Fantastic Bake Along – Rosemary Muffins

Happy Sunday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This month’s star baker is Brenna from Crochet539 and she chose a delicious recipe for savoury muffins, which you can find on Taste of Home. I’m sorry I’m a bit late for this one, I actually had the muffins made (and eaten) on Friday but I didn’t get around to post yesterday as I was super busy with doing my first ever spinning class! (more about that on Monday)

Anyway, the muffin recipe was super easy to follow, I just made a few modifications. I don’t like the taste of baking soda so I just doubled the quantity of baking powder instead. I also used olive oil instead of canola oil as I always cook and bake with olive oil (I don’t even think I have any canola oil in my cupboard). I also replaced the wheat flour with just plain flour and best of all, I used my special mediterranean herb mustard instead of standard Dijon mustard.

The batter looked amazing, and ever more so with the addition of the goat’s cheese, rosemary and olives. Then it was in the oven for 25-30 minutes and ready to eat!

You may notice that there are not quite 12 muffins in the plate, as hubby and I couldn’t help but have a muffin straight away (before I could even remember to take a picture for you guys)!

Those were hands down the best muffin we’ve had and I’m sure I’ll make them again! Hubby did suggest that next time, I had some bacon bits to them and I think that’s a brilliant idea.

How did your bake turn out?

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

• Tami @ TangleWoodKnots
• Tracy @ ItsaTSweetDay
• Kathy @ SewingEtc
• Brenna @ Crochet539
• Kate @ LifeTeaAndEverything
• Tina @ KristabellasHodgepodge
• Lucia @ CrochetKnitAndMore
• Connie @Connie’s Creations
• AJ @A Petite Slice of Life
• Rebecca @Twinklehook
• Abbey @Three Cats and a Girl
• Marcia @Una Regiaen Bicicleta

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Homemade strawberry jam

Happy Monday everyone!

I am back from my work trip and I am so happy to be back home! Last week, hubby brought back strawberries from work and as there were too many to eat I decided to make some jam with the left overs.

It was my first time making jam and I found it so easy I’m wondering why I didn’t give it a go earlier. Here is the recipe I used.

• 400 g strawberries
• 300 g caster sugar
• the juice of 1 lemon

I just put all my ingredients in a pot over the heat and brought everything to a boil, then I put it on low heat for around 40-45 min, making sure to stir from time to time (every 10 min or so) and that’s it! I think the consistency is really good, if you like your jam a bit firm, I would suggest either cooking it for longer or adding some agar to it.

I thought that overall it was super simple and I wish I had given jam a try before today. Are there any recipes you’ve tried that ended up super simple and that you wish you had given a go earlier?

18 for 2018 – February update

Happy Friday and welcome to February!

I can’t believe that January is already over, the first month of the year has just gone by so fast! This is my update for my 18 for 2018, and I’m quite excited with what I’ve accomplished this month!

18 letters sent to friends – 0/18
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

None this month, but this is because I’m actually visiting back next month. I think I might next month though, as I got my best friend into knitting and would like to send her some new knitting needles 🙂 

17 new recipes tried – 5/17
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

I’ve tried a few new recipes this month. The first one was the ginger snap recipe from the fantastic bake-along. I have also tried to make crackers, and they were so amazing I’ve made several batches already! I got the recipe here. I’ve also made a few recipes from one of Jamie Oliver’s cooking book I got for Christmas.

Gingersnaps

Crackers

Tapenade white fish

Puff pastry chicken

Peach pork

16 painted units of miniatures – 0/16
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

I have been working on two units but I haven’t finished any yet. Hopefully in February. 

15 books read – 0/15
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

This month just has been so busy I didn’t get time to read books, lots of papers for my thesis, but unfortunately that doesn’t count! 

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket – 0/14
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

I haven’t added any square this month, but I have a few projects using 4ply yarn, so I will be able to add more soon hopefully!

13 batches of biscuits made and eaten – 2/13
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

I have done two this month, one was the gingersnaps and I made montecaos again, as they are my husband’s absolute favourite!

Gingersnaps

12 pairs of socks – 1/12
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

I have finished my Candy Corn socks and I have made a start on a pair for hubby, so I’m doing pretty well with this goal.

11 new stitch markers made – 0/11
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

I haven’t really thought about this goal yet, but I am thinking I’d like to use some scientific drawings or nerdy themes. 

10 new movies seen – 3/10
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

I feel like there weren’t that many good movies coming out in January but I still managed three, Pitch Perfect, The Greatest Showman and the last Maze Runner. My favourite was the Greatest Showman, it really had a great story and I loved the songs ❤ 

9 amigurumi made – 1/9
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

I have finished an awesome whale amigurumi that I talked about on Wednesday. I’m in love with it and can’t wait to give it to my friend!

