Mini Oreo Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients

250g reduced fat cream cheese/soft cheese

100g splenda (I found it easier to measure in tsp so 100g = 20tsp)

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1 egg

8 Oreo cookies

Method

1) Preheat oven to gas mark 1

2) Line half a 12 space muffin tray with paper muffin cases. 

3) Place one Oreo cookie in each case.

4) In a large bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and splenda until smooth. 

5) Add the vanilla essence and slowing whisk in the egg.

6) Crumble the remaining 2 Oreos and add to the mixture.

7) Mix thoroughly.

8) Pour the mixture into each individual muffin case equally and bake in the oven for approx 25-30 mins (filling should be set). 

9) Allow to cool and then refrigerate for approx 4 hours at least before serving.

I used silicon cake cases so I’m not sure how they turn out using paper cases..I didn’t refrigerate them for 4 hours either but they were still yummy!

Life's A Beach...Part II

That is probably the best photograph I've taken today. The rest are all rubbish because my photography isn't great anyway, but the weather was really crappy too.

Life's A Beach..

Its never a good idea to go to the beach when its foggy or raining...or both.

I'd been planning to go for a few days, just to be by myself and clear my head a bit. I've felt a bit stressed lately and I think if I carry on like this I'll explode and it won't be pretty! So, as today is my first day off, I thought, 'why not?'.

Well, apart from the fog and rain, it was also freezing and windy. My hair has quadrupled in size and is no longer straight and I'm sat in a cafe trying to get warm.

I suppose it's weird but I quite like that feeling you get in your hands and feet when you've been somewhere cold and then gone into the warm and your limbs don't quite know what to do so they just sting and burn. Its awkward and uncomfortable but nice at the same time. I'm weird.

I'll post another blog with some photos when I'm home :)

Bethany's school is having an Easter Fayre this afternoon so I'll be going to that with my sister before going home to make an Easter cake for my mum to take to work. Hopefully I'll have time to make carrot and corriander or leek and potato soup too. Ooh, and I have a recipe for mini oreo cheesecakes that I've been wanting to try out..

"And my mouth is filled with blood, from trying not to speak."

This has been the best part of my day; teaching my niece how to fly a kite.

The rest of the day has sucked.

Dance, Dance.

Adrian is probably going to be reallllllly pissed off with me for uploading this, but it had to be done. Sorry!

Mum's Birthday Boxing Day

I spent a lot of time yesterday making a cake for my mum. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, and I must admit, it didn't end up looking how I had imagined it would, but I was quite impressed with the finished product.

It was a lemon and vanilla sponge with buttercream icing covered in fondant and I decorated it with handmade roses (made from fondant). Yummy!

Today we took my mum out for lunch seeing as we didn't spend much time with her on her actual birthday. It wasn't much, but we had a nice time :)

Faux Friday

Today was 'Faux Friday'.

Me and my sister were both off work, so we did a bit of shopping, then went to buy a wii.
Fair enough, we were a bit late jumping on the band wagon, but we were really excited! We got a few games with it too, mainly karaoke ones and a dance one.

We had a few drinks and made complete fools of ourselves...good times!
I can't wait for my 'Disney Sing It' game to come!

Happy Birthday!

It's now officially my Mutti's birthday.

49 TODAY!
Happy Birthday xxx

YAY!

I haven't had a cigarette for 3 whole weeks.
I blatantly deserve a pat on the back!

Heard It Through The Grapevine..

As much as I love Andrew Garcia and 'Heard It Through The Grapevine', I'm worried that he'll be up for elimination this week :(. Miley suggested that he perform without his guitar, and while that may have 'loosened' him up in rehearsals, it probably didn't help when he was on stage. It just sounds like he's talking his way through the song...its not the same dude who sang this.



The only other performance I saw was Crystal Bowersox but she was pretty good.

Good Luck Andrew!

Keep Holding On.

I have nothing to say today...

