Apple a day

Our kids like fruit–they always have, from that first mashed banana. They each have their favorites (as well as a dislike here or there), although because we buy most of our produce in a basket they’ve had to learn to be flexible sometimes.

One of the house favorites is apple dipped in peanut butter, and lately Silly Boy has gotten quite adept at slicing up an apple to share with Baby Boy. Actually, if you look closely you’ll see that he’s advanced from slicing to dicing. . .

Scotland the Brave

I believe I’ve already mentioned it, but after our study of New Zealand we moved on to Scotland. As before, we started with the Around the World study from Knowledge Quest before heading to the library for more books. Thankfully this time the selection was much better. Phew!

Baby Boy is excited about breakfast!

We started with a couple of picture books, Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster (Hardie Gramatky) and The Magic Bagpipe (Gerry & George Armstrong). From there we moved on to Macbeth (Shakespeare, retold by Adam McKeown), but I’ve already told you about that. At the same time we slowly picked our way through Scotland (Enchantment of the World series): dull in spots, but a decent overview of the history and culture. I also picked up The Illustrated History of Scotland (Chris Tabraham) for my own reading, so I was able to share interesting facts and gorgeous pictures from this book as I was reading the other book aloud. Our final read aloud was Girl in a Cage (Jane Yolen & Robert Harris) which is a historical fiction account of Marjorie, daughter of Robert the Bruce. I found it fascinating–as for the boys, let’s just say that they didn’t complain about listening. At least. . .not much.

Boy Genius and Silly Boy are ready for lunch.

We were very lucky–as in, I couldn’t have planned this one if I tried! You see, during our study, the Celtic folk duo Men of Worth performed in our area. You can read more about them at their website, or you can watch this short promotional video: Men of Worth. After enjoying the concert, we spent quite a bit of time listening to other Scottish folk music on YouTube. We also watched videos of the Highland Fling, of Scottish sword dancing (ah–now that got the boys’ attention!), and of bagpipes. We ordered a couple movies from Netflix. Twirly Girl enjoyed Brigadoon; the boys did not. Greyfriars Bobby went over better but still was not a favorite; with hindsight I wonder if I should have gotten the newer movie rather than the 1960ish Sunday night Disney version.

Toad-in-the-Hole

I didn’t give a writing assignment this time, but all five students spent a morning labeling a blank map of Scotland. The younger boys labeled seas and island groups and large cities; the older kids also labeled lochs and firths and more cities. The older three also added Scottish dates to their timelines, choosing those that interested them from the timeline included in The Illustrated History of Scotland.

Twirly Girl loves her tea.

Finally, as you may have guessed from today’s pictures, we wrapped up our unit yesterday with the foods of Scotland. I don’t know that we had traditional Scottish meals, but rather we chose Scottish foods that appealed to us. . .and there were enough that we spread them out through the day instead of a single meal. Nearly all the recipes came from this index, with only two exceptions: I used my own almond flour scone recipe, and my first batch of bannocks fell apart so I had to Google for help in a hurry.

The kids vetoed porridge for breakfast in favor of a traditional Scottish breakfast, albeit a very simplified version. I only added bannocks/oatcakes to a breakfast of bacon and fried eggs (farm fresh–yummy!). Our lunch menu gave me some problems–Drama Boy had chosen a salmon dish with a whiskey sauce, but the grocery only had smoked salmon. I simply sliced it and served it alongside the rumbledethumps (a potato-cabbage dish). I’m sure it’s no surprise that caramel (millionaire’s) shortbread was the dessert of choice! We opted for high tea in the early evening–although most of the boys drank water. For our hot dish I made toad-in-the-hole and also served scones (and the leftover bannocks) with butter and jam.

Supper’s ready

This isn’t really a recipe; it’s one of my general methods for throwing together a one dish meal using whatever I have on hand.

1. If the meat isn’t already cooked, start there. This time, as I often do, I started with a pound of ground beef; once it’s browned, I remove it from the skillet and set aside.
2. Add fat to the skillet as needed–olive oil, butter, bacon grease. . .and begin cooking vegetables. This step varies based on what I’m using and how long it needs to cook. This week I had a chopped onion and a pair of summer squash* that I had shredded in the food processor, so I sauteed the onion first. Once it started to get soft, I stirred in some minced garlic and then added the squash.
3. When the vegetables are nearly cooked, stir in the meat and any liquid ingredients such as wine, broth, or tomato sauce. I used tomato sauce this time because I wanted a “spaghetti” type dish. This is also where I add cheese, if I’m using it. It can be stirred in but I generally sprinkle it on top, cover with a lid, and let it melt. Simmer, covered or uncovered, until heated through.
4. Voila!

* A helpful tip for summer squash or zucchini: slice, dice, or shred them before proceeding with your recipe. Sprinkle with salt to help draw out excess moisture and place in a strainer to drain until you are ready to cook the squash. If needed, turn out on a clean dish towel and press out more moisture.

