Gourmet Chef

Colin really likes cooking. He loves to experiment with new recipe's. So he will show me a new recipe and say he wants to make it. I look at the list of ingredients and see a slew of stuff I have to purchase that I won't ever use again unless we like said recipe and make it part of our "menu". This is where hs is great though because I can make it part of our day and it counts for so many things.

Recently we began making pizza at home and well it hasnt always turned out pretty although we did find a crust recipe we loved and have since stuck with. Now if I can only figure out how to make pizza sauce I'll be all set. We made this pizza a while back but it was so pretty I couldn't believe we had made it. I guess it is all about practice. We made a pepperoni and a canadian bacon pizza. Colin helped with the crust and pretty much made the Canadian pizza on his own. I did help a bit on getting the crust to look nice( nicer anyway).

Pepperoni Pizza, ok I love the way it looks it's like out of a resteraunt. One half the pizza was double pepperoni. Guess which side.

Mmmmm, I'm getting hungry.

Colin, my live in chef.

Putting on the sauce

Spreading the cheese, we one tried double cheese and well we found out that there is a limit to how much cheese you should put. It was a bit much even for us cheese lovers.

Evenly putting the canadian bacon.

Checking to make sure there are spaced right and enough on the pizza.

Work in progress.

Look at this beauty! He did a great job!

Ready to eat.

Tell em what they get Bob

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I’m an Organizing Junkie » Menu Plan Monday

I’m an Organizing Junkie » Menu Plan Monday

Happy Easter

What a fun day today was.

We got up and boiled and dyed our eggs, yes I am aware we did this a bit late I am a procrastonator(someone needs to wack me on the head and then it will get done, snicker). I made a lovely Summer Spaghetti Salad, its all vege I might even post the recipe. It turned out great and I made it keeping my mom in mind, she recently became a vegetarian.

We had a few, yes few, egg hunts. Daddy hid the eggs, then Daddy and I hid them then the boys hid them and we had to find them. It was alot of fun and silly.

Conner named his "Brownie"

Colin's is called "Sparrow"

Austin has yet to name his


Dh bought chicks yesterday so I have to join 4-H but they have been all the rage here. If you can't find a kid look for him with the chickens. I take all bets on if I will actually find said child there or not and accept paypal(kidding, my horrible humor again).They are adorable but what baby animal isn't. There are 5 of them, 2 yellow, 2 black and 1 brown. We expect this to be quite a learning lesson for the kids.

Our family at Grammy's house. Back row Grammy(can't see her, just the top of her head), Grampy, Renea(niece), Chris (dh), Me (leaning over laughing), Dominique(my brother), tina (his girlfriend).

Second row: Dakota(Cousin, visiting grandparents), Austin, Judy (mil)Colin, My mom(helene).

On the couch: Davie(nephew), brittany(niece) Conner(not behaving or co-operating, my mom trying to make him)

Only one missing is my sister (who is taking the picture) and my dad( on the road).

St. Patty's day

Our week has been fantastic. I am currently trying to loose some weight and a friend told me about Spark people, thanks Mrs Darling. Anyway I have been a bit preoccupied with this so I havent gotten a chance to blog . But on the plus side I have lost 3 plds.

We did a small intense unit on St. Patricks day. The boys really seemed to enjoy having to do just that but it was alot of work to cover in a short time. We went over time a bit, but since I am not so strict on that it didn't matter except we got started late on our Easter Unit.

For St. Patricks day we wrote stories about what we would do with a pot of gold or if we caught a leprachan. We found Irish recipe's and want to give them a shot, when we do I will be sure to post some pictures. We came up with Irish soda bread and Irish stew. Mabey we will have an Irish night. It's a bit funny since dh has Scottish ancestors.

The boys worked much better and at a friends suggestion I gave conner earplugs to see if this would aleviate some of the drama that has been happening. It works sometimes, I will continue to work on it. We borrowed what I felt the entire St. patty's day collection from the library and most were just fun stories. The kids really liked them.



We just started the Easter Unit and I hope to get it done in a week with intense work on both boys parts.

Socializtion...the right way??

I saw this and it was too cute and thought I'd share.

When my wife and I mention we are strongly considering home schooling our children, we are without fail asked, "But what about socialization?" Fortunately, we found a way our kids can receive the same socialization that government schools provide.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I will personally corner my son in the bathroom, give him a wedgie and take his lunch money.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my wife will make sure to tease our children for not being in the "in" crowd, taking special care to poke fun of any physical abnormalities.
Fridays will be "Fad and Peer Pressure Day." We will all compete to see who has the coolest toys, most expensive clothes and the loudest, fastest and most dangerous car.
Every day, my wife and I will adhere to a routine of cursing and swearing in the hall and mentioning our weekend exploits with alcohol and immorality.
If our kids attempt to use the bathroom without permission, we will punish them immediately.
And we have asked them to report us to the authorities in the event we mention faith, religion or try to bring up morals and values."

German Bread

I am originally from Germany. Yes I know I don't have an accent. Anyway in Colorado springs there are about 4 different German stores. One is my favorite-Wimberger. They make a yummy rye bread worthy of any German bakery. Unfortunately I now live almost an hour away from that store. With gas and everything I just can't justify going unless I am up there already for other reasons.

So I looked and found a recipe. I tried it and it turned out terrific. The taste is great but the texture is all wrong. Its a bit too fluffy. The bakery bakes theirs in an old wood oven like at pizza places. I'm curious to know if that is why mine turned out like that. Anyway I couldn't keep my boys away from it. Every time I turned around they had another slice in their hands. They agreed it wasn't exactly like the one we were used to. Now to figure out the cost difference. I estimate it cost me about(roughly estimating here) $1.50 to make this bread that is not counting the electricity if you are really on the frugal bandwagon. Maybe my hubby can figure that out for me as it is way beyond my capabilities. The German store sells this bread for $2.38 (last time I bought it). That is a savings of about $0.88. But because the store is so far from me now it saves on gas too.

