Today is Mardi Gras. It is making me think of Pastor Bat. I really miss him. His funeral was a week or two ago. Before the Super Bowl. He was from New Orleans and it was so neat to see all the photos from when he was growing up. I had a feeling that the Saints might win the Super Bowl and that would've just delighted him (if he even cared about football).
I also think of him because I'd never heard of a "King's Cake" until I'd met him and Christa. What a neat tradition. If I'd been thinking about it earlier, I would've baked one and brought it to school. I'm always disappointed when I miss those types of opportunities. Then again, I have to remember that God could be giving me another chance in the future.
Tomorrow starts Lent. This year, especially, it feels like Christmas just barely ended. I want to sit here and ponder the baby Jesus. To smell the hay (and other odors) of the stable. To think of Mary holding her tiny baby and treasuring up all these things in her heart. To think of Simeon and of Anna, waiting their whole lives to see the promise of a savior fulfilled. To think of hope, courage, love. To ponder how much God loved the world to enter flesh and walk, talk, sleep, eat.
I'm not ready to journey to the cross. Ironically, during Christmas vacation, I read Paul Maier's book Pontius Pilate and fell in love with it. The amazing historical and cultural insights I gained. It was as if I was looking upon God's plan and timeline with fresh eyes. Now that the time to teach this has come (at least for my 8th graders), I want to sit and rock a baby. Then again, when I started to teach about Pontius Pilate and the Passion of Jesus, I felt joy I'd never known before in teaching. I felt so filled with enthusiasm and life.
Ash Wednesday starts my own journey as well. I have set a goal of doing the T-Tapp workout during Lent. I'm so bad about being faithful to that workout, even though I know it works. I did so well with Wii Fit and then once I unlocked Advanced or Expert on the majority of the games, the interest leveled off. Sad, I know, but true. So I need to get some sleep so I have energy to do the T-Tapp workout. And then to really focus on the sacrifices that Jesus made for all of us. Sometimes it's overwhelming. Sometimes it's thrilling. Sometimes it just is.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I should be sleeping, but...
I should be sleeping, but...
There's always something else to do, right? I spend the majority of my day on my feet, on the move, NOT in front of a computer... I spend my days talking, presenting, entertaining, guiding, parenting, helping, checking, admonishing... for ME, when I get home, the computer is a nice escape. Connect with other adults. Leave behind the stresses and frustrations of the day. Share the joys and laughter of the day. It is something I really look forward to.
For my husband, he works with computers almost every day. The thrill is gone. The last thing he really wants to do when he gets home is be on the computer. If he is on the computer, it is most likely to look up something to do with sports. I'm OK with that.
I should be sleeping but I don't want to. I want to write. I want to read. I want to think. I want to justrelax. I don't want to sleep. That's what the weekend is for, right? I love weekend naps. My husband never, ever naps. So weekends he isn't up late. It seems so opposite and crazy, but I guess that's how we make it work.
There's always something else to do, right? I spend the majority of my day on my feet, on the move, NOT in front of a computer... I spend my days talking, presenting, entertaining, guiding, parenting, helping, checking, admonishing... for ME, when I get home, the computer is a nice escape. Connect with other adults. Leave behind the stresses and frustrations of the day. Share the joys and laughter of the day. It is something I really look forward to.
For my husband, he works with computers almost every day. The thrill is gone. The last thing he really wants to do when he gets home is be on the computer. If he is on the computer, it is most likely to look up something to do with sports. I'm OK with that.
I should be sleeping but I don't want to. I want to write. I want to read. I want to think. I want to justrelax. I don't want to sleep. That's what the weekend is for, right? I love weekend naps. My husband never, ever naps. So weekends he isn't up late. It seems so opposite and crazy, but I guess that's how we make it work.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Best Sugar Cookies and Frosting -- ever.
