On the Craft Table, How to Pot a Water Lily and Fully Loaded Banana Bread

Hi lovely readers, I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and a not too hectic start to the working week. Tonight I share with you On the Craft Table, How to Pot a Water Lily and Fully Loaded Banana Bread. Happy Reading :) 
On the Craft Table
Late last year I discovered the joys of a tool that makes bead loops - the same size every time. I made gorgeous Czech glass bracelets for some of the girls in my family and find the creating process just so rewarding. I wish that I had discovered these tools when I first started experimenting with beading. 

This is a bracelet that I am resizing for my niece - it was two beads too small, so she posted it back to me with a lovely handwritten letter. That is the beauty of handmade - you can adjust, re-size and modify as you need to :)

How to Pot a Water Lily
Have you ever wondered how to pot a water lily? Or how to re-pot for that matter? I did. I searched and this is what I found. Our re-potted water lily is doing so much better now and has produced a flower for the first time in years. Just follow these simple steps: 

You will need:
"A Squat plastic pot, 20-25cm in diameter; newspaper; garden soil mix; coarse sand; medium pebbles; aquatic-fertiliser tablets
Here's How:
Step 1 Line plastic pot with newspaper. 
Step 2 Add soil mix to the bottom of the pot. Place a fertiliser tablet into centre of the pot and cover with more soil.
Step 3 Trim the roots of the water lily and place it on top of the soil. Ensure the plant sits vertically. 

Step 4 Fan out the roots of the plant, then place more soil on top, so the roots are just covered. It's important to make sure the crown of the plant is just above the surface of the soil. 
Step 5 Place a layer of coarse sand over the soil and pat down firmly. Finish this with a layer of medium-sized pebbles to hold down the soil mix and also to prevent it from escaping into the pond. Step 6 Now you should thoroughly soak the pot to settle the mix, before placing it in the pond. Position the potted plant in the pond so the leaves sit just on the water's surface. If the water is too deep, place a few bricks underneath the pot to elevate it. If it's too shallow, you can add more water or find a deeper vessel."
You can read more here: how-to-pot-a-water-lily
Fully Loaded Banana Bread
I found a recipe for Banana Bread and modified it to create this Fully Loaded Banana Bread. Packed with lots of goodness, this is quite chew worthy,very flavoursome and absolutely delish with some butter and raw unprocessed local honey. Yummy! 

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas, mashed
185g Fat Free Natural Yoghurt
2 Eggs lightly beaten
3 tablespoons of raw unprocessed Honey
1 1/2 cups SR Wholemeal Flour
100g Whole Sliced Almonds (almond slivers with skin on) 
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
3-4 teaspoons Pepita and Sunflower seed mix
1 tablespoon linseed's (soaked in cold water for 15-30 minutes)
1 teaspoon white chia seed
1 teaspoon powdered nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Combine banana, yoghurt, eggs and honey in a large mixing bowl. 
3. Add flour, almonds, apricots, pepita and sunflower seed mix, linseeds, chia      seed, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix to combine. 
4. Pour into a greased and paper lined 12cm 27cm loaf tin. 
5. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through and golden. 
6. Rest in baking tin for ten minutes then place on wire rack to cool.

Dear readers, I hope you enjoyed On the Craft Table, How to Pot a Water Lily and Fully Loaded Banana Bread. See you all on Wednesday for a new Wednesday Wishes blog post xo♥