French-Inspired Kitchens | Monday Decor Ideas

We spent some time house hunting yesterday and came across one house that had the most beautiful French-inspired kitchen. Really well done with a lot of attention to detail: white crockery, glass fronted doors, slightly vintage-styled white wooden cabinets, a butcher’s sink and lots of light airy space…

There’s a lot you can do to transform your kitchen into a French-styled space: a coat of white paint, vintage door handles on your cabinets, strategically placed wooden shelves displaying great knicknacks, wooden detail, open shelves displaying your crockery and even some vintage wallpaper 🙂 Today’s post on The Good Girls Guide is all dedicated to beautiful French kitchens – be inspired and share your inspiration!

Breadboards & Subway Tiles | source Pinterest

Classic Butcher’s Sink | source House Beautiful

Vintage Black & White French Kitchen | source House to Home

Gorgeous Pale Blue Cabinets | source Houzz.com

Mint & Ceramics | source Pinterest

Modern & Vintage Wood | source Pinterest

Cute Storage & French Wallpaper | source Pinterest

Summer, Smoothies & Yuppiechef LOVE!

I am feeling SUMMER in the air! Wandering down Kloof Street at lunch time today I was accosted by singing birds, whistling painters, cute pastel & lace outfits, open-toed shoes and brilliant rays of sunshine beaming down onto people & cars. Plus, Table Mountain looked pretty amazing.

Made me long for a smoothie! Good thing that Kauai is just a few steps away to meet my craving, but got me to thinking that I need to pull out my stick blender & smoothie maker that have both been hiding away for most of winter.

Speaking of smoothies, I got this great email from YUPPICHEF today (one of the best I tell you) with a link to a great post on smoothie making – here are some of the instructions on how to use the Morphy Richards Food Fusion Stick Blender by Lisa the editor of Spatula Magazine, plus a super delicious banana & berry layered smoothie – just in time for summer!

Ingredients (for two smoothies)

For the bottom layer:
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 ripe banana
1 Tbsp honey
Pinch of cinnamon

For the top layer:
10 strawberries
3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup yoghurt

Tip: use frozen berries for a super-chilled smoothie.

Method

1. First make your bottom layer. Add the bananas, yoghurt, cinnamon and honey and blitz with the stick blender.
2. Pour the smoothie into a glass and wash out the measuring jug so you can start afresh with your top layer ingredients. Your bottom layer needs to be the heavier of the two. You can put the first layer into the freezer for approximately 10 minutes as this will allow it to set a little.

3. Now blitz together the second layer ingredients.
4. Gently pour or spoon the top layer over the first and serve with a sprig of mint and some fresh blueberries.

Enjoy.

Chocolate Board of Yumminess! | Friday Recipe Inspiration

As it’s Friday (and it’s still cold and rather mis outsides still) – this post is dedicated to the best comfort food in the world – CHOCOLATE! Whether it’s cake, biscuits, croissants, mousse, pudding, cupcakes or plain old blocks – chocolate is still one of the best ‘little pleasures’ in the world 🙂

If you’ve got any great chocolate inspired recipes you’d like to share with the Good Girls Guide readers – please post as a comment below! Always looking for more ways to spoil  ourselves, our husbands & boyfriends and our friends 🙂 Have a super weekend everyone! God bless x

all photos from Pinterest.

Country Style Kitchens | Home & Decor Inspiration

I’ve always LOVED country kitchens! My favourite bits are the centre islands, hanging brassware, fresh cut flowers, white-washed wooden cupboards and vintage additions like old kettles or tins or plates… I would love to be able to have a kitchen like that someday!

If you’re thinking of country styling your kitchen, remember the following: it doesn’t have to be super neat, a little bit of ‘artfully misplaced’ items add to the overall effect; a vase of fresh flowers always wins; source vintage items from second hand shops to add to your upper most shelves as decor (think china plates, brass tourines etc); make sure there’s an element of wood – whether white washed, natural or crisply painted a white or bright colour.

Check out these awesome inspirational ideas to make your kitchen more ‘country‘:

Natural Stone Walled Kitchen | source Elle Decor

Classic Center Island Kitchen | source Pinterest

Cosy Country Kitchen | source Pinterest

French-Inspired Cream Kitchen | source Country Living

Light & Airy Country Kitchen | source Pinterest

At Home in the Country | source Pinterest

Romantic Country Kitchen | source Herblog.com

In the Kitchen This Year – Some 2012 @Home Design Ideas

Hey all 🙂 Having a chilled weekend as my hubby is off in East London and racing the 70.3 Ironman event tomorrow, but have gotten down to some good clearing, cleaning and tidying, and just made me appreciate a clean and tidy kitchen! Oh boy, sparkling, pretty and new is all I need in a kitchen.

Maybe this year’s decor/design ideas need to go domestic, ie: stop recovering your lounge suite or painting your bedroom walls – maybe it’s adding a few awesome touches to your kitchen to make it become a place you actually LIKE to be, because whether we like it or not, we all spend a fair amount of time there!

And so without further ado, here are my Kitchen Design ideas and DIY tips for 2012:

Update Your Window Space | source here.

Add A Pop of Colour | source here.

Turn Your Kitchen into a Cafe | source here.

Go Glamourous with a Lighting Fixture | source here.

Add a Quirky Touch to a Modern Space | source here.

Add a New Door to Your Pantry | source here.

Bring Out the Wrapping Paper! | source here.

Save Space & Add Removable Shelves | source here.

Farm Style Country Decor | Home Inspiration

I’ve always loved the pale colours and rough edges of traditional farm kitchens – and while achieving that look as a decor style around your entire home can be a little difficult, a country-style effect is really quite achievable!

