Homeschool Fun, A Japanese Meal

Japan

My 10 year old daughter is studying Japan in history. We thought it would be fun to have a Japanese meal to enhance what we have been reading. Last night we made a Japanese meal! Now, I am sure it is not totally authentic, but it got the point across :o).

Here is what we had: Teriyaki chicken & steak, rice, Toffee Sweet Potatoes (yum!), Japanese Onion Soup, sauteed sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli & mushrooms, and green tea to drink. I bought some chop sticks too to add to the fun. It was really good! We had visited a Japanese Steakhouse about a year ago and got some ideas from that. We served the soup first and then we served the rest on regular plates (I don't have all the little cups and plates as you would see on a Japanese table). We had a lot of fun!

This is one way to really enhance your homeschool! This year, we are sticking pretty much to a textbook curriculum (Rod & Staff for most and some Abeka for my high schooler) but I add DVD's, and extra stuff to bring it all together. For our Japan study, I got some Schlessinger Media DVD's on Asia and Japan and some books from the library. We used a recipe for the toffee sweet potatoes from one of the books. I also plan on learning a little of the writing, maybe for art class?

Good, wholesome fun :o).

Apple Cobbler

Here is the first of my apple recipes. This recipe is sooo easy and is delicious! In most of my apple recipes, I use a variety of apples...I think it gives it more flavor. In the apple cobber, I used Golden Delicious, Ida Red, and Gala.



Apple Cobbler



10-12 Large apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)
2 cups of flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 eggs
1 stick of butter



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9 x 13 baking dish.


2. Layer apples in dish. (I added some raisins to mine)



3. In medium sized bowl, mix flour, sugars, baking powder, and cinnamon. Beat eggs lightly into the sugar mixture. Spoon on top of the apples.



4. Cut butter into pats and line them up on the sugar/flour mixture.



5. Bake for 45 minutes.



6. This is delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream!

This recipe is doubled due to my family size. You can easily make a smaller version of this dessert by cutting recipe in half and using an 8 x 8 baking dish. I am thinking that you could also cut the sugar in half and it would still be good!

End of a Season

The summer is over and the garden is done. My garden did not do as well this year. I think there are a few reason why and I will be changing some things for next year. First, I tried to grow an organic garden...just to see if I could. I don't normally use a lot of fertilizer, but I do use some. This year, I used nothing and I did not even get enough tomatoes to can. Drastic difference from years past! I did freeze some, but not many. #2 reason, my great idea of planting the sunflowers along side of my tomatoes did not work the way I thought it would. Sure, it looked pretty and it worked to hold them up, but they got so large that they actually shaded the tomatoes. :o(

From my watermelon & cantaloupe patch, we only got to eat 2 cantaloupes and 1 watermelon. I finally picked my lone watermelon yesterday, I kept waiting for it to get bigger but it didn't. We cut into it and it was soooo sweet!

I am still getting some hit and miss tomatoes and peppers, at least up until we get the first frost. At least I have learned a few lessons for next year.

We will be going and picking apples soon to make our apple sauce and apple butter. I will post recipes when I do. I will also make apple jelly; this can be done with apple juice that you get at the store and it is sooo easy and spreads better than store-bought.

What about you? How did your garden grow?

Soup's On

There is just something about the crisp air and the changing of the leaves. Our Lord is just so creative!

To celebrate October and the harvest season, I made a pot of vegetable beef soup & a few loaves of pumpkin bread. Doesn't it look delicious?

Usually when I make soup for dinner, I make some type of bread to go with it. Soup in itself is pretty hearty, but it doesn't seem like it holds my family over unless I add bread, like pumpkin, cornbread, or zucchini. Since I made pumpkin bread here, I will post that recipe below.

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

4 beaten eggs

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

1 t. nutmeg

2/3 cup water

2 cups (or 1 15 oz. can) of solid pack pumpkin

3 1/3 cups flour

2 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

Mix all ingredients in the order given, mixing thoroughly between each ingredient. Pour into greased loaf pans (It makes 2 larger loaves) filling about halfway through. Bake 45 minutes in preheated oven at 350 degrees or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

This bread is so yummy! My husband likes to spread a little cream cheese on a slice, but I like mine plain.

Menu Plan Monday

I floundered around for 2 weeks with no meal plan, again. I made my plan on Friday this time and it seems to work better for me. Here it goes:

Sunday-Hot Beef Sandwiches (recipe below, with pics!) Monday-Brats on the grill, pasta salad
Tuesday-Chicken Enchiladas Wednesday-Breakfast dinner Thursday-Steaks (for mom & dad) and hamburgers (kids) and baked potatoes
Friday-leftover buffet Saturday-Grilled ham sandwiches

Hot Beef Sandwiches (crockpot)

3 lb Roast; 1 large onion, chopped; 3 stalks celery, chopped; 1/4 C vinegar; 1 clove garlic, minced; salt & pepper

Spray your crockpot bowl with cooking spray. Put roast in and put chopped onion and celery on top. Mix vinegar with garlic and salt & pepper and pour on top. Cook on low for 8 hours. After it is tender, shred with 2 forks. We put the meat on Onion buns that I get from the Wonder Bread store. YUM! Jasons favorite!