If you didn't hear, my first attempt at making Sugar Cookies from scratch this Christmas season did NOT go well. I used the recipe from Better Homes and Garden cookbook. I'd never tried that recipe before and I should've known I'd have problems right from the start. It called for equal parts shortening and butter. We had two (opened) cans of Crisco -- both of which were disgusting and apparently "expired" about 3 years ago. I don't think I'll ever forget the sight/smell. Ewwww. I thought I would double the recipe and apparently when you double it, there isn't enough sugar... because they honestly tasted like (what I imagine) baked play-doh would be like. Ick.
So I turned to my most reliable source for anything related to baking: My friend Beth. She is amazingly talented so I knew she's have a great recipe for me. She uses a Betty Crocker recipe. As it turns out (from talking to my mom today) this is also the one that my mom used while we were growing, with a few modifications. Learning from past mistakes, I decided that if I wanted more than one batch of dough, I would make one batch right after the first one instead of trying to double the recipe.
Here is the original recipe, as passed along from Beth (this is what I used):
Cream Together: 1 & 1/2 c. powdered sugar and 1 c. butter
Stir in 1 egg, 1/2 t. vanilla extract and 1/2 t. almond extract
In a separate bowl, blend 2 & 1/2 c. flour, 1 t. baking soda and 1 t. cream of tartar (OR, if you don't have the cream of tartar, use 2 t. baking powder instead of the soda/tartar combination).
Stir flour mixture into the sugar mixture.
Chill 2-3 hours or overnight. (I kept mine in the fridge for about 2-3 days because I got busy and didn't have to roll/bake them right away.)
Roll out to 3/16 inch thick. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake in 375F oven for 7-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
For my mom's variation, she uses 1/2 c. butter and 1/2 c. cream cheese. She uses 1 t. vanilla and no almond extract.
OK, no one wants to eat cut out sugar cookies plain, right?
I didn't want to make a powdered sugar icing because, well, that's not what I grew up with for sugar cut out cookies. I talked to my mom and she said she used buttercream frosting. Could this recipe be any easier? Honestly, why would I ever buy a can of frosting again??
16 oz. Powdered Sugar
1 stick of Butter
3 T. milk (add one at a time as it's mixing so the consistency is right)
2 t. vanilla
This makes about 2 & 1/2 cups of frosting. Wow, it was good. I couldn't find where I'd put the food coloring, so I saved some white frosting and I mixed some green colored decorated sugar into the rest of the frosting. I made cut out of bells and trees so the bells are white and the trees are "snowy" white/green. :)
These recipes were delicious, simple and well, obviously, fool-proof since I made them with great success. I gave K a bite of a cookie when they cooled and within 10 seconds, she came running into the kitchen saying, "I need nother cookie, mama!" Excellent.
So I turned to my most reliable source for anything related to baking: My friend Beth. She is amazingly talented so I knew she's have a great recipe for me. She uses a Betty Crocker recipe. As it turns out (from talking to my mom today) this is also the one that my mom used while we were growing, with a few modifications. Learning from past mistakes, I decided that if I wanted more than one batch of dough, I would make one batch right after the first one instead of trying to double the recipe.
Here is the original recipe, as passed along from Beth (this is what I used):
Cream Together: 1 & 1/2 c. powdered sugar and 1 c. butter
Stir in 1 egg, 1/2 t. vanilla extract and 1/2 t. almond extract
In a separate bowl, blend 2 & 1/2 c. flour, 1 t. baking soda and 1 t. cream of tartar (OR, if you don't have the cream of tartar, use 2 t. baking powder instead of the soda/tartar combination).
Stir flour mixture into the sugar mixture.
Chill 2-3 hours or overnight. (I kept mine in the fridge for about 2-3 days because I got busy and didn't have to roll/bake them right away.)
Roll out to 3/16 inch thick. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake in 375F oven for 7-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
For my mom's variation, she uses 1/2 c. butter and 1/2 c. cream cheese. She uses 1 t. vanilla and no almond extract.
