Homegrown Strawberries

Chuggington! Chugga chugga chugga!

2012-01-28T19:59:00.000-05:00

We are new to the world of Chuggington. Which is (according to wikipedia) "an international computer-animated television series for children produced by Ludorum plc and broadcast in 175 territories throughout the world including the BBC children's channel CBeebies. Chuggington currently airs on the Disney Channel Disney Junior’s preschool block in the United States."

We don't watch the Disney channel or any of its sub channels usually and so had not seen this. But for Christmas The Boy received a ton of Chuggington trains and tracks and I was supposed to know who each train was and what they were doing and what was going on and I didn't. What is a Mommy, who is supposed to be able to answer any question to say?

"I don't know, but lets find out." So to Google we went and after getting a feel for the series and answering the which train is which questions we went to Youtube to watch ~~one~~ ~~a few~~ all of the episodes we could find. The Boy is quite enamored and has taken to singing the theme song to himself as he does colors, or does things around the house.

On of the things I love about this set of trains is that its easy to snap together which means he is able to create his little world with out needing the help of someone else and thus is allowing for more independent play and greater control of his games.

Doll house

2012-01-28T19:34:00.000-05:00

For Christmas The Girl was given a Doll House.

It was fully finished, with working electrical

and furniture

And a family.

The Girl Loves it.

I do too. When I was in Kindergarten my mother and father pretty much exactly the same doll house, I think some of the details are a little different but its pretty much exactly the same. It got left behind when we moved when I was in middle school. I would have loved to have had it for The Girl but she has it now, reincarnated.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-28T18:57:00.000-05:00

here is a visual summery of our holidays:

Advent Days 19-24

2012-01-28T18:34:00.000-05:00

Because I am so far behind in posting the last few days of advent are getting lumped together.

19th We made "milk glass" ornaments where I took an ornament, used hot glue to make bumps on it (this was messy and a pain I think if I do it again I will get the little plastic nubby stickers you can get to put on cabinet door or on drawers to prevent them from slamming close and just hot gluing that on.) and then they were spray painted with a high gloss white spray paint. I also forgot to take pictures so just imagine a milk glass vase with its bumps and creamy white glass and then picture it round and hanging on a tree.

20th We attempted to make snow globes. Here is a good how to only we tried to make out figurine inside be a snowman made out of rocks and the rocks just did not want to glue together so we made it a project for next year.

21st As in past years we have celebrated the winter solace by putting out treats for the birds and lighting candles to help the fairies find our house to show the food to the birds.

22nd Today we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas movie, I love this tradition. There is just something about it that for me captures so well the desire for the "perfect" holiday, the attempts to create meaning in chaos, the ultimate realization every year that the holiday is not ABOUT a perfect human experience its about how that is impossible and learning once again to enjoy it and be grateful for the amazing blessings we have received from Christ. Following that we watched Santa Verses the Snowmen in 3d.

23rd We read the story of Christ's birth from an illustrated children's bible. We read the Luke 2 story every Christmas morning but I wanted to engage The Kids in a format that they could more easily understand and we less liking to tune out.

24th Since we are "pretending in Santa" as The Girl likes to put it, we made snacks for Santa and his deer tonight.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas I know we were very blessed by ours.

Advent Day 17: Christmas Brunch

2012-01-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

George Bailey had some cooking in mind of us. A big Family brunch.

We had an awesome Christmas Brunch day with backed caramel French toast, fried eggs, bacon and a citrus salad.

Advent Day 16: Go For a Walk and Look at decorations

2011-12-19T14:07:00.001-05:00

George Bailey was doing some tricks on a pile of jars filled with Peppermint Playdough (more on that later) his activity for us today was to take a walk and look at different Christmas decorations.

We went to give two of our cats up at the SPCA today. We hoped for adoption but do to their age they were not adoptable and so were going to be put down. I cried a lot.

So The Kids treated me to coffee and art, which was undeniably nice.

Buy it (and more) here

Then we went for a walk and looked at the beautifully decorated houses in the historic section of town and then we went window shopping in the mall. Where they had all sorts of fun things to do for the holiday crowd. Like making LoLiday cards.

or playing with bubbles, or try samples of smoothies and cookies and candies.

We did end up having a pretty good time despite the sad start to the day.
I also got a call saying that our Siamese was going to be taken by a rescue and would not have to be put down after all!

Advent Day 15: Make Specail stocking stuffers

2011-12-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

George Bailey was found hanging around the mistletoe. Today his activity was to make special gifts for each other's stockings.

The Girl and I made an I Spy Jar for The Boy

Photo credit to Nest full of eggs

And The Boy and I painted a piggy bank for The Girl
It looked something like then when we started.

Photo credit to georginaswan.com

The Kids each had a blast doing something simple and craft for each other. The Boy is practically bursting to tell his sister what he made because he knows she really wants a piggy bank and he made it with wings and a curly tail just the the one from her game. I can't wait until Christmas to watch them with these gifts.

Advent day 14: Read The Nutcracker

2011-12-19T12:08:00.000-05:00

George Bailey went to visit the manger today.

We read a wonderfully vivid version of the Nutcracker story with just the right mixed of scary and danger and bravery and magic and dreams and childishness.

The story was told by E.T.A. Hoffmann.

The illustrations are very engaging with little ones peppered though out the pages and lots of full page pictures depicting some of the more dramatic sections.

We love it.

Advent Day 13: Gingerbread Waffles

2011-12-19T11:25:00.001-05:00

George Bailey somehow managed to get him self locked into this jar. The Girl's theory is that one of his Christmas Mice friends came to visit and then locked him in because they thought it would be funny for us to find him like that, but he seemed comfortable enough. Our task today was for a special dinner that used some seasonal flavors.

We made gingerbread waffles and broiled grapefruit.

Waffles recipe

I altered ours some to make them gluten free and they were super tasty. The Girl said that they looked like snowy windows with the butter spread on them.

Grapefruit recipe

I have in the last year or so discovered cardamom and have fallen completely in love. A friend of mine who is Swedish was making some cardamom rolls for Christmas last year and shared them because she is a good and wonderful person. More people need to eat these I am totally convinced spontaneous world peace would erupt. Then in the summer she made me a rice pudding with cardamom because she is a good and wonderful person. And then I tried it in a homemade spiced chai and I am positive that it is the best spice in the whole world at this point, particularly if combined with some cinnamon and a very little black pepper and nutmeg.

All of that to say there are other broiled grapefruit recipes but this one I had to try. It was great only I would use sugar rather than honey next time I want the crust that you get when it brûlées.

Advent Day 12: Christmas Elf a nieghbor

2011-12-18T20:27:00.000-05:00

Today our mouse was hiding in the deli drawer, I suspect he was after some cheese.

His fun activity today was a game of secret santa, or Christmas Elfing. Its a little like the Halloween boo game. You make two bags of Christmas goodies and then leave them secretly for neighbors. With a sign and instructions for the game. You can find some cute printables here.

Its basically a game of pass it on with each person doing it for two neighbors who do not have a "we have been elfed" sign displayed. (you do two in case someone can not participate the game does not stop.) I thought it would be fun to give with out any expectation of reward or thanks and I am sure a lot of people have piles of there own baked goods and candies laying around that you can pack a few of and pass on so it would not really be a burden to anyone.

The kids had a blast "sneaking" around to drop of the gift bags.

Advent Day 11: Peppermint bark

2011-12-17T13:51:00.000-05:00

We found George Bailey on a Christmas Train.

He told us to make peppermint bark. So we did. We made it in these super cute silicon molds that I got in the dollar section of Target last year post Christmas. a Few things of note that I would like to point out with our bark.

1 I made it too thick so its rather hard to eat.
2 The two layed chocolates was a fun idea but I don't really know if it added anything to it. maybe a nice dark rather than milk would have the extra umph.
3 We added crumbled up chocolate cookies into the milk chocolate layers on the trees but then needed to go back and add a topping layer to keep it from crumbling out. My sister told me that she used rice crispy cereal that that was a much better idea, plus there is a chocolate version of the cereal if you want chocolate.

Advent Day 10: A Christmas Carol Movie Night

2011-12-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

On Day 10 we found the mouse hiding out in our shoe basket. Today he had a movie night planed for us so we watched A Christmas Carol.

I love how scary but not grotesque and still very merry and full of life it is.
For dinner I made roasted chicken with cranberry sauce and mashed sweet potatoes smothered in toasted homemade marshmallows.

I highly recommend both the movie and the marshmallows I used Mrs. Humble's marshmallow recipe but its pretty standard.

Mommy Moments: My One True Love

2011-12-15T20:50:00.000-05:00

We were reading a retold version of the 12 days of Christmas called Emma's Christmas, in which Emma a free spirited farmer's daughter who caught the eye of a local prince and how he tried to woo her with piles of birds and cows and things.

At the end of the story the following conversation occurred.

The Girl: How do you know who is your one true love?
The Boy: I don't know.
The Girl: Your one true love is the person you want to marry.
The Boy: I don't have a true love, but I do have uncles..

Homeschooling Theme: Gingerbread

2011-12-12T09:57:00.000-05:00

Since we are doing holiday baking and I knew that we has a few cookie exchange events coming up and that The Kids would be decorating gingerbread. I did a Gingerbread Man themed Week las week.

We used both the story and the cookies themselves as inspiration. Here are some ideas if you want to do your own gingerbread man themed lessons:

Reading and Writing:
Read the story of the Gingerbread man

working story sequencing
Write own story with sequencing words. (first, next, then, finally, etc.)
Journal question: what would you have done to catch the gingerbread man?
Writing and illustrate your own version of the story.

Math and Science:
Bake Gingerbread cookies. (great recipe for those with food allergies here)
Graph the decorations: track what colors and types of decorations are used on the cookies and then make a bar graphs to display that data.
What happens if gingerbread men get wet: conduct an experiment to see what happens if the cookies get wet. try drops of water, verse dipping, or full submersion.

Arts and Crafts:
Have children illustrate pages of the story.
Paint or glue decorations gingerbread men (great printable starter shape here)
Make cinnamon dough gingerbread men ornaments: I suggest premaking the men and just letting them decorate them. (recipe here)

Music and Movement:
Gingerbread man song
Gingerbread "Duck duck goose" all the children lay one the ground like cookies on a pan one walkes aound the group saying

"1 little gingerbread man lying on tray.
1 jumped up and ran away!
Catch me, catch me, if you can.
I run really fast.
I'm the gingerbread man!"

at the end of the poem they pick someone nearby and they need to catch the "it" person before they get back to there spot on the "tray"

"I'm a little gingerbread man." (to the tune of I'm a little tea pot)
I am a little gingerbread man short and stout. (stand like a gingerbread man with arms out)
here are my gumdrops here is my mouth (point to tummy and mouth)
when I get a baked up here me shout (Actual shout the next part)
"Run run run as fast as you can you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man! (run in place as fast as you can)

Gingerbread themed Web resources I used:
Mathwire
Kidzone

Hope you have fun!

