Who would you invite?

Are you up for a game?

If you could invite five people (living or dead, real or fictional) to dinner, who would they be?

The Dinner Party by Jules Alexandre Grun

I would choose...

Sir David Attenborough He would have so many interesting stories to tell!  Plus I know my daughter would drag out all her wildlife books and ask him dozens of questions...I hope he likes kids as much as animals!

Diana, Princess of Wales I just know she'd be lovely, don't you think?  And just imagine her stories!

Jamie Oliver He always seems to be up for a get-together...perhaps I could rope him into helping with dinner?  I hope he brings some free range meat and eggs to use - they'll go well with my garden fresh veg.

the fourth Doctor Who He holds a special spot in my heart seeing as he's the first Doctor I ever remember watching...plus, he'd bring the TARDIS and K-9!  What's not to love about that?

and last, but definately not at all least, my best friend Jo, because it simply just wouldn't be the same without her.  I can't link to her, you'll just have to trust me that she's ace.

Who would you invite?  And why?  DO tell!

A Little Bit of Orange

I've been all about blue and green lately.

But a bit of orange snuck into my home via my cooking today.

Pumpkin Soup...

and Mango Icecream...

I'm in love with my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker which I got for Christmas - it's wonderful to be able to share ice cream with Miss Seven, who can't have the shop bought stuff due to her peanut allergy.  I couldn't find a good mango ice cream recipe so I just winged it and it turned out absolutely delicious...though I forgot to write down how much of everything I put in, so unfortunately I don't have a recipe for you.  I will probably never make mango icecream as nicely again...oh well.  Also, those that know the extra fattening divineness that goes into making good homemade icecream will know that one scoop is enough and I definately didn't eat all three of the scoops that you see in my photo.  Maybe.

I can share my pumpkin soup recipe though,  I've been making it forever so I have no idea where it's from but it's super (souper? ha ha) simple and Miss Seven (who refuses to eat pumpkin in it's whole form) actually asks for me to make it.

Lillabilly's Delicious Pumpkin Soup 

Ingredients

1kg Pumpkin - get some nice golden orange stuff!

1 Onion

4 cups of chicken stock (you can use vegetable stock if you want to make a vegetarian version)

1 tblspn sugar

Fresh fine ground pepper to taste

1 cup of single cream

Salt (perhaps)

Method

Dice up the pumpkin and onion  and add them, the sugar, pepper and the stock to a saucepan.  Bring to boil, then simmer until everything is nice and soft.  (I leave it for a couple of hours)  Switch off and allow to cool, then puree completely in a blender or food processer.  Pour back into saucepan, add cream and mix through.  Reheat (taste and add salt only if necessary) and serve!

Extra nice with some sort of toasty bread to dip!

You should also head on over here to How About Orange which is a nice place to go when you are keen on some extra orangey lovliness amongst all sorts of other interesting things.

Hello Again!

I've been having a blogging break while getting to know the newest addition to our household.  It's a bit exhausting, this baby business - especially since I havn't done it all for a while.  But lovely at the same time.  Things are beginning to settle into kind-of-a, sort-of-a, somehow routine now, so hopefully I will be able to get back to blogging a little more!  I've missed it.

Here, by the way, are some pretty poppies that Miss Seven grew (yes, she's been a Miss "Seven" for a while now...just shows how slack my blogging has been!).  Poppies are by far her favourite flower to grow, though unfortunately we had a bit of a heatwave that killed many seedlings and we only ended up with a few adult plants.  They still put on a pretty display for us though and it was extra exciting to come down into the garden in the early morning each day to see whether any new poppies had burst open at first light.

 

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

How do you feel about 2011?  I generally have mixed feelings about every year, but this one in particular seemed to be falling on the not so good side of life.  So much so, that I was pretty well wishing it away.

But then, at the last minute, here came this little fella - to remind me that there is always a fresh start, that nothing is ever all bad and things can always be redeemed, even at the last minute.

 

Happy New Year, everyone.

Here's to new beginnings.

Muesli Squares

Have you ever made your own muesli bars?  If not, you should try!  It's super easy and you can put in whatever grains, seeds, nuts or fruit you like!  Or leave them out if you don't like.  It's really versatile and the combinations are as limited as your imagination and taste buds will allow.

I found my recipe here, but I changed it to suit my own ingredients because while I was cleaning out my pantry recently, I discovered this...

I think I may have bought it at the beginning of the year with lots of good intentions to start eating a nice healthy breakfast (it is awesomely delicious mixed with greek yoghurt and fresh blueberries), but somehow it got pushed to the back of the cupboard and forgotton.  Since the best before date is the end of the month, I figured there was no way I could slog through a whole box of muesli  in a few weeks, so muesli bars (or squares, in my case) would be perfect!

Instead of including a whole heap of seperate dry ingredients, I simply added up the amount needed in the original recipe (five cups), used the muesli (which came to four cups) and topped it up with the last of Miss Six's cornflakes, the last of a packet of craisins (dried cranberries) and some extra sultanas to make the five cups.  Not only did I get some yummy muesli treats, but I got more space in my pantry too!

So here's my recipe...

Homemade Muesli Squares

Ingredients

5 cups of dry ingredients (cereal, grains, dried fruits, seeds, nuts, whatever you like)
125g unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Grease and line a 3cm deep, 16cm x 28cm (base) baking pan with baking paper. Cook your dry ingredients (without fruit, although I didn't bother seperating the stuff that was already in the muesli) in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.

Transfer to a bowl. Set aside to cool. Stir in dried fruit if you are adding extra.

 

2. Cook butter, honey and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until sugar dissolves. 

Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, without stirring, for 7 minutes or until mixture forms a soft ball when a little is dropped into ice-cold water. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until combined

3. Spoon mixture into pan. Use a large metal spoon to press down firmly.

Cook in oven for 5-7 minutes.  Allow to cool. Cut into squares - it may still be quite soft but will harden up a bit on refridgeration. Store in an airtight container (I put baking paper between layers to stop the pieces sticking together)  in the fridge.

Obviously these are designated snackage for myself and the hubby as the muesli I used is not nut-allergy friendly for Miss Six (it has almonds, which she is actually not allergic to, but just in case) so I am working on a nut free version for her to take in her lunchbox to school.

Here's the finished product with a little more blue/green love and a sneek peak of my latest crochet project.

 

Yum!  If you'd like some more baking inspiration, head on over to the girls at A Spoonful Of Sugar for some yummy ideas and links to which you can add your own delicious treats!
Happy baking!