Bread and Butter Pudding

Could this possibly the ultimate comfort food? It certainly felt like a treat to me since adapting a low-carb & low-sugar lifestyle!!

Ingredients:

• 25g soft or spreadable butter
• 1/2 loaf of bread
• 50g sultanas, raisins or other dried fruit
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 350ml milk 
• 50ml double cream 
• 2 eggs 
• 25g caster sugar
• nutmeg - shake to taste 

****preheat oven to  180degs

It's best to use older bread. As I keep my bread in the freezer to keep it from going stale, I had to remember to leave a loaf out for 24 hours! 

Use grease proof paper to butter the dish. We had to make two puddings so as well as doubling the ingredients, we had two dishes to prepare. 

Butter all the bread and cut into quarters. This was the first time the Zebra was allowed to use a butter knife and she had great fun.

Use a third of the bread to make the bottom layer, sprinkle on a third of the fruit and then shake on some nutmeg. Repeat twice until all ingredients are used and the dish is filled.

Asd the milk and cream to a pan and stir until it's really hot, but do not let it boil!

Whisk together the cinnamon, eggs and 3/4's of the sugar. When the milk & cream is ready, stir it in slowly.

Pour the mixture over the layered bread and then top with the remaining sugar. Leave for at least half an hour to set before you pop it in the oven for 30 minutes.

So tasty and warming - Total stodge but extra yummy!

Wintery Window

We haven't seen a single speck of snow out of the window this winter, so I guess we better make our own!

The blue card is for the sky and the brown is for the windows wooden frame.

I used PVA glue to trail a line of glue across the top of the card. I made it nice and thick so there was lots to flow down - this gives an icicle effect for the windows. The Zebra rather enjoyed watching it drip down!

Once it had reached the bottom, the Zebra used blue and silver glitter to cover the picture.

The Zebra though it was much more fun to cover me in glitter...

And make patterns on he table!!

While she played, I cut 4 rectangles out of the brown card, then fixed it onto of our glitter sky.

And here you have it - a wintry snow scene to watch out the window!

Melted Snowman

Things have been rather quiet here at the Zoo as the the Zebra has been poorly and not felt like doing any crafts. She's luckily getting better so we did a quick make this afternoon!

For the melted snowman you obviously need white paint! This is best painted onto dark card or paper - we went for dark green grass. We used some pink ribbon and paper to make a hat and scarf, then some mini Pom-poms for buttons, orange triangle for nose, and of course, googley eyes! Oh, and don't forget the glitter...

 Really easy to paint this one - I let the zebra use a sponge brush to swish the white all over the card.

After that we used silver and blue glitter, because it's not a toddler craft without some glitter!

To help develop the fine motor skills, I got the Zebra to dip the snowman parts in glue and stick onto the card. It doesn't matter where they go as the snowman is now a puddle!

And here it is - a sparkly, glittery, melted snowman 

Winter Woods by Rogue Theatre, Tehidy, Cornwall

A truly magical day enjoyed by all - A great way to get the festive feeling in an alternate way!

I had no idea what to expect from this live theatre experinace, and I don't want to give too much away for those who are planning on attending... The one thing I will say is be prepared for mud, and dress in layers. The outside performances are very cold, but the marque is lovely and snug.

The Zebra was mesmerised by the lights and decorations as we wound our way deeper into the forest, entertained by a variety of performers 

The actors were so good, and kept the attention of even the youngest children. They were also a little easy on the eye for the mummies! 

The entry price included free bags of sweeties and hot chocolate! There was also face painting and woodland crafts for the older children 

The main performance was fantastic. A festive tale made up of songs, dance, shadows, characters, comedy, and love

Everything about the experinace was wonderful and felt like stepping into a whole new woodland world. Expect for the toilets which surprisingly were warm, snug and modern!!

I can not recommend this theatre enough, I'm so exited to make this a Christmas tradition and head back again next year. I would also like to explore the cute village of Portreath which lies below the cliffs. However, I don't fancy getting lost again on the step, narrow roads...

Cotton Wool Snowman

We are finally home after a week staying at Nana's while the boiler was replaced... But that's the end of our good luck as we are housebound with the Chicken Pox!! The Zebra is very spotty, itchy and miserable - At least I have lots of craft ideas to distract her and pass the time 

I wanted to start with something simple in case she didn't feel up to much. Mr Snowman only needs basic supplies and pretty minimal preparation 

In fact, the only prep needed was cutting one plate slightly smaller than the other 

I let the Zebra loose with a pile of cotton wool balls, some glue to "dip-dip", and the plates.

Once the Zebra had used up all the wool, she decided that was enough for this morning and she would much rather just watch me from her box! 

I bent some pipe cleaners to make the arms. Using scissors, I made two holes in the body, stuck them through and secured on the back with sellotape.

For decorations, I used some googley eyes and a feather for his nose. Mouth and buttons were made from small black pom-poms. His scarf is some old ribbon and makes it look neater where his head is glued on.

The Zebra was quite happy with her finished snowman!