May 20 - Pick Strawberries Day, Weights and Measures Day
Sunday, April 28, 2013 by Shelley Miles
Pick Your Own Farms, Recipes, May Activities

1. Always call the farm before you go. During strawberry season, large crowds may show up
2.  Ask if you need your own containers – they should be less than 5” deep so the berries don’t get bruised.
   
3. Leave for the farm early in the morning. On weekends, all the strawberries may be gone by noon. 
4. Don’t forget hats and sunscreen – and snacks. 
   

• 1 graham cracker crust
  
• 2 pints strawberries
  
• 1/4 Lemon
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2 envelopes (or tbs)  unflavored gelatin
  
• Whipped cream
  

• Wash and drain berries
  
• Slice 1 pint of the berries
  
• In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together the sliced berries and sugar. Sprinkle the gelatin over the mixture.
  
• Stir until mixture comes to a boil.
  
• Turn off the heat and stir in the 2nd pint of whole berries and a small squeeze of lemon.
  
• Pour the berry mixture into the piecrust.
  
• Refrigerate until the gelatin firms up.
  
• Serve with the whipped cream. –mmm

May 28 - Hamburger Day
Sunday, April 28, 2013 by Shelley Miles
Recipes, May Activities

Today celebrate America's favorite food! Whether you love hamburgers, spinach burgers or turkey burgers, there is a delicious burger waiting for you. Check out some of these great kid-pleasing burgers.

Classic Burger

Vegetarian Black Bean Burgers

Healthy Hamburgers

Sloppy Joes

Turkey Burger

Spinach Burger

Friday, March 29, 2013 by Shelley Miles
April Activities, Recipes

APRIL 26-National Pretzel Day

• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 tbsp. sugar or honey
•  2 tsp. salt (preferably sea salt)
• 6 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour or a combination
• 1 egg beaten,
• 1/4 cup water Coarse kosher salt.

1. Put the yeast in a bowl with the warm water and whisk with sugar or honey. As the yeast activates, it will give off an aroma. Explain to your child that the sugar helps the yeast grow. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes. When tiny bubbles appear and the mixture starts to expand, you're ready to move on.
2. Mix in the flour and salt. Stir with a spoon and finish mixing with your hands as the dough becomes stiff. It's ready when it's a little crumbly and flaky.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead it like you are playing with clay. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic (up to 10 minutes).
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size (1-2 hours). 5
5. Punch the dough down and knead it again to remove any air bubbles.
6. Divide the dough in half and cut each half into ten equal sections.
7. Form each section into any design, shapes, or letters you desire. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
8. Cover pretzels with a damp cloth, and let rise for about 30 minutes.
9. Make egg wash by mixing together beaten egg and ¼ cup water
10. Place pretzels on baking sheet, brush on egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse salt.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 by Shelley Miles
Money, Recipes, April Activities

APRIL 2 – US Mint authorized by Congress in 1792 National Peanut butter and Jelly Day

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 by Shelley Miles
Recipes, Games, March activities

MARCH 19 - Corn Dog Day

Not exactly health food, but delicious. Corn dogs first made their appearance in the 1920's and became really popular in the 40's. Corndogs are basically hot dogs on a stick, dipped in a cornbread batter and deep - fried. You can make them at home with this recipe. Corn Dog Recipe

Corndog day is part of March Madness basketball fun. So go out and shoot a few baskets - or better yet, play sock basketball. As the kids help you pair up socks, set up a laundry basket a few feet away, and toss the folded socks in. Score!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 by Shelley Miles
Recipes, March activities

MARCH 25 - Waffle Day (Sweden), Pecan Day, Start of Passover

Instead of serving ice cream in a waffle cone, scoop it onto an actual waffle instead. Add the toppings of your choosing, and top with another waffle for a yummy dessert sandwich. (If using freshly made waffles, let them cool before layering on the ice cream; if using frozen, toast lightly first, then assemble your dessert.) Serve for breakfast, and your child will have one more reason to think you’re the best mom on Earth—though you’ll probably want to choose strawberries or bananas as a topping at six in the morning, not hot fudge!

Happy Pecan Day. Today we pay homage to the only nut tree native to America - and what could be more delicious than Delicious Rachael Ray Pecan Pie?

The story of Passover, is the story of the Jews escaping slavery and the arduous journey through the desert on their journey to freedom. It is celebrated by re-telling the story at a ceremonial dinner and by giving up all "leavened" bread products, and eating matzoh , instead.

Traditionally, after the Passover meal is eaten, the family patriarch hides a piece of matzoh, called the Afikoman, as a symbolic dessert. The child who finds it receives a small prize.

To play this game, first make an Afikomen cover. Sew or glue one piece of blue felt and one piece of white felt together along three edges (leaving the top edge open). Make sure the felt pieces are larger than the piece of matzoh. To decorate, draw a six-sided star with white glue onto the cover and shake on glitter. Let dry and shake off the excess sparkles. Place the matzoh in the cover, and find a good hiding place!

Sunday, December 30, 2012 by Shelley Miles
Crafts, January Activities, Recipes, Book list

January 19-National Popcorn Day, Clyde Robert Bulla birthday

Popcorn is one of the many foods we enjoy that come from native Americans. Try this yummy recipe for Crispy Nutty Popcorn from Popcorn-Recipes.net.

Leftover popcorn?  Try some popcorn art.

Materials

• Construction paper or cardboard
• Popped popcorn
• Glue
• Markers or crayon

How to:

1. Draw a picture – a person, a sheep, a tree, a pan etc
2. Glue popcorn in the places you’d like texture, for example – the sheep’s wool, a persons hair or fluffy collar, tree leaves, popcorn popping out of the pan etc. Let your imagination run wild!

