Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Schooling Never Stops
Owl Poppa and J are watching the basketball game... at least the game is on. Right now they are involved in a deep discussion about advertising and how it tries to trick you into buying things! I love it!
Monday, May 11, 2009
More On Mother's Day
Hope all of y'all had a great Mother's Day. With the kids at MILs, Owl Poppa and I took W out to lunch on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the food was good, the company was terrific. The bigger kids brought me home paper flowers they made for me. :)
On Sunday, we woke up late, had a lazy day, went to lunch at my favorite Tex Mex place. Nothing says I love you like chicken burritos!
It's back to our regular school week this week. Today also starts my first week of trying not to leave the house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Though this week we need to adjust for the fact that K has her final ballet practice on Wednesday.
Busy day ahead... hope everyone had a restful weekend and a happy Mother's Day. Here's looking forward to this week!
On Sunday, we woke up late, had a lazy day, went to lunch at my favorite Tex Mex place. Nothing says I love you like chicken burritos!
It's back to our regular school week this week. Today also starts my first week of trying not to leave the house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Though this week we need to adjust for the fact that K has her final ballet practice on Wednesday.
Busy day ahead... hope everyone had a restful weekend and a happy Mother's Day. Here's looking forward to this week!
Friday, May 8, 2009
My Mother's Day Present
My house is soooo quiet (or at least it was until Owl Poppa turned on the basketball game). My mother-in-law took J and K overnight as a present to me, and W fell asleep at 7:15.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Family Night Pizza Recipe
When we have our weekly Family Night, we almost always make homemade pizza (the other default is taco party... letting the kids assemble their own tacos at the table). Homemade pizza is fun, because we can either make one big pie, or several small ones, and can change the toppings around as we feel like it! Oh, I love versatilty. So... here is the recipe for quick and easy homemade pizza crust. This is a no rise pizza crust... yes you read that correctly... no rising... no need to start thinking about dinner in the early afternoon (who has time for that, anyway?)... no getting to 5pm and thinking, "oh no! I forgot to make the pizza dough, we'll have to order out!"
:)
Ingredients:
1T (or 1 packet) yeast
1 T sugar or honey (we use our yummy raw honey from the farmer's market)
1 C warm water
2 1/2 C flour
1 T olive oil
1 tsp salt
In a medium mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar or honey in the cup of warm water. Wait until the whole mix is frothy and bubbly, about 10 minutes. This step is otherwise know as "proofing the yeast."
Add remaining ingredients, and mix with your hands until it forms a ball. Dough will be somewhat sticky. Knead for about 5 minutes (this is a great job for the kids).
Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl while you assemble the stuff to top the pizza, about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle a baking stone (it really does taste better cooked on a pizza stone, but you can use a baking sheet if that's whatcha got) with cornmeal, and roll out the dough. Drizzle the top of the dough with additional olive oil before adding toppings.
Add desired sauce/cheese/topping combo and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for around 15 minutes.
NOTE: This recipe comes out really well with whole wheat flour. You can substitute some or all of the white flour for whole wheat. For each cup of whole wheat flour, add about a tablespoon of water to the dough before kneading. And don't skip the drizzling the top with olive oil.
Favorite toppings at the Owl Nest:
shredded barbecue chicken and sliced shallots
riccota cheese dropped on in big blobs
canadian bacon
pinenuts
whole cloves of garlic (they roast right on the pizza and cook up super soft and mellow... yum!)
leaves of fresh spinach
sliced baby portabella mushrooms
Buon Appetito!
:)
Ingredients:
1T (or 1 packet) yeast
1 T sugar or honey (we use our yummy raw honey from the farmer's market)
1 C warm water
2 1/2 C flour
1 T olive oil
1 tsp salt
In a medium mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar or honey in the cup of warm water. Wait until the whole mix is frothy and bubbly, about 10 minutes. This step is otherwise know as "proofing the yeast."
Add remaining ingredients, and mix with your hands until it forms a ball. Dough will be somewhat sticky. Knead for about 5 minutes (this is a great job for the kids).
Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl while you assemble the stuff to top the pizza, about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle a baking stone (it really does taste better cooked on a pizza stone, but you can use a baking sheet if that's whatcha got) with cornmeal, and roll out the dough. Drizzle the top of the dough with additional olive oil before adding toppings.
