Oven Baked Bread, Without Kneading!

Hi Guys,

Can't believe I checked out of bloglandia for so long! Lately life has been going a million miles a minute and I just haven't had any spare time. I have been trying to catch up with all the happenings but aty this point I am so far behind if I haven't said hi in a while I am coming. Since I haven't been doing much in the way of crafting or DIY I thought I would share a guest post from earlier in the year.

The post first appeared at With a Blast

Now I must admit, I am not a fan of cooking but I love to bake and one of my favourite things to bake is bread. Before you say baking bread is hard and annoying and time consuming, what if I told you all you have to do was chuck it in the bread maker and then get on with your normal routine then come back to it when you're ready to bake?

That's exactly what I do. Using my bulk bread maker recipe which you can find here

Ingredients - Add to bread maker in the exact order.

3&1/2 cups of Bread Maker Mix - recipe for bulk mix here

2 tsp of Dried Yeast

1 cup of Mixed Dried Fruit

1 tsp of Cinnamon

1&1/2 tbs of Olive Oil

1&1/4 cups of warm water (just slightly warm to touch, water that's too hot will kill the yeast and your dough won't rise 

Now I think you all know how to pour stuff into a bread maker but I like to use the dough setting rather than the bread so I can have these rustic free form loaves. Once the bread maker is set, go shopping for an hour or more, your bread will sit quite happily in the bread maker until you're ready to come back to it.

First spray down the tray, really well or use olive oil to oil the spray. I like quick and easy so I just use the spray, and dump the dough onto the tray.

Wrap it in plastic wrap but allow room for the bread to rise, leave it in a warm place then go and have a coffee or do something fun.

Come back in half an hour and it should have doubled in size.

Bake it in a moderate oven 180 Celsius or 350F for approximatly 30 mins. Be aware that this does depend on your oven, mine is brand new and it's exactly 30 mins, my old oven was dying and running very hot I found 22 minutes was enough in that oven. Isn't that bread just awesome.

Then slice it up and watch it disappear in front of your eyes. My 5 kids can eat 2 loaves of this for afternoon tea between them. (I admit two of them are teenage boys and never seem able to fill their stomachs)

Truly delicious and almost no work! you can shop and sit around drinking coffee because this is pretty much a waiting game and don't forget to check out my bread maker mix, it is seriously the best thing......since sliced bread. (bad joke lets all groan together)

 Or come and follow me at any or all of these places.

    

Mel xo

You're Invited To Cream Tea at The Mansion...Scone Recipe

Morning All,

So I am going to tell you about my favourite thing in the world, it's when my Nana (Dad's Mum) and her sisters organise a family event. They are the BEST home cooks and bakers ever! Just to make the point, Samuel's reaction to the last funeral we went to was, "Awesome, will they all be cooking?" RIP Great, Great Grandpa, I know he didn't mean to be disrespectful, it's just that teenage boys only think with their stomachs. 

Anyway, I thought I might share some of the recipes that makes my kids excited about meeting up with the extended family, although this version actually came from a friend.

Vegemite - An Australian Icon

Hi Guys,

I shared this post over at the Inspiration Cafe last year and in case you missed it here is a dedication to the greatest love us Aussie's have, well breakfast wise anyway.

First up, I'm going to say, I hate to cook, love to bake, hate to cook! Sandwiches for me are all about the convenience, it's like fast food at home, they're not fancy, they're just fuel. However there is one sandwich spread that is as Aussie as it gets and that's Vegemite!

So what is in this brown spread we all adore, brewers yeast extract, it is a by product of beer. That's right friends, come to Australia and we will feed you the leftovers from the beer making process.

It's a salty little treat that is actually very good for you. It is the worlds richest source of vitamin b, practically calorie free and Aussie kids have been brought up on this stuff for 90 years.

Last week Vegemite celebrated it's 90th birthday and is still made to the exact recipe that started it all. 

Vegemite on toast, is all I ate for the first trimester of my pregnancies, it's also a brilliant cure for when one was a little excessive with their wine intake the night before.

Kids running and playing with joy are referred to as "Happy Little Vegemites".

If you live here and don't know this song, your citizenship needs to be revoked.

So if you happen to be walking the supermarket and you see a jar of this little delight, pick it up and put the rose in your cheeks!

