I'm a full-time mummy

If you have been following my blog regularly, you would know I go crazy over chocolates. Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to review food and it was Nutella Chocolate Chip cupcakes without the icing/frosting. I love eating them so much and I think it shows in my review and the sponsor was so happy reading my glowing review that she baked me another batch of cupcakes. And I got hooked and after a few weeks, I ordered another batch from the sponsor (am getting embarrassed for eating for free hahaha!)

At this point, I think it is sufficient to say that yes, I am addicted to the Nutella cupcakes and I spent some time Googling for the similar recipe to make it. And yes, I managed to find it and gathered up my courage to drive my long-time-untouched car by myself (the last time I drove the car was when I was pregnant with Alyson) to the nearest baker's shop to get the ingredients and waited for the right day, chucked my girl to my MIL to take care and I gave it a try, so without further ado, here goes:

SELF-FROSTING NUTELLA CUPCAKES

PREPARATION TIME: ABOUT 40 MINUTES

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons butter, softened  (I used about 125g of butter at room temperature)
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted  (I used wheat flour, can't find AP flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Nutella, approximately 1/3 cup  (I didn't measure this, just scoop based on how addicted I am to Nutella which probably might be about 10 tbsp : 1 tbsp for each cupcake?)

What to Do?

* Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper liners.
* Cream together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, waiting til one is incorporated before adding the next. Mix in vanilla.
* Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt until incorporated and completely mixed. DO NOT OVERMIX!
* Scoop into liners, filling each 3/4 full. Add a teaspoon of nutella to the top of each and swirl in with a toothpick.

* Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean (don’t insert it into the nutella swirl, make sure it goes into just the cake). Remove from pan and move to a wire rack to cool completely.

THE RESULTS

REACTIONS FROM MY "GUINEA PIGS"

ME	"A bit too moist but otherwise.... ahhhh... nice....!" Note to self: Must try other cupcake liners as the one used is a bit hard, suspect it causes the cupcakes to be too moist and shrink up at the sides (too dry at top?)
BEN	"Mmmmm! Somemore!"
HUBBY	"Very moist, nice!"
MIL	"Not bad, not too sweet!"

So there you go.... my attempt of making SELF-FROSTING NUTELLA CUPCAKES!

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!  

Few months back, I have the opportunity to review this wonderful website which is aim at providing information such as recipes, news and more to nursing mothers as well as giving the avenue for mothers to interact with the professional staff on the site with regards to food intake and breastfeeding matters. So here goes my review for the "EatingForBreastfeeding " website:

Description from the product page:
"We have a free video series we are offering right now. To access the rest of the content, a viewer has to purchase a membership.  With that, they get life-time access to the site. We have video interviews with our Registered Dietician talking about the foods they should and shouldn't be consuming while nursing, meal plans, recipes, shopping lists, etc. We also have a section where members can ask questions directly to our Registered Dietician. Our goal is to be their personal nutritionist while they are nursing, so mom and baby get the most out of breastfeeding."

Note from sponsor:

"We are adding a section that will provide nursing moms with 5 recipes a week for a full year (plus a shopping list each week)! We want them to get all the nutrients we recommend, so we have brought a chef on board to provide original recipes containing the foods nursing mamas need :-)  We will be rolling that out within the next month."

Feedback for "Home" section:

The website is easy to navigate, with the following sections on the menu tab: Home, Ask Stacy, Recipes, Meal Plans & More, News and Resources. I like the list of videos provided in this section such as Breastmilk Basics. A very informational video clip!

Feedback for "Ask Stacy" section:

I like that members of this site can get to ask questions directly to the registered dietician! The Q&A layout makes it easy to see the questions and replies but I would prefer if there are categories for each questions asked so that it is easier and quicker to search through the topics we wanted to look for instead of scrolling up and down each Q&A.

Feedback for "Recipes, Meal Plans & More" section:

I like the recipes provided though I'm not sure whether it's my Firefox setting or what but the bulleted list of recipes is not aligned properly with the recipe names. I'm just a bit particular with alignments hahahah... I also appreciate the meal plans in PDF format provided as well as the shopping list and more. I totally love the freezer fridge guidelines in this section!

Feedback for "News " section:

In this section, there are news relating to pregnancy, baby, formula and more which may be of interests to mothers. I would appreciate if there are more news being added to this section as there are currently not much articles in this section.

Feedback for "Resources" section:

In this section, there is a list of websites which members can check out to get more information on other resources. I think it would be great if websites such as Kellymom.com or LLL are being included into this section as well.

Summary of feedback:

I think there are a whole lot more potential for this website as I don't get to see many websites which has information with regards to eating healthily for breastfeeding mothers, what more with a registered dietician on site to answer any questions you may have!

I do however think there should be more information and articles provided to keep members interested and to stay on to this website.

You can find out more info from http://eatingforme.com/

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the member access by EatingForBreastfeeding.com in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

I was blessed with another opportunity to review a range of hair care products after reviewing some beauty products by the sister company of Shielo. So here goes my review for the "Shielo Haircare Products":

Description from the FB page:
"Shielo Hair Technology & Care was created in New York City in 2001 when salon industry leaders modernized the hair care industry by providing new technologies in the first voluminous technologies. A need was identified among top salons in New York City and their clientele for more voluminous styles, while including the effort to enhance and fortify hair care products with volumizing and color protecting elements.

Our philosophy is to create products with integrity and ensure that we preserve the future well-being of our environment. Shielo is against animal cruelty and proud to use post-consumer recycled and recyclable packaging."

I received a total of 3 items for my review: VOLUME Volumizing Shampoo, VOLUME Volumizing Conditioner and ANTIOXIDANT Leave in Protectant.  

The reason why I requested to review the VOLUME range of hair care products is because this range gives hair volume and greater strength and flexibility while nourishing my hair with Protein and Vitamin B12 (based on the product description).

FYI, I have been shedding hair like crazy for the last few months now that my hormones are stabilising back after delivering Alyson back in September 2011.

I love the lemony citrusy smell of the shampoo and conditioner and actually look forward to shampooing my hair more often nowadays!

After testing the products for a month, I realised that my hair is bouncier and looks thicker as well. I love the new feel of my hair as well. As for the Leave in Protectant, although my hair is not colored, it helps to protect my hair and minimize my frizzy hair. I just spray on some on the palm of my hand few minutes before I plan to go out and then I'm good to go!

You can browse all the hair care products at http://www.shielo.com/

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product by Shielo in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.