OK, no one wants to eat cut out sugar cookies plain, right?
I didn't want to make a powdered sugar icing because, well, that's not what I grew up with for sugar cut out cookies. I talked to my mom and she said she used buttercream frosting. Could this recipe be any easier? Honestly, why would I ever buy a can of frosting again??
16 oz. Powdered Sugar
1 stick of Butter
3 T. milk (add one at a time as it's mixing so the consistency is right)
2 t. vanilla
This makes about 2 & 1/2 cups of frosting. Wow, it was good. I couldn't find where I'd put the food coloring, so I saved some white frosting and I mixed some green colored decorated sugar into the rest of the frosting. I made cut out of bells and trees so the bells are white and the trees are "snowy" white/green. :)
These recipes were delicious, simple and well, obviously, fool-proof since I made them with great success. I gave K a bite of a cookie when they cooled and within 10 seconds, she came running into the kitchen saying, "I need nother cookie, mama!" Excellent.
Christmases Past
I was just thinking about Christmases past...
1976 I remember getting an engraved angel necklace charm from my maternal grandparents. It's the only thing I clearly remember my grandma Elsie giving me. (She died in 1979).
1980 I remember getting a Barbie who was a ballerina -- she had a beautiful tutu and built in crown. I was thrilled.
1983 Cabbage Patch Kids came out and even though I was in 4th grade, my mom's coworker had connections to get a doll. It was a Christmas surprise because my parents didn't remember where they hid it and I didn't get to open it until we'd be done opening gifts for a while.
1988 I went ice skating with my brother and my cousin Sylvia at Running Park while my mom was working at Fairview Southdale. I slipped getting on to the ice and broke my wrist. As soon as mom got home, she had to turn around and wait 4 more hours in the ER with me. They called in my brother's bone doctor (from when he broke his leg) -- he was at Mass and had to leave. I felt so bad about that.
1996 I was living in Guatemala and we (the single female teachers) were invited over to a school family's house for supper at midnight. No lie. Midnight. It was SOOOO fun. I got to sit next to grandma. All she could say in English was, "I was born in Chicago." At dinner they served Mogen David (dessert) wine and grandma kept telling me, "Es muy sauve..." Ha ha ha... don't have to tell ME twice to drink that wine.
1998 I was living in St. Louis and didn't drive home to MN because I had to sing in the church choir on Christmas Day. One of my seminary professors asked what I was doing for Christmas and when I told him that I would be staying on campus (I lived in a small guest housing room at that point), he immediately invited me over to his home and said his wife would be thrilled to have another person at Christmas dinner. True to his word, they were both very gracious hosts and there were other Seminarians at their house as well. After a wonderful meal and wine, his wife played Christmas hymns on the piano and we all sang along.
2003 I had just started dating Todd. He was in NY visiting his parents (his grandma and aunt were there too). Heidi & I went to Cross View to deep clean the high chairs in the infant room and all the toddler room chairs that were caked on with old jello and all kinds of crud. It was just a nice, relaxing time.
2005 Todd & I were newlyweds. We had purchased a pre-lit artificial tree the day after Christmas the year before so it was very fun to decorate our home.
2007 Kathleen's first Christmas. She was 9 months old. She received a lot of books and accidentally slammed her thumb in a book. She cried a lot but was fine. :)
Wow, so many blessings throughout the years.
1976 I remember getting an engraved angel necklace charm from my maternal grandparents. It's the only thing I clearly remember my grandma Elsie giving me. (She died in 1979).
1980 I remember getting a Barbie who was a ballerina -- she had a beautiful tutu and built in crown. I was thrilled.
1983 Cabbage Patch Kids came out and even though I was in 4th grade, my mom's coworker had connections to get a doll. It was a Christmas surprise because my parents didn't remember where they hid it and I didn't get to open it until we'd be done opening gifts for a while.
