bake {muesli}

my mum used to always make homemade muesli.
i think it's one of the best ever smells of my childhood. oats, nuts, grains - all toasting away with a dose of brown sugar for a bit of sweetness. i LOVED it when she made muesli.

i love muesli and i love making it myself. i have to admit i don't really make it as much as i would like, but when i do it makes me feel really wholesome.

it's very simple. you only need a few ingredients and you can add anything you wish. i start with putting the following into a large bowl:

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup bran flakes
1/2 cup of wheatgerm (the mineral rich part of the wheat kernel), i say a small bit because i don't always like the flavour to overwhelm
then i add; shredded coconut, flaked almonds, ground almonds, sesame seeds, any nuts if i have them around (peanuts or cashews are my fav) and chopped dates and sometimes i usually put a little amount of ground vanilla pods through it too.
i then melt 100g butter and combine it with my favourite honey (Katikati's finest) and pour it over until every thing is coated and well mixed. the amount of honey is up to your sweet tooth - usually most people don't want much as the dates and sultanas give a lot of sweetness to the muesli.

the oven is set to 150deg C and i tip the mix into a baking tray and lightly toast the muesli until its golden. i have to keep checking every 10mins to mix it up and make sure its an even toast.

afterwards i add sultanas because they usually catch and burn when i toast them so now i just leave them till last!

voilà! homemade muesli...its very easy and very yummy!

photo {my week}

just a few favourites from this week

 
1. cup a soup and feijoas go really well together
2. my favourite honey (which went into my homemade muesli - post on that to come)
3. i'm a biscuit freak. I'm a chocolate biscuit freak always.
4. my $4 leather op shop boots from last winter aren't coming off my feet. I looooove them so much. they may need a polish.
5. the autumn light through the trees is magical these days.
6. this kid runs everywhere. one of my favourite things ever is watching him run with these little skips in between. he's not got a care in the world really.
7. after school reunions. they actually ran to each other for a hug.

bake {raspberry & yogurt loaf}

this is delicious.

easy.

light.

perfect on a cool late autumn afternoon. i sat in a sunny spot in the lounge with the sun on my back and the fire going (yes we've started having fires already), read the paper and smelled this baking in my oven. one of those ahhhh moments where everything was just right (ignoring the school holiday induced flotsam around me).

this loaf is based on a donna hay recipe which used blueberries but instead i've swapped for raspberries. i'm sure this recipe would suit any fruit though, and right now i'm thinking the last of the seasons feijoa's would go very nicely.

150g butter
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
150g raspberries (I used frozen)

melt butter, add sugar, eggs, zest, vanilla and yogurt and mix well. sift flour into the mix and stir well. fold through the berries carefully and spoon into lined loaf tin.
bake at 160 deg C for 60-70 minutes or insert a skewer and if it comes out clean its done.

cool, slice and serve, preferably with a nice hot mug of tea. these days are shorter and cooler. i've been watching the pukekos snatch the persimmons off the tree outside our lounge, cheeky things will eat anything they see.

birthday

last month my oldest turned twelve.

she asked for a few friends over for the night, so we agreed on 4.

i spent most of the night making food, while watching them as they made up games and laughed like hyenas. i was struck by what a confident bunch of girls they were. it got me remembering myself at that age.

when i was twelve i was in form 2 at belmont intermediate. i was a small, skinny and awkward redhead with a terrible fringe and i remember feeling constantly completely out of my depth. i wasn't confident, i wasn't trendy. i was incredibly naive and insecure most of the time around people. i remember learning some very hard lessons in friendship. but when i was around people who knew me well i shined and performed. i was secure in my parents love and my large extended family and friends around me. twelve was definitely an age of discovering more about who i was...before the hormones had kicked in.

being awkward and badly fringed with Michael Jones. yeehar 90's fashion!

with my older brother alex. i probably grew a thick skin thanks to him. 

but then i look at my daughter and i'm amazed. she's nothing like i was. she's hilarious, sarcastic, she answers back to owen and i (i NEVER would have done that) and reasons pretty well. she's stubborn, smart, practical, logical and quite stunning. she probably feels from time to time like i felt above, lets face it who hasn't had their awkward years - it's good to remember that a safe place surrounded by love can make that girl blossom even more, especially in the coming turbulent teen years. this can be said for my other two as well.

so back to the party. it made me feel reeeeeeeeally old. especially when i did the dvd renting and got them the princess bride. none of the girls had even seen it. and then they spent half of the film on their ipods. until i sneakily disabled the internet. 

but i did get a few snaps in the meantime. anyone who has kids addicted to adventure time will recognise the cake (it was chocolate devil with chocolate swiss meringe buttercream if you're wondering).

and this was my beauty at her year 8 social last term...

no awkwardness here...

welcome

welcome to my new space.

let me explain.

blogging over at delissimon had rather lost its zing and zip for me. you see, for me some things have changed. i've changed and for some time i haven't felt the desire to blog under my delissimon blog.

perhaps its my new role in a challenging and exciting industry leaving me less time than I used to, perhaps its my "moving on" emotionally from a whole range of events over the last four years.
i spent 4 years investing in what was more or less a brand, a concept tied in primarily with food, or more specifically my baking and as it changed and evolved it turned into photography, breast cancer awareness, family...it was fun and rewarding but i wasn't quite sure how to define it all.

so while i was struggling to come up with another fresh idea for a blog post it occurred to me to just start over. new name, new start. i think staying creative requires refreshing some things and after some though this is exactly where i should be now.

i'm not moving all my old posts over. delissimon will stay there for now (i can't quite bring myself to delete it entirely) but this is all new content.

that's not to say the main things have changed though. i still bake, i still write, i still photograph, i still personally champion for breast cancer in young women but i feel i helped begin that voice and can hand it over to the amazing support and care of Shocking Pink and Young Survivors NZ members to be that support. i may blog about my breast cancer occasionally but its not my focus any longer either. what is my focus? well firstly it's my family, then everything else follows.

its my new creative space...a new work in progress. i hope you can join me here?