Apple Donut Goodness

Right so this week has been a wee bit hectic with me being back at work x2. I say x2 because I'm actually doing two jobs. Couple of hours working for the youth department at our Church and taking on 6 Musical Theatre groups. This was our first week of doing both and SB was AMAZING as she  comes to both work places with me. Check out the smile I got while she sat next to me on the couch when I worked from home on Wednesday. How delicious is she? 

Anyway she was in bed by 8:30pm tonight and I went to put the kettle on to make my new favourite "nightcap" Red Seal's Apple and Elderflower tea and watch My Kitchen Rules on youtube. The thing is the kettle didn't work so I asked J to come and have a look at it and he fixed it, but turning it on at the wall, but by that time I was firmly implanted onto the couch and had absolutely no energy to get up and make myself tea. Anyway on MKR the dessert they made were Italian donuts. I got up to get a glass of water and there they were staring me in the face. Deliciously tart green apples and this amazing Merlot J got from work which I have been rationing over the past month. Now J has this thing whenever deep frying is mentioned he get's all excited like a kid on Christmas morning and goes ooh oooh ooh we can make apple donuts! And for some reason watching donuts being fried on MKR gave me the inspiration to make these bad boys. 

Super easy to make, deliciously indulgent. We both especially love the tart taste that comes through from the green apples that makes this dessert not to sweet...but don't do a me and smoke out the house at 10pm. The best thing is that these are ingredients that most of us have on hand all the time.

The Paul's Apple Donut Goodness

3 Green apples cored and sliced very thinly so they are donut shaped with a hole in the middle (I didn't have a corer thingy so I just halved and sliced them) 

Batter

1/2 cup of flour

2 T Brown Sugar

3 t cinnamon

Water

Coating

Cinnamon

Icing Sugar

1. Heat oil in a pan, just a shallow amount. Approximately an inch. *Putting the lid on, gets the oil hotter, faster

2. Sift flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. I like the batter on this nice and thin, almost like a tempura, so I add water in until I get the desired consistency I like, which is almost as thin as milk. But if you like your batter thicker go for a custard like consistency

3. To test the heat of the oil, drop in a bit of batter and see how long it takes to go brown. Adjust your temp from there. I ended up needing to lower the temp on my oil as my first apple went black in 20 seconds

4. Once you get your oil to a desired temp, coat your apples and stick them in the oil, they should take 30-50 seconds

5. Put them on a kitchen towel to drain excess oil

6. If I were making these for guests I would dust them individually with my cinnamon, icing sugar mix but as it was 10pm, my house was smoky and the Blacklist was loaded ready to go, I simply put a few tablespoons of icing sugar in a bowl with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon and then tossed the apple donuts through. 

Yes J did complain about the smoke but once he had implanted himself next to me on our couch with a bowl of apple donuts on one knee and a bowl of ice cream on the other, there were no complaints in this house hold!

Enjoy xx 

My top 5 Best-Est Most-Est Practical Baby Shower Presents

I had an AMAZING baby shower like seriously it was AMAZING (Will post photos and highlights on the blog when I'm in a nostalgic mood) My friends and family "showered" me with the most incredible presents. I was so, so, so blessed! 

After having Shyra-Beth it really got me thinking,  just how stupid some of my purchases were for baby showers I had attended prior to having SB. I remember getting a friend baby socks that had bells on the feet... what was I thinking! But in reality for most people, how would you know what a mum-to-be really needed unless your job was directly related to babies! 

