Sunday, January 31, 2010

Please Watch this Video

Please watch this (and you can hate me later...):


[It took a couple of sessions but well worth the hour invested. I just had it running in the background while I worked through my pile on top of the filing cabinet tucked into the corner of the schoolroom; glancing at the screen once in a while to see the charts. An aside: I got a banker box sorted and put away while I watched it - woohoo!]

Shut the Box Addition Game

There is this really cool-looking game in an old Lakeshore Learning catalog called Shut the Box. The directions in the catalog say, "Roll the dice and count the number of dots rolled. Then, flip the numbered levers in any combination that equals the number rolled. The lowest final score wins. Grades 1+" I just made little number cards for us to flip over as we take our turns. Each player will get their own set of cards #1-12. You use 2 dice to play. Not as nice as the $17 game but it will be fun practice for some math facts. Plus, we won't use it long enough to justify buying the game anyway. When I did an image google search to find the link to the game I found quite a few different versions, including a computer version.



What's Cookin'?

- I roasted a chicken following this recipe I googled by Emiril. Well, I sort of followed the recipe. Imagine my surprise when I pulled the neck and giblets out of the cavity, lol. Here I must confess that I've never roasted a whole chicken before (I see you rolling your eyes!). Then I had to google about what to do with those. It took longer than the recipe said but I had to lower the temp. I added a bit of flour to the gravy and did it in a pan on the stove. I had no rosemary so I skipped that. Dh commented several times on how good it tasted. I served it with potatoes and peas. Dc commented on the mashed potatoes and put up with the peas (I love peas with mashed potatoes!). BTW, Dh beat me on the wishbone pull (see, I can admit defeat!).


- The bones are simmering for broth and there was just enough meat left over to make a casserole or skillet dinner or chicken spaghetti or... something. We tossed that in the freezer. Oh, about the innards: I ended up just boiling them and putting that in with the rest for the broth hoping to get some nutritional value from them. Dh snatched the gizzard and gulped it down. I told him how much I admired him - I know organs are healthy but I STILL have hangups about eating them. So, 2 meals for a family of five PLUS 2 batches of bone broth all for $4 is not bad at all. If I were brave enough to eat the organs it would have been even better.

-I need to make some cream of mushroom soup if I'm going to use the leftovers for chicken spaghetti. I try to make several batches to keep some handy in the freezer. If you watched the video I'm begging, yes begging, you to watch you'll see why I now make my own cream of- soups. It really doesn't take long at all and one little bit of mushrooms go a long way.

- I'll be getting the bread dough ready for the week using the artisan bread in 5 minutes recipe. Instead of 4 cups luke warm water like they say, I use 1/4 cup whey and 3-3/4 cups water. Then I let it soak overnight. Do you think that's enough whey for 7-1/2 cups flour (5-1/2 is wheat)? Last week I did the 3 loaves instead of 4 or 2 and it was perfect. Apparently my bread loaf pans are not 1 pounders. Right now I'm using a food-grade plastic bucket that I got from the local bakery to make/soak it because I don't have anything else big enough. This is waaay too big. I'll keep my eye out for something that will work better. Here is the master recipe, although I've been using a different version. I need to try this one some day.

1 comment:

  1. Hi! We've subscription to Mother too & I thought about using that recipe, but thought it'd still be quicker with my bread machine. We're a vegan family & I do tons of baking/cooking 'cause we're a family of 5, organic, and the children have corn,dairy & soy allergies. Being a large family yourself how does it compare to setting the timer to have fresh bread come morning & dinner time vs making the bulk dough? My other worry was is there room for it in the fridge? We've the biggest fridge they make to keep our fresh produce & it's very tight in there. What's your recommendation in the battle between artisian vs. timer bread? Oh, I also use only whole wheat & add in grains to my bread so it isn't cake bread as the kids call it! but good hearty bread. Thanks for the input.

    Honey
    www.mondorfment.blogspot.com

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