Pizza Roll-ups, hold the sauce

A current favourite recipe around here is Recipezaar's Pizza Roll-ups. (Originally found through Gayle at Grocery Cart Challenge.) Same idea as cinnamon rolls only you use cheese and pizza toppings. No sauce in the rolls--you save that for dipping, which works well here for those who don't like or have to be careful with tomato sauce. And I find they're easier to shape than individually-stuffed calzones--you don't have to worry about the ingredients popping out, they're supposed to sort of stick out of the dough.

I have my own version of Recipezaar's ingredients (I think it could take a lot of variation): a 2-pound (4 cups of flour) recipe of bread dough (made in the bread machine), a stick of pepperoni, 200 g shredded cheese, a few sliced mushrooms, and a bit of chopped parsley. (I left out all the other seasonings.) Green pepper works fine too but is not as popular with the Squirrelings. Roll out the dough in a long, thin rectangle, mix the chopped topping ingredients with cheese, roll dough around the stuffing as for cinnamon rolls, and slice into 24 pieces. You don't have to let them rise a second time, but the recipe does recommend letting them sit for 10 minutes, and I put them in the fridge for awhile instead since I wasn't ready to bake them.

What I would warn you about though is that, contrary to one of the comments posted on the Recipezaar site, that melted cheese can be horrendous to scrape off, even if you do grease the pans. Last night I covered the pans with foil and then used non-stick spray on that; it seemed to do the trick, there were very few stuck places.

You might not have to bake them as long or as hot as the recipe says--just go with what you'd usually do for rolls, somewhere around 375 degrees. Keep an eye on them and take them out before they get hard. Serve with your choice of sauce or dip, or just plain.

The Apprentice asked if I will make her some of these for school lunches this year.

Math yes, computers no (Donald Coxeter)

From King of Infinite Space, by Siobhan Roberts, about geometer H.S.M. (Donald) Coxeter, 1907-2003

"....Coxeter despised, almost more than anything, the onslaught of the computer age. 'I deplored the attention that people gave to computing,' he said once. 'I was afraid they might neglect other subjects....'

"Coxeter never used a computer, let alone a modem. Although, not wanting to be out of touch with the world of fans that wanted to be in touch with him, he had his son-in-law....send e-mails on his behalf. And, ironically enough, the computer server in the University of Toronto math department has been named in Coxeter's honor-- coxeter@math.toronto.edu."

--King of Infinite Space, pp. 198-199

Lots on crockpot yogurt-making...and some grocery thoughts

Found through a friend of a friend: The Sweetbriar Patch took Steph's Crockpot Yogurt instructions from A Year of SlowCooking, and did a series of posts about her tweaks, improvements, and great discoveries. I was also impressed by her Grocery Shopping Philosophy, and her New Year's post about Vigilance.

What I'm reading

I'm about halfway through this book on the life and work of geometer Donald Coxeter. (Amazon reviews here.) This would be an awesome, awesome book to add to a late-high-school math course, with the exception of a few strange pages about his adventures in psychoanalysis, and a bit of profanity near the end. I keep coming across things that I'd like to quote here, then I keep reading and forget to post them.

Please understand that I have absolutely no qualifications for reading or understanding this book. I have no post-secondary education in mathematics of any stripe, geometry or otherwise (although I did briefly work in a university math office). In fact, I'm pretty sure that my high school mathematics completely skipped over even the basics of what Coxeter spent his life doing, and we certainly NEVER talked about the historical rift between geometry and algebra. (See Nicolas Bourbaki...who didn't exist.) Which is really sad, because it might have helped make a little more sense of what we did do.

But I'm enjoying it anyway.

Shower post update

I added two photos of the fruit bouquet to the post about our friend's baby shower.

Baby shower (and no chocolate on the diapers)

Some baby shower games are just disgusting. See subject line above.

Some have been done to death. How many things on a tray can you remember?

So when it was time for a much-anticipated baby shower this weekend (for a mama who's given many memorable parties of her own, we (her friends) decided we had to do something different. But not gross.

