Oaty Biscuits

I make these quite often for the boys to take to school. They're adapted from a Linda McCartney recipe, and they contain sultanas and pecans, and plenty of oats.

Very quick and easy to make, especially if you get someone to mix for you while you tip the ingredients into the bowl (thanks Richard!)

Banana Breakfast Ring

This is really tasty (also from 'Feast'). It's a good way to use up overripe bananas, and it uses oil instead of butter. There is also some lemon juice and zest in it, which makes it less sweet than some other banana cakes/breads, and adds a nice tang. Very easy to make, you add wet ingredients to dry, so it's like making a big muffin.

Would be good for breakfast as it's not overly sweet, but good for any time of day.

Watermelon

Yesterday's afternoon tea

Sometimes I cut up some fruit for afternoon tea and it is just perfect - perfectly ripe and sweet and beautiful, just like this seedless watermelon.

Entered into 'Click' photo competition at Jugalbandi

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets

Before cooking...

...and after cooking.

This is a recipe from 'Feast' that I've wanted to try for a while, but in the book it says to fry the nuggets, which put me off a bit (not for health reasons - more because of mess and smell!)

But I've discovered you can cook them in the oven instead, so that's what I did. You soak cut-up chicken breast in buttermilk overnight, to make the meat tender, then dip them in crumbed Ritz (or similar) crackers, then cook them.

They really were very tender - no chewiness at all, and the outside was slightly crunchy, although not as strongly flavoured as I would have expected. Nice dipped in sauce though. Healthier than bought nuggets, and good for the kiddies!

Sparkly Cut-out Biscuits

I found this in my photo file - I made them a few months ago. These are the biscuits I decorated before the boys had their turn with the icing etc. (It's not as easy as it looks, dealing with icing - that's why they look a bit blobby.)

I didn't take photos of the ones they made, but they were very creative with the colours and generous with the sprinkles, so I think you can imagine what they looked like!

Banana Smoothies

Banana smoothies made with bananas and milk (and a little bit of honey because the bananas weren't quite ripe enough to have the full bananary sweetness). If I have ice cream I add some, but I think they are more refreshing without.

Birthday Cakes

I wanted to add these here as well as on my family blog, because I think they are so pretty! Even though I do say so myself ;o)

I let the boys choose the type of cake they have for their birthday. Oli is still at the 'chocolate cake with Smarties' stage which is great because you can immediately tell from photos which year it was! The cake had been made at home and then transported to 'Nan's' house, which meant the '5' had slid a bit. The icing I like to use is a bit too thin for embedding Smarties, but it does taste very good!

Stuart was more specific and asked for butterfly cakes, fruit and cut-out biscuits.

Granola

This recipe is from 'Feast' by Nigella Lawson. I made the choc/peanut version but used almonds instead of peanuts because I'm not a fan of raw peanuts.

Very popular with the boys, and the cocoa powder adds a nice "Coco Pops" style choc hint to the milk without making it too chocolatey.

I add sultanas to mine when I eat it because I love sultanas.

Will be making this again but probably without the cocoa next time.