Baking with Kids

For Christmas my mother gave me the cookbook "Baking with Kids" by Linda Collister, which she bought from the local shop Jumping Tangents. Since we decided it was too wet for soccer practice we decided to give one of the recipes in the book a try. Below are a series of photos from our baking adventure. We're saving the treats for dessert.

Ben's treasure map

There's are Ben's words, I just wrote them down as he instructed me.

If you want to go on a treasure hunt please ask Ben. Four golden coins, and one treasure map and one telescope and one treasure map. Please make sure if you don't know where, there are arrows in my room or the lounge. Ben is in charge.

Just Peachy

Today's food project-- find some yummy ways to consume an entire bag of peaches from a friend's yard. I am happy to report that Josh and I did an excellent job. We made peach muffins

and then we boiled peaches to freeze (while eating about half of them in the process). And later we made a peach crumble, which didn't look all that great, but tasted lovely. Thank you to all the friends who helped contribute some ideas on what to do with all these lovely peaches. It's been a peachy day and I've only got 2 left over, an impressive feat if you'd seen the bag.

Chocolate in Disguise

Magic Chocolate Cakes

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 50 minutes (less if making smaller cakes)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1 packed cup (100g) grated raw pumpkin or carrot or a mix of both

1/2 cup premium quality cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/s tsp ground cinnamon

100 g butter, softened

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp natural vanilla essence

1 Tbs golden syrup

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup strong, boiling hot coffee

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line a 23 cm round cake tin with baking paper or prepare 2 x 10 cm tins (recycled tuna cans are perfect) or 10 muffin tins (using 1/2 cup of mixture per muffin tin). Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and mix until combined, about 30-40 seconds (or place ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric beater). Pour into prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake until risen, no longer wobbly in the middle and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. One large cake will take about 50 minutes, for 2 medium cakes allow about 40 minutes and for muffin sized cakes allow 20-25 minutes. Cool in tin and cover with frosting. Store in a sealed contained in a cool place for 2-3 days or wrap and freeze.

Mini Campervan Adventure

Our family campervan adventures continue. This time we decided to explore a bit closer to home. We spent the first night in the campground in Albert Town, a mere 5 minutes down the road. In the morning we had the pleasure of watching the fog burn off the Clutha River, an awe inspiring vision.

The next day we travelled down the road to Cromwell and went swimming in the community pool and wine tasting at

Wooing Tree Winery. From there we traveled around to Queenstown, with a pit stop at another winery. We spent a lovely afternoon in Queenstown soaking up the gorgeous afternoon

sun and playing at the park.

After a night in Queenstown at a holiday park (with a required refuel of a Ferburger) we spent the morning being total tourists! I hiked to the top of the gondola while the boys took a ride up. At the top all three boys thoroughly enjoyed their thrill seeking trips down the luge.

All things said we had a fabulous mini getaway and we were never all that far from home. We're enjoying our campervan adventures and look forward to our next trip.

Rocky Mount

I've been saying all summer that I was going to do the Rocky Mount hike again and all of sudden summer is gone. I saw a window of opportunity today and challenged myself to do the hike on my own, something I'm not known for doing. I am so thankful I did it! Check out this view.

Fall

Fall is here. Ben down at the Clutha River in Albert Town.