When we asked the New Mama's other offspring (who's the Apprentice's age) what they needed, she said that they were well stocked with clothes and all the big stuff...so we thought having a surprise Toys for Boys party would be fun (and probably appreciated after years of pink). That idea also inspired the games and decorations.

The guests were a mix of moms and teenage daughters--plus our own younger squirrelings, plus the New Arrival who got very well hugged and walked around. Plus Baby's Dad and Mr. Fixit, who spent part of the time hanging out in the workshop. Fourteen bodies altogether. We all know each other--we used to get together every couple of weeks during the older girls' younger years--but don't often get everyone together now. So it was kind of like a family reunion too. (The only (female) bodies missing were our friends who moved to the U.S., and a couple of daughters who were travelling or doing other important things.)

GAMES

We browsed both the baby shower sites and the birthday party sites, and started to get inspiration from some of the ideas there: Nursery Rhyme Jeopardy made Mama Squirrel think of doing something like Toy Jeopardy or a toy trivia quiz; the Lego parties sprouted the idea of having some kind of a model contest or race. Just thinking about all the different kinds of toys through the years made me remember how many little bits and pieces we have around here already (and the old catalogues we've been looking at). Finally we used those ideas to come up with two of our own games. Actually three, but we decided that two were enough. (The third was going to be a competition to see who could build the best "baby stuff" (high chair, bed, toy) out of Lego.)

The first was a variation on the tray game, and it was partly inspired by our problem habit of keeping things for a long, long time. We're squirrels, after all. So we dug around in the bottom of the Treehouse, and found 20 different toys, or parts of toys, ranging from the 1960's through today. We numbered each toy, and everybody had a few minutes to write down the name. The most toys guessed correctly won a prize (two people tied with 15 right). Most people got Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, and Cabbage Patch Kids. Some got Lincoln Logs, Polly Pocket, and Fisher Price Little People. Nobody guessed the Colorforms--well, we did have to make a couple of them challenging! But I thought somebody might remember the Liddle Kiddles.

The second game came out of the WishBookWeb vintage catalogue site, and it's something that Crayons and I did a couple of times this year for school. What you do is pick an old Christmas catalogue on the site--say 1942--give yourself a reasonable budget for the time--and pick out presents within that budget.

I picked out seven catalogues from the site and printed out about ten toy pages from each one. Each pair of players got those pages in an envelope with the year marked on it and some play money, a sheet of coloured cardstock (3-hole punched), a glue stick, scissors, and markers. (Crayons volunteered her set of fancy scissors too.) The 1933 team got only $5; the 1988 team got something like $25. (Yes, I know that in 1933 you would have been extremely lucky to have had $5 to spend on baby presents; but I didn't want to give them 39 cents either.)

The challenge was to pick out presents for the baby and cut and paste them onto a page for a keepsake booklet--with autographs, comments and so on. We had prizes for the most artistic, most fun for the money and so on. Mr. Fixit and the Baby's Dad each made a page too. The last page of the booklet was left blank, and one of the guests used it to write down the "real" presents when Baby's Mama opened them later. At the end, we tied the pages together with ribbon.

There was lots of laughing and reminiscing over the catalogue pages while everybody worked on them--"oh, I remember those!"--"look what a teddy bear cost in 1933!"--"hey, Mom, you found one of those at the thrift shop."

FOOD

Each family brought a plate of finger-food desserts--cookies and squares. I made some mini cheesecakes from the Momma's Corner website [link defunct]. I thought they might fall apart when people unpeeled the paper cups, but they held together really well. I think ours might have been a bit smaller than Momma's--I was just guessing at how much crust and how much cheese mixture to put into each one. We used half her filling recipe--1 package of cream cheese and so on--and ended up with 36 mini cakes.

We followed the very detailed directions here to make an edible fruit bouquet. It's the tail end of strawberry season here, so this idea is a good one for June or July; I don't think I'd try it in January. (I liked the baby sock bouquet too, but the fruit bouquet looked tastier.) (Yes, I know our skewers show a lot more than theirs did--we just did our best.)

