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Category Archives: German Shepherd

Weekend baking

11 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by alifrankle in Baking blog, German Shepherd, Lifestyle, Uncategorized

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Tags

baking, blog, chocolate, cookies, recipe, tanyaburrcookies, yum

I wasn’t feeling too great this weekend so decided to do some baking to cheer myself up. I’ve seen quite a few YouTubers and bloggers make Tanya Burr’s cookies and have wanted to try them for months, so this is what I decided to bake. What I love most about the recipe is for quantity of chocolate it just says “large bar”, I got a really large bar, 360g of Dairy Milk to be exact, plus a large Milkybar.

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Here is the whole recipe:

200g butter – needs to be softened

300g caster sugar

1 large egg

27g self-raising flour

75g cocoa powder

dash of milk

large bar of milk chocolate

large bar of white chocolate

large bar of dark chocolate (Tanya’s blog says this is optional and I didn’t add)

It’s a pretty simple recipe; first step is to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. My butter had been out of the fridge for a few hours but it really wasn’t soft enough, I made the mistake of trying to mix it with my electric whisk and it went absolutely everywhere! So I then carried on with a wooden spoon, it took ages and gave me arm ache, soo use really soft butter.

Next – crack the egg in, then add the dry ingredients; flour and cocoa, mix it all up to form dough.

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As you can see my dough was dry so I had to add quite a large dash of milk to make it all stick together. Lastly, the most important ingredient; chocolate. I decided to just use milk and white chocolate in mine, not because I don’t like dark chocolate, in fact I really do like dark chocolate, but because I had such a large bar of milk chocolate I didn’t think I needed any dark. As it turns out there was more than enough chocolate in the cookies.

I baked them three per baking tray, then one on its own. The recipe makes ten large cookies I didn’t want to crowd them and let them get stuck together. They do cook in eleven minutes as per Tanya’s recipe, but are really gooey and you do have to leave them to cool for around half an hour before eating. So gooey that I couldn’t even transfer them to my cooling rack as they were just falling apart. Shame, I had to eat that one! After half an hour when they had set a little i moved them onto my wire rack to completely cool. I have to say they are actually the nicest cookies I’ve ever baked, and I’ve tried many recipes.

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After baking these, I was still in the baking mood, so I measured out all the ingredients to make a whole wheat loaf in my bread maker, I didn’t want it to bake that night as it was already 9pm and the bread takes at least three hours, so I set my machine to bake the bready ready for 9:15 the next morning. I haven’t been so excited for it to be morning in a long time. I awoke to the smell of bread baking and it was so good. I took Bella out for a walk and when we got back it was ready and the house smelt just like a bakery. I had a slice straight out of the machine, dripping in butter, what a lovely start to my Sunday. I was definitely feeling better after that.

Ali xx

Eastery things

02 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by alifrankle in Baking blog, German Shepherd, Lifestyle, Uncategorized

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baking, Bank Holiday, chocolate, Easter, easter egg, family, friends, germanshepherd, Hot cross buns, weekend

I know I’m a little late, but I wanted share my Easter weekend fun with you. I took Bella to stay at my Dads for the long weekend. On Good Friday morning I packed up the car, with her “help”, (which is basically her running back and forth to the car trying to eat my bags.) and off we went. Upon arrival my Dad was cooking a roast lamb and immediately insisted I made the roast potatoes. So I left the unpacking of the car to a little later and got started on the potatoes. They were yum!

As soon as we get in the general area of his house Bella starts to get excited, she starts to whinge and tries to get out of the car, she really enjoys staying at his house. He loves it too, though sometimes he pretends he doesn’t like it all that much. As she is rather large now she tends to get in the way a lot, especially if you’re not used to having her around.

Anyway, I had really wanted to bake some hot cross buns in the whole time leading up to Easter so that’s what I set about to do that afternoon. I brought all the ingredients with me just to make sure I had them all.  Before I started I didn’t realise quite what was involved with making these, all in all it took me about five hours! After the mixing and kneading, the dough required to be left to prove for around an hour, which gave me enough time to pop to the shops to pick up an icing bag and apricot jam that I had forgotten. I made it back in time to split the dough into twelve buns, which then were left to prove for another hour. Eventually they were crossed with the flour and water mix, popped in the oven and baked. After being glazed with warmed apricot jam we had one with a cup of tea. Lovely!

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I met my three best friends on Saturday morning for brunch; I was starving as I’d been at the park with Bella for an hour already. The rest of the day was chilled until I went to visit my mum and younger brother’s house for dinner with my elder brother and his fiancée. Me and Mum were then going to a family friend’s for drinks and nibbles. It was a lot of fun; we ended up staying til 1:30am! I don’t get to see my friends and family as often anymore as I moved away to Warwick.