The best thing from my Baby Shower was that I got such an awesome range of practical things like a nappy cake, blankets, face cloths and socks to not so practical but ridiculously beautiful baby wear that J would have a fit about if I ever purchased. So from a mum to all the clueless gals (and guys) my Top 5 Best-est practical Baby Shower presents! (Not so practical presents will be featured later) 

1. Bulb Syringe aka Snot Sucker

One of the first baby showers I ever attended I experienced culture shock, I had entered into the world of babies! There were babies nursing, nappy brands were discussed and prices compared and I was trying to get my head around the concept of a nappy cake- in my opinion if it can't be eaten it shouldn't be called a cake..but anyway. I thought I had heard it all until the snot sucker was mentioned! And immediately there was chorus of agreement from the mums. So when I went to farmers and saw this nifty little contraption I had to buy it. It was bought and it sat in a basket on my change table for about 3 1/2 months until poor SB got a snotty nose and I remembered my snot sucker. I'm not going to lie, I did have to youtube how to use it but yikes once I got going I was addicted! It actually sucks out snot and boogers! It's amazing!!! I'm sure J and I did it one too many times for the sake of our amusement.. poor SB, but she did sleep better that night!

But for under $10 from Farmers any mum-to-be would be stoked with this especially after hearing horror stories of having to suck the snot out of your poor baby's nose WITH YOUR MOUTH in the middle of the night so that they could sleep better.

2. Merino Onesies

I had decided that since I was having a spring baby it was unnecessary for me to get merino, cotton would be more than enough. But the week SB was due there were horrible gale force winds and rain so I decided to go and get 2 merino onesies for her. It just so happened that I met up with a friend just before shopping whose kids had outgrown them and she gave me 5 merino/wool onesies which ended up being just what we needed. In the first 24 hours babies have a hard time regulating their temperature after being so warm and snug for 9 months. SB esp had this problem and we ended up doing tonnes of skin to skin in the first 24 hours. But next to skin to skin merino is the next best thing. But what makes merino onesies so amazing is that they keep baby warm but because its nice and breathable baby doesn't overheat. Useful in summer and winter! So instead of buying 3 cotton onesies with sayings like 100% cutie, mummy's sweetheart or handsome like daddy on it (FYI these are all onesies I have personally purchased for people) For under $25 (from farmers or baby factory) your mum-to-be would be a lot more grateful for 1 merino or wool onesie.

Or if you're wanting to treat mum to be, dimples has an amazing merino range! one of my friends got SB a gorgeous merino sleep sack from dimples... ahhh dimples


3. Muslins

SB is a wonderful baby as far as babies go, but the worse thing about her is that she is spilly! She has been a bit better since starting solids but ever since she was tiny she has just been a spilly baby. Pukies pukies everywhere.. I went from my signature scent being Bright Crystal to Milky Pukies.

Muslins or old school flat cotton cloth nappies have been my saving grace! I have like 40, I can't can't have enough of them. Seriously we have at two of these in every room. We never leave the house without one. We made a conscious decision to not give her a pacifier, so she sleeps snuggled with a muslin because it smells like milk! Very cheap but very practical! I like the white ones because I can just bleach them.

4. Ecostore Baby Products 

SB was born with the most amazing skin. Like actually just beautiful, perfect and soft. The thought of putting anything chemically on that beautiful skin was just horrifying! Ecostore's products are natural and amazing and so gentle on baby's skin. The best part is that they are so affordable as well! SB always smells divine after I smother her in their coconut oil based moisturizer. Buying a range of these for a new mum is just so practical and you can even arrange it in a nice basket with wood wool if you are feeling a bit fancy. 


5. Baby Sling

This is on the expensive end of presents as presents go but boy it is sooo worth it! I bought mine for myself even though I totally shunned the thought of being a baby wearing hippy momma. But my Naturesway sling was just amazing when SB was tiny. It beat having to lug around the massive buggy everywhere and kept her from being pass the baby as no one reaches for/ kisses a baby in a sling. Also because she was so warm and snug in there near to me she would just sleep. Its a bit harder getting her in it now as she is so long, but once she is able sit with her legs around me i'll definitely be using it again. I especially love that it is NZ made, comfortable (padded shoulder strap), so easy to use (there's a clip, no complicated buckles) and its made out of natural fibres so its breathable and she doesn't get all sweaty snuggled in there.