Vanilla Cupcakes

Who said egg and dairy free cooking has to taste less than great, or look less than great for that matter!

This recipe can be made with eggs/dairy or without using a dairy free marg and rice milk and the Orgran 'no egg replacer'.

Ingredients:
125gms butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup milk

1. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric beater until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until just combined.
2. Fold in the flour and milk gently until mixture is smooth, spoon the mixture into paper lined muffin pans.
3. Bake in a moderate oven for 15-20mins until cooked and golden.

Icing

For a dairy free icing I mix icing sugar mixture with dairy free marg and a bit of vanilla or rice milk - mix butter/marg with electric mixer until pale and slowly add the sugar for a 'fluffy' icing, beat for a couple of mins after you mix it all together. You can then add some melted dairy free choc, cocoa powder or peanut butter for a bit of flavour.

Good Food and Wine Festival

The weekend just passed Chris and I were both recovering from a weird virus which had left us with headaches and nausea and we were coming off the back of 3 weeks of doing virtually nothing with the boys due to them being sick. With the Good Food and Wine Festival on in Perth I thought it was a nice opportunity to head on the train into the city...it turned out a massive fail but we made something of it.
We took the train after Master 4's swimming lesson - it was a lovely train trip and quite quick. We got there and as soon as we got into the stuffy and food and wine smelling convention centre Master 4 got instantly restless and pale. Master 1 was crabby and not going to sleep. We made the decision to split up, the 2 big boys heading home and the little one hopefully napping in the pram whilst I explored. I quickly changed my decision and leapt after Chris - meeting him outside with a vomitting Master 4! The shows! Courageously Chris took the kids by himself back on the train and home and I headed back into my mother ship, aka the food and wine festival.

Whilst I felt guilty at first I quickly warmed to the surroundings - tasting bits of freshly made fudge, malaysian (meeting Alvin from Masterchef), watching a masterclass hosted by Matt Moran and tasting yummy chocolate, wine and so much more. If its on in your city and you love to know more about the origina of foods and tasting different things then its definitely worth an outting. I even got my Matt Moran cookbook signed by the author himself...

Playdough

I love getting in the kitchen and this morning I was marvelling over just how many things you can create with 1 packet of flour. I think the 3kg of flour was around $3.70 and with that 1 packet I have made 6 bread rolls to have with soup, pastry to use with apple and rhubarb to make a pie and this morning some playdough and the packet is still going.

I've had this playdough recipe since before we got married, a family friend gave it to me at my kitchen tea. This morning was the first time I've used it...pretty bad considering we've been married 5 years.

Anyway, I made 2 batches, 1 yellow and 1 blue and I got a good 25 mins out of Master 1 which isn't bad considering he much prefers to terrorise and pull apart the house. Did you know if you don't have creme of tartar you can substitute it for white vinegar or lemon juice. I substituted it for lemon juice this morning and the result was perfect.

The recipe is 1 cup of plain flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 tablespoons creme of tartar, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon cooking oil and food colouring. I mixed the food colouring in with the water and oil and lemon juice (instead of creme of tartar) and then mixed the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients on medium heat on the stove. You just mix the ingredients together until the salt has disolved into the flour and the mixture becomes pileable a bit like playdough should, and then you are done. I then let cool and kneaded it a little before giving to the kids.