Advent Day 9: Paper Snowflakes

2011-12-10T19:46:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas Mouse was hiding in a wreath. For our activity today we cut paper snowflakes. I found a great website that teaches you how to best fold the paper and has printable templates so you can get your snowflakes to turn out just right. We used a few templates and did a few ourselves once we learned how to fold the paper and what sort of look the cuts produced.

We hung these on the back door.

Advent Day 8: Chocolate Moose

2011-12-10T19:20:00.000-05:00

Today George Bailey (who I was corrected today and can not just be called George) was reading a book, which we read later in the day and was about the theme for school next week what a coincidence! His "assignment" for us today was to make Chocolate moose cookies! (See they are chocolate cookies? and they are cut out with a moose shaped cookie cutter?)

But the dough did not turn out quite right, it was too soft and sticky to roll out, even after I refrigerated it and added extra flour.

so we made chocolate drop cookies instead.

half with green sprinkels and half with red.

They have been called "pretty good."

Mommy Moments: What about...?

2011-12-08T21:44:00.001-05:00

So the other day we went to Bass pro shop to visit with Santa and play with some expensive toys.While we were there we looked at the Christmas displays the shop put up. They had animals in a snowy woodland scene with children throwing snowballs that were ornaments suspended from the ceiling.
Where we had the following conversation.
The Girl: "Mommy! look at those poor ducks! There lake is frozen."
Me: "Yep that is why smart ducks fly south for the winter."

The Girl: "Are these not smart ducks?"
Me: "They are dead ducks they just put them out for decoration."
The Girl: "They are dead? Like they are real ducks that someone killed?"
Me: "Yes they are preserved to keep them looking nice."

The Girl:What about those flying ones? are they dead too?
Me: yes

The Girl: What about the deer?
Me: yes

Long thoughtful pause.
The Girl (in a hushed almost fearful tone): ... What about the people?

Pioneer Girls Christmas Award Night

2011-12-08T14:17:00.000-05:00

Last night was the Christmas awards and show for the Pioneer Girls program that The Girl is in and I help lead. Each group performed a song or a skit that they prepared and then were given the badges they had earned for the first part of the year. After the awards they decorated gingerbread houses, with gingerbread men cookies for siblings to decorate. Each family was asked to bring a desert or snack to share.

The Girl's group sang "Come on and ring those bells" with jingle bell tambourines they had made.

My Mother and Sister were able to come to the award show and my Mom helped with the gingerbread decorating, mostly in frosting control for The Boy.

Gingerbread Boy before all his candies and appendages were eaten off.

Gingerbread house

Advent Day 7: Games and Santa

2011-12-07T23:42:00.000-05:00

George Bailey played snow man today, and then he sent us to go see Santa at Bass Pro Shop where they had on display some of the toys they were selling for Christmas. So the Kids got to play with some games and color pictures and take another picture with Santa.

I think The Boy's favorite part was the train table.

The Girl colored a picture for Santa because, "I know he is only pretending but he gets asked for so much things I want to give him something." and she loved the lazer shooting arcade which they both did until they got all three targets needed to get a fake tattoo.

Though I was very amused by The Boy's rifle holding technique.

We had a lot of fun for no money other than the gas to get there I would highly recommend it.

Advent Day 6: Make Christmas Cards

2011-12-07T23:01:00.001-05:00

Our mouse was behind a painting this morning and on the theme of art our activity today was to make Christmas cards.

I broke out my digital scrapbooking supplies and photoshop and let The Girl make a few "cards" in there. They will be e-mailed out but I am sharing them here too.

Advent Day 5: Take Pictures In Front of the Tree

2011-12-06T18:42:00.000-05:00

Our little Christmas Mouse deposited himself on top of our memory jar.

His task for us today, pictures in front of the tree. I decided to let The Girl plan and set up the shots. We had Bunny and Kitty play model for a while before The Kids actually got into the pictures.

The Girl had some very clear ideas of the pictures she wanted to take but I am not sure they all turned out the way she wanted.

Advent Day 4: Christmas Parade

2011-12-04T18:06:00.004-05:00

Today we found George Bailey (our Christmas Mouse) with is head in the candy machine. At least he was kind enough to share his candy with The Kids.

Our activity today was to go to the "Mayor's Annual Christmas Parade" after church. We got there and parked and tried to find some place where we could actually SEE the parade.

This looked to be a difficult task, but The Husband noticed a small hill with a good view of the parade start and no one on it. This was great because we got a crowd free view of the parade, there was grass and leaves for fidgety children to play in. it was bad because there was a vine that hung down in all my pictures. But I am sure you won't care.

See that vine! Oh well, so yeah that is Jedi and storm troopers.
"What do they have to do with Christmas?" You ask...
That is a very good question and the only thing I can come up with is SW:TOR is coming out on the 20th. So basically nothing at all unless you happen to have that game on your wishlist. (It is awesome by the way The Husband got into the stress test beta last weekend and this one.)
But the lack of relevance to the holiday being celebrated did not stop a LOT of the parade members from participating and the Jedi were by far the coolest.

Ok So this one I am not at all sure about, its one of the most christmassy of all of them... but what Marie Antoinette was doing here with her Christmas court I am not totally sure.

Do you see that? look closely.. that is a marching upright bass.

I would say about 25% of the parade were shriners. Old men in funny hats with toys. Antique cars, motorcycles, painted up vans, tricycles, go carts, a full brass band in a wagon, clowns. But those mini tractor trailers were the funniest there were all sorts of trailers for these little trucks.

Frosty had to be kept low going through the intersection so he did not get tangled in the traffic lights.
I did not get a picture of the Santa on the motorcycle at the start of the parade or the one on the float at the end because my camera battery decided it was dying.

Advent Day 3: Set up the Nativity scene

2011-12-04T17:07:00.000-05:00

This morning we found our mischievous mouse (now named George Bailey) hiding in the dining room chandelier. The activity he had for us today was to set up or nativity scene. This scene features predominantly in our Christmas morning so we figured it needed its own day not just a set it out with the rest of the stuff treatment.

Every year we set out the whole scene. Mary, Joseph, the sheep the shepherd, the donkey, cow, wise men, the angel everything but baby Jesus. He comes out on Christmas.

Jesus is currently tucked away in a little white box in our tree and it will be the first present we open on Christmas morning.

Advent day 2: Pictures with Santa

2011-12-03T23:13:00.000-05:00

We heard about a free pictures with Santa even at a local strip mall, they had "sleigh" rides and face painting, cookies and hot cider. So we went to check it out. the lines to ride in an open carriage (the white ones that you can rent for weddings) were really way to long for the 50 yard trip across the parking lot so we skipped that. But The Kids did get quite a kick out of watching the horse that was pulling it and did not mind missing that ride at all particularly as walking the distance put us past three tables of cookies and hot drinks.

There were carolers and musicians a long the side walks. While there was a bit of a line to get to the actual picture taking part they had piles of wooden and wheeled toys for the children in line to play with and our went from a dinosaur parade to Noah's ark to a set of cars and trucks quite happily.

Since we are "Pretending in Santa" as The Girl likes to call it we have incorporated a few Santa activities to do this year. We wrapped up the evening with doughnuts and a late bed time.

Advent day 1: Decorations

2011-12-03T20:27:00.000-05:00

Our first Advent activity this year was to decorate for Christmas. We still need to finish getting all the boxes and thing put away but here is what we did. I will start with the exterior since that is what you see when you come to the house.

We actually put up out door lights this year.

Which was a lot of fun and I am enjoying. The Kids and I made some wreaths which I said before I am not sure how I feel about them.

But I think they go well with the lights and in the sun they sparkle like ice so they are staying for this year at least. In doors the kitchen got its usual seasonal make over with towels and an appropriate cookie jar.

I decided to try something a little over the top, over top the jar, mostly because I could we had the pieces to make it happen that I had bought three years ago with another idea in mind that just did not really work out. So this year we really decked out our dining room chandelier.

I took a wreath and using plastic coated twist ties wired it to the bottom of the chandelier and then using some garland I wrapped the upper part. It might be a bit much I am not sure but I love it because it adds a clear "Christmas" feel without add extra clutter or things to the rest of the house.
Speaking of tying things to light fixtures, I could not find a decent priced, decent looking mistletoe. I was either given something that looks a lot like holly (because it was) or they wanted $12 + for it so I took some holly we had already and let The Girl paint all the berries white. A far cry from looking like the real thing, but free.

One in the kitchen and one over the door.
We put up two wreaths in doors as well one over the fire place and one on the mirror opposite the door way.

Our little five year robot got one too.

We hung the stockings on the bookshelf from these super cute stocking hangers that I grabbed in a post Christmas sale last year, which I like so much better than a command hook on the wall.

As for our tree...

I am a little disappointed none of these pictures shows just how awesome it looks with the Narnia treatment, I will try to get some better ones in day light.

Advent This Year

2011-12-03T08:17:00.000-05:00

We have done a few different advent calendars with gifts and chocolates and things. They were fun but I would often forget about them which really did not help in the whole counting down thing that they were supposed to do when we would end up doing 4 days at once. This time of year particularly we have a ton of baked goods and candy that needs to be eaten and then they get more in the calendar so it was not really all that exciting for The Husband and I. It really lacked anything other than sugar to look forward to. So I was really excited when I read about some families who were doing advent differently, each day you got a piece of paper with a fun holiday themed event to do. That was something we could do, make all the things that we want to do as a family part of a fun count down, that also helped The Husband and I to lay out what things we wanted to do as a family and pick days to put them on so we could be sure they happened rather then getting to Christmas Eve and remembering the things we wanted to do didn't get to.
So we made a list, looked for fun things to do in our area, planed out the little things we wanted to do at home I printed it out and went to put the paper slips into our advent calendar and i could not find it. I looked through every box that was remotely related to or stored near our seasonal decorations, it was gone so while I was trying to come up with a way to do this without needed to create a whole new advent calendar I found an old cat toy. its a little gray mouse with a scarf and Santa hat, he has a hook and look strip closure on his back to stick cat nip in but our cats never had much interest in it and it got packed away with other Christmas things.

