Crafty Tuesday - New Month

Well it's a new month her and I have been anticipating this months activities for a while. This month we are learning about rainbows and other children around the world. We have finally gotten our calendar board up but I still haven't found a frame for it I am looking for an old painting frame at a second hand store so I can repaint it. Also my husband has made some headway on our play house too now we just need to paint and add the trim. Our sensory tub this month is rainbow rice and all things sparkly. We are going to be doing some matching exercises and counting activities with our tub. This morning I made up a little sheet for 1-5 counting activities with the tub. Then life was interrupted by illness my stomach condition has resurfaced and I have been away to focus on healing but I will be returning soon with new posts!

Crafty Tuesday - Birthday Follow Up

Well Saturday was our much anticipated 5th Birthday Party and it was a huge success! Everyone had a great time and all the activities were so much fun for all of us! As a last minute addition/swap I switched the create a robot paper craft for Rice Crispy Cake Robots instead and that was a big hit! All we did was mix up a box of Christmas Rice Crispy we had on hand and made shapes with it circles, squares, and rectangles then we had mini colored marshmallows and gummi bears plus some leftover icing in a can. We made them a demo one and them let them create their own and it was so much fun! Upon waking in the morning my Son let me know he wanted some birthday cupcakes and they should be chocolate with blue icing well off I went to find recipes for such a thing I found an amazing Devils Food Cake recipe and used it to make chocolate cupcakes and then a fabulous vanilla butter cream frosting recipe and viola wonderful birthday cupcakes! I wanted to also post a picture of some of my finished projects the birthday crown and fairy play set both of which my Son is very happy with! I also wanted to show you some of the beautiful handmade gifts my Son received one of his little friends made him this amazing painting and on canvas no less I can't wait to hang it up in his room! Also my good friend made him a Thomas the Train Tie and gave him a playdough dentist (her husband is in dentistry college and she originally bought the gift for him and well the kids loved it too!)














Well after all of that birthday fun I also have a little recipe for you all to enjoy, it's called Rock'n Banana Bread and was so yummy! A good friend gave me this amazing recipe she makes for her family and we had the opportunity to enjoy the last time we visited with them. Anyways of course hers is a non-gluten free recipe so I had to change it but I really wanted to keep the graininess of hers so I had to get really creative with the flour blend but I completely rocked it! Sorry no pictures I thought I had photographed it but can not find the pics?

Rock'n Gluten Free Banana Bread

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white sorghum flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 tsp xantham gum
4 tsp gluten free baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped with the food processor
1 cup bananas, mashed
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup raisins ( recipe called for dates soaked for 5mins and then chopped but I didn't have any on hand)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions;

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a loaf pan.
   
2. Combine all your flours and whisk then add the xantham gum, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
3. Put your raisins and walnuts in your food processor and chop til fine.
4. Combine your mashed banana, maple syrup, apple sauce, coconut oil and vanilla together until well mixed.
   
5. Then add to your dry mixture and combine till mixed and add your walnut and raisin mixture.
6. Mix all ingredients together until well blended.
7. Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 mins or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Meatless Wednesday - Good Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup

I have doing battle with my stomach the last couple of weeks so I really wasn't sure that I would have a post today as most of my best meatless ideas contain things that aren't always the best for my troubled stomach. Then inspiration hit how about a nice big bowl of good old fashioned vegetable soup that sounded perfectly what the Doctor ordered!

So let's start with our stock first, I used the stock recipe I previously posted except this time I added one parsnip to change it up a bit. Drain your stock and reserve the liquid into a large pot.

Good Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

Previously made vegetable stock
2 cups of water
1 Tbs Epicure Pot Herbs (Again feel free to enter my consultant Deanna Osterbeck when ordering)
2 carrots, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup organic frozen green beans
1/2 cup organic frozen sweet corn
1/2 cup organic frozen peas
1 cup Tinkyada Pasta Joy Little Dreams rice pasta shapes

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients together including reserved stock and bring to a boil.
2. Turn down to a medium heat and a low simmer for 20 -30 mins or until vegetables are tender.
3. Serve with your favorite crackers or other yummy dipping treat.

Crafty Tuesday - My Baby is Five!

So today really doesn't have a lot of crafting going on other than trying to finish my wood play set which took a blow last week when my husband left my Son and one other daycare child unsupervised while I was in bed with severe pain anyways I am salvaging that project. I have to put the faces on the fairies, hair and wings and then paint the pumpkin stacker as well I still have to get my felt crown made but the party isn't until Saturday so there is time. I picked up two more books from the library for next month the first one is Around the World in 80 tales it's a huge book but looks wonderful and then to compliment that I found Our World a National Geographic Child's First Picture Atlas.

Other than that the only other thing I managed to accomplish on this very crazy snowy day, seriously is Spring ever going to show up, is make birthday cake for my Son to share with his Daycare friends this afternoon. My girlfriend came to celebrate with her two kids and said the cake was so good is right up there in my "best list" and that I must share the recipe with you all.

Spencer's Gluten Free Birthday Blondies

1 Cup white rice flour
1/2 Cup Sorghum flour
1/2 Tsp Xantham Gum
1 Tsp baking powder
1 Cup Fudge Cups
1/2 Cup butter
1/2 Cup organic unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 Cup agave nectar
2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350F and grease a 9" square baking pan.
   
