Caramel Pudding? Yes, Caramel Pudding!!

I like pudding.  And, contrary to what most pudding instruction say, I'd rather not chill my pudding...  I like it warm.  I remember making "real" pudding when I was a little girl.  When I say "real", what I mean is that it came out of a box, but you still had to "cook & serve" it, as opposed to just mixing it with milk and putting it in the fridge.  My mother would put me in charge of making the pudding and I thought I was really suffering when the heat began to make my had warm while I waited for the chocolate liquid to begin to thicken.  When it was thickened, I would pour it into small Tupperware dishes.  After dinner, I'd dive into the slightly warm dessert, skin and all.  I loved it. 

When I was going through my new cupcake book, I was intrigued to see a homemade recipe for caramel pudding.  I had to try it.  This did NOT come from a box... It's the real deal friends. 

In this picture, you can sort of see the picture of the pudding in the book.  On the stove, I'm whisking the whole milk and the cream, preparing it to add to the egg/cornstarch/spices mixture that I have waiting in my Bosch. 

You have to pour the hot milk/cream into the egg mixture very slowly, whisking the whole time, so you don't end up cooking the eggs... Scrambled eggs in your pudding would be gross.

Once this is all combined, I poured everything back into the sauce pan and added the caramel and some butter.  I heated it for about 5 minutes till it was thickened and the caramel was mixed in completely. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Then, I scooped the pudding with a ladle and put it into my ramekins.  The recipe says it makes eight 6oz servings.  I don't know exactly how much each of my ramekins holds (probably around 6 oz), but each one was filled and I was able to fill 3 more small bowls. 
 
The review from the Peanut Gallery:  These were delicious...  I used my homemade vanilla and real vanilla beans, so the flavor was a wonderful caramelly/vanilla and just delicious.  Everyone liked it.  The kids had theirs chilled.  Roger and I had ours warm...Oh My Word!!  It was good!  The only problem was that it was quite rich and no one, except me, could finish theirs.  I could have spread it out into about 12-14 dishes and that would have been fine. 
 

I'm Back...With Cupcakes!

     I know, I know...pick yourself up off your chair.  It's been a while.  Over a year.  Is it strange that I enjoy reading other people's blogs, but feel like it's silly to write about our life because no one will think it's worth reading?  Anyway, I've found myself on a little "kick" lately.  About 6 months ago, I was eating at a local restaurant that had a TV and there was a show on that had me, and my family, entranced.  It was "Cupcake Wars".  We sat there for an hour and watched the whole show.  It's on the Food Network, and unfortunately, we don't have that channel at our house.  So, I was on the search to find those episodes.  I found the episodes on YouTube and was so excited to see most of the first 5 seasons.  So, I made a little plan with myself...I only watch the show when I'm on my treadmill.  Each show is 42 minutes long and it's just the right amount of time for a decent workout.  I'm able to walk about 2.25-2.5 miles each episode.  I look forward to it every night! 

     Naturally, it's also inspired me to make some cupcakes.  I came across a cupcake cookbook a few weeks ago while at Barnes & Noble.  It's written by the gals that are on another Food Network show called DC Cupcakes.  I found a few of those episodes on YouTube as well.  Anyway, I've been baking ever since!

     So, I've decided to make all the cupcakes in this book and give you a little review of how it goes.

I got all the ingredients together.  The eggs, butter, and milk were at room temperature...  I used homemade Madagascar vanilla.  I sifted the flour and added it to the creamed butter and sugar.  It looked great.

Then, I gently folded in the coconuts. 

I immedately noticed that there was quite a bit of batter.  The recipe said that it made 12 standard cupcakes.  I planned to make 2 batches for a couple of events that were coming up...  As I began to fill the cups, I knew that there was going to be way more than 12.  I was able to make 21 cupcakes.  I filled them 2/3 full and put them in the oven. 

My oven has a bake setting as well as a convection bake setting.  I had put it on bake because sometimes the fan that spins during the convection setting can make baked goods cook faster on one side.  The recipe said 18 minutes, but I ended up leaving these in the oven for 25 minutes!  I checked them at 18 and they were still  liquid.  I put them in 2 more minutes at a time and pulled them out when they were perfect.  They looked great.  I had the ingredients for another batch so I went ahead and put those in the oven.  I switched it to convection oven and these were done in about 20 minutes.  They all looked awesome! 