Today on The Good Girls Guide I’ve sourced some amazing ideas and inspiration on how to create country-style goodness in your home – from the kitchen to the loft bedrooms to the little touches 🙂 It’s amazing what rough wood painted white, a few overflowing vases of soft flowers and some vintage touches can do!

Remember, it’s often ALL about the accessories. If you can add little bits of inspiration to your home, you can easily add a country-style look that’s not hard, inexpensive and just looks like you’re a vintage queen 🙂 Enjoy!

A Bucket of Flowers | source here.

A Country Cupboard | source here.

A Country-Style Loft Bedroom | source here.

A Gorgeous Country Kitchen | source here.

Sleeping in the Barn | source here.

Scaffolding Coffee Table | source here.

Traditional Farm Kitchen | source here.

Vintage Farm Kitchen | source here.

Nigella’s Chocolate Brownies | Friday Recipe

Ooh, Nigella Lawson – the Chef with the big ladle of cream, butter, sugar and yummy goodness. Now while it’s not a great idea to eat like that on a daily (ha, or weekly!) basis, it’s good to have a treat every now and then. I’m a firm believer that chocolate is good for the soul, body and mind.

Soul – you feel comforted, comfortable and happy

Body – you feel energized by the natural cocoa (ok, I just made that up)

Mind – you know that a gym class is just a drive away…

So today’s post on The Good Girls Guide is about a decadent little Nigella special – one of her chocolate brownies. FLOURLESS no less! Serve with ice-cream for more delishishshsness….

Ingredients

FOR THE BROWNIE:

• 225g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
• 225g butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 150g ground almonds
• 100g chopped walnuts

FOR THE SAUCE:

• 75g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
• 125ml double cream
• 2 x 15ml tablespoons
• Camp coffee or 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
• 1 x 15ml tablespoon golden syrup

Method

Serves: Makes 16 squares

1. For the brownie:
2. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Melt the chocolate and butter gently over a low heat in a heavy-based saucepan.
3. Take the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla and sugar, and let it cool a little.
4. Beat the eggs into the pan along with the ground almonds and chopped walnuts. Turn into a 24cm square baking tin or, most sensibly, use a foil one.
5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, by which time the top will have set but the mixture will still be gooey. Once cooler, cut carefully, four down, four across, into 16 squidgybellied squares.
6. For the sauce:
7. Break up the chocolate and put into a heavy-based saucepan.
8. Add the remaining ingredients, then place the pan over a gentle heat and let everything melt together.
9. Once everything has melted, stir well, take off the heat and pour into a jug to serve.

See Nigella’s recipe here.

Pasta Carbonara with Baby Marrows | Recipes to Enjoy

As it’s chilly, wet and cold today in Cape Town, I’d thought I’d share a delicious easy to prepare and WARM recipe that I used last week – to great acclaim from my husband – and it tasted amazing! If you’re a pasta fan – then read on 🙂

Pasta Carbonara (this recipe taken from Pick’nPay.com) is a classic Italian dish, and one thing I did find interesting is that they say to use pecorino cheese (not parmesan) as it’s the traditional way of making it. Pecorino is a bit more expensive however, so feel free to use freshly grated parmesan (not the finely ground pre-done one) if you like.

So, from The Good Girls Guide – enjoy this awesome tummy warmer this weekend:

Pasta Carbonara with Baby Marrows | source here.

Ingredients

• 1 packet  spaghetti
• 6 baby marrows, cut into thin strips
• 1 dash olive oil, for frying
• 1 packet back bacon, cut into strips
• 2 cloves of garlic, or 3, finely chopped
• 4 large free range eggs, beaten
• 125 ml pecorino cheese, finely grated
• 1 pinch salt and milled pepper

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Add baby marrows 2 – 3 minutes before the end of cooking. Drain and set aside.
• Heat a glug of oil in a large pan and fry bacon until crispy.
• Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
• Drain excess fat from pan and fry garlic for a minute.
• Add pasta, baby marrows and bacon to pan and toss well.
• Remove pan from heat. Quickly stir through the eggs, mixing until they begin to thicken, but not scramble.
• Add cheese, season and serve.
• ** Pecorino is a hard rind cheese similar to parmesan, originally made from sheep’s milk.

Enjoy with love and have a super weekend 🙂

Cupcake Inspiration | Yummy Ideas to Impress

Here’s something gorgeous to oogle over this morning – SERIOUSLY decadent and delicious cupcakes! I have a lovely group of girlfriends and we have bookclub every so often – and trust me – at least ONE will bring along a plate of superb looking cupcakes that we all applaud, take a sip of red wine and then declare:

“I could never make something that looks that good!”

The thing with baking (as I’m slowly learning) – sticking to the recipe is actually quite key. It’s not like a stirfry or curry or whatnot that you just chuck things into, it’s about ensuring your measurements are exact. Once the actual thing is made, well then all it comes down to is, creative decoration:

Some great ideas for easy Wowing, Applauding, Red Wining & Declaring:

• cute fruit like rasperries, blueberries or strawberries
• some sparkly edible things like silver balls
• a great recipe for delicious-tasting icing
• food colouring
• a dollop of cream or caramel or whipped custard
• cute paper cups
• a shake of icing sugar over the lot
• a gorgeous plate to serve on

And that’s Cupcake Inspiration. Yum!

Photos from Wedding Bee, Food.Lohudblogs, Sugarbloomcupcakes, musicisart, Cupcake Inspirations, Designzzz, ireallylikefood, polyvore, and ilovemuffins