Friday Pie-Day: Cherry-Berry Streusel Pie

So here follows a tale of a pie that didn’t quite turn out like the picture promised. However, it was due mostly to our lack of direction-reading, so I am looking forward to trying this pie again!

It certainly was an interesting (and extensive and random) mix of ingredients!

After preparing the pie crust, we simply dumped all the filling ingredients into a bowl. We used frozen raspberries, so they had to sit out and thaw for a bit, then be drained.

The brown sugar and cinnamon smelled so good with the cherries and raspberries!

The topping is where we went wrong. We didn’t read the recipe closely enough, so we mixed the cake mix and chopped pecans (we omitted the coconuts) with butter and milk. Oops! As you can see, it was a weird consistency that had to be spread by hand.

Determined not to let this setback ruin our pie, we plowed onward with our plan for a decorative pie crust. We tried to imitate the elaborate “flower design” we observed in the example photo, with mediocre results.

And then we brushed the top with milk and sugar.

Yeah, so it sort-of ended up “rising” a little in the oven, which was weird.

It turned out looking rather odd, but fortunately the flavor was not affected. We are looking forward to making it the “correct” way one of these days!

It may not have looked amazing, but it certainly tasted heavenly!

 

And as you can see, we had no problem polishing off this less-than-perfect pie!

Cherry-Berry Streusel Pie (recipe from Taste of Home)

pastry for 2 (9-inch) crusts

FILLING:

2 cans (21 oz. each) cherry pie filling
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon

TOPPING:

1 cup yellow cake mix
½ cup chopped pecans, toasted
½ cup flaked coconut
¼ cup butter, melted
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. sugar

1. Prepare pie crust and place in pie plate. Combine filling ingredients; spoon into curst.
2. Sprinkle dry cake mix, pecans, and coconut on top. Drizzle with butter.
3. Top with pie crust. Brush crust with milk; sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges loosely with foil.
4. Bake at 375 for 55-65 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on wire rack.

Alphabet Book: K-O

Welcome back to the next installment of our awesome alphabet book! If you haven’t already, go back and read the explanation behind it and the previous alphabet page ideas!

Kk is for Kiss

This was the “saved” version of our class kissing wall that we did around the time of Valentines Day. (You can read more about it here.) But basically I put their individual pages up to the kissing wall and had them kiss the page in addition to the wall. Long after the paper came down, they still “kiss” the wall!

Ll is for Leaves

I think you can guess when we did this – in October, when we learned about fall! Even though we don’t get too many fall colors in Florida, we still painted leaves red, orange, yellow, and brown. After each child had painted their leaf, I made a print of it on their “leaf” page. (Leaf rubbings would be great for this too!) And then we stuck on some foam leaves as well.

Mm is for Me!

This was one that the children did not participate in, but I think it will be fun for them to flip through their book and come across a picture of themselves! It turned out to be a very simple scrapbook page, as I just mounted the picture on some triangles and stenciled their names below.

Nn is for Noodles

When we learned about our five senses in September, we had a whole sensory bin full of noodles. We used those big shell pasta and rotini, and then we painted with them too! I just set out some trays of paint with a few noodles, and the kids had a blast! It is so cool to see the ridges and textures.

Oo is for Orange O’s

We made these in February, when we talked about colors and shapes. It is also very reminiscent of our circle art, but we only used pool noodles this time. They are the perfect size for little hands to grip, and they made lots of circles/O’s!

Stay tuned for more alphabet book ideas!

A-E
F-J

Monday Meals: Minestrone Soup

This is a “soup”-er healthy meal that tastes great and isn’t too difficult to make! The hardest part is really just getting all the vegetables chopped at the beginning.

 

It does call for lots of ingredients, and none of them are meats! (We didn’t have zucchini in our fridge at the time, but I think it would go great with this and have included it in the recipe below.)

It smelled soooo good here – there is nothing quite like the aroma of onions, garlic, and other vegetables cooking in olive oil!

After they’ve gotten soft, add the chicken broth.

 

Then we kinda strayed a little from the recipe, but it still turned out great. We added the pasta at this point – we used rotini, but I think every time we make this soup we use a different kind of pasta. We have used shells, penne, macaroni… basically whatever’s in the pantry.

