Banana Bread

I'm exited to be joining in the #shelftember Challenge that Jordan from Fun Cheap or Free is running.

The idea is that for the month of September instead of spending what you normally do on groceries per week, you shop your food storage, i.e your pantry, freezer and fridge to make meals from. Then you have a $25 budget to spend per week to stock up on any fresh food or anything else that you need. Is it a tight budget? Yes it is! But if your anything like me you go every week and buy new groceries but you have a huge stockpile already on hand. So it's a great opportunity to clean out your stock pile and save some money for something fun. 

Today I had some bananas that were on there last legs, so I took to pinterest to to find a recipe for Banana bread. I always love giving new recipes a try but you never know if it's going to turn out, so I'm excited when they do. This banana bread was delicious and definitely worth making! And best of all, only uses ingredients that are likely to already be in your pantry.

 BANANA BREAD 

(Recipe slightly adapted from http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/)

Ingredients

•  - 2 to 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
•  - 1/3 cup melted butter
•  - 1 teaspoon baking soda
•  - a pinch of salt
•  - 3/4 cup sugar 
•  - 1 large egg, beaten
•  - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  -1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F), and grease a loaf pan.

2 In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.

3 Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.

4 Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

5 Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool before serving. Slice and serve. 

Enjoy on it's own or warm with a spread of butter.

Kylie xx

Vegemite Scrolls

My boy has been begging me to take vegemite scrolls to School for lunch. I have heard that they are super easy & cheap to make and I have been meaning to try them for ages, and I finally did! They really are super easy to make. They also freeze really well. I have been taking them out of the freezer in the morning and they are defrosted and ready to go by lunchtime and still really yummy. So it certainly makes for a super easy lunch and I don't have to make sandwiches in the morning.

The recipe I used was from The Stay at Home Mum

Ingredients

* 3 Cups Self Raising Flour

* 1/2 tsp Salt

* 50 grams butter, at room temperature

* 1 1/2 cups Milk

* 200g Cheese, grated

* 2 Tbls Vegemite

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees

2. Sift flour & salt into a mixing bowl.

3. Rub in the butter until the mixture looks like fine bread-crumbs. 

4. Stir in enough milk to make a soft dough.

5. Knead for a few minutes in a mix master (or knead on a lightly floured board).

6. On a lightly floured board, roll to form a rectangle that is roughly 40cm x 25cm. 

7. Spread the vegemite over the dough using a blunt knife.

8. Sprinkle 3/4 of the cheese over the top.

9. Roll up the dough starting from the long side. 

10. Cut 10 x 4cm pieces from the roll. 

11. Place pieces on a lined baking tray and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

12. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden.

Enjoy, 

Kylie xx