Friday Feels...........

Hey you!

How's Friday been treating you?? It's been the usual rush rush around here...until 3.30 ish and things get very quickly turned down a notch or six. Hopefully anyway.

                                                                                       

So just a few pics of my current fave things, moments, happy places......etc....etc......

Baking...cookies...ginger cookies.....with vanilla icing in the middle...'nough said I think......

                                                                             

Cosy knitted socks and good reads...

                                                                               

I have a friend who literally forced this book - Gone Girl - upon me and strongly suggested I put aside all my current reads to focus on this one......I usually do as I'm told.....and needless to say she was right...as per usual...you know "those" friends??...yep...we all need them...anyways...fab read...can't wait to jump into bed and continue reading.....LOVE that!!

Aaaannd of course in between baking cookies and getting lost in un-put-downable (yep....totally a real word) books there will always be my old faithful knitting needles and beloved chunky wool...make it a deliciously dark charcoal coloured wool and I am happy AS......

                                                                                 

                                                                                       

It's always the simple things in life right??

Yep.

On that note I'm off to jump between the pages and enjoy what's left of this Friday evening..........

Have a FAB weekend please peeps...whatever you may be up to......

.................

                                                                                                  Janelle xx

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Hey!! What's news? What's up?? More importantly...what's cooking????

It's cupcakes on this side of the screen...it's very often cupcakes on this side of the screen...and rightly so I say...quick...easy...tasty...no other reason needed right?!?

                                                                                   

So, this afternoon, with school pickup looming in on me, and after school activities rearing their ugly head up too, it seemed we were lacking a few items in the pantry...namely food. How the heck this is constantly happening I have absolutely no idea as I'm pretty much a full time tenant in the local supermarkets these days yet are way too frequently told "THERE'S NOTHING TO EAT!!!"

Anyhoo...where was I???

                                                                                 

Cupcakes. So.....with not much time to spare I called on my tried and tested never-fail-me cupcake recipe...quick and easy at the best of times but I have recently been cutting back on time and effort even more and pretty much just standing in the kitchen, flinging the ingredients in the mixing bowl, scooping said mixed ingredients into pretty papers and tossing in the oven. All up I think it takes me around 5 minutes. When I have the luxury of time and feel rather goddess-baker-in-the-kitchen type thing I will still abide by the rules and cream my butter and sugar, fold in my flour, and pamper my mixture but really...the old bang it all in and throw towards the stove pretty much does the same thing.

                                                                               

Today I made the executive decision to add in some dark choc chips just before spooning mixture into the papers...my main reason being I wasn't going to have time to ice these babies before racing in to pick my other babies up from school so I figured the added treat of chocolate would more than make up for any lack-of-icing type disappointment.

Apparently it did.

Thought I may as well share this basic recipe with you guys...think I may have before....waaaaay before....but one can never have enough cake recipes on repeat within one's blog I find...don't you??

Right...let's go.......

                                                                                 

                                                  Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Ingredients

115grams butter - almost melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
teasp vanilla
1 3/4 cups SR flour - sifted
1/2 (a big 1/2) cup milk
choc chips - however much you like!!

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170-180 degrees

2. In your mixing bowl throw in all your ingredients - except the choc chips - and beat for a couple of minutes until your mixture is all delicious and pale and creamy

3. Stir through the choc chips

4. Scoop up a finger full of mixture, making sure to grab some choc chips, and lick

5. Wash hands

6. Scoop spoonfuls of  mixture into your papers

7. Bake for approx 12-15 minutes

8. Allow to cool on cooling racks

9. Or eat whilst still warm and chocolate is still mouth watering gooey

                                                                               

Aaaannndd that's it from me for now.

Let me know how you go if you try these...or better yet let me know what other fab things we should be adding to our humble cupcakes...love to hear!!!

                                                                                 

Happy happy baking peeps!!!


                                                                            Janelle  xx

Just life......

Evening all.....

How's your week been treating you?? Seems...as always...to be in an awful rush don'tcha think??

Just sharing a few snaps from out and about the house...nothing out of the ordinary...just life...you know...

Like way too many cuppas...

                                                                             

...and way too many pretty mags....

.....

Clocks....new clocks....new timber clocks....

                                                                                 

Uuuhhh huh!!
 Actually I've been in a slight clock purchasing frenzy of late...not sure what that's all about...apart from the fact that it's pretty ironic as I tend to err on the late-ish side of things more often than not....

.....


Kitty cats....always kitty cats....

                                                                             

Even naughty stinky kitty cats who poop on the kitchen floor after stealing food from other kitty cats....

                                                                               

....hhhmmmmm.....

............

Pretty kitchen greenery basking in the late afternoon sunshine.......

                                                                                 

..........

And quirky thrift shop finds that I absolutely love.....like this timber dressmakers ruler that's kind of missing pieces.....

                                                                               

....at least I'm presuming that's what it is....

.......

Aaaannnd of course a crafty project thrown in for good measure...coz what's life without a few hundred  craft projects....

                                                                               

 

.....I mean really.....

....more on these babies a little later down the track...love!!

And that's a wrap from me guys......

As you were....


                                                                                               Janelle  xx                          

Thumbprint Sprinkle Biscuits

So Good Afternoon lovely people!!

