Make ahead baked peach french toast

Weekends of late have been a bit frantic.  Since we got back from our holiday it was straight back to work, so unpacking has quickly turned around into getting ready for school and getting back to the farmgate, stocking up our freezer...  I picked up these gorgeous peaches and right now we're at the end of the stone fruit season here in Australia and it's just glorious.  Peaches that are soft sweet and juicy and I love the challenge of  trying to quickly eat them before end up with juice down to your elbows...

I saw this recipe whilst we were in New York on Pinterest and bookmarked it for when I got home.  I didn't want to used tinned peaches, although I'm sure it's still delicious if you do..  You need to prepare it the night before you want to eat it, it's 10 minutes prep and then 45 minutes in the oven... just enough time to get up, put the finishing touches on, then go back to bed for a snuggle, catch up on Facebook or watch some morning news before dishing up something wonderful.

Take it from me friends, you want to try this - it's custard-y, sweet but not too overwhelming.  Warm, filling and comforting.  A great way to start a day I think..

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 french stick or couple of rolls - make sure they are on the stale side.

2 -3 large peaches, sliced

8 eggs

500mls milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon 

200mls cream

Method:

Slice bread and arrange in a baking dish.

Slice your peaches and insert them around your bread

In a jug mix all remaining ingredients besides your brown sugar, cinnamon and cream.. whisk them together until well combined.. then pour evenly over the bread and peaches

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon evenly.

Cover in plastic film and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning turn your oven on to 200 degrees c.
Pour your cream into a saucepan and heat on medium high heat until it reduces slightly - about 10 minutes.. then pour over your tray.

Bake for 45 minutes - leave it in if it seems very runny still... when it's done, leave it to sit for about 3-4 minutes before serving.  It won't need any accompaniments!

Make your own tinned (canned) apricot preserves!

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I have a few things I can't resist to buy.  1.  A good handbag   2.  Cute cupcake papers   3.  Gorgeous fruit in season.  I went farmgating on the weekend and saw these apricots and I bought everything they had.  I asked if they had more.. unfortunately not.  I had 1.5 kilos from the farm and then asked hubby whilst he was at the supermarket to pick me up another kilo.  There's no point preserving anything under 2 kilos in my opinion.

The apricots that came from the supermarkets were of course about 50% more expensive and about 50% smaller... I'm sure they don't taste as good either but I think preserving them in syrup, I'm bound to get the best of out of them.   My Laura ADORES apricots so was bitterly disappointed I only let her have one before I preserved the rest - but I did reason, she'll get to eat them all throughout the year this way...

Of course, I had Eloise help me who isn't a huge lover of apricots, at least I knew I wouldn't lose as many to 'spoilage' aka Laura's mouth...

If you haven't preserved before and want to give it a try now is a really good time to start.. there's lots of good things in season - apricots, peaches, mangoes, cherries, plums... you can can them like this or make sauces, jams - all kinds of stuff.  I liken it to making up presents for you to open and enjoy throughout the year   You can buy jams and tinned fruit but it's never as nice as when you make it yourself.  They also make brilliant gifts....

Makes 5 x litre jars

Ingredients

2.5 kilos apricots

1.2 kilos sugar

2-3 vanilla pods

5 x 1 litre preserving jars

Method:

Cut your apricots in half, reserve 25 seeds.

Sterilise your jars.  I put mine in the dishwasher with no powder on a pot wash, and then I let them air dry.  You can also boil them (but you need to submerge them so you'll need a very big pot or do it in batches) for about 5 minutes under furious boil then take them out carefully with tongs and put them into an over over 100 degrees until they dry.

Start off by adding your sugar to 2.5 litres of water.   Bring to a furious boil for 10 minutes or until it reduces by 20%.

Turn off and allow to cool whilst you prepare your jars and fruit..

Put your apricots in the jar, add 5 of your seeds in the middle of each jar.

Add half a vanilla pod that's been split to expose the beans.

Don't they look beautiful?

