day 278: raisin bread pudding

bread pudding served with yoghurt

day 278 and day 8 with steve.  to be honest things were a bit rushed today and felt a bit stressed about what to do for kirstys blog.  dinner was already sorted thanks to left-overs from day 276 great grandmas stew beef, so i thought "how about a pudding?".  a quick search on pinterest turned up this recipe for Bread Pudding from allrecipes.com.

a perfect way to use day-old bread, better yet this recipe nails four eggs 

raisins were optional but i couldn't help myself 

i cant believe how easy this is

wow.....five minutes later its in the oven

outcome:  my mum used to make bread pudding and i loved it.  i knew the kids would love this because it was pudding.  i went out on a limb with this because years ago kirsty tried bread pudding and she didn't like it.  kirsty really liked this version though (it didn't taste eggy) and i still cant believe how simple it was to prepare.

bread pudding is old-school and so was the perfect thing to have after great grandmas stew beef.  and on that note, the stew beef was even better with mashed potatoes!

day 277: st patricks day themed home-school

thanks to everyone who left comments on yesterdays post.  kirsty and i really enjoyed reading them!!!

day 277 and day 7 with steve.  today is a bit different as we chose to print out numerous ideas from kirstys st patricks luck board on pinterest and incorporate them into a themed home-school day.  as you can see, ben is still wearing his favourite hat so was right into the theme!
the worksheets came from a variety of websites:

• enchantedlearning.com: a tabbed workbook providing a great overview of the saint, symbolism, and irish culture.
• hellokids.com: nifty little leprechauns treasure box that we filled with chocolate gold coins.
• educatorworksheets.com: good variety of craft, spelling, comprehension and math exercises.

you would be surprised at what these will teach your kids......did you know for instance that a rainbow is actually a complete circle but we can only see part of it?  i didnt until my kids told me today (followed quickly by a sly-dad google confirmation).

a hive of activity

word association exercise

word search exercise

leprechauns treasure box craft exercise

outcome:  home-schooling has been a challenge over the last week with kirsty out of action.  these fun worksheets allowed the kids to be fully engaged throughout the day with kirsty nearby resting flat!  the day was finished up with a small craft exercise with dad to pimp out a few eggs leprechaun style.

bens

pollys

day 276: great-grandma’s stew beef

day 276 and day 6 with steve.  before i get started i have a challenge for kirstys readers and followers out there.  hundreds of people visit kirstys blog each day.  a small group of you regularly leave comments and i thought this would be a great time for some of the shyer people out there to come out and tell kirsty what you think of her blog in general, or perhaps what your favourite blog entry was......better yet if this has inspired you in any way to try one of kirstys blog entries.
to be honest, part of me is wondering if my efforts (complete with kiwi blokey humour) might have turned some people off the blog......so this is also about my piece of mind.

anyhow the weather here today is cold and wintery.  we also had more doctor appointments throughout the day so i thought a crock-pot meal would be perfect.  my taste is pretty old-school and nothing is more old-school than great grandmas stew beef which i found in kirstys recipe must do board on pinterest.  its easy and chances are you have all the ingredients in the pantry so no excuses not to give it a try right?

no eggs required so they are happy.....

throw in cubed beef, pepper, onions, sage, onion soup mix and water......easy

oops.....collateral damage

time to thicken, and lastly add the parsley

served with brown rice and silverbeet........grandma says "you got to have your greens sonny"

outcome:  amazing really.  perfect combination of flavours, there was no need to even add any salt!  there is also enough left over for tomorrow night where we will try this with mashed potato.  we all loved the meal as evident with ben lining up for seconds.

initially i was a bit sceptical when i saw onion soup mix in the ingredients.  was this really around when great-grandma was cooking for the family?  read the original posting on kitchenscoop.com where it explains how this recipe evolved over time to what it is now (click 'backstory' link next to 'recipe' tab).  im sure great-grandma would be amazed at the global efforts taken to recreate this meal.

ben lining up for seconds......excuse the hat, we are getting ready for st patricks day

day 275: eggs benedict

day 275, and day 5 with steve.  sunday morning and i woke up feeling like a fancy breakfast.  to be honest i have been thinking about eggs benedict for a couple days now since finding a bag of hollandaise sauce in the cupboard while getting ingredients together for an earlier creation.  todays creation came from izzy brodsky and repinned to kirstys recipe must do pinterest board. 

the originating website wasnt a recipe as such, but lets face it, eggs benedict is pretty simple and all about the hollandaise sauce and snappy execution.

i like to use pinterest ideas as a start point and adapt them a bit to suit taste and ingredient availability.  for this one we didnt have bacon but could use some leftover bbq sausages and ham.  we also didnt have english muffins but did have some fresh bread for thick toast.  yes hollandaise sauce can be made from scratch, but this product was advertised as "restaurant quality" and i will try anything once.

