reality V's cheescake

Because I really don't want to talk about or think about the reality that I am about to face (going back to work, trying to find child care etc, etc...) I thought I would show you the easy peasy baked cheesecake I made the other week!
My little brother had been going on and on about a craving for baked cheesecake and seeing as I LOVE cheesecake (of any kind) I kindly baked one! (And gave him a whole half!)
Along the cooking route I sent him little photo teasers...

Base done. Chilling in the fridge.

Mmm. Mixture all combined.

Added some frozen raspberries and ready to pop in the oven.

Out of the oven and ready for the fridge. (Won't be ready till about 7.30pm)

Look at that! Awesome!

oh it's so good! 

When he saw the second last photo the response I got back was "I'm on my way!" and he turned up a little later.
This would have to be one of the easiest cheesecakes I have EVER made.
I just took the basic recipe from a Woman's Weekly cookbook (you never can go wrong with WW recipes) omitted lemon rind and mixed spice and added some frozen raspberries to the mixture.

Baked Vanilla & Raspberry Cheesecake

250g plain sweet biscuits
125g butter, melted
4 eggs
165g caster sugar
500g cream cheese - SOFTENED
Lots of frozen raspberries (or your filling of choice!)

1. Process biscuits till fine. Add melted butter. Process till combined. Press mixture over base and sides of 20cm spring form tin. Pop it in the fridge.
2. Preheat oven to 160/140 fan-forced
3. Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl with electric mixer until thick and creamy. Beat softened cream cheese till smooth. Add the egg/sugar mixture to the cream cheese and beat till combined.
5. Add any desired filling - in my case it was the frozen raspberries
6.  Pop the mixture into the base and into the oven for about 50 mins. leave to cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar and then refrigerate for around 3 hours or over night.

EASY! Sometimes I find reading recipes confusing and hard and need to pull them apart and re write them out to make them easy for me. Does anyone else have to do this?

just like that

So just like that. I'm going back to work.
I was all ready to resign and start looking for something else.
Yesterday I received a very random call from my manager, I screened it. My phone was flat. I thought I could just call him the next day. But it rang again within 15 minuites. This NEVER happens.
Due to changes, resignations and moves, my old job, but in Melbourne was available.
I had to get back to them within 24 hours! Such big decisions to make. And to start back on the 1st of July! Eek! There's a whole lot of organising in such a short time.
And then for the clincher... We need you in Sydney for two days next week! OMG!

So to cut a long story short. Abigail and I will travel to Sydney together next week and instead of work booking me accommodation I will stay with friends and she will be looked after by my friends mum.
After that I will come back home and try to get organised! I'm going to start on the 9th of July.

My mind is already racing a million miles an hour trying to get everything sorted!
Lucky for me Abi will stay with my mum on Monday's and Fridays. And we will put her into child care for the other 3 days or I will get a nanny.

Once I go back it will have been nearly 11 months that I have had off. Abigail will be nearly 11 months old and in that time never been in care, with a sitter or a nanny. We have been very very lucky to have been able to afford for me to have so long off. I know not everyone is as lucky as me.

Big changes. Got any great tips for me?

Sad

I'm feeling sad. One of my best friends has just suffered a miscarriage at 16 weeks. Her husband is on the other side of the world filming the new Mad Max and won't be back till October. I'm heading up to Sydney tomorrow and just want to go and give her a big hug. So I'm taking a little break from the blog and having some family and friend time. Catch up with you all soon.

THAT chocolate cake!

Successful Failure

Seriously the oven in the house we are currently living in is crap...
I decided to make a chocolate cake the other day following Leah's recepie from The Home Empress
After 20 mins in the oven it was looking like this:

 Hmm... I thought. Not quite right... But I thought I'd leave it fro a bit and see what happened.

And after nearly burning the ganache (can't quite seem to get it right) it turned out looking like this:

Not a fluffy light chocolate cake, but a little more puddingy and dense. And actaully quite nice! 

And Leah had the right idea about zapping it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm and soften it up a little! YUMMY!!!

But seriously the best bit? Letting Abi 'lick' the spoon!

A bit naughty giving Abi chocolate cake mix... but it's not like I give her bad stuff all the time...

And the top did end up much much dirtier than this shot.

Risotto

Do you have something that you just love to eat, but for the life of you can't cook it?
For me it's risotto.
I just love risotto. If it's on the menu when I go out there is a 99% chance I will order it.
But for some reason I just have never been able to cook it.
What? I hear you think? It's a bit of rice, stir, stir, stir with stock and your done.
Well not so for me... And I don't think I'm alone! I don't watch Masterchef anymore, but I do see the adds and I get the impression that many a contestant have failed miserably making risotto.

I had a craving, I desperately wanted risotto so last night it was risotto for dinner. After having a chat to my sister on the phone, I was given what appeared to the the secret...

"Cook the onion and garlic, coat the rice and wack in your stock and LEAVE it" 
Leave it I was thinking... you can't do that!

So off I went and I did just that! I left it! And look at this! Scrum-didily-umptious! risotto!

Risotto with pumpkin, spinich and mushrooms.

perfect pj's

For Mothers Day I received a voucher for Peter Alexander. Thanks to my trusty sister for dropping the hint!
I thought I would wait till their was a sale to buy some new pj's, and thanks again to my sister for popping through an email from Peter Alexander earlier in the week for a pj sale!
Being the first night of winter, what better than to start wearing my PA pj's last night!!!

Drawn Animals Classic pj pant

Walk in the park claiic pj pant

I think that Peter Alexander pj's are the ultimate in pj's! I actually love that they have pockets! Anything with pockets gets an extra tick from me!

Peter Alexander online sale ends tomorrow! (Postage for me was $9.95 which I thought was reasonable considering the discount!)

You can shop HERE

How do you keep warm in winter?