Wednesday 3 August 2011

Blossom and something yummy to eat

Hello everyone.  We are experiencing some winter sunshine and warm weather this week which is absolutely delightful.  We always get a warm spell in this neck of the woods about now which lulls us into thinking that spring and maybe even summer is around the corner.  I know that winter and crazy spring weather will come back with a blast in a few days, so I'm soaking up the sunshine as much as I can.  I put four loads of washing on the line this morning.  I love clothes, towels and sheets that smell of sunshine and fresh air.

As the weather has been so lovely, I've been out walking and took the following photos yesterday.

Flowering Cherry Plum
I love the pink of the blossom and brown of the branches against the vivid blue sky.
Wattle
Chaenomeles - japonica growing my neighbour's front garden.
I found a new recipe for a homemade muesli bar from this book The Thrifty Kitchen which I borrowed from the library.  This recipe is really rather easy and beats spending money on overly sweetened commercially made muesli bars and is much tastier too.  I've changed a few ingredients which I have noted below.
Here is a photo to tempt you to read on.


FRUITY MUESLI BARS

Makes 24

125g unsalted butter, ( I only had salted and it worked fine)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 cup of sultanas or dried cranberries (craisins)  I used craisins because Miss G. hates sultanas
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans because I don't like the bitterness you sometimes get with walnuts)

1.  Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line a 20 cm x 30 cm lamington tin (line the base and the two long sides, making sure the paper overhangs the side by 2 cm.)

2.  Melt the butter with the sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir without letting it boil, until the sugar has dissolved.  Stir in all the remaining ingredients.

3.  Press the mixture firmly into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes.  Leave to cool completely in the tin before lifting out and cutting into 5 cm squares.

My slice got a little bit overdone (I was out when the oven timer went off and Miss C. didn't hear it because she was dancing with her ipod on), but was still delicious.  I also cut my squares smaller than 5 cm otherwise it would be eaten in ten minutes.  I had a piece with a cup of tea this morning, delicious.


I hope the sun is shining on you today and you have something delicious to nibble on. 
Have a lovely day,

Anne  xx

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos - cherry blossoms are so pretty....Thank you for stopping by my blog and for your comment btw. Pom Pom flowers are a brilliant idea! And it got me thinking about making tissue paper flower too maybe a mix might work well! :)

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  2. The recipe sounds delicious.
    Love from Mum
    xx

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  3. Lovely spring flowers!!

    The muesli bars look lovely, W and I have made flapjacks and chocolate cake today so we have plenty of lovely nibbles!!

    S x

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  4. Glad to see your making the most of the good weather.

    It's evident from the light on your muesli bar photos what lovely weather you are having - those photos are so clear and well lit! The last one could go in a magazine! I love the pattern on your mug too.

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  5. Almost forgot - in response to you earlier comment, the startlings over here are not like the ones you saw in my blog (google European starling to see). The two starlings caged at the botanical gardens are from different parts of Africa - all the birds in the cages there were from other countries.

    I had to google 'california king size' bed as I had never heard of that, over here we have 'super king' which is just slighty smaller that a california king - it sounds good!!

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  6. "A cup of tea without a bikkie is a wasted opportunity" a saying I stumbled across yesterday and I think they might be right ANne.

    Muesli slice looks very yummy and I love your mug and sweet little tea pot.

    Lovely weather up here, I've been busy gardening (read boring but necessary weeding!) and doing a bit of sewing. I have the Apple Blossom Japonica (pink and white) it's putting on a beautiful display and Wattles everywhere are starting to colour up.

    Enjoy your Thursday,

    Claire :}

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  7. Hasn't the weather been beautiful?
    I'm with you about sheets dried in the sunshine and wind - one of the great simple pleasures of life.

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  8. It looks a glorious day with lovely blue skies.

    The muesli bars look scrummy!

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