The Harvest Begins

It snowed two days ago. Today I pulled these beauties from my garden. What an exciting day! I only wish I knew how to cook these so I like them! Any suggestions?

French Fry Seasoning

This is supposed to be the recipe for the seasoning on Red Robin's steak fries. It was good but doesn't taste a whole lot like the real thing. To me, Red Robin's tastes more like a barbecue sauce seasoning. If you are not expecting Red Robin, you won't be let down. They are still good.

French Fry Seasoning
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon instant tomato soup mix
(Knorr tomato with basil works great)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Also, I couldn't find the instant tomato soup mix at the store so I made my own with this recipe:

Instant Tomato Soup Mix
4 tb non-fat dry milk
2 tb powdered dry tomatoes
1/8 ts basil
1/16 ts salt dash pepper

I dried my own tomatoes in my dehydrater and then ground to powder in my wheat grinder. Make sure your tomatoes are really dry. I think a few of the slices weren't quite there yet. Consequently, I spent quite some time unclogging the grinder.

I also found for this recipe for instant tomato soup mix at chef2chef a varation: "Add about 1/4 teaspoon of onion and/or garlic powder.
Reduce the amount of non-fat dry milk milk accordingly."
I am fairly sure that this will make a big difference. I'll have to try it next time.

Potty Training Books

These are books both take the no-pressure approach to potty training. Diaper-Free Before 3 would be great for those parents who are wanting to start as soon as possible. Lekovic doesn't feel there is a need to wait for signs of readiness. She suggests starting as early as 6 months and slowly working the child into being fully trained.
Potty Training Boys the Easy Way is even more laid back and does consider readiness to be a very important factor when actively working on potty training but that you should expose the child to concepts as early as opportunities present themselves. I like that it allows the child to own his success. I found it very helpful because it is gender specific. I recommend both books but Potty Training Boys the Easy Way was my favorite of the two. There is also a book called Potty Training Girls the Easy Way by the same authors.

Purple Petal Clips and Pins

These can be purchased from SimpleBlue as either pins or clips.

Ticket to Ride

We just got this game and really like it. We have played it with the kids. We just split it so the little ones were on a team with either Mom or Dad. They were the ones who got to draw and discard cards and put the train pieces on. We also like to play it ourselves because it has strategy for my husband and just enough chance for me.

Parenting With Love and Logic

I believe it is a good idea to read parenting books and ideas regularly. I don't always agree with what I read and sometimes what I read just isn't right for the stage my family is at or for our family dynamic but I think just thinking about doing a good job at being a parent is important. I just finished reading Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jay Fay for the second. This is one I think every parent should read.
This is the description Amazon.com gave for the book:

From Library Journal
Psychiatrist Cline and educator Fay's "Love and Logic" parenting method advocates raising responsible children through practice. "Helicopter" parents hover around their children while "drill sergeant" parents give orders to theirs, they claim. Neither of these styles permits children to learn how to make choices and learn from the consequences. The result is that as early as adolescence these children too often make bad decisions. In the context of a healthy, loving relationship, "Love and Logic" parents teach their children responsibility and the logic of life by solving their own problems, providing skills for coping in the real world. After laying out the principles of "Love and Logic," the authors provide "parenting pearls," which are strategies for applying the method to actual situations such as back-seat battles in the car, homework, and keeping bedrooms clean. The narration, performed by Tim Kenney and Bert Gurule, is clear and energetic. This is an upbeat and sensible approach to child rearing that will be popular in public libraries.?Nann Blaine Hilyard, Fargo P.L., N.D.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
If you're looking for practical parenting skills, this book is a must. The pages are chock full of tips that you can implement right away...this book is one of the best parenting resources I've seen. Because of what I learned from this book, I've already seen positive changes in my relationship with my son. Don't let this vital resource slip by. (Jolene L. Roehlkepartain, OURS Magazine, February 1993)

Without question, this is the most practical book I have ever read on this subject, and I hope that every parent gets a copy and puts it into practice. -- John Kennington, Fellowship Today Magazine, December 1990

