Yes, the children are all back to school and yes I am back to the kitchen to do what I do best CREATING!! I haven’t been sleeping well the last few days just thinking about what I want to try out in the kitchen (and due to the children being nervous about school). Since the children have gone back to school I have managed a few trial bakes but my plans have sort of changed today.
What has taken over my day and for some days ahead that is really annoying me at the moment is decorating and finishing touches to the house. My husband and myself feel that we need to generate some more interest by doing some more “little jobs” in the house. Now, I feel I can’t put my whole heart into my baking business due the the constant worry that we will get a viewing for the house and I won’t be prepared – as in loads will need doing or I will be mid baking order and have to drop everything.
After this morning, which I spent painting a door and cleaning the house, I think I am going to keep the house as tidy and as ready to go as possible – no fun for the children but at the same time it needs doing in order to sell this house. I don’t want the housey stuff to take over though as I need to keep working. Roll on Wednesday when I can get back to some trial baking again as I want to try out some low carbohydrate cupcake ideas. 🙂
I think my creativity in the kitchen is rubbing off on my children. My eldest two children have taken an interest in what they can make at home that they can enjoy eating at school instead of having the same every day of quite drab food which some school dinners and packed lunches can sometimes be. In fact, my daughters prepared the dinner for last night (with some help from myself) and I must say it was a very nice meal. Homemade Chicken Nuggets, Spicy Chicken Nuggets, Roasted Vegetable Medley with yummy Couscous were on the menu served with Crispy Potato Cubes (a freezer treat).
My husband and daughters prepped the chicken whilst I prepared the vegetables and Potato Cubes and readied the trays for the Chicken Nuggets. Once in the oven, the meal could be almost forgotten about except for the Couscous which I made quickly and left to one side. When it came to dishing up time I was quite shocked, pleased and amazed at how much the children wanted to try, liked etc., about the meal. Not a piece of chicken or drop of vegetable was wasted as my eldest daughter claimed the left over veg for her lunchbox. Even better one of my children scraped the Couscous bowl clean so it must have been good. Here are some photos of the various parts to this meal which covered all the tastes in my household.
Back to the trail bakes which I made last week. First to the Brownie Platter which I am now going to call Brownie Quiche (my husband’s idea). I wanted to try another brownie recipe which I changed slightly along the way – as I thought it had way too much sugar in the recipe. After baking and decorating the brownies I decided to put them up for sale and I sold both trays (my children were a bit upset that there was nothing for them but they really do get plenty to try). Very happy about the feedback about these brownies so I will be adding them to the webshop soon.
The other bake – well non bake actually was the Lemon Meringue Fudge which I decide do to try as it was a different recipe with less ingredients than what I normally would follow. After changing this recipe and using real lemons – my first thought was that the lemon would not be very strong and to begin with that was the case. However, on leaving the fudge in the fridge the lemon flavour became more intense so I am quite happy with the result. What has made me even happier is the interest I have received on my Facebook and Instagram pages about this fudge and its availability so I really do need to work on this next week. 🙂