Science Sunday: I’m sick

 

So, I’m not going to do the long write-up about the cave, besides which I need to be packing to head out of town tonight for a birthday party up in Dallas.

But, this leads us to my science topic for today.  Did you know that one variation of strep throat is a very itchy rash on your skin?  I didn’t until I went to the doctor yesterday and was told I had strep.  I was thinking a lot of other things, but not that.  So, now my entire torso and upper thighs are covered in spots.  I’d show you pictures, but I don’t think you want to see that.

So we had ice cream for breakfast this morning.  Yes, I know very healthy, but that’s about all I could imagine swallowing.

 

Batman came up with his own experiment though, he explained it to me in detail.  He wanted to find out if he added cereal to the ice cream if it would become more crunchy.

The steps as described by Batman:

 

1.   I put crunchy things in my ice cream.

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Then I mixed it and there was crunchy things.

 

 

 

 

3.  And that was all of my ‘speriment.  Now for my next experiment.

 

At that point I couldn’t hear what he was saying because he ran off to look at the caterpillar we found.  Honestly, I’m not sure what he was hoping to learn about this.  It did crack me up that he insisted this was an experiment.  And, ignore the dirty dishes in the picutres, “these are not the dishes you’re looking at.”

 

Hopefully on Monday I can post a couple of other things we’ve done this week.  It’s been one of those weeks with family in town and people not being where they said they’d be.  Sometimes dealing with family can be very frustrating.

Batman cooked his own dinner last night!

Okay, that was with a lot of help.  But, here’s what he decided he wanted to eat:



He decided he wanted eggs and chicken.  I had some cooked chicken on hand for the planned pasta salad, so he added that in to his scrambled eggs.  And he was mostly careful as he cooked it.

He told me later he burned himself "just a little bit,” as he was cooking.  But it must not have been too bad because he didn’t want a band-aid.

Great birthday present

My kids loved making this and playing with it.  We made enough to keep some at home.


To give the background, we were at a birthday party and my friend had made a fishing set really quickly out of bamboo, and some wooden die cuts from Michaels.  I thought it was just brilliant, and commented I wanted to make some.  So, we went through her backyard cutting down bamboo saplings for me, while her husband was just shaking his head thinking, why oh why…….  We however thought it was great!


Supplies: bamboo poles (I’d say about an inch thick) or dowel rods; washers; magnets (I bought a pack of 8 at Home Depot, where I also bought about 50 smaller washers), wooden die cuts (I bought mine at Michaels, but they probably have them at other craft stores), sharpies, mod podge, a strong glue that can glue metal to other objects and is water proof, small box

1.  Let your kids go nuts picking out wooden die cuts.  I probably should have restrained them somewhat, but we had a lot of fun.  While you’re there also get a small wooden box to hold the die cuts.


2.  Color the different shapes with Sharpies, or some other waterproof marker.  Hold it up to admire your work.


3.  Color your box as well.  We got a “beach themed” box, or something, and it had all of these little reeds, the kids delighted in coloring.


4.  Put a small puddle of your glue on your die cuts in the middle, and press a washer firmly down.  I figured out to use a skewer to get it firmly in there.  I also added a washer at the bottom of the pole, to hold the string on when storing.

5.  Put a small puddle of glue on your magnet.  Drop your string into this, and then put a washer on top, sandwiching the string between.    Tie the string to the top of your dowel or bamboo, and then put some glue around it so it doesn’t slip.  Now you’ve got to let it all dry for about a day.  This is the hard part, convincing your kids to wait for that time.  

6.  Cover the die cuts with mod podge, so they are waterproof.  Wait a few minutes for it to be tacky dry, and then flip them over and paint the other side.

 
7.  Give it fifteen minutes and it should be all dry.  Have fun with your fishing game.

Sunny Anderson: Chicken and Dumplings

Yes, I am a week behind, and I was really and truly going to get a recipe from the other guy cooked, and I hope to this week……  But, in the meantime here’s what I did for last week that didn’t get posted.  It’s amazing how much a wedding and visiting family can throw you off your game.

 

And as a quick side note, she also hosts the only show we actually watch on Food Network, How’d That Get on My Plate?  I love that show, it’ll follow some simple ingredient, like wheat, and show how it goes from the field to the factory.  Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say.

 

In case you couldn’t tell from the multiple Chicken and Dumplin’ recipes I’ve tried, I’m on a quest to find the prefect one.  And, I think with a little bit of combining I might have.

So, here goes.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped (or a couple of spoonfuls of the pre-chopped stuff)
• 1 whole (5 to 6-pound) chicken, skin on, cut into 8 pieces, including neck
• 6 cups water (I used 4 chicken breasts, and had more than enough meat)
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 5 to 6 fresh thyme sprigs, plus 1 tablespoon chopped leaves (dried, I was short on time and didn’t want to pick some that day)
• Small bunch parsley stems, plus 1 tablespoon chopped leaves (dried, parsley doesn’t grow for me, you know what is growing like crazy?  mint, it’s taken over my flower garden, but I can’t bring myself to pull it because the leaves are so pretty.)
• 2 fresh sage sprigs, plus 1 tablespoon chopped leaves (I used rubbed sage, about a teaspoonful)
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 stalk celery, trimmed and halved crosswise (left out)
• 2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus
• 1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• Special equipment: Kitchen twine
• I could have sworn I added in poultry seasoning somewhere.

