Blog Archives
Happy New Year!
2012 ended on a high for one lucky lady, me! A pass out for the night to see Gary Barlow with some lovely girlies and a trip down memory lane from ‘A Million Love Songs’ to ‘Pray’ and ‘Back for Good’ that reminded me of my school days, to ‘Never Forget’ that brings me back to dancing in the clubs at Uni and ‘Greatest Day’, which is my baby girl’s song – what a night! I can’t wait to see what lies ahead for 2013.
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
‘Tis the season to get cooking
This year I wanted to put my mark on Christmas and make as many homemade things as I could think of with the able assistance of the little lady. I left out fudge and didn’t leave myself sufficient time to make a Christmas cake this year so I have something to post about next year!
My homemade Christmas started with chutney and where best to start the search for a recipe than Netmums
Chutney – this sweet chutney in my opinion was the perfect accompaniment to our first course pâté dish on Christmas Day. The husband did not agree as it contained raisins but more for the rest of us!
Gingerbread biscuits – I had intended to make reindeer Gingerbread biscuits as I had seen in a post on Wokingham Gossip Girls but I could not find a gingerbread man cutter (you turn a gingerbread man upside down for the desired effect) for love or money and so resorted to star and heart cutouts with decorative icing. We made the biscuits a couple of weeks in advance and froze them but had I known that they were quite so easy to make, I suspect they would have tasted better fresh.
Peppermint creams – again we made these in advance (no requirement for freezing, just to be left in a sealed bag) and given their simplicity, I would definitely only make them a day or two early in future.
Christmas cupcakes – these were made using a simple fairy cake recipe and the icing was simply buttercream mixed with red/green food colouring for that extra festive feel.
Pavlova & Trifle – I was determined that we, or more to the point I, was going to make a Christmas dessert or two from scratch so I turned to the most reliable source Delia Smith for my pavlova. The pavlova was absolutely scrumptious and surprisingly easy to make. The trifle looked good, however it completely lacked flavour so I have uploaded a piccie but have omitted the recipe for this one. I was quick to admit the blandness of the flavour so as to avoid any awkward and less than truthful exclamations of how ‘delicious’ it was!
If you have any festive recipes that I could try for next year, please feel free to post your recipe/link below!
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for Babies in Buscot Support – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
Christmas Sweet Trees
I’ve admired sweet trees from afar for a while and I was considering purchasing one for Christmas, until I discovered that they start from £20 so I thought why not have a go myself and these are the results…
Very simple to make – polystyrene from my husband’s latest electrical purchase, bamboo skewers, lashings of melted chocolate, a tube or three of Smarties, a tub of Cadbury’s Roses and some big own brand milk and white chocolate buttons. The Roses were affixed using my latest purchase, a glue gun!
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for Babies in Buscot Support – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
School Application DONE
This definitely feels like a milestone. 12 months from now my baby girl who could fit into the palm of my hand when she started life, will be finishing her first term at ‘big’ school and today I started the process of getting her there by completing her primary school application form. 2013 sure is going to be a baptism of fire for one Little Miss Popple.
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for Babies in Buscot Support – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
I Did It Mummy 