I did it! Aka, How to make butter the lazy way...

I've been meaning to try this for a while, seeing as I can get raw, organic milk and cream at my local farmer's market. I did try it once with raw goat's cream, but it did not work. The goat's cream was so thick I had to cut open the bottle and scrape it out, I probably should have spread it on bread just as it was.

Anyway, if you want to read about the benefits of raw milk check out this link and this one
and there is much more information out there on the subject.


So, How to?

Well, take your cream...

and pour it into your food processor.
I used the plastic whipping blade though I've heard the chopping blade is fine to use too.

Start to whip it.

Keep whipping it until it separates.
It will do this fairly suddenly....first it will look thick, then thick and yellowish and lumpyish, then it will separate.
Wa lah.

Pour off the buttermilk and keep it for baking.
Now put about 1/2 a cup of iced water in and process it again.
Tip out the water (discard it) and follow this step 2-3 more times until your water is fairly clear.
Scrape your butter into a bowl.

Mash it with a potato masher or work it with a fork until all the liquid is out. Just keep pouring the liquid off.

Tah dah!

Smear it on some crackers and enjoy, refrigerate the rest.
Mmm mmmm!

The value of playdough

I went to my 4 year old's kinder AGM last night....yahoo I hear you say and yes, you'd be right. (I also brought my knitting so it wasn't all bad.)

But one thing I do remember the kinder teacher talking about was the value of playdough. As in it's value as a play material, rather than it's monetary value of course.

She said you could take a cranky, out of sorts, having a bad day child, sit them down at the playdough table and after a short while they'd be happily rolling and squishing.
According to her, playdough is somewhat undervalued by today's parents and many children don't have any in their homes.

You're kidding, right?

Tell me you had playdough at home growing up. Tell me your KIDS have playdough at home right now.

Playdough is an essential part of child hood.........if only so you can roll it into small balls and fire them at your brother.

However, I had my very own cranky, out of sorts, having a bad day, got out of the wrong side of bed, mummy never lets me do ANYTHING I want four year old very recently.

After trying to entice him out of his foul mood by the offer of making new playdough and being soundly rebuffed, I made it with his lil bro instead. Only to find after a very short while Mr 4 could not resist getting out the muffin pans along with lil bro and making a batch of cupcakes, just like mummy.

He thawed out remarkably

And was even happy to pose while pretending to eat one


Whereas this little guy actually DID eat one...



My sis has a no-cook playdough recipe on her blog here.

The one I generally use though is this:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Throw it all in a pot, mix and stir over a medium heat till cooked.
Takes about 5-7 minutes and works every time.
Store in an airproof container or in a plastic bag with all the air squished out.

Oooh, chocolate!

I decorated my latest cupcakes in the ever popular chocolate ganache and don't they look drool worthy?
They tasted impressive too, mmm mmmmmmmm.

Never made ganache? It's extremely simple:

Chocolate ganache

400 grams cooking chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups cream

• Bring the cream to boil in a heavy based saucepan.
• Place choc in a bowl and pour the hot cream over.
• Leave for 1 minute to soften, then stir using a small spatula.
• For a smooth surface, dip cupcakes in immediately.
• For a fluffy look, let it cool then apply with a knife.

If you want to make a chocolate sauce, just add more cream.


I've made some caramel cupcakes too, and they were delish, as expected. The cupcake recipe used this homemade caramel that I made and the caramel frosting should use up the remainder of that batch of caramel. Except, I may have to make more caramel to make the frosting because, ahem, I don't think I have quite enough...


Standby for the caramel cupcake recipe because they were gooooooood.
Note were...

Lemon butter - super quick and easy

I found the recipe for this on sugarfish blog by Ruth, it's a deliciously sweet and tangy lemon butter, or lemon curd as it can also be known. I remember my mum making something like this when I was a kid but it never took my fancy back then.

Now however, I can't help dipping a spoon in it whenever I go past the fridge....

Here's the recipe, as per Ruth, but make sure you drop by her blog and check out the other foodstuff offerings she has there. Very family/kid friendly recipes, just what I need.

