with.


So, talking of spring, this post is to get you excited and in the mood about one of my most favourite ways to spend spring days(and now with little Percy)...going to spring fairs, fetes and carnivals! Ive been a fair addict for a while now, with my mother, sister and myself, doing fair/fete crawls every year! We have a list of when they all are and we basically, each weekend, go nuts going through the bric a brac, cake stalls, white elephant and lets not forget the devonshire tea! Today was our first for this spring, and it was GREAT! I thought I would share with you some of the favourite things I found at todays fair.

Percy and I, put on our sling, grabbed our shopping bags and headed down to Mullum Mullum Anglican Parish Fair in ringwood. It was a small fete, compared to some Ive been to that hire helicopters(they dont quite get it), but let me tell you, I left with 4 bags full of stuff!

50c old books, that I am going to read, then keep for Percy.
 
 
Home grown parsely, lemons and homemade chutney, $6.30
 
 
 
This red jug! Need I say more! $1
 
 
 
Preloved clothes! $8
 
 
 
Homemade chocolate cupcakes $1.50
 
 

Really good choc chip cookies $1.50
 
 
We also bought a gingerbread sponge cake, that got sadly squashed in my bag so couldn't take a good photo, videos and some kitchen accessories.
 
 
As this fair is now over, maybe write in your diary, for early september next year to grab your shopping bags and have a look what you can find!
 
I will blog about the next fair I visit, so keep your eyes tuned!
 
Thanks for reading!
 
Taz