So I look the paper with the advent activity for today and stuck it inside of him and put him "hidden" in our tree and as I got The Kids to help me set the tree up I told them we needed to check it for mice, since you know mice like to build there nests in evergreens as it protects them from the winter weather. The Boy spotted him and we pulled him down and got our day 1 activity. Decorate for Christmas!

So our advent calendar is now combined with "The Elf on the Shelf". If you are not familiar with that, as its something I only recently learned about its a book and toy elf. The story goes that Santa sends every family an elf that will sit still on the shelf all day and watch the family and then at night he come alive and goes to report on the behavior of the family, this is how Santa knows who has been bad or good. but the elf tends to get into things when he comes back from the north pole and every morning the children go and look for him and he can be in some weird places. I think we will have a lot of fun with this.

Chirstmas Tree Up Graded

2011-12-02T23:56:00.000-05:00

So when we decided to go fake the tree I REALLY wanted looked something like this:

But that Glacier Christmas Tree with Pinecones came with something around a $500 price tag. Yeah so we did not get it and we did get a tree we were very happy with even if it was not exactly what we were looking for. Then yesterday I got all our decorations out of the back room and sat down for a moment at my computer I glanced at my blog roll and saw that Epbot had a new post. So I took a moment to read it, and what did my wondering eyes behold but a simple tutorial on how to turn this...

into this...

Not the best picture in the world I know but it was super easy, not to mention nearly free since we had everything but the glitter. AND I think it looks better than any of the pre-done trees we looked at! I am so excited!
Check out the DIY Narnia tree upgrade tutorial.

And while you are looking at tutorials take a look at this one that we used to make some outdoor wreaths this year. I am still not sure how I feel about them but it was a fun project.

So Much to Say So Little Said

2011-12-02T21:11:00.000-05:00

So I write a lot more than actually makes it on-line, mostly because its in my head. I write posts while doing dishes, and running errands, and vacuuming, just doing life. But a lot of it never seems to make it into a typed form and time marches on and the topic the posts were to have been about no longer seem relevant and new posts that I don't actually write up are mentally written and you don't get to read or see any of it.

All that to say I think of you a lot... and its the thought that counts right?

Not really? Well be prepared from some wildly out of season posts then when I finally get around to getting whats in my head on to your screen.

soo yeah here are some cute kid pictures which is all you came here for anyway.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T13:53:00.000-05:00

This year The Girl wanted to decorate the tables for our big Thanksgiving meal at my mother's house. For this we had two projects. First The Kids made leaf prints, which are basically hand prints but with leaves. These were turned in to lanterns simply by taking legal paper, making the painted prints and then stapling it into a cylinder and placing a small tea light and votive in the middle.

The other thing we made was turkeys out of scrapbook paper. We used a combination of turkey templates from Martha Stewart's website. The body, wing, and head were from this one
and the tail shapes were from this one.

Our family's contrabutions to the meal were mixed roasted veggie and from scratch pumpkin pies.

Orange Maple Roasted Vegetables:
Peal and prepare your asparagus, carrots and parsnips.
Cut carrots and parsnips. try to keep them about the same size as the asparagus.
drizzle with orange juice, olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper.
roast at 350 for 20-40 min depending upon the volume of your vegetables turn them about every 10 min to get even cooking and coating of flavors.

For the pies I used this recipe from Simply Recipes and I loved it! I will used it again and again it was wonderful.
Suzanne's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Getting Organized: Kitchen {A Menu Box}

2011-11-29T13:16:00.001-05:00

The Weather and our health are not at there best today so I opted for a quick and simple project which I wanted to share with you all.

Take out menus.

They have taken over different parts of my kitchen through out my life, the front of the refrigerator, the top of the refrigerator, the junk drawer next to the refrigerator, the counter next to the phone, and most recently the Side of the refrigerator.

So when I was about to dump a now empty cerial box in the recycling I had an sudden idea that would fix this.

Materials:

Cerial box
Scissors
Things to decorate it with (paint, scrap book paper, glue, stickers whatever)
Strong magnets
A mess of menus

Step one: Draw cutting lines so you get good straight lines. You want the back higher than the front by a couple inches.

Step two: Cut the box. I found that for this, the best thing was to cut the corners down to the lines that gave me more room to move to cut off the sections that were not needed.

Step three: Decorate

I used art from a Trader Joe's bag, because it was cute and they asked me to recycle it so....

Step four: Apply your magnets. the ones I had are those really cute ones that look like push pins, so I cut two holes in that top of the back and stuck the top through. If you have flat ones, (like from a magnetic list pad or something you can just glue them one the back.)

Step five: Marvel at your new *Free* stylish solution to the menu mess.

I might make one for all those printed recipes currently covering the from of my fridge.

Fall 2011

2011-11-18T08:43:00.000-05:00

I Love this time of year, even though it gets so much busier, its also easier for me to take a moment and be amazed at the beauty of life.

Hope you are enjoying it too!

Getting Organized

2011-11-17T20:19:00.001-05:00

So one of the things I have had really hit home for me these last few weeks. Being organized makes sense, it actually does make life easier, it really does make things less stressful. So I am working on doing that. Organizing my home and my time and my family.

One little thing I just did was to make a Babysitter note sheet. This is a pre-done thing with pre-filled out information that I can just add the relevant details too and post on our fridge when we get a sitter. Saves time, makes it easier on the sitter than some quickly scribbled out note on scrap paper. And I love it. So here is basic one that I edited down to be more generic so that you can use it too!

Just right click it to save the image and its yours.

Aquarium

2011-11-17T20:01:00.000-05:00

I mentioned on Friday that my Mother took us to the aquarium. It was a lot of fun! Here are some of my favorite images from the trip and what my children and I have to say about them

The Boy: Thats me! and Bunny! and we are making silly faces!

This sea turtle is missing one of its flippers, so he lives at the aquarium.

This amused me I get the point but the phrasing makes me giggle a bit.

The Girl: I really liked that fish, it was REALLY big and its mouth looked kinda funny.
The Boy: thats a sad fish, because he is hungry.

Cow Fish!
The Girl: I like the Cow fish because its mouth looks sort of like when I make a fishy face.

The Boy: I was looking for turtles but I did not see any there but there was a picture of them.

The Girl: The Dolphin show was a lot of fun because they did lots of tricks.

Many thanks to my mother and sister for the trip!

Pumpkin Bread

2011-11-11T19:55:00.001-05:00

The Kids and I made pumpkin bread. LOTS of Pumpkin bread. Because we have LOTS of pumpkin.

We made both Normal and Gluten Free breads.

Pumpkin Bread
We actually doubled the recipe below when we made it:
3 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups white sugar
6 eggs
4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9×5 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
1 1/2 cups of Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. Xanthan Gum
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. all spice
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 granulated sugar
1 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients together and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the melted butter, sugars, eggs and pumpkin until smooth (the batter will be thick). Fill each liner 3/4 full with batter and bake until the top feels firm and a toothpick can be inserted in the center and comes out clean (about 25 minutes).

Wish Day!

2011-11-11T18:48:00.001-05:00

Happy Wish day everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful super awesome day! We did, it turned into a much crazier better day than I was even expecting. First of all my sink drain decided to cause all sorts problems, mostly by not draining. When chemical drain cleaners and a pipe snake did not work (the snake actually broke off after it got stuck in the clog. This was last Wednesday. This morning the plumber came and fixed it! Yay! And then my mother graciously treated us and my sister to a trip to the National Aquarium. It was a huge amount of fun!

So here is what we did for our random acts of kindness

1 Wrote a letter to our local police officers to say thank you.
2 Left a note and gift for mailman.

3 Gave pumpkin bread to our neighbors.
4 Picked up litter.
5 Wrote and mailed a card for friend.
6 Donated items that we did not need to charity.
7 Gave a treat to our plumber.
8 Brought in neighbor's recycling bins.
9 Gave money help protect rain forest and reefs

10 I did my family's chores for them.
11 Hid some of my husband's favorite candies for him to find.

So how about you? What did you do?

Ebenezer Day and the memory jar

2011-11-07T17:18:00.000-05:00

Today my family and I are celebrating our third Ebenezer day, it is a day we picked to set aside and remember and honor God for all the blessings he has lavished upon us. This year we will be adding to this tradition. One we are having the same meal that we did on our first Ebenezer night, when we signed for our house. Pizza.

the Second, we start a memory jar. Tonight as a family we wrote down a list of some of the things this past year that have happened that we are really grateful for and we will put that list into a jar. Then as the year goes on and we make memories and have new wonderful things happen we can add those to our jar. So that next Ebenezer day we can open that jar and read those memories and blessings and make a new list of things we are particularly grateful for, for next year's jar.

Because we tend to forget. This is why the first Ebenezer was set up (1 Samuel 7:12) as a memory marker.

Random Acts of Kindness: Going All Out

2011-11-07T11:22:00.000-05:00

Some acts of kindness are small and meaningful, they don't cost us much if anything and are easy to do everyday. Some take more time, effort and money to accomplish and these make a much bigger impact. Here are a few to be thinking about since Wish day is coming up this Friday 11/11/11. for a lot of the the recipient is not random but given anonymously it will still be a random act of kindness to them.

(photo credit here)

1) Get a gift card for a local restaurant (enough to pay for a family's dinner there) and then give it to a family eating there.
2) Pay for the movie tickets of the people behind you in line.
3) Sponsor a needy child through an organization such as Compassion International
4) Buy a product where part of the money goes toward a cause (such as this coffee) and then give the item away.
5) Get a large ticket item that you know a family might be in need of and secretly drop it off (new pots and pans? a bike?)
6) Pick a family you know who has at least one person out of work and provide them gift cards and/or items that can be used to make this holiday season special.
7) Put together and wrap a gift basket of things you know someone will really enjoy and leave it on there door step.
8) Get gift cards for a local book store and hide them with notes among the books.
9) Plan and pay for a special day out for friends include an itinerary, maps, transportation if needed, gift cards or tickets for events and food and a disposable digital camera.
10) Find a "of the Month" club that would please someone you know and secretly get it for them.
11) Go to your local post office and get a letter to Santa and then try to fill at least one items on the child's wish list and ship it to them from Santa for Christmas delivery. (I realize this one is not likely to be accomplished on Wish day but for this one you actually know the wish.)

Random Acts of Kindness: A Little Elbow Grease

2011-11-07T10:15:00.000-05:00

Some acts of kindness cost a little money, some cost a little time. This is a list of 11 ideas for kind things that can be done with a little effort to make the world and someone else's life a little better. This is part of my idea generation for Wish day 11/11/11. When I am challenging everyone to do 11 random acts of kindness and while what you do may not grant their 11:11 wish it will at least make their day a little better.

