Practical Life [Olders] ~ Menu

These are a few of the Practical Life opportunities in which our children were involved this weekend as a natural part of "eclectic living" :).

1 - Middle dd is making feed bag bags to sell to help with our 4-H activities.  Here is an excellent tutorial.  I just need the nylon straps so we don't have to make the straps from the bags.  I've already washed and dried the bags for her.
http://fresh-eggs-daily.blogspot.com/2012/01/make-your-own-feed-bag-tote.html

2 - Youngest dd is making dog leashes from old jeans that I have stashed away.  She plans on selling these also if we can make several.
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/denim_dog_leash

This has some really, really cute ideas for recycling jeans:
http://pinterest.com/analuketic/recycled-jeans/

3 - We did a lot of cleaning in the garage and weeded most of the front beds yesterday.  Oldest dd spent some time organizing her 4-H papers, college promos that she's been getting in the mail, etc.

4 - Menu planning.  We sat together and brainstormed dinners, lunches, and snacks (in that order) for this week.  We also listed things to get from the store [1 lb ground chicken sausage (from Fran's Fryers, less than $4/lb); Organic Pasta Sauce ; organic potatoes; and cucumber].  We'll divide both the beef and sausage into thirds to get 6 meals out of them.  The biggest help for me, though, is brainstorming prep work ["Prep Tasks" that they can help me with beforehand to keep the meals moving along].  I printed out our previous brainstorm list to use for narrowing things down this week.  You can it here.

Here is our  Prep Task list for this week:
Cook rice
Cook beef and chicken sausage
Cook beans - soak/cook
Make bread
Make tortillas
Make almond or peanut butter
Make rolls
Make granola bars
Boil eggs
Make crackers

Menu for the Week (created by the children):

Dinners:

- Chicken and Rice with Spinach (the spinach is what's left after making the Shamrock Peppermint Milkshake for St. Patrick's Day)
- Tacos (1/3 lb beef, sour cream, lettuce)
- Bean and Cheese Melts (for when we need a healthy fast meal!)
- Spaghetti (1/3 lb beef)
- Homemade Pizza (1/3 lb chicken sausage)
- Chili (mostly beans with 1/3 lb beef)
- Potato Soup (1/3 lb chicken sausage)

Lunches:

- Lumpias (egg rolls)(rice, meat, cheese)
- Bean and cheese melts/tacos
- Sandwiches
- Egg Salad Sandwiches
Sides:  oranges, carrots, cucumber, raisins

Snacks:

- Cereal (I splurged and got a box of organic Cascadian Farms fruit and nut cereal which is only 1 meal/snack with a tiny bit left over)
- Carrots
- Crackers with peanut or almond butter
- Homemade granola bars
- Trail mix
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Pumpkin muffins (maybe)
- Crackers with cream cheese
- Popcorn

This real food menu by my children is part of Real Food Wednesday.






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St. Patrick's Day

What's Schoolin'?

Children can color in Ireland on a map of the World or Europe.  They can also label and color a detailed map of Ireland.

Here are some beautiful coloring pages:
http://www.roman-catholic-catechism.com/saint-patrick-history-2.html

Here is a short biography:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89

History of the holiday (not St. Patrick biography):
http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day

This has a ton of St. Patrick ideas and many are Montessori-ish:
http://www.mamaofmanyblessings.com/2013/02/50-st-patricks-day-ideas.html

For Holy cards you can image google St. Patrick Holy cards and find a zillion.

What's Cookin'?

Either baked potatoes, roasted potatoes, potato soup, or fried potatoes would fit perfectly.

This Irish Potato Candy looks like a mix between our butter frosting and cream cheese frosting.  Mmmm.  Then it's rolled in cinnamon (I'm thinking maybe a few chocolate ones too?):
http://www.semihomemademom.com/2013/02/irish-potato-candy.html

This is the Catholic Cuisine page for St. Patrick.  I've linked the ones I plan on doing below (maybe not all this year!):
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/search/label/St.%20Patrick

Cucumber snake snack:
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2012/03/ssss-snack-for-st-patricks-day.html

This veggie flag looks appealing:
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2011/03/irish-flag-veggie-tray.html

Irish Potato Pancakes (good for St. Brigid also):
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2011/01/irish-potato-pancakes.html

Here is an idea for sweet shamrock pretzels.  I know I have a recipe for soft pretzels around here somewhere...  Snake shapes would work too.
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2010/03/sweet-shamrock-pretzels.html

Shamrock Toasties (note: green bell pepper, cheese, bread slices):
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2010/03/shamrock-toasties.html

