Apple Sunday

Though we live in Apple Hill, 'tisn't the season for apples. That was a few months ago, but we were still inspired to have warm, fresh-cooked sweet apple tastiness. Since Sunday is our baking day, we decided to celebrate the wonderful essence of organic apples. Actually, it was quite funny because as we were driving toward our house on Friday I looked over at our 92-year-old neighbor's house thinking to myself that I needed to make him a pie, when about 1 second later Jaguar randomly bursted out with, "I want pie, Mom." Who says there isn't telekinesis?

This was the Organic Honey Apple Pie we made (we should have made hearts, but the fall leaf was the only cookie cutter I could find) just before we stuck it into the oven.

And here is the golden, flaky crust (though the pretty edges didn't remain so pretty) and sweet, warm, juicy filling of our final product fresh out of the oven. It was delicious! I recommend using honey instead of sugar because it is better for you, and also you should use less than the recipe calls for because apples have their own natural sugars that are superb when baked.

These are our apple fritters. It gives me an excuse to buy beer. Beer batter is so perfect for these greasy delights. I just thinly slice 2-3 organic apple. For the batter I mix 1 cup each of beer and flour, 3 Tbs of sugar, and 1 tsp of salt. Heat up at least half an inch of oil, dip apples and turn momentary, then place finished fritters onto a paper towel-lined plate and Vuala!!!

Feel free to send your comments about yummy apple recipes you have tried, or that you want to make. Or if you make these fritters, let me know what you think!

Steaming Soup Medley

There is nothing like cold winter evenings filled with warmth from the fireplace, soft oversized blankets, hot tea, and of course a big pot of steaming, simmering soup. This past week, we decided to ward off the last bit of our colds with a soup medley. Almost every night we had a different soup accompanied by rolls and other veges, and tonight we have quite a variety of leftovers from which to choose. So, go make a family recipe or search online for a really delicious choice and indulge in a bowl of home-cooked soup. Or you can simply try from among these recipes listed below.

Cheese Tortellini Soup with Cannellini, Kielbasa, and Kale

Chick-Pea, Chard, and Lima Bean Soup

Italian Chicken Soup

Sweet Potato Soup

Nutrition Lessons - Part II

The kids were getting bored of the original setup of the living room shelf, which is to be expected. So, I decided to change it to the parallel of our theme (or one of them): Nutrition. We have tons of wooden and felted food, so I decided to decorate the shelves with yummy and nutritious food. In addition, Lynx's human body puzzle is placed in the mix, just in case Jaguar gets interested in our parts and bodily functions (he was today at Bobcat's doctor appointment). There is a healthy veggies and fruits ABC book atop the shelf. There is also a wooden vegetable puzzle down below.

As I mentioned previously, I was going to be taking the food advertisement cut-outs to utilize them for a food pyramid. Jaguar took each of the cut-outs and decided what food group they each fell into, and then he pasted them in place.


Jaguar took his Melissa & Doug pizza making set and sorted the toppings. There are 3: mushrooms, peppers, and pepperoni. He organized them into 3 bowls. Bobcat did this earlier in the day, but nto quite as thoroughly.

This activity required Jaguar to sort felt food into the 5 main groups: Fruits, Veggies, Grains, Proteins, and Dairy. He enjoyed figuring it out.


The last nutrition-related activity with Jaguar today was the traditional baking of bread. We made a banana walnut bread in the bread maker. It was really tasty, but not as tasty as it could be....I have yet to find a bread maker recipe that I personally recommend. Regardless of the outcome, the process was fun and enriching for Jaguar. :)

Nutrition Lessons - Part I

We are sort of working in conjunction with our Montessori preschool, by accident actually. Each month they pick a few themes to follow along with, and so do we. This particular month, I chose nutrition, Native Americans, autumn, and harvest. To coincide with our nutrition home school studies, Jaguar was challenged to place each of the grocery store advertisement cut-outs in the correct pile. Each pile represented a different food group, and amazingly he caught on to the differences pretty quickly. These are the piles he so proudly made. I was originally going to mount each of these on index cards, but I then thought we could make a food guide pyramid on poster board and then he could arrange these cut-outs in their proper food group, creating a visual collage of colorful healthiness.


Jaguar also played a game of determining which food did not fit in with the other 3 in a given group. Below are a few of the arrangements he had to figure out. Once he figured out which food did not fit, I would have him explain to me what food groups each of them were in to double check his answer and reinforce his understanding of the variety and categorization of nutritious food.