Wednesday Bakes

One of my favourite recipe books notes that once upon a time, the baker of the house would spend a whole day making the bread, snacks and cakes a family would need to get through the week (before the advent of cheap, mass produced bread and all the many snacks that line our grocery aisles).

I love that idea, and with that in mind I spent some quality time baking up a storm yesterday, for morning and afternoon tea's that were freezable (or wouldn't last long enough to matter).

It gets a bit tricky to do that - my toddler goes to daycare a couple days a week, and there are strict rules on what she can and can't take (nuts in all their glorious forms are completely out).  And I know Hubby gets tired of my addiction to sweet bakes, but absolutely loves banana bread.

So I made a loaf of banana bread (it freezes so well, it's ridiculous), a batch of chocolate biscuits and a batch of pizza scrolls.

The pizza scrolls are from the Australian Women's Weekly Baking Day, which is currently my go to baking book.  I'm quite pleased with how they turned out, but I have to admit, the dough is a little sweet for my taste - next time I'll cut down the sugar content.  They were ridiculously simple to make - I think it too me longer to cut up the salami and capsicum than anything else.  And if you had pre-grated cheese you'd be laughing.

Next was a batch of cookies from the Australian Women's Weekly Macarons & Biscuits.  I  know, I know, we're all seeing a theme here.  I have so many cookbooks, and yet I find myself drawn back to the AWW ones, mostly because they tend to turn out well.  Their recipes are triple tested for a reason.

Plus, these biscuits gave me a chance to try out the lovely 'handmade' cookie stamp a close friend gave me as a belated Christmas present, and I've wanted to find an excuse to use!

Usually my banana bread recipe turns out beautifully, but for some reason I struggled with it.  I think it might have been to do with using bananas that had been in the freezer for too long.  It doesn't look pretty, but it still tastes pretty reasonable - but that might be because I triple the cinnamon.....  I stand by the recipe though - it's easy, and it does work.

Happy Baking!

Welcome

Years ago, inspired by my family and a stack of cook books, I started a blog about learning to cook.  I did a horrible job of keeping it updated, and it did eventually slip away from me in the everyday hassle of work and life.

Fast forward to today and life has changed immeasurably.  Hubby and I bought a house, we started a family (and later this year will add another member to it), he changed jobs and just before Christmas, after tackling twelve months of juggling work and a toddler, I lost mine.

I'm still floored by how hard that hit me.  Rationally I knew I wasn't happy at work, I didn't feel like I was giving the best I could in the office, or at home with my toddler (which is something which rings true with a lot of working parents - never feeling like you're doing 'enough').  So really, knowing that I could give up one, without completely crippling my little family financially, should have been a no-brainer.  But it wasn't.  It still isn't.  Redundancy is an awful monster that can't be appreciated until it happens to you.  No matter what justification is given, it's still personal to YOU.  And I don't like not contributing.  I don't like the idea that I spent years (and thousands of dollars) on an education and a career, just to let it slip away.  But I don't like the idea of missing the fabulous (and sometimes not so fabulous) moments of my children's childhoods slip away either.

So over the Christmas break I made a decision.  It's time to slow down.  It's time to play.  It's time to make our family house a home, and not just somewhere Hubby and I collapse after another day of the daycare, office, daycare run.  It's time to say 'yes' more.

Come on in.  Pull up a chair, or throw on an apron.  Let's get our hands dirty.