Nayu's Craft Time #257 My thoughts on recent events in England

Pretty soap stack! Getting on my soap box in a few paragraphs

This post's title explains what this post is about. Sorry for being away a week, it's been a crazy one. Last weekend had a water issue, which for a few hours meant baby wipes & hand sanitiser to use hands. We progressed to having cold water, with hot water being restored on Wednesday evening. Between then it was called grabbing a shower at a wonderful neighbour's house on Monday. 

I wish mine looked this good! They were cream with cute purple and orange stars on.

 On Tuesday when I knew I'd not only be doing the same but getting laundry done just in case the issue couldn't be fixed on the booked slot for Weds eve I baked some cupcakes for my friend (photo in another post as haven't got that device with me right now and going to get it is too much effort for this time of day). Usualy baking is the only activity in a day when I do it, and I definitely don't usually have a full day out the following day, so been resting up after that. Add into the mix a slightly poorly cat (all better now, more in another post), then it being my birthday weekend (in which I eat fresh cold custard & ice cream for breakfast because it's a tradition and spend most of the day gaming), things have been a tad chaotic here. 

Love these-they brighten up my finger! Have run out of Little Miss Hug plasters & currently not quite sure where my Hello Kitty plasters are

This post is also shorter than planned because yesterday I accidentally cut my left little finger, right on the finger pad with a super sharp knife. Finger all attached, so no worries there! Only it's rather sore and not used to typing (with cute cupcake plaster on it) so I am ending this shortly. 

The daisy. A simple white and yellow flower, used for making necklaces and crowns, and just to be admired. The start of my standing on a soap box.

Before I go, I ask that you spare a thought (several thoughts) for anyone affected by tragic circumstances. What with a horrific terrorist attack in Manchester last week, and waking up this morning to hear of London's 2nd terrorist attack of the year, please send good wishes/pray/do what you can and or wish to for people affected by conflict, be it directly or indirectly, since friends and colleagues of the people involved are affected just as much as the initial victims. 

We live in a scary world, full of many nice people who help others, and a few who want us to life in fear and let that fear prevent us from living a good life. Sadly those instances are heard about more than good deeds when it comes to news. It sucks that these days mostly the terrorist are so-called Muslims, who would never harm another soul, especially not in this most sacred month of Ramadan which is about encouraging peace and humanity, not trying to crush it.

Saw this after I chose to use daisies in this post. Let's fill the world with love, not hate.

It's not nice glimpsing into the anti-Muslim hatred on social media either, which I accidentally saw then looked a little further, but only a little as it's fairly horrific. I don't go out much due to my health, and I've never had an issue wearing a headscarf, but I feel for those who are wrongly hounded and harassed for showing their faith in public.

It's like when I was little and all the terror issues were to do with the IRA (in Northern Ireland) - it didn't mean that Christians were all terrorists, it was just a handful, yet I was vaguely aware at the time that certain groups of people were persecuted because they happened to share the same religion as the IRA. The religion may have changed, but the principle hasn't: the majority of Muslims are lovely people, some of who almost definitely would have treated the wounded in Manchester, London, and all around the world. Please help spread love for everyone, no matter who we are we are all human, we all bleed red blood (barring any medical anomalies), we all need food, water, shelter and love to survive in these crazy times. I'm stepping off my soap box now, but I hope I've given you something to think about and act on.

Found this image online, feel it's appropriate because I frequently draw stick girls when I sign my cards to friends, even though I didn't draw it. Original source here.

Nayu's Receipes #13 Gluten free and vegan cupcakes!

I hope you're all well as we reach the middle of the week. As promised in an earlier post I'm here to show you both the gluten free and the vegan cupcakes which I baked recently! They turned out really well, even if I did put the vegan chocolate frosting on the gluten free cupcakes - thankfully it was a gluten free frosting. I simply made up a lemon frosting as I had no more vegan chocolate. You don't have to miss out on these classic treats just because you have particular dietry needs. They can also be used to bake a whole cake, the cooking time would be longer but that's all. 

