#silentsunday

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found, suitcase, Travel

#silentsunday

Tags

canada, moose, silent Sunday

#silentsunday

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bags, packing, silent Sunday

#ILoveCake Halloween Cupcakes

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cupcakes, halloween, I love cake

When Jenny from Mummy Mishaps announced she was doing a Halloween themed cake linky, I let out a squeal of delight as I love Halloween and cakes!

I grew up in Canada and Halloween was always an exciting time. It was and I hope still is a big deal out there. People go all out with their costumes and decorate the fronts of their houses to resemble graveyards or anything spooky! This year we are lucky enough to be spending Halloween out in Canada and I hope my little boy gets just as much enjoyment out of it as I did when I was a kid!

My cake contribution is spider cupcakes. You can use any flavour of sponge. I’ve made orange coloured icing. Here is my recipe for the vanilla sponge and vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla cupcakes-makes 12

120g butter or margarine(I used stork) at room temperature

120g caster sugar

120g self raising flour

2 tbsp. plain flour(or for a lighter sponge use cornflour)

2 large eggs

1tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line muffin tin with muffin cases

2. Pre-heat oven to 160C( fan assisted) Gas mark 3

3. Mix together butter and sugar

4. Sieve the flours and baking powder together in a bowl

5. Add the eggs to butter and sugar one at a time whilst incorporating the flour mix

6. Add the vanilla extract to mix

7. Pipe or scoop evenly into cases

8. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes

To decorate:

Vanilla buttercream:

125g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate vermicelli sprinkles

Plain m&m’s or mini smarties

Black liquorice laces or strawberry laces

Ensure butter is at room temperature

Mix the butter together, preferably in a mixer

Mix in the icing sugar, adding spoonfuls at a time until the butter has absorbed the sugar

Add vanilla extract

Mix in a mixer on a steady speed until fluffy. As I do quite a bit of baking and decorating, I use sugar flair coloured gel to colour the buttercream(see pic below) I didn’t have orange colouring so I improvised using primrose and poppy red! It’s more of a light orange, but doesn’t really matter as the sprinkles will cover most of it!

Use a palette knife to spread icing on cupcakes

Dip each cupcake in chocolate vermicelli sprinkles until covered

Add 4 pieces of black liquorice laces to each side of the cupcakes(approx 5cm long)

And add 2 m&m’s or mini smarties to make the eyes

That’s it! And there you have spider cupcakes!

They’re easy to make, and it’s even better to get the kids involved to decorate!

The best day I have ever spent with my family

Tags

blog prompt, Brit Mums, family, memories

Yet again Brit Mums has come up with some more brilliant blog prompts and I have chosen ‘The best day I have ever spent with my family’

Now that I’m a proper grown up and have my own family, I hope there will be many best days with my little family, but I’m going to go back to when I was younger for my day.

I didn’t know at the time it would be the best day, but I know now it was.

It was my 21st birthday, and my Daddy took me out for a lovely lunch and we went to the Avondale Dairy Bar for ice cream just on the outskirts of my hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario.

He told me to enjoy everyday, as we were only given one life. He also told me it didn’t matter if I wasn’t the most popular person ever, but as long as I had a couple close friends that’s what mattered the most.

At the time I didn’t give it much thought, but he died 2 months after that lunch and it’s the best day and memory I have with him and I’ll cherish that forever.

#silentsunday

Tags

bag, happy, new, silent Sunday

#recipe shed-cakes and bakes

Tags

Bakes, cakes, decadent, sweet

The effervescent SAHDandproud kindly reminded me that this weeks Recipe Shed entry is bakes or cakes.

My contribution is a recipe from my mum that I remember having when I was a kid and they are Magic Cookie Bars. For some reason my mum only made these at Christmas. They are beyond decadent and perhaps that was the reason why!

In keeping with tradition, I’ve started making these at Christmas too, and I always include them in the my tray of treats I give to friends and neighbours in the festive period.

I hope you enjoy them!

Magic Cookie Bars

115g melted butter or margarine

125g ground digestives(the recipe calls for graham crackers crumbs, but they aren’t readily available here, so I just whizz the digestives in the blender)

1 can condensed milk

335g chocolate chips

100g flaked coconut

120g chopped nuts

1. Heat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

2. Coat a 13×9 baking pan with no stick cooking spray.

3. Combine digestive crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pourbsweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press firmly down with a fork.

4. Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

Go and check out the other yummy bites you can have at Chronicles of a Reluctant Housedad

I don’t have a photo of this recipe, but if it’s bubbly and gooey, then it’s right!

Pet Peeve

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blog prompt, dishwasher, Pet peeve

This week BritMums has 2 blog prompts, one of them being what is your pet peeve. How long is a piece of string? I feel like I should be on an episode of Grumpy Old Women with the amount of things that annoy me!

But for today, my pet peeve will be the way the hub loads the dishwasher. I can hear you all say ‘at least he does it!’ Well, yes he does, but it’s not MY way!

I load everything back to front. He does not. All cutlery must be pointing down. Again, he does not. I had a near miss with a steak knife this morning!

I know it sounds tedious and pedant of me, but I loathe reaching into the dishwasher and my hands touching the smeggy dishes. I end up reloading it myself! I also don’t want any trips to casualty due to missing fingertips. I don’t think this is too much to ask?!

Guilt

Tags

Going away, guilt, scared

Why don’t the antenatal classes or any pregnancy books tell you that as soon as you have a baby, what enormous guilt you will feel?

I’ve felt guilty for almost everyday for the past 5 years. Whether it be down to the fact that I didn’t give him that extra spoonful of yogurt to the fact that I got cross with him for spilling orange juice down the front of his uniform, I feel guilt.

The reason I’m bring the whole guilt issue up, is that my husband and I are going away on Friday for a long weekend. This is the first time I’ll have been away from the boy for more than a day. We have no family near us nor do I have access to babysitters, so the hub and I very rarely go out. A lot of this has to do with my guilt. I don’t want to leave him with just anyone. Maybe I’m worried that he’ll have fun without me?

But back to our weekend, if truth be told I’m not feeling good about it. I just don’t think I’ll be able to relax. I know the boy will be well looked after(he is staying with his best buddy and his family) but I’m scared.

I’ve got butterflies in my stomach thinking about it. I know I should embrace the time away I’ll have with my husband but I don’t know how.

#silentsunday

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silent Sunday