I'm not feeling so great, but these two things are helping;

Keep Holding On

You're not alone

Together we stand

I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand

When it gets cold

And it feels like the end

There's no place to go

You know I won't give in

No I won't give in

Keep holding on

'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Just stay strong

'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you

There's nothing you could say

Nothing you could do

There's no other way when it comes to the truth

So keep holding on

'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

So far away

I wish you were here

Before it's too late, this could all disappear

Before the doors close

And it comes to an end

With you by my side I will fight and defend,

I'll fight and defend

Yeah, yeah!

Keep holding on

'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Just stay strong

'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you

There's nothing you could say

Nothing you could do

There's no other way when it comes to the truth

So keep holding on

'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Hear me when I say, when I say I believe

Nothing's gonna change, nothing's gonna change destiny

Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

La da da da

La da da da

La da da da da da da da da

Keep holding on

'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Just stay strong

'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you

There's nothing you could say

Nothing you could do

There's no other way when it comes to the truth

So keep holding on

'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Keep holding on...

Keep holding on

There's nothing you could say

Nothing you could do

There's no other way when it comes to the truth

So keep holding on

'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

ANTM

I'm absolutely gutted that America's Next Top Model has finished :(
I'm even more gutted that, while looking for a photo of Laura, I found out who the winner is! I hadn't seen that bit yet.

I feel really sorry for Laura, she really deserved to win. She had such a struggle with her dyslexia and she's so pretty!! 

I'd give up limbs to look like that girl.

Now i'm eagerly awaiting the next series...Britain's Next Top Model just does not compare!

Happy Anniversary to my Nanna and Grandad.



Love you both x

Voodoo Designs

My online store is now officially open!

On sale at the moment are headbands, earrings and totebags but there is so much more to come!

Here is a preview of what Voodoo Designs has to offer;

Enter the code 'NEWCUST' at checkout to get 5% off.
Click the image below to go to the online store;

 

There’s A Worm At The Bottom Of The Garden…

And his name is wiggly woo-oooo-ooo. :)

I never realised gardening was such hard work!

Me and my dad pulled up all the weeds, turned over the soil and then I planted some bulbs and seeds that I’d planted in peat pots. Once I’ve cleared up all the mess we made, I have to rake over all the patchy grass and plant some grass seeds so we have a beautiful lawn.

Jake:

My dad:

Before:


after:

We did find some awesome things in amongst the weeds though;

LIFE.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired! Staying up until 3am last night didn’t help, but I was making headbands and earrings for my little online store; Voodoo Designs.

Today we went to the Centre For LIFE which is a science-museum-type-thing in Newcastle. My sister drove to Gosforth and we got the Metro to Newcastle Central Station (which now has barriers so you can’t go for a wee unless you have a ticket!!) and walked along to LIFE. 

Walking past the Baron & Baroness totally reminded me of my little Danielbob who I love to pieces. I miss you!

Entry was half price = WIN &&& there was an exhibition about snot…so obviously it was going to be a good day! Bethany and Chloe really enjoyed the bubble disco. We saw an exhibition about ‘Bubbles & Balloons’ too, the professor-type-man made a bubble around a little boy, it actually looked like he was trapped inside. Über cool!

After lunch, Bethany and Chloe went to play in the soft play area and I watched ‘Mr Bunhead’ do some experiments… He put bubbles on his head and set them on fire, squished a jelly baby and popped balloons with fire.

The planetarium was amazing! I’ve always enjoyed reading about planets and stuff (Saturn was always my favourite, FYI) so after finding out some awesome facts, I really want a telescope and I’ve been googling stuff on astronomy.

I went to the “snot” exhibition with Andrew and was totally disappointed! It wasn’t really about snot, it was about ‘mucus’, which is completely different. Snot is the green things you find in your nose and mucus - as we found out - is found in human bodies and on animals/creatures such as snails. I did find out how to make fake snot though.

I was disappointed by the gift shop too, but I did buy some sweets for Bethany and Chloe, and a little something for Lara.

We went to Pizza Hut too! Our waiter looked like a cross between Michel Musso and  Musso, he was quite cute! He made my pizza wrong though, so we got to take that one for free and he made one that was what I actually ordered.

