When I say recipes, I don't mean recipes for disaster. Well, sometimes I do. But in this case, I mean actual recipes! First, here is the long sought after recipe for Kale Chips. I hear these go great with crow.
You Will Need: a blender and dehydrator
Ingredients:
1 lb of kale (or more!)
1/3 cup almond butter
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup soy sauce (namashoyu, wheat free tamari, your choice)
3 T apple cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 bunch of Italian parsley
3 green onions
1 clove of garlic
water to thin
Procedure:
Wash and stem your kale (Any variety will do. You can use Red Russian, Dino or Curly or another dark leafy green. I prefer Curly kale. But that's me!) Put washed kale into a gigantic bowl. Take the rest of the ingredients listed above and put them in a blender. Add some water to thin it out like a salad dressing. You want the mixture to coat the leaves but not be clumpy and chunky.
Toss your kale with the dressing and lay out on dehydrator sheets. Put them in for about 24 hours at 105 degrees or until crispy.
These guys make a great salty chip like snack. And as long as you don't have sesame or nut allergies you are good to go! Kids eat them up yum!
Can you make these in the oven at a low temperature? I've heard that you can, but I haven't tried. I'm spoiled with my dehydrator!
Enjoy!!!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Homemade Crow
Okay, let me open today's post by saying that I apparently love to eat crow. Like the question, "How hard can it be?" I should also be on alert for things that fly out of my mouth beginning with, "I would never ..." For instance, I would never home school my children. Never.
Say, how do you like your crow? Broiled, baked, flambeed, boiled, pureed, on toast or au jus? Really, at this point I'm not even picky. I'm eating the whole thing, feathers and all.
Anyhow, it seems I've taken my desire to learn how to make everything from scratch (hats, cloaks, dinner, pie, lunches, etc.) to the next level. Yes, even our education will be "home made". I'm not even going to say, "how hard can it be". I'm not going to jinx it just yet.
How did I arrive here? Again, I believe it is my penchant for crow. But, seriously, it has been gnawing at the back of my mind for a while. As I watch our abysmal education system get sucked through the wringer and our children become more agitated and the teachers more frustrated, I kept thinking there must be a better way. I guess I started down this path years ago when I was a big advocate for public education (I still am) and said I would never send my kids to a charter.
Well, Valerie and Amira are attending a charter school. The Waldorf education they can get at the charter school isn't for everyone and it is certainly not available in the unified school district. I started sending them there because Valerie was taking classes like knitting and violin after school. She also had a desire to paint and create. Well, after a full day of getting math and language arts shoved down your throat and homework (yes, homework starts in kindergarten these days) she was busy after school with these other activities.
Waldorf education provides a main lesson everyday and also violin, Spanish and handwork during the school day. And the homework load was way less. She went from cramming her short term memory in order to take tests to an actual student who enjoyed learning and craved it. And I wrote less checks and drove around a lot less. We all became less stressed and more satiated as soon as she started at the charter school.
Rex was the only one who didn't make it over to the Waldorf school. But one day he realized he really fit in with the kids there and that the girls seemed to really enjoy school a lot more than he did. We put Rex on the wait list for Blue Oak Charter School last Spring. Even with sibling priority, he is still number two on the list. The fifth grade at that school is really impacted. So, I'm not sure he will get in soon or even this year.
In the mean time he started slowly withdrawing from school. He went through the motions of doing the work but not really enjoying it. He wasn't engaged at all. And each time he got an opportunity to be a "guest student" in Valerie's class, he was that more enthusiastic about changing schools and that much more disappointed to return to his own school.
I have to confess that I also am not at all enthusiastic about the work sheets and dry formulas for studying at Rex's school. I started thinking about how I would teach it if given the opportunity. Now, I didn't start thinking how I would teach to a class of 35 students with varying abilities ... I just started thinking about how much more fun learning could be for Rex if there were some flexibility. That line of thinking started me investigating home school as a TEMPORARY option to bridge Rex over to the Waldorf school when he could finally get in. I'm not suggesting he will be home schooled in a Waldorf method. I'm not qualified. But I hope to provide an enriched program for him during the "school day".
Tuesday night he and I attended an orientation at C.O.R.E. Home school in Chico. Rex was even more excited about home schooling after the orientation. (And believe me, the director indicated this is not for everyone. She emphasized the amount of work it is for the parents and the responsibility of the students to be a little self directed). Well, I have to admit, we are both a little excited about it. So, we are presently waiting for a teacher to be assigned to us so that we can officially enroll in the home school program.
In the mean time, Rex has decided that he wants to take violin lessons again. The home school program has a "Lego Club" where students meet every other week with a project they've built according to the assigned theme. Our friend who lost his teaching job last year will be available to tutor math on Fridays. Rex thinks quite highly of this fellow - as do we. He is an acquaintance of Michael's from high school. Also, Rex is going through an etiquette training at the gym so that he can have access to the equipment and classes. (That way I can selfishly still attend yoga! And maybe he can too). And on top of all this the teacher at Neal Dow (his current school) has said that he can continue to be on their chess team. Also, it is my hope that his grandfather (who is a microbiology professor) can possibly take him down to the lab at Chico State University when appropriate for a little fun and science.
And he will still be able to come to the girls' school to play with the other kids and attend special events. I figure between this and the Green Knight Academy, Lego Club and Chess Club, he will be socially stimulated.
So, I've also been looking at some fun experiential math ideas and combining the mechanics of language arts with social studies or science in order to kill two birds (crows, if you will) with one stone. Check out this link for a living math idea (not that it is applicable now, but you get the idea).