Lemon Butter

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup lemon juice
4 eggs
125 grams butter

• Place the sugar, butter and lemon juice in a large bowl.
• Microwave on high for three minutes, stirring halfway.
• Beat the eggs well, then beat into the mixture thoroughly.
• Microwave on high for four minutes or until thickened, checking and stirring every 30 - 40 seconds.
• Beat well.
• Cool in the fridge.

Oh, and make sure you have a helper, too!

How to sterilize your toothbrush

Lets talk toothbrushes for a moment. Have you ever found yours in this position?

Hehe, no it's not mine, but I had to throw this picture up there. If I actually found mine in this position I would commit it to the big chrome bin with flip top lid, never to see the light of day again.

Actually, I might take it directly to the kerbside bin, as Mr 1 yr old has been known to go treasure hunting in aforementioned flip top chrome bin, and said brush may indeed see daylight again, as well as inside of Mr 1's mouth......

Ok, what I actually came here to say was:

A really simple way to sterilize the family's toothbrushes is to put them in the dishwasher. Yes, and then run the dishwasher, obviously.

Why sterilize them? Well when you think about it, what a perfect way to share coughs, colds and other lurgys round the family, let all the toothbrushes rub heads together in a mug, and spread the joy.

Must remember to do this......

Mother's day - things for the kids to make

Ok, maybe a little bit late, but if you want to get the kids busy for mum or Nana, The Crafty Crow has some lovely little ideas with beautiful photos and links. 

Actually, go to her site proper for all sorts of cool stuff you can do with the kids. I can spend hours fossicking around on here, and there are great things in the archives and you can follow links to just about anywhere! 

Oooh, yay for spending waaay too much time on the net, hahaha!

And while I'm at it, look at this little cutey from Red Bird Crafts,

complete with tutorial of course.

Ok, better leave it at that for now, I could put more and more on here as I've collected all sorts of great links and tutes that I'll share at some point, cos I know you're dying to see them right?!

Gee if only there were 26 hours a day, and we didn't have to sleep, imagine the things you could get done!

Snickers fans, this one's for you!

Hop over here to learn how to make your own snickers bars, easy peasy!

How do you clean your shower?

Well my youngest sister, who has a hubby and two kids of her own imparted this pearl of wisdom re shower cleaning recently.......... actually I think she said it was someone else's pearl originally.....but I think it's inspired so I'm sharing it with you!

She told me......... clean one wall of your shower every day.

There it is, that's it!! So simple!


So if you clean one wall every day, you should never, ever be left with that icky pink soap scum build up, that you need to spend your Saturday morning scrubbing away.

To do this, I use baking soda as a scourer and a kitchen cloth for applying it. The baking soda I keep in a glass jar in the shower and the scourer pad likewise. I clean while I'm in there (quickly, as here in Melbourne we're on water restrictions), clean myself and wahoo, shower done!




Now because I know you're dying to see my eternally clean shower, here is a bit of it.

Glass jar of baking soda, kitchen scourer and container of honey for face wash. Honey? Yes, works a treat, more on that later. Oh, and sparkly white wall, see?!

Fabric yoyos - very cute

Need a use for all those little scraps of beautiful fabric that you just can't bare to throw out? Make a yoyo. Or several of them. Or a hundred of them! These little guys are very cute and can be used to embellish just about anything. I made some that I used as decorations on our first ever Christmas tree.....I meant to make a hundred but only got up to ten or so. Oh well, should get to work on them soon so I have enough for this year's tree.

To make mine I used this tutorial by Heather Bailey.

These are mine....not all of them, for some reason whenever I get them out the kids love to carry them round the house....






Make some, and feel free to share, I'd love to see them!

Fabulously Fun Felt Food

I've been meaning to make a collection of felt food for the kids for a while now. H enjoys playing with a friend's play food collection but their food is made entirely of plastic, which is not what I want. I like the idea of fabric food, it seems much more....organic, perhaps? Ok, that's probably not completely correct, unless you use organic fabric but you get my drift.

Well, I found someone who has already done the felt food thing and posted extensive instructions on how to do do it. Here is one of the pictures from her tutorial, just to make you drool...

 Doesn't it look realistic?

And here is the tutorial on how she did it all, along with more pictures of the finished products. 

Now I just need to find a few more hours in each day!