Cooking: Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers

Today Asher and I made whole wheat cheddar crackers. They were easy! For Asher, it was like playing with play doh.

Here is the recipe we used, but I edited the recipe (at end of post):
http://weelicious.com/2012/01/10/whole-wheat-cheddar-crackers/

We treated the dough like playdoh and a rolling pin and cookie cutters (we have a box of 100+, so I chose a circle, star and car.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Boy did Asher wake up cranky today, and early too! But we went back into the bedroom, had a cuddle, and tried again. And he had a happy morning!

We made cookies for Valentine's Day. Asher stirred (he likes stirring) and smushed spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet. (Look at Asher's serious face.)
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So far (the last 3 months)

This post is to catch people up from when we left Exmouth to now...

So, our time in Perth was great, but somewhat hectic and stressful. It was good to be back with Dave's family for a while, to meet our new niece Kaitlyn (Dave's sister's baby), and to catch up with people. Dave's experience at the farm ended much better than the time before, though now the farm is experiencing a different set of problems (farming, 'even just fish,' is never easy!).

Our flight to the US was better than expected, Asher having his own seat made a difference. He really was quite good for the flight, but the times when he was crying or upset felt like it lasted forever. Did I ever tell you that Asher threw up on our last trip to the US- on the lady next to us? It really can't get much worse than your child vomiting on the stranger next to you at the beginning of a 16 hour flight. So in comparison, this flight was easy!

Australia Day, ANZAC biscuits

Happy Australia Day!

I've celebrated by making two batches of ANZAC biscuits- the first batch failed miserably, so I tried a different recipe. Anzac biscuits are usually made on Anzac (Veteran's) day, but I like the recipe and figured it was definitely Australian enough for Australia day!

Pinspired: Christmas cupcakes

I've become a fan of Pinterest, as a way to be inspired and to easily show others ideas. I have a few boards- cardmaking, toddler ideas, and Christmas ideas. Recently I came across this Christmas idea:

Source: flickr.com via Carol on Pinterest

Hot Cross Buns!

The ingredients!


340 ml water
2 tbsp. oil
2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. brown sugar


600 g. bread flour
3 tbsp. milk powder
1 tbsp. ground mixed spice
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 1/4 tsp. yeast


And in the bread machine it went, on the dough setting. It mixes it and allows it to rise. Thanks, Julie, for lending me the bread machine!

Then you mix in the sultanas or chocolate chips. Technically, the recipe says to toss them in the bread machine when it beeps three times... but I haven't heard it beep yet, so mine go in at the end!

Then I left it to rise 20 minutes.

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I mixed 2 tbsp water and 40g. plain flour to make a sticky goo that I drew the crosses with. I used a piping bag and a wide flat piping nozzle. They go in the oven at 190 C for 15 or 20 minutes.

When they came out of the oven I glazed them with a mixture of 1/2 c. icing sugar, 1/4 tsp. allspice, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 1 tbsp. water.

They didn't last long after that!

**NOTE: The more observant may notice that the buns in the earlier photos had raisins, and the buns in the last photo had chocolate chips. I brought the sultana ones to church Frinday night for the Good Friday service, so I didn't get photos after they came out of the oven (I was in a bit of a rush!)

Cupcakes & Muffins

Violet Crumble and Ginger mini- Cupcake



Orange and Cranberry mini-Muffins

I am definitely enjoying my new oven!

December so Far

Carols by Starlight in Exmouth last weekend...




And some Christmas baking and decorating. The caravan is a bit cramped for projects like this, so I am not sure I'll do it again until we get the house in January!




The cookies had to be small to fit into the mugs we were giving the staff for Christmas. I think the stars are my favorites- I've decided they are brittle sea stars.


I had to decorate this cookie with toothpicks! So I only made one for each person on staff... at least they recognized what they were.

Thanksgiving

Dave and I celebrated Thanksgiving with the 17-30 Bible Study (the study for people aged 17-30). Everyone brought something, and we did some readings and sharing in-between parts of the meal. Some friends opened up their home for us, and very kindly let us use their new, spacious outdoor setting. Thanks!

The recipe for pecan pie came from my Dad's "Joy of Cooking" cookbook. He gave it to me before I moved to Australia- it has been worth the weight of bringing it over!

I also made pumpkin pies. We had cole slaw, corn on the cob, bread rolls, stuffing, turkey roasts, and even more stuff I can't remember.

I haven't cooked a whole turkey before, and I wasn't about to try! The turkey roasts turned out beautifully.

Here's the twelve of us (minus me, as I was trying to get the photo) enjoying the dinner.