One thing that I've missed is hard pretzels.  They used to be such an easy snack for the kids!  I can't find any anywhere that we can eat.  I may be able to adapt this idea using the greens from Sunspire candies and maybe make flat truffles or something like that:
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2012/03/st-patricks-shamrock-pretzel-treats.html

This Peppermint Candy Shake is awesome.  [Note to self:  get vanilla ice cream ahead of time!] Making homemade peppermint patties is tedious (I usually only make them for birthday requests for dc) so here is what I'm thinking... Chop up some Enjoy Life chocolate chips in the mini-chopper.  Instead of the 1/2 cup peppermint patties listed in the recipe we could put in the chopped chocolate chips, 2 drops of peppermint oil (I love the one from Nature's Sunshine and 2 drops is what I use in a mild batch of peppermint patties), and either honey or powdered rapadura (powdered in the blender so it's not as crunchy).  Those are the main ingredients in peppermint patties anyway :).
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/search/label/St.%20Patrick?updated-max=2011-01-30T18:47:00-08:00&max-results=20&start=13&by-date=false

Irish Soda Bread:

I thought I would offer an Irish Soda Bread as part of my new home bakery this upcoming week in honor of St. Patrick.  Here are some possibilities:

Easy Irish Soda Bread (uses baking powder so not traditional version):
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Easy-Irish-Soda-Bread (I could swap out buttermilk for the sour cream)

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Most-Popular-Irish-Soda-Bread (also uses baking powder) :
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Most-Popular-Irish-Soda-Bread

Here is a great website about traditional Irish Soda Bread:
http://www.sodabread.info/index.htm

This one from Catholic Cuisine looks pretty identical.  I'm thinking of trying 3 C white whole wheat with 2 C buttermilk.  Set it out to ferment already in the pan and then pop it in the oven.
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2013/02/traditional-irish-soda-bread.html

I ended up calling my dear friend and got a recipe from her that worked great (thanks, P.!!).  It was so good.  Right now I'm fiddling with a soaked white whole wheat version.

Lent ~ Papal Conclave

What's Schoolin'?

We've set out our Stations of the Cross candles on the mantle.  Now I just need to find my handy dandy booklet that goes with them!  I may just have to print something from online. [Scroll down a bit at this post to see our Stations candles.]

For our Catholic group we are hosting this week we plan on making individual crowns of thorns using salt dough and tooth picks.  When you do something nice or make a sacrifice you take out one of the thorns.  I think the idea is to trade it out for jelly beans on Easter morning to surprise the children.  I need to start searching for dye-free jelly bean options. [Update: Since they will each have individual crowns this year I can easily exchange them for small bags of Sunspire Sun Drops Chocolate Candies. No dyes.]
[You can find more dye-free treat options HERE.][Surf Sweets has organic jelly beans HERE, but I have never seen them locally.]

We'll also be doing a very simplified version of 'Hide the Alleluia.'  I'm just printing some outlined Alleluias on cardstock with a fold so they can stand up.  The children will decorate with markers and glitter.  Ideally they would color it gold and sprinkle gold or silver glitter but I'll let them just decorate however they wish.  Then they will hide their sign in an envelope.  Using a purple color/marker they will write "Open After Lent" on the outside of the envelope.  I was going to say "Do not open until Easter" but wanted to use the word Lent instead of Easter on the envelope.  On Easter they can take it out and display it.  Here is my inspiration:
http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/2009/02/hiding-the-alleluia.html

This explanation of the Papal election and Conclave is perfect to read aloud to the group of such varying ages that we'll be hosting.
http://www.catholicinspired.com/2013/02/learning-about-election-of-new-pope.html

This coloring page from Happy Saints will also be available for anyone in the group that wants to color it.  Ours are already displayed on our kitchen cabinets.  If you use a dark color for the background that the white really pops out :).
http://www.happysaints.com/2013/02/pope-benedict-xvi-coloring-page.html

Other Papal resources:


This outstanding lapbook is really making the rounds in cyberspace!  It's beautiful.  Amazing. We'll be doing it as a family as soon as my oldest gets through the SAT next Sat (sigh - poor thing is starting to stress - prayers appreciated!). If you don't follow her blog yet, you won't be disappointed!
http://showerofroses.blogspot.com/2013/02/papal-unit-study.html


Please visit this blog for some of the below ideas and more:

http://catholicicing.com/2013/02/pope-activities-for-catholic-kids/


I also plan on using this with our family - great board game!
http://catholicblogger1.blogspot.com/2013/02/electing-pope-file-folder-game.html

We'll watch this also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpJghs5ypkU&sns=em

Here is a great election of the Pope trivia quiz for olders:
http://coolstuff4catholics.blogspot.com/2013/03/election-of-pope-trivia-quiz.html








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Gottatries

What's Cookin'?

