Foodarrific

With school back in full swing, I’m more determined than ever to continue my baking pursuits. Teens are always hungry and with the long school days, the commercial air bread that we buy is hardly enough to keep them full for more than an hour. Seriously I’m tired of paying for air.

So I’ve started baking my own bread. And no, I do not own one of them funky bread machines that some of my friends have trained their maids to load up at 5 o’clock in the morning to churn away in time for breakfast.

If you fling a loaf of overnight bread machine bread at someone and they’re not wearing a Scorpion EXO-1000 helmet, you’ll probably make a hole in their head. That kind of bread is not for us. I make my bread from scratch by hand, the old school way and my teens love it. Their favorites are wholemeal nut loaves that taste so so good, even after a few days.

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We had an amazing Christmas dinner this year, thanks to a fantastic tasting turkey lovingly roasted in our own kitchen. Seems like the last time I roasted a turkey was for Thanksgiving several years ago, and quite honestly, we love roast turkey in this household so everyone was really looking forward to it.

Fresh out of the oven, my roast turkey looking beautifully golden. Just looking at this picture alone is enough to get me drooling all over again. This tastes so so good you might even put off shopping for engagement rings just to join us for dinner. We also had mashed potatoes with brown gravy, cranberry sauce, salad and red wine. Yumms.

In fact, I’m going out this weekend to see if I can buy another turkey. We’ve simply got to have it again for New Year’s. I know that sounds crazy but if you love something, just indulge yourself. After all, it’s only once a year.

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And if you need proof that we’ve been baking up a storm, here it is.

They sure don’t make wire whisks like they used to. Or did I just happen to buy a lemon? Or have I simply been working this thing too hard? Whatever it is, a whisk sure beats any gym equipment or even the yoga blanket when it comes to building a great set of biceps. No kidding, this is the best thing for toning those arms, I tell ya .

To be sure, I do have an electric mixer but just for fun, I decided to go old school. When my flimsy whisk broke to a thousand pieces, I pulled out my mixer and after just a few baking sessions, it too broke down. Luckily I have a spare which I won at a lucky draw and I hope it holds out .

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To say we’ve been on a baking spree is an understatement. Amidst this very busy season, we’ve been baking up a storm at home. There’s aren’t actually for Christmas. I’m just suddenly inspired to bring out some old recipes for old times’ sake.

And it’s fun because my girls are helping me and really enjoying the excitement of getting their hands dirty and actually getting to eat the stuff they make. But when it comes to the washing up, sometimes I just feel like using a teflon hose on all the dirty utensils and get them done and over with.

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If you’ve ever tried to cut a cheesecake with a knife, you’ll know how messy it can get. You can never quite get the clean edges of those slices you see displayed at the bakery.

I typically use a piece of beading thread to cut my cheesecake. It’s pretty simple. Just lay the thread across the top of the cheesecake and then holding both ends of the string, just push down into the cake to slice it.

Another way is to use a knife dipped in hot water so it won’t stick to the cheesecake and will make a clean cut.

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