1988 I went ice skating with my brother and my cousin Sylvia at Running Park while my mom was working at Fairview Southdale. I slipped getting on to the ice and broke my wrist. As soon as mom got home, she had to turn around and wait 4 more hours in the ER with me. They called in my brother's bone doctor (from when he broke his leg) -- he was at Mass and had to leave. I felt so bad about that.
1996 I was living in Guatemala and we (the single female teachers) were invited over to a school family's house for supper at midnight. No lie. Midnight. It was SOOOO fun. I got to sit next to grandma. All she could say in English was, "I was born in Chicago." At dinner they served Mogen David (dessert) wine and grandma kept telling me, "Es muy sauve..." Ha ha ha... don't have to tell ME twice to drink that wine.
1998 I was living in St. Louis and didn't drive home to MN because I had to sing in the church choir on Christmas Day. One of my seminary professors asked what I was doing for Christmas and when I told him that I would be staying on campus (I lived in a small guest housing room at that point), he immediately invited me over to his home and said his wife would be thrilled to have another person at Christmas dinner. True to his word, they were both very gracious hosts and there were other Seminarians at their house as well. After a wonderful meal and wine, his wife played Christmas hymns on the piano and we all sang along.
2003 I had just started dating Todd. He was in NY visiting his parents (his grandma and aunt were there too). Heidi & I went to Cross View to deep clean the high chairs in the infant room and all the toddler room chairs that were caked on with old jello and all kinds of crud. It was just a nice, relaxing time.
2005 Todd & I were newlyweds. We had purchased a pre-lit artificial tree the day after Christmas the year before so it was very fun to decorate our home.
2007 Kathleen's first Christmas. She was 9 months old. She received a lot of books and accidentally slammed her thumb in a book. She cried a lot but was fine. :)
Wow, so many blessings throughout the years.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
What's Cookin'? Christmas 2009
As you may know, my husband loves to cook. Loves it. He honestly missed his calling -- he could've, should've -- been a chef. Since weather is so unpredictable in December, it's understandable that people don't typically make the trip from the Twin Cities out to Appleton for Christmas here. We (Ok, *I*) decided that it would be nice to make a big Christmas meal at home. We invited some friends from our church to join us for Christmas Eve eve dinner (ie December 23) but it didn't work with their schedules. So at the last minute (like, yesterday) Todd suggested that we email our friends Jim & Monica to see if they were free. Jim is Todd's former roommate, he was in our wedding and we've been to their house just about every summer for a cookout. It was long overdue for us to have them over at our house.
In case you're stuck for ideas on something to new or different to cook, here is what we were cookin' up for Christmas meal this year...
1 Turkey breast (just under 8 lbs) -- 325F for 3 hours. 2 cans of Chicken Broth used to baste. It was covered with aluminum foil. The most MOIST Turkey I've ever had.
Refrigerated Mashed Potatoes - 5 lbs of red potatoes, peeled all of them except for about 4. Slice to 1/2 inch pieces. Boil in salted water until tender. Drain water. Add enough milk to mash. Place in greased baking dish. Cut 3 oz of Cream Cheese into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces. Mix into warm mashed potatoes. Add 1/2 cup of Sour Cream and mix through. Cut 2 T. of butter/marg into 4 pieces and place on top of potatoes. Sprinkle top with Paprika. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour if not longer (up to overnight). Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F.
Sweet Potato casserole - 4 or 5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices. Place in greased 8 x 8 casserole pan. (I microwave them with some water for about 10 minutes). Add about 1-2 T. of Orange Juice concentrate. Sprinkle with 1-2 tsp Brown Sugar. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove and mashed as much as possible. Cover with mini marshmallows and allow time for them to melt on top (can place in warm oven for a while to help them melt if needed).
Stuffing - we used Sage stuffing from Stove Top. I didn't eat any of it but Jim and Monica loved it.
