It has been one of those weeks! I don’t know where the hell the time has gone and I don’t remember doing anything other than going to a BBQ, seeing Nikki and seeing Daniel, anything before that is a blur. Every single task has been hard this past week with the babies, I seem to have spent the whole week removing Percy from dangerous situations (he can crawl now) being covered in shit or drool and being moaned at by Matilda who seems like she is crying out to appear in an episode of Super nanny at the moment.
I am feeling a bit sad too as it is my last week as a fully fledged stay at home parent, for the next few years anyway. I have moaned a lot about it over the years, but I am SO glad I have done this, I am happy to have been very poor and very much lacking in a social life for the past three years, as these are years with the babies I will never get back. We are away next week and then the week after uni starts, it is only 2/3 days a week away from the babies but still, me and Tilds have done everything together for almost 3 full years now, so it is going to be really weird.
Tilds is turning 3 shortly, so I am starting to do more exciting, meaningful activities with her, to keep her occupied, which are not just art based…which will slowly ease into semi-structured home ed in a year or two (we are pretty sure we are home educating at least for the early years until we run off to the countryside). Tilds is quite hyper and full on sometimes, but when I have an activity planned out she always does it and she has been really excited about working through the Exploring nature with children ebook I recently bought. Anyone who has kids should buy this book, it has nature based activities, art work and poetry for every week of the year, it can be used as a full curriculum or just to give ideas for crafts and activities which is what we are doing really at the mo. Here are some pics of Matilda exploring the ‘seeds’ topic this week
Anyway, baking…
So last week on the Great British bakeoff all the challenges were pretty silly. It was dessert week so I had the choice of this fondant violet covered meringue nonsense, creme brulee or baked cheesecake. I was going to do rhubarb creme brulee but my rhubarb decided to go all gross and fuse to the back of the fridge, so I went with the cheesecake! On the show they made a 3 tiers of baked cheesecake, I just made one because I would have to eat 3 cheesecakes otherwise. I made it when Daniel was here the other day, with the kids being irritating in the background and just basically made it up as I went along and I think it turned out well! It probably could have been a bit sweeter, just a little bit, so I’d add more brown rice syrup next time. I used digestives biscuits for the base which contain sugar, I got as far as thinking about getting the nuts out and processing them into a base and gave up on that idea. Here, have a recipe-
Baked chocolate and strawberry cheesecake
You will need
For the base
*Around 10 digestive biscuits (My tin was huge though)
*100g butter
(Or use nuts/oats/water crackers)
For the top
*500g full fat cream cheese
* 100ml greek yoghurt
* 100g melted dark chocolate
* 8 tbsp brown rice syrup
* 1 Tsp vanilla extract
* 4 eggs
* Sliced strawberries and more melted dark choc to top
and then
* Melt butter
* Food process biscuits/nuts
* Combine butter with whatever you are using for the base
* Squish into the bottom of your tin
* Bake the base for 10 mins and 220 degrees
* Mix together the cream cheese, yoghurt and eggs with a mixer or hand whisk
* Add vanilla, brown rice syrup and melted dark chocolate
* When base has cooled slightly, pour cream cheese mixture on top
* Bake at 220 degrees for 15 mins
* Turn temp down to 100 degrees and bake for an hour
* Turn oven off, open the door slightly and leave cake in there cooling for an hour
* Transfer to the fridge to cool fully
* Decorate with strawberries and chocolate!
So, tomorrow is the start of September and loads of people all over the internet… ok mainly Australians, are doing a Sugar-free September. I am joining in, I have still not been having anything like juice, fizzy drinks, added sugar in baking etc but I have been letting way more ‘treats’ sneak in to my life than I am happy with and even ordered cake-away with David and Daniel last week! So here it goes, sorting my life out with a sugar free September https://www.facebook.com/events/149370355396160/
Ooo and also this weeks bakeoff challenge is free-from bakes! yay, I am torn between making up a new recipe or doing a post with all the cakes I have previously made and links to the recipes hmmm. I was going to be smug and make a sugar, wheat and dairy free cake, but I cba really as I have done that before (take that bakeoff contestants!)
Oh, before I go and spend all evening watching American horror story, for the sole reason that Taiisa Farmiga is a babe… look at this lovely meal Matilda and Percy shared at Bear cafe in Todmorden last week, it is such a lovely cafe where loads of the food is supplied by the Incredible edible groups in the area, no nuggets and chips there for kids!
Goodnight loves x
Amy Eloise 