Then fill your jars up to the top with your syrup.  You need to make sure that the fruit is completely submerged.  Put the lid on tightly.  My tip for you is to buy a wide funnel, you can buy it at the same place I get my jars from here

It looks like you're finished... but you're not.  You need to process your fruit, which means killing all the bacteria that could be in your jars... place your jars into large pot and fill with water, bring to the boil for 20 minutes, turn off and leave to cool.  Do this twice over two days.. and then store in a cool dark place until you're ready to eat them.!

Bookmark this! Frills in the hills Muffin Encyclopedia - 25 muffin recipes to inspire you!

I find muffins are the staple of my lunchbox arsenal - they are quick, easy and produce big yields that can be frozen and added to lunchboxes easily.   I usually like to have two types going at one time, allowing some variety.  I don't put them in every day but on those busy days they are a godsend.  I also like to take some out in the morning to thaw for afternoon tea whilst we're bustling between activities - gymnastics, touch-football, netball, tap-dancing this year for us!

I've marked them to indicate how many you get - 'makes' and how long it takes - 'takes' and whether they meet the nut-free policy many schools have now 'lunchbox friendly'.  I've also divided them into sweet and savoury - not everyone has a sweet tooth and a lot of the savoury ones are great accompaniments to soup in winter..

So have fun, tell me your favourite and share with your friends who no doubt like us, need a short-cut every now and again - lots of recipes in one spot!

SWEET

Apple blueberry muffins
Makes: 18
Takes 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Apple cinnamon muffins
Makes: 18
Takes: 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Apple raspberry muffins
Makes : 20 cupcake size or 12 large muffins
Takes: 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Apple rhubarb and custard muffins
Makes: 24
Takes: 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly: Yes

Banana bran muffins:
Makes:36
Takes: 50 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Banana maple muffins
Makes: 24
Takes: 45 minutes

Banana passionfruit muffins
Makes 22
Takes:  45 minutes

Cherry coconut muffins
Makes: 20 cupcake size or 12 large muffins
Takes: 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  If you are allowed coconut yes, if not - no..

Donut muffins
Makes: 18
Takes: 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly: Yes

Honey almond oat yoghurt muffins
Makes:  24
Takes: 60 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  No, as has nuts...

Lemon ricotta muffins
Makes:  18
Takes: 40 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  yes

Lemon poppyseed muffins
Makes: 24
Takes: 50 minutes
Lunchbox friendly: Yes

Lemon vanilla yoghurt muffins
Makes: 24
Takes: 50 minutes
Lunchbox friendly: Yes

Mighty Milo muffins
Makes: 12
Takes:  45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Oat and cranberry muffins
Makes: 12
Takes:  45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Peach, coconut and oat muffins
Makes: 24
Takes:  45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:   If you are allowed coconut yes, if not - no..

Pear raspberry and oat muffins
Makes: 18
Takes: 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Raspberry and coconut cream muffins (dairy free)
Makes: 24
Takes: 45 minutes
Lunchbox friendly: Yes

Sugar and dairy free muffins
Makes:  20
Takes: 40 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Strawberry cream cheese muffins
Makes:  30
Takes:  50 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes









SAVOURY:

Cheese and rosemary muffins
Makes: 10
Takes: 30 minutes
Lunchbox friendly: yes

Cheese and salami muffins
Makes:  12-15
Takes:  40 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Cornbread muffins
Makes: 24
Takes:  50 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes - recommend these with soup

Spinach and cheese muffins
Makes: 12
Takes: 40 minutes
Lunchbox friendly: Yes







Zucchini, ricotta and thyme muffins
Makes:  12-15
Takes:  40 minutes
Lunchbox friendly:  Yes

Lunchbox legends: Banana passionfruit 'schoffin' muffins!

Where did the school holidays go?  We even had an extra week for our trip and it still seems to have flown!  In our house there's usually at least one child who is itching to get back to school but this year, there are none.  I think it's because it's been such a busy holiday period for us perhaps.

