Dec. 23, 2008 - Snowmen, Igloos & Birdseed Cupcakes!
Round Two of Attempting This Post
Yesterday was just a banner day for us here on The Dirt Farm. Eme made a GIGANTIC snowball. This thing just DWARFED her. (and she isn't a little thing!) These are a little hard to see, but here is the snowball.
And look closely, you'll see her pushing this thing along.
And a video. This is all done with my cheapo Sanyo. It doesn't like dusk, things far away and snow all at once!
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Igloos
Remember Einar wanting to build a snow fort? Eme started building an igloo. Einar did some helping. Not so much though. She used a small tote and packed it with snow to create her bricks.
Wayde helped her stack the bricks. They didn't finish but we still have snow, so who knows. Making an igloo was one of those things in my childhood I would have been simply mad over. Alas, I never got to make one. It is fun to see my kids being able to do many of the things I couldn't. My mom will read this and feel guilty. I could tell her not to feel guilty, but it won't matter. Hi mom!
Doesn't Eme just look so cute sitting there in her creation?
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BIRDSEED CUPCAKES
I know you've all been dying to see these. Wayde started off by boiling lard, peanut butter, birdseed and water. Looks scrumptious, no?
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A couple ingredients.
Eme stirring and stirring.
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Doesn't he look as though he's just been "caught"?
While Eme stirred, Wayde placed wool string into the cupcake pans so we could hang these up outside more easily.
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Einar had to get in on the act
Eme filling the molds.
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Cooling and hardening in the snow
The top picture has 2 different mixes in it. Wayde ran out of room in one saucepan so he transferred some to another. I'm not sure what happened to the ratio of ingredients, but one was definitely soupier.
Eme and I added seed to the top once she'd poured. It made them much prettier, no? I know. The birds don't care too much. But I like to have a little fun with it.
If you note the directions in the recipe, you'll see we didn't follow them to a "t". That may explain some of the not so hot results! We also did not use the peanut butter pictured above (which has hydrogentated fats added to keep it "together" so you don't have to stir it.) Wayde used my "good" organic, need to stir it peanut butter. It's possible we didn't "cook" it long enough too. I think the runnier peanut butter really made a difference in the soupiness of the project.
The string, while a great idea in theory, didn't work so well in practice. The cakes fell from the strings. I suspect the cakes just weren't hard enough. The ones we first put out did not go in the freezer. They just hardened outside and didn't get really firm.
Recipe we used:
BIRDSEED CUPCAKES
2 quarts water
1c butter/lard/margarine
4 c cereal (cornmeal, oatmeal, farina, cream of wheat, roman meal)
(note we used old cheerios - that may have made a difference!)
1 c pb (crunchy’s best)
1c chopped fruit (apples, raisins, currants, dates)
(our seed had dried fruit in it. don't know if Wayde doubled up the seed or not to compensate)
1 c birdseed chopped nuts or sunflower seeds (optional)
Bring water and butter to boil in a large pot. Slowly stir in cereal and cook until thick, 5-15 min depending on kinds. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and fruit. Let cool before adding seeds or nuts.
Spoon into small non-metal containers (not necessarily necessary). Store in fridge or freezer. (we used metal)
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