Busy baking

I've been busy in the kitchen all day. And by all day I mean the day that started after I slept in until midday. It's my only day off until Monday next week and the shifts I work mean I eat lunch or dinner at work or often both. So I had 2 options; spend the day at the beach (preferable) and buy takeaways all week, or slave away in the kitchen and ensure I have delicious meals for the rest of the week. I chose the latter. Cooking is a lot of fun anyway and if I get up early tomorrow I can fit in a dip in the ocean before work.

So what have I been making?

First there was pea and mint soup.

It's now blended, gorgeously green (kind of looks like I chucked kermit in the blender), bagged and freezing.

Then a sweet treat. I got a new bottle of pisco for Christmas so it's actually kind of suprising it's taken me this long to make chocolate pisco cupcakes. In the new cases I got at Pak n Save. Still need to ice them - I'm thinking strawberry. There was enough batter for a cake too. Afternoon tea time at work is going to be awesome.

On to pizza bases. The kind that takes longer to make (with yeast) but tastes so much better. I made 8 small ones. I tried a new recipe (a Alison/Simon Holst one) and it tastes so fantastic I'll definately make it again soon. I kept it simple with a tomato sauce, capers, basil and cheese - parmesan and cheddar. Delicious!

Now the foccacia is rising but I'm not going to stop there. I'm on a roll! I'm thinking muffins or date loaf for the freezer and perhaps some other kind of bread as it is so fun to make! And perhaps some pesto. Mmm.

Righteo, now it's time to attack the mountain of dishes so I can make more mess.

This'll make the dishes more fun.

PS. I saw the mouse again today. I've put 4 rat poison baits out around the place on top of the traps. What will it take for the little bugger to die?!