It’s fair to say I was tired on Easter Sunday! This time I took Bella with me to my mum’s, this was her first visit. Now, my Mum’s house is quite small and there is a cat, so a couple of issues. Plus Bella is THE nosiest dog I’ve ever known, for about an hour, no exaggeration, she sniffed the entire house. She did settle down whilst we ate our Easter roast beef, but not for long.

We came back early Easter Monday morning, and I went out to Wagamama for a late lunch whilst Bella caught up on her sleep. I love bank holiday weekends, it’s such a good time to catch up with friends and family, and to eat lots of chocolate. I’m using this weekend to relax and catch up on sleep.

Ali xx

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Happy Birthday Bella!

18 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by alifrankle in Baking blog, German Shepherd, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

baking, bella, birthday, birthday cake, cake, germanshepherd, gsd, puppy, recipe

Bella is 1! I can’t believe it! In celebration I decided to bake her a dog friendly birthday cake, I have shared the recipe below. I’m really proud of how far she has come along in the last year, her behaviour has improved massively and she has such a great personality. She actually manages to make me laugh on a daily basis; I can no longer picture life without her in it. (Taking it over)

So, for the cake you will need the below:

1 egg

65g peanut butter

60ml vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

80g honey

135g grated carrots

120g wholemeal flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

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First step set the oven to 180°C and grease a cake tin

Second step, mix the egg, peanut butter, oil, vanilla and honey together in a bowl

 

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Next, add the grated carrot and mix well.

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Then sift the flour with the bicarbonate of soda into the bowl and fold into the mixture. I found that the wholemeal flour didn’t sift very well; I had to use a spoon to get it through the sieve.

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Lastly spoon into the tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

This is the first time I have made a cake like this, and I wasn’t sure it was quite done after 40 minutes, but I think it was. My cake tin was a bit too big for this mix, so when it had cooled down I cut it into the shape of a bone.

I gave Bella a little taste of the off-cuts and she seemed to enjoy it. To be honest, she will eat pretty much anything. The only thing I’ve found that she won’t eat is lettuce. There is a little video on my YouTube channel of it if you want to check that out.

Here is the finished cake 🙂

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If you make this please comment and let me know if your dog likes it. I’ll be spoiling Bella on her birthday with some new toys, a bone to eat and of course a little bit of cake.

One more of Bella, watching me patiently making the cake and using her biscuits as decoration.

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She is so cute!

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Ali xx

 

Feb faves

03 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by alifrankle in Beauty blog, German Shepherd, Uncategorized

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bbloggers, beauty, benefit, blog, blusher, candle, favourites, garnier, germanshepherd, hand cream, kate moss, lipstick, puppy, rimmel, salt spray, schwarzkopf, ultimate blends

I see a lot of monthly favourite blogs and vlogs so thought I’d give it a go myself. I did actually film a video of this, but haven’t put it up yet, not sure if I will or not… such a tease ha.

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I of course had to start my February favourites with the Garnier Ultimate Blends Shampoo, The delicate soother – 1, because it genuinely is the shampoo I’ve been using throughout February, and has become my favourite, and 2, because I really like it! (See my previous blog post :))

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Next up, is my Blogger box! I won this in a competition (see my first blog post) and so I thought it deserved a mention. This arrived with some really helpful blogging items; a tripod for your phone, fairy lights, a candle, some photo props, and of course the shampoo, conditioner & heat protector. It all came nestled neatly inside the box, with gold tissue paper, very exciting! I am keeping the box as I’m sure it will come in handy, it’s sturdy too.

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This Garnier Miracle Wake Up Cream, was a little freebie from L’Oréal from the photo shoot. I have been using the same day cream/ moisturiser for a couple of years now so I thought I’d give this one a go. I firstly really enjoy the fact that it’s pink. Since using it, I’ve found my skin has been a lot softer and has helped with the general eye-bagginess that I have been getting.

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I recently had my hair cut from quite long, to just above my shoulder, and as I had a new hair length, I decided to try a new style too, so went on the hunt for some salt spray. I didn’t have to hunt very far as the shops are full of them, I chose the Schwarzkopf beach matt MERMAID look texturizing salt spray. I may have been slightly persuaded by the mermaid look part of the description…but it basically is great. You just spray onto wet hair, dry it, and then style how you want. I’ve found whatever style you want to do, it helps keep it that way, I’ve curled it, made it wavy, straightened it, gone outside with it half dry in the wind (as suggested on the bottle) and it works all ways.

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This is the lovely candle that came in the bloggers box, it’s called Green Tea & Fig and it’s by Fashion Fiend. I haven’t heard of this make of candle before, but I’m definitely going to seek some more out. It smells incredible. I mean, even when it’s not lit, you can still smell it when you walk into the room, which is pretty good for an unlit candle. Another great thing about this candle is that it’s made with natural oils and soy wax so there are no horrible fumes emitted when lit.