Add desired sauce/cheese/topping combo and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for around 15 minutes.
NOTE: This recipe comes out really well with whole wheat flour. You can substitute some or all of the white flour for whole wheat. For each cup of whole wheat flour, add about a tablespoon of water to the dough before kneading. And don't skip the drizzling the top with olive oil.
Favorite toppings at the Owl Nest:
shredded barbecue chicken and sliced shallots
riccota cheese dropped on in big blobs
canadian bacon
pinenuts
whole cloves of garlic (they roast right on the pizza and cook up super soft and mellow... yum!)
leaves of fresh spinach
sliced baby portabella mushrooms
Buon Appetito!
Chocolate Jam Thumbprint Cookies
These were the May Day cookies we baked! This is a fun recipe for getting little hands (and thumbs) helping in the kitchen.
Ingredients:
1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
2/3 C cocoa powder
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
strawberry jam
Directions:
Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Stir in vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients (does anybody really do this step?) and combine with the sugar/butter mixture.
Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Using your thumb (or your kids thumbs, lol), make an indentation in the top of each cookie ball. Using a teaspoon, add a small amount of strawberry jam to fill each indentation.
Bake for 9-11 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Yield is approximately 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
2/3 C cocoa powder
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
strawberry jam
Directions:
Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Stir in vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients (does anybody really do this step?) and combine with the sugar/butter mixture.
Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Using your thumb (or your kids thumbs, lol), make an indentation in the top of each cookie ball. Using a teaspoon, add a small amount of strawberry jam to fill each indentation.
Bake for 9-11 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Yield is approximately 2 dozen cookies
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Happy May Day!
Yes, I know May Day was yesterday. We just do things differently here in the Owl Nest. We stretched May Day into a two day fiesta!
Yesterday, we made May Day garlands. We used pipecleaner and strung them with pony beads and flower petals from the craft store. Pipecleaners worked beautifully because they were stiff... it was even easy for W to string his beads. We even made a mini-crown for Bianca (K's doll).
We read a few cute May Day books. The kids love The Morn of May Fest. We also read The Rainbow Tulip, which was especially nice for its hispanic cultural references.
This morning, we made paper-cone May Day Baskets. We spent all morning singing "A Tisket, a Tasket, we made a May Day Basket." We baked some chocolate jam thumbprint cookies (will post the recipe tomorrow... must get to bed), and delivered the baskets to friends and the new neighbors across the street.
Here are the kids (and Bianca) modelling their May Day crowns before going out to deliver the baskets. There are no pictures of the baskets, or the delivery, because my camera stinks!
Yesterday, we made May Day garlands. We used pipecleaner and strung them with pony beads and flower petals from the craft store. Pipecleaners worked beautifully because they were stiff... it was even easy for W to string his beads. We even made a mini-crown for Bianca (K's doll).
We read a few cute May Day books. The kids love The Morn of May Fest. We also read The Rainbow Tulip, which was especially nice for its hispanic cultural references.
This morning, we made paper-cone May Day Baskets. We spent all morning singing "A Tisket, a Tasket, we made a May Day Basket." We baked some chocolate jam thumbprint cookies (will post the recipe tomorrow... must get to bed), and delivered the baskets to friends and the new neighbors across the street.
Here are the kids (and Bianca) modelling their May Day crowns before going out to deliver the baskets. There are no pictures of the baskets, or the delivery, because my camera stinks!
J had a demo this afternoon, so he is in his capoeira uniform :)
K and Biance... the Princesses of the May
W thought he was cute... we agreed!
Oh, and did you know that in Hawaii, they call May Day... Lei Day. We're planning our luau for the end of the month! :) Happy Spring everyone!
Pockets
I’ve got five pockets in my overalls
Got five pockets in my overalls
I got two on the back,
one on the bib
and two in the ordinary, everyday,
regular place
In the front.
I just downloaded this album for the kids today! Hooray! I remember being a little girl in Catholic school, listening to this record in our classroom. It is still as awesome as I remember it being. The little owls are loving it! And yay for downloading albums... talk about instant gratification :)
You can preview all the tracks at the Amazon link above, but you can listen to the full track of Pockets here... just watch out... it's really catchy!
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