What's Cookin' -- Garlic Shrimp

For my birthday, I wanted seafood. But there is only one restaurant in town that serves really good seafood and it is a little pricey. We had just been there about a month earlier and we try not to eat out too often. So, I picked up some shrimp and crossed my fingers that I could make it taste good. It was great and simple!

Pan-Seared Garlic Shrimp
This marinate was on the back of the shrimp package. The pan-searing portion is from The America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook.

2 lbs shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
1 whole lemon or lime
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter

1. Mix together the olive oil, lemon or lime juice, garlic, sea salt and black pepper with the shrimp in air tight container or ziploc bag.
2. Marinate for 2 hours in refrigerator
3. After marinated, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet on high until smoking.
4. Add half shrimp to pan and cook for 2 minutes. Shrimp should be curled and pink. Don't over cook. Repeat with second half of shrimp
5. Add butter if desired.

To learn from our past and to live for our futures

This time of year is always a chance for reflection. I always write in a journal the re-cap of the year and highlights that happened to me. I usually can sum up the year in a few words. Of course, that will be saved for my journal. For this entry, my goal is to make a promise, a wish, a hope for my family for this year and for years to come.

Our family is small, just three of us. And I have been a wife for more than 2 years and a mom for 17 months. It's important to take a look at what is important in life and how being a wife and mom affects how I live my life. I cherish all the time and experiences that we have together. I often think of years to come. I wonder what will interest my daughter at 5, 10, 15, 20 and so forth. As a parent I hope to never limit her, but challenge her. As a parent I promise to support every opportunity that comes her way. I will love her and will never judge her choices. I wish her all the love and happiness she deserves. While this ideal may be a challenge to meet at times, I will do my best.

A family is a unity that works together. I hope to spend quality time as a family with unique and fun experiences. I promise to enrich our lives every day with kind words and unconditional acts. I hope our family finds balance between work and play. I wish for memorable moments that we look back on and smile. I hope for positive and reinforcing energy in our lives.

What's Baking -- Banana Muffins

I made these this morning and they are delicious. I like that I have all the ingredients on hand.

Banana Muffins
Original recipe here.
Makes 10 muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.
4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
5. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins
6. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Feed Boxes

There's no secret the best toys at Christmas are the boxes. Here's an activity to use boxes in a creative way.

There are many uses of the feed box and different skills can be enhanced throughout different ages. For my 16-month-old just putting the shapes in the slot is a challenge.

Here are two that we have around our house. The snowman has round snowballs that my daughter feeds it. She loves to feed it and open the box and find the snowballs.

The squirrel has acorns that he eats and his slot is slightly smaller than the snowman creating a little more difficulty. It's great for problem solving.




FEED BOX
Materials:
Used box -- cereal boxes work great
Large pattern to fit one side of the box (Squirrel)
Smaller pattern of a shape copied many times (Acorns)

Directions:
1. Tape a pattern to an empty cereal box.
2. Cut a slit through the pattern and box so the smaller shape fits.
3. Cut out several shapes for feeding (laminate if you wish)

I first learned this idea at a Early Childhood Conference many years ago. Joni Warzala presented and I purchased a few of her pattern books. You could easily use a pattern from a coloring book or clip art and find smaller shapes to feed. Or you can draw (or have the kids) draw the patterns.

Feed Box suggestions:

• Elmo and apples
• Bear and fish
• Snowman and snowballs
• Squirrel and acorns
• Dog and bones
• Caterpillar and all that food from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," by Eric Carle
• Boy or Girl and fruits, veggies, cookies, etc
• Ask kids what they think would be a good feed box -- they come up with great ideas.

**The list is really endless.**

Variations

• Use it as a scrap box for cutting scraps
• Have children cut out their own smaller shapes and feed
• Label smaller shapes with numbers, letters, words, shapes, etc. Ask child to put in certain shape in slot -- great for a quick assessment of knowledge.

What I really like about this activity is that it is cheap with re-usable items. The box won't last forever, but at least you can let them play with it without worry about the cost before the destruction. This would be a good to take traveling, too. You could even toss it before coming back. You don't have to use cereal boxes, be creative. The ideas are really endless with this one.

Have fun with it!

Reading blogs and then what

I'm reading several blogs a day that are so interesting. There are so many great ideas out there. But in order for their tips and ideas to be useful to me I have to do something with them. I don't have time to make every craft or recipe. About once a month I go through some of my favorite blogs and copy down the ideas. I then file them. I have files for several categories -- one for every month, one for each subject (math, reading, sensory, etc), one for projects to make, one for art activities and several more.

Many are for future use with either my daughter or for teaching. It will be so nice to go to the file and have ideas to sift through. Thanks to many of you for sharing your great ideas!

Buying meat again

I have posted in the past how we buy a quarter cow and a half a hog each year. Here's the breakdown of our quarter cow this year.

79 1 lb packages of ground beef

3 packages of stew meat

13 chuck roasts

5 arm roasts

15 Ribeye steaks

total 200 pounds of meat ($1.79 a pound = $358)

We have them package the roasts and steaks into serving sizes that are about one meal for us. I really like this because I don't have to unthaw more than I'll use. I also noticed that the grocery stores package ground beef in 1.15 pound or 1.2 pound packages. I was spending more money for meat that I really didn't need. It's so nice pulling out a 1 pound package from the freezer and its 1 pound every time.

Our half a hog was about $150 and we received several hams, roasts, pork chops, pizza sausage, pork sausage, bacon, and pork hocks. I didn't tally how much meat it was before we started eating it. But it is a lot of meat, also.

Last year, the quarter cow lasted a year and the half hog lasted about 9 months. Well worth the money!

What's Cookin' -- Veggie Pizza

I've seen this one done many ways, but this is the version I prefer. You can alter the type of fresh veggies you want to use. I just use these three that are my favorite.

Veggie Pizza
This is a great dish to bring to a gathering or to eat for a snack.

2 (8oz) cans crescent rolls
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 to 1 1/2 cups of fresh chopped veggies (I use carrots, broccoli and cauliflower)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Press two cans of crescent roll dough into ungreased 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan to form crust. (I use a 9 x 9 square pan and just use one can)
3. Bake for 13 to 17 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Cool completely.
5. Mix together cream cheese, dill weed and garlic powder.
6. Spread cream cheese mixture over top of cooled cooked crust.
7. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
8. Top with chopped carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.