Cooking with Kids

I am so happy little Oscar loves baking as much as I do. as soon as my big baking box filled with flour, baking powder, cocoa, choccy buttons etc comes out of the cupboard he's off to find his stool to stand on so he can "help" Mum. I try to set up the ingredients in measuring cups before he clocks the baking box otherwise my little helper gets over eager and we end up battling over flour & sugar & milk. We have had one incident when Oscar ended up with a jug of oil on his head which we all thought was pretty funny until someone had to have TWO baths in one day!






By keeping the ingredients nice and simple the whole baking process is fun and kids start to remember what ingredients make scones or simple muffins. I also like baking for kids as I know I am putting in little or no sugar and flavouring my baking with raisins, berries, choc chips or cheese instead. Biscuits have WAY too much sugar in them for tiny growing milk teeth. Baking is a learning process for kids in so many ways too - following instructions, turn taking, taste & texture, nutrition. Its even a science class on chemical reactions especially if your little one tips in a cup of baking powder!

So get baking with the kids. Its messy, fun & delicious.

Dunkley's Craft Show Ahoy!

Hoorah for the Dunkley's NZ Craft Show! My stall was a great success at the show and I was pleased with my "budget" set-up with fuzzy felt flowers & calico backdrop. I even stole my husbands favourite orange couch rug for the display! He couldn't figure out what happened to it until he came to my stall. ooops! Here is Aunty's Natural Muesli on display. I had lots of people come & taste my samples and I hope they visit me at the Taranaki Farmers Market soon.

The other stallholders were good fun too and were really helpful when I was setting up.


Here is Ian sellng his preserves. It was his 18th year touring with the Dunkleys Craft Show.



There were so many fabulous stalls. Belgian Truffles, Vintage Vixen Jewellery, the lovely Angie with her jewellry too AND she won Best stall Display with her dazzling Vegas style lights. I also loved the Nana knitting stalls and bought a lovely Merino sleeping bag for my best mate Jane who has no 3 on the way next month. There was also a lady selling "Quake Art". Her studio was battered by the Christchurch Quake and she has created some cool art work from her battered paintings and broken mirrors.



Here is my honey supplier Fiona from Bees R Us. I use her Manuka Blend in my muesli which gives it a rich & sweet flavour.

She also has a Macdamia Bush honey which I am quite a fan of

The show was well advertised, well organised and a big hit. If you are considering having a stall at one of the shows I HIGHLY recommend. Stallholders go to a massive effort to get ready for these shows and sometimes the organisers don't let the public know its out there.

Thanks to the Dunkley family for a great weekend!

Aunty's Does the Dunkley's NZ Craft Show!

Aunty's been a very busy baker making & packing almost 300kg of muesli over the past few weeks. Its really hard work and the packing fiddly but now comes the fun part! I have a stall booked at the Dunkley's NZ Craft Show in New Plymouth this weekend. Its a 4 day event tagging onto Mondays Public Holiday here and held in a big stadium. I think there will be about 80-100 stalls selling everything from handmade cards, knitted booties to Old Busmans Bourbon, leather bags, pottery and of course muesli! Aside from making muesli I need to decorate my stand to attract some customers. I haven't had much time (or money!) to put a display togther but bought 10m of fabric to cover the MDF stall boards, sewed some gingham tablecloths and then will scatter my felt flowers & leaves I whipped up last night. I was going to stuff the flowers too, like the leaves, but my orange thread ran out!



But its worked out for the best as the leaves are quite heavy and might not stay up plus I have twice as many flowers. Funny how disaster turns into a plus like that. Well wish me luck I am really hoping to win a prize or place for Best Dressed stall. I'll post some Show pics next week!