A Three Tick Saturday

Today has featured Ikea, an exciting supermarket trip, and baking. I ask you, what more can one hope for?

I'm sure that you're just as excited as I am about these mundane events small adventures in my day, and so I thought I would take us through each in turn. There is a recipe at the end, I promise!

Ikea

I love Ikea. I know it has mass-produced, neutral, and at times bland products. But the displays, the mini rooms and houses, the clever storage options, and the many, many possibilities for re-arranging and re-organising in your own home make it one of my favourite stores to visit.

Mr Bite does not feel entirely the same way. I am thus grateful that we got a visit in this morning, en route to other errands.

It wasn't a big trip. I wanted new bowls...

And some more glass storage jars (which, when empty, are very hard to photograph!)...

I also wanted to look at options for shelves or racks for our kitchen, on which to place said glass jars and/or spice jars. Our pantry is just not big enough.

I have gathered ideas and now need to come up with some specifics, before I make the associated purchases. I foresee some fun ahead with this task!

Supermarket excitement

In truth, supermarket visits are almost always a little exciting (to me at any rate). This one was particularly so, because we visited a store we rarely go to. It's a Super Progressive IGA, instead of the Coles or Woolworths that we usually frequent, and it stocks a lot of products that Coles and Woolworths don't.

For example, I found my favourite Ryvita variety...

And something that I have never before seen in Australia...

I know it is possible in theory to make pumpkin pie or pumpkin desserts with proper, steamed and mashed pumpkin. The thing is, though, that I never do. I am thus very, very excited about this tin.

We also managed to buy quite a lot of other semi-rare (to us) products, which resulted in our final bill being twice what it usually is. I've now decided that we'll have to ration these sorts of supermarket trips to a few times a year.

Baking

It probably goes without saying that this is always (or almost always) fun. I was particularly impressed with today's product though, because it seemed rather too good to be true. One of the recipes I copied down when at my parent's was an apricot and sultana loaf from Rosemary Stanton's Healthy Cooking cookbook.

It has no added fat, no added sugar, and is a loaf rather than 'true' bread (it's not yeasted). It seemed too simple to be possible, but it actually worked incredibly well.

Other than the fruit, the ingredients are self-raising wholemeal flour, baking soda, and soy milk:

Apricot and sultana loaf

Adapted from Rosemary Stanton's Healthy Cooking

Makes 1 loaf tin, 10 - 20 slices (10 large, 20 small)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup currants
• 3/4 cup sultanas
• 1 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk
• 1 3/4 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking soda

Instructions:

1. Soak the dried fruit in the soy milk for approximately 1 hour.
2. When the fruit has soaked sufficiently, preheat the oven to 180'C and grease or line a loaf tin.
3. Combine the fruit / soy milk mixture with the flour and baking soda; stir to combine.
4. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Wait until cool before slicing.

The loaf is dense without being too filling, and just sweet enough from the dried fruit. The fruit also keeps the centre moist, which I was concerned about given the lack of oil or oil substitute. I think I shall be making it again, and probably with different dried fruit ingredients too.

For a small / half slice

Do you share my enjoyment of Ikea, supermarkets, or fruit loaf? Or have you had an enjoyable Saturday yourself?

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