Sweet Potato Cake for the The Babe...and me!

In an effort to get a many vitamins and nutrients into The Babe's diet I have found myself "hiding" veg in our food.  I always thought that "hidden veg" was crazy...I thought "my child will eat all sorts of vegetables"...but that was before I had a child, and before I realised that children are, in essence, fickle and unpredictable.  The Babe will love something one day, absolutely gorge herself on it and then the next day toss it aside like it is the most disgusting thing I have ever put on her plate.  So, in a bid to stop scraping pieces of vegetable off the floor after most meals I have done what I thought I would never do...I have started hiding vegetables in our food.  

I made this Maple and Sweet Potato Loaf Cake during the week and it has been a huge hit.  The Babe really loved sweet potatoes while were in Canada in July, she gobbled up her sweet potato fries like it was nobody's business, but since we've been home my efforts have been met with less enthusiasm. Turning to Pinterst for help I found loads of great ways to use sweet potato in sweet dishes...brownies, muffins, cakes and pies.  I liked the recipe I chose because it was very close to the recipe I use for banana bread.  

I halved the sugar in the recipe and used Macadamia Milk instead of water to loosen the batter a bit (only because I had Macadamia Milk in the fridge needing to be used up).  To save some time I baked a large sweet potato the night before and then left it in the fridge overnight.  If you do this step in advance the cake takes no time at all to prepare, although it does take a while to bake (60 mins).  Once cooled I sliced it up into snack sized portions for The Babe, wrapped them in cling film and popped them into the freezer.  Of course I saved a few portions for immediate enjoyment! 

I slathered mine in butter and pear fruit spread.  It was fantastic.  The cake tastes slightly of sweet potato, but in my opinion it isn't over powering.  It is super moist and slightly dense.  I think it makes a great snacking cake for little ones, and The Babe has really enjoyed the couple of slices she has had.   

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A Very Special Birthday Party

The older Lyra gets the less time I find I have to sit down and update this blog.  Sure, she is still napping during the day (in fact she has gotten BETTER at napping during the day) it is just that I can no longer justify letting housework pile up and NEED to put my feet up every chance I get.  After A YEAR of doing this Mummy thing I really do NEED to spend every second she is not escaping from the living room actually maintaining some semblance of order.

Food wise, Lyra has been eating solid foods for the past 6 months and has developed a good appetite for most of what we eat.  She pretty much eats everything that David and I eat with the exception of broccoli, which I have to sneak into pastas and quiche.  Her favourites, by far, are scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter and banana, pasta with anything on it, salmon, egg mayo sandwiches and sweet potato fries.  I love watching her eat and the enthusiasm she displays while devouring her meal.  

We were in Canada (again) this past month and celebrated Lyra's first birthday with a small BBQ (Uncle Matt's famous pulled pork) and some very special Carrot Cupcakes.  

I used Annabel Carmel's carrot muffin Recipe (toddler friendly) and topped them with cream cheese icing and "prinkles".  The recipe made 12 regular sized muffins and 12 mini muffins, which was perfect for celebrating with little ones as well as adults (or those who just wanted a little but of something sweet after the awesome BBQ and sides). 

The extra special treat was sharing the celebrations with Grandad, whose birthday is also in July! 

And now onto the next year full of new adventures, new discoveries and new tricks! 

Banana Scones...Mombie be GONE!

The Babe will be 6 months next week...I can't believe how quickly these past months have gone...all the days seem to have morphed into one and I'm amazed at how much I can actually get done on little to no sleep.  Let's just say I am ROCKING this MOMBIE look.  

Over the last week or so we have been gearing up to starting The Babe on solid foods and I've definitely caught myself daydreaming about all the wonderful foods I'm going to make her and how she is going to be such a good eater.  I have probably jinxed myself.  

Anyway, last night I was reading a weaning book and stumbled upon a recipe for banana scones.  The recipe was very close to my go-to scone recipe, except it used marg instead of butter and less sugar (still a bit of sugar though).  The Babe is no where near ready to have HER FIRST SCONE, but I thought I try my hand at making some banana scones anyway.  

I decided to adapt my own recipe instead of following the one in the weaning book.  I replaced the milk with mashed banana loosened with a splash of milk, and used a tiny amount of vanilla sugar (although the banana is sweet enough I could do with removing the sugar completely) and did away with the salt and egg.  They taste pretty darn good to me, so I've filed the idea away in the back of my babybrain head and can only hope that somewhere down the road, when The Babe is ready for more substantial foods I have an ah-ha moment and remember. 

Can you tell I am really proud of myself? 

