Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween 2009 - The Dead Family

(the image behind us is a "monster" my friends son made. it looks a little........well.... interesting ;)

Homeschool Field Trip

Through the Belle Isle zoo in Detroit there are monthly homeschool field trips. This past Thursday we went to Kensington Park for a hike and to talk about dog facts. It was a great day. Victoria, the woman who runs the field trips really knows how to work with the homeschool crowd and she really knew her stuff.
She had dog skulls, we looked at dog tracks, dogs were welcome on the hike, she talked about coyotes and wolf packs and the history of their diminished populations, and we even strayed off into leaf galls, sassparilla and other ingredients of root beer and wooly bears.
A good day in the wood.

the Michigan Shaped Sassparilla.

The Bean and the wolly bear.

All those leaves!!!!

Monday, October 26, 2009

If My Mom Were a Platypus...

This was my find today at work. It was in the lending library and it is awesome. As most of you know I am usually eyeball deep in birth and love to talk about it and think about it. Now I have another angle to talk to my kids about it. We are a biology family so this is super cool and very up our track. The second animal (out of 14) that they talk about it the African Elephant, the Bean's favorite animal (and hopefully my next tattoo - shhhhhh don't tell)

It is even internet linked so the fun can go on and on!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Kate's Pasties

Kate's Pasties

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Crust:
1 c. White Flour
1 1/2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 c. Sugar
Dash of Salt
1/2 c. Chilled Cut Up Butter (2 Sticks)
Cold Water

Mix everything but the water in a mixer or by hand. Add water until it barely sticks together. Turn out on a solid surface. Make into two large balls and stick in the fridge for a half hour to chill.

Filling:

This is a little less measured so be flexible and play with it.

With some olive oil in a pan (I use my large cast iron skillet and fill it with ingredients so I can just stir the cream sauce in carefully when it is all done) on medium heat add a few cloves of minced garlic and diced onion (one large or two small). Heat until translucent just starting to brown. Add meat. Cook until brown and strain (spoon out) excess grease but leave a little. Add veggies, frozen or fresh. Stir regularly until cooked. I like corn, green beans, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and celery. Add a little salt and pepper and herb of your choice. I LOVE thyme with my pasties. Set aside off heat while you make the sauce.

Sauce:

This is out of the Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cook Book circa 1961. It was my great aunts and it is awesome. Although I do find myself adjusting many of the recipes it is a great platform. This is the Cheese Sauce recipe found on page 387. I double it. Here is the single recipe.

2 tbsp. Butter
2 tbsp. Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Pepper (I use more)
1 c. Milk
1/2 c. - 1 c. Shredded Sharp Cheddar
(Betty suggests you also add1/4 tsp dry mustard, I don’t)

1. Melt butter over low heat in a saucepan. A wooden spoon for stirring is helpful.

2. Blend in flour and seasonings. Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly.

3. Remove from heat. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil one minute. Makes 1 cup.

4. Stir in cheese to white sauce.

Construction:

Mix cheese sauce with filling. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Take dough out of fridge. It may be a bit hard but throw some elbow grease into it and star kneading it a little bit so it rolls out nicely on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Roll out until it is pretty thin but you can still pick it up without it ripping. Take a bowl for medium size pasties or a drinking glass f

or smaller pasties as a cutting device. Place bowl/glass on dough, push down and twist. Repeat.

Transfer circles to ungreased cookie sheet. Place some filling in the center of the circle. Top with another circle. Press down edges. Fork the edges. Poke holes in the top with fork.

Place in oven. Again not an exact science, cook until the bottom of the edges are just turning brown.

Pull out and let cool a few minutes before transferring to a flat brown paper bag to continue cooling.

Repeat and Eat.

Note: They are amazing with a side of my tomato jam!

Beautiful October Day = Cemetery Walk

We did tell the kids it was not polite to climb on the tombstones....

Notice in this one Scruffy out lived everyone else....

Too Cute...

I wonder if I am related to her.....

I love the old tombstones. The amazing stone carving skills...

Mom and Pop...

Who is Lynn?

No name...

Where the fake flowers go when they die...

A cherub chillin' in the grave yard...

Jen...

Find the dog.....

close up of the dogs bum...

All Seasons Resort

For the past three years we have been invited up north by wonderful friends for the Fall Getaway at the All Seasons Resort on Carp Lake just outside of Michigan City.

This year we were able to go since I am not on call. Unfortunately Big Daddy came down with a cold last week so we decided to divide and conquer - he stayed home with Monkey while I went up north with the bean. I must be honest I was super bummed they weren't coming up especially since Big Daddy was in Chicago last week for a reptile show but the Bean and I had a great time.

I took limited photos because we were too busy relaxing. Later I may link to photos of the popcorn field we went to and all the squash we bought but for now I have these memories from this great weekend. Thanks KK and Nat!

Leg Warmers

When I have socks that I love but they have seen their last days I bust out the scissors and make leg warmers.

Today I introduces the Bean to this wonderful idea. She was unsure at first but loved the idea of having bloomers, leg warmers and half socks to wear with her clogs.