(photo credit here)

1) Rake leaves (or clear snow) for someone.
2) Read books to children at a bookstore or library.
3) Bake something to give away.
4) Craft something to give away.
5) Bring in all your neighbors' trash or recycling containers.
6) Drop by an assisted living facility and visit with the people who live there.
7) Get an item on free cycle fix it up or repair it, put it back up for free.
8) Cut grass or wash someone's car.
9) Chop fire wood for someone.
10) Make freezer meals to give away.
11) Make care packages and give them to the homeless (warm socks, toiletries etc) if you don't know where to find homeless to give to call a local church they will probably have a homeless ministry that can point you in the right direction.

Random Acts of Kindness under $10

2011-11-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

A few more ideas for Wish Day. I think some of these might be the most fun. They cost a bit more but can really surprise and delight because of that. Check out some Free ideas or ideas that will cost you less than a dollar, and be sure to add your own to any category!

(photo credit to technorati)

1) Pay for the coffee of the person in line behind you.

2) Get a fresh hot doughnuts for a work crew.

3) Make a flower arrangement from a thrift store vase and grocery store flowers, leave at a random home.

4) Give a gift card to a local coffee shop or cafe to some standing outside it.

5) Take a case of bottled water for nurses at the emergency room.

6) Leave quarters at a laundry mat.

7) Get a toy and give it to a child (with parents permission.)

8) Tape change to a vending machine.

9) Pay for someone's toll.

10) Tie balloons to someone's gate.

11) Leave a small wrapped gift on someone's doorstep.

The Boy Age 3

2011-11-05T14:57:00.001-04:00

A Belated Birthday Post

2011-11-05T13:48:00.000-04:00

So The Boy turned 3.

Back in September.

So here we are in November and I am blogging it. Yay!

His pick for a theme was "cars". So we made a Racing cake, a tire shaped piñata, laid out a blanket that my grandmother made with a town scape and road ways for little cars to explore.

The car cake I was a little worried about but it turned out well.

The full "how I did it" with a diagram below.

I started with 2 round cakes, cutting cake 2 in half. fig. 1
Place half of the cut cake (2b) on the uncut cake (1) frosting in between then cut the second half (2a) in half diagonally from the cut side. Giving you two ramp like wedges (2a i and 2a ii) fig. 2
On top of the first cut piece (2b) place one of the ramps (2a i) frosting in between. fig 3
On the still exposed half of the first cake (1) place the remain ramp cut (2a ii) so that the high end of the ramp lines up with the bottom of (2a i) and the top of (2b) frosting in between.
This gives you the basic shape for the cake. I used a white frosting to crumb coat and build the cake. Then piped green grass around the "hills" and edges of the track. I used chocolate frosting died with a little black food coloring to make the road. I piped that on and then smoothed it and we uses little car shaped chocolates that we managed to snag at Aldi's for the racers.

Tip: If you don't have black food coloring or can't find any liberal amounts of red, green and blue can be used to achieve a very good dark gray particularly with a chocolate base but it will take an hour or so for the color to fully develop so mix and wait to be sure its right.

The piñata building was a good idea, but was implemented a little too well. that is to say the materials I used to frame it were too strong. So my advice if you are planing to make it, it was really simple start with paper (printer or construction) and poster board (not cardboard oops..) cut the paper into two circles the size you want your tire and then the poster board long enough to surround they circumference with a space at the top for candy. Tape the circles to the poster board, wrap string around the poster board edge and then paper mache!

Since I over built that piñata it took quite a bit of force and a little grown up help to get into. But The Boy loved it all the same.

The "car quilt" is a favorite in our house and was well enjoyed as a game for the party, though I did not get a picture of it on the party day I am including one so you get the general idea.

Random Acts of Kindness Under $1

2011-11-04T23:02:00.000-04:00

Here are some little things you can do for Wish Day or any day that will not cost you much but might make the difference to someone. For Free ideas you can look here, and be sure to add your own to either category!

(Photo credit mixmingleglow )

1) Add some time to a parking meter.
2) Leave your change in the vending machine.
3) Leave a can of soda on a coworkers desk with a short note.
4) Write a letter and mail it to a friend.
5) Buy a balloon and give it to the next child you see.
6) Write thank you notes for the police or firefighters and drop them off at the local station.
7) Give a water bottle to a jogger.
8) Place a cheerful card under the windshield wiper of someone's car.
9) Drop some coins around a play ground to be found by children.
10) Buy a cookie or candy bar for a child in a convenience shop (with parent's permission)
11) Leave a small candy treat and a thank you note for the mailman

Donate

2011-11-03T19:04:00.000-04:00

Continuing the idea planing for Wish day which is coming up in Friday 11/11/11 I am putting together a list of Random Acts of Kindness around the theme of donations. Once again if you have any ideas to add to the list please leave them in the comments.

(photo credit Lisa Romerein)

1) Donate unneeded clothes and house hold items to a charity
2) Give gently used or new toys to a mother and child homeless shelter
3) Drop off canned goods and pet food at a local food bank
4) Collect old towel and blankets and give them to a pet shelter
5) Get warm sweaters, thermal sock and coats and donate them to a homeless shelter
6) Give money to help in disaster relief
7) Pick a group who fund raises at Christmas and give them an early donation
8) Support a missionary.
9) Give gently used or new children's books to a private school or library
10) Make packs of coloring books and crayons and give them to a children's hospital
11) Ask a local church about any family they know of who might have a need and help to meet it.

Free Random Acts of Kindness

2011-11-02T11:04:00.004-04:00

So to get my own ideas flowing I am starting lists of different ways we can do our 11 acts of kindness. Today's theme is Free.
If you have any ideas to add to this category add them in the comments!

( Photo credit University of Rochester )

1) Give a sincere compliment to a total stranger.
2) Return grocery carts back inside the store from the parking lot.
3) Help load bags of groceries into cars for people.
4) Send an e-mail to a restaurant you have enjoyed thanking them for the service.
5) Let someone ahead of you in line.
6) Brush off a lot of snow or ice from windshields in the parking lot.
7) Tell someone just how awesome they are on facebook or in an e-mail
8) Hold the door for someone.
9) Pump someone's gas so they can sit in there warm car.
10) Call or visit someone you have not spoken to in a long time.
11) Pick up litter.

Wish Day 11/11/11

2011-11-01T23:11:00.002-04:00

OK so I am pretty sure everyone has heard of the little game where you make a wish when it is 11:11. If you have not then its pretty self explanatory.

We have this awesome opportunity coming up to make a day of it. I was thinking it would be fun to grant wishes for others, but how did you know what people want?

So my solution was this.

On Friday November 11, 2011 my family will perform 11 random (or not so random) acts of kindness. We may not know what they wished for but we can at least help to make 11 different people's day a little brighter.

Would you like to join me? Come back on 11/11/11 to share what you did and we will share ours.

What I have learned from Los Días de los Muertos

2011-11-01T19:09:00.002-04:00

Today is the middle day of the days celebrated to honor the dead in Mexico. It is part of the trio of days on the catholic calendar, All Hollows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls day. In Mexico these days are part of something else, with Aztecan traditions mingled in. It is a day to remember family and friends who have died, to honor their lives and to welcome them home to visit. The holiday is celebrated with many regional variations. marigolds both paper and real are used in decorations, special foods are put out as ofienda a meal made to welcome the relives as if there were alive, since the dead can not eat they are to enjoy the smells and then the family will eat it. Graves are cleaned, stories are told and retold, loves ones remembered. Skeletons and sugar skulls are common decorations but they are not macabre, rather a reminder that under it all we are skeletons too and we and the dead have that in common and that like us their skeletons will one day be reclothed in flesh when they are made alive again.

We read the book Day of the Dead: A Latino Celebration of Family and Life by Carol Gnojewski

colored sugar skull drawing.

and had a sugar skull themed lunch

and made paper marigolds (tutorial here)

But for me, it gave me a lot to think about. We tend to look at death a scary, creepy, uncomfortable. Both death itself and the grief of those who have lost someone are uncomfortable and not discussed. When someone dies they are not really part of our lives or our families anymore just some memories bound up in pictures we don't really talk about. and I think that is wrong. I think that my children should know about those family members they did not get to meet and that remembering those not present keeps them near your heart and that grief and joy can be mingled. Perhaps by pushing away the grief we are also losing the joy.

Pumpkin Particulars

2011-11-01T10:13:00.001-04:00

This year we bought one pumpkin to carve and one to cook. But as with all things plans change and instead we carved and cooked both. You see went looking for pumpkin ideas we found four The Girl and I liked. So as you can only do so much to one pumpkin we did both.

To start with we were going trick or treating with some friends in there neighborhood and then have pizza with them so we would not be home for trick or treating hours. So we carved our pumpkin with a nice big mouth, lined him with foil and put our candy offerings inside. He also got this adorably cute carrot nose which I think is just as becoming on him as it is on any snowman.

inspired by pumpkin candy bowl and carrot nosed pumpkin

For our other pumpkin I tried a new to me technique and did not just cut the pumpkin but scraped a design. (hopefully this is much easier with actual pumpkin carving tools and not just a crab knife and carrot peeler) The ghost was done with a cookie cutter, this was another great idea. we just took the shape we liked and gently tapped it in with a hammer (we even used a plastic cookie cutter and it worked great) the goal was to provide a good clean outline to make carving easier. I suspect if you have a thinner pumpkin wall, either naturally or with greater scraping and a sturdy cookie cutter you could pound it through and skip the cutting all together.

inspiration for the cookie cutter

The reason for this attempt was to get my favorite part of all this to work well. As you can see from the picture the pumpkin sort of slopes up toward the wall. Near the top of that slope facing the wall we carved a little face.

Which when lit created a pretty cool effect. I projected the image of the face on to the wall behind it. I think next time we try this we might use a small strand of Christmas lights rather than a candle to get a brighter internal light but it worked well even with just a tea light. By not carving out the front face entirely it created a wall to reflect and amplify the light to improve the projection (I hope) and it did not give away the back face by being able to see through it.

and my attempt at that boo turned out pretty well too. See the face behind it?
insparation for the projection here and here

And now our lovely pumpkins are on their way to becoming pumpkin pies, and breads and spreads. and Oh my house smells wonderful!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T00:35:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick summery of our day

Breakfast

Lunch: Franken-celery, ghostly string cheese, Clementine lanterns, and mummy dogs.

