Easy Kid Bake Cookies

The girls loved making these cookies together and with only 3 ingredients, it was a no-help from Mom project.

We found it in Laura Numeroff's cook book, Mouse Cookies.

Easter Challah Bread

This is a lovely bread that I made in Fall that will be perfect for Easter.  I plan on braiding the bread to have with dinner and using the leftovers to make perfect french toast.

Simply Healthy Challah Bread
There isn't any bread maker required for this lovely loaf of traditional Jewish egg bread. It's perfect for sandwiches or french toast for breakfast. I usually do not make bread from scratch, but this recipe from All Recipes-here,  is so simple and healthy that I may just bake some every week. The recipe made two big loaves and my family loved it.

Apple Pie Perfection

Is your mouth watering......I love to bake, but I have never been a great pie baker, until now! I was digging around in my recipes box, or should I say pile of unorganized paper, when I found this wonderful recipe.  My favorite farmer at the farmer's market blessed us with this crate of apples. He just gave them to us because he loves hearing all the yummy things we make with his harvest, how amazing is that!

Ingredients for Grandma's Perfect Apple Pie

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8  apples - peeled, cored and sliced Directions

Directions:  

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. 

Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off. 

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft. 
Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!

Everything Apples

An apple mosaic with a paper plate.

Apple peeling and coring, making applesauce to eat.

Apple pie playdough with my favorite recipe here.
Perfect Playdough
1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

Stir ingredients together into a saucepan. Over medium heat cook the dough until it pulls away from the pan. Lay onto a cutting board and knead well, it will be hot to touch. Allow to cool and enjoy.

We also plan to finish our life cycle of an apple tree from My Montessori Journey.

Airplane Cake

The girls wanted to make Daddy's cake into something special for his big day....we decided on an airplane. Happy Birthday to a wonderful Husband and Father!

After baking the cake, I froze it, which made it easier to cut out the airplane shape. I used a left over triangle piece for the top and my peanut butter buttercream frosting, his favorite!

Alligator Cake Sneak Peak!

Here is a quick look at Jem's very green gator cake for her 3rd birthday tomorrow. I think it turned out really cute for her alligator jungle themed party. I'll show more photos tomorrow.

Hungry for a Party!!!

My little Jem turns 3 on Friday and we sure are "hungry for a party" at our place. The theme is an alligator jungle party so I am attempting to make an alligator cake. Today I baked the parts and tomorrow I'll use my homemade buttercream frosting to decorate it.

(Use you imagination) - We used a Christmas tree pan for the head, loaf pan for the body, cut a bundt cake pan in half for the tale, and used heart shape muffin tins for the feet.


Stay tuned for the finished cake tomorrow!

Monday Fun- Baking and Pipe Cleaner Animals

Make this for breakfast, I promise you'll love it!

Aunt Eileen's Baked Oatmeal

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil or applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup any fruit you want (we added strawberries)

Mix all together, place in baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I baked this in my new Le Creuset rectangle baking pans that I ordered from CSN web site. The product came in 10 days and was simple to order. The Le Creuset baker is of top quality, heats evenly, and came in this lovely blue. You can really order almost anything from CSN and they even have free shipping on some items, like the one I ordered. The only downfall is that many items have hefty shipping costs. To conclude my review on CSN....yes, I would for sure order a product again, if it had free shipping.

We are also having a good time this morning making pipe cleaner animals.

I glued eye onto buttons that I purchased from Oriental Trading Company and the girls went to town twisting legs and tails for their animals. Enjoy your Monday!

Chopstick fun

There are so many fun things that we do with chopsticks...around here they are not just for eating. The girls love to pick up poms-poms, little toys, and snack food. Olive thinks that chopstick make everything more fun. Plus, I like them because they are good for hand- eye coordination.

 

You can find some great ideas from Chasing Cheerios here and Counting Coconuts here on how they use chopstick to enhance their Montessori learning environment.

FIAR-The Duchess Bakes A Cake

The Duchess Bakes A Cake by Virginia Kahl is a funny, creative and rhythmical book that we read with our Five in A Row Homeschool Co-op. There are a ton of activities you can do with this book. We talked about the feudal system, not a length, but based it more on kings, queens, and their helpers. The girls learned about leavens in baking and how it's important to follow a recipe. We baked a cake and learned about color mixing. They also learned about a family cote of arms and the importance of their symbols.

 

  

  

We read this book around Valentine's Day and made these cute little Valentine exchange boxes to complete our Co-op.

The BEST darn sheet cake!

Trust me, this is the best darn sheet cake you will make this year. I got this recipe from the Pioneer Woman's site  here.

 

It's super yummy, but make sure you have some friends over to share it with or you will eat the entire cake by yourself!

Best Sheet Cake Ever:
From the Pioneer Woman.

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

 In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. 

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat.

Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. 

Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. I added hazelnuts. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the nuts, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Free Denny's Breakfast 2/9 ONLY

Free is always good!
From 9am to 2 pm on Tuesday, February 9th, Denny's will be giving away FREE Original Grand Slam Breakfasts at participating locations! Call your location to make sure and enjoy your meal!