Check out Orgjunkie.com for more ideas on menu planning!

Blessings,

Mulberry Jam :o)

The other day, my father-in-law calls up and says that they have a Mulberry tree that is loaded down with berries, would we like some? Ummm...sure! We don't turn down fresh produce of any kind. So I did a quick search for any type of mulberry recipes from my favorite food preservation site and decided to try some jam.

I did find when doing my search, that you have to be careful in the type of mulberries that you get, apparently some are poisonous. We determined that his were okay so we layed out a tarp and started shaking! The tree was loaded but not many fell :o( So we tried to pick some but most of the branches were too high. Needless to say, we didn't get many.

We came home and washed them and cooked them. I added a pound of strawberries to be able to make some jam. After washing and cooking them, I ran them through my foley food mill to get out the bigger seeds and stems (the stems on the mulberries are a pain to try to remove by hand!). I would up with 3 cups of cooked berries, so I added 3 1/2 cups of sugar (!) and 3/4 of a pack of pectin and cooked until it gelled. I put them in a water bath for about 10 minutes. I only got 3 of those little jars and then a little extra (for us to have a taste!) It turned out delicious! I think I overcooked it a little though because it didn't seem like it was getting to the gelling point and I kept it on but then it got harder to spread. Oh well. We can always make syrup with it. You just put it on the stove with a little butter and heat on low. Much cheaper than the fruit syrups at the store!

We'll go back next week to see if we can get more berries.

Week of Strawberries Part 4, Strawberry Shortcake!

Ahhh...so refreshing. Strawberry Shortcake. You just can't get any better than this!

Here is my recipe for homemade shortcake. SOOO much better than those store bought shells!

Shortcake

2 1/3 C Bisquick
3 T sugar
1/2 C milk
3 T melted butter

Mix vigorously for 20 strokes (or in your mixer!). Spread into greased 8 or 9 inch pan (I use my round cake pan). It will be a little hard to spread, but don't worry, it doesn't have to look pretty...you are putting strawberries and whipped cream on top! Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm with crushed berries (I add a little sugar to ours to take away the tartness) and whipped cream. YUM!

NOTE: This post has been sitting in my dashboard thing since June 10th. I kept waiting to post it so I could get a picture. I have made this at least twice (maybe 3 times?) and these people that live with me keep eating it too fast. :sigh:

Week of Strawberries

Sweet and Juicy Strawberries

We went strawberry picking today! I love this time of year when we can go to farm markets to buy fresh produce. It just seems so wholesome. The kids and I had a great time picking 26 pounds of berries! Yes, you read that right! 26 POUNDS! Yum :o)

Strawberries are so good for you too. They are full of Vitamin C and Flavonoids. They are good plain, in desserts, smoothies, salads, etc... I am going to be posting strawberry recipes all this week, including how we process them here at home.

Happy eating!

Menu Plan Monday June 2-8, 2008

I sure hate those weeks that I don't plan! Last week was not fun, not knowing what was for dinner until time to throw something together. This week will be better!

Monday-Swiss Steak (in the crockpot)

Tuesday-Chicken/spinach salad (yummy in the warmer weather!)

Wednesday-Hot Beef Sandwiches (another crockpot) with Onion buns, spinach salad

Thursday-Lentil tacos

Friday-Spaghetti with whole wheat pasta

Saturday-welcome to the leftover buffet!

Last week, I did try some new recipes. I made yogurt!! It was super easy and the kiddos loved it! You can also use this same basic recipe to make cream cheese. You can find out how to make it on Keeping The Home. Emily tried the Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from here. They were really good! Definitely a keeper.

Check out lots more menus for other great ideas on menus and organizing in general from Laura at www.orgjunkie.com !

Menu Plan Monday March 10-15, 2008

Getting back into the swing of things this week! I am going to start some bean sprouts today to have with some meals later this week. I have not done this before but found out how easy it can be from Frugal Abundance. On to my plan...

Monday-Fajitas, I'll have my 13 year old make these as my 11 year old is having toe surgery today and we will be getting close to dinner time. Probably should have done a crock pot meal today.

Tuesday-Chicken pot pie

Wednesday-Roast, carrots, potatoes, maybe some brown rice

Thursday-leftover day--use the roast and leftover fajita stuff and make fried rice (yum!), I am going to try to use my bean sprouts with this meal, spinach salad.