Wordless Wednesday

Little chef

Last week the mailman surprised us with an early Christmas gift from Aunt Janet & Uncle Pete: Julia Child’s two volume set, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as The Young Chef’s French Cookbook. With Thanksgiving and all its cooking, I wasn’t sure who would be the first to try a new recipe or when, but yesterday Bouncy Boy decided he wanted to make dessert and he chose Creme Brulee from the Young Chef’s book.

Separating the eggs: why, yes, that is egg white shining on the counter. Even with an egg separator this is a tricky business. . .

The most important step: cleaning up after yourself! (before heading off to watch Spiderman)

And the really cool part. . .using the blowtorch!

I assume the single large creme brulee was intended to be simpler for young chefs than the usual individual servings. The end result was still yummy, and Bouncy Boy had a good time in the kitchen as well. Thank you, Aunt Janet & Uncle Pete!

The best part of waking up

While the coffee itself is pretty good, it’s the cream that really makes me smile.

For a very long time I was a cafe au lait girl, but lately I’ve been enjoying a spot of cream instead. I can’t decide which I like more: the taste, or watching the cold cream swirl through the hot coffee. . .

Menu, continued

Goodness! I didn’t expect so many comments on my bumbling post about holiday dinners.

While my family will eat turkey, I often do fix something different if we don’t have guests. Especially for Christmas, when there are also church services and present wrapping/opening sharing my time. Although not usually as “different” as the year I was 9 months pregnant with Silly Boy: after my long afternoon nap we ended up having scrambled eggs for Christmas dinner. Anyhow, I just requested Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking through interlibrary loan, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it inspires our Thanksgiving menu. A peek in my freezer tells me I’ll start by looking at the beef recipes. . .although it’s always tempting to splurge on shrimp.

A couple of you suggested preparing foods ahead of time. I’ve done that when we have company, and even just for us. But (I admit) I’m a food snob and certain foods are just better fresh. Cheesecake needs 24 hours in the fridge, sure, but pie gets soggy. Since I’m not able to host extended family at this time, I try to plan my menu based on what 8 people can reasonably eat. Except now and then I feel guilty for not roasting a turkey and making multiple vegetable dishes and salads and 3 kinds of pie. . .I think they’ll all live, in spite of my guilt.

Holiday meals

Now that it’s November, I suppose I should start thinking about what to cook first for Thanksgiving and then for Christmas. Except. . .don’t laugh. . .as much as I like to cook, I really don’t enjoy making big holiday-style meals. I think part of it is that “turkey with trimmings” isn’t my favorite thing to eat and therefore I lack the motivation to cook all that food. All that food is another part of the problem; timing multiple dishes is not my forte, and besides it seems like overkill to cook that much for our immediate family. Before we moved here, we frequently hosted my family for Thanksgiving so Mom was there to keep me on track in the kitchen. . .now I’m on my own. Scary thought!

Cooking school

Taking a short break from pictures of Dad and Mom’s visit. . .yesterday after they left, for about 30 seconds I intended to put in a full day of homeschool. Then I remembered how we all–students and teacher alike–always need some time to regroup after having guests. So we worked on our memory work, first catechism and then poetry, and I assigned each a page of math. Then. . .I headed downstairs and turned on The French Chef. It occurred to me that they might be inspired to cook something, and cooking of course is full of educational opportunities.

I was not disappointed. The first episode was Mousse au Chocolat, and Boy Genius was quick to grab pen and paper to write down the recipe. After lunch (and after some enforced quiet time so that I could pay bills), he and I made Mousse, with some help from Bouncy Boy and Silly Boy as well as some interference from Baby Boy.

Boy Genius takes a turn whisking egg yolks while Silly Boy cuts up butter to add to the melted chocolate.

Bouncy Boy adds a pinch of salt and some cream of tartar to the egg whites for me.

Everyone (including George) watches as Boy Genius folds the chocolate into the egg yolks.

Licking the bowl–everyone’s favorite part!

The boys had wanted to mold their mousse as Julia did, but for this time I simply spooned it into a large serving bowl to chill until after Vespers.

Too many chefs?

Sometimes I feel like I am tripping over “helpers” while I work in the kitchen. . .

Normally they do not stand still like this! No, they keep moving around so that there is always someone standing where I need to stand, or in between me and wherever I need to be. But not last night. No, last night I thought everyone else was busy so I decided to watch Julia Child on my laptop while I was prepping this morning’s breakfast.

This was the original French Chef, black and white, nothing fancy. . .but they were still completely fascinated. Bouncy Boy  wants to know when he can bake a Queen of Sheba cake. I guess I’ll have to watch the episode again some night when they are sleeping, as it was hard to watch it through their heads.