8 months cross-stitched on the Snowflower diaries Joyful world calendar – 1/8
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

I’ve actually finished the May instalment of the Joyful world. Very excited to have started on this again, it’s just so cute!

7 games of 40k played with hubby 1/7
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

We’ve had one game so far, and I’ve smashed hubby mwahaha! I forgot to take a picture of the massacre though but I will next time for sure!

6 new designs published – 2/6
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

I’m stoked with this goal, I can’t believe I managed to publish both Wiley and Sandy‘s patterns this month, yay! 

5 km ran without stopping – in progress
This doesn’t seem like much but currently I can’t run more than a few minutes without having to slow down to a walk, so I’d like to be able to actually run without dying for 5 km!

I’ve been actively training for this, I’ve gone for several 30 min runs, with intervals to increase my cardio and I’m feeling really good about it. I haven’t done much last week though as it’s been consistently above 35°C during the day and well above 25°C at night. Hopefully it cools down in the next few weeks and I can train some more.

4 LOTR squares finished – 1/4
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

I’ve gotten back into this as well, yay! I’ve finished Gimli and I think he is pretty awesome 🙂 

3 jumpers knitted – 0/3
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

I haven’t cast this on yet but I do have the yarn ready so maybe I’ll cast on in February 🙂 although I have a lot of WIPs as usual!

2 getaway trips – 0/2
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July.

We have planned to go back to Brisbane for a wedding in March, does that count as a getaway? If yes that will be the first one of the year 🙂 

1 thesis submitted – 0/1
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

I have my thesis review next week, so this is definitely getting closer, wish me luck!

I hope you have all been getting on great with your goals too

May wrap up

TGIF! And I am on mini holidays too for a week 😊

My hubby and I are going to spend a week in Melbourne (in Australia, not the US!) where he will start working towards the end of the year. I’ve never been there but I’m really excited as I got told that the food and coffee down there is amazing! I’m also pretty excited because they have real winters and I will be able to crochet and knit heaps of wearable things once we move there. If you have been to Melbourne or live there, do you guys have any suggestions for good yarn shops? I might as well go and visit a few!

Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick recap for May. I actually did not finish many things in May but the ones I finished were pretty big (except for Yoda, he is tiny)!

I think that starting and finishing a blanket in a month (actually more like 3 weeks) is a record for me, I’ve never done a blanket that fast! The cross stitch was also the longest of the year, look at all this beigy/brown! And I even got some sewing done, talk about multi crafting 😂 I also tested a great bikini top pattern from Oceans Originals but I can’t show you anything yet, patience!

I also dug out a few projects and I am working hard to get those finished in June!

I’m actually not sure why I’m doing so much needlework considering it’s winter! What I am thinking, I wonder?

I also did some baking in May, and I participated in my first Fantastic Bake Along! It was great and I can’t wait for the June one.

So, my plan for June is to finish knitting my socks, hopefully find some time to read more  (maybe on the plane) and get back on track for my LOTR blanket.

What have you been up to during May? Do you also have a huge list of projects you’d like to start/continue/finish in June?

Have a great weekend!

Fantastic Bake Along – Double Dipped Fried Chicken

Hello readers!

Once every three weeks, I will now be participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tami @tanglewoodknots and Tracy @itsatsweetday. This time, Tracy chose the recipe, a double dipped fried chicken. You can find the recipe on her post here.

So I set out to make this delicious looking chicken for dinner, first I had to mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients together. I used moroccan spice mix instead of paprika as this is what I had already in my cupboard.

Then the coating began. I used cut chicken breast, as I thought it would be easier to eat with the meal I had in mind. The I gently fried my chicken until lightly golden.

And hop! In the oven! Because my pieces were smaller, I baked them for 40 minutes, and they were perfectly cooked through. But in the mean time, I also set out to make the other part of our dinner: a udon noodle soup. It was the first time I made one but it was super easy and I’ll probably make it again. I prepared a broth using garlic salt, chicken stock and ginger. I brought it to a boil and then reduced the heat immediately to infuse the flavours. Then, I added pieces of scrambled egg, buk choy and udon noodles and cooked them in the broth for 5 minutes.

And there is was! Delicious fried chicken and udon noodle soup!

If you are interested in participating, contact Tami or Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks participating in the Fantastic BAL (I’ll edit this as the posts are released).

• Tami
• Tracy
• Kathy
• Brenna
• Kate