High up in a cupboard we found a ceramic container that someone had sent flowers in when one of the Squirrelings was born--not sure which one, and I had probably thought of sending it (the vase, not the Squirreling) to the thrift store more than once, but now I'm glad I kept it, because it did look good with the fruit arrangement. (Photos coming.) I was going to make a batch of plain playdough to stick the skewers into, but I found Play-doh Soft-packs at the dollar store, saving me the trouble. And we saved the Play-doh afterwards.) Ponytails and I put the fruit on the skewers in the afternoon and refrigerated them until after dinner; then she arranged the vase, and we put it in the cold room until the party. (It wouldn't fit in the fridge.)

We made punch (one of the guests brought her punch bowl), from a recipe I saw in Taste of Home while waiting at the dentist's last week. (2 litres club soda, 1 750 mL bottle white grape juice, 1 cup sugar or to taste, 1 cup lemon juice. Mix and serve with ice.) I put on a pot of coffee too.

DECORATIONS

We kept it simple: a dozen balloons, a bright green plastic tablecloth, bright flowered napkins, and Crayons' Toy Story collection (mostly from yard sales) displayed by the front door.

FRUGAL STUFF

We used a lot of things we already had: the old toys for the games and decorations; homemade jam for the cheesecakes, homegrown parsley for greenery in the fruit bouquet, the re-used baby vase, skewers, "real" plates and cups, surplus-store cardstock, and so on. I printed out the catalogue pages mostly on the backs of other printouts (that was partly because we forgot to get more printer paper).

We spent our money where it seemed to count the most: fresh fruit for the bouquet (and a daisy-shaped cutter for the pineapple, although we could possibly have improvised with a knife); cupcake liners and Nilla Wafers for the cheesecakes (graham crackers are cheaper here, but I wanted the "real thing"); a few partyware things. We stopped at a new Dollarama that had a really good craft-supply section, so that's where we found prizes for the games.

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

If you're planning a shower for a mom whose baby has already been born--and especially if she's nursing--allow time in the evening for her to take care of the baby's needs. New babies can take a long time to nurse, especially if they're heading for a nap. Most guests don't mind entertaining themselves for awhile if the New Mama has to disappear for awhile. For groups that don't know each other well, you might want to have a game or something that doesn't require the Mama's presence. (This happened to Mama Squirrel too when the Apprentice arrived slightly ahead of schedule (and ahead of the baby shower). It wasn't that we were squeamish about feeding the baby in public, it was more that we weren't very experienced at it yet, and our Squirreling wasn't going to go to sleep with all that noise.)

The best idea, I think, is to do what you're comfortable with and what will mean the most to your guests. For this group of friends, that meant--along with no chocolate on the diapers--spending a few minutes at the end thanking God for the blessing of our children and families...and each other.

Dewey goes to Vacation Bible School

Every summer of my childhood, we went to a Baptist church's VBS. (Our church didn't have one.) As so many people remember from old VBS's: the cookies and Kool-aid flowed Deep and Wide, and the crafts were largely popsicle sticks. The theme for the week might be "Following Jesus," and I have no idea who published the materials but they--at least the stories for grade six or so--were pretty meaty. One year it was a version of Nicky Cruz's Run Baby Run, about gangs in New York; another year I remember reading missionary stories that must have been about John and Betty Stam, because I can still hear this Dr. McCoy voice in my head saying something like "Dangit, Jim, those Lisu are going to learn about Jesus."

What also sticks in my head is the person who taught us older kids for the last two years I was there. I remember two things about him: first, that I always admired the commitment this young man had that made him come back and teach us rowdy kids, year after year. The other thing I remember is that he was killed on a motorcycle a couple of years later. I've always felt sorry that I never got a chance to thank him properly.

