The Domestic Playlist

Hello lovely friends!

We believe that music definitely has the effect to change the mood. We dedicate (almost) every Saturday morning to cleaning our apartment and doing our grocery shopping. To enjoy ourselves more while we dust our shelves and clean the bathroom, we usually get one of our computers out and blast some music. It is even better when it is a sunny day and we have all of the windows open letting the fresh air in.

This playlist I first made as a smooth driving tunes mix that would satisfy both our parents and us when I am in the drivers seat (yes, we are 19 and still on our L's). However, I discovered that the mix also works well with cooking and cleaning. I added a few songs, and now we have the perfect domestic task playlist filled with many old and new tunes for easy listening, and dancing around singing into your broom. 

WARNING: There is a lot of adult contemporary on here. 

 

What are some of your favourite mixes or playlists?

Stay Gold,

Claire & Grace x
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p.s What? you can embed Spotify playlists?! Well this is just a game changer.

Funfetti Cupcakes

Hello all!

The latest season of Great British Bake-Off has begun (hooray!) and we are LOVING it so far. As always, when watching Bake Off, we just want to bake all the time!

We had a Betty Crocker box in our pantry for a while ever since they were on special for like $1.50 (bargain!) Keen for a night in, we decided to finally make the delicious vanilla cupcakes. EXCEPT WITH A TWIST. We decided to make them Funfetti Cupcakes, which is a trend that has been going around for a while, especially on Pinterest. 

Basically, Funfetti is when you add rainbow (or any) coloured sprinkles to a cake, which then melt into the batter and create a confetti type effect. Super cute and fun (hence the name)

We also made the white icing the box came with pink with some food dye because who doesn't like pink?!

The ingredients: Vanilla Cupcake mix, 2 large eggs, 1/2 a cup of milk, 60gm of butter, rainbow sprinkles and pink food dye (for the icing)

As it says on the box, you mix the butter, milk and eggs in a bowl with the cake mix, add some rainbow sprinkles, bake the cupcakes and hey presto, Funfetti cupcakes!

We are in no way claiming this recipe as our own. It's just a cake mix and some sprinkles. 

However, Zoella made some from scratch, so you can check her video out! (super baking envy with that bronze Kitchen Aid of her's...)

The sprinkles we used were quite pale, because they were the only ones Coles had, but you can kind of see the confetti effect in this photo. Super cute, super fun, and that pink frosting though!!

To make the icing pink, we emptied the pre-made frosting from the mix into a small bowl, added a couple of drops of pink food dye and just mixed it all up. To ice the cupcakes, we made a make-shift piping bag out of a sandwich bag with a corner cut off. 

They taste so good! Hopefully in the future we can bring you more baking posts (from following an actual recipe/from scratch, we promise) in the future. What would you like to challenge us to bake?! Note: we are not as skilled as the contestants on Bake-Off, so no 3D biscuit sculpture's please. 

What is your favourite thing to bake? We'd love to know!

Also, if you're a fan of Bake Off too, come talk to us about it! Any season at all, because Grace has watched all of them.

Bake-Off time is all the time.

Stay Gold!

C & G xx

A Post About Grocery Shopping | Claire

Hello, all!

EXAM PERIOD IS AT ITS END! 

I (Claire) finished last Wednesday, after having 4 essays due in 3 days (living the fast life), and Grace finished today! For all of you who have also finished, congratulations! May your days be spent in bed binge watching Netflix/Stan/Presto (ok, let's be honest. We're all using Netflix, aren't we?) as your life is free from academia once more. 

And to those of you who are still going, YOU CAN DO IT. But ugh, studying is the worst, isn't it? Remember to take breaks and don't work yourself too hard. Passing is important but so is your health. 

With swotvac and exam period, we were two very busy bees. So much so, that by the end of last week we had no washing powder, had squeezed the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube, and all we had to eat were 2 minute noodles, soup, and mac and cheese. All great food options, but not ideal to live off. When you have so many essays to write, grocery shopping just doesn't seem like an option. So last Friday morning, when I was enjoying the start of my Uni break and Grace had a couple days until her next one, we wrote a list, took our personal shopping trolley (this nifty thing from ikea), and set off to our closest Coles. 

