Girls Day In

I've never seen so much PINK! Balloons, frocks, shoes, hair, food, drink, flowers and of course, smiles!

I hosted a Pink Ribbon Day 'Girls DAY In' - what started as a vague idea eventually became a big get-together of friends and girls from around the district. Ladies turned up in pink wigs, floral dresses, carrying flowers, pink lollies and a wonderful feeling of excitement and positive energy.

I'd seen a post on Facebook a few weeks ago about Pink Ribbon Day and thought 'I should do something'. I'll get the girls together. We'll eat pink food and drink pink bubbly. We'll play some games, get together, laugh, talk and meet new faces. My second 'brainwave' was a raffle. I've never organised one before, I had no idea but to hit the main street in my little town and ask for donations. Every single business owner in the town I asked said YES! Donations were piling up in my house and people were ringing me to ask if they could donate. I couldn't believe the wonderful snowball effect of good will. As the prizes piled up I kept adding them to the list. I sat on the floor in my lounge room and sorted out hampers, vouchers, bottle of wine, food baskets and a whole heap of pink cellophane and ribbon to seal the deal!

Food was not a problem with my wonderful group of foodie gals! Between us, we made pink lamingtons, pink chocolate covered strawberries, sponge cake, fairy cakes, cherry ripe slice, pink meringues with rosewater cream and raspberries, fruity punch with cranberry and lots of pink lollies. Savoury ideas were harder but we came up with beetroot and trout dip, beetroot chips, smoked salmon toasts and the ever popular saveloy sausages dipped in tomato sauce (with a little mayonnaise added to make it pink). The table overflowed with pink joy! Bottles of mini pink bubbly were placed in a pink laundry basket surrounded by rose wine, pink moscato, cranberry juice and pink grapefruit mineral water.

We had some rules today - certain words were NOT to be spoken! Swear words were out - that was it, I was broke. The gold coin jar filled up quickly with penalties when anyone said 'pink', 'bubbles', 'girls', 'cake' and 'punch'. Everyone was being dobbed in. 

I'm not one for speeches but I said a thank you to all those that came and others that supported the fundraiser but could not make it. My utmost respect and gratitude goes out to you all. I thought about all the women affected by cancer and a quiet moment for a dear friend of mine who survived breast cancer - with a young child and supportive family by her side. We don't see each other much but she's always in my heart, we've known each other since we were 5 years old. Funnily enough it was her birthday today, so happy birthday Kirsten!

And I really don't want to see pink cream, icing, cake, jelly, punch and sugar for a long time!

Buffalo Gals!

I know the whole 'cupcake' trend is going wild - to be honest I've never been crazy for them! I don't have a huge sweet-tooth.  Believe it or not, when I bake it's not to eat sweets, it's a stress release. It's love in little muffin trays. It's 'family' in a warm kitchen, oozing out of a chocolate pudding late at night. It's the silence of the whisk as air and mass is moved around to create the right balance of lightness and texture. I can concentrate on this one thing, my mind won't wander off thinking about life's difficulties. 

The creaming of the sugar and butter - my favourite part of a cake, watching it turn pale and ever so fluffy my heart softens. I am mesmerised and content. The kids come in and ask to help. 'Yes', I say. 'You can help lick the bowl and spoons' - because this is my time today, my little bit of peace and quiet where outside noises blur into the background. I don't like to use electric beaters, they disturb my equilibrium, they are noisy and their vibrations are unpleasant. However, they certainly help, no doubt about it and I do use them. But, wherever possible I use my whisk, my delightful pale blue cheapie that I picked up for $2. And my hot pink silicone spatula that my mum bought me. What a great present, thanks mum!

So, I have 3 litres of Buffalo Yoghurt to use up. I just love yoghurt in cakes, it gives a beautiful creamy texture and the buffalo yoghurt is superb, quite unlike other yoghurts on the market. Similar to a Greek-style yoghurt, it has a much lighter, creamier texture and is less 'tangy'. I also have a few kilos of lemons from my mum's lemon tree - she has the most wonderful lemons, the skin is soft and dark yellow, fantastic for zesting. Ok, with my cupcake interest sparked after making orange poppyseed cupcakes last week, I am ready for more. Here we go....

Lemon Zest & Buffalo Yoghurt Cupcakes

[Print Recipe]

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Beat 125g softened butter & 125g sugar until pale and light. Add 3 egg yolks, one at a time. Beat in 2 Tblsp lemon zest & 2 Tblsp lemon juice. Sift 180g SR Flour, ½ tsp baking powder. Fold into mixture alternating with 200g Buffalo yoghurt.
In a separate bowl, whisk 3 eggwhites to firm peaks. Fold into mix.
Fill muffin cases and bake for 25-30mins. Cool.
Icing: Mix icing sugar, soft butter, extra lemon zest and juice. Spread on cupcakes.

There you have my little cupcake Buffalo Gals!






I made a couple of heart-shaped ones for my man who comes home soon and needs some lovin'...

Orange Poppy Seed Cupcakes

I searched and searched for gluten free muffin recipes on the Internet and through my growing library of  cookbooks. Many of the recipes required flour which I didn't want to use. A lovely lady I work with misses out on many sweet treats because of flour - so these are for her. She doesn't know it, and doesn't need to. My reasons for cooking are sometimes personal. There is deep satisfaction in cooking for people, seeing their smiles and knowing that for a moment, or a day they are instantly happy.

After some research, I decided to combine a couple of recipes I found based on the ingredients I had in the pantry and turn them into cupcakes!

Surprisingly, they turned out really light and moist and passed both the child taste test and the girls at work...

RECIPE

[Print Recipe]

Ingredients

3 eggs
½ cup honey

¼ cup melted butter or oil

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tblsp orange juice

1 tblsp finely grated orange rind

1 tblsp poppy seeds

3 cups almond meal

warmed orange juice & butter, extra to baste (approx. 60ml)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C.

2. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, honey, melted butter/oil, baking soda, salt & orange juice.

4. Stir in lemon/orange rind and poppy seeds.

5. Whisk in almond meal.

6. Spoon batter into muffin cups. (I filled mine halfway as I didn't want them too big)

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown, springy to touch.

8. Baste cakes with a little melted butter and warmed orange juice.
9. When cool, spoon over orange icing or cream cheese frosting.

* You could easily substitute the orange juice for lemon, make sure it is freshly squeezed though - it tastes SO much better. 

* Make sure to finely grate the rind

Enjoy!