Tasty Advice!

...S♥ I L♥VE using the fantastic recipes at taste.com.au, they are simply fantastic. They are reviewed and rated well, easy t♥ f♥ll♥w, easy t♥ print and m♥st imp♥rtantly very g♥♥d t♥ eat!



S♥ what's the tasty advice?


I've ♥nly just disc♥vered they have a 'h♥w t♥' secti♥n ♥n the website!


And it's GREAT!


I wanted t♥ bl♥g ab♥ut this yesterday but my c♥mputer decided t♥ change t♥ Japanese f♥r s♥me reas♥n!

S♥♥♥♥♥♥♥... check it ♥ut... great advice ♥n all th♥se niggly little 'expert' c♥♥king techniques!

R x

Christmas Baking #2

Rasberry Spice Muffins!

This one is a yummy one! Rasberry Spice Muffins in my new little patty cases!

It comes from the "Muffin Bible" which was actually a present I bought for my hubby 6 years ago!

Making the Magic Happen! 

1. Blend together 2 cups plain flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp salt together in a large mixing bowl.

2. Whisk 1 cup sugar and 2 eggs in a small bowl until light. Blend in 2 tsp vanilla essence, 1/2 cup oil and 60g of melted butter (cooled)

3. Make a large well in centre of dry ingredients, pour in egg-sugar mixture and combine the two mixtures quickly until batter is formed.

4. Gently fold in 1 cup raspberries (I use frozen!)

5. Spoon batter into muffin tin or individual cases.

6. Bake at 200'C for 20-25 minutes

Here are my muffins in their pretty cases before baking!

And in their pretty cases after baking!

And here they are all ready to give away!

Merry Christmas Everyone! x

R x

Our Christmas Intention 2010

 Our Christmas "Intention" 

Today we decided on a 'Christmas Intention'! I'm calling it that instead of a 'Christmas Tradition' because this is the first time we've done it, so I guess it's not tradition yet. 


Our intention is that every Christmas, instead of having a Santa photo we will take a photo of our little Daisy girl (and subsequent children we're blessed with!) with their choice of gift for the Wishing Tree Appeal or something similar.


This year Daisy girl 'chose' a dolly just like one she has! She was very excited when we grabbed it off the shelf! We wrote on the tag that it will be for a little 5 month old girl, hopefully we can buy a toy for a little girl the same age as her every year!


What a special thing to learn at a young age. 

2011 pics

R x

Christmas Baking - Best Shortbread Recipe

Shortbread ... My way! 

This is a really lovely shortbread recipe... it came with my stainless steel cookie cutters 

which I bought a few years back from "King of Knives".

Ingredients

You will need 

200g butter (softened)

100g icing sugar

200g plain flour

100g corn flour

Method

Step 1: Beat the butter and icing sugar together until light in colour and well blended. 

I use electric beaters. 

Step 2: Add the flour and cornflour and mix to form a dough. I use a s/steel tablespoon to mix for as long as I can, then I knead it in the bowl using my hands to bring it together. 

(Add a little extra flour if it's too sticky)

Step 3: On a sheet of greaseproof paper, knead out the dough into a flat disc shape.

Then wrap it in cling wrap and place in fridge for 15 minutes (this rests the dough and it's better to work with cold).

Step 4: Preheat oven to 160'C

Step 5: Take dough out of fridge and cut in half so it's easy to work with.  Roll out the dough on a sheet of greaseproof paper to about 1/2 cm thick. You can lay a sheet on top too to help your rolling pin stop sticking. It's also a good idea to keep you unused dough in the fridge (especially in Summer) so that it's cool when you're ready to work with it. Chilled dough comes away from the cutters easier and can prevent the cookies spreading during cooking.

Step 6: Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut out shapes and place on a greased/lined baking tray. (These cookie trays were super new but now they're a little more loved I use a sheet of greaseproof paper - I reuse the same sheet a few times per batch!)

Step 7: Sprinkle caster sugar over the top of each piece of shortbread. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool. You want to err on the side of undercooked with shortbread. They should not have any browning or much colour to them at all! :)

As usual I forgot to take a 'finished' picture before sending them off to people! 

I'm sure you can imagine what they looked like! Will take a photo of the next batch all wrapped up! :)

R x

Here's a cute pic of my li'l helper!

We also use this recipe at Easter time and future Christmas!

10 December 2005

Tomorrow is 10 December 2010, 5 years ago tomorrow, I was married to my best friend!


How time flies (when you're having fun!) 

This is the song I walked down the aisle to! My Dad and I would listen to this song together when I was a little girl....


The Lonely Shepherd


This is my Dad and I dancing at the reception! 

So what does one learn in five years of marriage?!


Here are just 5 things! (There are many more)


1. Keep focussed on things above! The Lord has blessed us greatly in our marriage and continues to do so.


2. Know each others Love Language and speak that language!


3. Kiss. Hug. Etc. ;)


4. Forgive. Often.


5. Serve one another

In our 5 years of marriage we have experienced highs and lows together. But one thing has remained constant, our love and commitment to each other and to the Lord.


And after 5 years, you still make my stomach do cartwheels! :) xxx

                                               All my love, forever. x