• Home
  • SAVE TIME IN THE ACADEMY
  • BROWSE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY
  • MEMBER LOGIN

The Empowered Educator

Inspiring ideas, training and resources for early learning.

  • SHOP EDUCATOR RESOURCES
  • NEW? START HERE
  • FREE Planning Guide
  • My Story

Weekend Wanderings – Lemons & Passionfruit!

by The Empowered Educator 10 Comments

It has been a wet and windy weekend here so our next stage in building the outdoor playspace had to be put on hold…which was a shame as I had so much planned…but not to worry, I decided to use up the baskets of bush lemons and passionfruit we have been collecting.

Wet Winter days always make me feel like getting in the kitchen and as the toddler twosome were getting a bit stir crazy (and red after playing in all the mud with their ‘brellas'!) I decided we would make some Passionfruit and Lemon Butters in the morning and then use the leftover skins to get creative after naptime.

I was surprised to see how much the girls enjoyed these simple little activities and must remember to incorporate more cooking and food activities and craft….they seem to have a real interest in the vegie garden and growing food at the moment, getting crafty and messy with it is even better!

Creative ,Sensory Fun - Mummy Musings and Mayhem
You might remember this picture of our passionfruit from last week. They have been sitting on the bench calling to me but i kept putting them aside as i just haven't had the time to spoon and freeze all the pulp.
They started to get a little wrinkly so i figured i couldn't wait any longer before doing something with them though!

These big bush lemons come from a tree we found in the paddock when we began clearing…it's a bit of a hike but well worth it as they are so juicy!

So it was time to pull out my well worn lemon butter recipe…I just love this recipe, it was given to me by an older lady in a tiny country town  after i was complaining that mine never seemed to set well enough.

She passed on her ‘foolproof' and very easy recipe and I haven't looked back!


Easy Lemon Butter

Here's what you need….

3 Lemons – Grate zest of 2
21/2 Cups Water
11/2 Cups Sugar
2 Dessertspoons Butter
2 tablespoons Cornflour
4 Eggs
Then you need to….

1. Place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk thoroughly (I know…so easy!)
2. Put over heat and cook stirring all the time…I actually use the microwave on 70% power in 50 sec intervals until thick so that i don't end up with a burnt saucepan and I don't have to stand there stirring either.
3. Do make sure not to let it boil though!
4. Pour into sterilised jars and seal tightly

To make the passionfruit butter I use an even simpler recipe but it tastes lovely….and it provides lots of fun for little budding chefs to join in on the action!

The toddler twosome were fascinated to watch the eggs breaking up and the seeds of the passionfruit swirling around the bowl.

Passionfruit Butter

Here's what you need….
12 Passionfruit (I don't really count…this time I used the whole basket to be honest!!)
125 grams Butter
1 Cup Sugar
4 eggs

Then you need to….
1. Place all ingredients into a saucepan and whisk together thoroughly
2. Put over heat and cook, stirring continuously
3. Don't boil…again I find the microwave very useful for this part!
4. Stir through a teaspoon of lemon juice when nearly cool and then pour into sterilised jars and seal tightly.
So yummy….we had some this morning spread on hot toast but I'm thinking some will go towards some little tarts before the end of the week!
While the girls had their afternoon nap (thank goodness just between you and me!) I washed a few of the fruit shells and left them in a low oven for 15 mins just to dry out a little.
When they woke up we made these special little creatures…they had so much fun getting creative with these and seemed to love the idea that they had used them in the cooking that morning!

I set out a little paste, some wool which Miss Teen had helped the girls to snip with their new scissors, some googly eyes, some small pompoms for noses (or eyes apparently) and the dry fruit shells.