Now, if you haven't already gathered, Grace and I live out of home, and so grocery shopping is up to us. Planning meals is probably the hardest part of independent living, as well as finding the time to go to the supermarket (check out  part one of Grace's adventures in the kitchen here). However, grocery shopping is Grace's favourite time of the week, and I will have to agree. You see, we have a routine. Every Saturday morning we clean the apartment (somewhat) and then we go grocery shopping. This is the same routine our Mum has back at home, which we helped with and carried through with us here. (Thanks, Mum <3) 

We really enjoy grocery shopping, but we are not sure why. Is it the freedom to put whatever food you want in the trolley without someone to say no? (Kind of. We still stop each other from getting unnecessary food items from time to time. Remember to keep an eye on that budget!) Or is it the "adult-ness" of it? It is all so grown up, doing your own grocery shopping. We think this must be it. 

Moving to Melbourne and having our own apartment/routine in the city is something we have always looked forward to while in high school. Is that weird? Perhaps we watched too many movies/TV shows growing up. But which TV show glorifies being an adult? Because Suddenly 30 (That's 13 Going on 30 for you non-Australians), definitely doesn't. Maybe it's our love of watching YouTubers and their vlogs... 

Nonetheless, trivial things like going grocery shopping makes us happy! It's like we have control of our lives, and being twins, I guess being independent is more important to us... even if we are being independent together, it's more like we get to ease into it together. Grace has been doing the independent life longer than I have, since I was at a residential college on campus last year and all of my food was prepared for me (shout out to the kitchen staff!), so we help each other. 

If you have made it this far with a post about grocery shopping, we love your dedication!

We don't have that many tips with grocery sopping, other than always look for specials, and even then, check all the price tags and see what the cheapest option is. Just because it is on special, doesn't mean it is the cheapest option. Also, try and plan your meals for the week before you go. That way you can stay focused and get what you need, as well as get in and out of there without wasting 10 minutes staring at a shelf. 

All in all, we appreciate the trivial things in life. We are so happy, and lucky, to be able to living in Melbourne and have this as our life. Like, we are living the dream, basically. Living in Melbourne with jobs, great friends, and studying what we love at a University we love. We are so grateful to have these opportunities. So yeah, we are happy we get to go grocery shopping. It means we are growing up and are at a place where we can afford to do that. Which is pretty special. 

Now that we are on Uni break, let's see if we post more! Here's to hoping!

Stay Gold,

Claire x

Grace's Adventures in the Kitchen

Welcome back!

Last week was terribly busy for the two of us. With churning out essays after essays, (trying to) stay on top of readings, work and Claire's rehearsals until 10:30 each night, cooking dinner was my only break from studying. I don't know what it is about the cooler weather, but it always makes me want to cook and get more creative in the kitchen. I'm not usually fancy when it comes to cooking, but I felt like mixing it up a bit, as I was heading into dangerous territory of cooking the same meals each week. Pinterest and my copy of Charlotte Pike's Hungry Student's Cookbook (Vegetarian edition) have become my new best friends! All of the meals that I cooked this week came from these two sources. I am desperately on the look out for the other two Hungry Student Cookbooks, especially the baking one! I am in love with my copy of the vegetarian one, and I'm not even a vegetarian! Just because you are a student does not mean that you must live off mi goreng and baked beans on toast! So, without further ado, I present to you the first installment of Grace's Adventures in the Kitchen!

(Sorry that there are not photos for all of the meals. I'm kind of a terrible food photographer.)

MONDAY: Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Recipe found here

Lately, Claire and I have been opting to make our own schnitzel (especially because veal schnitzel is so expensive!). Our first attempt was kind of a failure. Remember: flour, then egg! Crumbed chicken products our one of our weaknesses, so making our own nuggets seemed like the logical decision. By making your own, you know that it is 100% chicken breast! One chicken breast should be enough to feed two people. We used two and ended up with too many.