I've helped with several VBS's since then, at different churches. I've noticed how they're changing. Especially I noticed at the big church we attended while Crayons was very small--I didn't help those years, just watched from the parent's point of view, and that was the first time I'd seen one of these new Wow curriculums with so many kids, music videos projected on big screens, and more screaming during the music than I'd ever seen in a church before. The crafts were still paper plates and tie-dyed t-shirts, but overall there was a new, slicker, more packaged feel to the whole thing. The themes are now more like birthday parties or library reading clubs: outer space, treasure islands, even (last year) an amusement park. Kids go here, leaders say this and that, and then it's on to the next station...am I wrong in feeling that it's all getting a bit too programmed? (Especially when you find out that every other church in town, and maybe more than that, will all be using the same curriculum...VBS must be about the only time all year that we all get so ecumenical.)
As a parent, I also have a bit of a problem with some of the "discipline the parents" language that appears in the Director Manual I was given this summer. "Some parents may want their preschoolers to [stay with] older siblings. Firmly insist that the [preschool] activities are the best ones for preschoolers." It's not that I'm arguing with that, I'm just not that impressed by being "firmly insisted" at.
The church we have been attending for the last three-and-a-half years is very small, and our VBS is not very big either. It also leans more towards the traditional Kool-aid mode than the frantic screaming and plastic memory toys--probably because our membership, and in particular our VBS leadership, is largely made up of an older generation. Our imaginative, energetic friend who has directed the VBS for three of the four summers we've been there was a teacher for many years, and she runs things according to her long experience with children--no matter what the books say to do. We also don't have a policy of "firmly insisting" that parents stay out or that children go where they're not comfortable.
But we're still using the Big Mega VBS Curriculum--or at least the parts of it we could afford. No music videos, although we did get a CD of the music. No plastic toys. We didn't even get take-home papers or worksheets, which in my mind is a plus anyway.
I was given the Preschool level curriculum to use, which was a bit of a problem since the seven or eight children I was teaching were all five or six years old. (The rest were in one big group for the elementary-age children. We didn't have any preschoolers.) I didn't need to teach the Bible story, since that was acted out during group time each day. We didn't have the additional DVD stories for them to watch. I didn't need to do crafts with them, since everybody made crafts together later in the morning. I didn't even need to do many songs, since everybody sang together at the beginning and end. This is all to say that most of what I was given was unnecessary, or in some cases too young for my class...I had to dig through the teacher's guides and pick out what was left.
What I was supposed to do with my group, each morning, was provide some kind of follow-up to the Bible stories, help them learn the memory verse and Bible themes for the day, and play games. I did find a couple of games I liked in the curriculum materials, but some of the suggested activities made me wince. I refused to have them go around in a circle and sing "Here we go round the burning bush." I'm sorry, that's not only silly but it seems somewhat blasphemous as well. (We also--collectively--decided NOT to serve a snack called "Berried and Raised" on the day we learned about Jesus' resurrection.)

Dewey fills in one morning for the curriculum's official hand puppet

Anyway--what did our class do? Played Freeze Tag--to get unfrozen, you had to shout out the memory verse. Played What Time is it Mr. Moses? (that felt slightly less blasphemous than dancing around the burning bush). Jumped along a number line marked with pictures to help learn one tricky memory verse. Sang a couple of songs I dredged out of my memory. Listened to a couple of picture books that fit with the day's theme. Crossed the "Red Sea" (a balance beam we improvised). Watched Ponytails do a magic trick, and talked about how God really did make wonderful things happen (no trickery). Played Hot Potato and said the memory verse. Watched Ponytails chat with Dewey about flashlights and missing batteries. And so on.
And the kids really did enjoy the Bayou theme, as far as we took it, and the dock area that some wonderful volunteers created (with real bullrushes to hide baby Moses in).

What I'm reading

The Skystone, by Jack Whyte. I'm trying to finish it because it was on my list of books for this year, and because I started it, and because I'm kind of curious to see how the ending turns out, and because I'm enjoying the late-Roman-empire setting, but honestly I can't recommend it--there are some very, very graphic adult-content scenes. Which is too bad, because, written slightly differently and without All That Stuff, it would have made a pretty good young-adult historical novel, if that makes any sense. Lots of soldiers and adventures and a hunt for the mysterious "skystones" that once fell from the sky and seem to contain some kind of almost magical metal. But there's just too much other stuff in it that I don't like.