2. Cream butter using mixer. Then add the 1/2 Cup Agave and blend together.
3. Add the 1/2 cup apple sauce and 2 eggs and thoroughly mix together.
   
4. In a separate bowl combine flours and whisk together until completely mixed. Then add to mixing bowl with the wet ingredients and blend together.
5. Once completed add 1/2 Cup of the fudge cups and reserve the other half.
6. Pour completed batter into pan and bake for 10 mins, then remove from oven and add the remaining half of the fudge cups.
7. Bake for another 15-20 mins or until golden and a tooth pick comes out clean.
   
8. Let cool for 5 mins and remove from pan.

Here is a link to my current favorite frosting recipe I substitute the milk for rice milk or soy depending on what I have on hand.

Crafty Tuesday - Finishing up some projects and planning for next month

So next month we are going to be focusing on Rainbows, spring, people around the world and our little part of the world. I found a great tutorial on Rockabye Butterfly on how to do the dying. We will be doing some exercises on measuring with our tub next month, I am gathering some rulers and I just purchased from Discovery toys the Measure up Pots and Spoons to use in our tub next month. I came across a template for making paper people and their clothes on Serving Pink Lemonade and we will spend some time making our people from around the world and talk a little about the differences between us, also just came across this amazing book we will be borrowing from the library about other children around the world Children Just like Me. The fun part is going to be making them some hair! I am also going to be working very hard on getting a calendar set up for us that we can work with each day for some fun and learning! I came across a wonderful resource on the 1+1+1=1 website and also joined the members only site to gain access to some wonderful learning tools. Other than these things I am working on finishing up my wooden play set and starting on cutting out eggs and hamsters for Easter. I am also wanting to work on making some bean bags for the crew and plan some activities around that as well but only so much time!

Meatless Wednesday - Tuscan Vegetable Baked Ziti

So yesterday several people broke the news to me that we will not see spring like weather here until the end of May or so they are predicting. Well I am going to do everything I can to make sure they are wrong not that I can do a lot but I am sure going to pray for warmer weather, winter needs to be done!

So on tonight's menu we have Tuscan Vegetable Baked Ziti and a surprise bonus recipe too!

Tuscan Vegetable Baked Ziti
1 1/2 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese
3 cups rice noodle penne, cooked and drained
1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
2 zucchini, halved and thinly sliced
1/2lb fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 of a small onion, thinly slice
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2/3 of a jar of organic tomato basil pasta sauce
1 tsp freezed dried oregano leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Combine all vegetable ingredients, add the spices and mix together. Then put in the bottom of a 11x13 oven safe pan.
3. In a medium bowl mix penne and the sauce, then pour on top of vegetable mixture.
4. Top with shredded cheese and bake for 20mins, then set to broil for 5 more mins.

Bonus recipe! Pineapple, Banana, Coconut Gluten Free Muffins
1 Cup white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 egg
3/4 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
1/3 cup crushed pineapple without the juice
*(May need to add 1/8 cup rice milk depending on how wet your mixture looks)
Preheat oven to 400F

Directions:

1. Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl until well mixed.
3. Slowly combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients and blend until thoroughly mixed together.
4. Grease your muffin pan and fill each cup 2/3 full.
5. Bake muffins for 25-30 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top springs back when touched.

Makes about 12 muffins.

I hope you enjoy both of these recipes and please let me know!

Crafty Tuesday - More Montessori and a Recipe

So we are continuing to get things ready and made to continue on our new learning path here with the kids. Yesterday I had some time to do some more searching and came across more wonderful resources and information, I am so pleased with how much I have been able to find online. I came across this wonderful site today with directions on how to make rainbow play dough and many other wonderful ideas it is called the Tinker Lab. Also yesterday I found many more wonderful sites for beautiful printable's to use with the kids as well. The first one I came across was a great site it is called PreKinders and it lead me to many other useful links! One of these links has a great ABC play dough mat activity that we will doing with our rainbow play dough it is called Homeschool Creations. Another wonderful activity we found on Homeschool Creations was Color Matching Cards which are as beautiful as they are a great learning tool. Next week we are going to do some reading and learning about apples and the life cycle of an apple. I found a really good National Geographic kids book at the library called Apples for Everyone and then I came across a Montessori activity on Montessori for Everyone in the free printable's section called Life Cycle of an Apple which we will use along with the book and also make some apple treats to eat next week too. Those are just some of the things I have been working on for the kids to use in the coming days and hopefully one day soon Spring will come and we can start going outside to enjoy some outdoor activities.


Today's other creation was Chicken Taco Soup, the kids really enjoyed it, as well it was quick and easy to make!


Chicken Taco Soup
ingredients
1/4 cup jarred mild green salsa ( salsa verde)
1 cup chopped cooked chicken (such as a rotisserie chicken)
2 cups gluten free chicken stock
1 cup water
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
Gluten free tortilla chips ( as much as wanted for topping)
shredded sharp cheddar ( as much as wanted for topping)

In a medium sauce pot combine the salsa with the chicken and vegetables, add the gluten free chicken stock and the water. Heat over medium heat until it simmers and allow to simmer for 20 mins or until the vegetables are tender. Serve and allow the kids to add their own toppings with maybe a little help to crush the chips and Enjoy!