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This Garnier Hand Intensive 7 Days smoothing hand cream, was another little freebie from L’Oréal (thank you) and I do mean thank you, I have been using this SO much. I wash my hands countless times throughout the day due to Bella being so blimmin’ messy, and slobbery. Also, due to cleaning and other general hand washing reasons. So I have dry hands and am forever applying hand cream. However, this is brilliant. I have been using it for over 7 days now and I don’t have horrible dry hands anymore, yay!

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Three little make-up bits I’ve been loving this month are;

1 – Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 hour foundation. I find this gives excellent coverage and does last a long time. I haven’t actually tested to see if it lasts the full 25 hours as I remove my make-up at night.

2 – Collection Lasting Perfection concealer. This really does its job, it covers up my dark circles really well and I’ve actually worn this out without any foundation on top, so definitely a winner for me.

3 – The Benefit Rockateur blusher mini. For Christmas I received the Benefit selection box (not sure of its official name as I got rid of the box, kept the minis obv) and this blusher was one of the minis. I have been using it ever since, and considering it is a mini, I didn’t think it would last long, but it looks almost untouched. I really love the peachy pink colour and again, this really lasts long. I wear blusher, pretty much every single day as being so pale I feel I need something to brighten up my face or everyone, including me, thinks I look ill. This one works a treat and goes well with my skin tone.

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The photo made me laugh, I did actually take a more professional one, but had to use this one as it shows just how nosey (see what I did there?) Bella is. Excuse the foot. I was trying to take a photo of my lipsticks to add to this blog and she couldn’t help herself and stuck her nose in too! Bless her.

Anyway, these are the Rimmel Kate Moss lipsticks in 38 and 16. Now, lipstick is a new edition to my life and I’ve got to say why didn’t anyone make me try it before?!?!?!?! I’ve always, always, always worn Vaseline, and on occasion lip gloss, but lipstick is fantastic. I still wear Vaseline all the time, but lipstick on top of Vaseline, is so much better than lip gloss. Lip gloss is so sticky and, your hair gets stuck to it, and it doesn’t last very long and yeah, lipstick is definitely the way forward. It lasts way longer, and isn’t sticky! What’s not to love? As you can see by the colours that I picked, they aren’t very daring, but to be honest I got a little over-whelmed from the ginormous range of lipsticks available that I chose two pinky, nudey colours to start with. I will be buying more to try out in March, so make sure you check out my March favourites too!

Ali xx

PS follow me on Instagram and Twitter using @alifrankle 🙂

Bella

25 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by alifrankle in Baking blog, Beauty blog, German Shepherd, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

#germanshepherds #gsd #blog #bloggers

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Crossing the fields in the early morning chill and frost is not something I ever thought I would be doing, or writing about for that matter. I am not a morning person, I’m a let’s do everything the night before so I can stay in bed an extra 5 minutes kind of a person. That all changed when this little pup entered my life…

Come rain or shine, or even snow, there she is ears back, tail wagging at 7am Monday – Sunday, she doesn’t know what a weekend is either. It’s the best alarm clock.

Surprisingly, to me, I have come to love these early morning walks. This morning we wandered past the snow drops and the too early daffodils, into a frozen field filled with cows that she tried to befriend. She stood there mouth open, tail wagging waiting for them to sniff her in the accustomed dog greeting, but of course this did not happen and I had to escort her away swiftly. Though I’m pretty sure I’m the one that was scared! She will try to lick anyone and anything; her inquisitive nature has got us into a few pickles over the last few months.

I am fortunate enough to work from home, so I spend my days sat at my desk trying really hard not to be distracted by her. If you own or have ever met a German Shepherd you will realise just how difficult this can be. After our walks, I prepare our breakfasts, (recently I’ve been trying to be healthy and have porridge with fruit, much better than peanut butter on toast right?) she will then leave me alone for a bit, say an hour? Until she gets a bit bored and comes upstairs to find me. I can’t help but laugh. She comes in, tail wagging as pleased to see me as if I’ve been gone for a whole week, puts her head on my knee and looks up at me with her pleading pretty brown eyes “please play with me”. So I may end up sneaking off for 5 minutes to play. Who could resist?

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The best thing about Bella is how everything is still new and therefore incredibly exciting to her, the response she gives to things she hasn’t seen before is funny. On one of our walks the other day we came across a yellow grit salt bin and she just had to bark and bark at it! Warning me of this frightening thing I suppose? But seriously, it could be anything and she wants to know about it. The pen I’ll be using, the sock I’m trying to put on my foot, the bath bomb I’m trying to put in my bath. (I will come back to this at a future date, her and my boyfriend are obsessed with Lush). She’s there with her gorgeous head tilts trying to understand what it is and what I’m saying to her.

Bella bomb

 

 

I’ll be sure to fill you in on some of our adventures, but for now I must start work! It’s only 8am, we’ve been on our walk and I’m settling down to eat my porridge in peace. (yeah right!)

Ali xx

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