Homeschooling the Middle Years. From the library.

Towards a Philosophy of Education, by Charlotte Mason. Re-reading.

How do frugal squrrels spend a vacation? (and you're not going to believe THIS)

Yesterday we went to the surplus store and shopped our little squirrel hearts out. (We haven't been there for months and months, so it's forgivable.) What followed us home: several hairbrushes and related items, several packages of coloured paper and cardstock and file cards, several packages of glue sticks and glue pens, several blank notebooks, three mini packs of pastels, three rolls of electrical tape, a tool for Mr. Fixit that I can't remember the purpose of, and some other things. Mostly for 88 cents, 99 cents, $1.49 and so on.

Last night the younger Squirrelings had summer dance lessons, which happen to be in the community room at the mall. Not that we spend a lot of time generally hanging out at the mall, but it's not worth going back home in between. This week the discount department store there that starts with Z (a lot like the one that starts with W) is having a clearance on sheets--50% off already-reduced sheet sets. Which we have badly needed for awhile. We found a set for the parent-sized bed, a set for the Apprentice-sized bed, and three sets for the Ponytails-and-Crayons-sized beds. Good thing we're not fussy about colours, but we did find some good deals.

Also six drinking glasses, since we have managed to break most of the ones we had (not in a fit of violence, just occasional accidents) and weren't quite ready to start drinking out of canning jars.

OK, now for the you-won't-believe-this. Mama Squirrel needed some Post-It notes, so while she was trying to remember which end of the store had the office supplies, and trying to navigate her way over there with the cartful of sheets, she noticed...beside the barbecues and summer stuff--several aisles of backpacks and back-to-school supplies. All set up and ready to go.

People, it's not even July yet.

Peanut chocolate butterscotch bars

I took a pan of these bars (our Better Homes and Gardens Potluck Favorites booklet calls them Candy Bar Cookies) to our homeschooling friends' the other night--because they have peanut butter in them, they're not the sort of cookie I feel safe anymore taking to big gatherings; and Mr. Fixit can't eat peanuts, so I don't make them just for our family. But once in awhile--when we're having peanut-safe company--I make these just because they are so good. Kind of like chocolate-peanut butter-butterscotch candy on top of oatmeal bars. They're pretty good for holding together like they're supposed to, as well--something that often disappoints me when I try bar recipes.

So Many Scraps has already posted the recipe, so there you go. I should note that they're more flexible than the recipe might sound. I didn't have enough chocolate chips, so I filled in with more butterscotch chips; and the original recipe in the booklet says to sprinkle the whole thing with half a cup chopped peanuts (So Many Scraps skipped that step) and I didn't have peanuts either, so I just sprinkled it with the last few butterscotch chips--AFTER it had cooled somewhat and they wouldn't melt. Also you can cut back somewhat on the peanut butter; I was short on it so used less in the topping than the recipe calls for. It still worked fine.

P.S. Watch any foil sticking to the bottom of the squares. You might try parchment paper in the pan instead if that worries you.

As southern Ontario as...strawberry pie

It's the middle of strawberry season here, and we bought two baskets of them last Saturday. One basket went to make jam. Ponytails used some of them to decorate the angelfood cake for The Apprentice. And we still had a big bowlful that had been washed and so wouldn't keep long...so Mama Squirrel planned to make a strawberry pie, kind of a rare thing in this Treehouse. We are more likely to make strawberry shortcake with biscuits. But it just seemed like the right thing...

Except that when Mama Squirrel went to examine the strawberries the next day, she found that their number had greatly decreased. Oops.

But we did have a box of blueberries that Mr. Fixit had added to the shopping cart.

So: some of the (remaining) strawberries went to make the glaze for the pie. We don't use pudding mix and Jell-O, it's a scratch recipe, southern-Ontario style...but I don't bother to push strawberries through a sieve like my grandma did, I just mash them and cook them with sugar and cornstarch and a little water and lemon juice. Like making a really quick jam. And the rest I mixed with the box of blueberries, put in a baked pie crust, and poured the glaze over. That's the nice thing about this kind of pie--you don't bake the whole thing, so you don't lose the texture of the fruit.