I made the cream cheese frosting and then got to work on the fun part.  After I frosted each one, I covered it in sweetened coconut.  I think they turned out beautiful. 

Here's what they look like in the book... 

The Peanut Gallery's Review:  Several members of my family are not big fans of coconut.  I knew this and made a few of the cupcakes without the coconut on top...just cream cheese frosting. 

The cakes were wonderful.  There was a slight coconut flavor, but not overpowering.  They were wonderfully moist.  The frosting was wonderful.  I put a little extra on some of them, and was a little light on the others so the family could choose what they like.  Roger liked them with the light amount of frosting.  Zack liked them with the heavier amount of frosting.  I liked them all!  Yum!

The tastes of summer...

Here's what I harvested on Monday. I enjoyed a yummy strawberry salad.



With the left over strawberries, I made this:



Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake... My family was singing my praises!

Where'd April go?

It's May. It was a long April. First, this happened...



My oldest went to the prom. This is the beginning of his final month of high school. I can't really discuss this. I'm just a little bit of a wreck...

Then, this happened. Siloam Springs received about 14 inches of rain in 12 hours. Our lovely basement couldn't handle the water. We brought up every single thing that was in our basement. We put it here in the family room,


In the entry way by the front door,

and in the living room with the piano.

We also had stuff in our bedroom and in the garage. These pictures just don't do the mess justice. On top of all that, during the same week, I had a dogwood festival booth to take care of, as well as a home school reception to organize. It was a rough month. Ironically, the rooms I had planned to "simplify" for the month of April were the entry way and the living room. I'm giving myself the freedom to do those rooms in May instead.

The basement is now dry, and we're slowly getting everything put away. It's been a good excuse to clean the basement.

In other business... I am still "wearing what I have". I could probably go ahead and post some new pictures now that I'm wearing summer stuff. I was tempted to do a little shopping for my birthday, but I resisted.

The garden is going strong and I had my first harvest of lovely lettuce about 10 days ago. The strawberries have come back strong and we'll have a huge crop in about 2 weeks. We've spent the last 3 days outside trying to soak up the wonderful weather...we know what's coming in about 4 weeks.

As we head into May, we have our last day of home school on Friday. PTL!! Zack graduates on the 21st and there will be various receptions, luncheons, assemblies the day before and after. Zane continues school, and Katie continues band, till June 4. Once again, the school year has flown by. Just trying to soak up every moment...

March Simplify Results

It's March 30th and I'm so thrilled with the results of my school-room project. I wasn't sure it would work for me to get it all done in about 10 days, but things turned out so well. Our school room had become a catch-all for chunky, wooden, furniture. We are so grateful to have a room for school, but if we're going to be doing school in this room for many more years, we should at least enjoy our room. I just love how this turned out. The first thing was to take everything...I mean EVERYTHING, out of the room and paint. The name of the color is Greenhouse Basil and even the name makes me happy! I cleaned and painted all evening on Friday and finished the 2nd coat on Saturday night. My other plan was to get rid of some of the furniture and replace it with items that were cleaner looking, more streamlined... I made a mad dash to IKEA on Tuesday and brought back the computer desk/hutch, and the kids long desk. I also found the red shelf brackets and the chairs. We put everything together on Tuesday night and I got busy for the rest of the week putting all the stuff back in the room.

Here's a picture of the wardrobe and the bookshelf and a picture of the "new" corner of the room. We found this wardrobe at a warehouse sale and Roger added a hinged desk to the front. I don't really use that as a desk anymore, so I removed it and then cleaned up the inside. I got rid of the book shelf. These shelves hold a year's worth of books. I replaced the book shelf with the wall shelves. You can see in the new picture the little boxes under the kids' desk. Once they're done with one of their books, they can put it in their case so we don't lose it.

Here's a picture of the computer corner. This wooden computer desk is supposed to be able to close when you're not using it, but because of the way it's against the wall, and because the printer is right next to it, we've never used the doors. And, it gets so dusty in the back. And, I threw out about 100 computer discs that either don't work, or I have no idea what's on them. The amount of outdated stuff was unreal! It felt good to get that out of the room and replace it with the new one from IKEA. You can also see in the left side of the "old" picture a small desk next to the window. This was given to us but is just too small for Sam. And, it takes up more space than it's worth. So, Sam and Nate use the new long table/desk in the picture above. Also, I removed the wipe board from the window, It was so old and stained, so I got rid of it. I used a credit that I had at Office Max and bought a new one and hung it on the wall behind the door.

