Homemade Bread Pudding Recipe

    I love bread pudding.  It is one of those "old time" recipes that your grandma used to make.  It is simple and delicious but many of today's younger generation have never even heard of it.  I want my kids to experience and enjoy the simple things too so I keep these recipes alive and I hope you will too.

 

Bread Pudding

1/2 loaf of old French bread

3 T. butter, softened

1/2 c. of raisins

1 c. walnut pieces

4 eggs

2 c. milk

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

2 T. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

    You can use any type of bread for this and it doesn't even have to be stale bread.  If you use regular sandwich bread, just use 6 pieces of it instead of a half loaf of french bread.  Our local grocery store greatly reduces the price of their french bread after a few days so that is why I use it instead.

     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a 9" x 13" cake pan with cooking spray.  Tear up your bread into nice sized cubes and layer the bottom of the cake pan with these.  Then pour the melted butter onto the cubes.

   Now take your raisins

and your walnuts

and sprinkle them over the top. 

 

   Now in a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, the sugars, spices, and the vanilla together well and then pour this mixture over the top of the bread mixture in the pan.  Be sure all the bread is soaked throughout.

 

    Just place into your preheated oven and bake it for 35 minutes.  It smells as great as it tastes!  The top is just slightly crunchy with a softer underside.  It is AMAZING and costs so little to make.

Other breakfast ideas are Chocolate Chip Drop Biscuits and Pancake Muffins.

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Personalized Kids Books

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

       I had the great honor of getting to review a personalized book for my youngest son.  I chose which book I wanted and filled out the information they asked for and waited for it to arrive. It came rather quickly in the mail and I was very impressed by the book itself.
     The book is hard back and very well made.  The pages are not thin.  It looks extremely professional and the personalization of adding my son and his details into the story are marvelous.  I highly recommend you checking out Personalized Kids Books by KD Novelties and ordering one for you little ones.  I will definitely purchase one or more in the future.


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Baby Chicks

   Our 2nd round of eggs in our new incubator are beginning to emerge.  Early this morning we had a beautiful blonde Phoenix chick hatch out.

A baby Phoenix chick.

   At 3 p.m. when I looked into the incubator, I saw this:

  That is a pip out of the Rhode Island Red egg.
   And here we are an hour later and the little chick is chirping and trying to come out:

Rhode Island Red egg with chick trying to come out.

Chick was less than 1 minute old when I took this picture.  It will remain in the incubator several more hours to dry off and get warm before I move it to the brooder.

The light one is the Phoenix chick (1st pic); the big red one is the Rhode Island Red chick once it got dry and warm; the one in the back looking straight on is a Phoenix chick and the dark one in the back is an Ameraucana.

        We have 7 more eggs in the incubator so we'll have a fun filled day watching babies hatch.

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Other blogs you may like:
The Backyard Farming Connection
Tilly's Nest
The Chicken Chick

DIY Fire Starters

     I love these DIY Fire Starters.  We all have a few of these in each of our bug-out-bags.  They are super easy to make and work better than char cloth, Vaseline soaked cotton balls and other fire starters.  They are slow burning so they give your kindling a good chance to really get going.

    To make them, you need a candle, tweezers, and some cotton rounds.

Standard cotton rounds you would find in the beauty department of stores.

Candle and a cotton round.

Instead of wasting a candle and just melting down the wax, I wait until I am in the mood for candles and make my fire starters then.   After your candle has been burning awhile (and melted wax has pooled into the bottom of the candle), just pour the melted wax in a shallow dish and use your tweezers to immerse the cotton round into the wax.  Remove and let it dry.

Two firestarters ready to use. 

    To use, just tear the waxed cotton round to expose some of the inner fibers and light.  They will burn for several minutes.

If you are interested in prepping, a few other posts you would like include:  How to set up a survival cache bucket and Are you a prepper?