Directions

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, melt 1/4 cup butter and lightly saute the onions and garlic, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken, water, and stock, making sure liquid covers meat, and then add a little extra for lots of broth. Tie the thyme sprigs, parsley stems, and sage sprigs together and add to the pot along with the peppercorns, and celery.  I guess I could have tied them, but I just threw a handful or two into the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the chicken until it is "fall of the bone" tender, about 30 minutes, skimming off scum as it simmers. Remove the chicken from the pot to a cutting board and let cool. Remove the herb bundle and the celery and discard. Reserve the stock. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull it from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces.

In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups of flour with the remaining chopped herbs and the tablespoon of salt. Make a well in the middle and pour 1 cup of the reserved chicken stock, including fat, into the well. Using a fork, slowly stir the stock into the flour. Repeat, adding more flour and/or stock until a soft, doughy consistency is reached. Add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if it gets too sticky. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to slice the dough into 2-inch squares, then cut the squares in half on the diagonal into triangles. Again, I just dropped in blobs.

Return the stock to a simmer and slowly add the dumplings, allowing some excess flour to remain on the dumplings to increase the body of the broth. Be careful not to let the dumplings touch as they are added to the pot. Cook until the dumplings rise to the surface. If the broth does not thicken to your liking, mix together 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl with a fork. Slowly add the mixture into the broth to help thicken the soup. Stir in the reserved chicken and ladle into serving bowls.  I didn’t add all of the dumplings in, it made a lot of dumplings it seemed like, more than other recipes.

RESULTS:  I really liked the flavor of the broth, this seemed like it had the most body of the different ones I’ve tried.  I think the dumplings were okay.  I like one of the other recipes better where I added shortening to it, these dumplings.  So, I think if I combine these two recipes I have my “perfect chicken and dumplings” recipe.

Hopefully next week I’ll have two recipes to post, but this past week has been CRAZY!  My family leaves town on Friday, but then we go up to visit Jeff’s family for his Mom’s birthday, and I really better get on it finding her a present.  And don’t forget to visit I Thank My Mother for more great recipes, and everyone else will probably actually have the correct chef for the week.

These are a few of my favorite things

“When the wind blows, when it’s cold at night….”
You know I think I know all the lyrics to that song, but not in the right order.  So I can sing it, but it probably won’t sound like when what’s her name that was also Mary Poppins sings it, but then my voice isn’t as good as hers anyways…….
So, what are my favorite things, well here they are as they occur to me, so this is not in any sort of order, other than the craziness of my brain…..
1.  musicals, and music in general.  But musicals in particular.  I always pick up musical soundtracks, and could probably sing to you large portions of several musicals.  Off hand I could sing along to Phantom of the Opera, The King and I, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, Beauty and the Beast, Godspell (which I was in, as well as Charlie Brown), Big River, and a whole slew more.

2.  I love swing music, oldies, and Big Band.  I’m a sucker for a good swing dance.

3.  any time my kids tell me something about Jesus.  I love it when Princess will pipe up with something from the CDs we’ve been listening to recently, we’ve been on a Psalty kick.

4.  Books, going to bookstores, seeing a library full of books.  I love the scene in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast when he takes her into the library, and she’s just in awe of the books, I’d be the same way.  That’s probably why I had 6 boxes of books when I moved in college.  The picture above is all the books I had packed for moving in college.  Ummm, I had interesting labeling of my books.

5.  Sewing, actually I’ve come to the conclusion it’s more about the creative process.  But, I still think I love sewing the most of all the crafts I’ve done.

6.  My family, I’m a bit of a homebody, and I love my family.  Even when they drive me nuts.  Which is often.

7.  Reading my Bible.  It’s hokey I know, but I do love to read the Bible, I love to listen to sermons, and find new things.  I’ve been having fun illustrating the Bible.  I was listening to one of Sean’s talks recently (my brother is a youth pastor at one of our sister churches) and he was talking about how he connects to God through seeing great epic movies, and seeing the grand scope of things, and I realized that creating things and making things for others is one of the ways I connect to God.  After all we have a very creative God, He created the universe from nothing, and he created the platypus and the kangaroo.  Don’t you think those are cool?

8.  Ummm, other stuff I like.  Okay, truthfully it’s midnight, and I don’t think I”m going to come up with ten.  That was my imaginary number I came up with to do this, but really I’m tired.  So, you guys guess what else might be some of my favorite things.  Man, now that songs stuck in my head again.

Oh, and since I didn’t originally put this in the wedding post.  Here’s how Jeff hurt his thumb:  he was trying to open one of the toy guns for the kids, and his knife slipped right through the plastic and was topped by his thumb.  After the appointment today, they decided he doesn’t need surgery, but he does need a rather large brace to keep him from using it.

I look forward to seeing what other people’s favorite things are, or if you’re not going to write a post about it, tell me in the comments, what are you favorite things?

Okay, seriously it' is hurting to be awake, so I’m going to bed now.

So, I totally forgot to put in that this is hosted by Kylie over at Worldwide Classroom