Pumpkin Pudding Pie:
http://www.frugallocalkitchen.com/blog/national-pie-day-gluten-free-coconut-pumpkin-pudding-pie/

Santa Fe Stuffed Peppers:
http://www.gaiahealthblog.com/2012/12/23/sante-fe-turkey-stuffed-peppers/

No Flour Peanut Butter Cookies (PB, egg, sugar)
http://practical-stewardship.com/2012/08/22/no-flour-4-ingredient-peanut-butter-cookies-gluten-free/

Another bread recipe to try:
http://myculturedpalate.com/blog/2013/01/22/whole-wheat-bread-sprouted-or-soaked/

Chicken Nuggets.  I really like the baked nuggets recipe that I use using pre-cooked chicken but here is another version that looks really tasty (uses raw pieces and is fried):
http://grannysvitalvittles.com/chicken-nuggets-easy-and-kid-friendly/

Catch-Up

Things have really been busy this month and it's just flown by without much breathing room!  We sold our 4-H goat (The very day he was headed for the feed lot we were able to sell him for a pet! Yeah!), did a calf scramble, did a goat judging contest, got our first SAT scores back (poor dd only had 2 days to prep for it 'cuz we spent most of January sick and doing the goat show!), have buckled down with school, visited my mom, and volunteered at a local theater.  The rest of the month will see us doing 4-H community service projects (Quilt Challenge for all of us, plus oldest dd is collecting for sack lunches that our church hands out to the homeless and middle dd will be doing a horticulture workshop/community service project in March-ish).  I wish I could say we will be putting in the garden and the chicken coop, but, you know... life isn't just about a garden and coop, right? (sigh) I've been having a hard time letting those 2 things go.

As if that wasn't enough :), I started my own home bakery this week (cottage industry) and got my first order! Yeah!  Well, that's not counting all of the brownies that my own children bought Sunday, lol.  Should I tell them that I would've just given them the brownies?  Actually, that was my egg money for Monday so it worked out well!  The name is Spiritus Sancti Bakery which is "of the Holy Spirit" in Latin.  I'm only using real food ingredients!  If you know me in real life and want some bread without the yuckies for a reasonable price, let me know.

What's Schoolin'?

The olders:  We f-i-n-a-l-l-y finished The Aeneid .  Now we're reading Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (Folgar Library edition) .  They are really enjoying it and do a hilarious interpretation of the Plebians.

Next it will be Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History (Church History).  I've been previewing it and marking off pages for them to read (hope to post that later), leaving out some of the gore.  The evil inside some people and what they invent to torture and kill people is beyond me! It's an amazing book and I'm so glad to be reading this important Church History book.  I hope to have even a smidgen of the courage and steadfastness demonstrated by the early Christians (and even up to and including modern martyrs).

After Eusebius we'll tackle Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People.  This is all really stretching me as a learner to keep ahead of them!

Youngest dd:  We have really been enjoying the experiments in her Earth Science curriculum.  I've taken some pictures, but I just haven't uploaded them yet.  She has been checking out a ton of Hank the Cowdog books.  Some are great, some not so great.








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Clean 15; Dirty Dozen

What's Cookin'?

I like to post this now and then.  This is EWG's 2012 Shopping Guide.  I keep one in my purse because I can never remember the list and sometimes I run into a food I don't buy often enough to know off the top of my head.  Actually, it's now in youngest dd's purse because she confiscated it one day - and pulls it out at the store sometimes to help me :).

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

Things that I buy regularly that I DO get organic:

- apples
- potatoes
- carrots
- celery
- tomatoes
- blueberry (I get from Canada, organic, or from other clean sources - check on the bag to see where it is from if you buy off-brands like I do)(the dirty dozen ones are domestic)

Things that I buy regularly that I do NOT get organic:

- bananas
- oranges
- lemons
- canteloupe (domestic)
- mangoes
- sweet potatoes

Now that I see sweet peas on the Clean 15 list I won't worry so much about it because I was buying frozen organic peas also.

Eastern Europe Study ~ Brainstorm

What's Schoolin'?

Thursdays have been Geography days for our focus presentations lately and it's been working out great.  We're moving along to Eastern Europe in our Trail Guide to World Geography book [Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Russia][Other Eastern Europe countries follow in another lesson].  Below are some brainstorm ideas for what we may do.