Just to add to my smugness I'll boast about how I whipped these up at 7:30 this morning while The Babe was STILL SLEEPING! 

How's that for a Mombie?!! 

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Blueberry Lemon Drizzle Muffins

I am typing this with a sleeping baby attached to my chest.  I probably should be doing some laundry or  making the bed but when she's sleeping I like to do something for me...besides there is no telling how long she will sleep for... 

Wednesday morning Lyra and I whipped up a batch of Blueberry Lemon Drizzle Muffins.  Using my Quick Anytime Muffin recipe I added some lemon zest in with the wet ingredients and then, once baked and slightly cooled, slathered them with a lemony icing sugar topping.  

These muffins are great without the drizzle but sometimes I think it adds a little something special to jazz up my morning (or anytime) treats.

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A Wee Scone

mama scone and baby scone 

I am so happy that I finally feel human enough to sit down and blog again...and I've even managed to get into the kitchen! That's right...our wee scone has finally arrived.

Just over 2 weeks ago we welcomed our gorgeous little girl into the world.  It was tough and we needed a few extra days in hospital, but we are home now and settled.  My mum has come to visit/help out for the next few weeks...allowing me time to close my eyes and also to bake (cinnamon and mixed fruit scones).  

I hope that it won't be too long before I get a chance to write again.  

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That Nesting Instinct...to bake

I seriously have not had an urge to "nest" over the last month...I mean sure everything is ready and washed and now just waiting...but I wasn't on my hands and knees cleaning the grout in the shower (that's what husbands are for).  The only strong urges I have had, recently, is to bake.  Last week I was hoping and praying that the muffins I whipped up would be the the final bake until the wee bairn arrived...but...nope.  I am now 6 days overdue and NEED baked goods in the house.  

To remedy both  my urge to bake, and my desire for homemade baked goods I decided to do something  a little bit crazy over the weekend...I made croissants...from scratch...with my own fair hands.

During one of my many hours watching Food Network over the past weeks Anna Olson dedicated a whole episode of her Bake programme to making croissants.  Having watched her make them step by step gave me the courage to actually make them at home!

I'm not sure why I have shied away from making croissants before (especially with my love for anything yeasty).  I mean legit patissiers must leave their dough to rest and proof for ages, something that might be a bit tedious for the home baker...but the recipe I followed gave the option to leave the dough to rise anywhere from 1-8 hours.

I started my dough around 6pm on Saturday and decided to leave it to rest for an hour between folds, leaving it overnight in the fridge for the final rest...before shaping it, leaving it to rest again, and then finally baking! 

I was really happy with the outcome.  I halved the recipe (although I could have easily devoured the 30 croissants the original recipe promised) so I'm not sure if my tinkering did anything to the quality of the dough.  They didn't rise as much as I would have liked, and probably could have done with a couple more minutes to really crisp up...but they are seriously buttery, flaky and delicious.  

As I type this the news is reporting that the Royal Baby is on its way...I'm a little bit jealous...but at least I've got croissants! 

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Over Due

I've been at a total loss for things to do the past few days...there are two things that I want to do, Bake and Have the Baby.  I really only have control over one of those things... 

Yesterday was D-Day, and seeing as I woke up feeling no different from the night before I decided to make the most of my "free" time and whipped up a batch of Banana Hazelnut Muffins.  Using my Quick Muffin Recipe I tossed in 2 mashed bananas with the wet ingredients and about 1/3 of a cup of chopped hazelnuts.  I also sprinkled some Demerara Sugar over the tops before baking...which crisped up nicely and then promptly melted in the heat of the kitchen.

I was going to freeze some of them to snack on once the baby arrives, but at this point I am far to greedy and, really, they are so easy that I'm sure I can squeeze a batch in at some point between feeding, changing, playing, napping, cleaning (she says naively).  

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Slow Ferment

Still Baking This Bun

3 weeks left in the oven 

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Baby Shower

I've been awake since 5:45 this morning...I don't know if it is baby related or the fact that the sun is shining through my rather thick curtains...either way...I'm up. Yesterday some friends threw me a lovely afternoon tea baby shower.  It was gorgeous...along the lines of the one we had before Christmas at my house...everyone brought something and we sat and chatted, ate, drank tea and whiled away the afternoon.  

The Spread, including my savoury platter with gougeres and artichoke bites

tomato and bacon tart 

cheese scones 

pea and asparagus flan 

the infamous MTB

banana cream pie

fruit scones with all the fixings

pear and ginger cake

mini cheesecakes with an Oreo and pretzel base

A truly lovely afternoon with some fantastic ladies and one of the cutest little men (3 month old Alfie) in all of Edinburgh.  

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