So if you haven't tried this delicious spread here's what our North American friends have to say...it's hilarious!




I promise this kid doesn't know what he is talking about it's fantastic and you don't ever eat it like jam or nutella. Just a scrape with some butter or margarine. Also best hang over cure out there!
Hope you enjoyed a 'taste' of Australia.

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Freebie Friday - Cook Books

Remeber when I said I wanted to find you guys the greatest deals on the web, how about some FREE Cookbooks!

These are Free for a limited time only, so disclaimer mate, they were free when I found them but double check before you order that they still are.


How about a little freezer cooking, I love the idea of Freezer Cooking because I hate to cook...then I realise that I have to spend ages in the kitchen to fill the freezer, but I am determined to give it a try

Even More Make and Freeze Recipes

Looking to shed a little weight, this freebie might be more your style SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

For all of you who are out in the workforce some healthy ideas to make and take to work Healthy Snacks for Work

Some snacks and sweets maybe? Have to say the fact that it is called The Happy Husband series almost made me leave it off, seriously isn't this 2014, the idea of the little woman just cooking to please her man...oh please! I cook and I want Julian to like it but I just think titles like has me imagining Pankhurst and her friends rolling in their graves, but the recipes seem good so we can overlook it. Snack & Sweet Recipes (Happy Husband Series)

Let's get cooking, good looking!F

Free cookbooks, you guys interested in more or not? Also please remember I don't set the price and they are subject to change but they were all free when I found them.

 Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

So You Broke Your New Years Resolutions, Now What?

Feb Fast, That's What!

Okay so I have to admit I am not a maker of resolutions because I think that on the whole you make (and by you I mean me) make all sorts of ridiculous goals and by Jan 3rd I'm back to doing what I do and feeling like a complete failure!

Have you guys heard of Feb Fast? Basically the idea is that, they say it takes 28 days to form a habit and Feb of course is 28 days also being the shortest month you can kid yourself that it's not going to be that bad.

Christmas Fudge

Hi Guys,

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it or not but I have no oven at present. It's totally annoying and means that there will not be any baking this holiday period. We're in the middle of a kitchen makeover and while we await new bench tops. ONE of us decided we could do without the oven until the bench tops are installed....one of us thinks that is a ridiculous idea!

So at present I'm scouring the net for as many non bake ideas that I can make "Christmassy".

More Water Less Soda - Without a Fight!

Hi guys,

This post was originally shared at the Inspiration Cafe.

 My kids fight me every step of the way when it comes to drinking water and the little ones are the worst. They point blank refuse to drink water from the tap unless it's mixed with cordial, but if it comes from a bottle, they will have anything!

How the heck does she feed all those kids? Veggie Garden!

Hi Guys,

This post orginally appeared over at the Inspiration Cafe

Mel from Mellywood's Mansion and I'm really excited to share with you how we turned our pretty ordinary yard into our own little food bowl.

When kid 4 out of five came it was a big shock to us financially, we'd literally lost half our income and had an extra mouth to feed. So we really started researching all the best ways to save a few $$ and veggies gardening was one of those things that kept coming up. Living in a warmer climate means we can grow veggies year round, although winter is limited to beans, lettuces and Asian greens

We had no idea what we were doing, so basically this is a pictorial of how we started as newbies and transformed the yard into a productive garden.

We started small with a few pots and bought ready made seedlings, once we were a little confidence we started planting our own seeds.

Those little pots gave us so much joy that we decided to expand to the front of the block and bought a few raised garden beds. Planted and watched our garden grow. (It was around Christmas hence the candy canes)

When we moved into the "Mansion" there was already a huge, well established lemon tree, this tree fruits for around 10 months of the year. We supply everyone and anyone who asks...not to mention the thieves that climb the outside of the fence). Then we planted bare rooted apple trees and a tiny dwarf tree, which we finally got fruit from this year after 3 years.

The apples grew and we expanded our fruit trees to include peaches, nectarines, almonds and pears.

Then we made the decision to add even more beds and dug up the back with a little (actually a lot) of help from the boys.

Then we awaited the "fruits" of our labor. Julian named the back garden Pete's Garden for his father who passed away.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of pictures of produce but here is a small sample.

All in all this is three years of work. We've read everything we could get our hands on, asked lots of questions and made a few mistakes but all in all I highly recommend trying it. By starting small and increasing as we went it wasn't as overwhelming as we thought it would be and we now save $100's a year by eating from our own garden.

