Day 174 - LICKING THE SPOON

Today we made brownies.

Why is it that the batter always tastes nicer than the end product :o)

Day 60 - MUMMY'S LITTLE HELPER

Doing the dishes for Mummy after having helped make cheese muffins for lunch :o)

day 40 - TEACH

Today is the last day of school holidays for my guys and I got to teach my 11 year old how to bake! I really loved it and so did he. I think he may just make a great chef! He certainly loves all food and has a keen interest in learning to make it!!

(once again this was another great recipe found over at Taylor Made....thanks x)

Day 37 - WHAT I'M DOING TODAY

Today I've been re-reading this book

I was introduced to it a couple of years ago at a Thermomix demonstration. Until that point I had been a bit clueless about many of the additives in our food. But it was a real eye opener!! Whilst some additives are fine there are many that are really harmful and yet for some reason are allowed in Australian manufacturing (even though other countries have banned them). I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone with children (you can purchase a copy of it here).

Having said that, I remember when I first read it I was so completely overwhelmed and almost wished I hadn't (ignorance is such bliss!) But I started out a bit at a time and soon realised that first of all, we actually were already avoiding many additive ridden foods and secondly, that there were often alternative brands that you could swap to.

Of course, upon purchasing my Thermomix I was able to start cooking more of our food quickly and easily from scratch using fresh ingredients. However, whilst I'm not a complete additive Nazi (I do allow some of the naughty ones in after having reduced so much) I do find it useful from time to time to get this book back out and have a re read. I'm always amazed by how many bad products have snuck back into my kitchen as a consequence of busyness or just laziness in reading labels. So today I'm looking back through my cupboards and fridge, getting rid of any not so good products and writing a list of which things I need to find alternatives for next time I go shopping.

Oh and in keeping with reminding myself to eat foods that sound like foods in their ingredients list rather than chemical formulas, I made this yummy choc chip slice, pinched from Bron over at Taylor Made (her's looks nicer than mine but mine is still better than anything out of a packet).

One final thing that I just wanted to add for anyone considering adjusting their family's eating to be more additive free, my kids, without fail, every single time, always prefer my home made version of absolutely anything that I can buy pre-made in the shops!! Now that makes a Mum feel good :o)

Day 22 - TODAY'S SKY

Clear and blue just how I like it! In fact, it was such a beautiful mild day today that I really wish I had of gotten outside (such a shame). Instead I baked these

Or to be exact I made two lots of ANZAC biscuits from different recipes in order to try and work out which was the best. I'm really not sure we could decide.

Oh and whilst I baked, she had fun pretending to!!

Day 9 - CREATIVE

When I think of the word creative I think of this guy:

My middle son Luke, aged 8 1/2 years

Whether it be inventing his own game, writing his own book, drawing elaborate pictures or endlessly changing the characteristics of avatars on every Wii and Xbox game possible this guy is CREATIVE! Here he is at a Year 3 Holidays and Celebrations Expo at school today. His choice was to do ANZAC Day and that is his poster that he made in the background (the one with all the black and white faces). Oh and just to show how much I love him this Mumma could be found baking ANZAC biscuits at 8.30pm last night instead of relaxing in front of the tv. Now that's love!!