Loving my new bread maker

I thought I would update regards to my bread maker I got. Thanks for giving me the nudge Sadie! 

I love it I bought the Panasonic one a bit pricey but has by far had the best reviews. So far we have had fresh bread on three days since Saturday morning. One being a lovely white loaf the  other two are just a soft sandwich loaf perfect for sandwiches for Mr M to take to work and children's lunch box. (Not daughters though) my next Loaf will be a gluten free one just trying to find a good recepie that doesn't contain egg like most GF free loafs do.

I love the fact I just put the ingredients in the bread pan. Yeast in the dispenser set the programme and it does it all for me. I know it's very lazy off me and I'm sure lots of eyes are rolling and people tutting but I just can't seem to master the dough of GF bread so the bread maker is mainly to provide GF bread that isn't processed and full of artificial ingredients for my daughter. As I have spent quiet a bit on it I might as well use it for all our bread. 

I'm glad I bought one though. 

If all goes well tomorrow morning I should have.....

Fresh home made bread. I finally got a Breadmaker after many months of toying about it feeling guilty I should be doing it by hand getting cross at the bricks I was producing. Seriously I could have built a strong house with them. 

The main reason I'm getting one is so I can bake fresh gluten free bread for my daughter. That hopefully won't turn out like bricks. I'm starting of with a traditional white loaf tomorrow though to get used to the machine then I will start on the gluten free variety. All the ingredients have been placed in timer on for fresh bread for breakfast. 

I did invest in the most expensive one but all the reviews suggested you get what you pay for. I will let you know the results.

I'm down for the cricket teas tomorrow again and have made a lemon drizzle cake and tomorrow morning I will make chocolate orange brownies and salted caramel brownies. Along with egg  sandwiches and tuna, sausage rolls and potato wedges. 

What's been happening

It's been quite a busy couple of weeks of after school clubs and cricket at weekends, though things are now settling down nicely and we are back in a routine. I do have to write everything down though as bound to forget something. 

I also have a new car it was really needed my last car we bought at the auctions and was 6 months old and the clock read 6000 miles. That's was nearly 15 years ago and was our main car until 3 years ago then we became part of the two car family. I need a car to potter about in but don't do many miles. But  the time came to replace it and back  to the auctions we didn't see anything so popped into the local Ford garage and saw a nice little KA only 9000 on the clock and three years old. So I'm the new owner of this little car and I must say I love it.

If you have been flicking through the news you might have seen the new book eat nourish glow which seems to be the latest diet craze. You cut out all gluten, dairy and processed sugar this is nothing new in our household as my daughter has coeliacs and im boarder line she also is allergic to dairy and eggs so she has to cut these things out for her health and so she doesn't end up in hospital. She does have a bit of sugar in things though. All our meals are dairy and gluten free anyway unless I make a pie which myself and little miss don't eat. I'm always on the thinking that as long as it's homemade it's much better for you than shop bought with all the preservatives ( im sure you need a chemistry degree to understand what half of them are) they put in. Look at Mrs Berry queen of home baking she looks great and cooks everything from scratch. I wonder if the trick is just one small slice or biscuit not the whole cake or packet!

It's cricket season and boy do I know it.

If you read my blog you will know I'm a huge cricket fan. Mr M plays I used to score but now do the teas.

Well we have joined a new club this year Mr M fancied a change and wanted to play without the politics that the last club endured.

So we have all gone to a new club. I am on tea rota and did my first tea on Saturday. It's split between to and we get reimbursed. ( last year I did the teas every week and the club didn't have enough money so it was out of our own pocket)

This week I did.
Egg and Cress Sandwichs
Tuna Sandwiches
Sausage rolls
Potato wedges
Victoria sponge
Lemon drizzle
Chocolate orange brownies - this has been requested again.
Melon.

It all went very quickly and I had lots of praise.

Today I'm aching a bit as I played my first ever womens match. I didn't bat thankfully and I fielded well stopping the ball going over the boundary though I am feeling it today those short sharp quick sprints. I have played before at school with the boys and filling in on occasion for the men. I really enjoyed but having spent nearly all weekend at the club I'm going to have to say I will fill in when they are desperate as not much got done around the house and garden this weekend.

Choices and baking

It's been a day of baking today I made a white loaf and some flapjack. Tomorrow is a chocolate cake that is suitable for my daughter who has to be dairy,egg and gluten free. I just won't tell her it has avocado in it!

As some of you know I have an allotment and after having my tools taken I'm really questioning about carrying on with it I have till Friday to decide.

I enjoy having my plot even though at times it's very frustrating I'm near the water tap and people have no qualms about walking over my plot as a short cut. The fact we can't have a shed makes it easier for things to get taken despite having a locked plastic box (surprisingly easy to break into so I have learnt) part of me wants to give it another bash the other part is thinking why bother. I still want to grow my own and have just enough room in my garden for pots filled with peas, beans, salad leaves, radishes and courgettes. though I don't have space for brassicas, carrots or potatoes. Though I would beable to get a small green house to grow a few tomatoes and for pottering about in Which will be a lot easier to manage with the children playing outside. I'm always on tender hooks at the plot as some of them are a funny bunch and don't seem to like children about.

Any advice or suggestion greatly appreciated as I'm a little confused and lost what to do.

A big gap

Well I haven't posted for nearly two months, I have no excuse I really haven't been up to much at all.

I have been down the allotment but have had second thoughts about keeping it on. We have had a spate of burglaries and my tools have been stolen twice. We are not allowed sheds as it distracts the view so I have kept my tools in a low level locked box which the thieves smashed into. I know I could take the tools down every time I go but sometimes I will pop in for an hour before school pick up so I don't really want to be carting tools to school and back. 

We have just returned from another ski holiday to the french Alps it was a great week and fantastic to spend time with the family. 

Last nights wind has completely destroyed two fence panels and it looks set to get worse! 

Other than that I'm at a cross roads if what to do. But I'm also quiet happy pottering about at home but I'm not really focusing on anything at the moment.

Changes

Well it's been a while, though I have been busy. Most who read my blog will know I returned to being a student, so for the last month I have been busy beavering away completing assignments for a early years course for it all to be cancelled yesterday by the college. I have been cross with them but there is nothing that can be done budget cuts and long term sickness from the tutor meant that the course has been postponed for the foreseeable future. I have a refund there is nothing else I can do. I choose this course as it fits with my family life and it could all be done at home with me completing a 350 hour placement in a early years setting which I have started. 

So now I'm stuck and confused as what to do I loved being a stay at home mum, but wanted to do something test my brain and work towards what I wanted to do at 18 be a teacher for those that don't know circumstances meant I had to turn my placement at university down. 

So what do I do now i want to be and need to be about after school for the children I never had that and want to be there for the children especially as they do so much after school and in the holidays  but I want to do something to keep my brain ticking over as I'm still only in my 30s. I'm fortunate that I don't need to work my husband works very hard so I can stay at home look after the children and keep the house running but you never know circumstance could change. 

I'm not going to rush into things and take my time but any ideas would be good.