Sunday, 28 July 2013

The Cupcake lady at the Fun Fair

Today was the Baking competition at an inner city school the day was looking bright and shiny just barely though there were some threats of rain showers we got the odd sprinkle from the sky saying "hello" just a reminder of our wonderful Queensland weather.

At the fair there were so many happy people the kids on the pony rides, the ladies selling their homemade goods and garden plants. There were numerous competitions the best drawing competition, the biggest veg competition and so on, what I loved the most was the atmosphere I loved that the fair had this whimsical feel about it, the buntings flapping with the wind the aromas of the freshly brewed coffee, the delicious food from the multicultural stalls and I thought to myself that is what makes Australia so unique and so wonderful "one place - people from so many walks of life"


Back to the Baking competition I came second the very deserving winner was a primary school girl she made Gulliver's travels Lego style.

1st Place


 2nd Place

It's Fete season at the moment in Brisbane but today's fair was the last for the season for the cupcake lady I am officially bake out I think I will put my feet up and enjoy my next cuppa.

Cheers.
The Cupcake Lady

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Easy peasy homemade sorbet

Our middle munchkin had his tonsils and adenoids removed the last couple of nights have been horrid the lack of sleep and our munchkin refusing to take his medicine. About a month ago I booked myself for a baking competition the competition is here well tomorrow to be exact and I am trying to find my inner baker extraordinaire to start baking those two cakes yes as it was not bad enough I placed two entries " The best decorated cake" and "The most delicious cake" categories. Judging by the lack of baking products on the shelf at the supermarket I have better chances to meet the pope than winning anything at the baking fair I am thinking there will be loads of entries oh well its too late to pull out now.

What I wanted to share was my easy peasy homemade sorbet, the doctor ordered for Mr Munchkin to eat plenty of ice cream, Ice blocks and so on, so today I made my on version of White Cottage sorbet and I must say it was delish!!!!


The Cupcake Lady's Berry Sorbet

Ingredients

250g Frozen Rasperries
250g Frozen Strawberries
1/2 icing sugar
a dash of water or apple juice

Method 

Place all the ingredients on the food processor and blitz until smooth

Serves 6


we had left over I just placed it on a tupperware container and I am having some as I type and I still think it's delish

enjoy!!!

The Cupcake Lady

 

Monday, 22 July 2013

Homemade Takeaway

Mondays are pretty busy around here its the start of the week and its the day I am Domestic Goddess Extraordinaire well not today. 

Today I had two of my girlfriends for morning tea which turned into lunch next thing I knew it was time to go and get the munchkins. I found myself in a conundrum I hadn't prepared Dinner usually today I wack everything and anything I can find in the fridge and pantry on the slow cooker but because I was too busy shoving chocolate cake and chin wagging (as farmer Joe would call it) I didn't do that normally it would not be a problem but today is one of our busiest day as the boys do soccer.

so it got me thinking a colleague of mine used to tell me that on sport days they would do drive thru take away and although there is nothing wrong with drive thru takeaway now and then I figure out it would be probably faster for me just to make my homemade takeaway white cottage burgers and salad and you know what I surprised myself it was done and dusted in 15 minutes it's delicious, I know this because the munchkins told me :) 



INGREDIENTS

500g beef mince
1/2 brown onion thinly slice
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 egg
a pinch of dry oregano
salt and pepper 
olive oil
Green Salad
Hamburger buns

METHOD

Combine mince,onion tomato paste, egg, oregano, salt and pepper
Heat olive oil and pan fry the patties

Fill the bun with the Pattie and salad.

 for the salad I made a small marinade of olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a pinch of sugar.

This food is simple and easy just perfect for a day like today.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Cheers The cupcake lady
 

Sunday, 21 July 2013

A Cottage Style Mirror

I found this Gorgeous Cane Mirror it had a horrid green colour but I could see once painted in white it would be AMAZING and it did not disappoint. I love it and it just looks adorable in our front room.


 BEFORE



 AFTER




Saturday, 13 July 2013

wedding anniversary at the White Cottage and GIVEAWAY!!!!

I am feeling the love today it's our 7th Wedding Anniversary. Every year on this day I spend the day thinking how much has changed since the days as a single girl. 

