A Warning

So remember that big baking soda and vinegar "volcano" we made recently? Well, the boys wanted to do it again. Of course they did, it was awesome, it was fun, it took up a lot of time and all I have to do is a load of dishes and a load of laundry afterwards. I was feeling brilliant and creative so I thought they could each have their own volcano... One yellow and one blue and then when the bubbles came together it would be green. Good plan. I also thought "hey, I have half a box of baking soda in the fridge that should be replaced so why don't I just use that up, instead of the brand new box I bought at the store last week?" Sure, I know baking soda is in the fridge to absorb weird smells, but the baking soda doesn't stink... Right? WRONG! Mix that old fridge baking soda with vinegar and now all of a sudden your kitchen is filled with all the aromas you didn't want in your fridge. Seriously gross. But, the boys didn't care, they had a total blast, spilled stinky vinegar-baking soda-food colouring-water all over the place, and used up most of a cold boring morning. Now I am wondering... Should I sanitize my kitchen from that stinky mess, or is it okay because it is vinegar?

The Sun Always Rises...

... But not the bread. So my struggle to find the perfect loaf of homemade bread continues. I think I have a really good recipe going now. The boys requested PB&J today but we were out of bread so I promised to make some this afternoon for sandwiches tomorrow. I went to check on the bread one hour into the rise... Looks the same. Then I had a sudden realization I forgot to put the yeast in. So I threw the dough back into the mixer with some yeast. I don't know if it will work, or if it will taste good. Seriously, who forgets to out yeast in their bread? Me.

At least I know the sun will rise tomorrow, even if my bread doesn't.

Soup's On... Or Not

Or not. So this post continues my ongoing quest to disprove certain theories about getting your kids to eat. See here or here. Jacob made soup. That's right. He did EVERYTHING. He cut the potatoes and carrots, without cutting himself or me. He opened the can of mushroom soup (that is how I make cream soup, now you know) dumped it in the crock pot. He put all the seasonings in to his taste. He learned how to turn the crock pot settings on. And... He wouldn't eat it. Not even a taste. I was so impressed with him making the soup though, so whatever. If he won't eat his own creation, why in the world would he eat mine?

Disgusting Pudding

How can those two words go together? Especially when it is chocolate pudding! I had half a gallon of milk that expires tomorrow, so I needed to use it up... I thought - PUDDING! You know, cooked pudding, then the milk will last a little longer. Well, the recipe I found that sounded good was for that soy milk, but some people commented they used regular milk and it turned out "great"... Well, I thought I had all the other ingredients, so I started making it. Oops. No cornstarch. So I subbed brown flour. I don't know why, that might have been my first mistake. The recipe said to bring to boil on medium then turn to low and simmmer four minutes until thickened. After like fifteen minutes it still wasn't boiling and I had turned up the heat several times. I gave up. Took it off the heat and here was maybe my second mistake. The recipe said after you remove from heat whisk in two tablespoons of butter. Well, when I proposed pudding to the boys, Jacob said he wanted peanut butter pudding so I added two tablespoons of PB instead of butter.
Whatever right?
Anyways, that was this morning. This afternoon we took it out of the fridge. Dark brown skin on top of the pudding, creamy chocolate underneath. I thought it didn't look too bad. Was I ever wrong! Jacob said it was icky. Daniel cried because his "treat" didn't taste good.
Now I am not in the habit of wasting food, so I dumped the bowl of pudding into the blender, added alot of sugar, more milk, and a banana. I tasted it, not bad, and poured it into Popsicle molds. Tomorrow we will find out if those taste good.
In conclusion, keep boxed instant pudding mix in my cupboard for when we want pudding, and find something else to do with the milk.