Please take one or two

out little dragon and his bunny

the Princess

Happy Halloween!

School Starts

2011-09-06T20:26:00.000-04:00

We are in the middle of our first week of School for this year. We started on Sept 1st.

Our mornings are spent in joint activities and some of the work that requires more concentration is done later in the afternoon when The Boy is napping.

Our first day of school we made "time capsules" with hand prints, favorite things and a self portrait as well as the photos you see above. I am excited with continuing this tradition we started last year and hope to have a great collection these little snap shots into my children's lives. At the beginning of next year we will pull these out again and compare growth and interests and see the changes.

The tooth fairy cometh

2011-09-06T19:56:00.000-04:00

the other top center tooth is wiggly now too. with any luck we can get both gone from some super cute pictures.

Movie Night: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2011-08-12T22:11:00.000-04:00

We had movie night tonight and its something I hope to keep up pretty regularly, to make it a special family night I themed dinner to match the movie and we ate while we watched together.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I will say it was not the book but it was a good movie and kept to the themes well.

For dinner I made Gluten Free mac and cheese (for Reepicheep) Ham, mushroom soup and a gluten free strawberry and lemon curd tart to mimic the meal they were served at the magician's house by the Dufflepuds in the book.

I really enjoyed it and I hope to keep it up with fun themes treats and such.

MUD

2011-08-11T17:11:00.000-04:00

I still have the hand prints on the house and though The Girl implied it was all her much messier brother's doing I think you can make your own conclusions base on the evidence here.

The Forth of July: Parade, Pizza and Pool Party!

2011-07-11T16:00:00.000-04:00

I love small town parades. They are not as flashy or as wowing as the big ones but I really love how special it is. Like when you used to pretend to have one when you were little and marched around the yard or house feeling important, only its a real parade with people watching.

People like us! Let me start by saying we live in an area with a LOT of miliatry and government personnel. One of the big ones being the Navy.

You see that Plane its a Blue Angel, A Blue Angel with military personnel singing patriotic songs, a giant eagle and and 6 foot tall fireworks. On one float. Oh I forgot to mention Thomas Jefferson? Or some other founding father I am not sure how specific they were being.

Of course he wasn't the only Historical figure to grace our parade. We had an appearance from none other than General Douglas Macarthur. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this guy at this angle you really can't see his pipe. We had other officers in attendance as well.

Do you see that adorable little classic mini cooper? And do you see the ever so very very slight incline in the road? They had to get people on the side of the road to help push the car up it.... And Speaking of classic cars... There were plenty being shown off.

Though I think this might have been my favorite float from the whole thing. I mean really you can dress up people like whatever you want or drive around your car that is worth more and takes more care and up keep than your boat (which I assume you probably also own) But you can't beat a live band.

Post parade we went to a popular pizza place for some lunch. Hawaiian pizza and a pitcher of Pepsi all around except for me of course I had a gluten free salad. (Oh how I missed pizza! but that is another story)

Like many family restaurants the kids menus had coloring pages and games, I was pleased with how neatly The Girl was coloring, filling in the space and staying carefully in the lines.

Other adorable things about lunch The Boy did this with is crayon completely unprompted or aided.
and The Girl learned to hold a liquid in her straw using suction. The Husband was doing it and she watched and then started playing with it until she figured it out.

After pizza it was time for a pool party! Which was a blast. We brought floaties to the party but The Kids wanted to wear these. They are called puddle jumpers and I may need to buy some considering how much more confident these made them in the water.

See? This is them in the water without me or The Husband there to hang on to!

This Silver float was well loved too. I think The Boy spent most of this time at the party in one. Shortly after he discovered the squirt guns it became a pirate vessel.

Much fun was had that day! How was your Forth?

Fire works

2011-07-08T02:24:00.000-04:00

We went to go see our fireworks on Sunday to avoid sitting in a parked car for two hours waiting to leave the very crowded parking lot like we did last year.

The Cloud watched

Played space ship

Danced around impatiently demanding to know when the sun would set

Rolled down hills over and over and over

The Kids had a blast.

We set up sort of a picnic/tail gate in the back of the car. which The Boy in particular seemed to enjoy

Bunny and a Boy

2011-07-01T12:20:00.002-04:00

We recently lost Bunny for 4 days. It was not pleasant for anyone involved. I know it was four because The Boy kept count. "Mommy I want Bunny! He is gone (holding up his hand and carefully showing me the right number of fingers) 1... 2.... 3.... 4 days!"

At least 4 times a day The Boy would tell me how much he missed Bunny. Which is understandable as I think this was the longest they had been separated.

We had turned the house upside down looking and I was really starting to wonder what had happened to it I mean Bunnies don't just disappear.

Last night he was found. He was in the side pocket of an old backpack.
You see The Boy was Dora, The Girl was Boots and Bunny was Map. But then it was time for bath and getting ready for bed and stories and songs and the game was forgotten until I pulled out Bunny as I went to put the back pack I discovered wedged into the couch in the basement away.

Someone is very happy to have him back.

and so am I.

Father's Day Gift

2011-06-26T23:23:00.001-04:00

For Fathers day I made a set of "vintage" pictures of the kids and framed them. The frame I made at MOPS not this past year but the one before I think. It had been sitting in a box since I made it so I pulled it out dusted it off and put it to use.

I got a recent picture of my step son from his mother I was then able to mimic the style and background of the picture in ones of The Boy and The Girl.

To make the vintage look I edited them in Photoshop, you can also use GIMP which is a free photo editing software. Most of what I know about how to do things in Photoshop I learned by doing a google search looking for tutorials and playing around with it. The same could be done with GIMP. To get the border on it I used a download-able photo mask from Lost in Creativity.

The Husband seems very pleased with them.

Tutorials: From Shirt to Super

2011-06-24T11:57:00.001-04:00

So I have a pile of tutorials for different crafts and things I have been working on but they all seem to be half finished particularly in a presentation sort of way so they are coming I promise. But here is one that is sure to make any "I'm bored" summer day better.

To start out with you will need a large or extra-large men's t-shirt (medium or small might work depending upon the size of the child). One that is blank or only has an image on the front works best I think.

Then from the center about one third of the way in cut a diagonal line to the seam where the sleeve is attached. Do this on both sides. Then remove the sleeves.

Now cutting around the neck of the shirt the font panel can be removed. You may want to go back and even out the line from the cut corner to the neck some.

Lay the shirt so that back of it is facing up on some cardboard or newspaper. Then break out the paint! you can use fabric paint, acrylic, markers whatever really and let them decorate their super hero capes! We had a very long discussion about hero imagery and powers and such while working on this part.

Then Go play!

Super Kids to the Rescue!

This might be a great craft (using makers or paint pens) for a birthday party it was really inexpensive and The Kids LOVE it.

Weekends

2011-06-14T11:12:00.000-04:00

The Kids built a "tent" in The Girl's room to "camp" in this past weekend.

Not that they were really roughing it but they had a good time.

PS when I was sorting pictures and getting preped for this post The Boy was standing next to me and he pointed to a picture of The Girl. "Look Mommy its my Best Friend!" And that just made this mommy's "heart feel super happy" to quote Kai-lan I cried a little.

Friday Night Lights

2011-06-04T12:13:00.000-04:00

"Where are they?"

Since Monday when something caught her eye on the way home, The Girl has had one question. "How many days until Friday now?" ok so she has asked A LOT more questions than that but it has been one oft repeated. She was told that on Friday she and The Boy could go out and catch fireflies. Which she has been talking about since.... February. But we have had to start more strictly enforcing school night (and work night) sleeping schedules so no late night hunting until Friday.

"Mommy there are whole bunches!"

The Boy caught his sister's enthusiasm and was asking about "Fyfies" as soon as we had eaten dinner. The Girl took nearly every opportunity to lecture him about how hard it was to find and catch fireflies and how as their name implies they can fly so he probably would not be able to reach them and how he should not be disappointed if he did not catch any but how she would try to catch some for him.

The Boy catching the first firefly.

In fact The Boy caught five by himself that evening. (Sorry about the picture quality its hard to shoot moving things in the dusk light and point and shoot flash is too harsh and narrow for this)
He was understandably proud of himself.

"Yook Mommy! I caught FyFy!"

We quite a good first catch this year and then we said good night and thanked them for letting us catch them and let them go on their way, as it was bath time.

Got my Flippy Floppies

2011-06-03T21:02:00.001-04:00

We bought some new flip flops on Wednesday and as Old Navy had them 2 pair for $5 we got one pair that fit and one that was the next size up for next year. The Girl picked silver for next year and the boy picked a navy blue and green set.

For this year The Girl got black and lavender with peace symbols.

And The Boy got a gray and yellow set with dinosaurs. I promise they have dinos on them though I can't actually show you as he has not actually taken them off except to bathe. (yes he sleeps in them)

Ugg Allergies!

2011-06-02T19:28:00.000-04:00

So you have noticed the lack of posting? Well here is a good summery of our late spring and summer so far.

We went to Jerusalem Mills which was a great place to walk and spend a day in the high 70's with low humidity

The Husband taught The Kids to skip rocks

and someone got a HUGE kick out of throwing rocks

We have been doing a good bit of this...

and have learned that The Boy is allergic to dust-mites, cats, trees, grass pollen, and rag weed. And I am allergic to wheat. (which is in everything by the way. EVERYTHING) so I have been learning to eat/cook again.

We have visited with some friends a few times now and will probably do so more.

they have a water table that was a huge hit

The Boy is learning a love for bugs though not spiders...

We learned that all the rain we have been seeing in our watershed has really raised the water level of the bay noticeably

and both the Kids were much braver at our first tip to the pool than last summer

The Boy is a great jumper and did not freak out about getting water in his mouth or nose

and The Girl is confident enough to swim on her own with just a floaty.

So we have had fun but have been busy.

Summer Goals

2011-05-13T19:53:00.000-04:00

This Summer I want to...
1) get a lot to can from my garden
2) enjoy the weather with fun outdoor activities
3) finish paring down and sorting through all our extra things.
4) refresh my Spanish so I can better teach it.
5) get some more work done to update the house.
6) make a quilt

Here is what The Girl wants to do. TheHomegrownGirl

What about you? Any goals or things you are looking forward to as the weather warms up?

Last Weekend

2011-05-13T16:57:00.000-04:00

last weekend was a busy one for us and lots of fun I have WAY to many pictures to limit this to one post so here is a teaser with some pictures. I will share the details of it all later.

Where do you think we went?

Feliz Cinco De Mayo

2011-05-06T18:28:00.001-04:00

So speaking of excuses for parties...