On the way home, we went to Asda to stock up on junk food to munch on while we watched ‘The Hangover’, but me and Sarah fell asleep watching it anyway…

Baby, Baby, Baby, Ohhh.

Totally loving Justin Bieber at the moment :)

My auntie Alison asked me to look after Hayden today. He's so cute! He had a pain though, so he cried a lot, but he slept a lot too so it was ok :)

Isn't he adorable??

I also went out for lunch with my sister and brother-in-law which was really nice. We're going back there next week with my mum and Stephen for my mum's birthday.

I bought heaps of materials and jewellery findings to make necklaces, earrings, head bands, hair bows and lots of other awesome things, so tonight i'm going to crack on with those so I can put them up on my myspace, check it out :)

:)

You should really watch these videos!





Awesome stuff!

Now i'm off to do some serious Handy Manny work and try to put up a wardrobe...wish me luck!

Imagine...

This was shown on Glee last night...It made me very emotional for some reason.
Take a moment to watch it.

Spoil Your Mum!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

175g butter
150g Self Raising Flour
3 Large Eggs
1tsp Vanilla Extract
175g Caster Sugar
50g Cocoa Powder
1tsp Baking Powder
A Pinch Of Salt

1) Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4.
2) Lightly grease a cake tin and line with greaseproof paper.
3) Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix (for 1 min with a hand mixer) just enough to make it smooth.
4) Pour into a tin and cook for 45-50 mins.
5) When the cake is ready, let it sit in the tin for 5 mins before running a knife around the edges and turning out onto a cooling rack.

Frosting

150g Butter
150g Icing Sugar
4tbsp Cocoa Powder
3tbsp Milk

1) Slowly and gently melt the butter.
2) Add the cocoa and up the heat, cooking it gently for a min or so, then add the icing sugar.
3) When the mix starts to look like cement, add the milk gradually and keep stirring until you have a smooth, glossy paste.
4) Allow it to cool (and make sure the cake has cooled completely!), cut the cake in half and use some of the frosting to sandwich the cake together.
5) Use the rest of the frosting to cover the cake.
6) Have fun decorating :)

Happy Mother's Day...

'Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.'

- unknown

Happy Mother's Day to my mum, my nanna, my sister and all the other mummies in the world :)

Mother's Day

'In the United Kingdom and Ireland, there was a medieval celebration called Mothering Sunday, which falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday (14 March in 2010). It is believed to have originated from the 16th century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day. Most historians believe that young apprentices and young women in servitude were released by their masters that weekend in order to visit their families. As a result of secularization, it was then principally used to show appreciation to one's mother, although it is still recognized in the historical sense by some churches, with attention paid to Mary the mother of Jesus Christ as well as the traditional concept 'Mother Church'.'

Source: Wikipedia

Wow, you learn something new every day :)

As it's Mother's Day tomorrow, I took my Mum and Nanna out for an early Mother's Day lunch at The Snowy Owl. We ate a nice meal, an even nicer pudding and had a laugh...It was very nice :)
When they dropped me off at home, they came in for a cuppa and me and my sister gave them their presents.

  

My food:

Nanna:

My Mutti <3:

Me & My Nanna:

Me & My Nanna:

My banoffe cheesecake, nom!:

My Nanna's rice pudding (complete with mint tree!):

We got my nanna an Elvis doll which is very collectable and super cute! And we got a few bits and pieces for my mum; a cookery book, clothes etc. I spent most of yesterday afternoon making biscuits for them both; lemon biscuits, lemon and raisin biscuits, cinnamon and raisin biscuits and chocolate chip biscuits. I put them in glass jars, wrapped them in tissue paper and cellophane, then decorated them with handmade gift tags. They looked beautiful and the tissue paper looked almost like a rose the way i'd folded it over :)

In other news; I now have red hair, Andrew Garcia is still in American Idol and Rufus Hound won 'Let's Dance For Sport Relief'.