Handwriting Practice

Ernie is working in copying nursery rhymes out of her book to practice her handwriting. Yes, she writes her letters like a type writer, but that’s OK sometimes, right? Right now she’s working on this one:

A dillar
A dollar
A ten o’clock scholar
What makes you come so soon?
You used to come at ten o’clock
And now you come at noon

My sister and I memorized all sorts of nursery rhymes as kids, it makes me happy to see Ernie learning them now!

Spring Planting At Aunt Lolo’s

We spent Memorial Day barking and planting at my sister’s house. One good thing about our cold, long Spring is the extra planting time!

First radish crop

Well, they didn’t bolt like last year’s radishes….I hope the slugs enjoyed these French breakfast radishes!

Pao de Quiejo Two Ways

Here are two recipes I LOVE.  The first comes together in just a few minutes and is crazy good.  It’s like a thin batter.

The second takes much longer to prepare, and makes a sticky dough, but I think is slightly tastier.  (Super-crazy good?  Or just different texture?)   When I make the breads this way, I make a double or triple batch and flash freeze a bunch of dough balls for later- they bake up great from frozen!

If you haven’t tried pao de quiejo, it’s a Brazilian bread made from cassava/tapioca starch, eggs, oil, salt, and cheese.  They’re gluten-free, so they are my FAVORITE party trick when entertaining celiacs and others with gluten issues.  They’re best served warm, and will be stretchy and chewy.  The outside should be just barely browned.  I prefer to use all parmesan, but I’ve seen cheddar used as well- the cheese is basically the ONLY flavor here, so go for something you love!

Serious Eat’s easy pao de quiejo

Myrnie’s pao de quiejo

Cooking Day

It was settled in just a moment, and I found myself walking away from church having agreed to host a dinner for four families including our own.  YIKES!  18 people, including 8 kids…

I told the instigator that I would be making rice and beans- I guess that could be seen as a little snarky, given that most of the guests were from Brazil and Mexico.  Whoops.  Beans are what I’ve made for guests for YEARS- they’re tasty, filling, inexpensive to feed to a crowd, and can sit around forever waiting for guests to arrive with no ill effects.  No wonder they’re so popular around the world!)

Our final menu:

black bean chipotle chili with cilantro, rice, handmade corn tortillas from Trader Joe’s, a huge pork shoulder, Pao de queijo (see how smart I was to invite the Brazilian family?), sliced watermelon, and Grandma Susie’s Apple Cake.

Oh yes, and some of the guys descended on the kitchen after everything was over and ate half a loaf of bread.  It’s good, OK?

Excepting the rice, beans, and cake (and bread!), everything else was potlucked.  I am insanely blessed to attend church with the nice folks we see there every week!

The Soil Temperatures You Need for Seeds to Germinate

Unless your dirt is the right temperature, your seeds will never germinate.  You can use a basic meat thermometer you don’t mind sacrificing to the cause (because once you stick it in the dirt, odds are pretty good you won’t want to stick it in your pork!)

The danger of planting seeds prematurely is that they will just sit and ROT before they ever sprout!  (Also, it seems to me the longer I have seeds sitting just below the soil, the longer rain has to wash them away and the longer the birds have to find them all.)

There are a couple things you can do to side step Mother Nature if she’s being a bit cold.

• Start seeds indoors or in a greenhouse.  A heating mat is great for helping things along, I’ve heard.  I don’t own one yet….but I want!
• Plant early spring crops in large pots- the dirt warms up faster
• Use raised beds.  This is a good idea anyway, to help with drainage or to act as a quick fix for less than ideal soil.  Like the pots, the soil will warm up faster above ground

These temperatures were taken from heirloomseeds.com to give you an idea of what you need before your seeds will sprout, and how long it will take.  (They also sell soil thermometers there, for a pretty good price it seems, if you want something quicker and more suited to the task!)

VARIETY	OPTIMUM SOIL TEMPERATURE FOR GERMINATION	DAYS TO GERMINATE AT OPTIMUM SOIL TEMPERATURE
Bean, lima	85 degrees F	7 to 10 days
Bean, snap	75 to 80 degrees F	7 days
Beet	75 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Broccoli	65 to 75 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Brussels sprout	68 to 75 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Cabbage	68 to 75 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Cantaloupe	80 to 85 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Carrot	75 degrees F	12 to 15 days
Cauliflower	65 to 75 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Celery	70 to 75 degrees F	10 to 14 days
Collard	70 to 75 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Corn	75 to 85 degrees F	7-10 days
Cucumber	70 to 85 degrees F	7 to 10 days
Eggplant	75 to 85 degrees F	10 to 12 days
Endive	70 to 75 degrees F	10 to 14 days
Kale	70 to 75 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Kohlrabi	70 to 75 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Lettuce	65 to 70 degrees F	7 to 10 days
Melon	80 to 85 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Mustard Greens	70 degrees F	5 to 10 days
Okra	80 to 85 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Onion, bulbing	70 to 75 degrees F	10 to 14 days
Onion, bunching	60 to 70 degrees F	10 to 14 days
Parsnip	70 degrees F	14 to 21 days
Pea	65 to 70 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Pepper	78 to 85 degrees F	10 to 14 days
Pumpkin	70 to 75 degrees F	7 to 10 days
Radish	65 to 70 degrees F	5 to 7 days
Rutabaga	65 to 70 degrees F	7 to 15 days
Spinach	70 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Spinach, New Zealand	75 degrees F	10 to 15 days
Squash, Summer	75 to 85 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Squash, Winter	75 to 80 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Swiss Chard	70 to 75 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Tomato	75 to 80 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Turnip	65 to 70 degrees F	7 to 14 days
Watermelon	75 to 85 degrees F	7 to 14 days

Breakfast Choices

A Normal Day

I blogged about a…SPECTACULAR day (read: not awesome day) a while back over at my other blog.  Today, I want to write about a normal day, that actually worked!

