Crazy Huge Muffin Baking Day.....100+

I got it in my head that I wanted to bake 100 muffins.  Why?  So I could feed them to my hungry family plus the extra crew that's around for cranberry harvest.  Emily was standing idle at the moment I had my muffin baking epiphany so I grabbed her and put her to work mixing and filling and baking.  Of course, I was instrumental in the process.  I didn't make her do all the work.

We had fun over filling muffin cups, balancing hot muffin pans on surfaces not meant for hot muffin pans, and creating a huge pile of dishes for Amber to wash.  It was a good day.  And in the end (which is a different end than in the video) we counted 105 muffins.  

Three of these recipes are old standbys.  The recipes are already on the blog.  Only one is new(er).

Blueberry Power Muffins from Finger Prickin' Good

Power Muffins was the newbie recipe.  Both times I made them I had to make substitutions for some of the Greek yogurt.  I used plain Greek + honey, then I used plain Greek + honey + sour cream + vanilla yogurt.  Both batches turned out great so it seems to be a forgiving recipe.  No fussy cooking for this mama.

Are you crazy for muffins?  What's your favorite flavor?  I'd love to know.

Watch Emily and I make 100+ muffins.

Teaching Kids to Cook {Making S'mores}

Do feel like you do, do, do for your kids all day?  Yes, as a mom that's what we're called to do.  We're here to serve our family, but there's a huge difference between serving one's family and waiting on one's family.  Serving is done with love without strings attached.  Waiting on harbors resentment.  When I feel like I'm waiting on my family I find myself thinking:

Maybe you could say 'thank you' once in a while!

Why do even waste my time helping them?

When do I get some time for myself?

Can you sense the sarcasm and anger?

FOOD!!

FOOD!!

FOOD!!

Seems my kids want food all day, every day.  There's never enough food.  Never enough snacks.  Never enough time to make all the food and snacks.

My solution is to teach my kids to cook.  I've included my kids in the kitchen since they were babies.  I've prepared many a meal with a baby in the Ergo, talking to them about what I'm doing and sweetly telling them how when they're old enough they'll be slicing the celery and cracking the eggs, mixing the meatloaf and washing the grapes.

There are so many tasks that can be done by young children, and cooking doesn't always involve the stove.  Think Cuties and grapes.  The youngest child can wash and stem grapes then put in a bowl.  Voila!  They just became a kid in the kitchen, and not one under foot causing you to trip.  Peeling Cuties is another great beginner task.

Recently, Peter has been into s'mores.  He had Sam making them for him and me making them for him, and all he did was eat, eat, eat.  Enough of that, I thought!  It's high time for him to learn to make his own s'more.  I mean really, he's 5 already.

Since he'd been watching us make them he already knew the process.  Graham cracker half, chocolate chips.

Balance marshmallow on top.

Carry to microwave.  Then what?  

I taught him how to set the microwave for 10 seconds and watch for the marshmallow to get big and puffy.

He removes it carefully and places the other graham cracker half on top.

Squeeze and enjoy!

And enjoy s'more!

To make it easy on him, I grabbed an ice cream pail so he could keep all the ingredients together on the pantry shelf.  Now, as long as he asks first, he can make a s'more all by himself.

Obviously, this isn't life sustaining, brain food for his first adult years of apartment living, but it's a good start.  And he's so proud of his accomplishment, which is the goal of these early days in the kitchen.

What have you taught your kids to cook?

What's holding you back from letting them in the kitchen?

You might like:

Monster Cookies

Put a Stop to "I'm Bored"

Here's the pinnable image.

Weekly Wrap-up #2 {the week I didn't take a single picture}

I didn't take a single picture this week, but I have a few from other weeks I'll share.

We are just finishing week 6 of homeschooling. Why do we have only 6 weeks in? We took two weeks off for cranberry harvest. Well, mostly off. Nick continued with his college classes, but took off completely from homeschool. Amber put in about 3 or 4 days of homeschool over the 2 week period. Sam took off completely, except for violin. His recital was smack dab in the middle of harvest so he still had to put in plenty of practice time. And as for the littles, Joseph, Peter, and Maria continued to learn, whether it be cutting grass, raking leaves, All About Reading, and enjoying plenty of walks on the marsh.

There was all the normal stuff this week - the schooly stuff. 