So Melly, Melly, how does your garden grow? With hard work, patience and a lot of fun. Also I've said "we" a lot, I started with the small area in the beginning but Jule's and the boys are really the brains and labor behind most of what you've seen, including the cooking!

Right at present our peach and almond tree is beginning to flower which means Spring is right around the corner....Thank goodness for that!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

How the heck does she afford to feed all those kids? - Bulk Muffin Mix

Last time I shared my bulk bread maker mix, I mentioned that people say dumb things, so for those looking for a few ways to feed larger families I thought I would share mine. Bulk mixes aren't a new idea, but the first time you try them you'll be sold. Remember if your not feeding a huge family you can always half the recipe but these will last for around 6-8 months. I have never had an issue things go quick around the mansion.

Ingredients:

• 16 cups of Plain Flour (also called All Purpose in other countries)
• 6 cups of sugar
• 6Tbs Baking Powder
• 4 tsp Salt
• 4 tsp Cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients into a large container, then get ready to make muffins in a snap!

I do heaps of different flavors, using whatever I have on hand:

• 1/2 cup of choc chops
• 1 grated apple and 1/2 cup of Sulatanas
• 1/4 cup of whit choc chips & 1/4 cup of dried blueberries
• 1 Tbs of Poppyseeds 1 tsp lemon essence & a Tbs of lemon zest (change to how you like your lemon we love it

So here's how I make them up

2 &3/4 cups of Muffin Mix

1 cup of Milk ( I use light milk but full cream will work)

1/2 cup of Canola Oil

1 Egg 

Preheat oven to 190 Degrees Celsius (400F)

Spray muffin tin (I use a 12 tin tray)

Mix all of the above until just combined

Add desired flavors

Measure 1/4 cup of mix into each muffin cup

Bake for 18-20 minutes

Now you may noticed mine are a little cracked...well so am I, but this is due to my oven being a little off and baking is an exact science.

My taste tester really doesn't mind!

So there you go a quick, easy and cheap way to fill those lunch boxes up. For the price of 1&1/2 boxes of pre purchased muffin mix, you have around 15 mixes, with no preservatives.

DIY Delight or Disaster? It's an easy, cheap way to give your kids real food that is preservative and chemical free. Delight!

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!

Sweet & Salty Bark.....Aka A Party In Your Mouth!!!

Howdy all,

I'm not a food blogger, I never will be, mainly because I don't like to cook and my way of "plating" a meal is to slop it in and yell "Grubs Up" which means Dinner is served. I'm not sure if that is Australian or universal but that's my way. Luckily for the rest of the family Julian loves cook and takes great care and pride with his dishes. I do love to make sweet treats for the kids from time to time and when I saw Mary from Sweet Little Bluebird post her Sweet and Salty bark I knew I had to try it.

Recipe here at Sweet Little Bluebird

But being on the south side of the hemisphere and the metric system, ingredients are a little different as are weights and measurements, so with the permission of Mary, I have reworked it for what I used.

Sweet and Salty Bark

For the Base

• 1/2 a pkt Salada Biscuits (about half a packet but use whatever fits your tin, I used a lamington tin)
• 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 200 gr of Butter
• 1 tsp of Vanilla Essence
• 375gr Packet of White Chocolate buttons

Topping

• 1/2 a cup of crushed Pretzels
• 1 pkt of mini M&M's
• 1/2 tsp of Sea Salt

Pre heat oven to 180 Celsius 

Line a Lamington tin with foil and spray with cooking spray

Spread the Saladas to cover the tray

Place the brown sugar and butter in a pan on medium and bring to the boil, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes

Take it off the heat and add the vanilla essence and pour over the top of the Saladas

Bake for 10 minutes

As soon as it's out of the oven, place the white chocolate buttons on top and spread out as they melt.

While the chocolate is still soft, add the toppings.

Then set in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes or until hard.

Cut into small squares and wonder why this hasn't been in your life till now!!!!

She ain't pretty but she's might tasty, I wish I had have snapped a photo Max with toffee running down his chin as he clapped while he ate it...disgusting, funny and priceless! Also don't forget to go over to Sweet Little Bluebird and see Mary's other topping ideas here

Thanks for reading,

Mel

Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!