5:00 am, I opened my eyes to find the toddler in my room.  I tucked her back in, and MIRACLES, she stayed in bed till 6:30!

6:30, toddler and big girl are up for the morning.  They watch one cartoon while I get my wits about me.

6:45, baby boy gets up and eats- ANOTHER night sleeping all the way through!  Way to go, baby boy!  I think it’s been a week since he started this delightful trend, I seriously hope he keeps it up.  Out of my three kids, he’s the first who doesn’t use nursing as a comforter.  He regularly falls asleep on a blanket on the floor, or in his bouncy chair.  I almost never nurse him to sleep.

7:00 I make blender pancakes for breakfast, with wheat berries, oats, fresh eggs, and soy milk.  So very, very good!  (The splash of vanilla and a few Tbsp of sugar helped, haha)

8:00 Baby boy goes back down for a nap.

8:30, I teach my first piano lesson of the day.  He absolutely nailed both recital pieces, hooray!

9:00, I take my shower

9:30, baby boy is up again.  I teach Ernie’s piano lesson for the week- we review forte and piano, and practice keeping a steady rhythm with no breaks in between verses or lines.  She’s doing great!

10:00 Set the girls down with workbooks at their desks, and start grinding wheat for bread.  I clean the kitchen and make a batch of all-wheat dough.  It’s my favorite recipe- just water, yeast, sugar, oil, salt, and wheat flour.

10:30, work on 10′s and 1′s with Ernie, showing her how to group her rods and cubes into double-digit numbers.  SO glad she grasps this quickly this morning- we tried a few months ago, and she had no clue what I was asking her to do.  Once she gets the hang of making her numbers, I show her how to add double-digit numbers with her rods and cubes, and write a list of problems on the white board for her to work out.  (And make double-sure there’s no carrying needed in the addition!!)

11:00 Roll the dough into loaves and set in the pans to rise.

The next hour is spent changing diapers, keeping Ernie on task, and supervising kids when the toddler keeps trying to commandeer all the rods and cubes for her game.  The girls eat the last of our last batch of bread, sliced apple, and chocolate mochi for lunch.  YUM!

12:15, girls are in bed for naps (after we put away all the clothes and shells they put on the floor this morning.  WHY do I have to walk them through cleaning up their clothes before every  nap and bed time?  Reminds me of my own childhood…*blush*)  I spend nap time feeding  and playing with the baby, and messing around on the computer.

2:00 Ernie finishes reading and comes out to join me.

2:15 Mimi comes out demanding her older sister answer the indignant question “Why you go all gone!!?”

2:30 The girls are freaking out over…something.  The sun is shining for the moment, so we head out for a walk, and a quick stop at the park.  Yay!

3:30 Start my afternoon lessons.

4:30 End my afternoon lessons, and feed a FRANTIC baby.  Timing wasn’t great today- we didn’t get home from our walk early enough to feed him, and he was asleep until 20 minutes into my first lesson.  He has a cold, because otherwise two hours between snacks isn’t enough to make him mad!

5:00 Start cooking rice for dinner- we had a fabulous sushi night last night, and I’m looking forward to a repeat tonight (although, we’ll probably do it “chirashizushi” style, with toppings on top of our rice bowls!)

6:00 Head out the door with the family for a picnic in the park!  Chirashizushi is very portable.

7:30 Back home, get ready for bed.

8:00 Girls are in bed, baby boy is dressed and diapered.  Fingers crossed his bedtime is soon, haha

9:30 Baby is in bed!

Black Bean Brownies

Looking for a “safe” treat for my daughter’s tummy, I found this brownie recipe. Gluten-free, AND dairy-free, and even soy-free if that’s something you’re watching. No flour at all. It’s a weird little recipe, and doesn’t seem like it should work, but it DOES, and it’s GOOD. No, they’re not Ghirardelli double-fudge brownies. But they’re tasty and addicting and kind of good for you, so does it matter what’s in them?

Go make them!

Or

Original recipe can be found here

•  2 (15.5 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 6 eggs
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 9×13 baking dish.
2. Drain black beans in a colander, and rinse under running water until water runs clear.
3. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, and sugar in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture, and press them in a bit.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Taste Test: Kefir

I picked up some kefir at the store the other day for a taste test.

I want more “good bacteria” in my family’s life, and more fermented foods.  Going on a hunch that my kids would NOT like kimchi…or sauerkraut…I tried the kefir first!

Kefir is a dairy product- kefir “grains” are added to milk and left to ferment and change the milk. The end product is thick like buttermilk, and tangy like yogurt. Honestly, it tasted EXACTLY like my homemade yogurt. I was hooked on the slightly sweet tang, but no one else in my family liked it. The husband gave me an “eh, it’s fine.” The five year old and two year old refused to try it, due to the consistency.

Since this product is pretty pricey at our store, and I can make yogurt easily at home that tastes the same, I probably won’t be purchasing this again, but it was fun to try!  If we want a probiotic drink, I like to mix a bit of milk into my yogurt to thin it out.