Baking- No-Yeast Dinner Rolls and Brownies + Litha/Midsummer Celebration Ideas

The other week I made some no-yeast dinner rolls. Their full title is Momma's No Yeast Dinner rolls and I got them from Pinterest. Here's the link (the recipe is on the pin itself): https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/423268064969834345/

I've baked bread a couple of times before but it can be quite a complicated process! So I like no-yeast recipes because they're simpler. A few months ago I made quick dinner bread which came out quite nice. More recently I made flourless peanut butter bread. I wasn't so impressed with that; it does come out like "proper" bread but I didn't like the taste that much. I think I might have liked it more as a sweet bread. Still, it's good as an alternative bread if you're gluten intolerant because it's gluten free. :)

What I liked about these dinner rolls is the fact that they only have  a few simple ingredients (flour, baking powder, milk, mayonnaise and a pinch of salt) and that they're easy to make. It doesn't say what kind of flour to use but it must have been plain because you also baking powder. The rolls tasted nice. Here's a pic:

Beach Pics

I normally post on Sunday or Monday but I didn't get round to it this time. I recently took some photos at Worthing beach though, so thought I'd do a random Tuesday post! :)

Worthing beach is one of my favourite beaches but I hadn't been for ages due to car issues and the weather during winter. It was lovely weather and it's really starting to feel like summer. (Well, it was but yesterday it rained hard for most of the day and today it's colder and windy! lol). Here are the pics:

Beltane 2017

Last Monday I celebrated Beltane. As I mentioned in my Beltane Celebration Ideas post I made guacamole. The recipe is from Soraya's book The Kitchen Witch. I had it with a chicken drumstick, sea salt crisps and carrots. While other years I've had elderflower to drink, this year I had lemonade (Fever Tree Sicilian lemonade). Here are a couple of pictures:

Beltane Celebration Ideas

Tomorrow (1st May) is Beltane, the 2nd spring festival and the start of the summer season. It can also be celebrated today (30th April). Interestingly I just watched an episode of The X-Files last night where the sabbats were mentioned and Beltane was referred to as "Roodmas" and celebrated on 30th April. (Note: This episode doesn't cast witches/magic practitioners in a good light but there is one good witch!). Roodmas is apparently an old English word that means "Mass of the Cross" and it was celebrated as an attempt to diminish paganism! So maybe it's an alternative name. Witches of The Craft refers to it as the Christian term for Old Rood Day.

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere you're about to have Samhain. Have a good one! )


Following on from my Oestara Celebration Ideas post, here is one for Beltane. :)

First of all here are some links with more info about this festival:

http://www.priestesstraining.com/beltaine-sex-goddess-love/

http://www.pennilesspagan.com/2017/04/5-ways-to-celebrate-beltane.html

http://tesswhitehurst.com/5-ways-to-celebrate-beltane-in-5-minutes-or-less/

http://tesswhitehurst.com/4-unique-little-ideas-for-your-beltane-celebration/

Frosted White Chocolate Easter Cake

For Easter this year I made a white chocolate Easter cake. I decided to make it on Good Friday because other relatives were also baking things and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat everything on Easter Sunday! lol. The recipe is a James Martin one. Here's the link: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10209/frosted-white-chocolate-easter-cake

I first made this for Easter a few years ago (I think in 2013) and although at first I wasn't that sure about it, I ended up liking it. So I thought I would be good to do the same cake again this year. It has white chocolate in the sponge and cream cheese frosting/icing with Mini Eggs on top. Here's a picture:

Oestara 2017

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but I had computer problems recently, so I'm posting today instead. :)

Last Monday was Oestara aka the Spring Equinox. I celebrated by making sugar cookie bars. As I mentioned in my Oestara/Spring Equinox Celebration Ideas post I first made them in 2015 and while I liked them, I think they could have come out better. This time I used a different recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction (I pinned to it my Recipes To Make board on Pinterest a while ago). Here's the link: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/04/08/frosted-sugar-cookie-bars/

I did like them but I was a bit disappointed again. They seem to come out more like cake but maybe they are meant to be thicker. Never mind!


I'd originally intended to dye all the buttercream but I was in a bit of a rush that day because I had a belly dance workshop and I ended up forgetting to put the food colouring in! lol. So I used some plain buttercream and then put the colouring in when I got back. I used green and yellow for spring colours. I also put Cadbury Mini Eggs on top. Here's a picture from before I put the Mini Eggs on (I forgot about them too at first!):

Oestara/Spring Equinox Celebration Ideas

Tomorrow is Oestara/Ostara aka the Spring Equinox. (Or you're in the Southern Hemisphere it's your Autumn Equinox. Happy Madron!). I thought it would be good to do a post with some ideas for celebrating :)

Here are some links to inspire you:

http://modern-witch.es/enchanted-living/22-ways-to-celebrate-the-spring-equinox

http://tesswhitehurst.com/5-ways-to-celebrate-ostara-in-5-minutes-or-less-2/

http://www.pennilesspagan.com/2016/03/ten-ways-celebrate-ostara-spring.html

https://wildwoodandsage.blog/celebrate-the-spring-equinox/


I've done No 3 on Tess Whitehurst's list (Bless chocolate eggs). I used one of the mini chocolate eggs I got from Marks & Spencer recently. This time of year is great if you like chocolate because of all the Easter choc in the shops! I've been really into Cadbury solid chocolate mini eggs lately, lol.

I usually celebrate the sabbats by making some food and/or drink and this year I've decided to make sugar cookie bars for Oestara and put Mini Eggs on top. I first made them two years ago and they didn't come out so well. At the time I'd never made them before so had no idea how they were supposed to be. I think mine came out too thick but I still liked them. Now I have an idea what they should be like and also I'm using a different recipe. I'll do a post next week about it. :)