Breakfast is my coffee..........

Breakfast for me is definitely the most important meal of the day. You really don't want to be around me if I haven't had my breakfast. Cranky, tired and possibly the chance I could faint. Actually this is pretty much me if I don't have lunch or dinner. I really am a foodie.

It is true what they say though, a good breakfast can really kick start your day. Its a great energy booster and does help with your concentration. Breakfast for me is what coffee is for other people. I just cant function until I have eaten.

Like most things I do, I find something I love and I run with it, this pretty much applies to my  cereal too. I will go months on end eating one type of cereal and then all of a sudden I remember that there are hundreds of other varieties I could be enjoying. 

So when I have a few bananas that are on their way out I love baking this delicious recipe, which my gorgeous mum passed onto me. Lightly toasted with a load of butter smeared on top and a cup of tea, this certainly makes for a yummy change up in my breakfast routine. It is also extremely filling, I cant say how healthy it is, but I'm not to interested in that part hehehe

So go on give it a try, mix up your breakfast routine too.

The Recipe  (don't worry its not a family secret)

115g butter

140g sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla essence

4 - 5 bananas

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180 deg

In a mixing bowl cream the sugar and softened butter

Add the eggs, one at a time and mix in

In a separate bowl mash the bananas with the back of a fork and then add to the mixture, along with the vanilla essence, flour and salt. Slowly fold all the ingredients together

Line a loaf tin with baking paper and pour the mixture into the tin. I like to cover the top with cinnamon.

Bake for 1hr +- depending on your oven this could vary slightly. To check if the bread is ready, insert a knife into the middle of the loaf, if it comes out with a lot of mixture on it leave to bake for another 10 minutes and check again. Repeat until you feel its cooked all the way through.

Leave to cool down and then cut into thick slices and spread a good chunk of butter over a piece. Enjoy!

Note: Your bread will still cook once you have removed from the oven as the tin is still hot. So don't be to alarmed if there is a little mixture still on the knife

 

What I found in my pocket this week………..

I have spent the better part of this week trying out a few recipes – minestrone soup, bite sized scones and homemade bread. While baking bread in a bread oven isn’t what I would quite call backing, I still think it takes some effort in mixing the ingredients together and really at the end of the day it’s all about that homemade baking smell that perforates the house. There is nothing better than a delicious cake or fresh baked bread aroma. 

The minestrone soup was one of the easiest recipes I have found on the net. I feel it’s a real hearty meal, with all those veggies, pasta and I actually like to add chunks of steak to mine.
The soup was delicious!! The recipe is now saved as a favourite on my laptop and I am planning my next week of meals to include this. Just a note if you are adding meat (as traditionally there isn’t meat in a minestrone soup) depending on how you like your meat, I don’t add it until the last minute – around 10 minutes before you are due to serve up. From experience this gave the meat just enough time to cook – it wasn’t raw nor was it tough and it still managed to soak up the tastes of all the other ingredients.

After a lovely Sunday morning out with some girlfriends, upon my return home hubby was watching Master Chef and declared that he wanted some scones. So being the ever pleasing wife and totally loving any excuse to get my kitchen aid out, I jumped on the net and found this great Donna Hay Recipe. Hubby and I spent the time making them together, while I know that the only reason he offers to help is so he can eat the pastry or lick the bowl afterwards, none the less it was fun chatting and cooking together. 

Note: These little puppies last a while if kept in a baking tin or plastic container and warm up well in the microwave the next day (about 20 sec on high should be suffice)

I cant really write much about baking bread. It really was as simple as choosing a bread mix (I prefer the Lighthouse brand which I buy from Coles), emptying the contents into a bowl, mixing with water and then adding to the bread maker. Voilà!!

I can honestly say that the best part to making bread is definitely the smell. No matter what time of day you are cooking it, the smell instantly connects with your tummy and those loud rumbles appear out of nowhere. Hubby and I couldn’t wait for the bread to finish and once we heard those three peeps we rushed over to gaze at our wonderful loaf of bread. While it was still warm, we pulled it out and cut up a few slices. 11pm on a Saturday night eating bread – best part of the weekend…..of course Chilli got to have a little sample too and I am pretty sure he gave us a wink in recognition of our effort!

Wow what a week it has been.  All this talk of cooking is making me hungry and has me wondering what delicious treats I am going to conjure up this weekend. I do have to admit though, that with all this baking I am getting slightly worried that before we take off on our USA trip we would have already eaten our holiday quota. We do need to save some room for those hot dog stands in NY!

