Easy cooking for Effortless entertaining Part 2 - Breakfast on the Patio

Why not invite friends over for a Breakfast? It is easy, a lot less stressful than a full-on meal and definitely a lot less strenuous on the wallet. At the moment we are enjoying all the delicious fruits like, peaches, plums, grapes, berries, apples and pineapples to mention but a few and fruit is not only good for you but it is such a refreshing start to a day. For me the centerpiece of such a breakfast must be the bread. Baking a bread for those you love is such a labor of love and is always so well appreciated by all. If baking is not your thing, buy a good sourdough , rye or ciabatta! So now you have fruit and bread, what else???? Nothing much really, except maybe some butter, a good block of cheese and some good coffee!!!
I finished my breakfast with these delicious pots of yogurt. Simply layer Greek yogurt, crushed ginger snaps and peaches in small bowls or whatever beautiful containers you can find and that is how easy it can be to entertain your loved ones. For those of you in the Northern hemisphere, use stewed fruit and serve this delicious breakfast in front of the fireplace after a morning of snow shuffling. If you feel like baking something, Follow my recipe for a...

Fruit and Nut Breakfast loaf.

Ingredients

5 cups of plain flour
1 sachet instant yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups milk
100gr butter
1 tsp salt

For the filling - this is what I used, but you can use whatever you fancy!

Sultanas
almonds
cinnamon
pecan nuts - chopped
maple syrup


Warm milk and butter in the microvawe until butter has melted. Put flower, yeast, sugar, salt and yeast in your mixer with the dough hook, add the milk and butter and knead until soft and pliable. Leave to rise until double in size. Knead down and roll out until 5 cm think. Sprinkle with cinnamon, nuts and maple syrup.Roll up as for a jam roll. When you have a long sausage shape, roll into a spiral and place in your pan(I used a 23 cm cake pan). Bake for 50-60 minutes, take out the oven, pour some more maple syrup over the top and sprinkle with almonds. Bake for another 5 minutes. Enjoy!

As you all know, it was my daughter's birthday a few days ago and we took her to a Build-a-bear Workshop so that she could choose her own bear. I was overwhelmed when she chose this outfit!!!


Last but not least, I want to share with you that Christmas came early for me this year and my father made this stunning herb stand for me. This morning I potted some herbs and fixed some irrigation sprinklers myself, so now my herbs can grow even when I am not here to water them. Dankie Pa!!!!!!( that means: Thank you, Dad!!!!)