I don't want home school to be so attractive to him that he won't return to Blue Oak should he get an opportunity. I also don't want it so attractive that the girls want to pull out of their school to home school too. But I really am excited about creating and meaningful learning experience for him that he can be excited about. I really don't want to see him lose his love for learning or his wonderful ability to think critically. I hope this time will help us both grow and get excited about learning new things. I also hope this time doesn't drive us crazy because I realize there are not enough hours in the day to make everything from scratch that I want to. And by that I mean everything (food, education, knitting, etc.)
Now, excuse me while I open a few boxes of macaroni and cheese to feed the six kids at my house. (Shhhh!!! Don't tell!!)
Say, how do you like your crow? Broiled, baked, flambeed, boiled, pureed, on toast or au jus? Really, at this point I'm not even picky. I'm eating the whole thing, feathers and all.
Anyhow, it seems I've taken my desire to learn how to make everything from scratch (hats, cloaks, dinner, pie, lunches, etc.) to the next level. Yes, even our education will be "home made". I'm not even going to say, "how hard can it be". I'm not going to jinx it just yet.
How did I arrive here? Again, I believe it is my penchant for crow. But, seriously, it has been gnawing at the back of my mind for a while. As I watch our abysmal education system get sucked through the wringer and our children become more agitated and the teachers more frustrated, I kept thinking there must be a better way. I guess I started down this path years ago when I was a big advocate for public education (I still am) and said I would never send my kids to a charter.
Well, Valerie and Amira are attending a charter school. The Waldorf education they can get at the charter school isn't for everyone and it is certainly not available in the unified school district. I started sending them there because Valerie was taking classes like knitting and violin after school. She also had a desire to paint and create. Well, after a full day of getting math and language arts shoved down your throat and homework (yes, homework starts in kindergarten these days) she was busy after school with these other activities.
Waldorf education provides a main lesson everyday and also violin, Spanish and handwork during the school day. And the homework load was way less. She went from cramming her short term memory in order to take tests to an actual student who enjoyed learning and craved it. And I wrote less checks and drove around a lot less. We all became less stressed and more satiated as soon as she started at the charter school.
Rex was the only one who didn't make it over to the Waldorf school. But one day he realized he really fit in with the kids there and that the girls seemed to really enjoy school a lot more than he did. We put Rex on the wait list for Blue Oak Charter School last Spring. Even with sibling priority, he is still number two on the list. The fifth grade at that school is really impacted. So, I'm not sure he will get in soon or even this year.
In the mean time he started slowly withdrawing from school. He went through the motions of doing the work but not really enjoying it. He wasn't engaged at all. And each time he got an opportunity to be a "guest student" in Valerie's class, he was that more enthusiastic about changing schools and that much more disappointed to return to his own school.
I have to confess that I also am not at all enthusiastic about the work sheets and dry formulas for studying at Rex's school. I started thinking about how I would teach it if given the opportunity. Now, I didn't start thinking how I would teach to a class of 35 students with varying abilities ... I just started thinking about how much more fun learning could be for Rex if there were some flexibility. That line of thinking started me investigating home school as a TEMPORARY option to bridge Rex over to the Waldorf school when he could finally get in. I'm not suggesting he will be home schooled in a Waldorf method. I'm not qualified. But I hope to provide an enriched program for him during the "school day".
Tuesday night he and I attended an orientation at C.O.R.E. Home school in Chico. Rex was even more excited about home schooling after the orientation. (And believe me, the director indicated this is not for everyone. She emphasized the amount of work it is for the parents and the responsibility of the students to be a little self directed). Well, I have to admit, we are both a little excited about it. So, we are presently waiting for a teacher to be assigned to us so that we can officially enroll in the home school program.
In the mean time, Rex has decided that he wants to take violin lessons again. The home school program has a "Lego Club" where students meet every other week with a project they've built according to the assigned theme. Our friend who lost his teaching job last year will be available to tutor math on Fridays. Rex thinks quite highly of this fellow - as do we. He is an acquaintance of Michael's from high school. Also, Rex is going through an etiquette training at the gym so that he can have access to the equipment and classes. (That way I can selfishly still attend yoga! And maybe he can too). And on top of all this the teacher at Neal Dow (his current school) has said that he can continue to be on their chess team. Also, it is my hope that his grandfather (who is a microbiology professor) can possibly take him down to the lab at Chico State University when appropriate for a little fun and science.
And he will still be able to come to the girls' school to play with the other kids and attend special events. I figure between this and the Green Knight Academy, Lego Club and Chess Club, he will be socially stimulated.
So, I've also been looking at some fun experiential math ideas and combining the mechanics of language arts with social studies or science in order to kill two birds (crows, if you will) with one stone. Check out this link for a living math idea (not that it is applicable now, but you get the idea).
I don't want home school to be so attractive to him that he won't return to Blue Oak should he get an opportunity. I also don't want it so attractive that the girls want to pull out of their school to home school too. But I really am excited about creating and meaningful learning experience for him that he can be excited about. I really don't want to see him lose his love for learning or his wonderful ability to think critically. I hope this time will help us both grow and get excited about learning new things. I also hope this time doesn't drive us crazy because I realize there are not enough hours in the day to make everything from scratch that I want to. And by that I mean everything (food, education, knitting, etc.)
Now, excuse me while I open a few boxes of macaroni and cheese to feed the six kids at my house. (Shhhh!!! Don't tell!!)
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