Insta Sunday... the (mostly) food edition

I'm in that crazy mode of clearing out and cleaning up, and before I deleted some photos from my iphone, I thought I'd post a few photos that didn't get instagrammed, or that needed some extra explaining :)

From left to right, on each row... because I'm too lazy to put numbers on each photo.

1. The official school photos. here are the ones I took in the morning at home.
2. I had lunch with Jeanette mid-November and it was LOVELY. I still need to schedule a follow-up...
3. Finally got my Spanish exam official report.
4. I posted my tomatoes snack on IG and Shayne recommended a spice that I happened to have at home. Well, we now have tomatoes sprinked with Ina Paarman's Rosemary and Olive seasoning all the time. Get it - you will love it :)
5. First batch of biscuits baked for friends. I've scaled down so much from those early years where I baked and baked, and made tins and tins of treats for friends. A lot of people said, "oh, you shouldn't have" and so I didn't :) Anyway, this one was delegated to the new nanny and it's a tried and trusted recipe so impossible to mess up. Well, I packaged and handed this over on a Sat. On the Sun evening I had one with my tea and it was terrible. So I told them I'm making more and this time I personally made the biscuits and they were lovely, as they should be.
6. MandyE's girls send C & K an ornament craft every year. Due to the slow post, it arrives early in the New Year so I pack it up with the Christmas things and it's SUCH a pleasant surprise when we unpack everything. These were the ones they made this year - love them!
7. These were what we did for teachers' gifts. This one is for the security guard so it is plainer than the rest but for the ladies, I put fancy gift tags and "from the kitchen of..." labels too.
8. The second can of biscuits for our friends.
9. A colleague received a gift of 3 individual Woolworths fruit cakes (haha!). She shared them in the office and this was my one. OH MY WORD - delicious. Seriously. But I went to look and they're R80 for the pack so a bit too expensive to buy these for individual servings :(

Have you done any baking this year?

OH!!! I must tell you about something EASY and super-yum I made last month.

Chocolate chip bars

1 packet muffin mix (any brand) - 500 g (I used chocolate)
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 Milky Bar slab (roughly chopped) - optional

Mix it all together.

It is a dense mixture so don't panic - you can't mess it up.... unless you burn it.

Spoon into a greased pan and smooth out so that it's about 1 cm thick.

Bake for about 8 - 10 mins in a standard 180 degree oven. You should check it about 2 mins before the time and stick a toothpick inside to see if cooked through. If not, pop in for a minute at a time and keep checking.

It's easier to keep checking than to burn it - not that I'd know ;)

When you remove from the oven, let cool and cut into slices/ bars/ squares, whatever takes your fancy.

Even D LOVED this and he is not a person who likes sweets!

Let me know if you try it - seriously, it's super easy. You know if I say it's easy, then it's EASY!