Enjoy your week of cooking friends xx

Chillin with Chilli


Ever since I have know hubby he has wanted a dobermann. He adores them. I on the other hand was a little apprehensive. I cant say that the image that has been portrayed of them as being vicious and savage helped with my thinking. After months and months of research and watching You tube videos I started to learn that this image couldn't be further from the truth.


Dobermanns are wonderful companions, great in a family environment, loyal and well pretty darn dopey too. You don't see many of them down at  the beach or the parks, but when you do their owners always say the same thing "I wouldn't have any other dog". It is a shame that unfortunately this image still follows them some what, but as an owner of a doberman now myself, I too wouldn't have any other dog. In fact I am now the one trying to convince hubby to get another one............. or two!!

I don't think a dog is born vicious, its how you train and treat them that makes the difference.

It certainly has been a journey (or probably more correctly a hand full) having a puppy in the house - beds chewed to bits, massive holes in the garden - some so big Chilli could stand in them and all you see is his nose. Three socks eaten whole - three emergency visits to the vet. Plants ripped out and everything in his sight chewed. However I wouldn't change any of it. Nothing better then when I come home from work and he is standing on the upstairs landing, looking down at me with his big ears flapping away.

We have had many adventures with Chilli down at the Whiteman Dog Park. We are there every weekend. Its a great area to take your lovable pets. Its closed in and they can roam around as they wish and most of all they can play with all the other dogs down their too. Its a great way to wear your dog out and have them sleep for the rest of the weekend.

Puppy love.....

16 weeks old

Isn't this how all dogs sit??

Just playing with my new friends

Did you know: Dobermanns are known as Dobercows as they like to eat grass.

After many years of getting my nails professionally done, there came a time when I just couldn’t justify spending $70 every 3 weeks on acrylic nails. While I loved the amazing art work the girls used to do, fabulous nail colours I could choose from and of course lets not forget, the opportunity to sit and relax for 2 hours while been pampered. I decided it was time to give it up, paint my own nails become creative and put that extra money into savings – somehow I never got around to any of those.

Then one day, while having a girly night, my gorgeous friends introduced me to the world of OPI nail polish. Every colour you can think off, they have it. My nails have never been the same. While my collection is no way near as impressive as my friend Asha, I am certainly trying to building it up.  My birthday present request is always - OPI nail polish please!!

Over the last year I have become a little more creative and branched out of my usual pink and red safe colours. In fact, in the last few months I cant recall a week when I haven’t had my nails painted a different colour. I enjoy nothing more than picking out my colours, trawling through blogs for creative ideas and sitting down and painting away. For me, I love to start my weekends with a new colour and design.

Last night I chose this fabulous green colour (which I happened to get for a birthday present) – OPI Mermaids Tears and these colourful studded nail stickers.

I did a full nail with the art sticker and the rest painted in colour. I then cut (painstakingly) thin strips and placed them on vertically on each of my nails.  Followed by a top coat to make them pop!!

So here goes, my first blog for 2012!
It seems that winter is finally upon us, its raining and cold outside and that means only one thing for me - craving anything that will give me comfort. After a busy day of searching recipes I found this little gem of a recipe for Choc Chip Cookies. Made even better by the fact that prep time was only 15 minutes and cooking time was 10.


While my cookies were rising in the oven and the smell over taking the house, I went into my bedroom, lights turned off and attempted my first meditation session. While meditation is a great way to relax, calm down and bring all the postive engery into your soul its also darn hard to master. Relaxing the mind after a busy day is not the easiest thing. When sitting there I was pretty chuffed that I had managed to relax and not think of anything, but I was thinking, I was thinking about not thinking! So I started again. Slowly following my breaths in an out, letting my body relax and listening closely to the sounds of music playing through my iphone app (relax m - free app is amazing).


After just 10 minutes of slow breathing I found myself to be calmer and more relaxed and certainly ready to sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy those biscuits.........


Tip: First time meditators - it is important to not go in wanting to meditate for half an hour. Like anything, you need to slowly build up to that. Start with 10 minutes every day for the first few weeks. Dont get yourself down if you seem to drift off into thought during meditating - simply own the thought, recognise what you are thinking and then store it in the back of your mind and start breathing in an out and concentrating on the deep breaths in and the deep breaths out.