http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 3 Nov 2006 11:30:00 -0600 Fri, 3 Nov 2006 11:30:00 -0600 Anyone remember this show? I can't remember what it was about or who was in it except Gary Gnu! LOL! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/231821/ Fri, 3 Nov 2006 11:30:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/231821/ Today I needed sugar so I ventured out even though it was cloudy and chilly. I decided to take my two boys 3 and 10. They romped and squealed all the way ! lol jumping in and over puddles...we were cracking up especially them. I guess because I was getting wet! It rained on the way back and noone wanted to take their hands out to pick up leaves but we had fun anyhow. I'm learning so much about my boys on these little outings that I look forward to more. Like M4 was very obedient when I said we couldn't get fig newtons because we had graham crackers for a snack we were making. He loved doing multiplication and using what we learn. I was also reminded of how much of a content child he is and that he doesn't ask or need much to be happy. Which may be why simple infractions upset him too. He doesn't beg for anything at the store and he even helped me with the math for a purchase with a coupon compare to what we usually by. We came up with the same price so we decided to try something new. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/216107/ Sat, 7 Oct 2006 18:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/216107/ A friend posted this on another group...I like it in a pinch too:) I wanted to rise my bread really quick last night and I decided to put it in my crockpot. After I kneaded it I sprayed the bottom and sides of the crockpot with nonstick spray put the dough in then sprayed the top. I turned the crockpot on low for ten minutes, tuned it (the dough) after 5 minutes, then turned it off. It was double size in 15 minutes http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/214093/ Wed, 4 Oct 2006 10:19:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/214093/ From my oldest son...more to come I want to make a Gallary here in the Art group!:D I love his work...all of it wouldn't be appropriate on here, but I'll share what I can. or maybe it's mommie that's a little shy about nudes;) He's very good with the anatomy now...i should say excellent but I don't get final say my husband does. I'd like to see him really throw himself into scenery. Just something he wouldn't normally do! Yet I know he'd excel in it as well http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/205011/ Tue, 19 Sep 2006 11:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/205011/ Cassata Recipe courtesy Anna Tasca Lanza Food Network:Cassata My Grocery List lemons lemon extract spring-form pans ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pan di spagna (cake): 6 eggs, at room temperature 2/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon grated orange or lemon peel 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted Special equipment: 9-inch spring-form pan Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan. To make the cake, beat the eggs preferably in an electric mixer for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and grated citrus peel and continue to beat until the beater leaves a ribbon-like trail, about 15 minutes. Fold in the flour by hand, one-third at a time. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes then unmold and cool completely. Sciroppo di zucchero (syrup): 3/4 cup warm water 5 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier) To make the syrup: In a small bowl, combine 3/4 cup of warm water with the sugar and the liqueur. Stir the syrup until the sugar dissolves. For Crema di Ricotta This recipe needs 3 cups Crema di Ricotta...so I have to do the math on this part:s for ricotta whipped cream 1/3 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup ricotta cheese 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups whipping cream * In small bowl, mix ricotta, powdered sugar, and vanilla until well blended. *Set aside. * In a large bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. * Add ricotta mixture and continue to whip until smooth. To form the cassata: Slice the cake into 2 (1/2-inch-thick) slices. Trim the crusts from the cake then return one of the layers to the springform pan. Spoon half the syrup over the cake then spread a layer of ricotta crema on top. Repeat, carefully placing another layer of cake, drizzling with syrup then spreading with ricotta. Wrap the cake in plastic and chill it for at least 1 hour. Unwrap the cassata and invert it onto a serving plate. Ice the cassata then decorate it with whole and cut pieces of candied fruit. Chill the cassata for at least 3 hours, then slice and serve. Glassa (frosting): 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 lemon, juiced 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract Candied fruit, for garnish To make the frosting: Sift half of the confectioners' sugar into a bowl. Add half of the lemon juice and all of the lemon extract. Stir the liquid into the sugar, breaking up any lumps. Sift the remaining sugar into the bowl and add the rest of the lemon juice. Thin the icing with a little water until it has a thin spreading consistency and forms smooth, shiny icing. Cook's Note: Cassata sometimes boasts a decorative layer of marzipan. A viewer, who may not be a professional cook, provided this recipe. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe and therefore, we cannot make representation as to the results. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/203011/ Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/203011/ LOL! The Plums finally hit there peek here, so I brought enough to make candie out of. It will be for M3's Italian birthday cake. It's called Cassada. I'll be finished the candy, just in time. The price is so right and I'm feeling so confident, that I want to get more Plums. I still want to do the jam recipe, in my recipe group. I decided to candy a mango to add more color to the cake. Plus I want some limes and lemons, hopefully this week. So far the colors will be auborn red, orangy yellow and green and yellow, with the lemon and lime rinds. tee hee I knew this would be fun! M5 said I love canning, yey! I know my dh won't want any :( since it will be too rich for his taste buds. It's for her birthday anyway soo...who knows he may try it. I know I will....Now to focus more on Dh's birthday since His is first:D. Oh... I did a search on the web on how to candy fruit and I found two I really liked. One was on this page "crazy wacka doo"!! (as my kids would say), for chef's, So I'll just give the recipe and the other is on how to dot com. Here's the one from the wacka doo place! My first advice for anyone making candied fruit is to get a calendar or journal to help you keep track of what step you are at in this long process. This is especially important if you are doing several fruits or citrus rinds at the same time. Yea, you can use this process for almost any fresh fruit both wild and domestic. Use only firm, unblemished fruit in this process and always wash fruit before hand. It will be necessary to prick each cranberry before the first step with a needle otherwise they will burst open in the cooking process and become mushy. Candied Cranberries Ingredients 1 1/4 cup liquid 3/4 cups of granular sugar day 2-7 1/4(cup?) of additional sugar day8 1/3 of a cup of sugar Equipment colander strainers Jars In a sauce pan place your washed and needle pricked cranberries. Cover with just enough water to cover and set on a medium heat. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. Not enough time to make the fruit mushy but enough time to break down the cell walls so your sugar will penetrate the cranberries easily over the next couple of weeks. Remove your cranberries from the heat and strain keeping the juice aside. For every one pound of fruit that you just cooked place 1 and 1/4 cup of liquid in a sauce pan. Heat to a boil and dissolve 3/4 cups of granular sugar. When completely dissolved pour this sugar mixture over your cranberries and set this aside. Note here that if at all possible you should lay your fruit in a single layer for the sugar syrup. This allows the syrup to cover every piece of fruit. As I am limited on kitchen space I saved the single layer technique for orange slices and such of that nature but I used glass jars for grapes and cranberries. As all fruits used love to float do weight down your single layer fruits with a plate and your jarred items with a small custard bowl set inside the jar. Leave your fruit to set at room temperature for 24 hours. On day 2 strain off your syrup and place it in a sauce pan. Heat and dissolve 1/4(cup?) of additional sugar to the syrup and cover your fruit with the syrup when it reaches a hard boil and all the sugar is dissolved.Cover and leave for another 24 hours. Repeat this process for days 3,4,5,6, and 7. On day 8 drain off your syrup and dissolve 1/3 of a cup of sugar by bring the syrup to a hard boil. This time though you will add your fruit, allow the mixture to reach a boil then place the fruit and syrup back in your container to age for 48 hours. Repeat this process again on day 10 but leave set for 4 days before moving onto the next step. (See why a journal is important now? It just gets confusing where you are at otherwise.) On day 14 your syrup will have the consistency of "honey". With many fruits it will also have a golden color as does honey but with cranberries it will be a marvelous scarlet. Drain your fruit in a colander saving the syrup and setting it aside. When the fruit is completely drained dry it for 2-3 days in a warm, dry place or "in your oven at it's lowest setting with the door held ajar with a wooden spoon." For either method do stir the fruit on occasion to insure a complete and thorough drying