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I shared this post on the following blogs:
Cornerstone Confessions
The Gathering Spot
The Backyard Farming Connection

Chocolate Mousse Pie

  

  Chocolate Mousse Pie

      4 oz. German sweet chocolate          2 T. milk

      4 oz. cream cheese                          2 T. sugar

      3 T. plus 1 tsp. milk                           8 oz. tub of Cool Whip

 

      1 chocolate pie crust or my Extra Flaky Never-Fail Pie Crust

   

A few of the ingredients used in this recipe.

     Melt the chocolate with the 2 T. of milk in the microwave for 2 minutes (stirring every 30 seconds) until melted.  Remove and whisk in the cream cheese, sugar, and the other milk.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.    Gently stir in the Cool Whip and then spoon the mixture into the crust.

I use a chocolate pie crust but you can use a graham cracker crust if you prefer.

   Place into your freezer for 2 1/2 hours or until you are ready to serve it.  Just 15 minutes before you are ready to serve it, place it on the counter top to let it soften just a bit.  I like to grate some chocolate over the top to give it a little more elegance.  This is amazingly delicious and will not last long because it tastes so good.

 

Two other pies I make that you might like are my Chocolate Chip Pie or my Pumpkin Supreme Pie. 

 

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Dehydrating Potatoes for Long-term Storage

  

 

 I love to dehydrate foods.  Dehydrated foods are great for long term storage and they take up a lot less space than freezing or canning.  Today, I will teach you how to dehydrate potatoes.  Ten pounds of potatoes, once dehydrated, will fit into just 3 quart jars.  Talk about space saving!

   First, wash your potatoes.  Once washed, you may peel the potatoes, but generally, I just leave the skins on.  More nutritious this way and it eliminates a step if you do not peel them.  Now, get your mandolin out.   Just slice your potatoes.  I use the "medium slice".

    As you slice your potatoes, have a pot of water on the stove heating up.  Once the water begins to boil, drop the potatoes into the water and let them boil for just 3 minutes.

    Once they have boiled for 3 minutes, drain them and run cool water over the potatoes to stop the cooking process.  Then just lay the potatoes out onto your dehydrator trays and dehydrate.  I turn on my dehydrator on before I go to bed and the potatoes are done the next morning. Place in a clean mason jar with a lid and store in a cool, dry area.

    These actually are peeled but like I said previously, generally, I don't even bother to peel them.  To reconstitute, just take the desired amount of potatoes and place in a pot or bowl and add enough of really hot water to cover the potatoes.  Let set 10 minutes and they are ready to use.   

 

 

These can be added to soups, stews, or casseroles, make some au gratin potatoes or you can pan fry or even mash for mashed potatoes.

 

 

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We have DUCKLINGS!

   We are so excited!  We have 10 ducklings.  The company Chickens for Backyards was gracious enough to send them to us and they are adorable.  I always thought baby chicks were cute but not nearly as adorable as baby ducks.  :-)
    The ducklings were born on March 10th and boxed up and mailed to us the same day.  On Wednesday (just 2 days later), I walk into my home office to check phone messages and I had 4 missed calls from my local post office.  :-)  John, the Postmaster, wanted to be sure I would be in pretty soon to get my noisy delivery.
   

    It was a small box making a LOT of noise.  We opened it up in the car to see...

   So much cuteness!   We received 7 Pekin ducklings, one Rouen (the black one), and 2 Silver Welsh Harelquins (the little one on the far right).  What we received is the 10 duck special Chickens for Backyards has going on. With the 10 duck special you get 10 straight run ducklings but are guaranteed at least 3 different breeds.
    Chickens for Backyards also sell chickens, turkeys, and guineas so check them out and stay tuned for updates on the ducklings!