Glueing is always a bit of a challenge for Ruby as the materials often stick to her fingers and she is therefore constantly wanting to wash them but this activity seem to keep her so busy that she didn't need to wash her hands much at all…yay for those small moments!
Putting the hair on was a very important process…colours to be chosen, glue to be put on around the head and much patting down…lots of fine motor fun!
The toddler twosome filled up a whole tray with their new little friends and I must tell you that they smelt absolutely lovely! 
When they finished making the fruit heads I decided to extend the fun even further by doing some simple stamping. I always have my sponge pads ready to go on a shelf so I just pulled them down, plonked in a few lemons and passionfruit and let the girls decide what they wanted to do!
Lots of freedom to create with this activity…Ruby even went to the lemon basket and got one of the whole lemons to try painting with! The bumpy skin actually made a fantastic sensory experience.
Tara discovered she could turn them over and paint the insides…
We talked about big and small circles and fitting a small circle print inside a large circle print….

And then we put our little friends to bed to dry so we can play with them another day!

What's your favourite thing to do with lemons or passionfruit? I have so many at the moment I would love some new ideas!

Passionfruit & Lemon Heads - Extending Cooking into craft!
Have a lovely week all….

Warm Wishes

Filed Under: family food, fine motor fun, homecooking, vegie garden

« 15 Strategies to Conquer Your Next Toddler Hairwash
Ideas for Incorporating Grass into Play and a Bunnings Giveaway! »

Comments

  1. Cynthia says

    02/07/2013 at 3:57 am

    I love the stamping, such a great idea and so simple!

    Reply
  2. katepickle says

    02/07/2013 at 10:56 am

    I am sooooooooooooooo envious of all those lemons and passion fruits! You are making my mouth water just looking at the photos!

    Reply
  3. The Imperfect Housewife says

    02/07/2013 at 11:16 am

    Hmmmm lemon butter! All of a sudden I’m starving!

    Reply
  4. Little Home In The Country says

    02/07/2013 at 12:29 pm

    I can’t imagine how glorious it would be to have lemons and passionfruit growing in the yard!!!!!!!!!!! What a beautiful thing ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  5. Deborah Alter-Rasche says

    03/07/2013 at 10:57 am

    Oooh, we always have a lemon tree brimming with lemons and usually end up giving most of them away as we just can’t use them all. I will definitely be trying this lemon butter recipe, thanks! I too am very envious of all your passionfruits though! YUM! Love your extensions for activities for the girls. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  6. Kate Gribble says

    03/07/2013 at 12:04 pm

    Gosh I do love lemon butter…and passionfruit butter! I can’t have it in the fridge though… I eat it by the spoonful straight out of the jar! It calls to me from the fridge haha I love it that much!!

    I do like that you had a bit of fun stamping with the skins though. That is a really nice idea. I don’t usually like to do food stamping but this is a nice way to use the skins before they go in the compost ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  7. [email protected] Little Bookcase says

    04/07/2013 at 12:20 pm

    Oh, how I love lemon butter. Thank you for the fool proof recipe.

    Ii just think it’s wonderful that your girls have taken an interest in growing food.

    Reply
  8. Elise says

    04/07/2013 at 12:26 pm

    Your jars of lemon and passionfruit butter look wonderful! What fun for your children to be involved with so many creative uses for your fruits. That’s the stuff special memories are made of ๐Ÿ™‚ Elise @ Creative Play Central

    Reply
  9. Kylie @ Octavia and Vicky says

    05/07/2013 at 5:13 am

    mmm yum, I must make some lemon butter from our ample lemon tree.

    Reply
  10. Kylie @ Octavia and Vicky says

    22/08/2013 at 12:08 pm

    Hello! I have lots of lemons to use up right now and this looks like a great way to use them! I have linked up to this post in my grateful/10 ways to use lemons post. It’s live tomorrow morning(23 August) – I’m telling you now so I don’t forget! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Jodie
Hi, I'm Jode, Mum to twins and a teen, and an early childhood educator.
I love to share ideas & resources for play based learning
Find out more about me here...

pinterestfacebooktwitterinstagram

What Can I Help You With?

Family Day Care

Outdoor Play

Sensory Play

Simple Planning

The World Around Us
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Refund Policy
  • Privacy Policy

.

Copyright © 2023 ยท Market theme by Restored 316