of the fruit. For air drying I would imagine that laying your fruit on wax paper would be good but for the oven I used a non stick cookie sheet. The fruit can be used strait away without drying in fruit cakes and cookies. If you dry them completely you can grind them into a coarse meal to be used as a sprinkle for cakes, breakfast cereals or trail mixes. And they byproduct of fruit syrup? That is a welcome addition to our table I use it for glazes for deserts, on ice-cream or pancakes. And if you are like me, it is never enough to victimize just your family so do pass along your hard work in gift baskets over the holidays. Other fruit you can candy include but are not limited to: apple, peaches, apricots, grapes, mango, kiwi, pear, citrus or wild fruits. Keep each fruit separate or the flavors will blend and if using small fruits such as cherries do take the time to pit them. Keep sections of fruit uniform in size for each batch and most of all allow this to be a fun project. The possibilities end only where your imagination ends. I'm on day two now;) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/202926/ Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:13:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/202926/ list of books that arrived already... So far the teacher's edition has really read me and given me... inspiration and enthusiasm as my tools!" http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/199729/ Sun, 10 Sep 2006 16:09:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/199729/ Today M4 finished his letter. He and his father sat and pumped it out while I fixed dinner with my dd. He said "it was fun...now I need a stamp!" I asked why it wasn't fun with us and he smiled and shrudged I don't know. So I just hugged him. I think I feel pressure so in turn he feels pressure and we just don't enjoy and the result is less work gets done. So attitude adjustment. Back to the alter! I keep thinking I can win everyone but....so I need to change that thinking too. One of my favorite things is to win souls to Christ...just to have my hand in the mission! Love that, but one has to be wise to win souls... so this will be my thinking and also to glorify Him by relaxing and enjoying all our moments together no matter what we are doing. M5 had to read two verses today concerning the Lord calming the storm!. There were a few words that she gets stuck with. I'm so glad for her voice...it's angelic for an 8 yr. old. I've come to call on her to sing a song i don't know all the verses for...never disappointed! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/190783/ Sat, 26 Aug 2006 00:54:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/190783/ I don't know why and I'm sure there are lots of ppl out there that do this naturally every yr., but this is my first time. I've always wanted to can goods. My family tease by say " why is it called canning when you use jars?" or "yuk" So what, I don't care. I think anyone who is a serious cook, has tried to can, at some time. I'm looking forward to it either way. I've been collecting everything I need for a while now. The other day in the Dollar Tree they have all the other tools I need for 1$! I need spatulas and one of those gripping things to take the jars out and maybe one more hand towel. I said I'd come back next week and get them. So today I bought some jars and lids...carrying them home was a feat worthy of all my momma muscles, which have been building stamana by picking up toddlers for 17 yrs. heehee. I've visited some very interesting blogs about cooking, all kinda foods. Other than the bible my favorite books to read are cookbooks, food network. Well I can't tell you how excited I am to start this family tradition of canning. I'm looking forward to seeing and tasting yummy goodies in a jar that I love all summer long. I don't think I'll be able to do the spring favorites. I'll wait till next yr. to do strawberries, but apples, applebutter, peaches, plums, cherries and tomatoes. I may even try a chutney! lol who knows. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/190443/ Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/190443/ Nothing to do but to do it, everyday, all day, one min. at a time! So saying that for the past few days... M4 has been reading short poems from our childcraft book. It's a real confidence booster for him too:) So I just knew reading a short verse would bless him just as much...it is the word of God :D At night we each take turns reading scripture. Today he completed another effort in writing to his pen pal...i want to add another. Milky our cat's dander got to him today, but we trooped through with sneezes and sniffles anyhow. I put on the calendar a note for Milky's salon...to help keep his dander down. Tomorrow we'll write more of the letter and mail it on the weekend. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/188131/ Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CocoaBean/188131/