Our Windowsill Garden

So we have a vegetable garden outside for the first time this year.
We planted tomatoes, sugar snap peas, basil, cilantro, cumcumber, carrots, squash...and then strawberries and blueberries as well.
Most of what we planted were from starters...The kids LOVE to go out to see what changes have happened or what improvements our starters have made.

SO......I thought I would teach them from scratch...
seed by seed, with their own hands.
That way, they could witness the stages...that will eventually land on our table.

My kids LOVE vegetables.
From the time they were babies I fed them fresh foods in all of the colors of the rainbow.
We would try, and try again, until eventually most things became a part of our weekly menu.
Don't get me wrong...with each child there are a few things that only go down with a fight...
But I think, that for the most part my kids are very well-rounded in that department.

I thought having their own little windowsill garden, would be fun for them to learn from.
Where they pick what to plant...then watch it from first sprout, to stir-fry.

My kids planted every seed themselves...

(Yes...my sons nails are painted. I did a manicure for my daughter...and he wanted to try it too...so we did it for fun. **You KNOW you are lovin' the color**!!!!)

They picked parsely, chives and basil.

Green pepper, yellow tomato and grape tomato.

They talked to each other about which seeds would go where.

We talked about how many seeds to put in each of the little dirt pads.

We read about how long it would take for each to sprout.

It was a REALLY FUN project!

This sat in our windowsill for FIVE.....yes FIVE days....

And THIS is what we have now...
***

Talk about quick gratification!

Raelyn

SUPER Easy Yogurt Popsicles!!!

Have you seen this new yogurt???
It is great!
They are the perfect size for little tummy's...and come in several different flavors.

So I had a package that's date was coming close, and I was try to figure out how to use it...
It was sunny and warm out....
So......
I did this....

I opened all of them, put in plastic spoons.
Put them in the freezer for a few of hours.
Then I pulled them out, let them sit just a bit to loosen, and then worked the frozen Popsicles into baggies to store.

The kids LOVED them!
They are super healthy, and they will keep for at least another month now that they are frozen. (Not that they will last that long. :))

Raelyn

Big Baked Pretzels!

Right before Easter we tried out the pretzel recipe that I found HERE.
Infarrantly Creative is an amazing blog, by the way, in case you have never been there. She does
A-MAZING furniture re-do's, and room decor, and recipes...and she can work those power tools!
Anyway.....
I saw these pretzels and thought my kiddos would love to help with them!

I know, YUMMY, right?????
Here is the recipe that she used at Infarrantly Creative...
*1 cup+2 TBS water
*3 cups all-purpose flour (I used half all-purpose, and half wheat flour with great results!)
*3 TBS brown sugar (I used dark)
*1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
******************************
Later.....BOIL(after the pretzels are made and being formed...)
*8 cups water
*1/2 cup baking soda

Super simple!

Little, and Middle helped me put together all of the ingredients in the bread machine. Then we set the cycle to "DOUGH"

I am sure that you could make this WITHOUT a bread machine....I would imagine that you would need to mix it well...and then knead it for a bit, then let it rise for at least an hour covered in a warm room.

When the dough cycle was done, I punched it down and kneaded it into a nice round ball.
I used a dough cutter and cut it in half, and then each half in half...I rolled those GENTLY into nice balls.
I gave each child their own ball of dough, and they went to town.

The older two, were great...
Middle made a balloon, and baseball bat, a rainbow, a soccer ball, a "T" and a pretzel (go figure) :)

Teen even enjoyed herslef...
She made a sunshine, a pretzel, a "K", a "B" and a ball

Little LOVED it, but needed some help...she kept playing and re-forming...like it was playdoh. :)
In the end, she made a heart, a snake, an "M" and a pretzel.

For the record, the dough really doesn't look that appetizing raw.

While the kids are forming, you need to boil the 8 cups of water, and 1/2 cup baking soda together. I forgot to take a picture of this step.
Once boiling, drop in, one by one, the created masterpieces for 10 seconds each!
Drain on paper towels.
Then put them on baking sheets and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes...
When they are nice and deliciously carmel brown they are done.

Seriously.....??????? Are you drooling??????

They were really good! With a hint of a background sweetness!
YUMMY!

We will definately be making these again.....
Look how cute if you had guests over or something.....

*****One hint....In MY opinion....these are REALLY good, the first night...and OK the next day. The kids didn't mind, and they kept eating them and eating them, however...

Raelyn