~ Eat some homemade mamaliga (sort of a polenta)[Romanian recipe].  We have some non-gmo corn meal in the cupboard so this would be easy to implement.  Here is a recipe (great side bar to browse around):
http://www.exploringromania.com/mamaliga.html
Another recipe:
http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/moldavian-cornmeal-mush-mamaliga-19937

~ Golubtsi (Ukranian cabbage rolls):
http://natashaskitchen.com/2010/07/05/golubtsi-recipe-a-classic-russian-food/

~ Stuffed blini (plural is blinchiki) (ground meat)[Russian recipe]:
http://www.azcookbook.com/meat-stuffed-blinchiki-crepes/

~ Make a 2-D Matryoshka doll [view images online first (see 'classic folk art' here); use template to make cardstock template; use fabric for 2-D doll glued on cardstock]
http://www.education.com/activity/article/matryoshka/

~ Pysanky (Ukranian Easter Eggs):  image google (they are so amazing). Here is a site with a link to a tutorial.  Another option would be to use colored sharpies on some hard-boiled eggs for the designs, even though the technique would be lost (it all depends on life at the time!).
http://www.learnpysanky.com/

What's Green?

This homemade shaving cream recipe is brilliant!
http://www.littlehouseliving.com/easy-homemade-shaving-cream.html

What's Cookin'?

Barbecue chicken on yeast buns with mashed sweet potatoes (and a beet snuck in!) on the side.  

I was too lazy to make the sauce and then pour it on the chicken, so... I put some frozen pre-baked skinless thigh fillets into the tiny crockpot.  On top of that I put about 1/4 C organic tomato sauce (I finished out the bottle but it was about that, maybe a little more), a squirt of mustard, a dash of apple cider vinegar, some Real Salt, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, and 2 tiny dried sage leaves (crumbled and sprinkled over it).  Then I left it alone.

Meanwhile I made some yeast rolls with 1/2 white whole wheat and 1/2 unbleached all-purpose since I didn't have time to soak it anyway [click here for my soaked wheat yeast bun recipe post].  While those were rising I heated up water and put in 2 sweet potatoes and 1 golden beet.  The yams/beets cooked while the rolls baked.

When the rolls were done I let them sit a little bit to cool somewhat before slicing.  I drained and mashed the sweet potato/beet, added some butter, salt, and a dash of milk (just like making mashed potatoes).

I also served a bit of organic lettuce and pears that we happened to have with a dallop of cottage cheese on top.  Sauerkraut was available but only youngest and I indulged in it :).

As Andy Griffith would say, it was, "outstandingly good. MmmMmm."

This is part of Fat Tuesday.

Enchiladas

What's Cookin'?

I was going to call this post "Freezer Divin' Enchiladas" but I didn't just freezer dive... I also cupboard-dived and fridge-dived to dig around and see what we had that I could use.  I finally settled on just plain "Enchiladas" for my title!

Seriously, this is not so much of a recommended recipe as it is a model of what you can do with what you have.  Be inspired by what you have!

Ingredients:

3 C pre-cooked rice (trust me, you don't want to know about that fiasco!)

1-1/2 C pre-cooked shredded chicken

1-1/2 C cottage cheese (seriously?  yes, that's what I had!)

1/4 C shredded cheddar cheese (to sprinkle on top - all I had left)

2 C Herdez Salsa Verde or regular organic salsa

Spices of your choice (cumin will give it a Mexican/Tex-Mex flavor)(I made sure to include garlic and onion powder since I didn't use any of those actual veggies in the mix)

Any veggie leftovers?  Include those as well :).

8 big homemade tortillas and 3 small Wal-Mart store-bought tortillas (those 3 are for dh!)

Directions:

Optional:  Heat a bit of oil in a stainless steel pan (or cast iron or cast enamel) and quickly dip and flip each tortilla in it to make them more pliable but not crusty.

Mix the green sauce and cottage cheese together in a small bowl.  Reserve half of that to put on the top at the end.  

Mix the other half of sauce/cottage cheese with rice and chicken and spices (and any leftover cooked veggies).  Scoop the mixture into your tortillas and roll them.  Put them seam-side down in a greased glass baking dish.  Top it off with the rest of the sauce and sprinkle cheddar cheese over it.  Bake covered for 20 minutes and 10 uncovered.

Serve with homemade beans and garnish with sour cream... or more cottage cheese??

[Update: several children told me several times how good this was and that they want to have it again!  Also, I was a little stingy with the filling and have enough filling left over in the freezer for a lunch of enchiladas.]













This recipe/method is part of Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday.

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Plans~Records Form

What's Schoolin'?

