thanksgiving.

It was a happy Thanksgiving for us. This pile of shoes make me happy-  full house, lots of family together.  That's enough to be Thankful for this year.  Family, new and old.

 

On a slightly crafty note, the kids made some some turkey place marker cookies with Gramma. Vegetarian and gluten free- equal opportunity. Not for the diabetics though, I've got nothing for ya.

 

Gluten free chocolate chip cookies (from a packet) with some chocolate icing, pretzel bits (gf for those that needed it), almond slivers, candy corn, mini chocolate chips on upside down white chocolate chip eyes.

Looking forward to Christmas.  More family, and not just one side.  More family... more treats!  Getting a little hungry thinking about my moms fudge and lemon squares!

moving on

I finally replaced this guy, courtesy of black Friday.  A 5 dollar iron convinced me there had to be a better way to iron.  Yes, I was ironing with this iron, as is.  It sort of worked.   Sorry old iron, I'm  moving on.

that mom

crud, I'm that mom.  I never understood when my (student's) parents couldn't figure out our lower elementary grade homework.  I'm that mom today. It's only first grade and I don't know my special sounds. 

Apparently, Bee doesn't either.  She was asked to redo this page.  She is a smart gal and can read most anything you put in front of her, so she isn't so focused on the phonic of words anymore.  She can't for the life of her remember which letters make special sounds.  I even searched online and can't figure it out.  First grade is tough!  For me!

Hot turkey and corn- preschool style

As part of our Thanksgiving party at preschool, we played a hot potato style game with a stuffed turkey leg.  I think I saw this in Family Fun magazine, but it could have been years ago.  I am no longer getting it, but did get it for about 7 years.  I tucked this idea away in a file in my brain, and only this year recalled it.  Or I saw it more recently... it's hard to say.  I used to remember things better than this. 

 I made each child a set of fleece oven mitts.  I also worked up a fleece and felt turkey leg and a fleece and felt ear of corn.  We played some peppy music and passed the corn and turkey.  When the music stopped we "gobbled" at the people with the items.  You could certainly have the person be 'out' but this was a party.  No one wants to be 'out' at a party. Especially when you're 4.  When I played at home with Bee and Lou we earned letters to spell hot.  It could certainly be done with any word.

Here they are:  40 fleece oven mits. 

Bee and Lou thought it would be fun to take them to Great Grandma's house when we went for Thansgiving and have everyone play.  I think they got 9  people to play withe them.  We put Grandpa in charge of music and we played and played.  There was lots of giggling, especially from the aunts and uncles.

new clay- easy and sculpty

This clay is all over pinterest and so I assume all over the internet.  That's how I gauge the popularity of things these days, number of pins on pinterest.   It's the baking soda and corn starch clay.  It's a sculpting clay, and not so much a play-dough style, although you've got a good hour before it starts to get a little crunchy. 

It's easy to make and dries really nicely.  

2 c baking soda

1 c corn starch

1 1/2 c water

Cook  all ingredients together.  This takes several minutes, and actually gets a little thinner before it gets thicker.  Stir the whole time.  Mix well in the pan before taking it out, cream it together sort of.  It starts lumpy and then blends really smoothly.  When it's a doughy ball, lay out on the counter and cool until you are able to work it.  Knead several minute until it's cool enough for the kiddos to work.  Sculpt and  let air dry.  We moved to a wire rack the second day.  You can paint it, glaze it, whatever when it's totally dry. 

See photos:  thin.... getting lumpy

thickening up....

Dough ball drying... 

Here's Lou's tray.  He made some tires and we stamped out a possible Christmas ornament.  He also has a trashcan with lid and a headless man.  The head is drying separately. 

Here are mine, a few roses (thanks to my junior high art teacher who taught us how to sculpt roses and pigs) and mostly ornaments.

Here's Bee's: ornaments, a bowl, a bird and next, a few roses (that she made herself).

This must have been a weekend (or sick day!), Bee has weekend hair.  As they have dried, I would suggest making extra pieces if you plan to paint and give them.  A few pieces cracked as they dried.  I can't tell if they were 'tested' for dryness by little hands or they simply dried and cracked.  We also kept a little extra in a baggy to see if it would stay workable for a day or so.  It still seemed nice and workable even after three days.

My small roses dried after a day and a half.  The kids items were a little thicker and some took 3 days to dry.  The kids haven't painted yet but I couldn't wait.  I painted up my roses and hot glued them to a thin fabric braid. 

I'm pretty sure they will brake under the hug of a preschooler some day, but that's alright.  Two of my preschoolers complimented me on it this necklace the day I wore it to school.  So if two preschoolers liked it, I'm pretty sure it's trendy.  If you're four.

speaking of roasting things

Maybe I was the only one talking about roasting things.  I've been talking a lot about roasting things lately, vegetables mostly, which means I'm slightly boring company, except at dinner when I'm serving the roasted things.  Let me say that I was late to the game in the whole grilled vegetables thing, so it stands to reason that I may just be late with roasting vegetables too.  