So here I am last minute thinking of my school snacks.  My girls call these 'Schoffins'.  This is short for 'school muffins' but also because they scoff them pretty quickly.  During our farmgate trail this weekend we found the most gorgeous passionfruit... and my girls have gone 'off'' bananas.  So I set to work... using the leftover banana yoghurt too..

You can use any yoghurt you like and use tinned passionfruit if you can't find any fresh - but these are lovely and light with a sweet tang.  They will be 'scoffed' in no time.


Makes 22 muffins
Ingredients:
3 cups self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 medium sized banana (ripe as you can) peeled
300ml banana (or your choice) yoghurt
pulp of 4 medium or 2 large passionfruit (or 1/4 cup if using canned)


Method:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees c fan forced

Put all the ingredients in a bowl, yes all of them!  You can mash up the banana beforehand if you like but I forgot....!

look at these lovely passionfruit!

Doesn't look very appetising now... but give it a mix...

... for about 1 minute and it's all well combined, you WILL put your finger in to taste it and it's delicious!

Scoop or spoon into your cupcake or muffin cases and pop in the oven for about 12-15 minutes

 Leave them to cool for about 10 minutes... they are lovely warm too!   I've popped mine in the freezer ready to go for school!

Our family do Disneyland California

We set out after our big day in LA, in a car, again with Blacklane from Hollywood to Anaheim.  This took about 1 hour and quite easy to find A to B. The kids however didn't know where we were going - I find surprises have two benefits with kids - the build up and consistent nagging 'are we there yet?', 'When are we doing XYZ?' can often overshadow the event.  Secondly, surprises are just brilliant!

I passed my phone to the driver to give him the heads up:

We arrived and then told the kids as we drove into Disneyland Grand Californian.   They obviously lost their senses and squealed and jumped up and down!  It was worth keeping that secret for six months!  Below is them at the check in desk, they can still hardly believe it!

The lobby of the Grand Californian is very impressive.  It's decorated in 'Arts and Crafts' style with lots of wood and being there in December - they had a massive Christmas tree.  Check in was very easy - but finding our room was quite a trial, there are A LOT of rooms.  We had a family room which had a double bed, a set of bunks, and a trundle.  TV and wifi that wasn't entirely reliable if I'm honest.  The bathroom is very practical for families having a bath with shower overhead.

image credit

So whilst the rates are more befitting a five star suite, it's not the case with these rooms, but their trump card is they are walking distance to Disneyland Entrance and has it's own entrance into Disney California Adventure (these two theme parks border each other).  The views are also good over California Adventure.

We got out our map and started to plan our day - we did have a good app - that helped plan where to get fast-passes etc.  We popped on our 'first timer' buttons and started with excitement!

That soon went out the window for Disneyland but was very helpful for California Adventure, I'll explain why..promise!

You know when you get a review from me, it's always going to be honest... and I'm not one to complain about things for commercial or reaction reasons but I have to tell you - I didn't enjoy Disneyland much at all.  I think having done Hong Kong Disneyland that 'magical world of Disney' thing was done and whilst there was some great stuff it didn't meet my expectations.  California Adventure on the other hand completely was fantastic, and I wished we spent two days there instead of one day in each.

The main issues with Disneyland - and perhaps because we came on a bad day was that the majority of the rides were broken down, or broke down whilst we were lining up for it.  In one case on Splash Mountain Hubby and the kids were about to go on the drop (i.e. the exciting bit) when it broke.  The staff had to chain it off and remove them backwards off the drop and get them off the ride.  Overall it felt like a massive waste of time and money.

BUT I will tell you the bits I did like about Disney:

1.  The parade - well worth it, really gets the kids excited, but find a spot at least 30 minutes prior where you can sit down.

2.  Character Appearances - these are plentiful and the queues aren't too bad.

3.  Night-time in Main street with the Christmas Tree was beautiful.

4.  The food wasn't as expensive as you would think - and they do check your bags for food and drink when you go in, so don't bother with that...

5.  These cute mickey ears (admittedly the ear bit is plastic) are only $15 with personalisation.

Good news is, Californian Adventure was worth the plane ride for us and I'll share more of that in another post!