I think I like that as much as I do a whole pie made of strawberries.

Crayons' Grade Two: This is the end

Janet at Across the Page put together an evaluation not of her second-grader's progress, but of the curriculum choices she made. (Included in a recent Carnival of Homeschooling.)

I've been thinking about posting something like that too--how this year's gone, what we're going to stick with or change for next year. So this is it...[Update: Well, that's what I intended to write, but this turned out to be more of a general we're-done post. Maybe I'll get more into evaluations later.]

This was our first year of having only one homesquirreler around during the day. The Apprentice, strangely enough, decided that she wanted to finish off one homeschool course this semester; but she's done that (Philosophy, the Big Questions) mostly on her own. And Ponytails was off at public school; so Crayons and I had to regroup a bit.

Mostly things went pretty well--we finished all or most of the books we had planned to, and then some--we even snuck in an extra Holling book and a Shakespeare story right at the end. Regular math seemed to peter out by the end of May...we were pretty much finished this year's Miquon workbook and I didn't want to start another one, so we just kept up with Calculadder and called it enough. We also got through quite a few of the Hidden Rods, Hidden Numbers (Cuisenaire rod) puzzles.

The year's science and nature plans didn't all work out as planned...some books got dropped partway through the year. Like Through the Year--it just didn't work well for Crayons as assigned work. A fun book to read in the back seat, but not really helpful for school. And we had planned to read both Among the Night People and Among the Forest People (books about wild animals and their habits) but just one of those turned out to be enough "people" for one year.

Goals for next year? A little more written work. And some other things that I'll post about later.

And summer vacation starts!

Shakespeare according to Crayons

Crayons decided to type her own exam response on the computer. Here's her version of Aegeon's life story from The Comedy of Errors...succinct enough?

I was on a boat and we had tied ourselves too the mast when the ship broke in half and I saw my wife and the kids get on a boat and I got on a boat too the end.!

Crayons' Grade Two: Final Exam

This exam is not meant to be comprehensive or very difficult; it's only a sampling of what we covered this past term.

Writing

Write 2-4 lines of a poem that you memorized this term.

Dictation

"But he's smaller than most of the sheep," said Drew. "How are you going to get one dog to make all those sheep do what you want?"--Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers

Literature

1. We read the story of The Comedy of Errors.

“Aegeon had no money to pay the fine, and the duke, before he pronounced the sentence of death upon him, desired him to relate the history of his life, and to tell for what cause he had ventured to come to the city of Ephesus, which it was death for any Syracusan merchant to enter."

Explain what happened because of this. Here are some names and places you can use: Antipholus, Dromio, Adriana, Ephesus, Syracuse

2. Mr. Pipes wrote letters to Annie and Drew. Write a short letter back to him as an answer.

3. What was your favourite part of Seabird? Tell it in words or draw a good picture...or make a comic strip.

OR

3. Tell about the ending of Pilgrim’s Progress, or draw a good picture, or make a comic strip.

Library Skills

1. How does the Dewey Decimal System work? Give some examples of books you might be looking for and where you would find them;

or, tell me where in the library you would find these books:

How to Feed Your Pet Cat
100 Synonyms for Beautiful
Cooking with Popcorn
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
A Child's History of the World

Handicrafts

1. Tell what you would need to do if you wanted to make a snowflake cloth.


Reading Skills

Ask Dad to choose something for you to read aloud.

Favourite Cookbooks? (Bonus book to download!)

The Real Life Home has a post about her favourite cookbooks--why she likes them, favourite recipes. Want to join in?

Mostly I use my binder of recipes that I've printed out. So I could say that my favourite cookbooks include the Internet, Canadian Living, magazine ads, and my grandmother's recipe box.