Happy birthday Clyde Robert Bulla.  He has written over 60 titles.  Here are three favorites to get started.

Thursday, November 29, 2012 by Shelley Miles
Recipes, Science, Crafts, December Activities

DECEMBER 17 - National re-gifting day, Wright brothers day, National Maple Syrup Day

 Re-gifting is a wonderful way to teach children about giving from the heart. Ask your child to select a toy that they’ve out-grown (hopefully in good shape) Have them find all the pieces, clean and repair the toy. Your child can give the toy to a younger sibling, or someone else that they think will really enjoy it. You may be surprised at the joy this brings to both the child giving the gift, and the child receiving the gift, giving something that has been loved. We did this all the years the kids were growing up, and these special gifts from each other were among their favorites. A side benefit? It really helps keep the clutter down. There is a rocking horse in our family that has now belonged to 15 children. Each of the children who’ve “owned” the horse has their name inscribed on the horse.

No matter where you live, you can enjoy a taste of New England by making some authentic Vermont Snow Candy.

Ingredients

• 1 quart of pure Vermont maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon of butter
• Shaved ice or fresh snow
  

How to

1. Combine ingredients
2. Heat until a candy thermometer placed in the mixture reaches 234 degrees F.
3. Cool slightly until it reaches the consistency of taffy.
4. Drizzle over small bowls of shaved ice or fresh snow.

Today commemorates the first successful flights of Orville and Wilbur Wright near Kitty Hawk, No. Carolina.Kids can discover some basic concepts of flight building their own paper airplanes. Origami-Kids has 10 paper airplanes designs to experiment with. Which fly the furthest? Which go highest?


 

Thursday, November 29, 2012 by Shelley Miles
Recipes, December Activities

DECEMBER 19 - Write to a friend month, Oatmeal muffin day

In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we tend to simply scrawl our names in cards before sending them off in the mail. Consider adding a personal letter to at least a few of the cards you send out this month. Another alternative is a typed family newsletter that can be copied and enclosed with each card. Or tuck in a drawing made by one of your children. These personal touches will make your correspondence all the more meaningful. I dont know why there is an oatmeal muffin day, but they are delicious and nutritious.

Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 1 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
• 1 egg 1/2 cup brown or white sugar
• 1/3 cup canola or corn oil
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped apples (optional), dried cranberries or chopped walnuts

How to
 

1. In a large bowl combine the oatmeal yogurt.
2. Let it stand for a few minutes so the oatmeal absorbs the moisture. Add the egg, sugar and oil.
3. Beat for about 30 seconds.
4. Add the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.
5. Mix until well blended.
6. Add any optional ingredients
7. Spoon the batter into muffin cups, filling each about half full.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012 by Shelley Miles
Recipes, December Activities

DECEMBER 2 - National cookie cutter week, National fritters day

Fritters are pieces of fruit, vegetables, meat, or cheese deep-fried in batter. It is believed that the origin of this food resides in Northern Europe and dates back to medieval times. Fritters were often eaten to celebrate religious holidays, but you can fry some up any time. Try these with bananas for a taste sensation.

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

• Prepared pancake batter
• 4 or 5 large Granny Smith  apples
• Cooking oil
• Confectioners’ sugar (optional)
• Cinnamon (optional)

How To

1. Peel and core 4 or 5 large apples
2. slice into 1/2 inch rings.
3. Meanwhile, in deep skillet or deep-fat fryer, slowly heat oil (at least 2 inches deep) to 375 degrees on deep-frying thermometer or until small bubbles form around a wooden chopstick.
4. Roll apple rings in prepared pancake batter, coating evenly.
5. Deep-fry rings a few at a time 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, or until golden-brown on both sides.  
6. Drain on paper towels.
7. Serve hot, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar or cinnamon.

(Makes about 16 fritters) I've never been able to make enough of these. :-D

So many cookie cutters – so little time. Ever since my kids were small, we’ve always set aside an evening during the holidays to bake cookies together. When we emerged covered in flour and frosting, we’d spent a wonderful evening laughing, mixing, rolling, cutting and frosting and tasting. The kids have graduated from mixing, to measuring, to cutting out the cookies – and now have mastered the whole process – including creating their own masterpieces – Marilyn Monroe, Batman Santa – in addition to traditional favorites.

Here are some favorite recipes for giving and eating.

Reindeer Cookies

1. Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe, or store-bought prepared sugar cookie dough- home made dough holds it’s shape best.
2. Roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick.
3. Cut into triangle shapes.
4. Add mini M&Ms, raisins or chocolate chips for eyes and and a red M&M for the nose.
5. Press in curly or twisted pretzels for antlers.
6. Bake according to cookie dough recipe.

Rugelah

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour 1 8 oz. package cream cheese
• 1/4 lb stick of unsalted butter
• Approximately 1/8 cup ice water
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Jam

How to

1. Beat together flour, cream cheese, butter.
2. Add enough ice water for the dough to turn into a ball.
3. Cover, and let dough rest in refrigerator for 20 minutes.
4. Roll out fist size balls of dough to 1/8 inch thick.
5. Cut like a pizza into wedges.
6. Place ½ tsp of jam (pick your favorite) at the fat end of the wedge. Gently roll the fat end of the wedge over the jam. Continue rolling to create a crescent shape. Gently pinch the corners and place on a cookie sheet.
7. Bake approximately 20 minutes at 350 until golden.
8. Makes around 30 small cookies

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Jeremy Tellier
Shelley Miles