I think this is the best part of our new room. In the old room, I had an oak table in the middle of the room. This served as Nate's desk as well as just a place for the kids to create. The problem is that it was just so intrusive in our room and made it difficult to get around. I got rid of it! The only piece of large furniture that I kept was the wardrobe. I moved it to the opposite corner and got it all cleaned up. Katie's desk sits next to it.

Finally, I have a few things hanging on the wall and the door. I really tried to use wall space wisely, but also to make it attractive.

I just can't tell you how much I love the new look. The kids love it, I love it...we will just love walking into that room every day to do school... Right?

And, I now have a boat load of furniture that I hope to sell to pay for the new stuff. Maybe I should have a little "blog garage sale".

April is turning into a real bear on our calendar, so I think I'll choose a room that is a little less involved. I'm thinking about it.... I'll let you know.

,

Saturday

Not a lot to post right now... Just feeling very thankful on this rainy Saturday.

Thankful for a lovely spring break... Productive. Relaxing. Fun.

#44 A last little blast of cool weather to make us feel cozy at home
#45 Hot chocolate in a favorite mug
#46 My much loved house shoes and fuzzy socks
#47 A green shoot poking out of the soft dirt for a future pumpkin

Odds and Ends

February is over. It seemed like a long month. Perhaps the 40 plus inches of snow made it seem a little long, or the fact that winter just seems long, period. Anyway, it's wonderful, glorious, lovely March and little snippets of spring are peeking through the dreariness of winter. Gone is the snow...as the daffodils poke up their little green fingers to let us know that rebirth is coming. Most importantly, the sun is shining more than it isn't. And, the temperatures are teasing us with a day every now and then in the 70s... YES!!

For the month of February, my plan was to simplify the dining room. Mission accomplished! We have a beautiful buffet in that room that hadn't been cleaned out since we moved into this house 8 years ago. It's all clean, and mostly empty :-) And, the big news is that I got a new dining room table and chairs. Our old table was given to us by Roger's mom, 22 years ago. She had owned it several years before that. It was beautiful...antique-ish... but it was old, and sagging... But the worst part was the 8 chairs. They didn't match the table, which is fine with me, but they were truly falling apart. They creaked and moaned when anyone sat in them. And, the bar underneath several of them had long since broken off. I realized that I avoided using that room because I really didn't like the table and chairs. The table was too low for most men, and it was just not in good shape. I began to look for replacement chairs and was shocked to find out how much they cost! It was cheaper to buy a new set, with the table, than to buy the chairs separately. If I must, I guess I must. I'm so thrilled with the new table...we've eaten on it almost every evening since we got it. Here's a picture of the old table. I made a Valentine's dinner for my family and we at in the dining room. You can't really see much of the table, but that's ok, you'll just have to trust me.

Here's the new table. I went from oval to rectangle...seating for 6 (we'd squeeze in 7) to seating for 8-10. I love it!

I even cleaned the chandelier! It looks brand new.

So, now that I'm really feeling good about the dining room, I'm moving on to a more difficult room. I'm going to "simplify" the school room. It would really make more sense to wait till we're done with our school year, but I have a couple of reasons for tackling it now. First of all, we're just tired of that room. It's sooo crowded with desks, tables, bookshelves, computer, etc... None of us really enjoy that room. So, I'm having the kids help me with this one. We'll do the bulk of the work during spring break. Also, I plan to get rid of several pieces of bulky furniture... I already have a plan for what I want to do in that room, but to pay for it all, I'd like to try to sell some of the thinks I'm going to get rid of. There's going to be a large rummage sale during the Dogwood Festival and I plan to have my things ready to sell in April. That means I need to get this room done during March. I can't wait to get rid of the dark, heavy furniture. I still have a potential of 9 years of home-schooling left! I'd like a cheery room that we enjoy being in, especially in the winter months.

What else? I'm reading a book... One Thousand Gifts. I can't really tell you about it because it's just so personal and challenging. But, I will say it's one of the most life-changing books I've ever read. It speaks to me very deeply. Go get it and read it please... I've started a "Gifts" notebook and am on #35.

I still haven't purchased any clothes this year. I'm wearing my winter clothes, but have a few pictures of fresh outfits to post later. I did wear a pair of shorts last week! My Salvation Army pile continues to grow...

The garden planning is continuing, new baby chicks arrive on Monday, the kids are playing outside a little more each day, we have 9 weeks of school left, and life is good...