DID YOU KNOW?
Cinco de Mayo is celebrated through out the US but only regionally in Mexico (in the state of Puebla).
Its celebration in the US goes back to the Civil War period as a celebration of democracy and freedom and Mexican heritage.
It is not Mexico's independence day which is September 16th but rather a celebration of a military victory against the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

So we celebrated our non existent Mexican heritage and our love of democracy and freedom by having a friend over for dinner and making some better than from the box tacos, rice and some "unfried" fried ice cream. Oh and margaritas.

For the tacos:
chuck roast
small can of tomato juice
packet of taco seasons
1/4 red cabbage
1 tablespoon orange juice
avacado
Cheese of choise
sour cream
chopped onions
real corn Tortillas you can find these in the Mexican food section of your grocery store

The night before place roast in the crock pot with tomato juice and enough water or beer to cover the meat. Mix in the taco seasoning and cook it on low over night. Then shred the cabbage and mix with the orange juice. Ever now and then, when ever you remember stir the mixture up. It helps to take some of the bitterness out of the cabbage leaving just the color and crunch.

Just before serving pull your beef, drain the now purple orange juice from the cabbage, chop your veggies and shred the cheese. Warm the tortillas as instructed on the package if they are not warm they will tear and thats no fun.

For the rice I used this recipe only without the beans as I did not have any.

Mexican Rice by Down Home Dieting

The ice cream was a brilliant idea from Cheryl.

Unfried, fried ice cream by Tidy Mom

But in my mind honestly the best part of our Cinco de Mayo meal was the Seis de Mayo breakfast.

Fried the leftover onions and cabbage until soft added the rice and meat let this hash cook up a bit and ate with a soft fried egg and some avocado. Yummy!

May the 4th (Be with You): Intergalactic Star Wars Day

2011-05-04T19:25:00.003-04:00

The Girl's "Star Wars" Decorations

I love parties so any excuse for one will do. Like today! So I did a quick bit of googling and some creative thinking and we are having a Star Wars themed dinner all the foods here can be found on the Star Wars wiki know as the Wookieepedia.

For those of you who may not know the Star Wars universe extends well beyond what is pictured in the 6 movies. It has a surprising amount of depth that was filled out and depicted in numerous novels, comics, and cartoons. Here is our menu and you will find recipes and photos below.

Like the font? it can be found for free here

Roasted Bantha:

Chuck roast

Garlic

Pepper

Apple cider vinegar or pickle juice

Salt

chopped tomatoes canned or fresh

Mix vinegar and seasoning (if using pickle juice skip the salt) and marinade the roast for 1-2 hours. Place in a crock pot with tomatoes and juice from can or ½ cup of water. Cook on high for 2-4 hours.

Bubble and Squirt:

This is most likely a reference to the English bubble and squeak so I made a variation of that.

Turnip

2 carrots

1 cup mashed potatoes (I used the flakes)
Rosemary
Cheese

oil

slice and precook the turnip and carrots. I boiled mine you just want them softer.

Mix it all (but the cheese) together and pan fry patties until they are crispy. Top with cheese and serve.

Acid–Beet Salad:

Can of beets

1/8^th a red cabbages

Pepper

Balsamic vinegar

Drain beets and shred cabbage. Mix them with pepper to taste and 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic. Microwave for 3 min stirring every min so that they are soft but still crunchy let it sit to come to room temperature.

Bantha milk:

Skim milk

Blue food coloring

Add on drop of blue food coloring to every cup

L'lahsh-marinated nutrient globes:

Blue jello

two handfuls Frozen blue berries (about 3/4 cup?)

Make jello as instructed, add blue berries just before chilling. At the 2 hour mark for chilling mix the partially set up jello to make it lumpier.

More on Mousse

2011-05-03T11:56:00.000-04:00

Now that you have a wonderful Chocolate Mousse recipe, here is something you can do with it. This is a neapolitan cake and was my reason for coming up with the Mousse recipe to begin with. You see my mother's birthday is in April and she loves ice cream cakes and I was trying to come up with a good cake to make her. And this idea struck me so I just needed to find a good mousse and cake recipe to make it work.

This is a great cake recipe for freezing. Moist Yellow Cake Recipe from Bakerella
Or if you are the boxed Cake mix sort you can just use the pudding trick

For the middle layer Ice cream of course as this was an ice cream cake and the top My Chocolate Mousse.

First things first make your cake and plate it. I made mine an 8x8 square. When its cool put the whole thing in the freezer.
Line the pan you used to make the cake with wax paper, then fill with your ice cream and put into the freezer also so it can set up in its new shape.

Now make the mousse.

I found when I did this that it helped to let the mousse set up in the fridge a little before attempting to combine it all, so while your mousse is doing that take out the cake and ice cream.

Set the cake (upside down) on the ice cream while its still in the pan and flip the whole thing over so that its now sitting plate side down with the pan of ice cream on top. Squish it down to help conform the ice cream to the top of the cake then unmold. This maybe a bit tricky but if the wax paper did its job you should be able to remove the pan and then the wax paper with little problems.
You will now have your ice cream in the same shape as your cake happily stacked. return it to the freezer for another 15-20 min to let the ice cream refreese some and the mousse to set up a little more before the final step.

Finally take out the cake and ice cream and the mousse and spoon the mousse on pile it up and spread it gently around until the cake is evenly covered and freeze. Bring it out to sit some before serving to let it all soften up a bit.

Now Imagine with me here the possibilities for this cake:
Chocolate cake, coffee ice cream, Chocolate mousse
White cake, orange sherbet, Chocolate orange mousse
Almond cake, Cherry Garcia ice cream, Chocolate Cherry mousse
White cake (heavy on the vanilla), Strawberry Ice cream, Chocolate peach mousse
Carrot cake, ginger bread ice cream, Chocolate Mousse with a spiced rum and cinnamon extract.

I mean YUM!

More on Dinosaurs

2011-05-02T21:23:00.000-04:00

We made some Dinosaur planters these may change there location or plants over time but I suspect they will be around for a while in some form or another, The Kids love them.

Things you need for this progect:

Heavy bottomed glass containers (We used two larger hurricane glasses and an old fish tank)
Gravel or small rocks (again old fish tank)
Compost and soil or potting soil
Plants
Small animals (yay dollar store!)

Put about an inch of gavel and then 1.5-2 inches of dirt depending upon the size of you vessel.
add your plants. We used violets that love to take over my vegetable garden.

Place your animals in their new jungle/forest.
Enjoy!

Now we did this as part of school it filled a few education slots. First, The Girl is helping with the garden for a science/math/home economics combined project. This demonstrated replanting, indoor plant care, reinforced plants needs (air, light, soil, water) and some of plant anatomy as we talked about roots and other plant parts as we moved and planted them. Secondly, I am planing to introduce a dinosaur/paleontology section over the summer that this in combination with The Boys current love of them and museum visit is intending to nurture an interest in. Thirdly, It was also a very tactical sensory sort of thing playing with the dirt and rocks and water and was something that The Boy could do too. And Finally, though I am sure there is more, it encourages imaginative play, design and creation, in a way that takes art of out the typical paper crafts and it inspires a setting for stories.

The Natural History Museum

2011-05-01T17:42:00.002-04:00

We went to the Natural History Museum as a family field trip a few weeks ago. The three exhibits that got the most attention from The Kids were the Fossils, the hands on play room, and the Bug Zoo. I have far too many pictures to show and I keep looking through it trying to pick the best and I really could not narrow it down so I let each child pick one from each exhibit then I added a few, because.

Here are the chosen pictures and the comments accompanying them.

Fossils:

The Girl

"I like that one! But why does his hair look brown? You should edit it to make his hair right so it does not confuse anyone."

The Boy

That Dinosaur! T Rex! its Rawr'n.

Hands on Play:

The Girl


"Its dark in that picture you can see the snake... you know why I brought my hat? I don't like too much sun."

The Boy

I saw a Fuff fy (butterfly) like that! I saw wings in that!

The Bug Zoo

The Girl

That was a REAL scientist with REAL bugs!

The Boy

I found spiders, they were eating apples too, I like that.

This is the look on his face when he realized that the bugs were real.

After the museum we had a picnic snack on the Mall. Where they worked off some of that I have been inside too long energy.

It was a good day.

My Chocolate Mousse

2011-04-28T23:06:00.001-04:00

Chocolate Mousse so light and creamy and rich <3

I wanted to make a chocolate mousse, so I started reading recipes. I went to the three people I thought would have something worthwhile to say on the subject. Nigella Lawson, Alton Brown and of course Julia Child.

Nigella wanted me to use marshmallows and as much as she knows chocolate I decided to skip that one.

Alton's was cream based which was along the lines of what I wanted but it used gelatin which seems I don't know, like using the marshmallows since marshmallows are made of gelatin.

Now far be it from me to question Julia on the subject of French food as I am sure her recipe is the best, but it being a true mousse was egg based with no cream at all and the idea of eating that much raw egg made me just a bit nervous.

So I made my own, and I love it. I hope you do too.

McGough Chocolate Mousse
Makes about 8 servings

Ingredients:
12oz good chocolate (the better the chocolate the better the mousse feel free to splurge here)
1 3/4 cups whipping cream (ice cold)
1 good, fresh egg with no cracks in the shell
1/4 cup espresso, or strong brewed coffee
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 teaspoon good vanilla. (As this recipe is not cooked you can bring out the best you got here it will make a difference. )
4 tablespoons butter

Separate the egg setting the whites aside.

Put a large bowl for whipping your cream and the mixer's whisk in the freezer.

In the microwave (or in an oven preheated to 275 then turned off, let it sit about 20 min or so, or over a double boiler if you don't have a microwave) melt your chocolate and butter at about 30 sec intervals string as you go.
When you have a smooth mixture add the espresso and rum mixing well until smooth, it will start to seize on you just keep stirring if it does not loosen up you can add more rum or espresso to get it going but not too much. In then end you want a silky smooth mixture with no lumps.
Beat the egg white until its at the stiff peaks stage.

You will want the chocolate still fairly warm at this point, if it is not heat it up again just slightly, then add the yoke mixing well to combine. Then carefully fold in your whipped egg white to lighten the chocolate and prepare it for the whipped cream. Set this aside to cool now.

In your prepared bowl beat your cold cream until it is at the stiff peak stage then add your vanilla to it and gently mix.

Working quickly but carefully add the whipped cream a little at a time to the chocolate fold it in and working to get a well incorporated mixture.