I don't know if this idea is of any use to anyone, but just in case :)...

After spending waaaay too much time online looking for just the right form to suit our needs with my olders I made this page that has a week's worth of work done (or plans) on one page.  Depending on how many times or hours they need to spend on a subject, I made that many boxes.  We will probably use it both as a record and planner.  For example, while discussing it with middle dd (10th grade)(who really liked the layout by the way!), she mentioned how she might write "history links" in a history block just to remind herself to do it; but otherwise she might just write in what she accomplished during an hour of independent (or together) history time.  Today they watched a video of Julius Caesar's biography and it would count for one hour for the week - it worked into our day but wasn't 'planned' for today necessarily (it was on my mental "holding pattern") so in that case the paper serves as a record instead of a plan.

Clear as mud? :)

The good thing is that the olders have the flexibility of fitting their work into the week however they want but still have the structure of what is recommended to achieve their goals of finishing coursework.  So, if dd is on a roll in Science and wants to work all morning on it then she can keep a log of it and do what works for her. 

I'll make up something similar for my youngest who approaches school differently than my olders.  Hers might have 3 blocks for 'shelf work' and 2 blocks for 'science presentations' or whatever... That's a project for tomorrow :).

Anyway, here is a link to the pdf in case it helps someone else organize their child's work or helps with planning.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzY-sfWD2Rgpc2Z6aUJJMHRXRGc/edit    

Let me know if you need the open office version to make your own changes.

Weekly Menu

What's Cookin'?

Usually if I can get dinners in order then the other meals fall into place or sort of coast into working... sort of :).  After being gone all weekend and being sick for 2 weeks it feels nice to actually be thinking about meals! Albertsons had some sales a bit ago on Sanderson chicken so you'll see mostly chicken meals.  I only have 1 pound of stew meat until the end of the month so I'll be very stingy with that!  I was able to get free-range organic eggs for $1.75/dozen.  I couldn't be more thrilled - really!

Breakfasts:

- Muffins (pumpkin or savory from the freezer)
- Cottage cheese/fruit
- Eggs: scrambled with toast and cream cheese
- Eggs: egg salad on toast and applesauce
- Eggs: breakfast casserole
- Bean/cheese melts
- Honey Goodness Breakfast Bars (for St. Francis de Sales on Thursday)(this may be for snack instead)

Lunches:

- chicken sandwiches with mayo and Bubbies live sauerkraut [I'm trying Laura's overnight no knead recipe tonight/tomorrow]
- cereal (yes, we had cereal today for lunch and it was such a treat! Cascadian Farm Fruit and Nut Granola ) and fresh apples with some healthy pumpkin cookies from the freezer.
- Bean/cheese melts
- Taquitos or echiladas (depends on whether I have some frozen corn tortillas or if I'm making flour ones).

Snacks:
- Trail mix (raisins, almonds, chocolate chips )
- Cottage cheese/fruit
- Muffins
- Animal Crackers (made from scratch - already on cooling rack)
- Crackers and cream cheese (crackers from scratch)
- Celery and carrot sticks with dip related to St. Paul's Conversion (I know it's a stretch, but they are treats for horses and oral tradition and paintings have St. Paul falling off of his horse).  If I'm really feeling productive or looking for something to fill my time (not!) we might make horseshoe-shaped pretzels or bread sticks or even cookies.


Dinners:

- Chicken sandwich spread on mini-pitas; oranges; cupcakes (white cupcakes with cream cheese frosting decorated like lamb faces for St. Agnes' feast day - a 4th century martyr who died in 304 under Diocletian)
- Chicken Spaghetti
- Tortilla soup
- Chili (with 1/2 lb of that precious stew meat and rice added in to stretch it more); corn bread
- Chicken pot pie or baked chicken and rice
- Beef stew with lots of potatoes and carrots
- Quiche
- Bean burritos


Things to get prepped ahead:

- Beans (already in crock pot!)
- Soak tortillas and make ahead
- Crackers
- Pre-cook other 1/2 stew meat when I make the beef stew.
- Hard boil eggs [wash a bunch of eggs ahead of time if not washed]
- Bread
- Soak/dehydrate almonds (already in dehydrator!)
- Crack a bunch of pecans...

Okay, I am so bummed!  Tonight was going to be the chicken sandwich spread on mini pitas.  Store-bought pitas.  A break.  An easy dinner.  The reason why I've been able to take time to think and post this menu. Well, the ones I got, that I thought were safe, have L-cysteine.  Argh! (envision Charlie Brown saying it!).  Now I need to hurry up and make some (or probably naan bread) and it's already dinner time!









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