It really is that good. However, I would like to say that many of the "parenting pearls" at the back of the book were a little extreme. For example: To fix the "'That looks gross!' when a new meal is placed in front the kids" problem, the book says to say "That's no problem," dump the food down the garbage disposal and tell the kids to go play because their meal is over. Later, when they come in and get themselves something to eat, you stand and watch. When they are done eating, you tell them the food they just ate cost $1.90 and ask if they want to pay cash or if they want it taken out of their allowance. I can see that this would make a big statement but I think, in my house, when the kids say "that's gross!" if I told them that if they complain like that, they can chose to not eat and they won't be getting anything later. If they do indeed choose to not eat and they are asking for something later, I could offer that they can pay for the extra food or stay hungry. Or I could not offer at all. They made the choice to go hungry. I want my kids to feel like they live in a stable house and that Mom isn't going to be springing all these strange rules up at any given moment. I understand that the problem that is being addressed is not having to deal with kids saying they hate the food at every meal and I think they certainly will think twice before saying it at another meal if their food gets disposed of and then they are charged for extra food but I also think that letting them know that if they complain about the food, they know what will actually happen.
Using a less drastic approach may require a reminder when they start to complain at the next meal but if there is a third time, there doesn't need to be a warning. The rule is in place and it must be followed through with - and the children will know what they are getting into when they complain about the food. I prefer consistent consequences to unexpected consequences.

Other than toning down the drama a bit (we already have enough of that here), I think it poses a very good way of thinking about parenting. It provides parents with the way to give the responsibility of being a good and responsible kid to their kid.

Sunflowers (not Snowflowers)

It's been snowing for the last couple of days on our Earth Day Sunflower House. I covered many of the flowers with little milk jug "greenhouses" in hopes of keeping them a little bit warm. The rest I covered with a sheet set that has silly putty stuck all over it. When I checked the sunflowers yesterday, they were doing okay. I haven't checked today -- it's too cold to go out! That is why the picture is from so far away. I didn't want to leave the comfort of my warm home to snap a picture of my garbage (and snow) covered flowers.

Kid Projects Displayed

We have a lot of projects the kids make at story time, church and school. They are often not just flat peices of paper. The kids are proud of them and don't want to get rid of them right away. We made these display boards to keep them in one place. When it's full, they have to decide which item to take off, take a photograph of and then get rid of so that the new one can be put on.



For the blue board we used: Foam board, the sham from his comforter set, red ribbon.
For the pink board we used: Backing from a broken poster frame, sequin fabric, purple ribbon

We used hot glue to glue the fabric to the boards. The ribbons were glued 5" apart and were woven to hold the items better.

Earth Day

To celebrate Earth Day, we planted sunflowers and morning glories to make a sunflower house that the kids can play in during the summer. The idea came from Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots I bought heirloom sunflower seeds from Seed Savers so I can harvest the seeds and replant next year. We also reused household items that would have been thrown away or recycled for the containers (newspaper, milk jugs, toilet paper tubes, paper grocery bags, etc.) when starting the seeds. We talked about the things we love about our earth and what we can do to help the earth.
These are our sunflower starts. We used most of them.
This is what the base of our house looks like:

Now we just have to watch the weather carefully to make sure they don't get too cold. We love our earth!

Oh, and we bought second-hand bikes for the kids today so they can spend time outside enjoying our earth.

Hamburger Buns

I got this recipe from my friend Marisa from Backyard Farming gave me this recipe for hamburger buns:

Hamburger Buns
2 Tbsp yeast
2 cups warm water, divided
3 Tbsp sugar, divided
1 Tbsp salt
5 Tbsp oil
5-6 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Stir in 1 Tbsp sugar. Let this mixture stand while you combine the remaining water (1 1/2 cups), remaining sugar (2 Tbsp), salt, oil and 3 cups flour in a seperate bowl. Add yeast misture after it becomes frothy. Add the rest of the flour. Mix until it is kneadable. Let is rest for ten minutes then knead for one minute. Do this three times. Let it rest for an additional ten minutes. Make them into 3.5 oz. balls (makes about 12) and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten them with the palm of your hand. Check back in a few minutes to make sure they are still somewhat flat. If not, flatten again. Let rise for one hour. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes.

This may seem like a time-intensive process. It does take a lot of time but most of it isn't hands-on time. The first time I made these I got a lot done while I made them. I listened to an audio book during the first part. During the first ten minute rest time I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher. During the second I sorted and started a load of laundry. During the third I tidyed up the house. During the fourth I colored with my kids. During the one hour rise time I went for a run. During the bake time I got all the burger fixings ready. (My husband was working the grill.)

The second time I made these I used 2 Tbsp of honey in place of the sugar that didn't get mixed with the yeast. I also used half freshly ground wheat flour and half all-purpose flour.