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All things baby….

Hello Everyone,

I thought I am going to vamp up my blog with a few more topics……

One that is really close to my heart is pregnancy. Being 37 weeks pregnant myself at the moment, I thought it is about time that I start writing about it. 

I have been really lucky during my whole pregnancy and did not have any major issues… other than really bad morning sickness for the first 5 month… and I am telling you…. the name morning sickness does not do it justice as it really lasted the entire day and night for me. But more about this later.

So basically, I am going to write about my experiences during my pregnancy, product reviews, new mummy advise… you get the drift…

If you have anything in particular that you would like me to write about or have any questions that you would like me to cover, please just let me know in the comments below.

Please keep in mind that I am not a professional on healthcare or a midwife/doctor. I am your normal chick from next door and this will definitely not be expert advise, but just me talking about my personal experiences.

Hopefully you will like it and maybe it might help you mums out there a little.

Lots of love,
Linda  

Vegetable Soup

Hi Everyone,

The weather is getting slightly colder and it seems as if autumn is slowly on its way. I just hope we will still get to enjoy a few days of glorious warm sunshine before the cosy season starts.

However, this weather inspired me to try out our family recipe for vegetable soup. It's really simple and quick but tastes amazing! And you know I like myself some quick and easy cooking…

So here we go:

First of all you need vegetables to your taste. I used a frozen casserole mix of carrots, onion, leek sweet and celery, added some cauliflower and filled the pot with water. Add some salt and start to bring it to a boil. In the meantime, squeeze balls of meat out of some sausages and add to the soup mix straight away. Once the soup has boiled for about 15 minutes, I added some broccoli. Of course you can skip this step if you don't like broccoli. Boil for another ten minutes and, voilá, the soup is as good as done.
Next, you need to remove your meatballs and mash your soup up a little, or keep it chunky, this is completely down to your own taste. Add the meatballs back in and it is ready to serve.

Just as a little tip, when my soup started to boil there was a lot of foam forming on the top. Freaking out a little, or actually freaking out quite a bit because I thought I really messed is up, I called my mum straight away.... Yup, mummy needed to help...... But she calmed me down saying the foam is normal and disappears while cooking.... It's just the fat from the meat.... Puhhhhh…..


Alright, this is it for today. I hope you will enjoy this recipe!!

Lots of love,
Linda

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

Hello Everyone,

another weekend, another cupcake…..

This time I felt like something really sweet and fruity, so Strawberry and Cream it was. 

These cupcakes are soooo easy to make but absolutely delicious!

To make approximately 12 cupcakes you will need:

For the batter (this is my base cupcake recipe):

100g Butter or Margarine at room temperature

100g Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

100g Self-Raising flour

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (if you don't have Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Essence will also do the trick)

You will also need:

Some fresh strawberries

Cupcake cases of your choice

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees / 320 Fahrenheit. 

Line a cupcake / muffin tray with the cupcake cases.

Give your strawberries a good wash and remove the leaves, and slice them into pieces.

Start of by mixing your butter until it gets really fluffy and light (this might take a few minutes).

Then add your caster sugar and keep beating.

Once these two ingredients are nicely combined, start adding the eggs gradually and keep mixing. If you see that your mixture is starting to curdle slightly, add a spoon full of the flour and that will fix it.

When your mixture is nice and smooth, gradually start mixing in the flour and add your Vanilla Extract. Keep mixing for another couple of minutes and you are done.

Now pour your mixture evenly into the cases and add one piece of strawberry to each. I usually press them into the mixture slightly, however, be careful not to press them in too much, because they will sink while baking and we don't want them to be just sitting a the bottom and soak the case. :-)

Then bake the cupcakes in the over for approximately 15-20 minutes. The baking time will depend on each individual oven, but the cupcakes are done when they are nice and golden, and springy to the touch.

For the cream icing I don't really go by measurements but basically by how much of a sweet tooth me and my husband are having that day.

You only need 1 tub of double/heavy cream or extra thick double cream, as much of Vanilla Extract/Essence as you like and icing sugar. That's all!

Pour your cream into a bowl, add your vanilla and some icing sugar. Then start beating. It will probably take several minutes for the mixture to become nice and thick in consistency, but the timing will depend on the type or cream you are using. 

Usually I give it a little taste throughout and see if it needs more icing sugar. If it is not sweet enough for you, just keep adding more until you have achieved your perfect creamy goodness.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, you can add your icing.

I use disposable piping bags with which you only snip off the tip and insert your nozzle. Then stand your piping bag up in a tall glass, roll down the edges and add your icing with a spatula.

The nozzle I used this time is a Wilton 1M.

Then just get piping and creative! In this instance, I added some flower decoration which I made myself about 2 days before. Please don't judge, this was my first ever attempt in making anything from flower paste!!! But I was quite happy with the outcome. :-)

Anyways, all you need to do now is enjoy!!!

Let me know if you give these cupcakes a go. I would love to hear if you liked them!

Lots of love,

Linda

Easy Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Hi Everyone,

A few days ago we came back from a weekend trip and during a stop at the services, I found a little gem of a cupcake book called simply "The Cupcake" by Love Food, and just could not resist.

It is packed full of little cupcake goodness. My husband got the first choice of cupcake and as he loves carrot cake he chose the mini version.

They tasted absolutely divine so I just had to share them.

So here we go….

According  to the recipe, these ingredients should equal 12 cupcakes, however, when I made them, I actually got 18….. not sure why…..

Ingredients:

175 g/ 6oz butter, softened, or soft margarine

115 g/4 oz caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

300 g/ 10.5 oz carrots, grated

55 g/ 2 oz walnuts, finely chopped

2 tbsp orange juice

grated rind of 1/2 orange

175 g. 6 oz self-raising flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

12 walnut halves, to decorate

For the frosting:

115 g/ 4 oz full-fat cream cheese

1 tbsp orange juice

225 g/ 8 oz icing sugar

First of all you need to preheat your oven to 180 degrees (350 Fahrenheit) and put 12 cupcake cases into a tray.

Next, beat the butter/margarine together with the caster sugar until its really nice a fluffy. It will also get a little lighter in colour. Gradually start beating in the eggs. 

Once that's done, you need to add in your grated carrots, chopped walnuts, orange juice and orange rind. I used a spatula to fold the mixture together. Then sift in your cinnamon and flour and again fold it in. It is best to use a metal spoon because the mixture is less likely to stick to it.

The fill your cases and bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes. Keep checking them because the baking time will differ with every oven. They should be nice and golden and firm to the touch. Leave them on a wire rack to cool.

Now, we can make the yummy frosting. Add the cream cheese and orange juice to a bowl and sift in your icing sugar, then beat the mixture until it's fluffy.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, you can add the frosting and top each with a walnut half.

All you need to do now is enjoy!!!

Let me know in the comments below what you think of them!!!

Lot's of love,

Linda

Disclaimer: The recipe is taken from the book "The Cupcake" by Love Food. The ingredients I took from the book but the instructions were re-written in my own wording.