Homemade paletas

Paletas are popsicles from Mexico. They have their own name because they are different, these are made from pure fruit and/or fruit juice, yoghurt, milk... not your basic water-sirup blend.
Recently I bought a book by Elisabeth Johansson on homemade ice-cream and I used one of her recipes to use some fresh fruit.

Blueberry-strawberry paletas (12 pieces)



- 300 ml of water
- 40 grams of granulated sugar
- 2 spoons of honey
- 200 grams of blueberries
- 200 grams of strawberries

Mix the water, sugar and honey and heat untill boiling.
Let it cool down and divide between two bowls.
Mash both fruits and add each to one bowl of water-sugar-honey mix.
Add the blueberry mixture to your popsicle mold and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
If the mixture is more set after the 30 minutes, gently add the strawberry mixture to the mold. The two should still be seperate in the popsicle, not as one mixture.
Put them back in the freezer for a night.

Your homemade paletas are done!

These kind of popsicles have less sugar and additions which makes them healthier and they are easy and fun to make. Go ahead and paletas!

Love,
Noes

Easter activities

When all the plans are made and you are done grocery shopping, what is there to do next during the holidays?
Here some fun, last minute, activities to do during your spare hours of easter.
Decorating eggs does not have to be a childish easter activity. For instance, make these easy confetti eggs, silk dye eggs, gold and pink dip dye eggs or get a black marker and give each egg a different mustache. Fun to do and fun on the table!

Another thing fun and convenient is baking. Add all your ingredients to your existing easter shopping list and you are ready to go at any time you like. Bunny buns, carrot cake, easter cookies or cupcakes. By adding an easter related shape or decoration to a standard recipe, your baking is instantely easter proof!
For example, place marzipan carrots on top of your carrot cake, decorate your cupcakes with sprinkle or chocolate eggs and use cookie cutters for chick, bunny and egg shapes.

Do you have way to much food already? Then you can never go wrong with decorations.
Use porcelain paint to transform your boring white plates, spray paint plastic animals and add small hooks for place cards or use scrap paper to make a easter garland.

None of these easter projects are too difficult or time consuming and can be done last minute.
No idea how to get started? Use pinterest or google to find their tutorial and you are done in no time.

Happy easter!

Love,
Noes

Cupcake styling

Baking in general is a totally different story than baking for someone in particular. Yestherday my cousin Eefke and her husband Hugo had their birthday celebration going on and as you know, there is no party without cupcakes!
Since they are a truly stylish couple, the cupcakes had to be a perfect match.

When you find yourself in this situation but you're are in doubt, choose one source of inspiration and work from there.

As you can see, they were happy with the result and the party was a blast so... mission accomplished! On to the next fun challange.

Love,
Noes

Happy 1st Birthday!

Today is little Julia's first birthday!
Because she is a big fan of Bumba the clown, these are her birthday cakes!
And yes, two cakes. One for the friends and family and a small one for Julia herself.

The biggest cake was decorated with of course, Bumba, balloons and a guirlande.

The small cake was decorated as a drum, perfect for those little hands, with again Bumba on top.

Happy Birthday Julia! I hope your day is super fun.

Love,
Noes

Happy New Year!

I wish everyone the very best for 2013!

May it be a year with lots of love, laughter, baking and fun DIY's!

Love,
Noes

Holiday prepping

Time flies by, we are already in November so before we know it the holidays will be coming up. The Dutch Sinterklaas, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.
Have you already thought of them?

How are you gonna dress up your place? Who are you celebrating it with? What presents are you going to buy? What food are you going to make?

They are just a few questions now but when you are getting into detail later you will remember last year. All the last minute tasks, some things you would have rather done differently.
You can fix all that this year. Just start early on your plans!

Here a few fun ideas to consider.

 

A pretty wreath on your front door

 

No Christmas without a tree! But even then the sky is the limit, have that tree however you want

 

Go all out on dressing your table

 

Think about colors, materials and a centerpiece

 

Something fun

 

And the place cards of course

 

Serve stunning food

 

A simple cake is dressed up so easily

 

And don't you forget about the drinks!

 

Make your presents look super festive

 

Say it with a fun label

 

It's not a party without a little sparkle! And yes, these shoes are a DIY project!

 

But most of all, make sure you are with the people you love and have FUN!

Love,
Noes

Happy Halloween!

This year I decided to take part in the Halloween celebration. Fun costumes, decorating the place, making themed snacks...
Unfortunately Halloween is officially upcoming Wednesday which means all my friends will have the work early the next day. But I don't give up so easily, we just celebrate on the weekends!

Here's my kind of Halloween party in a few simple steps

1. Dress up!
My bat costume included small ears made of a black headband en felt, bat wings made of tricot, a little black dress and nailpolish claws.
None of  them are rocket science but still super cute! It was obviously extra fun to dance to Michael Jackson's thriller wearing this.

2. Decorate!
Bunting, a pumpkin, the right table wear, creepy animals and fire. To me those are pretty much the basics.
I mostly want the desert table to be perfect but some extra bunting can't hurt!

 

Print out characters in a pretty font and cut them out of wallpaper, word bunting!

 

Spiders, Jack-O-Lantern faces and thomb stones

 

Pumpkin carving

 

Spider webs, spiders and bats

 

Boo! Straw bunting

3. Fill that table!
Cupcakes, candy, drinks.. whatever you make, make it in style!

 

Brain cupcakers, even the crow wants to steal one

 

Bloody cocktails
I've got my eye on you!

 

Napkins in style

 

Chopped fingers...

 

and without some spooky candy, it's not a real Halloween

There are many ways towards a great Halloween, this is mine and we sure had a blast! As you can see you don't always have to spend a lot of money to have something cool, there are many things you can make yourself. Honestly, it's even more fun when you do.

Have fun!

Love,
The wicked witches, crow lady, fortune teller, Wednesday and Bat Noes