The BEST Creme Brûlée EVER!

Hello my faithful readers and how are you doing this fine day?

Yes indeed i have discovered a corker of a recipe and boy was it a total experience, read on and you will see what i am talking about.

So my brother and his lovely very pregnant wife were coming over for dinner and i was thinking of a yummy and different dessert to make, i always want to choose creme brûlée on menus at restaurants but i can never go past something Chocolatey so that usually wins, but this time i thought hmm ill get one of my cook books off the shelf and browse through for a dessert which i might just do more often now (i LOVE cook books, so i have loads but i love to have them but i dont really use them, but now i will more often, i think...) anyway sidetracked sorry, so i got the donna hay simple essentials fruit cook book down and in there is where i discovered gold, yes this very yummy, very easy to make and noted VERY DANGEROUS recipe, dangerous in many ways!

So it is dangerous number 1 because you can eat SO MUCH and still just want more, and this comes from a non custard lover but this stuff is just SUPER DELICIOUSLY MORISH!!

And dangerous number 2 and really not cool was that i bought a new blowtorch from kitchen warehouse and so my husband was filling it with gas and then when he turned it on to ignite it it blew a huge fire ball, a HUGE fireball so big it burnt his eyelashes, the hair on his arm and some of his eyebrow hair and my brother and his wife were sitting in the lounge-room and saw the fireball shoot our either side of the kitchen EEEEK so be warned, BE CAREFUL with the blowtorches people...

So without further ado, here it is

creme brûlée with passionfruit topping 

4 cups (1 litre/32 fl oz) (single or pouring) cream

2 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped

8 egg yolks

1/2 cup (110g/3 3/4oz) caster (superfine) sugar

3/4 cup (165g/5 3/4oz) caster (superfine) sugar, extra

pulp of 1 passionfruit

Preheat the oven to 160 C (320 F).

Place the cream and vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan over low heat and cook gently until the mixture just comes to the boil.

Remove from the heat and strain the mixture to catch the beans and then discard the beans.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until thick and pale.

Pour the warm cream mixture over the egg mixture and whisk to combine.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir over low heat for 6-8 minutes or until the custard coats the back of a spoon.

Pour the custard into 8 x 1/2 cup (125ml/4 fl oz) capacity oven proof dishes (or ramekins) and place in a deep baking dish, add boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the dishes.

Bake for 25 minutes or until just set.

Refrigerate for 3 hours or until the custard is completely set.

Combine the extra sugar and the passionfruit pulp. Cover the brûlées with the passionfruit sugar and caramelise the sugar with a blow torch (BE CAREFUL) 

Ps also with the silly blowtorch we had when we finally got the sugar caramelised and crackly the brulee was heated and very runny so would have been better to refrigerate again for us but could have just been our dodgy blowtorch...

Check out the difference in an egg yolk from the shops on the left and an egg yolk from our chickens in our backyard on the right!! Extraordinary hey, sad for the poor store chickens hey.

Look at the pretty egg flower i made by fluke too :-) Yes im amused tee hee hee

Nice to catch up again

Enjoy

God Bless y'all

Act Belong Commit

Ive always heard that slogan, ive seen the tv adverts and ive thought, hmm that sounds good, wish that was me, wish i was acting belonging and committing but to tell you the truth i just dont feel like it or know where to start...

Then the government gave me a gift, a rather large gift infact they gave me the biggest and most beautiful gift anyone ever could...

They gave me my mind back, my sane and chemically balanced mind back.

I think i have spoken long and often about the healthy life challenge incentive that they have funded in my shire, i am now just over halfway through the program and have lost 29cm all round in total, and 600g of fat, i know that it does not sound like much, but let me tell you it has changed my life.

I feel like a better mommy, because i am actually getting out of the house every morning, that means my kids get to socialise in creche for an hour or so then i take them to the park and that is the highlight of the day, i have more energy, more patience, and im just happier.

I feel like a better wife, simply because i can think straight now, i can actually not just get angry at every little thing and just be a better friend and therefore we can have a better marriage.

I feel like a better house mamma, man i even cleaned my windows in the kitchen and lounge room a few days ago, i feel like i can plan a cleaning regime, and actually get it done, doing 3 loads of washing a day doesn't feel like an insurmountable chore anymore and i dont feel like everything i do when it comes to house chores is just so emotionally and physically impossible to get on top of.