It started with some roasted butternut squash awhile back.  It rocked.  rocked.  Then we tried sweet potatoes and carrots, also pretty good.  I saw in a preview on the food network, something about roasted cauliflower.  I tried it that night and hubby said it was the best cauliflower he had ever eaten.  He does not throw around food compliments willy nilly.  The next shopping trip I picked up some broccoli and roasted it too.  Also tasty. 

When I say roasting, all I am doing is cutting  fresh vegetables up smallish, tossing in a bit of olive oil and lightly salting.  Then, they get placed in the oven in a regular 9x13 at about 425 degrees.  The broccoli started to brown quickly, about 15-20 minutes.  The cauliflower took about 30 maybe.  The carrots and sweet potatoes took longer, maybe 40 minutes.  

So, are you a roaster?  Am I really just late to the game?  Whatever- I have found our cold weather substitution to summer's grilled vegetables.

speaking of drying things

Recently, I shared how we've been drying apples.  Lots and lots of apples. They make a terrific snack to grab and go.  

Hubby, apparently now adventurous with food keeps suggesting other things to try and dry.  So I tried pears.  I tried three times and no matter how long I dried them they were a little hard and chewy.  The taste is great, but they aren't as enjoyable as the apples.

Then I tried pear apples and they turned out better.  The fruit itself looked like an apple but tasted like a pear.  When dried, they were slightly less hard and chewy and tasted like a pear.  I believe that's what is in the lid in the above picture.  I will dry some more in the next batch, but wouldn't do a whole batch of them.  The kids don't choose them over the apples.  I still dried these on the wire rack in the oven at 175 for 10ish hours. 

Then I tried tomatoes.  They taste just like sun dried tomatoes.  I forgot I don't really care for sun dried tomatoes.  They are just so sweet. Too sweet for me. 

I dried them on the wire rack in the oven at 175 for  hours.  I believe there were like half of those hours I was home and I propped the oven door slightly ajar with a skewer for some air circulation.

 I used tomatoes that had turned red indoors from my end of the garden green pick.  They all live in my basement in trays.  

 Still, apples are the favorite (the full method is here).  Next on the list is zucchini.  Actually, here's what's going on the racks today, or as much as will fit.  Zucchini and apple pears and apples.  These apples were only 50 cents a pound!  I tried honey crisp during a recent batch and they were extra tasty. But we decided they were not extra tasty enough to not eat them fresh.  They are far superior to other apples fresh and that's where we're keeping those.  Being triple the cost, we decided you get the most bang for your buck fresh.

I saw drying zucchini on pinterest.  They are from this blog, Walnut Spinney.   It's a blog I want to go back and look at further.  I think there are going to be other great ideas there.

gluten free this and that

 Every family has a treat that whenever you get together, it's there.  Ours is cherry cookies.  They start with a cherry chip or strawberry cake mix.  With my sister recently eating gluten free, I knew there had to be an alternative.  An alternative for her.  I still plan to eat the gluten kind!   I picked up a plain white gluten free cake mix, there were no cherry ones available. 

I was a little worried about messing up a whole box if the cookies didn't work out so I split it and tried two recipes.  First I made pumpkin muffins that I know she liked back when gluten was cool.   They are all over Pinterest.  It's just a cake mix with a can of pumpkin.  Here's what I worked out for the muffins.

Pumpkin muffins

1 c gluten free cake mix (half the box)

3/4 c canned pumpkin

Mix ingredients.  Spoon into muffin cups.  This made 16 mini muffins.  I baked them at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.  I should have sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon on top prior to baking, but didn't think to do that.  I am not a pumpkin fan so I didn't even taste them.   I made the regular version once and didn't care for those either.  Hubby ate one but said it wasn't really worth it to get up for a second one.   I'm taking them at Thanksgiving, so we'll see if anyone else enjoys them.    Here they are sitting next to the gluten free peanut butter cookies going to Thanksgiving as well.

That left me 1 cup of cake mix to try out what I really wanted to make. 

cherry cookies

1 cup gluten free cake mix

1 T + 1 t vegetable oil

1 T + 1 t cherry juice (from jar of cherries)

few drops cherry flavoring (super concentrated stuff from kitchen specialty store)

1 egg

few whole cherries (from jar)

Mix first 5 ingredients.  Plop onto cookie sheet.  Place a halved cherry on top.  This made 9 larger cookies.  I baked them on a stone at 350 degrees about 12 minutes.  Let cool on sheet for several minutes, then cool on wire rack.  These were good.  These were worth eating!  They weren't the same at the gluten loving ones we usually enjoy, but these will be a fine substitute.  For her.  Not me.  I love gluten.

Here's the regular recipe: 

Cherry Cookies

1 strawberry or cherry chip cake mix (I prefer strawberry)

2 eggs

1/4 C oil  (my aunt uses 1/2 c oil and no cherry juice- to each their own)

1/4 C cherry juice (from jar of cherries)

cherries (from jar)

mix all except cherries.  Plop onto sheet.  Add halved cherry on top.  

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

My sister isn't wanting us to make a big deal out her eating gluten free, but I'm finding it a fun foodie challenge.  I think it's interesting and I'm all about a special project.  Between gluten free and a vegetarian eater at Thanksgiving this year, I bet my grandma is having fun.  She's a foodie too.