7 years ago I was a city slicker literary living the inner city life, Working, Shopping, walking down to the bars for a bit of a boogie, going on terrible dates, spending time with girlfriends.

I had been friends with farmer Joe for about 7 years we used to socialise with a group of friends when we started dating and soon after the cupcake lady and farmer Joe were one and that was the start of the white cottage dream with the munchkins, the chickens, the vegies and all the hand-home-upcycle lifestyle started for us, we never looked back.

I love our life the chaos the children and who knew I would exchange my high heels for gumboots

Our Anniversary lunch.



I am feeling the love!!!!!!!! and want to share it 

 

A couple of weeks ago I  got a copy of Gizzy Erskine's new book "Gizzi's Kitchen Magic" and its fantastic so I would love for someone to try these wonderful recipies.




 GIVEAWAY PRIZE!!!!!!!!!!!


HOW TO ENTER

1. COMMENT ON MY BLOG WITH YOUR FAVOURITE OR SIGNATURE DISH FOR WINTER

AND I WILL ANNOUNCE THE LUCKY WINNER NEXT SATURDAY 20TH  JULY AT 12 MIDDAY

*AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS ONLY*

SO GET TYPING 

XOXOX karla








Thursday, 11 July 2013

Back to the Hustle and Bustle

What a week!!!!! this week was going back to school week although we only had two weeks off I quickly got used to not running around like a headless chook herding sheep also known as my children yes that's us I am the cattle dog and well the munchkins are the sheep not exactly sure how many times I have ask in the mornings for them do simple tasks like brush your teeth, eat your weetbix, have you put your water in your bag don't forget your show and tell is that too much to ask from a 5 year and 3.5 years old :)  

The holiday oh yes the Holidays it was great we potted around we ate our breakfast even though sometimes it took an hour I even managed to read a book who would thought!!!

Well that was last week that was the past, now to this week where for the next 11 weeks I will be a headless chook running to school and taking the munchkins to the numerous activities.

In saying this a couple of weeks ago I made Chorizo and Cannellini Bean soup it was delicious I had to tweak it a bit to give it more flavour and its the easiest QUICK most delicious dish we have tried in a long time and it's perfect for days like any day this week where time is limited.

Here is Iris's Recipe







CHORIZO AND CANELLINI SOUP

 
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, 
  • 1/2 kg fresh chorizo
  • 1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 2 x 400g cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • ground pepper
  • 150g baby spinach 
  • Smoked paprika to garnish soup
 Method
 
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add chopped chorizo and cook, stir occasionally, until browned and cooked through transfer Chorizo to a plate.

2. Reduce heat to medium. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in same pot. Add onion, garlic, and thyme sprig. Cook stirring occasionally until onion is softened add beans and chicken stock and cook crushing a few beans to thicken sauce.
 
3. Place Chorizo back onto the pot add water to thin if necessary, season with salt and pepper if needed
 
4. Add spinach and cook for a couple of minutes or until wilted. 
 
5. sprinkle with Paprika, serve with toasted Sourdough Bread
 
Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!! 
 
 

with love from Iris

Monday, 8 July 2013

New Projects

The Restoration Lady is back it's been a long time coming I finally started restoring a couple of pieces

BEFORE


AFTER


This gorgeous dressing table is now on our baby's room it looks absolutely adorable.

Monday, 1 July 2013

Our first Garage Sale

It's been quiet around the White Cottage lately my eldest munchkin had a tumble last week we went on an ambulance ride to the hospital all is good but let me tell you its super hard to keep two boys from running around and being boys during our week of bed rest we did loads of arts and crafts and book readings. 





Over the weekend we did our very first Garage Sale it was loads of hard work trying to sort out things we wanted to sell, we spent all day outside, we had a cupcake and coffee stand I must say we didn't do too bad on our cupcake sales maybe next time we will have a cupcake sale only instead but maybe next time I wont eat so many cupcakes while waiting for people I ate too much of my profits. We had so much fun we got to meet so many interesting people I could not believe how much personal information a person divulges to a stranger I loved it,  it was definitely entertaining and now I have plenty of dinner party stories




Last week started with a bump on the road and we finished on a high with our Garage Sale or maybe I felt so high thanks to the 3 cupcakes I ate at once in any case we finished the week happy. 

I hope you had a great weekend too