Skinny jeans and trench coat

Skinny jeans and trench coat by timsnikki featuring photography wall art

Black velvet top
amazon.com

9mg cotton trench coat
yesstyle.com

Ralph Lauren Blue Label dark wash skinny jeans
$250 - harrods.com

UGG Australia ugg® australia boots
$180 - gravitypope.com

Barneys New York zip top
barneys.com

Paula Bianco chunky infinity scarf
shopthetrendboutique.com

Graham Brown photography wall art
grahambrown.com

Factory shopping happiness

I was very happy to read that Compass Bakery factory shop opened a branch in Diep River recently and gave them a try for B's birthday party.

The prices were INCREDIBLE!!!
They were not only less than half what one would pay at the store they bake for, they were just plain cheap!!!

This is what I paid:
Carrot cake R22
Large chocolate cake R27
6 cake pops R15
4 savoury muffins R8
6 mini pecan pies R15
9 cupcakes R18
6 cupcakes R12

I bought a BOX of cakes and paid R297 for the lot!!

Pink Princess and Pirates birthday party

B turned 7 in August and wanted a princess party, but because she had boy cousins, decided to have a princesses and pirates birthday party so the boys could also dress up.

I was trying to keep costs down, so it wasn't too out there.
I got lovely pink plastic table cloths from the Crazy Store. At the Crazy Store I also found the most exciting item for the party - a pink princess castle pinata!! Both my girls got terribly excited when they saw it:)

For entertainment we borrowed a friend's jumping castle and brought the slide and trampoline from home, and the church garden already had a small jungle gym and swing set.

When the girls arrived I gave them each a crown and the boys got swords (that I picked for a song at Osman's - LOVE that place!)

They played for a bit and then sang Happy Birthday for B. She loved the Red Velvet cake I made for my sister's virthday and so I made her one for her birthday cake.

They then ate, played a couple of games and had their faces painted.

When they left, the boys got treasure chest party packs and monster trucks and the girls got Tangled party packs and make up kits.

My kids got hiome, had a bath and slept till almost 8am the next morning - all partied out :)

Budget Beef Wellington

A while ago I needed to feed quite a few people on not too many ingredients, and so I googled "mince recipes" and was inspired by what I saw to try to create my own version of a budget beef wellington:)

To make this you'll need:

500g minced beef

1 finely chopped onion

1 finely grated carrot (optional)

1 egg

500g puff pastry

Since I was cooking for a crowd, I doubled the recipe.

I took 1kg of minced beef, seasoned it as I would for meatballs, added a large minced onion and 2 beaten eggs to bind it. I then shaped it into 2 large loaves and placed it in the middle of a sheet of puff pastry. I then cut the pastry on either side of the loaf into strips, brushed some beaten egg on the ends and laid them criss-crossed over the loaf of mince.

I then brushed the pastry ith beaten egg and baked it at 180 degrees C for 45mins-1hr.

 It looked gorgeous, smelled amazing and the kids all had second helpings:)

Red Velvet cake

It was my sister's birthday recently and I decided to make her a Red Velvet birthday cake. The recipe comes from the awesome Ultimate Snowflake collection recipe book (which my sister gave me for my birthday, incidentally!)

I made 2 small layers with the batter and then simply topped it with whipped cream and strawberries.

I also used the recipe to make 120 cupcakes for an aunt's birthday!

Slow cooker Saucy chocolate pudding

Electricity has become horribly expensive, so I don't bake nearly as often as I used to. While I was browsing Pinterest this morning, I came across some yummy looking recipes for desserts made in the slow cooker. After reading through a few, I started to wonder if I couldn't try some of my old  faithful, favourite recipes and just cook them in the slow cooker instead,  which brings me to my newest adventure - "Slow Cooker Transformations" :)
The first experiment will be a yummy chocolate fudge pudding which I got from my trusty Snowflake Too Fresh To Flop recipe book.

I made it exactly as I normally would, except I put the batter into a greased slow cooker and cooked it for 2 hours on high.

The verdict : Delicious:)

Inspiration Sunday - 18 Aug 2013

This is something that is so close to my heart and has been my prayer for my daughter from before she was born. The deepest wish of my heart is for her to know the path God has laid out for her to follow, and to choose to walk in it.