Orange-Cranberry Relish. This is so easy and one of my favorites. 1 orange (cut into 8 sections, keep the peel on). 1 bag of fresh cranberries. 3/4 cup of white sugar. Mini marshmallows. Using a meat grinder (I have the attachment for a Kitchen Aid mixer), place the orange sections through the grinder, followed by the cranberries. Mix in the sugar. Refrigerate and top with marshmallows just before serving.
Croissants - Pillsbury Croissants from a can. Easy but good treat.
Cran-Apple Pie Tart - Peel, core and slice 4-6 Granny Smith Apples. Place in bowl and add 1/2 c sugar, 1 & 1/2 T. flour, 1/2 t cinnamon, 3T lemon juice and orange zest for 1/2 a large orange (or 1 whole small orange -- I used the zest from part of the orange that I put in the orange-cranberry relish). 1/4 - 1/3 cup of cranberries (more or less, to your preference). 1 t vanilla extract. (I used 1/2 t. of vanilla extract and 1/2 t. of almond extract just because I had them both). Mix everything in a bowl. Heat 4 T (1/2 stick) of butter or margarine in a pan over medium heat. Place the apple mixture into the pan and cook over medium for about 10 minutes. On a jellyroll pan, place the pie crust. Spread the apple mixture on the crust, to about 2 inches of the edge. Fold the edges up and around the mixture (there will be about 3-5 inch circle in the middle). Bake in 350F for 30-40 minutes. So easy, so yummy!
In case you're stuck for ideas on something to new or different to cook, here is what we were cookin' up for Christmas meal this year...
1 Turkey breast (just under 8 lbs) -- 325F for 3 hours. 2 cans of Chicken Broth used to baste. It was covered with aluminum foil. The most MOIST Turkey I've ever had.
Refrigerated Mashed Potatoes - 5 lbs of red potatoes, peeled all of them except for about 4. Slice to 1/2 inch pieces. Boil in salted water until tender. Drain water. Add enough milk to mash. Place in greased baking dish. Cut 3 oz of Cream Cheese into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces. Mix into warm mashed potatoes. Add 1/2 cup of Sour Cream and mix through. Cut 2 T. of butter/marg into 4 pieces and place on top of potatoes. Sprinkle top with Paprika. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour if not longer (up to overnight). Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F.
Sweet Potato casserole - 4 or 5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices. Place in greased 8 x 8 casserole pan. (I microwave them with some water for about 10 minutes). Add about 1-2 T. of Orange Juice concentrate. Sprinkle with 1-2 tsp Brown Sugar. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove and mashed as much as possible. Cover with mini marshmallows and allow time for them to melt on top (can place in warm oven for a while to help them melt if needed).
Stuffing - we used Sage stuffing from Stove Top. I didn't eat any of it but Jim and Monica loved it.
Orange-Cranberry Relish. This is so easy and one of my favorites. 1 orange (cut into 8 sections, keep the peel on). 1 bag of fresh cranberries. 3/4 cup of white sugar. Mini marshmallows. Using a meat grinder (I have the attachment for a Kitchen Aid mixer), place the orange sections through the grinder, followed by the cranberries. Mix in the sugar. Refrigerate and top with marshmallows just before serving.
Croissants - Pillsbury Croissants from a can. Easy but good treat.
Cran-Apple Pie Tart - Peel, core and slice 4-6 Granny Smith Apples. Place in bowl and add 1/2 c sugar, 1 & 1/2 T. flour, 1/2 t cinnamon, 3T lemon juice and orange zest for 1/2 a large orange (or 1 whole small orange -- I used the zest from part of the orange that I put in the orange-cranberry relish). 1/4 - 1/3 cup of cranberries (more or less, to your preference). 1 t vanilla extract. (I used 1/2 t. of vanilla extract and 1/2 t. of almond extract just because I had them both). Mix everything in a bowl. Heat 4 T (1/2 stick) of butter or margarine in a pan over medium heat. Place the apple mixture into the pan and cook over medium for about 10 minutes. On a jellyroll pan, place the pie crust. Spread the apple mixture on the crust, to about 2 inches of the edge. Fold the edges up and around the mixture (there will be about 3-5 inch circle in the middle). Bake in 350F for 30-40 minutes. So easy, so yummy!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Procedures, Procedures, Procedures
OK, I may be slow... but I think I've finally gotten down the key to making things run smoothly (eventually) in my multi-grade classroom.