Especially when it's for other people!

I decided to use 2 different cupcakes rather than make a gluten free vegan recipe because gluten free flour would be an extra element that could go a bit wild since I'm used to baking cupcakes with eggs and butter. I can link you to the vegan recipe, which isn't my own but can be found on Minimalist Baker's One Bowl Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes. I simply omitted the funfetti as I didn't have any. 

I made the gluten free cupcakes first using my own unique recipe & the advice about gluten free flour from a friend. 

Gluten free cupcakes

 

Here they are with frosting on! Super yummy

Ingredients

Weigh however many eggs you want to use in their shell. 

Using the same weight for butter (or margerine/vegan equivalent), self-raising flour (can be gluten free), and sugar of your choice. 

I did use plain flour on this occasion, adding 3 teaspoons of baking flour. Don't use that amount!!! I'll try 2 or even 1 next time (if I don't use self-raising flour which is so much simpler). The cupcakes rose and spread like crazy!!! I had to bail out the mix part way through into extra cupcake cases, as they were too big.  

Method

Mix butter and sugar together until they are combined. 

Crack eggs into the mix (pick out any shell that gets in), add the flour and mix until combined.  

Pour in cupcake cases which are on a tray. This doesn't have to be a special cupcake tray, mine wasn't. 

Cook at 180C/356F in an oven. Cook for at least 10 minutes, until a knife goes through the middle and comes away clean. Times vary depending on both ovens and how much you fill the cupcakes. 

Vegan cupcake yumminess!

I'd learned my lesson when the next day I baked the One Bowl Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes (minus the funfetti), read the recipe and at first only filled the cases 1/4 full. When double checking the recipe I saw I'd read the amount wrong, it should be 3/4. I sort of stuck to a frazzle over half as I wasn't sure the science of eggless cupcakes worked. The only 'special' ingredient you need is apple cider vinegar, which can be exchanged for lemon juice. These baked beautifully, although did take a bit longer than expected to bake. Both the mix and the finished cupcakes tasted similar to cupcakes (if you're used to food tasting different to what a 'normal' version is). 

I was very pleased with the outcome and the frostings. My ingredients weren't measured at all. 

Vegan chocolate frosting (can also be used for a dairy version)

Yummy!

Melt a few small packets of vegan chocolate buttons 

Add a bit of non-dairy milk and non-dairy butter  

Mix well before slowly adding icing sugar until you reach the consistency you like. 

Note: Make sure you put them on the correct type of cupcakes! 

Lemon frosting (naturally vegan) 

More yummy frosting!

Squeeze some lemon juice in a bowl (I used 3/4 of a lemon)

Add icing sugar and extra non-dairy milk/normal milk/water until you get the consistancy you like. 

My vegan chocolate frosting was enough for half a batch of cupcakes, and the lemon frosting made enough for a whole batch of cupcakes. Because I was giving them to 2 friends I only used half of each batch, freezing the rest for another day. I froze the leftover lemon frosting too! There was no chocolate frosting left. 

I hope you enjoyed my vegan and gluten free cupcake baking adventure - please let me know if you decide to bake these!  I'm now going to spend the rest of my day reading and gaming! Today was a blogging day (mostly on my other blog) and now I'm resting up in preparation for my trip to Devon on Saturday!

Nayu's Craft Time #235 Fleeting snow flurry

Sadly I lack Elsa's power to create snow. (Frozen)

Last week we had what could have been a snow flurry, but turned into definite rain by the end of the day. I guess the possibility for snow this season is reducing fast. Never mind! I dreamt that it snowed the other night is good enough for me. 

It's been a fairly quiet week, mostly gaming as my body didn't like the weather, but I did some craft too and I baked cupcakes! 1 lot of gluten free and another batch were vegan. Both turned out ok, I'm frosting them this afternoon so will take photos then and share in my next post. It's lunch time so I need to make this a short post (sorry) but wanted to wish you a...