Teaching Textbooks
From Sea to Shining Sea
Easy Grammar
All About Spelling 
All About Reading
Focus on High School Chemistry
U.S. History
Stories of the Saints

Novels in progress:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
The Impossible Journey
West Side Story

And the extras:

Joe has a tutor every Monday for 1 hour.  She works on fine motor skills and writing skills.  Sam went to Tween Tuesday where 6th and 7th graders take part in phy ed and art and then a rotating project.  Currently they're working on making Google slides and uploading them to their teacher's website.  Peter and Maria attend Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, weekly, with 3 other children at a local parish.

Hobbies were enjoyed:

Horseback riding (pictured below is Amber and Joe bringing the horses back to the paddock)

Duck and Goose hunting (this was September, but they're still going strong)

Ending the week with a little trip up North, Warren, Sam, and Peter are having a boys' weekend.  They're spending it with some relatives.  One of which is Uncle Dan.  It has me thinking about making generational memories with family.  During harvest this year we spent an evening making a traditional family meal - Pork and Dumplings.

Uncle Dan was instrumental in getting it done.  What I mean is he bought pork roasts, sauerkraut, bread, and potatoes.  Nothing says let's get this done like providing all the ingredients.  I think I finally learned the process of making the dumplings.  It looks like Sam, Peter, and Maria will be my helpers next time.

I've also been checking my list twice, tweaking and updating my trimester plan.

And after one more look at my pictures, I actually took one picture this week.  My oldest girls enjoying coffee and tea from their favorite mugs.  Emily's new favorite tea is Lord Grantham Breakfast Blend.  

Description on the tin:

.....This energizing tea is perfect for an early morning foxhunt or preparing for the dramas of the day.

And you can bet there are plenty of dramas to deal with when two teenagers share a room.

That turned out to be a rather long weekly wrap-up, especially since I thought I had nothing to share.  I hope you enjoyed your visit here.  For more weekly wrap-ups from homeschooling families, please visit Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Kids in the Kitchen - Monster Cookies

Kids in the Kitchen is a new series featuring my kids in the kitchen, sometimes with me and sometimes without me.  So sometimes it will be messy and sometimes it'll be really messy.  There'll be mistakes and tears and I might even raise my voice when the canister of sugar hits the floor, but we will forge on because kitchen skills are important.

I'm fortunate to have a mom who included me in the kitchen.  I fondly remember sitting on the counter stirring yet another batch of harvest loaf batter.  Most likely we were listening to a Christmas record since harvest loaf was the gift of choice for neighbors, relatives, and teachers.  I'm sure my help made extra messes, but it also made memories and prepared me for future cooking endeavors.

Although Kids in the Kitchen can be a hassle at times, I try to look beyond the slowed productivity and mess to the day when they can use their kitchen skills to benefit our family and later themselves and their future families.

Today I'm sharing with you a super yummy cookie recipe that can double as breakfast in a real pinch.  Yes, that was a good morning.

Monster Cookies

Peter helped me bake these cookies.  The pictures aren't great, the floor's covered in flour, he licked the spoon before we were done, he ate raw dough, the m&m's spilled.  We had fun, take a look.

Peter is so happy to be helping.

We added eggs, butter, sugars and vanilla and mixed it hard.

And then added peanut butter - see how healthy these are getting?

Then we added chocolate, oatmeal and a mix of white and whole wheat flour - again healthy

We placed them on parchment paper just to keep cleanup quick.  We also made them very large (1/4 cup)

Bake for about 10 minutes (sorry for the blurry pic)

Monster Cookies
3 eggs
1/4 c. soft butter
2 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. chocolate chips (we use mini)
1 c. m&m's (we use mini)
1 1/2 c. peanut butter
2 t. baking soda dissolved in 1 t. hot water
3 c. quick oats
1 1/2 c. flour (I use a mix of white and whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 375.
Cream butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla hard.  It should be very smooth and light in color.  Stir in baking soda.  Blend in peanut butter.  Then add chips and m&m's.  Lastly, stir in oatmeal and flour.
Place on cookie sheet.  I use about 1/4 c. of dough to make large cookies.  Press down slightly.  Then bake for about 10 minutes.  If using a dark pan they will darken faster.  We like them chewy so I slightly underbake, let set on pan for 1 minute then remove to foil to cool.

Linking up with Raising Homemakers.