Bushfire season already....

So this week has been a bit hectic... bush fires are popping up everywhere around us, and we are right at the back of a big reserve.

Since its just coming out of winter everything is still dead, the temperatures have gotten over 35 pretty much all week, idiot 11 year olds are out there purposefully setting fires to get attention, people are losing their homes..... and we are all just praying it rains soon..

 And no... none of these have filters on them. These were taken out the front of my house from a fire at Eastern Creek, which is literally just about 10 minutes up the road from us.




It is a very scary time and now there is talk of a "Mega fire"... a 300k wall of fire headed towards the western suburbs from the Blue Mountains.... this actually worried Lewy, so now we have an emergency bag packed by our front door, with all our important documents and photos as well as things for the dogs.... cant forget my fur babies in a crisis!

Not wanting to freak any one out too much we have also done some more work on our kitchen! We have almost painted all the walls, got everything sanded down and ready to go, all we have left now is the counters, tiles, and top cabinets to go.

Today I cleaned the ceiling in the kitchen so we can paint it white again. I was dripping sweat by the end of it all, but I cleaned it to the best of my abilities you would think it had never seen a good cleaning before though... I did almost fall off the ladder so I have decided to never do it again while no one is home with me.

While I was cleaning I made some brownies!
preheat your oven to 180C
1. melt 16 tablespoons of butter in a dish, stir in 1 cup icing sugar and 1 cup brown sugar and stir until smooth.
2. Add 4 eggs, one at a time stirring after each one until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
3. Sift in 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, and 2 cups of plain flour and mix very well.
4. add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and stir well.
5. line a deep tray with baking paper and pour in mixture.
6. bake for 30 minutes checking to make sure it is cooked through by inserting a toothpick or wooden skewer into the center and it comes out clean. (If it is not clean leave to cook for 10 minutes longer)
7. Leave to cool completely in the dish before removing.
8. cut into small squares and dust with cocoa powder before serving.

Just a tip though, make sure and use plain flour for the whole thing, I used half self raising flour because I ran out of plain and it came out more like a cake than brownies..... still tasty but more spongey.

I hope you have all had a good week, and to all my Aussie readers please be safe with all these fires, have a plan in case of emergency! And please dont forget your animals!!!!

Happy Easter!!!!!

Happy Easter!!!!!

So I decided to finally try something I found on Pintrest, it sounded decadent, to die for.... absolutely yummy!!! And it's easy as pie (literally XD)

So here's what you need:

• 8-12 Hollow Chocolate Easter eggs (you can use white for a more realistic effect)
• 1 tub of cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (please use the good stuff!)
• 1/2 cup thickened cream
• 2 teaspoons of peach juice (or 1 whole passion fruit without seeds)
• 1 tablespoon apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon butter

And the Directions! (including pictures of my attempt at making them!)

1. If your eggs are wrapped in foil uncover the top of them,  leave the wrapper on them to give some color pop and to help them stay cool longer (If you live down in Aus you will know its still hot enough to melt chocolate at Easter time!)
2. Using a serrated knife you will need to cut the tops off the eggs. This can prove to be a bit difficult, if you would like a smooth hole then you can heat up the knife before cutting, if you would like a ragged hole like you had started peeling the egg then try and break some pieces off the top (this is what I did)
3. Put the eggs in the fridge so they do not melt, and now its time to start making the cheesecake mix!!
4. In a large bowl mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract together using an electric mixer beat on high for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.
5. In a smaller bowl mix the thickened cream with the electric mixer until it forms stiff peaks.
6. Whisk the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until it is smooth and velvety.
7. Pipe or spoon the cream cheese mixture into the holes you made in the eggs. Fill them all the way to the top! But be careful not to spill much over the sides.
8. Put the eggs in the fridge to set. The should take about an hour or so, I left mine over night to just make sure they were all the way set.
9. After they have been set, remove them from the fridge, using a small spoon scoop out some of the cheese cake from the top, making a little hole. This is where the "yolk" will go.
10. In a small pan, put the butter, jam, and passion fruit or peach juice, and whisk it over a low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is smooth. It should look really yellow, but you can add some yellow food coloring if you like.
11. Spoon the jam mixture into the cheese cake hols you made in the eggs. It will be s bit runny, but will set nicely.
12. When you have filled up all the eggs put them in the fridge to set for at least half an hour, I left mine to set over night again....

I was so tempted to eat them straight away!
The good thing about these is that they aren't too sweet, the cheese cake mix does not need to be baked, but it is still light and fluffy while not being too cheesy. The jam and the chocolate add a nice sweetness to it but the cheesecake its self is understated. These were so much fun to make and took hardly any time at all to do, the only issue I had was that I had left over cheesecake!

But there you have it, you now have the recipe for Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Easter Eggs, easy peasy to do, super fun for kids, and a wonderful desert for after dinner! Hope everyone enjoys their Easter weekend as much as I will!!!

XxxX
Rah Rah <3

Cooking up a nice new book!

So I've noticed lately that there are A LOT of cookbooks around... but they are all full of stuff that I dont really want to cook.
It sucks that you have to pay $20 for this book when there are only one or two recipes you will actually use in them. So I have decided to make my own little book to fill with all my favorite recipes, and my family recipes, and all kinds of yummy stuff!
I know it would be just as simple to go out and get a ready made note book, but where's the fun in that? This way you can make your own hard cover book, with any type of cover you want! I found this awesome tutorial on youtube with step by step instructions (the videos!)

This lady is freaking awesome! She makes it really simple to make, she explains everything really well and shows you each step as she does it.

Now here's my very own hard cover journal!!!:

It took me only a day to make (and yes I realize that my cover's words are upside down but we aren't focusing on that right now) It's a little bit messy, but I think it's totally worth it in the end, you end up with a beautiful book you can tell everyone you made yourself, and something you can match to your very own needs! If you want a cook book you can make a cook book, if you want a journal you can make it a journal! I really hope you like it!