declan with a santa beard and hat
aubry in santa hat
nola rocking the santa face
nola created the ultimate christmas decoration -flying santa and reindeer attached to the ceiling fan. love it!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Christmas Crafting
declan with a santa beard and hataubry in santa hatnola rocking the santa facenola created the ultimate christmas decoration -flying santa and reindeer attached to the ceiling fan. love it!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Who knew you could make THAT?
Today's surprising food creation was homemade TORTiLLAS! You know, the kind you can buy at the grocery store. Soft, yummy flour ones. Turns out, it's super easy, cheap and takes about as much time as buying them at the store.
Kitchen Stewardship has an excellent tutorial for making tortillas in different ways. I chose the first version - AP flour, water, salt and coconut oil. This was the first time I broke out the coconut oil, primarily because I didn't have time to let butter soften. Nor did I have time to let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 4-24 hours. They still turned out GREAT! I was surprised that the coconut oil tasted great in the recipe - just a hint of coconut, not off-putting at all.
I loved making the tortillas on the cast iron skillet while the other components of our fajitas were cooking. What fun and EVERYONE liked them!
Kitchen Stewardship has an excellent tutorial for making tortillas in different ways. I chose the first version - AP flour, water, salt and coconut oil. This was the first time I broke out the coconut oil, primarily because I didn't have time to let butter soften. Nor did I have time to let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 4-24 hours. They still turned out GREAT! I was surprised that the coconut oil tasted great in the recipe - just a hint of coconut, not off-putting at all.
I loved making the tortillas on the cast iron skillet while the other components of our fajitas were cooking. What fun and EVERYONE liked them!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Field Trip Wednesday
Today we went to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philly. The kids have been asking to see the dinosaurs, so off we went. I realized quickly after missing the turn to the museum exit that I NEED A GPS OR AN IPHONE, stat! Added about a half hour to our trip time - aargh!
We met our friends Terri, Zach and Max in the lobby and set off for the dinosaur dig. Everyone had a great time with the safety goggles and metal scrapers. We all found bones, but no one managed to get any out of the dig site. Better luck next time! The kids also enjoyed running on the dinosaur treadmill, climbing in a t-rex scull, and walking like dinosaurs.
I made Nola check out the authentic Egyptian mummy on display. She has been a bit scared of mummies ever since we studied them in history. Maybe seeing the blackened, mummified corpse cured her? (or not...)
Turns out both Nola and Aubry are afraid of butterflies - BUTTERFLIES!!! The museum has this wonderful butterfly exhibit where they fly around freely in a natural setting. Sometimes the butterflies even land on you! After Nola and Aubry heard this choice bit of information they could not get out of that room fast enough. Declan, on the other hand, flung his hand out toward the butterflies and yelled "land on you, land on you!".
We had a great time today. Looking forward to another field trip next week!
We met our friends Terri, Zach and Max in the lobby and set off for the dinosaur dig. Everyone had a great time with the safety goggles and metal scrapers. We all found bones, but no one managed to get any out of the dig site. Better luck next time! The kids also enjoyed running on the dinosaur treadmill, climbing in a t-rex scull, and walking like dinosaurs.
I made Nola check out the authentic Egyptian mummy on display. She has been a bit scared of mummies ever since we studied them in history. Maybe seeing the blackened, mummified corpse cured her? (or not...)
Turns out both Nola and Aubry are afraid of butterflies - BUTTERFLIES!!! The museum has this wonderful butterfly exhibit where they fly around freely in a natural setting. Sometimes the butterflies even land on you! After Nola and Aubry heard this choice bit of information they could not get out of that room fast enough. Declan, on the other hand, flung his hand out toward the butterflies and yelled "land on you, land on you!".
We had a great time today. Looking forward to another field trip next week!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Who knew you could make THAT?
Well, today I made whey and cream cheese. You heard right. Whey. and. cream. cheese.
Who knew you could make that? Turns out, you can make those two things by taking yogurt, plopping it into a cheesecloth lined strainer over a bowl, and letting it sit on your counter for most of the day. The whey drips out of the yogurt into the bowl and the cream cheese is left in the cheesecloth.
What's whey? Good question. It's what Little Miss Muffet ate with her curds. Also, you can make funky lacto-fermented stuff to eat with it. More on that when I get around to it....
For now, though, I'm just gonna enjoy some cream cheese on a bagel!
Who knew you could make that? Turns out, you can make those two things by taking yogurt, plopping it into a cheesecloth lined strainer over a bowl, and letting it sit on your counter for most of the day. The whey drips out of the yogurt into the bowl and the cream cheese is left in the cheesecloth.
What's whey? Good question. It's what Little Miss Muffet ate with her curds. Also, you can make funky lacto-fermented stuff to eat with it. More on that when I get around to it....
For now, though, I'm just gonna enjoy some cream cheese on a bagel!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Field Trip Wednesday
Been a looooong time since I posted on the blog. Things have been BUSY, but I'm not even going to try to catch up. Let's just move forward with things.
