Tidbits #?

• Only 3 people came to my Bday party in the end, still we had a nice time
•    Got new boots! Sorta military style grey ankle high, winter flat (winter flat is different than summer flat, don’t mistake the two!) boots. Love them!
• I got my first Bday /xmass package this week!! I was so excited!! I got the funniest clutch, framed photo of us that is already
• I sent off Xmass cards and two packages this week, and decided to go stingy and sent them all the cheapest way possible. I think it’s even cooler if they arrive after Xmass, people think they already got everything and then SURPRISE! Here is another present!
• Because of this, I was at the post office 3 times in 4 days.
• My brother is abroad, I am getting something to wear as a gift, because he asked my size. Brothers.
• My nails are shitty. I am even thinking of trying shellac for a few months to strengthen them!
• I “planted” my date pits. I had them soaking for at least 2 weeks now, and it was at least 15 of them, and i just pushed them down in the soil of all my potted plants. Now we’ll see if any grow out!
• Ran out of my RN audio books, so I am now listening to The game of thrones. It’s good to expand ones horizons!!

Third batch of cupcakes in three weeks

The fact that I can’t make muffins, even with normal flour, is well known by now. So I tried something that seemed similar to me – cupcakes. I wanted to do them for my Bday. And – It works! it’s tasty! Yep, I made cupcakes! It’s a great recipe! I found it here.

To just have it all here; (I changed it a bit )

2 eggs + 1/2 cup of sugar*; mix

1, 1/4 cup of GF flour

1/2 ts xanthan gum

1 !/” ts baking powder

Sift together; mix with sugar and eggs; gradually add;

1/2 cup of canola oil

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of shredded coconut

dash of salt

Bake for 20 minutes of 170 degrees Celsius. I think I’ll have to turn them once in the oven, because this last third time, I finally made them a bit fuller in the cups and they came out crooked; I think it’s because we have this ventilation oven and when the hot air blew out, it tilted them in one direction.

I make a mixture of flours of my choosing. Usually, I use half a cup of tapioca or rice flour, and the rest is a little  bit of everything I have; soya, buckwheat, corn…* I use only half a cup of sugar, and add the other half cup of coconut. Next time, I’ll try with hazelnuts or any other kind of nuts.

 

First, I put the cups in the muffin tin, but they were the wrong size and came out all squashed and weird. So I just put the cups on a normal, empty oven rack, and filled them with the thing that you use for soups. It didn’t run over, it rose, and I could do it all in one batch!

For icing, I tried just butter & sugar first, and it was just too unhealthy for me. So I tried butter cream icing next, and I like it better! I get a batch of 13 cupcakes (when filled more than half way in the cups) or 15 when they are smaller sized, and the icing is just enough so there is some on every cupcakes, but it’s not doused with it (80 grams of cream cheese, 60 grams of butter, 1,5 cup to 2 cups of castor sugar). That is still  A LOT of castor sugar, but it works 🙂

I figured out it’s best if I melt the butter and let it cool down, and mix all together, than see how thick it is. The shape has to stay in form for it to work, otherwise, it’ll just melts off.

I used a freezer bag, and cut a whole in one corner, and shaped it on the cupcakes, but please be carefull, it tends to explode (I tried using that forming thingy the first time, it exploded all over the place!

So; tried and tested and approved! Enjoy!

The party countdown; 3 days!

Again, I need to sort things out in my head and make a plan, and I am using this blog to do it!

So; I need to;

– dust the dinning room & living room, vacuum everything (including the celings!)and clean my room. Scrub the toilet. Clean the refrigerator.