Friday-Homemade pizza night! Trying a new whole wheat pizza crust this time!

Saturday-Beans & Rice, trying this with brown rice this time.

We are still on our quest of eating healthier. I still have a lot of learning to do! About a year ago, we stopped eating refined sugar and sugary products. We did this for several months and I did see some changes in attitudes and behavior. Something we definitely need to get back too! I think one birthday party killed it and we never got back on track. We have added more fruits and veggies and whole grains. I have noticed a definite difference in my blood sugar too! Okay, enough rambling...

Here is the recipe for the whole wheat crust that I am going to try:

1 pkg yeast

1 cup warm water (115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups white flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, and 1 cup white flour. Knead in remaining white flour by hand; about 5 minutes (the dough will be smooth and elastic).

Spray a medium sized bowl with no-stick cooking spray (or coat in oil). Place pizza dough in bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 15 minutes. Spray 14 inch pizza pan (or 2 10 inch ones) with cooking spray. Stretch crust to fit pan, top as desired. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake until cheese is melted and crust is browned. (I got this recipe from the back of the Hodgson Mill wheat flour bag.)

My homemade pizza sauce:

1 small can of tomato paste

1 tomato paste can of water OR substitute both of these with tomato sauce

1/2 tsp of each of the following:

garlic powder

black pepper

oregano

salt

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients together and spoon over crust. This makes enough for 2 pizzas.

Menu Plan Monday, Feb 3-8

Here is this weeks' plan (late), nothing fancy, lots of beans and rice (Dave Ramsey will be happy)

Sunday-church fellowship, taking beans & rice

Monday-beans & rice wraps

Tuesday-beans & rice with corn bread

Wednesday- the beans and rice are finally all gone, lol. Porkchop casserole

Thursday-Potato Soup, pumpkin bread for dessert

Friday-"hamburger helper" (mac & cheese, ground chuck, canned tomatoes)

Saturday-leftovers/buffet night

Birthday cake!

Have you ever priced birthday cakes?! If not, let me tell you, they are a bit pricey.

Having 6 children, with only one income, it could break the bank! Well, not really, but I would much rather spend that money on a gift or something else.

I have been making birthday cakes for all of our children since our first was born. I have done all kinds and they are quite fun!

For this particular birthday, however, we had severe time constraints with out of town friends coming for a visit, getting ready to host a singing family for Sunday Evening service, etc... SO here is what I came up with, a simple, easy, yummy, frugal birthday cake!

Basic yellow cake mix: $.75 at Aldi, homemade butter cream chocolate frosting (recipe below): $.20-I got to use one of my 20 cent bags of powdered sugar!, a bit of caramel ice cream topping, and a favorite (extra clean, sanitized) toy to sit on top.

Butter Cream Chocolate Frosting*

6 tbsp. softened butter, 1/2 Cup baking cocoa, 2 2/3 Cup powdered sugar, 1/3 Cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

In small mixing bowl, cream butter. Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with milk. Beat to spreading consistancy (additional milk may be needed). Blend in vanilla.

*Recipe from the back of Aldi brand of baking cocoa.

Cinnamon Rolls

Today is my son's 4th birthday! We have developed a tradition of making meals according to the birthday persons' request. This year, I just surprised everyone with homemade cinnamon rolls. These are a special treat; I do not make a habit of giving 6 children that much sugar on a regular basis!! I got the recipe from Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy (an excellent resource on frugality! See link on the sidebar for more information).


Cinnamon Rolls

1 T. dry yeast
1 C warm milk
1/3 C white sugar
1/2 C melted butter
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 C flour


Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the rest of ingredients and mix well. Knead into a ball. Let rise until double in size. When ready, roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with filling as described below. NOTE: I used my dough setting on my bread machine and it makes it so easy! Just put all the ingredients in (with the milk/yeast last) and set on dough setting!

For the filling...

1/4 C softened butter
1 C brown sugar & 3 T. cinnamon

Spread the butter evenly on the rolled out dough. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle onto the buttered dough. It should look something like this:

Next, roll it up! Slice into 1 inch sliced. Place on a greased cookie pan and let rise again until doubled. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes (due to my older oven, 49 years old (!), I have to cup the temp to 325 and really watch them to not burn on the outside and be doughy on the inside).

ready to go into the oven

Icing...

1/2 C butter, softened, 1 1/2 C powdered sugar, 1 oz. cream cheese, 2 T. Whipping cream (I just use regular milk!), 1 Tsp. vanilla extract, pinch of saltBeat until fluffy. Spread on rolls right out of the oven. YUM!

NOTE! These are time consuming. Plan ahead! I started these this morning at 6:45 and we ate at almost 10:00. It is rise time that make it take so long. If you want, you can make them the night before and skip the final rise (as they can rise in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, bake.

Mission accomplished, a happy boy on his birthday!