I am going to get into baking!

I would say I am a pretty good cook and most of our meals are 'from scratch' (to quote a good friend).  I do your usual family meals - roasts, sausage and mash, spaghetti, chilli plus a few more exotic risottos and paellas thrown in for variety.  The perfect curry still eludes me though so I usually cheat with a ready made sauce.  One thing I rarely do is bake.  If you make a tasty cake you have to eat it don't you?  Not good for the waistline.

Well this year I have decided to embrace my inner domestic goddess and take up baking.  I shall just bake things that can be eaten sensibly or as part of a main meal.  I have just baked a rather good chocolate and banana bread, inspired by the Great British Bake-off and a baking book from my parents.  So pleased with how it's turned out:

The oven is still on so I am going to bake a soda bread to go with our stew instead of potatoes. So expect the random posts of 2012 to be about baking as well as gardening!

UPDATED: The soda bread, lemon drizzle cake and shortbread