As soon as it is mixed evenly and has no streaks put your mousse into your the cups you plan to serve it in and refrigerate for at least an hour. We had some in our fridge for 3 days I am not sure how much longer it would last in the fridge.You can freeze them if well covered I am not sure how long but I would get a up to a month.

You can drop the rum entirely and just use more coffee if you wish, or you can use brandy (I did for this batch) or you can use a liquor to make say Chocolate Orange Mousse or something equally as lovely. Please let me know if you try it I would love to hear how it turned out or answer any questions.

Easter Dress

2011-04-28T11:41:00.000-04:00

I took a huge leap here and The Girl and I made her Easter Dress this year. I can promise you that by Wednesday of that week I was in "WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!" mode, and every time I sighed The Girl offered me the seam ripper... but I think in the end it did not turn out that badly, and she loves it so we are sharing.

Materials:
an old men's shirt (I believe this one was my father's)
thread
embroidery floss
an old bed sheet

I started with this basic tutorial for making a dress out of a men's shirt.

The Shirt Dress tutorial

I loved the sleeves on this little shirt and did my best to replicate them I am not sure I got it quite right but the the sleeves are pretty cute none the less.

Spring Amelia Top

But I wanted it to have a fuller skirt so rather than cutting down the sided of the shirt we left them and used this smocking tutorial to make a honey comb smocking on the sides of dress to gather it in while still keeping some volume to the skirt.

Smocking Tutorial

We wanted a good poof to the skirt the best way to achieve that is with a petticoat so we used an old bed sheet we had around that was given to us years ago and just happened to match to make a cheater petticoat. We started with a circle skirt like this tutorial.

Circle Skirt Tutorial

Then around the hem we added a ruffle that was inspired by these adorable little Easter dresses. The Ruffle gave the skirt the petticoat look while the actual volume came from the fact that the circle skirt had more fabric than the shirt dress. So not a true petticoat but it did the job.

Easter dresses by Katie Did

Then to "Easter" it up a bit we embroidered the a bunny near the front left hem line. I used this pattern as my inspiration for it.

Bad Bird's Embroidery Pattern for March

And finished it off with a chevron blanket stitch around the collar. It was not very neat but it did add just to pop of color it seemed to need.

The Purl Bee embroidered scarf tutorial

What do you think?

Easter

2011-04-27T13:25:00.000-04:00

We had one dinner and hunt in Gettysburg and another at home. All of it was very good and very fun. We had a blast this weekend but boy were we tired by the end of it.

Duck a L'Orange

2011-04-27T12:42:00.000-04:00

Duck is fattier than chicken resulting in a crispier skin and a meat that is harder to get too dry. Duck a L'Orange is a classic french dish that is perhaps one of the most famous ways to serve duck. It is a roast duck with a sweet orange sauce, the orange compliments the flavors of the duck amazingly well without overwhelming the natural rich taste of the meat it is easy to see why it is so famous. It is moist and sweet and savory and wonderful.

I found duck at my Aldi's last week and I grabbed it. It was declared "Very tasty." "Decadent." and "More duck, Mommy I wan more duck pwees."

For the Duck
salt
pepper
rosemary
sage
half an orange
vegetables for roasting

for the sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
water
zest from one orange
corn starch

I started by preheating the oven to 475, peeling and chopping my vegetables (I used sweet potatoes and carrots) I found that the veggies cooked unevenly so you may want to start precooking them some while you are preparing the duck itself.

Once the duck was thawed I removed the induced giblets and washed it, patting it dry. I then seasoned it inside and out with salt, pepper, sage and rosemary. I stuffed it with half an orange that I had quartered and crushed to start to release its flavor more (I used the one I zested earlier for the sauce). This did not totally fill the bird as I wanted some room.

Normally you would want to do this next step with a bunt pan I could not find mine (I think I left it at my mother's house) so I lined an angel food cake pan with foil and tried that, it leaked even though it was lined so you if you don't have a bunt pan you might just want to lay it in a traditional roasting pan.

Fill bottom of the pan with your vegetables and then place the bird on the center rise so that the center portion of the pan is in the birds cavity similar to the beer can method if you have ever seen that. the purpose is similar it allows the juices to be caught in the pan with the vegetables but lets the bird cook evenly and crisply on all sides.

Place the pan on a cookie sheet as a just in case catch for drippings that might sneak down the center hole and roast your duck for 30 min, then basting with the juices turn the oven down to 350 and roast it for about 1 and 1/4 hours or until done depending upon your birds size, when finished turn on the broiler and let it get a final crisping for about 3-4 min if you think it needs it. Take it out and let it rest, laying down for about 15 min before carving.

While the duck is cooking boil the giblets to get about 1 cup duck broth. (you can substitute part of the water with white wine for a richer taste)

Take 1/3 cup brown sugar and place in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Do not stir it. let it sit until it begins to melt and then stir. once all melted remove from heat the residual heat should bring it to a caramel, add 1/3 cup orange juice and the orange zest and 1 cup duck broth. stir until caramel is dissolved and then over medium low add corn starch a little at a time whisking well with a fork to blend with no lumps. keep a close eye on this as corn starch will thicken rather quickly and it does not take a lot. it will be about the consistency of the little packets of "Duck sauce" you get from Chinese food places when it is right.

I finished the meal my chocolate moose (which I remember to take pictures of this time so that recipe will be posted soon)

Cake Pops!

2011-04-04T18:13:00.000-04:00

These are a new favorite in my house, and are super easy!

1 13x9 cake (1 box of cake mix)
1 tub of frosting
Candy coating
Decorations
Lolly pop sticks

In a large bowl crumble the cakes and then add the whole tub of frosting and mix well.

It will clump together and make a play dough like consistency when squeezed which should then be rolled into a ball an inch or so, too much larger will make them crumble on the stick.

Melt the candies as instructed but only a few at a time and cover the cake balls in the candy by rolling them through the melted candy, dip a lolly pop stick in the candy and stick that into the cake ball, and set in the refrigerator to set up. Or leave with out the sticks and just eat cake balls. Yum!

Zucchini Cornbread Rolls

2011-03-28T10:29:00.000-04:00

I just sort of threw this one together. I saw a picture goat cheese filled zucchini rolls which inspired this. as such this is not really a recipe but a here is what I did.

I took a box of cornbread mix, prepared it as directed then mixed in sliced mushrooms and shredded mozzarella cheese. Put that in to bake and grilled up some thinly sliced zucchini.
when the corn bread was set but still soft and not quite done I took several spoonfuls of it and rolled it into a ball flattened it some and wrapped the soft grilled zucchini around it. I then topped it off with more cheese and put the whole thing into the oven for a few more minutes.

It was good, though I think would make a better side dish than a main one.

The Perigee Moon

2011-03-27T20:43:00.000-04:00

Not the best photos of the Perigee moon of this past march 19th but they are my photos. And there is a bit of a story, though not a super interesting one, that goes with them.

I really wanted to be able to try to get photos of the moon even though I am only working with a little point and shoot. So after dinner, after the pirate birthday party we loaded to very tired children up into the car, and went for a drive.

We stopped and got some coffee and we drove and talked and the kids fell asleep. We went to the mall near us as it was the best place we could think of to get a good open parking lot space without a lot of tall buildings in the way.

I took like 100 photos only a handful of which were even remotely decent and we went home. The long way. and it was delightful to be spontaneous, and to have quiet conversations, and to look at the moon.

S'more Cookies

2011-03-25T14:06:00.000-04:00

So not really a new recipe here but it was a hit in my house so here is a variation on my chocolate chip cookies that you may love.

First I started with an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, you may have you one like or look at my recipe

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

at about 7 mins in the oven I pulled them out and put a precut half of a marshmallow in the middle of the still soft cookie and put them back in the oven for another 2-3 min until the marshmallows are toasted up nice and brown.

Sunday photo shoot

2011-03-25T12:57:00.000-04:00

I love the warmer weather being able to go out side with out a pile of layers on.

The Kids were in a showy offish sort of mood on Sunday

So I took a few pictures

Spanish Tortilla

2011-03-24T16:49:00.001-04:00

A Spanish tortilla is not at all the same as the Mexican one that you wrap your tacos in. It is more like an omelet or a crust-less quiche. paired with a soup or salad this makes a great light meal.

4 eggs
salt and pepper
Milk
1 large potato
1 small onion
1 small zucchini
1 tablespoon oil

dice onions, cut your potato either in to au gratin style slices or like French fries, and slice the zucchini thinly.
In a hot frying pan cook onions, potato, and zucchini until soft then set it aside.
mix the eggs, milk, salt and pepper as if you were going to scramble them.
poor the eggs into the hot pan, over medium/medium low heat and let them cook up just a little on the edges. do not stir. When the edges look a little cooked add the vegetables back in and let it cook a little longer, when it is mostly set up but still runny on top, run your spatula around under the cooked eggs to make sure it is lose in the pan then, (over the sink if you are worried you might make a mess) place a plate upside down on top of the pan and flip it so the cooked side of the tortilla is now upward on the plate. slide this back into the frying pan and let it finish cooking all the way through. There is a great photo filled step by step here.

Mushroom Risotto

2011-03-23T13:37:00.000-04:00

The plan was originally to do this butternut squash risotto but I had the misfortune of not finding a butternut squash and not having time for a stop at another store so I grabbed some mushrooms instead and decided to wing it. This is what I did.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick of celery
1 carton cleaned and sliced button mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 cup rice
1 cup dry wine
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp sage
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 oz), plus more for serving

Chop all ingredients saving extras, celery leaf, onion ends and skins (I usually use the out layer too) one extra clove of garlic, I also added some crushed tomato as well about 3 table spoons. in a pot boil the veggies in about 4 cups of water, this will make your veggie broth (increase to 5 if not using the wine). let this simmer for a while to get the flavors worked in then.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the mushrooms, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are beginning to soften. Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer until absorbed. Add half the broth (1 3/4 cups) and simmer, stirring once, until absorbed. Add the remaining broth and simmer, stirring once, until the rice is tender and creamy and the broth has been absorbed. Stir in the thyme, sage and Parmesan. Serve with additional Parmesan, if desired.

Sculptural Cakes

2011-03-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

When making a cake with any sort of hight or unusual shape to it you need a good dense cake, that will not crumble super easily. Box cake mix is not that cake I have learned this lesson over and over again. So then I needed to find a good recipe for cake that WAS that cake and still tasted good and was simple to make. I have not found one I would swear by. But I did find a way to make box cake denser. I tried it for the Treasure Chest cake I made for The Girl's sixth birthday party.

It was awesome!