My favourite cookbooks years ago were mostly vegetarian cookbooks, and I had a lot of them, especially before we went online. Most of them I've given away since then, especially the soy-based books, because a couple of the Treehouse people have discovered that tofu and TVP don't agree with them--I haven't even made our favourite Chocolate Pie in a long time, for that reason.

One I still use, or at least go to for ideas, is Nikki & David Goldbeck's American Wholefoods Cuisine: Over 1300 Meatless, Wholesome Recipes from Short Order to Gourmet. What I like: international menu ideas and the menu suggestions after a lot of the recipes; the "Food Factory" section (a lot of basic instructions for cooking beans, freezing things and so on), stock-less soup recipes, sauces and dips. Where we differ: their baking is almost always sweetened with honey, which is fine for some people but I still use sugar. Anything we don't like: I like their molasses-cranberry baked pudding fine, but it's a bit intense for my kids.

Another book that's gotten pretty worn is Whole Foods for the Whole Family, a La Leche League International Cookbook. Its 1981 date means that it's very big on cutting out sugar, less concerned about fat. Very family-friendly and with a view towards economy (recipes contributed by a wide variety of LLLl members). Things I've never made and don't plan to: the liver recipes (the Squirrels are not big on organ meats), and some of the regional things like Goetta (sounds like Scrapple) and White Boudin. Things I like: lots of "optionals" and choices, like baking recipes that use sugar or honey, butter or oil.

A very small book that I got when we were first married and still use sometimes: Eating Better...A Basic Shelf Cookbook. This is an early edition of the book still sold by the City of York Health Unit. [Hmm, I followed the links there and it doesn't seem to be available now. But here's a PDF of a similar book published by the Porcupine Health Unit.] Check out the no-salt seasoning blends!] Very economical and based mostly on real-life-keep-in-your-pantry items. (Does anyone else get annoyed by cookbooks that assume you have capers in the pantry?) Things I don't like: bland recipes made with hamburger (I think they improved them in later editions), and a terrible recipe for oatmeal cookies. Recipes I still like: stovetop rice pudding made with powdered milk, pudding mix made with powdered milk, bean salad.

There, that's three: we also use two volumes of the Harrowsmith Cookbook, all three Food That Really Schmecks cookbooks, the Beany Malone Cookbook, and Betty Crocker's Cookbook (because I can never remember how much sweetening to put in the whipped cream; I also like the meatloaf and brownie recipes). A few months ago I was also drawing heavily on some low-sodium cookbooks from the library, but we haven't had those out for awhile; they're a good source of no-salt seasoning mixes and other general ideas.

Unjinxing dinner (Thai-style curried chicken)

I have had one cooking disaster after another lately. The crockpot ravioli all the Recipezaar commenters loved had the texture of shoe leather; a recipe for zucchini pizza squares that turned out fine the last time I made it (ten years ago) seemed to have lost its zip and wasted a whole lot of cheese; two different cookie recipes sounded good but didn't turn out so well. Mr. Fixit had a tussle on the weekend with a bag of uncooperative charcoal that wouldn't cook, wouldn't cook, wouldn't cook...even the toaster oven quit working.

Well, the Apprentice's birthday buttertart squares turned out all right.

And tonight's dinner was good too. I adapted this Canadian Living recipe for Oven-Baked Curried Chicken to make it on the stovetop, and also to lower the sodium a bit. I've made it in the oven (you should probably allow more cooking time than CL recommends, depending on your chicken) but I think I like it better on the stovetop anyway.

So this is my version. Total cooking time is 30 to 40 minutes. It might sound weird with the Dijon mustard and everything, but we thought it was very good, especially with some jasmine rice and Oriental-style vegetables, and a basket of chow mein noodles. And slices of microwave chocolate cake for dessert.

Mama Squirrel's Thai-Style Curried Chicken

1/3 cup 2% plain yogurt
3 tbsp liquid honey
4 tsp. Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil or as needed to cook the chicken (I used more)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp. cornstarch if required
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or more; we ended up with extra sauce so could probably have put in more chicken)

Preparation:

In a bowl combine together yogurt, honey, curry paste, soy sauce, mustard and pepper. Set aside.

