Cheats Malt-loaf

Ok, so it's not really a malt-loaf, but it does have the characteristics of one whilst being a super easy recipe and much nicer, in my opinion, to those shop bought lunch box ones you can get (and much healthier!)  I've been experimenting with this recipe for several months now and think I've finally cracked it.  Would love to hear your thoughts if you decide to give it a go!

A post shared by Amy Dickman (@binksuk) on Jun 12, 2017 at 1:13pm PDT

Ingredients
1 cup of brewed Earl Grey tea
3 Wheatabix (or other such cereal - we quite like the Tesco own brand ones!)
1 cup of sultanas
1 tbsp honey (I've left this out before and it's still a nice cake just a bit more tart)
1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Peel of one orange finally grated
Splash of orange juice

Method
Place the sultanas, Weatabix (broken up), honey and tea in a bowl and mix

Leave for at least two hours to soak (can leave in the fridge overnight if you like)

Add flour, peel and baking powder to the bowl and mix gently to combine using the orange juice to slacken the mixture.  The consistency is quite stiff.

Place in a buttered cake tin (the mixture won't rise much so it doesn't want to be too large, I use an 8 inch loose bottom one)

Cook for around 45 minutes at gas mark 4 until a skewer comes out clean when prodded into centre.

Nice eaten warm but can be kept in a sealed container for a couple of days (ours never lasts that long!)

Easter

What a week last week was! The second week of our Easter holidays and definitely a mixed bag of events. The weather has, for a change, been pretty warm and settled so we've had lots of opportunity to play in the big blue room. The beginning of the week saw us spending some time down at the allotment.

We've had the plot for nearly six years now and it's really beginning to take shape. I'm ashamed to say not all our hard work though. Having two sproglets has made it pretty impossible for us to give it the time it deserves. Thankfully though dad has been putting a lot of energy into keeping it ticking over and it really looks great for all his effort.

We now have a fantastic fruit cage full of a variety of berries. The boys eyes really glow whenever he sees in in full bloom, he loves all things fruit! There's also an ever growing orchard area with what looks like a promising Apple crop in the making. A perfect area for us to sit and have picnics when we head down there in the summer. Dad is currently in the throws of building a new shed and greenhouse, both of which will hopefully boost our storage and crops over the coming years.

Our main contribution so far this year has been some fledgling sunflowers. Dad wants to grow a load so that he has some seeds for the birds over the winter so we've tasked the boy with farming them. He had great fun planting all the seeds and they grew so fast his attention was definitely kept really easily with them. Now they're planted out we can only hope that they survive the slugs and frosts over the next few weeks! I'm sure I'll keep instagram posted with pics later in the summer :-)

So what's changed?

So, what's changed since I last properly wrote? Lots! We've increased our brood with our wonderful baby girl. The boy is now in his second year of school. We're doing lots of work on the house. My responsibilities have increased and changed at work. And I have a new car! I think though, the biggest change is I've grown up, a lot! Being responsible for two lives has definitely changed me for the better and I'm now much more confident in my abilities and able to get things done. I guess it had to happen some time!

Back up and running

I keep writing these posts and then life gets in the way and I don't keep up my promises, but, really this time, I'm going to try and get this blog back up and running! I do blog a bit these days but it tends to be over on Instagram (really, follow me, you know you want to - http://instagram.com/binksuk) or convoluted posts behind the wall of Facebook. So it really shouldn't be too difficult to keep you up to date too! Armed with a new blogging app on my phone, let's do this!