Here is the recipe I used.

1 1/8 cup water

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 cups white flour (for darker rye, substitute whole wheat flour for up to 3/4 cups)

1 cup rye flour

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp caraway seeds

1/4 chopped onions (optional)

2 tbsp active dry yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine in recommended order on "rise only" or pizza dough cycle. After first rise, remove dough, place on a bread board and punch down. If dough is too sticky, covering your hands or the bread board with corn meal or white flour usually is enough to bring it to the right consistency. If using a bread pan, shape loaf and place it in oiled bread pan. If you have a stone, don't use a bread pan; shape dough into a loaf or ball or as you like and place it on a floured board. In either case slash top with a sharp knife, cover the dough with a tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hr.

Preheat oven (preferably with pizza stone) to 450. The stone makes the bread crustier and gives a better contrast between the crust and the interior crumb.Spritz walls of oven with water twice before putting loaf in.( omit for a less crusty bread)

Bake 30 min at 450 spritzing the oven walls once more after five minutes. Remove and allow to cool on rack.

Note: I didn't use onions or caraway seeds in my recipe,personal preference.

Look how pretty it is. I'm gushing like a new parent. I love baking. My hips hate my baking(lol)

I cut a few slices. I really need a better bread knife. Mine is dull and squishes the bread. This will definitely need an investment for future breads.

Check out the texture. The one we are used to is much more dense. I wonder if Uli will give me the recipe. Hmm doesn't hurt to ask. Oh Uli is the store owner of Wimberger,our family has known her for years.

It wasn't that hard especially since I used my bread machine to knead and rise it. It's almost gone too and its Saturday.

Behavior Issues

My boys are about a yr and half apart. So I can't be far off from feeling like I have triplets or at least twins. Sometimes though my youngest son just pushes me to the extreme. I feel like we have been having a meltdown once a day. It will start off with something simple like colin makes a noise. So conner asks him to stop. Colin makes a different noise. Conner gets upset, mostly because this is a pattern on more days than I care to admit, so he makes an exasperated noise and yells for him to stop. It only escaltes from there. I could bore you with details as to the screaming until finally I yell stop, go to your rooms. This is mostly so I can calm down, figure out how to deal with it and for them to calm down too.Unfortunatly conner seems to come out of his room in such an angry state it takes the better part of an hour for him to cooperate. When he gets frustrated he doesnt stop he gets mad and nothing short of a miracle will help to calm him down. With math its the same way he will get frustrated and I try to calmly show him how to do something and poof he starts screaming I'm not helping and he doesnt get it and cant I just provide the answer. It is really wearing on me. All the while I see colin (mostly, he is not perfect either of course neither am I) quietly doing his work without harldly any fuss. Then I look back at conner with his read face, tears streaking down and I try, honest I try to help and he just gets even madder. I dont get it. How do I make it better for him. I want him not to have to feel so frustrated and have it get so bad I send him to his room. I wish I knew how to help him understand math. I wish I knew how to make him understand that people are allowed to make noise and it shouldnt cause a thrid world war in my house. I wish I knew how to help him deal with his frustration in a better way.I am at a loss. This extends far past the "classroom". Kids say he is mean, I know better, but boy he sure can be mean. I have tried to see what triggers it. Its usually small things. But its never the same. I just can't grasp it. I need to be able to help him see how his behavior is affecting others and himself. This can't be healthy.

10 More days

Ok so this is not school related but hey, I see lots of wonderful blogs with everyday info in them. I figure I enjoy them so why not?
Dh and I have been married for 13yrs. In 10 days it will be 14 yrs. So I am trying to find a great gift for my guy that has everything. The best present I ever had for him was the yr he was away on a work trip, in pennsylvania I think, and I sent him mini notes. One for every yr that said what I loved about him. It was our 9th anniversary. He was actually surprises, finally got him surprised that was a task in of itself. He enjoyed getting a gift at the hotel.

Anyway I've thought about
-getting his car cleaned and detailed, it could use it
-couples massage (sounds fun)
-B&B, we always talked about it but never did it
-cabin, we did this for several yrs and I would highly reccommend it. It cost the same as a B&B but you have a whole cabin to yourselves. Plus we always got one with a hot tub. they are up in the mountains and very secluded.
-a friend suggested kidnapping him from work, not sure I can do that plus its a sunday
-a friend suggested going back to where we first me or first kissed, cute but I hated high school I sure don't want to go back there, plus arent they closed on sunday's too?

I can't find anything that jumps out at me and says "yup this is it". You know what I mean.
So the HUNT is on.
Vanessa

Fractions to percents

We use Saxon Math. Although my kids seem to like it I sometimes get frustrated when I look at a question and I'm like "huh, what do they want". I end up letting them skip that particular question figuring if I havent done it in so long I dont know what they want or how to do it , it must not be that important. Latley it has been changing fractions to percents. This was something I thought they need to know so I am on the hunt for a good manipulative that will help them get this down pat. I bought Pizza to go which is a fraction game. It seems to be working ok but not nearly as good as I would like. The kids like the games and we enjoyed making homemade pizza to go with it too. Overall the game is nice and gets the kids accustomed to fractions. But it doesn't translate it into percents. Perhaps I need to change our math. I've heard great things about Singapore math. Decisioins , decisions.