Please if you are struggling with weight, and if you are struggling with a fuzzy mind, a mind that is angry or just feels not quite right, or if you are just not a happy person, then please please please

ACT- get involved in something that you enjoy, choose something emotional and something physical and get out there and start doing it.

BELONG- actually get into a group or an organisation and then belong to it.

COMMIT- then commit to it, stick to it and see your life change.

If there is anyone out there who needs to talk, who needs some help or advice or just a chat, please e mail me or message me, id love to help you along your journey.

God Bless you 

Colour Bomb

Hi Y'all

Sorry it has been a little while since i posted but life has been a little hectic in this house, especially with the healthy life challenge still on, plus Tafe for the cake decorating course one night a week, family birthdays galore around this time of year as well, and just generally being a mommy of two boys under two :-)

So i have a 2 and a half year old boy who is just gorgeous, so funny and beautiful to cuddle, as well as feisty, boisterous and Wild. 

As you can imagine capturing his attention for long periods of time can be a bit tricky at times...

He LOVES his toy cars especially monster trucks and can play a while on his own with those, and unfortunately he does love a bit of tv too...

But i love to find a creative activity that lets him loose his artistic side, engage his mind and simply allow him to have FUN and i gotta tell you guys this was a total WINNER!!

As you can see i took a Picture of the stuff i used, which is

Any liquid food colouring you wanna use (For Colouring the shaving cream, and the water and corn flour mix in the squeezy bottle as well as the bath water, cause i put yellow in the bath water to start, then blue in the squeezy bottle so when he squeezed the blue into the yellow it turned green, quick fun science lesson there)

A paintbrush (Just to paint the coloured shaving foam all over the bath)

Popsicle sticks (To stir the colours into the shaving foam)

Shaving Cream (The Best part of the whole experience because Jordan just simply LOVES it, he calls it snow and it is just such a magical element to him)

Corn Flour (Nice to thicken the water and colour mix in the squeezy bottle  not too much cornflour or you will end up with oobelek! An entirely different post, would you like to hear about it?)

Plastic cups (For the shaving cream and the colouring, also to just swish water in after)

A squeezy bottle (For the colouring and corn flour)

Lavander oil (Just because it was an activity that i did before his afternoon sleep and lavender is meant to soothe and relax)

Blowing Bubbles in a bottle (Just for another fun element)

Jordan was so super excited about his activity when i told him about it, he could not wait to get in and after 45 minutes he was still loving every minute, even though his water was now black from all the colours mixing, we had spilled the bubble mix over and all the shaving foam was finished, he was still playing like he could be in the bath another hour or so...

Needless to say you have just GOT to try this.

Have any of you got any keeper activities for toddlers?

Please leave comments because id love to know if you would like more posts like these, also if you tried it and how it went, and just to generally get to know you and do life together!

God Bless Y'all

The Best Banana Bread Recipe EVER!

Honestly i had THE blackest and like the worst rotten bananas i have ever had hey, i really was just about to throw them in the bin because i kept meaning to make banana bread with them, then i thought ah no they are just too rotten now and was about to throw them in the bin and thought, no no no i have to make the banana bread, so they were kept for another two days because i didn't find time to make the banana bread EEEK

Gotta love google though cause i googled best recipes for really rotten bananas and i found this BEAUTY, it is for a chocolate banana bread and it is SUPER YUMM!

So if you get really rotten bananas then this is the recipe for you :-)

Enjoy and let me know what you thought of it.

Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

4 overripe medium, bananas

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

If your overripe are frozen rinse under warm water to defrost or let defrost on counter until soft enough to mash.

In a large bowl, mash bananas. Add melted butter and stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated.

Add sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Stir until incorporated.

Add all purpose and whole wheat flours and stir until incorporated.

Chop semi-sweet chocolate into different sized chunks and mix.

Pour mixture into 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on a cooling rack and eat warm or at room temperature.

God Bless y'all

Taking time out for joy

Hubby is out tonight on a manly bbq and i have time totally to myself :-)

Kids are in bed, one asleep one still chatting away to himself, and I'm taking time out for joy, "nice sigh of relief"

So i have toy story 3 playing in the background while i surf through blogs that i love, there is so much great stuff out there, I'm also eating cadbury favourites and whipped up a chocolate banana bread which is currently baking and going to be enjoyed with a tall glass of icy milk once it has come out and cooled a little.