So here is how to do it.
1 box of cake mix
1 package of pudding (the smaller one, match the flavor to your cake if you can if not vanilla works)
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup whole milk

It will make a much less puffy cake as it is denser so for the purpose of the treasure chest cake I made two and had some leftover.

For the treasure chest cake you will need:
13x9x2inch cake. Chocolate works best so if you get cake crumbs in your chocolate frosting its not really obvious.
Chocoalte frosting.
Gold foil wrapped candies
Chocolate coins
M&Ms
Fruit by the foot
Candy jewelry

Now to make it:
Cut a two inch section from the center of your cake. Cut that section in half on the diagonal leaving you to 9in triangle wedge shaped cake pieces.

Frost one of the large pieces of cake then add one of your wedges, angle side to the back of the cake, about an inch from back of the cake and frost it too.
frost the other large piece of cake this will be your lid. once frosted move it onto the other cake resting on the ramp you created with the wedge of cake.
Now you can fill your open treasure chest with candy treasures and decorate with leather straps and things.

A better tutorial video is here

A 6th Birthday Day

2011-03-22T23:07:00.000-04:00

Me: Happy Birthday! What do you want to do today?
The Girl: Today?!? Today is my REAL Birthday? I am 6?!
Me: Yes. So what do you want to do?
The Girl: Gnomeo and Juliet!

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

So off we went. She in her "birthday party dress" and he in his "supah he-roh" shirt.

"I want it to be a REAL movie with popcorn and everything"

I was told that Bunny Love was very excited to see his first movie in theater,

It was in Real3D. This meant that during the previews The Girl had to announce which things look like Real3D and which did not. She wasn't actually convinced about the whole 3D thing until a preview that had elephants playing soccer and the ball shot towards the camera.

His did not fit... so he sat on my lap so I could hold them in place for the whole movie

Then chocolate milks and mini scones on the way home.

Portobello and Swiss Stuffed Venison Hamburgers

2011-03-22T21:21:00.001-04:00

For The Girl's Birthday dinner she picked hamburgers with avocado and mushrooms. This is what I made.

1 pound ground venison
1/4 pound ground 73/27 ground beef
salt
pepper
garlic
1/2 a container of crimini mushroom (baby portobello)
1/4 an onion
oil
grated swiss cheese

Mix meats and season to taste. then make an even number of very thin wide patties.
Dice onions and mushrooms and sauté until soft sweet and lightly brown.
Place a spoonfull of the mushrooms and oinions on one patty, add some cheese.
Stack with a second patty and re-form them into one filled patty.

Grill to deliciousness.
Then add extra swiss to the top.

I also made a avocado spread what was pure awesomeness, a mixed micro green salads and some corn on the cob. It tasted like summer without the mess of mushrooms and onions falling off the burger. I ate two and a half and that half is still tempting me to come back for more.

And the birthday girl ate every bite and asked for more.

Arrr a 6th birthday Pirate Parrr-ty

2011-03-22T20:07:00.000-04:00

The Girl turns 6 today! It seems so weird to me that she is no longer a little girl but swiftly moving into big girl. We celebrated on Saturday with a pirate themed birthday party.

The kids had a great time!

They gathered supplies for the ship.

Walked the plank

Went fishing

And found treasure!

Lemon Blueberry Zebra Cake

2011-03-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

Here is the original vanilla and chocolate recipe I found. Zebra Cake

Photo from original recipe at www.realepicurean.com

And here is what I did:

4 eggs
1 cup sugar

3 cups of flour
4 tsp of baking soda
1 cup oil

1 cup lemon lime soda
3/4 cup frozen blue berries (or 1/4 cup blueberry juice)
1/4 cup lemon juice

Mix eggs and sugar until creamy and smooth.

Mix flour and baking soda well.

Add Oil, flour mixture and lemon lime soda to egg mixture about 1/3 at a time mixing well with each addition.

divide in half and set aside.

Take frozen blueberries and microwave for about 1.5 min. Then pour into a bowl through a sive crushing berries to fully juice (or crush with a fork and strain out berry skins and things.)

Mix blueberry juice into one half of batter. add lemon juice to other half, mix quickly and well this will foam up a bit as the acid works on the baking soda.

Now to stripe it. In a well greased round cake pan (8in will work, 9 is better), take 3-4 tablespoons of one batter and poor directly into the middle of the pan. Then add 3-4 tablespoons of the other right in the middle of that. alternating until you have used all of the batter (great pictures of the process with the original recipe.)

bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees and start checking for doneness in about an hour.

Sliced for dipping. YUM!

Now to be honest if we were not smothering it in chocolate this would not have been that good. The texture was great but the flavors just did not really come out all that much so I would stick with the chocolate vanilla version and add some whipped cream, berries, and a good cup of coffee. It was not all that sweet and so would make a great breakfast cake.
(We did have the leftover pieces for breakfast it was in fact good.)

3.14 Pi Day!

2011-03-14T12:44:00.003-04:00

Happy Pi Day everyone!

To celebrate I shall now share with you my new favorite song, and a "recipe" for creature pies.

The Sound of Pi

Now for the creature pies.

Inspired by the recipe here

I made these for the kids for lunch they are basically a pot pie so you can use any pie pie sort of filling you like. but this is what I did.

Left over pot roast
leftover stuffed zucchini
shredded cheese
2 eggs
milk
pizza crust (can used pie crust to its what I had)
olives

preheat oven to 400
Mix eggs and milk to get a good scrambled egg, add in two or three handfuls of cheese and about two cups chopped left overs. mix until all is coated with egg and well blended.
fill small baking dishes with mix, I used mini loaf pans.
Cut tentacles from crust and dangle over the edge of the dishes. then cover whole thing with a section crust, add as many olive eyes as your creature should have.
Bake until the crust is firm and the tentacles are brown.

enjoy!

oh gooy melty cheese!

It leaks no more!

2011-03-13T21:17:00.001-04:00

My bathtub was leaking about three pitchers full of hot water a day.

The short term solution was to just turn off the hot water. But this made everything harder to clean and meant having to turn it on for dishes, baths, showers, and then turn it off again.

This weekend The Husband fixed it!

Its so good to be back to normal again.

Those patches are the next project, we need to replace the tile.

P.S. does anyone know how to re enamel a tub to um not blue?

Stuffed Zucchini

2011-03-13T18:16:00.002-04:00

This is based of the recipe I linked when discussing our intention to eat "flexitrian". It comes from Kayotic Kitchen Mine is of course an adaption, I will probably make it again sticking true to the original recipe's ingredients when they come in the garden.

Stuffed Zucchini

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp curry powder
4 tbsp crushed tomato
1 tsp thyme
2 zucchinis
1 onion
1 tsp chopped garlic
cheese
pepper

Preheat your oven to 400.
Clean the zucchini well, then slice in half. spoon out the centers to make little zucchini boats chop the scooped bits. cut up a small onion and brown them with the garlic. add the tomatoes and simmer down. when the liquid has been cooked down mix with the chopped zucchini and fill your boats. sprinkle with cheese and pepper and bake for around 20 mins.

Soy Braised Carrots, Broccoli, and Cauliflower

2011-03-13T14:28:00.001-04:00

This recipe was inspired by this one from Kichenist.com. When it started cooking and the pepper and ginger and garlic smells all started to mingle I knew I was going to like this dish, its amazing to me that anyone can travel anywhere in Asia where street venders cook with these flavors and not come back significantly heavier than when they left.This recipe could benefit from the green onions that kichenist used or maybe some sesame seeds, neither I had on hand.

Nearly every recipe I am sharing here is something that I just made so I am not sure all measurements will be exact but I will do my best to share it with you accurately.

Soy Braised Carrots, Broccoli, and Cauliflower

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground ginger (less if you would prefer)
black pepper to taste
1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce
3 tablespoons honey (I used 1 honey 2 sugar but that is because I ran out of honey)
8 or 9 carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 sections
2/3 a bag of frozen California medley (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots its what I had I would recommend using fresh so it would hold its shape and texture better.)
1 Tbs. sesame oil
2 packets of raman noodles or 2 cups of cooked rice

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the garlic. let this cook a few minutes until its fragrant then add the ginger and the black pepper and cook until garlic starts to brown. Add to this the water, soy sauce and honey mix well then add the vegetables. as I was using half fresh half frozen I add the fresh carrots and let them boil until soft before add the frozen and letting the heat come back up. You can add more water if it gets too dry but the end goal is to cook off the water and coat the vegetables in the soy, honey, ginger, garlic mixture. When that has happened remove from heat toss with sesame oil and serve over noddles or rice.

A note about carrots. I have learned that no matter how many carrots I make its never enough. I can double what seems like the right amount and wonder what I will do with the leftovers and my family will scrape the pot clean and asked for more. This recipe did not make enough for my family at least.

Its been rainy

2011-03-11T22:10:00.000-05:00

Phil may have been right about spring this year.

The Plan

2011-03-11T20:14:00.003-05:00

So here as promised is our meal plan you will find that we are very flexible with these "plans" and so at the end of this what was planed and what was eaten maybe very different.

Week one:

Day 1

Soy Braised Carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, with Raman

Day 2

Pot roast

Day 3

Stuffed zucchini

Day 4

Mushroom Risotto

Day 5

Salmon teriyaki

Day 6

Grilled zucchini rolls stuffed with mushrooms and cheese

Day 7

Spanish tortilla

Week two:

Day 8

Tunisian Beetroot Salad (with greens)

Day 9

Northeast African Millet Patties

Algerian Green Beans with Almonds

Day 10

Sweet Potato Panini

Day 11

Beef Udon

Day 12

Roasted Veggie Flat Bread with hummus and sliced raw

Day 13

Tunisian Yam and Red Bean Stew (Slow Cooker Version) w/couscous

Day 14

Spaghetti bolognese

Week three:

Day 15

Ratatouille tart

Day 16

Crispy potato bake with salad

Day 17

Veggie pizzas

Day 18

Samosadillas

Day 19

Kabobs with Mongolian BBQ sauce

Day 20

Sloppy joes

Day 21

The Husbands yet unknown pick

Week four:

Day 22

Black bean tacos

Day 23

Tomato rice with red bell pepper, zucchini, leek and asparagus

Day 24

Miso soup and veggie sushi

Day 25

Steaks

Day 26

Pan-Seared Tomato and Rosemary Artichoke Sandwich with

Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips and Brussels Sprouts

Day 27

Vegetable Paella

Day 28

Chickpeas in Eggplant-Tahini Sauce w/tomato and cucumber salad

Day 29

The Husbands yet unknown pick

Day 30

Dotenabe