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Personalized CD

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

    I LOVE this!  Did you know you can make a personalized CD for your very own or for a loved one?  You decide on the cover art, what you want the cover to read, and all the songs to go on the CD.  It is so cool.  Pictured above is the one I had made for me and my hubby.  Then I chose 10 of our favorite love songs.  I was so pleased with how it turned out.  They have over 4 million songs in their library so the chances that they have the songs you want is pretty good.   Play Anywhere is the company.  Click here and check it out and order one for your self or a loved one.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Babies on the Brain

    Here on the homestead we have babies, babies, and more babies.  It is easy to say that we have babies on the brain.  We have baby quail, chicks, ducks, and goats right now.  We also have 9 more eggs in the incubator and a Boer doe due real soon.

Here are 3 of the 7 baby quail.  They are 2 weeks old.

The two dark chicks are Ameracauna chicks and the light one is a Red Ranger chick.   They are 2 weeks old. 

This is a Phoenix chick.  It is 2 weeks old.

The yellow ones are Pekin ducklings; the black one is a Rouen  duckling and the little one on the far right is a Silver Welsh Harlequin.  They are 5 days old. 

This is Contessa she is a Saanen doeling.  She is  almost 5 weeks old.   She is one of my bottle babies.

This is Casper and he is a Saanen/Nubian cross buckling.  He is almost 6 weeks old.  He is one of my bottle babies. 

Casper and Contessa eating some grains for the first time.

Our pregnant Boer doe.

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Mini Eco Incubator Review & GIVEAWAY

   

    Once again, I am partnering up with Brinsea to do an amazing giveaway!   I was sent a Mini Eco Egg incubator from Brinsea to review.  I read about all kinds of incubators and about every place I read they said to buy an extra thermometer and a hygrometer and not to trust the thermometer that comes with your incubator.  I had tried Brinsea products before (read my review of their egg candler) and I trusted the brand.  I received the incubator and plugged it in.  I added the amount of water that the instructions advised and waited 24 hours and then I added in 7 quail eggs and 4 chicken eggs.  I turned the eggs 2-3 times a day as recommended and kept the water levels as they should be.  I did nothing else and the incubator was a great success.

1st baby quail coming out of the shell.

Almost there...

Some of the baby quail that were hatched by the incubator.

The 4 baby chicks that were hatched from the incubator.

   One winner will be randomly chosen via Rafflecopter.  Good luck and come back daily for extra entries by tweeting about the contest.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My #Disneyside Party

The invitation.

The cookie tray.

A few of the "goodie bag" items.

Went into the goodie bags.

More goodie bag items.

Alice in Wonderland themed area

Snow White connection

Un "Frozen" snow (water).

"Pin the headlights" on Mater from Cars.

The game center. 

Some of the decorations.

Even Mickey Mouse dropped in.

Part of the party kit Disney sent us. 

I used the metal cookie cutters to cut out a variety of lunch meats, cheese, and bread.

Other items we put in the goodie bag for our guests.

We have 2 baby goats that made an appearance at the party.  The kids loved petting them.

We had hot dogs, buns and all the condiments.

 Face painting was a huge hit by the kids in attendance.

Conner.

My grandson Declan doing his impersonation of one of the 101 Dalmatians.

My grandson Hayden.

My grandson Phineas.

My youngest son Ronny having his face painting (and face tattoos) being applied.

 Everyone played the midway type games and Disney bingo.  I handed out prizes and everyone had a lot of laughs.

My best friend Lisa.

Phineas throwing a ball to knock down cups.

Ronny with his game face on.

My daughter Brandy doing the ring toss.

Even my 16 year old son, Brandon, played and had a good time.

     And how can you have a Disney party without Mickey Mouse ears.

Declan

Hayden (love the face he is making here).

Phineas.

Even Sulley from Monsters, Inc. made an appearance (thanks Ronny!)

    But the biggest hit of the party was the photo booth.

I love this boy!

Hubby being silly.

Cheerio gov'nor.

 

    As you can see, it was a GREAT party and I am so happy Disney provided me with the opportunity to host it.

 I received free products in order to host the Disney Side @Home Celebration.  The opinions expressed here are my own. 

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