I like to cover the pasta with the tomatoes and water, just to make sure it’s submerged and cooking. And basically, let it boil and cook for awhile until the pasta seems tender.

OK, ummm… this is how much basil and oregano I added. (This was before I stirred it in.) I’m pretty sure it’s more than a teaspoon of each. It was not over-flavored for us though.

See? When you mix it all together, it doesn’t look too herby.

Once the soup is pretty much cooked, add the cans of beans. We have also done garbanzo beans in the past. And you could use fresh or frozen green beans.

The last step is adding fresh spinach. Do this soon before you serve it, because the spinach doesn’t take very long to cook. Also, you can add a lot, since it will cook down.

 

And that’s it! We had ours with some rolls and crackers.

This is a fun meal to experiment with, adding various vegetables and trying different kinds of pasta. And it tastes great and is healthy for you!

 

 Minestrone Soup

1 tbsp. olive oil

1-2 onions, diced
2 celery stalks
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 cups thinly sliced carrots
1 small zucchini, sliced
2 cups chicken broth
2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1 cup uncooked pasta
4 cups water
1 can (15.5 oz) dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen green beans (or 1 can)
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach leaves

1. Heat oil in large soup pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion, celery, garlic, carrots, and zucchini; cook and stir 2 minutes.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, water, sugar, pepper, basil, and oregano. Bring to a boil. Add pasta and cover with water. Boil 15-20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the canned/frozen beans and heat through. Stir in spinach. Cook an additional 3-4 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

 

 

 

 

Friday Pie-Day: Peanut Butter Pie

Another classic pie (we made this in 2011), and this is a favorite, knowing our family’s love for peanut butter!

It’s actually pretty simple, and it doesn’t require very many ingredients. (We were making 2 pies, which is why there are 2 tubs of whipped cream and 2 packages of cream cheese!)

First you mix the cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar together.

The handwritten recipe we found in our cookbook said we might have to mix these ingredients by hand, so my sister dove in and worked it into a nice dough.

Then just fold in the whipped topping.

If you’re like me, add one more dollup of peanut butter, just for good measure!

Then pour it into the pie crust (just a pre-made graham cracker crust – easy)!

We also garnished the top with crushed peanuts because… why not?

Then it needs to be refrigerated for several hours so it will harden. We have found that overnight is best, even if the recipe says it only needs 2 or 3 hours.

So passes another successful and very yummy pie!

Peanut Butter Pie

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

⅓ cup peanut butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
9 oz. whipped topping
graham cracker crust

1. Mix cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar in bowl, using hands if necessary.
2. Fold in whipped topping and pour into pie shell.
3. Chill at least 2 hours (overnight is best) before serving.

 

 

Alphabet Book: F-J

Welcome back to the next installment of our awesome alphabet book! If you haven’t already, go back and read the explanation behind it. Now, on to the letters!

Ff is for Feet

This is pretty self-explanatory – just paint their feet! We did this at the beginning of the school year when we were learning “all about me.” Since they were kinda little way back then, I had them sit in a high chair while I painted their feet with a paintbrush, then pressed their foot onto the paper (with a hardcover book behind it to give them something to press down on).

Gg is for Green Grapes

Unlike our apple and corn from the first few alphabet pages, we didn’t actually paint with real grapes here. Instead we painted with… wine corks! So of course we talked about the color and the circular shapes, and it was during our healthy food unit in January, so I did say they were “pretend grapes.”

Hh is for Handprints & Hearts

I bet you can’t guess when we did this one – haha. Yes, it was in February, but the only thing the kids needed to do for this was press their handprints on the page (they were already experts thanks to our handprint calendar) and then choose which hearts they wanted. These were foam hearts, and I just used a gluestick to attach them wherever the children wanted them. Clickhere for more Valentine ideas!

Ii is for Ice Painting

In January, we painted with ice! For more details about our ice painting, you can read all about our “Wintry Fun for Florida Toddlers.” But basically it was like watercolors. We talked about how cold it felt on their hands as they were smearing the colored ice cubes all around! And this was when my printer wasn’t working, so I just had to write it in. Oops!

Jj is for Jiggly Jellyfish

This was another super easy handprint craft, which we made in April when we were talking about animals. Just paint the whole hand (except the thumb) purple (or pink or whatever) and press down on the page upside down!

Stay tuned for more alphabet ideas!

A-E
K-O