Scrap and Bitch Session 2

We had our second monthly Scrap and Bitch this morning. This is what I achieved in 3hrs (!), while also feeding, settling, entertaining baby etc......... I went for an aqua and pink theme as it was very hard to match the colours in the photo but I think it worked well in the end. Can't wait for our next one!

Caramelised Onion, Cherry Tomato and Blue Cheese Tart

This was such a good recipe I just had to share!

Pastry
2 cups pl flour
125g cold butter
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
chilled water

Filling
2 tbsp olive oil
3 onions, sliced
100g blue cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan
pinch nutmeg
1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

1. To make pastry, put flour and butter in food processor and blend until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add parmesan and mix 10 secs. With motor running, add egg and enough water to bring the mixture together (up to 60ml water).
2. Tip dough out on a floured surface and work into a ball. Flatten ball, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate 30mins.
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Roll out dough between two sheets of baking paper, remove top sheet and place in a fluted loose bottom tart tin. Push pastry gently into the tin.
4. Blind bake (line with baking paper and baking beads) for 10mins. Remove paper and beads and bake for another 5 mins or until pastry is golden.
5. Heat oli in a pan, add onion and cook until caramelised. This can take 20 mins. Allow to cool.
6. PLace cooked onion into cooked tart shell then sprinkle with blue cheese. Whisk together eggs, cream, parmesan and nutmeg and pour over the top. Top with the halved cherry tomatoes. Bake on a baking tray for 20-30mins or until set.

Cloth baby wipes

As i am a MCN (modern cloth nappy) user naturally the next step to take is to using cloth baby wipes. After researching online I found the most popular materials to use are terrycloth and flannelette so I made both. This project didnt cost me a cent, I just used up some old pillow cases and towels I had, cut them into squares ans sewed them so they were double sided. I think I like the flannelette ones the best as they arent as thick. I just have a spray bottle next to the change table with water and a tiny bit of baby wash in it so I can just spray the wipes first and i just wash them with the nappies!! easy

scrap and bitch

The scrap and bitch was fun this morning, even though I had a lot of late cancellations. Many have promised to attend the next one. It was very interesting to see how different our styles were. This is what I produced. Its our dog when he was a puppy. Adorable

real cupcakes

I am entertaining this week, two groups in two days. Thursday is my first "scrap and bitch". Its a group of friends I have set up similar to a stitch and bitch but for scrapbooking. I'm really excited about it. Then on Friday I have a mums and babies group coming. I love catching up and seeing all the beautiful bubbas. So, today I have been shopping, baking, cleaning, getting photos developed.....and of course its 5pm and I am nowhere near ready and havent even thought about dinner. Of course the cupcakes are ready though, I always do the fun things first! I made chocolate mud cupcakes with chocolate ganache, which are seriously rich, and carrot and pineapple cupcakes with cream cheese icing. The carrot cakes are bit healthier (if cupcakes can be healthy?). They have pinapple, carrot and olive oil in them. The mud cakes are calorific!!

My cake batter, lots of yummy carrot. These would be good for a kids birthday party as they hide fruit and veg.

The recipe asked for 40g almond meal and when I went to buy it I couldnt believe the price! So, a bit inspired by my mums Thermomix I decided to make my own, but I used the mortar and pestle, the old fashioned (she would say slow) way.

mmmm, yummy, yummy. I wanted to pipe the cream cheese icing on top but I must have lost all my piping bags at work. I improvised and used a ziplock bag. I just cut the corner out and put the nozzle in. It worked but was a but tricky.



mud cake batter




These are the cupcake for the scrap and bitch, I decorated the choocy ones with white chocolate flowers

And these ones are for the mums and bubs which I decorated with the babies names, even though they will be too young to eat them. You could do this instead of party bags at a kids bday, very cute. If anyone wants the recipes just post a comment and I wil put them up.