it looks like a ridiculous amount of silverbeet/spinach.....but it does reduce down a lot!

eggs are on so only a few minutes to get everything else ready

while the eggs and silverbeet/spinach were cooking, the sossies and ham were being reheated on the bbq (we use the bbq almost every day all year round).  with everything ready it was time to plate up.  here is where individual taste comes in.....from the top:

• polly likes a bit of parsley but no hollandaise sauce
• ben wanted the sauce but does not like parsley
• kirsty got the ham instead of left over bbq sausage
• steve got the lot

all plated up and ready to eat

outcome: this was awesome.  who doesn't like having this kind of quality breakfast on a sunday morning?  in NZ you could pay $10-15 for this in a cafe so it is definitely worth the little bit of effort at home.  at risk of sounding like im blowing my own trumpet, the image i took below is the best i have seen for eggs benedict on pinterest.  im looking forward to seeing it plastered all over pinterest in the coming weeks.

cafe quality if you ask me

day 274: Tipsy Pots

 

day 274 and steve is still filling in for kirsty.  today i felt the need to get outside, partly because i felt like i had put on 6-8 kilos due to all the baking this week.  browsing through kirstys boards i found a heap of outdoor projects that had my name on them.  this one in particular was repinned from stacey hutson garden ideas board.  it appealed because its both a bit quirky and quite clever.  i also knew that i had most of the materials lying around the property.

ingredients - mostly old, some things new

i did need to purchase a few extra pots, and the few i had needed a quick waterblast.  i used reinforcing rod (D12).  later on i could actually use this rebar like a rasp to make the holes a bit bigger in the smaller pots.

remember - always check for underground cables before ramming steel rod randomly about the garden

four hours later after being discharged from hospital, i proceeded with the test fit.  the end of the bar should be just covered (hidden) with potting mix.  you will see above that i started with a base pot level, but then below its tilted.  i just preferred the look with all pots tilted.

test fit the pots - ram the steel further if necessary

fill with potting mix and plant out

this quirky sculpture fits in well with our unstructured garden

finished product with flowers in full bloom

outcome: this last photo is proof that you just cant trust everything you see on the internet, but this is how i see the final result in my head.  im pretty pleased with the outcome and this is not something i would have thought of doing myself.  it was fun and in my view proves the value of pinterest.
thanks to nine is fine for the idea and easy to follow instructions.

day 273: everyday chocolate cake

a big day for us today which included confirmation that kirsty needs an operation for her back.  while this may still be 4-8 weeks away, be assured that kirsty will be back on 365 creations sooner rather than later.
there wasn't a lot of spare time today so i was lucky to find this recipe on kirstys recipe must do pinterest board.
im a sucker for any sort of chocolate cake, and this had "steves supper" written all over it.  check the recipe out on the original site collaborativecurry.com.

you should be scared, steves cooking again

who needs a beater when you move like the Flash

the recipe says "sift", clearly i didn't

see that bowl? im going to lick it clean!

im not a big fan of licking the batter, but let me tell you that this has got to be the best tasting batter ever!!!  i was sold on this before it even entered the oven.

out of the oven......it looks like it should.....

outcome:  it was the easiest recipe to follow and pretty idiot-proof.....but not completely.  i had the oven set at 375 instead of 325.  also our oven is fan-forced so this was a bit over-cooked after 35 minutes.  despite the stuff-up, the real proof is in the tasting and this did not disappoint.  the only disappointment will be on my kids faces tomorrow when they realise dad didn't leave them any.
a couple of other points to note:

• those eggs crack me up so expect to see more while i am in charge
• diabetics beware, the amount of sugar in this could kill you.  remember, "don't be a rooster, first have a booster" (i am a type 1 diabetic so speak from experience)
• this really is the easiest chocolate cake recipe.  any muppet could do it!

day 272: Rhubarb Strussel Cupcakes

 

day 272 and its steve again.....kirsty is still lying on the floor.  rest assured that i dont just leave her there.  we have regular family outings to the doctors and specialists etc, so definitely working towards getting her mobile again.
by now you are probably seeing certain themes coming through with me at the helm.  i enjoy food, love rhubarb, and am trying to use up the eggs.  todays creation covers off all of the above and comes from Barbara Haks pinterest recipes board.

one egg knows whats coming.....the others think they are better than me!

i showed them stoopid eggs whose boss.....mwa ha ha haaaaaaar

thats all the rhubarb gone.....what am i going to do tomorrow?

thats the way the crumble crumbles

all ready for the oven........can you tell a bloke did this?

outcome: these kept the kids and one of their friends happy at afternoon tea time.  kirsty casually lay on the floor and scoffed one (no picture available.....well there was but only an idiot would dare use it), and i ate several (again no picture, but i can tell you it was not pretty to watch).  these were really tasty especially with the crumble topping.

give them a crack!  if i can do it, you can!

three eggs were harmed in the making of this pinterest creation.