The key, as Harry K. Wong, would remind us all: procedures.
I spent an entire first week of school practicing procedures with my students. Who sharpens the pencils, who straightens the books, how we line up, how & when we pack up at the end of the day, how we are quiet when others are talking, etc. Over and over and over. To this day (week 8), some kids STILL sit down as soon as we say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, even though we have said the pledge to the cross and the student bill of rights for our classroom EVERY.SINGLE.DAY of school right after the Pledge to the American flag. Is it really that hard to remember? Seriously?
So now that I've been reading (and finally watch the rest of the Harry Wong videos about Effective Teachers), I decided to put it into action. The premise is that every day all of us follow procedures -- how/when to answer a phone, how to go through security at the airport, how to wait in line at the grocery store, etc. Classrooms are no different. I loved Dr. Wong's comment that you can start the year with 5 rules and end up with 100s of rules by the end of the year because rules are tedious and must be enforced -- who has time to police students all day? Procedures are the WAY we do things. No right or wrong, no discipline just simply the WAY we do things.
When I'm interrupted for the 2nd time by students having their own conversation, I look at them and say, "I'm sorry but the procedure is for ONE person to talk at a time. I am talking now. Follow the procedure and stop talking." Likewise, even though our student bill of rights states that they each have a right to hear and be heard, they talk non-stop while others are talking. When I remind them of the classroom rights, they ignore it. When I tell them about the procedure, they pay attention. It's a slow process but other teachers are noticing a subtle change in my group.
I admit that it's more annoying when I must do the same thing with middle schoolers... but I do it. It gets results. This will probably end up at home with my toddler as well. I may not say "procedure" but I will say "We do not do this... we do it this way..." We'll see. :)
The key, as Harry K. Wong, would remind us all: procedures.
I spent an entire first week of school practicing procedures with my students. Who sharpens the pencils, who straightens the books, how we line up, how & when we pack up at the end of the day, how we are quiet when others are talking, etc. Over and over and over. To this day (week 8), some kids STILL sit down as soon as we say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, even though we have said the pledge to the cross and the student bill of rights for our classroom EVERY.SINGLE.DAY of school right after the Pledge to the American flag. Is it really that hard to remember? Seriously?
So now that I've been reading (and finally watch the rest of the Harry Wong videos about Effective Teachers), I decided to put it into action. The premise is that every day all of us follow procedures -- how/when to answer a phone, how to go through security at the airport, how to wait in line at the grocery store, etc. Classrooms are no different. I loved Dr. Wong's comment that you can start the year with 5 rules and end up with 100s of rules by the end of the year because rules are tedious and must be enforced -- who has time to police students all day? Procedures are the WAY we do things. No right or wrong, no discipline just simply the WAY we do things.
When I'm interrupted for the 2nd time by students having their own conversation, I look at them and say, "I'm sorry but the procedure is for ONE person to talk at a time. I am talking now. Follow the procedure and stop talking." Likewise, even though our student bill of rights states that they each have a right to hear and be heard, they talk non-stop while others are talking. When I remind them of the classroom rights, they ignore it. When I tell them about the procedure, they pay attention. It's a slow process but other teachers are noticing a subtle change in my group.
I admit that it's more annoying when I must do the same thing with middle schoolers... but I do it. It gets results. This will probably end up at home with my toddler as well. I may not say "procedure" but I will say "We do not do this... we do it this way..." We'll see. :)
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