– Decide on the menu. This is it so far;

Pumpkin soup with polenta dumplings; drat, all my pumpkins rotted! I need to decide on another soup!! Or maybe I can buy a pumpkin?  Chicken breast with honey-balsamic glaze OR chilli. If I do chicken, I have to make rise as a side dish, but I can make different salads to go with it (green, cabbage, buckwheat with bell peppers and tomatoes, bean ). If I do chilli, do I can make it a day early, and also serve it with salads, and what? Corn chips? BUT it doesn’t sound as cool as the honey glaze…But making stakes for so many people can go wrong; ok, so it’s max 7 people, I can do that, right? Last year, it was 10, and I have bad memories so I need to make up for it!!!! Caramelized pineapple as a dessert. With ice cream? Or some kind of sauce? Instead of a cake, cupcakes – that I am sure of. And do I wanna do hours d’oeuvre? Maybe bacon wrapped dates or prunes, or something retro like deviled  eggs? Yep, devil eggs it is.

As I search all this, i am more and more sure I’ll do the chilli. If I have appetizers, soup, chilli & salads, one main dessert, and than cupcakes, I think it will be enough, not impressive, but I am just one person…AND everything willl be gluten free, I wanna show them you can do gluten free without much trouble!

Drinks; I have wine, I need to check the liquor, we have enough liquors! Yeah! and what else we have, and decide if I need to get gin and tonic, or if I say they have to be happy with the vine.

And what about the afternoon snack?

I also need to buy oranges, somehow, we always end up eating them, and bring up the hazelnuts – when we sit around the table, and crack them, it’s lovely!

So, list for things to buy;

meat

oranges

eggs

butter

pineapple

fruit juices

mayonnaise

I also have to bake the cupcakes on friday,a nd if I decide for chilli, I can make that too.

I have to remember to prepare the Xmass presents for them!

__ _  _ _ _

Again; asap, done.

Pumpkin apple strudel, as made by GB

Would you belive that is was hard to find any kind of recipe for this??

I read in bunch of places how pumpkin and apple compliment each other, but then you want to bake with it, and nada!

So I improvised. I had 300 grams (4 sheets) of phyllo dough. No idea how much of pumpkin; but of what I had, I added about one-third of apples. Better to have more, and you can make fine filling strudel, than to little and you end up with measly thin strudel slices!I discovered the best way to shred is to put them in the onion thingy (better known as food chopper; yes, you might have to do more bathes, but it’s worth the saved time in shredding!).

I mixed the pumpkin and apple, added som sugar and cinnamon, and mixed it; I put a moist cloth under the phyllo dough sheets, and spread them with cream (I could also use butter, butter and crumbs mixture…But I had some heavy cream I knew I would never use if I don’t put it in here, so, voila. Cram, spread the pumpkin and apple, roll. Cram, pumpkin and apple, roll. After I put them in the pan, I smeared over them with some heated up butter, and forgot to use he rest of the heavy cream. I baked it at 170 celsius for 50 minutes, or untill it turned golden color!

This is a great innovative recipe!

Are you an easy gift person?

It’s my birthday next week, and this is december, the month of gifts, so it got me thinking of how hard/easy is to gift people. BTW, having a Bday in december is totally and completely unfair. You only get one gift from most people!

I think I am very easy to find gifts for.

I love all things cosmetics; so buy me a nice scented body lotion, eye pencil, anything remotely makeup, and the target is hit. I literally don’t have any more room to get potted plants to, because I love them so much, so buy me another one, and I’m happy (ok, you have to know me for that one, because I have a lot of them). This totally inspired me just now what to wish from my uncle, who has been asking me what I want (we always ask between the family what we went, so you can get what you really wish; that way, I’ve gotten my electrical toothbrush, among others) and I remembered; I’ll ask for a gift certificate for a manicure; it’s something I really wish, but won’t splurge on; so, it’s a gift!

Back to me; anything clothes or accessory, jewelery, books, food, shawl, cap, gloves, tea or tea related things…

 

I have a Bday party next weekend for my friends, and I’ll admit I wish to get a tea set. They know I love my tea, they know where I get it, I just hope they’ll think on it!

 

I openly admit I love having my birthday and I love getting gifts.

 

’tis the season…:)