TUESDAY: Butternut Squash and Tomato Gratin

Recipe from The Hungry Student Vegetarian  Cookbook by Charlotte Pike.

My oh my, did I enjoy this too much! Basically, a gratin is just a fancy way of saying potato bake. All this recipe is, is butternut pumpkin, a can of diced tomatoes, cream and cheese. A can of diced tomatoes is one of my pantry must haves. I feel that you should always have one in stock at all times, because they can be used in so many things! Also, pumpkin is in season, so it is cheap at the moment (Around $1 per kg.). Once I figured out how to chop and peek a pumpkin, this was super easy to make. I served it on its own, but you could easily use this as a side dish, or even serve it with pasta, and have plenty of leftovers. 10/10, would recommend. I want to make it again already!

WEDNESDAY: Jacket Potatoes with Creamy Mushrooms

Jacket potatoes are so easy and filling (when you have the time to wait 60-75 minutes for it to cook in the oven), and potatoes are inexpensive. To dress it up a little, I chose the creamy mushroom filling that was also in the Hungry Student Cookbook. Claire was craving bacon, so I added some chopped bacon pieces in there too. Add some cheese on top, and voila! An easy meal.

THURSDAY: Beany Nachos

Recipe from Hungry Student Vegetarian Cookbook.

I felt super proud of myself for deciding to cook this one, because I got to use up a few things I already had in my pantry/fridge. The only ingredient I had to buy for this was the corn chips (just plain Coles brand worked fine) and another can of tomatoes, as I already had kidney beans, sour cream, a little bit of salsa I really needed to use, and avocado on hand. Plus, this was also inexpensive as I didn't need to buy mince (which the price for just went up $1). I added a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste just to help thicken the sauce a little bit, which made it extra tomato-ey, but that's okay. Once again, 10/10 impressed with this cookbook!

FRIDAY: Leftover Nacho Sauce with Pasta

This meal is basically what it is. I had some leftover kidney bean and tomato sauce from the night before, so I heated some up, cooked some pasta, and boom. Dinner made easy. To add more veggies, I had some broccoli on the side.

So there is the first installment of this series. With mid-year break coming up, I will have time to perhaps spend time on more complicated dishes! Plus, there are a few baking recipes I want to try. 

Let me know if you decide to try any of these recipes, or what you have been enjoying cooking lately. I am always looking for more cooking inspiration!

Stay Gold,

Grace. 

Bananaberry Smoothies (Or as Grace likes to call them, Grace's Summer Spectacular!)

Hello all!

So, we are not the most amazing cooks, nor do we aspire to be chefs, or even mixologists, so who are we to post recipes? BUT it is summer, and summer means smoothies! This Bananaberry smoothie (if you can call it that with the amount of ice-cream we put in it), is our go-to flavour and is super easy to make. They are also pretty simple, so feel free to mix and change the ingredients as you wish.

(None of these brands have paid us for using their products. Use what you want. We aren't that famous yet)

INGREDIENTS: 

Milk
Boysenberry Ice Cream - Vanilla is our usual flavour, but we just had boysenberry in the freezer today

2 Banana's
Strawberry Yogurt

PROCESS:

Basically, just judge how much of each thing you want, pop them in a blender or your blending tool of choice. For example, we have a stick blender our mother bought us from Big W when we moved out, especially for this purpose. We just place all of the ingredients in a jug and combine, and voila! 

TO SERVE:

We love our mason jar mugs, like the common white girls we are. The clear one is from K-Mart and the yellow one is from the South Melbourne Market. Add a cute straw for #aesthetic

Let us know if you try it out. And don't forget to follow us on our social media's!
 Instagram: @gracefulandclaireblog
Twitter @graceful_claire
Facebook: Graceful and Claire

Stay cool, friends!

- Claire and Grace