Soooo

Haven't updated this in a while! Emily came runner up in Organix's mighty meals competition, i entered this photo:

Because it's downright cute! they sent the prize today via courier so i'll update when it's here!

I also got a job today :) So thats good! its a customer services role at a payday loan company, good wages, good hours, so im excited for that :)

That is about it at the moment!

Today i went blackberry picking :)

And my lovely little lady played in the park!

Some tips for blackberry picking-

• It hurts! be careful of thorns, and spiders!
• Pick only the "black" ones, as the red ones aren't ripe!
• If you aren't going to use them that day, freeze them! they only keep for a few days otherwise, always put straght in the fridge if you are undecided!
• You will get odd looks from teenagers, and the occasional "pikey" shouted at you!
• soak them in water and some salt to draw out any bugs that could be lurking!

I picked 250g of berries, perfect amount for a pie, a friend of mine is giving me some apples from her tree too :)

On the scales!

In the freezer!

If you are going to freeze them, put some foil on a tray and lay them flat in the freezer, then when frozen just pop them in a ziplock bag, getting out as much air as possible!

My first cupcake buy!

So i was given a lot of cook books for xmas, and some lovely baking books & piping bags etc, i have decided i am going to make christmas cupcakes for everyone! So i bought these:

Snowflake sugarpaste cutter

Holly sugarpaste cutter

Star sugarpaste cutter

Im going to be making candy cane cupcakes too, with red & white marshmallow buttercream, peppermint flavouring, and a mini candy cane :) these cutters will be used with sugar paste, and will be stacked onto cupcakes, i might even make a big xmas cake- maybe even venture into making some sugarpaste animals!

Birthday Times & home made treats!

So it was Emily's birthday last week :) she turned a big 1! we had a little party, where i unveiled my cake pops!

A friend made her giant and regular cupcakes, aren't they wonderful :)

Along side the cake pops i also made individual wooden hearts for the party bags

 we also went to the sea life centre :)

I will add another post at some point with how to make cake pops!



Thrifty finds

So we went to a carboot sale in Potterspury on Sunday and it was massive, we picked up a few bargains, Daniel got some stock for work but i got some baby bargains :)

I picked up some books for my sister for christmas, 3 for £1!

I picked up some shoes for emily, i know you shouldn't get secind hand shoes but they were £1 and they did for the 3 days until we bouht emily some new ones :)

The biggest bargain was a coat, brand new with tags, was £18 i paid a whole £2!!

I love car boots, im gutted it's coming to the end of the season, we picked up most of emily's stuff when i was pregnant from the car boot! fab fab fab!

Cooking: 8 vegetable pasta sauce

So, i have a problem with my daughter, and her hatred of veg, so i decided to do a all good mothers do and hide it in her food!
This doesnt have to be 8 veggies, but its what i had laying round, its really good for using us scraps of veg!

Baby tomatoes - 6/7
75g carrots
50g brocolli
60g sweetcorn
50g peas
50g courgette
50g peppers
50g green beans
175ml chicken stock
400g chopped tomatoes/passata
1teaspoon tomato puree
Oil
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder (i didnt have an onion, you could use half a real one, pref a red onion)
Herbs to taste

1) Heat the oil in a sauce pan, add veg and fry off for about 7-10 mins

2) add stock, chopped tomatpes and tomato puree, bring to a simmer, cover and leave for about 30 mins

3) once veg is soft, add to a blender or hand blend to your desired texture



I know it doesn't look apatising, but it's nice!

This freezes really well and i made enough for about 8 dishes!

Birthday Cakes, Pt 1, making & freezing

So,  i decided to make my daughter some 1 shaped cakes for her birthday, although i only bought one mould (from here) so it took a fair while!

So first i got everything i needed for the cake:

8oz self raising flour

8oz butter

9oz sugar

4 eggs

Made a batter

I baked each cake for around 10 mins, checked to see if it was cooked (by inserting a sqewer into the middle and making sure it comes out clean)

And then out it came, i cut the excess off and this is what i was left with:

I then wrapped it in cling film, put 3 individualy wrapped cakes into a ziplock bag and placed in the freezer, they can be frozen for up to a month, and when you come to defrost them you just need to take them out of the bags but keep them wrapped at room temperature they should only take an hour or 2 to defrost!

I made 13, i still have another 7/8 to go!