Cooking and a Birthday

Yesterday was Hadassah's 7th birthday! She had been counting the days down, and was so excited! But she slept in. And consequently had to wait till after breakfast to open the first of her gifts.
We broke her gift recieving into two, because she didn't want to wait all day to open them, but she had a little friend coming over at 4pm, so there had to be some gifts left for that, so, she opened the three from Mummy and Daddy in the morning, right after they had hung their Christmas ornaments.
The highlight present was the new bike, which, after Daddy had assembled, she has spent a lot of time with ;)

The rest of the morning I spent cooking! Since so much time went into this, I shall tell you all about it.
First I make Hadassah's cake, which was a basic butter cake:

• 250g butter, softened
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 2/3 cup milk

 Which I then iced as a ninja face, though we had trouble with the icing melting, as it was sooo warm.

Next I made Michael's bread:

• -3 cups cashew meal (use raw cashews & make same way as almond meal)
• -1/2 cup flaxseed meal
• -4 tablespoons coconut flour
• -1/4 teaspoon salt
• -3 teaspoons baking soda
• -1/4 cup raw sugar
• -10 eggs
• -1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• -2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• mixed and the wacked into the  bread maker, set onto non yeast, and then forgotten about till it beeped to say it was done.

Next I made some lemon cordial:

• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups raw sugar
• 1 1/2 litres boiling water

after the sugar was mixed in I left it in its tupperware container with the lid ajar on top of the fridge to cool off a bit before I put it into the fridge.
Next came Michael's granola:

½ cup almonds ½ cup pecans ½ cup walnuts ¼ cup pumpkin seeds 7 medjool dates, chopped ⅓ cup unsweetened shredded coconut 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground allspice ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon ground ground ginger ¼ teaspoon sea salt ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
When was toasted in the over for about half an hour and then left to cool and harden
Next came Michael's yogurt, which was simple mixed and then put in to yogurt maker with boiling water to do its funky thing. THEN! I made two lots of chutney. The first was:
. Fennel and Thyme Chutney 2 fennel bulbs (roughly chopped) 200 mls dry white wine 2 12 sprigs fresh thyme 2 cloves garlic cloves (peeled and sliced) 1 chile (red, deseeded and chopped) 1 lemons juice 50 mls extra virgin olive oil 1 cup flat leaf parsley (chopped)
and the second was: Mother's Cabbage Relish 1 cup sugar 1 cup white vinegar 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 teaspoon turmeric 1 head cabbage, chopped fine 1 medium green pepper, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped Once both of those were jarred up, we then moved onto lunch, and I don't mind admitting I was thoroughly over cooking by this stage!!! Okay, we shall skip most of the afternoon and move straight onto the arrival of our guests at 4pm. When Kathleen and her mum got here the rest of the presents came out, and Hadassah was very happyopening and thanking and oohing and aaahing. Then came out the cake, and she had opted for the number 7 candle over seven separate candles, and once the blowing was over everyone got their piece and tucked in! There was nothing structured planned for the party, as firstly it was very hot, and secondly there was years end 'ninja school' to go to at 6pm, so the children all played around till it was time to go, and while Malachi and Hadassah siuted up, Phebe was delighted to learn that she was allowed to go and watch her big sister with Kathleen for a bit! I opted to stay home, as Eli gets bored, and, subsequently , noisy. It was a most prophitable day for all involved, and I currently have a very contented 7 year old :)