Life, love and little things - September

I mentioned in my Meal Planning Monday post this week that I can't believe it's Autumn already, yet there's a distinct chill in the air, my trusty Saltwaters have been swapped for Converse and soup has been made for lunches. Add to this a batch of coughs and colds all around and it's undeniably time to dive in to scarves, sweaters and stews. 

Last month on the other hand was glorious - sunny days drifting into warm evenings, apples starting to tumble from our trees, sunhats, sandals and salads all around. 

These pictures all come from my Instagram where I regularly pop up little insights into our days, be they messy play, baking or simply coffee and lego... 

I've spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen this month, apple butter, variations on banana bread and some egg free oaty bars as well as preserving tomatoes and green beans from our garden. 

Harry and I have spent a lot of time in the garden, playing in his teepee, splashing in the paddling pool and thoroughly watering the veg patch - well, the bits he can reach! 

I've also started trying to pretty the house up a bit - we're on an inevitable road towards having to renovate and decorate our spare room. It's only a matter of time before we need to move Harry into a big boy bed, and we're facing a mammoth task involving replacing carpets, a window, building a cupboard, painting louvre doors (I loathe this with a passion) and stripping the paper before repainting. I think mammoth may be an understatement. To get me in the mood for home improvements I reorganised our much hated fireplace to try to disguise the loathed crazy paved facade. 

My crochet blanket I talked about here is proceeding, albeit slowly. The glorious sunshine did not encourage sitting with a blanket on your knees! I'm hoping to have it finished for Christmas - my target of a stripe a day may be halted by my plans for *whispers* Christmas crafting which I need to get started on fairly promptly. I'm about a third of the way through my blanket though so getting there. 

Oaty banana cake: dairy free, egg free recipe

Oaty banana cake - not the world's snappiest title for a bake I'll admit. But sometimes you just have to work with what you're given. And this is one of those times. Much like my Blueberry and Banana Oaty bites these could be described as a cross between a cake and a flapjack. The prompt for making these was as unpoetic as the name - we got to the end of the week, unusually with a hand of overripe bananas languishing in the fruit bowl. I'm not sure what we'd done, but clearly it didn't involve eating bananas.

Initially I'd planned to make a banana flapjack, but between one thing and another this is what happened. And we really liked it - sturdy enough to withstand the rigours of a lunchbox, yet not too heavy that it felt like old fashioned health food. Spiked with sweet mixed spice, the combination of apricots and sultanas makes for a chewy treat. what I particularly like about these is that you could absolutely tailor them to your likes or what you've got in the cupboard.  The second time I made these I was a bit short on apricots so I made up the weight with a handful of dairy free chocolate chips I had in the cupboard.



Oaty banana cake
Dairy free, Egg free, vegan
Serves 16

50g Dairy free spread - I used Pure Sunflower, but Vitalite, or Flora Freedom would work just as well.
2 Tbsp Almond butter
3tbsp Date syrup (Maple syrup would work well too)
2 overripe bananas, mashed
1 apple grated (I used a cooking apple as I had some that we'd picked, but an eating apple would work as well)
250g porridge oats
100g sultanas
85g dried apricots, quartered
35g chia seeds
50g linseeds
1 tsp sweet mixed spice

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees C
Grease and line an 8 inch square brownie tin
In a pan or the microwave melt together the dairy free spread, almond butter and date syrup
Mix this with the mashed bananas, grated apple, and porridge oats. Beat well until blended
Add in the sultanas, apricots, chia, linseeds and sweet mixed spice
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes
Leave to cook and cut into 16 squares

Serve with tea for a grown up and milk for a toddler.

For the ingredients in italics you can swap and change any of these for things you have in, or like more. This isn't the sort of recipe you should go out and buy things for - use what you have in the cupboards on a Sunday and pop the pieces in your lunchbox as you go through the week.

Why not save this recipe on Pinterest to make later

Porridge fingers for big and small people

 

Porridge fingers are a well known Baby Led weaning staple. I think the recipe is from the book I don't have, the Gill Rapley one? Harry loves them - as with the fish cakes, I think he likes the control of feeding himself and porridge fingers enable him to do just that. 

Small person Porridge fingers

3 tablespoons porridge oats

3 tablespoons breast milk/ formula

1/2 banana mashed up 

Pinch of cinnamon/ sweet mixed spice

Mix up the porridge with the milk, mashed banana and spice. Pop in the microwave for 2 minutes and then leave on the worktop/ window ledge to cool. 

Slice into pieces and let your baby feed himself. 

M's been working very long days of late, leaving super early and as such was finding he was hungry well before lunchtime despite eating first thing. I had planned to make some slow-cooker porridge for him so that he could have something hot and substantial before leaving, but he's always in a bit of a rush in the mornings, so I think this suits him more easily as it's a grap and go option. 

There's a bit more to them than there is to Harry's - but as an on-the-go option they're excellent. Portable and adaptable depending on what you want and link in the middle.  

These are obviously dairy free, but you could substitue normal milk where I've used almond and normal butter where I've used peanut butter. Similarly you could switch out the banana for dried fruit, the cinammon for any dried spices. I'm sure if you're being healthy these wouldn't object to chia seeds or similar being added.

Big person porridge fingers

2 and a half cups of porridge oats

1/2 cup of milled flasxeed

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 and a half cups almond milk

1/2 cup golden or maple syrup or runny honey

2 tablespoons peanut butter (the unsweetened type - I use Meridian)

1 banana, sliced

1 tbsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a brownie tin with parchment

Blitz half the oats in a food processor until they're really fine

Mix up the dry ingredients in a big bowl - porridge oats, flaxseed, cinnamon, baking powder and salt

Mix up the wet ingredients in a jug - almond milk, syrup, peanut butter, and vanilla. Whisk up

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly

Stir in the sliced banana

Pour into the baking tin and cook for around half an hour - you want the bars to bounce back under your fingers when they're cooked through

Leave to cool then slice into squares - this made about 12 for us. Store in an airtight tin.

When you want to eat them, slice in half horizontally and spread honey, jam, chocolate spread, speculoos spread - really your options are endless...