Friday, May 30, 2008

Another recipe: Instant Oatmeal

Forgot to post this one with the others... Aleksa likes to help make this one...

Instant Oatmeal

4 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon (we like more)
2/3 cup instant powdered milk
1/2 cup chopped dried apples (or other fruit)

Toast quick cooking oats in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes. When cool add remaining ingredients. Store in airtight container. Pour boiling water over mix in a bowl and stir. Wait 1 minute before eating. You can also put mix in a bowl with cold water and microwave to heat and eat. This is a great kid helping project. Combinations vary but here are some ideas: cherries and almonds; bananas, pineapple, coconut, and cashews; apples, peaches, pears; raisins, craisins, and cashews

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Packing and Recipes

In the thick of packing for our big move in just a few weeks. Today I took down (correction: Adam took down) all the pictures and we dusted and packed them up. The house looks so, so nekked. And heart-less. And blah. It's going to be a long two weeks looking at these bare walls. Over the weekend we got a lot of packing done also, as some friends are letting us borrow their 12' trailer to start packing up. That has helped so much since we don't have a basement to store our "already packed" boxes in. It has left open spaces to vacuum, dust, etc. Speaking of vacuuming, ours died today. That's ok, I've needed a new one for the past two years, so it's high time.

Haven't blogged much lately and I'm sorry about that. Been rather busy with the move, finishing up school, etc., and then there are always the usual dishes and laundry to accomplish, let alone supper... I've been so thankful for my Jr. Chefs... Adam cooked us up some breakfast again today, and Liana made some AWESOME bread yesterday. French bread. Two loaves. Num. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Bread-Rolls-to-Die-For/Detail.aspx

Here are a few more of the recipes I've been raving about. Got these from a lady at our old church "back home." Debbie, you are the cookin' queen! :o)

Deb K's Muffin Mix

2 cups sugar
6 cups flour
6 tsp. Baking powder (adjust down if using Rumford brand)
2 tsp. Salt

1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups milk

Mix DRY ingredients thoroughly and store in freezer if using whole wheat flour. This recipe will make approximately 4 dozen muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Portion out liquids and dry ingredients for smaller batches of batter.
These muffins freeze very well. You can make big portions one day and have left overs for another morning.

Variations: Make a batch with liquids included then portion out batter to make a variety of flavors the same day.

We've been dividing the dry ingredients into fourths, (the recipe divides by four pretty nicely), storing them into ziploc bags. Then we have just the amount (12) for what we need in the morning for breakfast.

Flavors:

Blueberries with while sugar sprinkled on top of batter; mashed bananas with walnuts; mashed bananas with mini chocolate chips; use orange juice as part of the milk or some grated orange rind or orange flavoring and craisins or fresh halved cranberries; almond flavoring and poppyseeds topping the batter with slivered almonds, lemon flavoring and poppyseeds; add some cocoa powder to batter (may have to add a little more milk) and almond flavoring with almonds on top; add raisins and top batter with a mixture of 2 Tblsps. Sugar, 2 tsp flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp melted butter, use fresh berries, nuts, coconut, seeds, whatever you want.

Deb K's Pancake Mix

(8 lb. Volume)
4 cups oats (I like the old fashioned)
2 cups raw wheat germ
14 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup baking powder (reduce if using Rumford)
3 TBSP. Salt
1 TBSP cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups dry milk (optional)

Mix thoroughly and store in freezer. To make pancakes use I cup milk, 1 egg, 1/4 cup oil, and 1 1/2 cup mix. Add more milk or more mix to thin or thicken to your liking. I add things like 1 tsp. Of cinnamon per batch, or 1 tsp. Vanilla. In the fall I like to add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.
For waffles: separate eggs and add yoke to batter, beat whites until stiff and fold into batter gently. Fry on waffle iron.
Variations: While frying pancakes top with blueberries before turning. Use other berries in season. Add mashed bananas to batter with walnuts. For a child's birthday breakfast sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.
Toppings: Applesauce, vanilla yogurt with pie fillings like blue berry, peach, cherry, apple, etc. (I make my own topping with those frozen fruits (and strawberries) cooked with a little water, sugar and either cornstarch or flour to thinken.)

Mix fits into one ice cream bucket - 5 quart.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Overlapping

Lots going on over here... Trying to finish up the school year, pack up our house to move, and then we were hit with a nasty virus. Abrielle still isn't herself. We think she might be teething on top of everything else she's been fighting. Been thinking a lot about how things in my life have been overlapping. I think a lot of homeschool moms have wisely become overlappers by necessity and convenience, but it's just finally really dawning on me how that fleshes out. For example, that "Patrick Henry" speech the kids have had to memorize not only helped their understanding of history, but also gave them some great experience with acting



but we worked a long time on vocabulary words from it, etc. Our readers for the kids' English class this year have all had to do with what we're learning in history. The kids have also been sending my dad weekly letters for the last few years which has overlapped their penmanship with learning to think of others.

Another way we've been "overlapping" is with cookin'. Adam (and somewhat with the others too) has become our Morning Chef. We all put together a pancake mix to store in an ice cream pail, and we also have muffin mix and "instant" oatmeal that he can also quickly put together for us. Once evert two weeks or so, we've been making some homemade granola to grab on extra busy mornings. We've been enjoying his efforts, Adam has been getting some "home ec" experience, extra math, and he's even benefitted from some occupational therapy that he doesn't realize. The act of flipping, stirring, measuring, and putting batter into tins or a griddle is really tough for him - he's not especially coordinated with that CP on his left side coupled with the fact that his body has grown so fast. That seems to have affected his coordination as well. The "exercise" however, is painless when he doesn't know he's doing it, and he's LOVED the attention and compliments on his good cooking. He's needed the extra emotional boost, and I've enjoyed the extra hands in the kitchen.

I'll have to post some of the recipes we've been using. They've sure been a blessing! We've been eating healthier and getting all kinds of "overlapped" benefits from it.

Eek, gotta run... Abrielle is fussin' at me!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Abrielle and Papa




Don'tcha just love little baby feet?

First Dandelion!



Brelly gave me my first dandelion this week... Big sister might have helped! ;o)