Yum, i love the weekends where i get to just simply take time out for these little joys of life.

I must admit i do feel selfish in a way, crazy hey... I feel like i should be doing some housework or spending time with God or something "productive", but at the same time i really just want to do these little things that bring me joy when i get alone times like these with no expectations from anyone.

Any other mamas out there feel guilty to enjoy their free time however they want to when the rare moment occurs that we get it?

God Bless Y'all

Mind Altering...

Hello everyone, been a few days since last post, sorry for those hoping for a post a day i do try :-)

Honestly my mind is totally altered by my exercise regime, i cannot convince you enough about how doing exercise again has CHANGED MY LIFE!

I was a sad person, i have two beautiful boys and they were not getting the best from me, i have a lovely husband who was not getting the best of me, i have amazing family that wasn't getting the best of me.

I was grumpy most of the time

Tired too much of the time

Not interested in getting out of the house lots of the time

Just plain stuck in a rutt

Exercise has changed that, it has given me  new lease on life...

I have ENERGY now

I feel like getting out the house

The kids get the best of me, i actually feel like taking them to the park, playing with them and doing fun things with them out of the house.

I feel more confident

More happy

and more satisfied with me.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE find the time to get into something, try a bunch of different things and when you get onto something you love then keep doing it, because it will revolutionise your life, it will it will it will...

Be encouraged, it is never to late, you are never to big or too slow or too past it, you are not, no matter how big or beyond help you think you are, THERE IS HOPE, YOU CAN DO IT, you truly can, i know cause i did!

Life is too short to be sad

Get up and start now.

God bless you 

Hot, Humid and PAYING for my sins!!

Hello Good people

Given that i was very bad this weekend with my eating i was very happy to say hello to my walk with my healthy life challenge folk this morning, however BOY was it a STINKER!!!

As you can see i worked HARD and hopefully literally walked my butt off  tee hee hee

It was a super humid day and i was walking a little slow and the fast people went ahead, the fast people were going the long way and the slow ones the short way so i decided id run to catch the fasties so i could go the long way and boy did it KILL, i was panting so hard the fasties heard me coming and waited for me in the cool of a shady tree, lucky when i jog i sound like a NOISY GONG, otherwise id have 

1. run for NOTHING 

2. had to walk alone in that heat and 

3. RUN FOR NOTHING!!!

So safe to say i burnt something today, you know when the fitties (Fit people) say things like "NO EXCUSES get out there no matter what", well i tell ya believe them, you just gotta get out there and do something, ANYTHING, you will definitely feel better for it.

My Fat CRIED today and i am so proud of ME :-)

God Bless Y'all

Diabolical

Hello Lovely readers

See That picture up there thats 3/4's of my dessert from tonight, EEEk right, this is the end of a very bad bad bad binge fest when it comes to naughty food!!

Well thats being a bit extreme really, all it was was dinner at my moms sat night which was yummy homemade hamburgers and chocolate mousse and this very same berry crumble and ice cream.

Then peanut m&m's and then crackers, dip and pate at grandmas a few hrs ago now this rather Large serving of more berry crumble and chocolate ice cream, plus my brekky, lunch and dinner :-)

So i fell off the horse, but I'm climbing back on tomorrow and thats all that matters in the end.

Walking ans squash tomorrow yippee.

I have all the right intentions all weekend, i thought get the zumba on the wii on and go for it, or get that pilates dvd on, but time slipped away as it down on the weekend, and the kiddies took priority.

All good if that happens, just remember when the week hits again, just start again, cause there is always room to get back up and start trying hard again :-)

Adios Good People

God Bless y'all

Im Bringing Flexy Back!

I can't tell you enough how much i am enjoying getting fit again, a class i didn't expect to love but absolutely LOVE is Body Balance, I'm like so impressed at how it just trains your body is so many areas.
I can't believe how much i sweat in that class, i reckon almost as much as i do when i do sh'bam, you wouldn't think its possible with stretches hey!
I love that i am getting so flexible again, it feels so good to be able to bend and push my body to do stretches that i thought were beyond me in my 30's ha ha ha 

The teacher is just amazing too, it always helps having a great teacher.

Once this initiative is over I'm going to get into body combat again, i know its gonna kill but its going to accelerate my fitness to the next level that i need it to go to.

Heres to feeling GREAT people!!!

God Bless y'all