From Tale To Table - Baking Bread

In our new reading series, Wonders, there is a story called From Tale to Table.  It is about baking bread and it is about how you have to follow a plan and read carefully to make a recipe.  It included a recipe for bread. So to break up our usual reading and paper pencil plan, I decided to make bread! The kids loved it and the bread was yummy! 

 I sent out an SOS email in the morning and had a mom take it home and bring it back to us! 

Ingredients

1 cup warm water

¼ cup sugar

2 t. active dry yeast

1 t. salt

3 cups flour

2 T vegetable oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the warm water and 2 t. of sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for 5 minutes.


2. Stir the solution in the bowl. Then add the salt, oil, and the rest of the sugar.


3. Put flour in another bowl. Slowly pour in the solution and stir until the mixture comes together. Shape the dough with your hands to make it round.


4. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 8 minutes. Then place it in a covered, greased bowl. Put it somewhere warm to rise for 1 hour. The dough should double in size.


5. Take the dough out and punch it down. Shape the dough into a loaf.


6. Place the loaf in a greased bread pan. Then cover the loaf. Wait for about an hour.


7. Remove the cover and bake the dough in the oven at 375*F for 25-30 minutes. Check that the crust is golden brown and the center is fully cooked. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool.

 

Chicken Parmesan

This weekend Harper, who is 4, helped me cook some chicken parmesan! She was a great helper! She pretty much made the bread all by herself. It all turned out yummy. We ate the whole pan! We were so busy cooking, I only took a picture of the final product!

Abbey had some noodles in the fridge that were already cooked, and I used jared spaghetti sauce to speed up the process!

                               

Ingredients
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 t. Italian seasoning
2-3 chicken breasts
1 egg
1 jar spaghetti sauce
mozzarella cheese
olive oil

Directions:
1. Place chicken breasts in a ziplock baggie. Pound out the chicken until it is about 1/2 inch thick.
2. Prepare 2 bowls, one with egg, and one with 1 cup breadcrumbs, a 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and 1 t. Italian seasoning. If you need more you can add to it later. I always feel like most recipes have too much breading and you end up throwing half of it away1
3. Dip chicken breasts in egg, then in breadcrumb mixture.
4. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a skillet.  Add chicken and cook until both sides are browned.
5. Cover the bottom of a pyrex dish with spaghetti sauce.
6. Add cooked chicken, top chicken with a little more sauce, and sprinkle with cheeses.
7. Cook in 375* oven for 10-15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked.
8. Serve with noodles and remaining sauce.

Chalkboard Frame

This chalkboard was the final touch for the playroom. Abbey found a big frame and we painted it with Red Annie Sloan Paint. I was tired of painting, so I just "dry brushed" it. I think it adds to the frame! Then traced the corners of the frame on the wall, used blue painters tape, to paint about an inch outside of the box. I used 2 coats of paint. Then Cody screwed the frame right into the wall!

We also got the curtain hung up!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Costumes-- In action

Here are a few pics of the girls in their costumes! The loved them and kept asking to wear them.  Now they are in the dress up toy box, I'm sure, and they can wear then whenever they want! Millie, the dog, even got in on the action with a Very Hungry Caterpillar costume from Walmart!

Sausage, Tomato, Pesto Pasta

Having an abundance of grape tomatoes & basil, means you need to get creative with how to use them.  I made this once, and it was so good, I made it 2 more times! 

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup Basil Pesto

1/4 cup red onion

1 cup grape tomatoes

1/2 pound Italian sausage 

sprinkle of parmesan cheese

1 t. Italian seasoning

1-2 t. Olive oil

Spaghetti noodles

Directions: 

Cook spaghetti noodles as directed, and drain. 

In a pan, cook Italian sausage, once it is almost cooked, add tomatoes and onion. 

Once the veggies are soft, add them to the drained noodles. 

Add pesto, olive oil, Italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese.  

Mix together, and serve with bread!

I love this because it is easy to throw together, it is even better the next day! 

Poppy Seed Chicken

I made this last night for our Amazing Race dinner. The boys loved it and I did too! This is so easy to throw together and it freezes great too! I'm taking it to a friend tonight who had surgery.

Ingredients:

3 Cups Chicken- I use rotisserie chicken, so I don't have to cook it! 

8oz Sour Cream 

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup 

1 T Poppy Seeds

1 1/2 cups Ritz Crackers, crushed

1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions: 

Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl and mix. 

Spread into casserole dish (I used 8x8).

Melt butter and add crushed Ritz crackers. 

Sprinkle on top. 

Cook for 30 minutes at 350*.

Fall Activities

Aren't these mummy juice boxes cute? A mom made them for our Halloween party!

 Last year we wrote stories about Skeletons who had hiccups.  The kids love this creative writing.  This year I was nervous about fitting in the craft aspect, because we have been so busy. Luckily our great art teacher made these name skeletons with them! They turned out so cute!!

 We also made haunted houses and math division word problems.  I think they enjoyed the break from the fast paced, skill work we have been doing!

Fall into Fall similes and metaphors. We went on a little adventure outside to find leaves. Then we wrote 10 descriptive words about what it looked, smelled, and felt like outside. We turned those into similes. They got to then draw and paint their leaves!