After a quiet and chilled out weekend at home (this was much needed, particularly for Ben) it's back to the busyness for us this week. As I'm sure it is for you too!
Yesterday I did a couple of cleaning jobs around the house, made a chicken casserole to put in the slow cooker for dinner and did some studying for the written test I have to do in order to get a Georgia state drivers license. I've had some mixed results with the online practice tests so far, but hopefully I'll be alright when it comes to it. That was all before Ben came home from work yesterday soon after 3pm. After which I completed a few surveys online using a website I started using a couple of weeks ago called Mintvine. I'll probably be writing a post about them and experiences I've had with other survey companies, but I want to try them out for at least a month before doing that. If you want to check them out now though click here.* They are one of the better "get paid to do surveys" websites I've come across so far.
Now today I did the weekly shop at the Commissary on the base and whilst I was out I bought Ben's niece her birthday present and card to send off. I guess she's my niece too now, which is a nice feeling! After marrying Ben I became an Auntie as well as a wife, to three nieces and one nephew. It's a funny thought that I'm now "Auntie Kathryn".
After putting the shopping away I started thinking about the cakes I've been wanting to make for the last couple of days. We don't have many sweet things in the house at the moment so it was about time I made something! Ben asked me recently if I would be able to try my hand at making a zucchini (courgette for you fellow British) bread. Now since I've been living in the states, things don't always turn out the same as when I made them in the UK. I've just about got used to the whole "measuring in cups" thing, but in my heart I still prefer the "measuring things out in grams using scales" thing. To me it's a lot more exact and maybe the reason why my baked goods don't turn out as well is that cups aren't as precise a measurement. But anyway, it was interesting to make and this was the recipe that I used. If you have a trusted recipe for this then please let me know! It's much better to go on tried and tested recipes than one plucked off of the internet.
The second cake I made was banana bread, which I had to make in our square baking tin as we only have one loaf pan and that I used for the zucchini bread. It seemed to turn out alright! This was the recipe I used for the banana bread. It's just a basic recipe and you can add other things in should you wish. On a previous occasion making this I added a teaspoon of ground ginger on a whim. That turned out quite well as strangely enough it seems to compliment the banana taste. So I did that again this time!
See what they turned out like below.
The Zucchini Bread
The Banana Bread
Ben sampling the end results (sorry for the bright light!)
I'm not sure what else this week is going to hold but I'm sure there will be plenty to come! I hope you're all having a good one so far. Subscribers you'll be hearing from me again soon for another update. Thank you all so much for your support so far. If you'd like to subscribe to my mailing list, then head back to my home page and scroll down until you see the link to subscribe.
That's it for now folks, take care.
Kathryn.
*Note: If you sign up and start taking surveys, using this link means I'll receive a small reward for you doing so. This is at no cost to you, and you can participate in Mintvine's community referral program too if you sign up.