                                                                             

It's Sunday arvo here...we had a late start to the day..after a late - for me - end to yesterday...so it seems we've kind of been playing catch up all day...and the day is now almost over!!?! Anyone else always dream/promise themselves that Sunday WILL be the day of rest..the day for snuggling in front of the fire..on the sofa...pjs still firmly on...cuppa even more firmly in hands..indulging in endless piles of books, mags, craft, sleeps...just moving only when absolutely necessary and then only as far as the kitchen to grab more snacks..and cuppas...possibly wine??!?

AND YET!!! This NEVER seems to happen!!! Well...certainly not around this house anyway....

However...I'm honestly not complaining...well...not very much at least...we usually do get to all hang out together as a fam and...noise, arguments, whining etc etc aside..generally do take things at a slightly slower pace..amongst catching up on washing..organising for the coming week...trying to find some floor space amongst the chaos.....you know...the usual usual....

                                                                                 

Aaaaannnyway.....the main reason I have popped in here today is to share a quick easy TASTY..of course ;)...cookie recipe with you guys. The original source of these little babies is a fab Donna Hay cookbook for kids "Cool Kids Cook" which my kids' pulled out and flicked through whilst on their recent school hols. There I was...busy in the lounge sweating grunting gasping for air in front of the TV trying to keep up with a Ricky Martin sounding Brazilian who has promised to make my butt look better than I can ever imagine...???!!!....yep......when they decided to start chatting to me about what they might feel like baking....to which my barely audible response was something along the lines of ANYTHING!!!

So. Before I know it I have an extremely sore buttocks and they have finished baking a batch of Thumbprint Cookies. Apparently there was a little miscommunication regarding the amounts and types of flours used but all credit due...they turned out really tasty biscuits!! Which is when...once the blood had been restored back to my brain...I thought of you lovely folks and that maybe you could do with what is a fantastic plain basic easy-as cookie recipe to have up your sleeves.

Of course I couldn't leave things too simple so I have adjusted the original recipe and added, subtracted, messed about with measurements and ingredients and as of our last batch things are tasting pretty damn GOOOOOOD!!!!

Goodness...this has all been a little long-winded hasn't it?! If you've actually gotten this far into the post then you pretty much deserve to have these baked and served up to you...but hows about I just start by giving you the recipe?? Yep? Ok......let's go.....

                                                                                     

 Yep....had to mess about with the name too.....

                                      
                                                            Thumbprint Sprinkles

Ingredients

180 grams butter - softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup Pl flour - sifted
3/4 cup SR flour - sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sprinkles - lots of

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees - probs more like 160 degrees if fan-forced

2. Beat together the butter and sugar until all pale and creamy

3. Throw in the egg and vanilla and continue to beat for abit

4. Now stir in your sifted flours and the mixture turns into a dough.

5. Grab your lined baking trays and roll dough into balls - roughly a good tablspn size - flatten slightly with your hand and then poke your thumb in the centre - don't go right through the bottom though

6. Fill the hole with sprinkles

7. Ignore sprinkles that are quite likely rolling all about your benchtop and floor

8. Pop in the oven for approx 10-12 minutes

9. Once cooked take them out of the oven and let cool slightly on their trays before popping them onto your cooling rack to cool completely

10. Although I must recommend scoffing a few whilst they're still warm...DELISH!!

                                                                               

So there we have it...biscuits, sprinkles, scoffing....what more could we ask for late on a Sunday afternoon...or any afternoon really...even if that afternoon was morning...just go into your kitchen now and whip up a batch...then you'll catch my drift....

Hope you all have a fab week...let me know if you try these...or even send me a pic on Instagram (awhitestyle over there) I love seeing pics of my recipes baked up...the BEST!!!

                                                                             

Happy Baking...and catch ya soon....


                                                                                                     Janelle xx

Good To Be Back......

Well Hey Hey!!

                                                                   

Long time no see, I know I know...a little glitch with computers and a bigger glitch with my techno challenged brain has kept us all apart for WAY too long but things seem to be under control now...not sure that actually applies to my brain buuuutttt......
                                                                       
So...how has everyone been?? We have been enjoying our quiet little life around here...especially the past few weeks with the kids being on school holidays....read that as NO SCHOOL LUNCHES TO MAKE.....and I've been doing my usual playing in the kitchen and starting a few hundred craft projects...a couple of DIY projects on the go too which I'll catch you up with over the next few weeks...
                                                                   
Meanwhile...these gorgeous woolly girls have been keeping us busy and entertained for the past 6 or so weeks....

                                                                     

Meet Mabel and her twin sister Olive...unfortunately their mummy died when they were born so we have happily stepped up and adopted them into our fam!!

                                                                     

SO pretty yes??!!!?

                                                                         

We love them. Even though they are constantly nibbling at all the plants in the garden and pooping on the deck. Their favourite place to sleep during the day is in the sunny patch snuggled right up against the living room glass doors...probs not the comfiest of spots for them but it makes for a pretty cute view for us!!!
                                                                       
Ok...I am off to bed...hoping to be back in the next couple of days to share a fab cookie recipe with you...just in time for the weekend!!

Stay happy folks.....

                                                                         

                                                                                         
                                                                                                Janelle xx