In our new homeschooling schedule, we've set aside Wednesday as our field trip day. Today we were going to go to the zoo (again) since it has been really nice here for the middle of November. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and it has been drizzly and yucky all day.
Plan #2 - go to the DaVinci Science Center. Unfortunately, the kids were slow as molasses this morning, so we didn't get out in time to drive to the museum, see the exhibits, eat lunch, and drive home in time for naps. Scrap that idea.
Plan #3 - go to Hendricks Farm and check out the pastured beef, pork, chicken, turkeys, cheese and raw milk. I've been learning more about traditional nutrition vs. modern eating and am interested in bringing in healthier dairy/meat choices to our home. Enter raw milk and pastured meats.
The farm itself was less than hopping today. We saw only the chickens and a very friendly turkey. I bought raw milk, a whole chicken and a dozen eggs for around $25. Not cheap, but at least there's nothing funky or industrialized in the products! I asked the store clerk if the farmers give tours - they do, but in the afternoons after they homeschool their children. We'll go back for that experience for sure.
When we got home, we had a taste test on the raw milk. Aubry and Declan loooooved it - smacking their lips loved it. Nola didn't care for it to drink, but she doesn't drink regular milk either. She thinks that she'll like it on cereal though. Greg said the milk tasted creamier and a little different flavor wise - like there was a layer on top (probably the cream). I haven't tasted it yet - I don't drink milk plain so it'll have to wait until I need it for coffee or cereal.
All it all it was a bust of a day for an actual field trip, but our diets may thank us in the long run!
In our new homeschooling schedule, we've set aside Wednesday as our field trip day. Today we were going to go to the zoo (again) since it has been really nice here for the middle of November. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and it has been drizzly and yucky all day.
Plan #2 - go to the DaVinci Science Center. Unfortunately, the kids were slow as molasses this morning, so we didn't get out in time to drive to the museum, see the exhibits, eat lunch, and drive home in time for naps. Scrap that idea.
Plan #3 - go to Hendricks Farm and check out the pastured beef, pork, chicken, turkeys, cheese and raw milk. I've been learning more about traditional nutrition vs. modern eating and am interested in bringing in healthier dairy/meat choices to our home. Enter raw milk and pastured meats.
The farm itself was less than hopping today. We saw only the chickens and a very friendly turkey. I bought raw milk, a whole chicken and a dozen eggs for around $25. Not cheap, but at least there's nothing funky or industrialized in the products! I asked the store clerk if the farmers give tours - they do, but in the afternoons after they homeschool their children. We'll go back for that experience for sure.
When we got home, we had a taste test on the raw milk. Aubry and Declan loooooved it - smacking their lips loved it. Nola didn't care for it to drink, but she doesn't drink regular milk either. She thinks that she'll like it on cereal though. Greg said the milk tasted creamier and a little different flavor wise - like there was a layer on top (probably the cream). I haven't tasted it yet - I don't drink milk plain so it'll have to wait until I need it for coffee or cereal.
All it all it was a bust of a day for an actual field trip, but our diets may thank us in the long run!
Friday, May 1, 2009
How does our garden grow?
This past weekend we finally got started planting in our new garden. A couple of weeks ago, I got started on creating the bed in a pretty great location in the backyard. It's right up against the house on the south side so it gets sun pretty much all day.
To make the bed, I used bricks that Stacey graciously donated last fall (thanks, Stacey!). Then, I double dug the bed and mixed in compost (free) that Greg hauled over from the township's stash. After a quick trip to Home Despot, we were ready to do this....
the bed is loose, composted, and bordered nicely with brick. look closely and you'll see that clover had been using it as a litter box. guess a little fencing is in order....
aubry helped me make the garden grids recommended by my gardening bible, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. we used zip ties and each square is 12".
greg worked on fixing the broken outdoor faucet and getting the hose reel installed on a newly dug and flagstoned aisle between the garden bed and the bilko doors.
here i am modeling my new hat and showing off the garden grids and walking pathways. the garden has 3 beds with 16 spaces each for planting. more to come!
To make the bed, I used bricks that Stacey graciously donated last fall (thanks, Stacey!). Then, I double dug the bed and mixed in compost (free) that Greg hauled over from the township's stash. After a quick trip to Home Despot, we were ready to do this....
the bed is loose, composted, and bordered nicely with brick. look closely and you'll see that clover had been using it as a litter box. guess a little fencing is in order....
aubry helped me make the garden grids recommended by my gardening bible, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. we used zip ties and each square is 12".
greg worked on fixing the broken outdoor faucet and getting the hose reel installed on a newly dug and flagstoned aisle between the garden bed and the bilko doors.
here i am modeling my new hat and showing off the garden grids and walking pathways. the garden has 3 beds with 16 spaces each for planting. more to come!
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