Say what?

When I first started homeschooling I heard rumors that some of the home school moms had daughters that would cook a few nights a week. SAY WHAT? You mean to tell me, that your daughters can cook a meal at age 12 and DHS doesn't charge you with child endangerment or abuse or some ridiculous thing? And your daughters actually WANT to do this? It was almost unbelievable.

So here I am, years later, with a 12 year old of my own. And it's amazing! She actually does cook, an entire meal, with little or no help and get this....she loves it! She begs to be the one in charge of supper!!! WHO KNEW?!?!

That's the idea I stole years ago. I am certain many of you think I'm slow -to say the least- for not coming up with this on my own, but it never crossed my mind. None of my friends cooked when I was in Jr. high!

So now that I have a daughter in the kitchen, I'm asking around to see what meals are popular ones for other girls to do. Here are some of the ones I found.....

Kate and Lea Burleson do all of the potato dishes at their houses. Their mom, Emily, told me, "They are learning to make stewed potatoes and mashed potatoes mostly because they are cheap, easy, and [their dad] loves them. They first learned to wash, and then peel, and then finally chop into chunks. I stressed keeping fingers turned in, tilting the knife, then bringing the knife downward, instead of "sawing" the potatoes. In learning this dish, they have learned how to handle a knife, work the oven etc."


Next on the list of mastery: cornbread. Maybe Emily can have me over next for that lesson, as about half of mine turn into pancakes!!

Anna Avery Edwards makes a dip for taco night at her house. She layers refried beans, salsa and grated cheese in a dish and bakes it uncovered on 350 for 20 minutes.

Martha and Mollie Chunn cook a few nights a week. One dish they enjoy is red beans and rice. This recipe will go in the crock-pot and make for a warm winter meal.

Red Beans and Rice:
3 cans of organic kidney beans
3 cans tomato sauce
2 pkg of chili seasoning
3 polish sausage sliced thin
put in crock-pot and leave all day

Anna Blassingame makes a homemade pizza crust that is so good, the rest of the household complains when her mother makes it instead! I am told this crust will also work for cinnamon rolls, garlic bread sticks and more. Here is the recipe:

mix and let sit 5-10 min.
1/4 C warm water
T yeast
T honey or sugar

In a different bowl:
2 C VERY hot water (almost boiling)
2 t salt
1/3 C honey or sugar
1/3 C canola oil

add 3 cups wheat or white all purpose flour (1 at a time)
add yeast mix from above
add 3-4 cups wheat or white all purpose four (1 at time)
for bread: knead 5 minutes-put in bread pan-rise 20 minutes-350 for 40 minutes.
for pizza: knead 5 minutes-roll onto pizza pan- cook 375 for 10 minutes add toppings then return to oven 10 more minutes.
for cinnamon rolls: roll out-add cinnamon and sugar-roll up like a jelly roll-slice off cinnamon rolls and bake
for break sticks: roll out- add garlic and Parmesan cheese and bake

My daughter, Myra, will bake different items for breakfast. There is a basic muffin recipe that can be blueberry or chocolate chip. She also makes a banana-nut bread that can make small loaves or muffins. Those recipes are on her blog, Wet Paint. (See side bar) But the granddaddy of all her cooking has to be her chicken pot-pie. While I'm winning the ribbons for tacky yard art, she is definitetly bringing home the prize with this chicken pot-pie. Her Granny, Judy, has given her a love for cooking and a love for Paula Deen. True to our thieving ways, this recipe is loot from Paula's kids cookbook.

Chicken Pot Pie:
2 deep dish pie crusts
put in 2 cooked, cut up chicken breasts
enough mixed veggies to fill
in pot over medium heat, melt 4 T butter
when melted, add 1 cup flour-whisk until smooth
pour in 1 C chicken broth- whisk until thick
add 1 C milk-whisk until bubbling
pour over chicken and veggies in crust
top with other crust-slit-bake 350 for 40 minutes

we will add a photo of this soon-
Let me know if you have more ideas you have done with your kids and I will add them!
Hope your family will give one of these a try!

For the Birds

My dad is asking me how I KNOW the wagon wheel is tacky yard art. (see previous post)

Hmmm, makes me suspicious- to say the least -that he may have played some part in this backyard abomination . After all, I do live in the house his parents used to live in. That means he had access to the crime. He can't remember when the wheel was put there, which means he has no alibi. Now for the motive.....gee... I can't for the life of me think of a motivation for putting a wagon wheel 25 feet in the air. Except maybe it was for the birds...... You see, if you look real close you can see where 10 dangling gourds used to hang. The wheel was rental property for sky-high bird apartments.

That got me to thinking about the little houses I make for birds. It's a new twist on an old idea. I take gourds, apply a finish like the ones pictured below and hang them from the trees. One day my children will write a blog for their community of friends and question the motives of anyone who would dare hang a bunch of gourds in the trees. And I'll just trust you'll keep this smoking gun of a blog a secret.

Scroll down to see some yard art from other yards. Winter is a good time to work on projects that need to be ready by spring.

These flowers are on the side of a storage building that houses gardening equipment. The flowers were made of thin metal sheets. (Like the metal that goes around a fireplace chimney) Draw the petal pattern on the sheets. Cut out the parts. (careful! these were sharp in some places) Sand the pieces. Paint bright colors. Screw to the wall. We made some of these for our church playground. very cute!

This is a large birdhouse on a post in a garden. It doubles the work of bird house and garden decoration. I am going to try to build one of these. I will keep you posted on the progress.

Yard art

Ok. I win. I am pretty sure I should get the blue ribbon labeled "tacky yard art". I am not sure if this lovely wagon wheel atop a power pole is mine or if it belongs to my neighbor. Its been here longer than I have been, but somehow I always end up mowing around it. If possession is nine-tenths of the law, it must be his, because he has further embellished it with the wire and matching rotten gourds. Just curious. Does anyone even know how you actually hoist a metal wagon wheel to that height? Or maybe the better question is, "Does anyone know how to get it down"?!