Cut the chicken in medium-sized cubes--it's easier to cut if it's still partly frozen.

In a skillet (I used non-stick), heat the oil and start cooking the cut-up chicken. Now what actually happened tonight was that I put the lid on, and the chicken poached more than it browned, giving off quite a lot of liquid. That was fine too; but I stirred a tablespoon of cornstarch into the sauce mixture just in case. Cornstarch could be added at the end instead, if needed. Cook the chicken cubes until pretty much done, then stir in the sauce. Simmer the whole thing, stirring occasionally, 15 to 20 minutes more or until the chicken is well cooked and the sauce smells good. Serve over cooked rice (I like jasmine rice with this).

What do you mean, you won't go in there with me?

[Problems viewing the post referred to? There have been some changes at HomeschoolBlogger, and some peoples' links have gotten messed up. Hoping things will come back properly soon!--May 2010]

I'm amazed by the way some people think. Because it's so far out of "my box."

In a post at Loving Learning at Home (found through this week's Carnival of Homeschooling), Julieanne mentions something that happened when she was younger:

"I remember as a child, having guests come to visit. They were younger than me, and they were absolutely HORRIFIED that our family was going to go inside of the local, low-budget store and do some shopping. In fact, our dear guests stayed out in the car because they refused to be seen inside of this national chain store, even though their home was in another state!"

My mind just goes "huh?" at that. Why does it matter where you shop? I just don't get that. My kids wouldn't either--they LOVE getting to spend less of their money on something and therefore having more left over for something else. The Apprentice, in particular, earns most of her own spending money and even pays for a lot of her own clothes--which is a good thing, because our Apprentice is a fashionable young lady, likes clothes, and enjoys shopping. Someday you should ask her what she paid for those pretty shoes she wore to the spring dance--but I'll give you a hint, it's less than some girls probably paid for a hair ornament for the same dance.

While I appreciate the thoughts expressed in the post, I have a hard time identifying with the idea that you could even have a struggle with most of the issues she raises. House-brand groceries? Using coupons? What's wrong with that, if you can find coupons for basic grocery items instead of just sugar splops?

Driving an older car? We drove '80's cars, cheap to buy and easy to maintain, until emissions testing here drove all the good older cars off the road.

"Alternatives to lengthy, expensive family vacations?" Um--I think the last "lengthy" one was our honeymoon. We've had a few overnighters since then, but no cruises or resorts, no, we haven't even been to Disney World. Does someone have a problem with that? How do you explain "powdered milk" to someone who has a problem just walking into a discount store?

But instead of getting impatient...I guess I just need to learn more tolerance.

How to creep a kid out

Puppet character singing on children's TV show: "I see you. You see me. I see you watching me on T.V."

Young Squirreling watching: "NO, YOU DON'T!"

Mama Squirrel found that idea rather creepy too.

We've told Wednesday, college first.

From the comments in the Homeschoolers: Do they care too much post:

"Princess Mom June 1, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Hear, hear! I would add that more project-based learning is essential at every grade level. If you think we’re not doing dissections and blowing things up in my kitchen, you are mistaken. (Okay, usually we blow things up in the driveway.)"

What's a sparable?

Crayons and I have been having fun this week with a dictionary activity from Raising Ravenous Readers: Activities to Create a Lifelong Appetite for Reading, by Linda Schwartz. The book gets you started with questions like these:

Would you row, cook, plant or ride in a landau?

Would you play, wear, chain, or recite an epaulet?

The idea is to guess the answer and then look them up in the dictionary. These are words that mostly aren't found in our children's dictionary, so Crayons has been using my Random House College Dictionary. It's good practice not so much for vocabulary as for using dictionary guide words, and practicing alphabetizing concepts.

Today we ran out of questions, so I made up some of my own. How would you do on these?

1. Would you find the Pentateuch in your body, in a computer, or in the Bible?
2. Can you drink sparteine? (Should you?)
3. Would you buy a spavined horse?
4. Would you find a sparable in a shoe, in a nest, or in the Bible?